Portside
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The Leopard
Arranged marriages, illegimate children and torrid, short-lived trysts are nothing if not exciting and are just a few of the experiences haunting Aimery's past. At 37 years of age, the leopard is not short of adventuresome stories, be it embellished sailing tales from his many years at sea or even fondly-recalled memories of lost loves long past.
His story begins in Kasuria, in a weathered house set on the cliffs overlooking a sizeable shipyard just outside of Port Lethora, where he was born Aimery Matthew Vaughn to Sebastian and Annette Vaughn, two proud parents and owners of a thriving trading operation Aimery was meant to inherit.
Educated by private schooling, Aimery was brought up with a sense of entitlement and importance, though after setting foot onto one of his family's ships at the tender age of 9, Aimery began to resent his future role of business ownership.
Doing whatever possible to escape his responsibilities at a young age, Aimery took to the sea, found mercy in the freedom it granted him, and left the shores of Kasuria to Captain various merchant vessels at his whim. For many years the times he was on land was sparce and became increasingly far and few in between until his parents, who's hopes and dreams lie in their only son, saw it neccessary to intervene.
A spoiled, only child and still a boy at heart even well into his 30's, it was only with great reluctance did he retire from sailing so that he could fulfill the desires of his family and accept his unwanted birthright, very nearly being blackmailed into doing it. Given a choice, Aimery's claim to the business and inheritance would be renounced unless he
gave up the sea to live as a responsible adult, one his parents would be proud to see at the head of their company.
In order to accomplish this, a treaty was arranged with a rivaling merchant family in the Olde World, securing a safe supply and trade route direct to and from each continent with
the agreement of marriage, a union that would be both secure and benefit each family in turn. Though the marriage between Daevi Kapoor and Aimery Vaughn was short lived, the arrangement was still valid between each merchant family and they divorced, but not without first bringing to life Aimery's pride and joy, the boy who will grow up to be the
man who takes over Vaughn Trade and Shipping Co just as he was.
It was only through sheer luck that, just shy of a year after he'd last set sail, Aimery was requested to captain a vessel to make the short trip to an Isle in order to intercept a shipment of cargo which was being imported from the Olde World. The leopard took to the sea like no time had ever passed, his true calling, though once docked where his crew was to secure the shipment, fate lead him in a new direction, opening new doors and broadening a horizon he is only just now glimpsing at.
