The Sea Falcon

The Joke Killer

If you don't wanna fight , then drown you babies !

Sissico to his men before ramming the Laughing Jack

Ship of prey

The Sea Falcon is one of the many legendary ships roaming the waters of the Shattered Archipelago. Its captain, Sissico, was one of the rare ones foolish enough to fight against the Laughing Jack. In a battle that is famous throughout the world, he finally put an end to the ghost ship's maddening laughter. This is what made it and its crew so legendary amongst sailors. Well, that and the fact that they have some of the weirdest persons on board.

Belonging to captain Sissico, it roams the sea under the banner of Baroness Valya. However, it doesn't seem to always follow her orders, as it sometimes does things unexpected, or contradictory to what the Baroness' men do. This sort of randomness helped the ship in not having so much resource devoted to its destruction by the Water Guard despite its fame and dangerousness. They did help them a couple of times, after all.

Architecture

The Sea Falcon is a standard frigate. Made out of wood, with two sails to move it and three levels. The deck is where most of the activity and the captain's cabin are located. The lower deck, where the crew sleeps and sometimes plays games during the night. The last one is a mix of a small cargo bay and a prison, stockpiling food, alcohol and captives alike.

At first built to serve to raid merchant ships, Sissico added some modifications. The most impressive is the figurehead. In addition to being made of royal Wood, it hides a magi-cannon in its beak. Whenever the falcon opens it, a screech and a blast of magic energy seal the fate of any ship unlucky enough to be caught in its ray. As well, Sissico weaved several protection charms on the ship, making it fire-proof and very light, allowing speeds that should be impossible.

History

Initially built as a ship for one of Valya's pirate fleets, it was given to Sissico after he looked at the ship and declared that he wanted that one, despite it being half-built at the time. Once it was given to him, he immediately took on an entire Water Guard supply caravan by himself and brought all he could take with him back to Valya. This was the first one of his ridiculous adventures, but it was far from the last.

After a while of being undefeated, Sissico decided to give his ship a worthy reputation. not only did he hire a Kernian engineer to put a canon in his figurehead because he thought it was cool, but he started to try and attract the attention of dangerous enemies. One day, during a cloudy sky, his crew spotted the terrifying figure of the Laughing Jack. He then supposedly took a look at it, said "Alright, bet" before turning the ship around towards it despite the scared screaming of his men.

After firing a magi-canon shot at the ship and calling a storm to empower his elemental friend, Sissico rammed the Laughing Jack and flew on board with Storm. In the chaos, gusts of wind threw zombies overboard, and force bolts flew everywhere. The crew was fighting for their lives against the few zombies that had made their way to the deck. Valden came out absolutely baffled at the craziness of Sissico and challenged him to a duel. After summoning a saber made of magic, Sissico rushed to attack the ghost captain, their blades clashing while the rumbling sea had turned into a storm.

After an intense battle, Sissico managed to land a lethal strike on the captain, decapitating him. As all the undeads screamed in agony and the storm increased in strength, a lightning bolt struck the ship and made it explode in a flash of light. Once the storm ended, the remaining sailors saw their captain flying next to a humanoid shape. He laughed as he landed on the deck, declared it was the best fight he had in a while, and returned to harbor with the intangible saber of Valden as his trophy.

Reputation

The Sea Falcon has quite the fearsome reputation. Obviously from all its enhancements, but also because Sissico does things that no man would consider possible, and yet pulls it off anyways. Some legends say that it is as fast as the wind and indestructible. However, the legends are mostly about the captain.

The most well known one is that Sissico is no man, but a spirit or a fae. He dealt with ancient forces a long time ago to be unable to meet his demise, and now rides the sea in search of the one who will put him down. Another one was that he was blessed by Fortunato to have the same luck as the god. No matter what people think about him, they can all agree that he is very crazy.

Captain Sissico "Black Hand"

The captain of the ship, Sissico "Black Hand", inspires a mix of fear and amazement. With his tricks, he does things that nobody could, and it's a common joke on the ship that he's just some crazy man with divine luck. This isn't entirely false, however. Of his true name Sissico Tybron, he lived in a small coastal village, helping his father fish. He always felt the sea calling him, and constantly tried to convince the local fishers to bring him with them. He discovered his magical abilities when he tried to save his father from a group of Drowned by frying them.

As a novice, he disliked all the restrictions put on him, as he was used to the freedom his family gave him. As well, the lack of the vast ocean made him nostalgic. He made many friends and surprised even his teachers with his tricks and acrobatics. He eventually got graduated and was assigned to his old village. However, when he got there, his old friend didn't recognize him anymore, and even his family saw him as a mage before a son. This made him saddened, and he looked at the vastness of the sea, wondering how free he could be. To distract himself from his loneliness, he secretly summoned an Air Elemental to keep him company and to have someone with whom he could duel in a flight contest.

He joined the crew of a small merchant frigate, trying to see how life at sea would be for him. As time passed, he quickly climber the ranks and eventually became the lieutenant. One day a trio of pirate ships led by captain Vanarius came and attacked the frigate. Unleashing all their magical powers, Storm and Sissico devastated the ships in a tempest of energy. At this point, he caught the attention of Baroness Valya, who offered him a deal. If he joined her, he would become the captain of a powerful ship and a great crew. After bidding farewell to the merchants he joined, he became a new captain under the Baroness.

However, Sissico is still the impulsive and adventurous kid he was. So while he follows the orders of Vanya, he mostly does his own little adventure, helping merchants travel safely, sinking rivals for the Water Guards, ramming dangerous ghost ships and other mundane things. Despite how volatile he can be sometimes, Sissico is a powerful mage and a good captain, so Valya doesn't pay much attention to what he's doing as long as he remembers who's in charge. After all, he makes more good than harm, and making an enemy out of one of the rare mage pirates would be a bad idea.

Lieutenant Storm

The crewmates will tell you that the Captain's lieutenant is a bit... strange. Distant and seemingly always disappearing, one of the mates claim he was flying next to the ship one day. Nobody ever saw Storm do it again. That is until that fateful day against the Laughing Jack when he came back and unleashed hell on the cursed ship. The truth is Storm is a Sylph, an Air Elemental bound to the Captain. Now that the crew knows its identity, Storm no longer needs to hide. Many people were shocked to see an elemental on board, but those who went on deck found that the officer is a respectable and polite being.

The reason Storm is on the ship is simply that he was summoned by Sissico to help him a long time ago. At first, he just talked to him from his bottle when Sissico wanted company, and occasionally dueled him at flying contests. When he joined the merchant crew, he created wind in the sails and pulling hostile ships away with his wind powers. But when Sissico got the Sea Falcon, Storm decided to be more than that and became lieutenant. He still sometimes dips out to fly a little pretending to keep an eye over the crewmembers, but he just wants to fly, because he likes it. Maybe, when he saw that young adult summon him, he recognized that desire for freedom and like many of his kind, decided to help him. After all, he has all the time in the world, so why not spend some of it being free with a friend ?