Patchina Copernicus
Patchina Copernicus (a.k.a. Patches)
Patchina Copernicua grew up in a rather plush area of Ghal Pelor. As a child Patchina also known as Patches was inspired by her parents both well known scientific minds in the Ghal Pelor community. Always a bit on the short side for a gnome she always dreamt big and in her mind nothing was bigger than the ships docked in the harbor outside her window. Every day she would have fantasies about where they went and how they worked. She started drawing schematics and creating small models of ships floating them in the bathtub. Scouring the house for materials to make her next boat float longer move faster and hold more water before capsizing.
At the age of 20 Patches lost both of her parents to a freak accident during one of their experiments because of this Patches inherited a small fortune from her well off parents. Which she immediately invested into her own shipwright company. A month after creating her business she ran out of money not understanding how businesses work she tried to obtain the best materials and and best workers in the city and her small fortune disappeared before a single boat was created.
Now with little to her own name Patches attempted to go to work at one of the many other ship building companies in the city. Systematically being thrown out of each one for a different reason; arguing with the headship builder, making modifications not in the specs to the boat, using different chemicals than the ones allowed leading to fires in the work place. By the age of 30 every ship building company had either kicked her out or fired her.
Always the optimist Patches pushed on! If she couldn't build ships maybe she could be on ships and learn how they can be built better that way. While her size mostly got in the way of the other sailors her intelligence, determination, and keen sense of direction made her an assets to most crews. When strength was needed she invented pulley systems, when size was needed she invented different tools for grappling masts, and when fending off pirates was needed is when she truly shined.
The one thing Patches never sold was an heirloom passed down to her by her father. A gnomish black powder Rifle passed down to him from his father who fought in the Queen's War. At a young age like most things she took it apart and found out how it worked. She keeps it close and tinkers with it trying to improve upon its design whenever she can.
This leads us to why her nickname is Patches. An unfortunate side effect of working with an unstable element like black powder can lead to unfortunate mishaps so Patches face is normally covered in soot and her clothing scared with burn and explosive marks generally covered in patches.
As can be expected most captains do not like their crew dealing with explosives while on a wooden ship so her contracts did not last long in the city of Ghal Pelor and eventually she had to go elsewhere for work, and eventually to Melanthris with the Elves. Where she has worked for the past 60 years where she has made a name for herself both positive and negative as a good worker with sometimes questionable intents for the ship she is working on.
While on one of her many "Ship enhancing" experiments she attempted to remove a Figurehead which proved to be more difficult than she expected because of how the sculpture seemed to be fused rather than bolted to the ship. On closer inspection after nearly tearing one of the arms off she discovered it wasn't a figurehead at all and it was a automaton fused to the ship! She immediately recognized the importance of this find and rather than telling the Captain that he had a gold mine on his hands she implored him that she could get it working and he would be invaluable to the crew. So she began to work tirelessly to get him to work trying everything she knew to no avail.
On one fateful night while working on the machine she heard angry shouting from up above and the sound of swords clashing. She grabbed her gun and was greeted by a melee of pirates attacking the crew and bravely stood her ground helping defend her ship. Exhausted after repelling the raiders she returned to the robot and expelling all her rage slammed her closed fist on the machine yelling "Why won't you work!" At that moment the lights began to ignite on the machine so she ran to find the captain to share the good news. And this is how her and Fuck Pile became what some could call friends. But never Patches.
While doing her best to not draw the ire of her Captain and modify the ship too much. With the addition of this incredible creation Patches felt an immediate rush of jealousy that the crew were no longer thanking her for her simple creations that helped their every day voyage they were now amazed by this walking and talking machine. How could they! All it did was save half of the crews life that night where she had saved them countless hours of work on their voyages! but as their voyages went on she slowly began to feel less jealous towards Fuck Pile as it seemed to have no ego in its work which she could not understand but had a similar work ethic to her own.
Slowly she gave him her begrudging respect as they worked the ship together but now she had something to aspire to something to judge all of her creations against! As she lies awake in her bed at night gently pressing the touch stone left to her by her mother with her last recorded words. "And remember Patchina, if you are going to do anything make sure its the biggest *Explosions as audio cuts*"
Fiesty Gnome Artificer Shipwright with a drive to make ships faster,stronger, and more explosive.
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Alignment
Chaotic Good
Children
Gender
Female
Eyes
Amber
Hair
White with a purple hue
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Light
Height
3'2"
Weight
52lbs
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