User Profile

 Nathaniel (Nat) Fowler. (Ezequiel Rivera.)

Nathaniel’s life before piracy is an entirely unremarkable one.

He was born into a poor family along the edges of a river/sea town in Tarragona of Spain and four years after him, his parents bore a sister, Ana. Tarragona was not a place a ship could easily take port in the time, so neither of his parents (both of Spanish origin) worked with the sea so where Nat (then known by his Spanish name Ezequiel) picked up a fascination with the sea one could only guess.

Most oft, the boy was found assisting his parents with the small vineyard, doing menial chores in the house or being the messenger boy between customers or family. But, if there so happened to be a ship docked in the town’s port, Nat would be found there – Talking to the sailors, crew hands and Captains alike about their doings at sea. And if he were so lucky in running into someone terribly generous with their time, the boy would be shown the bearings of the ship and little tasks such as knot tying and so on.

He had just passed the age of fifteen when he boarded ship intended for sea. Nat entered as a crew hand, nothing more than cleaning of decks and general maintenance aboard a simple merchant vessel. And that was how Nathaniel lived for the next two years or so.

It was entirely sudden when their ship crossed that of one waving no colors, a pirate ship. It was only the boy’s guess why he was spared -- Seventeen with a lot of years to go and already two at sea, two years experience on a vessel, thus two years worth of skill.

However, the young man did wish that he had been killed along with the rest of his crew. Life amongst pirates - English ones - they who thought themselves superior to the Spanish in terms of technology and skill was certainly not an easy one for Nat. He hardly understood the English language, but that was the least of his concerns, really considering what else he was forced to do lest meet the cat’o’nine tails. Never a pleasant experience he found, and in the end, it was –always- easier to commit this crime, kill that person or steal the treasure.

Needless to say, this had Nathaniel very quickly listed a wanted man amongst the Spanish, and he did eventually grow accustomed to the life of piracy. Though he was the worst treated on crew, his Spanish tongue had him quite useful in terms of demands from native merchants, governors and so forth – Nat having picked up English enough to translate between the two.

But of course, such a lifestyle did come to an end. In Nat’s fourth year aboard the Pirate ship did they strike misfortune -- Having their ship ruined in a storm, the crew was forced to abandon it on a small island, there, a local informed the Spanish army of their location and they were very soon captured and sentenced for the gallows.

It was by some miracle that the Captain along with some of the crew including Nathaniel escaped from the prison -- they each going their separate ways entirely. With hardly any option but to run, Nat ended up on a ship bound for England under the adopted name of Nathaniel Fowler in an attempt to put as much paces between himself and Spain.

But the life of piracy wasn’t something he could escape from as easily. And in the waters of England did the man also find himself on the wrong side of the law, on the deck of a pirate ship and on the receiving end of sometimes vicious orders.

This was how he lived for the next seven years in the English sea -- trading Captains and loyalties as they either succumbed to higher powers or simply the sea. It was a recent and rather unfortunate event though, which would have Nathanial more or less stranded on Port City -- unaligned, as it were, and in search of another Captain to sail under.

Living a life of constant movement, the occasional lack of food and sometimes purely on alcohol all contributed in the development to such a physique -- Lithely built, well muscled and evenly proportioned, but not without his fair share of physical detractions -- Scars freckled his hands, trailing up from there only becoming scarce once past the elbow and hidden by his shirt was his back criss-crossed with the evidence of lashings, some scarred more deeply than others but all were severe nonetheless. Save for those, Nat took special care in not suffering exceptional damage to his body, what use was a physically disabled pirate?

The man was tanned enough to be almost taken as naturally dark, he was somewhat Spanish also in appearance with a strong jaw line and dark eyes. Nat had an ever present five o’clock shadow, as neat as he could possibly hope keep it with hair roughly hacked to just above the collar of his shirt was dark brown in color, sunbleached in places occasionally pulled into a messy attempt of a ponytail when it was in the way.

Fingers studded with various rings and jewels stolen, and similarly were his wrists and neck encircled with various bracelets, chains and even simple pieces of twine. Flamboyant almost to a degree that interfered with his duties, if not for the fact that he was simply used to and worked with the various things that decorated his form.

Clothes, too, were similarly as gaudy -- various articles stolen from wealthy or noble people and worn in an entirely mismatched manner. His shirt was ruffled with an entirely separate neck piece, obviously taken from someone of status and kept as neat as one could hope living at sea. Pants were made of a course, stiff black material, they were at one point fine and expensive but unfortunately now heavily scarred with patches and holes. Nat needed to scavenge himself a new pair.

A thick coat trimmed with gold threading was worn over the top, once again, from someone that held status on land. He was, in fact, quite proud of this particular item, and he had not discarded, replaced or otherwise the thing for several years. Feet were encased in thick leather boots, and similarly was his waist encircled by a belt of a similar material. And held there at his belt, sometimes looped with silk to be kept in place were his weapons of choice. And since his last plunder, they happened to be a single cutlass and two pistols. Three small daggers where also hidden elsewhere on his form.

Like any other rogue of the sea, Nat has a sadistic streak through him – Merciless and lusting for blood in the worst of times, impulsively cruel in the best of times. Despite this though and funnily enough, Nat has a bit of a flamboyant personality that was not completely limited to his state of dress; sarcastic, crude with a horribly depressing sense of humor product of the amount of time spent bored and restless at sea. He was sometimes described as effeminate (never to his face though, lest the speaker meet quite an unfortunate end) and had a perculiar manner of speaking; at times his sentences were awkwardly structured in an overly correct manner which indicated his flawed control of English. Spanish, of course, is his fluent tongue which is unfortunately a tad rusty with unuse.

Nat was an opportunist, always looking out for things he could possibly steal or make a profit from. When he had his eye on something, practically any length would be taken to take ownership of whatever it was. This single-minded ambition had Nathaniel quiet dependant on having someone in the lead directing things. Whilst the man definitely had focus and determination that was commendable, sometimes he failed to notice danger leering over his shoulder until last minute. It was this and only this that had him respect and stay in loyalty to his captain, whoever he may be.

Nat frequently goes through a several weapons. They usually stolen from careless handlers or taken as prize from a plundered ship. He has no real reason for such a habit, just something of a constant need for change. And as a result of this, Nat can handle any weapon handed to him with a degree of efficiently. This, of course, not without it’s downside – He is not specialized, or especially talented in handling any weapon in and of itself.

 Pirate in affiliation with Capt. Jack.

RP Journal, layout credit whoafreelayouts.