Captain Ryan

Undead Lore

"Millennium ago, in a time when this universe was a mere concept, the Old Gods detected its great potential. For unspeakable amounts of time, they slowly devoured universe after universe. 

There the seeds of two forces were conceived: Life and Death, potent together but nothing without the other. Life proved too dynamic a force for these Gods to overcome, but its sibling Death, could be easily manipulated and so the Old Gods sought to consume and establish dominion over Death and then eventually over Life. But as they cast their foul sight on the newly birthed creation, they were met with resistance - other Ancient Gods who had nurtured the budding cosmos since its inception. Through their eternal protection and sacrifice, the cycle of Life and Death was allowed to flourish, forever hidden from the malignant gaze of the Eldritch and thus the First Death allowed a peaceful passage to the afterlife for departed souls.  

In this universe, knowledge of necromancy is shrouded in sinister mystery. This magic discipline seemingly came from the ether, allowing its disciples to defile the legacy of those Ancient Guardians and perform the profane act of bringing back the dead. The practice is only discussed within hushed circles and grim cults dedicated to the cursed Gods and their whispered promises of unimaginable power. Anywho dare to delve into necromancy are to be hunted down mercilessly by order of the Royal Empire. The Followers of the Old Way now lay in the shadows, waiting for the prophetic arrival of the Dead of A Thousand Lives to usher in a new age of their Gods." 

• Undead are created by necromancy, to be mindless vessels without a trace of their previous memories or personalities due to the decay/degenerating of the brain hours after death
  • Undead can be sentient - it depends on how quickly their brain was saved from decay post-death
• Undead are expendable; it would take more energy to repair them than to raise new ones
• Undead CANNOT be resurrected a second time. The resulting mass of flesh and bone is extremely volatile and terminates violently- but for a brief moment, one can have a glimpse of something truly horrible waiting on the other side.
• They must have a constant source of magic to move, act, overcome the forces threatening to pull their souls out of their fleshy prisons. This source can be from their master necromancer, other sorcerers or they must consume mass amounts of organic material with enough magical essence to survive. Otherwise, they will just rot and decay until they are no longer animated. 
  • Because of this, having an army of undead in the long term is undesirable because they constantly drain energy just to exist
• Undead are very conductive to magic, often amplifying a spell's effects twofold or more. Healing spells hurt them, perhaps as a remnant of the guardian influence to dispel the dark magic.
• They have immunities to poison/diseases and don't need sleep/air/water/food 

(I'm so sorry this is messy i loredump i don't WRITE)

When you first meet Ryan, you probably won't even recognise him. Masked and nonchalant, he hides his face and his rakish personality to avoid public attention and animosity. However, out of sight of prying eyes, he reveals his identity as the undead pirate captain of the Silent Requiem and her crew. (its a crew of 30+ other ocs of friends :'D) 

Suave and debonair, Ryan is the prime example of a sophisticated swashbuckler with a hint of a military past. His time is spent keeping his crew out of trouble, handling the admin work and doing some of his own personal research (he won't tell you what it's for). He seems to enjoy his work at sea, leading and sailing with his crew for they are his pride and joy - friends for people like himself are hard to come by. (Think about it like the trope of a tired, gruff dad who somehow managed to adopt 40 children by accident). Beyond his seemingly never-ending work and study, Ryan sports a theatrical flair that he rarely shows anyone, though his tendency for the dramatic seems to have bled into his usual composure. Having a strong interest in the performing arts and music when he was alive, Ryan is familiar with the violin and learnt many languages. Don't make him draw though - he is AWFUL at it.  

A skilled swordsman, with his swift agility, precise aim and high level of strategic training, Ryan is a force to be reckoned with. Added on with his strange pseudo-immortality caused by his continuous regeneration and capacity to take a whole lot more punishment, he can be a hard foe to knock out. That being said, he is far from invulnerable: his high tolerance for pain means he is entirely too reckless and extensive injury can render him comatose as his body attempts to repair itself. Some traits he shares with undead include darkvision, enhanced senses (esp smell), awareness of magic sources, sharpened teeth, thickened skin and slight height increases. Also for some reason, his skeletal left arm can move all on its own when separated from his body.

In his previous life, he was the Fleet Admiral of the Royal Empire Navy. He was cold, calculating, and a man of very few (if no) emotions. After a certain disastrous incident with the Navy and an unexpected foe (A very powerful sea witch), the Fleet was almost completely destroyed, himself included. He was resurrected minutes later and used for the witch's corrupted goals, mainly slaughtering military bases and terrorising civilian settlements. 

Almost eight months later and losing his nose and his entire left arm(he doesn't remember much), he managed to escape the witch's possession, hands dripping with the blood of several hundreds of innocent people. Naturally, as any edgelord crippled with guilt and regret, he moped around for a long time, avoiding contact with almost everyone. 

It was only after he met his future first mate, a frustrated barmaid Karmen, that he was spurred into getting his sorry ass out of the shitty hand he was dealt. He changed his name to Ryan, had a Mulan moment of cutting his hair and together they formed what would become the Silent Requiem crew (after reclaiming his own personal vessel before his death), a crew for outcasts and those who had no one else to turn to.