"you can't take the sky from me"

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Adventurous | Practical | Ambitious || Selfish | Envious | Restless

Nausicaa is an oddball in the eyes of those who get to witness her both at sea, and on the shore. She tends to be aloof with only a few words to spare anybody, but she pays her bills and never engages in a fight in public areas. However, she is a pirate through and through, where she only focuses deeply on her occupation at hand, and pursues treasure all the same. Her savagery contrasts her more passive side whenever there is a goal to be met, or money to be earned during her trips on her worn-out ship.

Despite her avian background, she enjoys exploring the wide open world, but has been clever enough to mask herself from any wandering humanoids seeking to hunt down her kind. After all, she had been raised to keep hidden in the canopy of the jungle where hardly any gryphon could fly free without a death wish in mind. Upon reanimation though, and a human disguise to boot, she has been freely adventuring through the world that has been so out of reach before. While there's always a risk, she has learned there's much more to life (and unlife) than to live in fear all of her life.

She's an ambitious soul who knows there's much to plan in order to succeed in her goals. Sometimes sacrifices are in order if the probability indicates the need to do more, and her stubborn nature can make it difficult to drop even the most risky of tasks. It's possibly why she's left to her own devices rather than take on a crew as they do tend to fear her unpredictability, and the need to push everyone into doing some sketchy things for the sake of reaping a high reward. Plus she has been caught in a mutiny before after being discovered for being a skeleton instead of a fleshed out captain.

There was a time when kindness was in her bones, so to speak, but the hardships of life has hardened her significantly. Whether there's even a shred of good left, it's a mystery, even to her. She has become much more selfish, and willing to do what it takes for her own personal gain. She has suffered a lot, her logic dictates, she deserves much better than to help a needy soul with nothing to exchange in return. She has also become much more selfish of those who never even have to die, and then come back to life only for the gods to fuck them over by giving them sentience in their newfound undead form. She's envious of them, and suspicious potential partners of those whom she may even have an inkling of interest in for companionship.

Her mindset dictates she must continue on her goals even if she ends up dropping more dead than she already is. There's no time to rest when there's so much of a legacy to leave behind until the gods eventually take pity. Despite all of her faults and bitterness though, she has come to appreciate some part of her predicament. Underwatering breathing allows for underwater exploration, and she doesn't have to worry about sustaining herself on food. The illusion potion may be expensive too, but it allows for some modifications that still reflect what was once her own human form.

History

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Nausicaa, originally Brightwing, was born and raised in the jungle where a roost of gryphon-shifters would thrive for years. Like the rest of her kind, she was represented as a parrot as part of her avian heritage while it was notorious for others to not always share the same feline half. It hardly changed the fact the world was almost in harmony for a time, and the culture was still rather simple as everything evolved over time. Gryphons mated for life, and everything nefarious was prohibited in the roost. Things were peaceful for a time.

Despite the elder gryphons dedicating much of their time and energy into hiding the roost from the public eye, the roost eventually collapsed over time due to weather mishaps that led to disasters being inflicted often. Humanoids dug into the jungle too with fire scorching the vegation, or trees falling dangerously close to the roost's home. Naturally, poachers eventually found the roost as well, and sought out parts that were rumored to be part of strong medicinal remedies. All of these eventually led to Nausicaa's homeland, and people, to decline over time until they were all no more. Those who manage to survive pursue the life as a human, and leave their true form behind.

Nausicaa wasn't one of the lucky ones.

Undead Woes

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Necromancers existed for a long period of time, and typically hid their risen creations from the public eye. It wasn't uncommon for them to seek out various corpses to raise from the dead to replenish their numbers during a time of strife, and a hefty amount of perils that inhabit the land as well. Among their kind, it was a typical sight for many of the more ambitious souls to seek out stronger species over their own kind in hopes of having an upper hand in a fight, and occasionally, risen creatures of mythical status can be seen as bragging rights. Dragons are the rarest sight to raise, but one of the more desired ones to control.

Gryphons aren't too common a sight due to their own desires to hide away from the eyes of others, and become a goal to own due to the belief that even undead ones can take flight. Sadly this isn't the case as they're left as nothing, but animated bones. Nonetheless, they still serve as decent ground mounts, and foes on the battlefield when needed.

Over time, it's possible for an undead to break free of the necromancer's control. They could either run, or form a coup against their former master depending on the situaion. Usually most would flee immediately with nothing holding them back, and only freedom awaited them if they learned to quickly adapt to their new bodies in an unforgiving world.

Swashbuckling Life

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Life as a skeleton was a dangerous one, despite their unfortunate birth by various circumstances, and most of the living population saw them as threats at first glance. After all, it wasn't uncommon for many of the risen to be churned out for nefarious purposes, and rarely do any sentient ones seek to do good right away.

Nausicaa had fled her old master, and despite her moral upbringing, everything prohibited went out the window for the sake of survival. She turned to theft out of habit for food, and clothing before realizing she didn't even need those items. The revelation stung as she had realized this after being thrown into a cell when an attempt at stealing had failed. This led to another occupation that still guaranteed money, but required much more to reach that point.

The life of a pirate wasn't what she had in mind, but the romantic tales of treasure hunters out at sea had caught her interest. Unfortunately, this led to her having to improvise as an undead pirate, crew member or even captain, wasn't exactly desirable. After a near-death situation in swiping an illusion potion, an item that rumors claimed to warp the perceptions of mortals so they can pass as another form, she had begun to regain some normalcy in her life as she could pass as a human. She was just preparing the start of her new career to guarantee she could maintain the form. She adopted the name of Nausicaa, avoiding a last name for the time being, and just aimed to seem like she was a stranger in a new town with plans to amuse the ocean before her.

It wasn't easy to pull off as she fought with her own lack of charisma to appease potential people to her makeshift boat. She had managed to bring people to her side until a mutiny was formed against her when she was caught unaware in her undead form. Nausicaa quickly fled from the town, and moved on to the next one. She decided to drop the idea of a crew, and conduct a one-man ship that sunk ships while also hoarding as much treasure as possible to keep up the expensive illusions. Seldom she returned to skeleton form, or even her bony gryphon body.

Words of her actions floated around of a pirate who ruthlessly fought others for all their worth. Sometimes she won, and usually she lost. Others said that she could permanently breathe underwater. Sometimes people feared she was a ghost of a woman who drowned in the ocean, and came back to take her revenge. Most of it was true, but she simply learned not to pay mind to the living. She had other plans in mind.