Zhaoli, The Pirate Queen of the Red Jade Fleet

The Pirate Queen, The Bane of the Ocean, The Storm Queen, The Scourge of the Emerald Sea, Peng-Slayer, Lady of Blades

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Thanks to the blessings of the dead dragon god, she has super human like abilities and is in perfect health. Tall and with some muscle.

Body Features

Scars of countless boarding drills and battles with beasts and men alike.

Specialized Equipment

Wielding the Blade of Hizhu, this blade is embued with the storms and thunder of the sky, and is said to be able to cleft any great sea beast or kraken in twain. This coupled with her super human abilities makes her a formidable opponenet. She also sports two master crafted pistols made from some of the best dwarven gun smiths in the world she has named Fortune and Danger, which are said to be as powerful as a cannon. She also has talismans of a Fei Fei fox, and is rumored to even keep one as a pet for good luck.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The coming of the Jade Empress represents a time both beautiful and horrifying to the ancient lands of Catai. It has seemingly brought an end to the limitless civil wars that plagued the land (though skirmishes between nobles can still happen, they never get as out of control as they once were) but at the cost of the throne being drained of energy into the Jade Empress, and the destruction of countless thousands of years of religious history and customs. Even though the Jade Empress would like all to believe the land is united, there are countless whispers and conspiracies abound. However while the noble courts bicker and whisper of schemes and maccinations, one woman is whispered amongst the harbor folk in equal revreance and terror. Some even whisper that this woman could perhaps prove a legitmate contender or challenge for the throne of the Catai empire. This woman is named Zhaoli, the Pirate Queen and Captain of the Red Jade Fleet.
It is said she hails from a poor port town in the Nachao Province, the town being named Nanliang. It is a small town, and not a wealthy one, but a convienet port for sailors to dock at when going up and down the Catai coast. By all accounts Zhaoli began her early life as a child helping around town in various services. However, the city was almost completly burned to the ground one fateful day, Zhaoli's parents killed in the inferno as well as the majority of the towns folk. It is believed this was done because the town of Nanliang still held on to some of its old beliefs, something not liked by the Jade Empress, and so the town was made into an example. Only at the age of 8, her parents last act was to push her upon a boat and send it floating away from the harbor into the sea, praying for any god or dragon to be merciful to the child as they were dragged away by soldiers.
It is unkown how long she spent floating, and Zhaoli herself isn't entirely sure as that time is a blur to her, but some whisper that sea nymphs helped carry her boat and whisper words of wisdom into her ears as she slept, and soon her small rowboat was discovered by the pirate ship known as The Dragon Child. The crew were astounded at finding a rowboat with only a little girl in it so far from port, and captain Tan Chen was apprehensive of taking the child into the crew until a cleric mentioned that this could be a sign of the divines or whatever gods are looking upon the waves. So it was that the child was brought into the crew, though being the smallest and youngest she had to fend for herself. However even the crew was surprised by her fierce nature as she grew older with the ship, always survivng countless battles. She would always be found in the earliest of morning perched atop the crows nest, scouting for any ships or land. This quick learning of the pirate life led her to raise up in ranks, eventually becoming the first mate of one captain Ren Gang.
It is said that on the last voyage of Ren Gang, they found a strange island never before seen in the Emerald Sea, said to contain some sort of treasure from sailors from Nangwa and Sea Elven Corsairs. Upon landing, the island was said to contain all manner of beasts and horrors, but Zhaoli bravely fought a path through the monsters and demons with pistol and blade. Said to have scored the heads of a hundred demons, their blood seemingly trickled into a well that opened a secret passageway deep underground. At the end of this dungeon was a jian sword, coiled up in a great statue of a dragon like figure. However, a terrifying bodyguard was left behind, a Peng, and it killed Ren Gang as it tore him limb from limb. However Zhaoli was able to beat the Peng away, causing it to flee temporarily, and after mourning her fallen captain she approached the blade. 
No one knows what she saw, but she claims that the ancient Catai dragon god of thunder and waves, known as Hiszhu, revealed itself to her and marked her as his champion. However when told to bow, she refused, claiming that no man or dragon would dare command her, for none were as worthy as captain Ren. This, it turned out, was a test, that she had passed, for a pirate should not bow down before anyone, and with its last dying breathe the dragon god embued Zhaoli with power, and the ability to wield the blade of the dragon god. Being able to control thunder and lightning, she returned to her ship with her captains body, carrying it while fighting off the last monsters of the island, and ordered her crew to chase after the beast that slew their captain. The fighting was intense, as waves as high as the sky crashed around the beast and the Dragon Child, but in the end Zhaoli was able to slay the great beast with the crack of thunder and the swing of her blade.
After giving a proper send off to Ren Gang, she was named Captain of the ship, as without her none of the crew would be alive at this moment. Following her ascension to captain, she began pulling in favors Ren Gang had made in his life, and contacting other pirate ships around the Emerald Sea. Those that resisted she made short work of, and soon in just 5 years she had amassed a sizeable fleet, calling it the Red Jade Fleet. It's greatest mark of fame though was the Raid of Jiaochun, where Zhaoli launched a devestating surprise raid upon the capital city of the Chanchi province, being one of the most welathy cities in the empire. Enraged, the navies of the Jade Empress were dispatched, even including some of the royal guard ships to quell the pirates, but even after blockading the city, the Red Jade Fleet managed to fight their way out with cunning and the power of thundererous heavens. The fighting was so brutal that while the Red Jade Fleet had suffered lossess, the loot brought back ment they could rebuild quickly, while the Cataian naval fleet was ravaged to a point that only in the past 6 years has it been brought back to relative full strength. Since this raid, Zhaoli has proven to be a constant annoyance for trade lanes going into Catai, something that now foreign nations are becoming concerned over. While the lanes had always been pirate infested, now the pirates of the sea whispered that there was a new ruler of the Emrald Sea, the Pirate Queen Zhaoli.

Social

Social Aptitude

Zhaoli is known to be stern and yet easy going amongst her crew. She is a paragon of strength but also of juding good moral character. She seemingly takes on an almost motherly aspect as she views the crew as her family, and she attracts new crew mates that typically come from a similar backround of orphans or outcasts of their lands. However when in battle, she is as fierce and terrifying as a dragon, and though she enforces a code of conduct amongst her pirate crews, make no mistake that she is still a ruthless pirate woman. Treasure and gold can sometimes only be secued with blade and shot after all. However amongst her crew, as stated before she cares deeply for her crew and so few try to betray her as they are as loyal to her as she is to them.

Hobbies & Pets

She has a wide collection of pets. Her favorite being a red panda named Rojo, and a Cataian Grass Owl named Moki. Recnetly she has actually found herself in the ownership of many animals from Al-Hinoso, raided from palaces of course. These being tigers, dire wolves, and even an elephant, though these large creatures she supposedly keeps where ever her secret headquarters is, in some sort of large zoo. Other than that, she has a fondness for drink and dance, and of storytelling.

Current Status

Leading the Red Jade Fleet

Age

40

Pronouns

She/Her

Sex

Female

Hair

Brown, Long

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Fair

Height

5'9

Belief/Deity

Wuxahnism