Browneye the Pirate

Powers:

Immortality (s): after he crossed a particularly cross mystic investigator, specifically by looting her ship for all it was worth, Alastair was cursed by said mystic. Until he leaves a pound of his own flesh at each of the four corners of the earth, Alastair is cursed to walk the earth forevermore.

Naturally, Alastair doesn't seem all that bothered by this 'curse', and has continued his pirating ways to this very day - a few interruptions notwithstanding. Thanks to the rather powerful magic that has rendered him immortal, Alastair has been 'cursed' with the following super-human powers:

* Agelessness (s): while many immortal beings do age, if impossibly slow, Alastair does not age at all. He will forever exist at the exact biological age in which he was cursed, which was at about his fortieth birthday. He'll look that old forevermore, no matter how hard he tries to look otherwise.

* Life Support (s): a function of his undying state, Alastair has grown away from the need for physical sustenance. He possesses this power at intensity 15, allowing him to go indefinitely without food, water, air, or even sleep - he can enjoy these things, but he does not require them.

* Regeneration (s): as a function of his immortal state, Alastair heals somewhat quicker than your average human being. He possesses this power at intensity 5, allowing him to recover one card of lost Health on a positive or neutral draw that is less than five every exchange.

Equipment:

Black Blade of Baad (w): wrested from the grip of the Kedae expatriate Ocpatex, this dark weapon has become intertwined with Alastair's own life force. It can be used in melee to inflict +4 psychic damage (resisted by Willpower) with every deadly attack, doing so with the blackest of empathic energies.

The blade itself is immaterial, but feels rather solid to the person holding it - and those it strikes. However, it is comprised of the same energies it uses to inflict pain on others, and has a slow, corrupting effect on those that wield it; simply carrying the blade will do no harm.

The first time someone uses the blade to strike down an opponent, it gains an effective Willpower rank of 1, which increases by one every subsequent time the blade is used to kill. Over time, this can be used to influence the blade's wielder, causing him to become increasingly sadistic in battle.

By the time the blade's Willpower cannot be resisted by its wielder (when he fails a Willpower action to resist its suggestions), the Black Blade of Baad will claim his soul, and carry it off to Ocpatex. The blade currently has a Willpower score of 5 where Alastair is concerned - it's only beginning to corrupt him...

Frigid Flint-Locks (w): his original weapons of choice, these two flint-lock pistols have become a part of Alastair's self-image, and as such they have acquired a touch of deific power. They still function as can ordinary flint-lock pistols, however antiquated that may be, but they have additional powers.

For one thing, by simply willing it, the wielder of Alastair's pistols can fire a blast of chilling energies, rays of cold that inflict intensity 10 energy damage. These are particularly devastating against aquatic peoples and sailors who are trapped in the water; in short, they're perfect for pirates.

Furthermore, they are beholden to Alastair's will. In other words, someone can take them away from Alastair, but they will instantly return to his location if he wills it, no matter how far away from him they are carried. They possess intensity 10 teleportation, allowing for instant, global transport.

Finally, the guns themselves possess the uncanny knack for reloading themselves. Unlike modern guns, flint-lock pistols take quite a while to reload under even the best of circumstances, but these are ready to fire constantly, no matter how many times they are used in combat - neat, eh?

Hindrances:

(none)

Skills:

Boating (a): a pirate long before he was cursed with immortality, Alastair knows the ins and outs of sailing quite well. He can navigate and/or sail a ship just about anywhere on the seven seas, though he'd likely be confounded somewhat by modern ship technology...

Boxing (s): if anything, Alastair can defend himself - though usually it's other people that have to defend themselves from him. He can divide his pre-cardplay action score between two attacks, the last of which - whether a punch, kick, or stomp - will occur as a contingent action.

Languages / Chinese, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish (i): having sailed the seven seas for over a hundred years, Alastair has picked up a bevy of languages. He can only read and write in English, but he can speak all of these languages - though in a slightly less than modern capacity.

Marksmanship (a): Alastair is very well-versed in the fine art of gunplay, having used the things since the days of the flint-lock pistol. Keeping his skills up to date somewhat, Alastair can fire any standard, semi-automatic or fully automatic firearm, or even his flint-locks, at a reduced difficulty.

Swords (s): while he prefers his guns in battle, Alastair knows they aren't always totally reliable; as such, he keeps up on his swordplay skills. Alastair can wield any sword, whether it be an old-fashioned cutlass or his Black Blade of Baad, at a reduced difficulty.

Calling:

Adventurer: Alastair primarily wishes to make his own way in the world, eschewing crutches such as 'employment' and 'government'. At the same time, he's proven somewhat nasty over the years, and often has either Greed or Vengeance as secondary callings, depending on the day.

Costume:

Alastair dresses as a pirate, duh. He wears loose-fitting cerulean trousers, a frilly white, long sleeved silk shirt, an oversized brown leather belt with twin holsters and a sword scabbard, overly dramatic foldover boots, a crimson, three-cornered hat, and his unnecessary black eye patch.

Personality:

Alastair is a man living in the past, but then, that's where he's from. He is fiercely independent, and has an active disdain for all forms of authority. While he's not a nice guy, being a pirate and all, Alastair is a man of honor, and will stay true to his word if you can convince him to give it in the first place.

Real Name: Alastair MacLennan
Occupation: pirate, miscreant
Legal Status: citizen of the United Kingdom with a considerable criminal record, though legally assumed to be deceased
Marital Status: divorced a few times
Alias(es), if any: quite a few throwaway names
Group Affiliation: the Boogie Brigade

Height: 6' 1"
Hair: blonde
Eyes: brown
Weight: 200 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: Alastair wears an eye patch, even though his lost eye healed itself upon his becoming immortal. He mostly does this out of tradition; after all, you can't call yourself Browneye if you have more than one brown eye, you know.

Story:

Alastair grew up destitute in London several hundred years ago, and when the opportunity rose, he signed on to work on a merchant ship headed to the New World. Of course, most merchants back then were unbelievably stingy, not to mention abusive, and Alastair was treated horribly by his employer.

Wishing to make his own way, though, he persevered. He grew up on ships sailing between England and the Americas, slowly learning everything he needed to know in order to sail a ship. He tried to do the right thing, but that was hard when your boss was beating you senseless for no good reason.

So, when Alastair's ship was attacked by pirates, he didn't try resisting like his employer did - watching the man get all cut up was pretty satisfying. Seeing this, the captain of said pirates was impressed by Alastair, and offered to take him with his crew. Having no reason to stay here, Alastair did so.

Heck, he was the one who set his former employer's ship on fire! Over the next couple of years, Alastair did quite well as a pirate, eventually gaining his own ship and crew, and caused all kinds of damage to intercontinental commerce. He came to be known as Browneye the Pirate, a flashy name to be sure.

This after he lost an eye on a particularly harrowing raid.

Things changed when he raided a young sorceress' ship one day, though. As his crew ransacked the thing, they noted little of real value was to be had, but Alastair thought the lady herself would make a great hostage - she appeared to be refined, and possibly wealthy beyond what was readily apparent.

This woman had no intention of being a hostage, much less allowing anything unsavory to happen to her person, so she mystically assaulted Alastair's crew, who fled in a panic. Fearing no man or beast, Alastair did not relent, though, and when he attacked the sorceress directly, she cursed him.

An odd curse, to be sure, but one she figured would cause him endless torment over the coming years. The idea was that he would grow to hate life as it stretched on into infinity, and would crave the sweet release of death - though only she knew how the man could die, and she would wait for him to beg for the secret.

This wasn't how things turned out, though. Alastair came to relish his newfound immortality, as it allowed him to handle an insane amount of punishment - he even grew his old eye back, though he keeps it covered in order to maintain his 'reputation' as a fierce, one-eyed pirate.

The only problem is that magic tends to attract magic.

Being magically enhanced due this freakish curse that wasn't all that much of a curse, Alastair began to have one bizarre adventure after another, usually involving creatures of magic. On one such adventure, Alastair fought the mighty Kedae demon Ocpatex, and even stole its powerful magic blade.

As things grew weirder and weirder, Alastair's crew abandoned him, and he was left afloat on a dinghy up in the Arctic circle. While a good sailor, Alastair couldn't get back to civilization, and wound up drifting up to the polar ice cap. There, he was frozen in the ice for hundreds of years.

Much later, in the early seventies, global warming caused the hunk of ice holding Alastair to break off from the ice cap, and he drifted back to warmer climes. Recovered by a rich sailor, Alastair thanked the man by hijacking his yacht, throwing everybody overboard, and starting his pirate career anew.

Alastair continued on in this capacity for years, enjoying how easy sailing had become with the advent of then-modern technology. Of course, his crime spree didn't last long, for he was apprehended by agents working for the Bureau of Ascendant Humans when raiding cargo ships off the New York harbor.

He was subsequently put on ice a second time.

Our pirate friend was in suspended animation for years, only returning from this state when he was liberated by the mighty Disco Head, who had need of a team of super-powered thugs to help him defeat Gerald R. Ford. Fearing not the might of the Kedae, since he'd faced one before, Alastair signed on to this task.

Unfortunately for Disco Head, his new Boogie Brigade was defeated after it managed to capture Ford. This again thanks to interference from the B.A.H., led by the exceedingly competent combatant Captain Cocksure. Alastair himself was beaten by one of Cocksure's friends, the man known as Rebound.

Though defeated again, Alastair managed to recover and escape before Cocksure's regular minions could collect him and put him back on ice, but he lost his Black Blade in the process. This was stolen by Rebound, along with Alastair's flint-lock pistols - but those returned to him as he regained consciousness.

So, with the Boogie Brigade defeated, Alastair has been left to wander around in the modern day, with no one but the B.A.H. the wiser. Were people to realize that a true historical figure was terrorizing the countryside, they might panic somewhat. But then, most folks have little to fear from Browneye the Pirate.

He just wants his Black Blade back...!

Extra Goodies: