Pirates Group 6

The final group of pirates! This includes the Doctor, the Striker, and the ship's cat. (Yes, I know the cat is out of scale...and poorly drawn, but if I made him small enough he'd be hard to see in sketchy! )

Rayner is the doctor. Like most doctors aboard pirate ships he is not, in fact, a pirate. Meaning he is not made to sign the articles and is paid rather than being given a portion of their takings. Rayner is an irritated and surly fellow, but his annoyance with the crew comes more from their crass additudes than it does with their chosen profession. Still, no matter how much he complains, when a crew member is injured he treats them with the utmost care. He carries no weapon, as he never involves himself in fights.

Haytham is the striker. He has little to do with sailing or the day-to-day functions of the ship, rather he is on board to help them when they come ashore on islands and need to resupply. He is an expert in hunting and fishing, and knows about the uses for herbs and what fruits are edible. He carries several knives as well as a bow, which he trusts over guns. But he also has an old matchlock musket as a sort of step into the higher powered weapons (but it's already an obsolete weapon, overshadowed by flintlock guns.)

Chance is the ship's cat. I went with a cat over the more traditional pirate animals because unlike parrots and monkeys which were mainly brought aboard for entertainment, a cat is actually useful. His job is to catch the rats in the hold that threaten to spoil the food. There's also a lot of superstition surrounding ship's cats, and their health can reflect that of the ship.

I really like the way both Rayner and Haytham look! I realize that Haytham is a mish-mash of odd styles - mostly American - that don't really go together, and that it's especially weird because his name is Hindu, but this isn't supposed to be historical fiction. It's not in our world. The city we start in, for example, is loosely based on San Fransisco, but I did no research on the actual historical San Fransisco, it was mostly the location and the fact that it was one of few "civilized" cities of the old west. but if you head out West from it, you won't be hitting Japan. I wanted to place the story in a world where we didn't know what was beyond the horizon, and although I've taken a lot from history, I've also been a little creative with it.

This is the last of the crew proper! Only a couple more posts, and we'll be good to go!

...which I'll go post now!