Merit is the only child of Velara (human woman) and Morland “Four Eyes” Acheron (tiefling man). Velara and Morland met when Morland’s crew was docked near her seaside village--they had a brief but passionate love affair that ended when the crew of the Iron Fang moved on to different ports and brighter adventures. The love affair also resulted in Merit, who shared most physical traits with her father (and some of his penchant for mischief and adventure, as well).
 
Velara raised her child in the same seaside village she had lived in her whole life, and although Morland did his best to visit from time to time when he could, Merit grew up with the idea of a father and not one who was actually there. However, she idolized her pirate father and wanted to carry on his legacy as soon as she was able. Velara was less enthusiastic about Merit’s goal, but knew that she could no easier control her headstrong daughter than she could control the tides.
 
Merit spent her days as most children do, with chores and schoolwork and friends, but whenever she could she would sneak out to an abandoned barn a few miles away from home to practice throwing daggers, climbing trees, and tying knots so that when she was old enough she could set out to be a worthy successor to Four Eyes.
 
When she was fourteen, Merit saw her father for the last time. He gifted her a beautiful dagger, one of his own--a thin blade with a golden hilt and some form of writing on the sheath that she couldn’t read. Velara was not happy about the gift, but Merit treasured it and solemnly promised her father she’d make something of herself with it. Four Eyes laughed, ruffled her hair, and told her to enjoy being a kid before she started slumming it with pirates and ruffians.
 
The day Merit turned eighteen she left home and signed up as a crewmember on the first ship she saw in port. It was not a pirate ship of course, but she figured she could learn all there was to know about sailing and the ocean and life away from a doting mother. Her first pirate experience was when her small shipping vessel was attacked by pirates themselves, and instead of cowering in fear she approached the brigands and asked to join them. They laughed at her of course, this young girl who was not really an adult, until she threw a dagger that pinned the first mate’s sleeve to the mast, quick as anything. She was hired on for a trial.
 
Her first pirate crew made her do the worst, dirtiest, backbreaking jobs but she did it all without complaining. She was content to see the stars and smell the salt water and add to her rapidly growing collection of trinkets and tchotchkes. She learned to knit from a boatswain and often volunteered to be lookout in the crow’s nest, as long as she could bring her knitting with her. Life at sea suited her just fine. She’s been living the pirate life for seven years now, and has happily found a better place on the Mistress Valerie as Alden Stormrider’s apprentice--working with the sails, making necessary repairs, checking knots, and anything else he asks.
 
She was, of course, always searching for signs of her father and the crew of the Iron Fang. She knew it was very possible that he had died, or been captured, or been lost at sea, but she has never given up looking for him. Although her searches have been in vain thus far, his location is always on her mind wherever the Mistress Valerie takes her and the crew.