Lieutenant Kalinkski
Born the 3rd of March, 1680, Kalinkski Dragunov (originally Callum Pendragon) was born along a lake near the Albine city of Port Charlotte. When he came of age, he joined the Albine Royal Navy and followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a skilled carpenter aboard the brigantine HMS Fortuna. In 1703, Petty Officer Pendragon would still be serving the Royal Navy and parting his woodworking experience to sailors. When the war between the Principality of the Palischia and the Kingdom of Albion broke out, Pendragon would fight valiantly from aboard HMS Fortuna, although their ship would be forced to take shelter in the bay near Port Charlotte to escape enemy fire once the Palischians took control of Port Charlotte's walls. Shortly thereafter, Palischian cannons would surround HMS Fortuna, the frigate HMS Lionheart, and another corvette named HMS Sapphire. With no options left, Pendragon's captain would surrender and he would be brought ashore to a prison camp for a few weeks. Once the war concluded, his home city of Port Charlotte had become Saint Piotrsgrad and now he was faced with the choice of staying in the newly formed Northern Empire or seeking refuge in the Kingdom of Albion.
Callum Pendragon, now jobless, would assume the name of Kalinkski Dragunov and attempt to establish a carpentry business in Saint Piotrsgrad, but would unfortunately flounder due to his lack of proficiency in the Palischian language. He was ready to end it all, but with word of Tsar Piotr calling all former Albine sailors to take a huge sign-on bonus to serve in the newly-formed Northern Fleet. He would be knighted and commissioned a lieutenant in the Northern Fleet in 1709, being in placed in charge of his old ship HMS Fortuna, now renamed IMS Katyusha and reclassed as a corvette. He was overjoyed to be back at sea and never stepped foot on dry land until he was called to rally under Boyar Palischov, the Northern Fleet's commander for a special military expedition to destroy Grand Maritime Union plantations in the New World. Lieutenant Kalinkski would happily take this mission and sail IMS Katyusha west alongside IMS Saint Nicholas (former HMS Lionheart) and IMS Arabella (former HMS Sapphire) with Boyar Palischov.
In October 1714, the Northern Fleet would cross into the dense howling fog which damaged the convoy profusely, almost sinking IMS Katyusha. Lieutenant Kalinkski would almost be dragged over the railing by a spirit of the damned, but be saved by his first officer, Lieutenant "Zale" Samson. Boyar Palischov, however, would not be so lucky and would be pulled overboard from IMS Saint Nicholas. Once they passed the fog, they arrived in a realm like no other, an almost untouched paradise teeming with the plunder of a bygone civilization and populated only by a myriad of feuding pirate crews. Spending the winter at the newly-established Burevoy Anchorage, Lieutenant Kalinkski would follow the directive of the acting expedition commander, Frigate-Captain Makarov, to find an artifact known as the Shroudbreaker so they can leave the region, known as Varov-More.
Using a journal found by IMS Saint Nicholas' first officer,
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