Captain BlackBones

[*]Name: Bandit Axelrad
[*]Nicknames: Bandit, Quartermaster, Captain Black Bones
[*]Gender: Male
[*]Birthplace: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
[*]Species: Werewolf
[*]Class: Pirate
[*]Birthday: July 17, 1993
[*]Occupation: Privateer, Hunter of Supernatural Hunters
[*]Body Type: Bulky muscle
[*]Height: 6 feet, 2 inches
[*]Weight: 250 lbs
[*]Apparent Age: 26
[*]Actual Age: 29
[*]Hair: Brown with steaks of blonde that have been bleached by the sun
[*]Eyes: Deep Brown
[*]Handedness: Right
[*]Scars/Tattoos: Tattoos on every inch...every inch
[*]Relationship Status: Mated to Serenity Grace Vanguard
[*]Sexual Orientation: Straight
[*]Personality: Authoritative, aggressive, approachable if you are brave, Loves the ones close to him fiercely, Loyal
[*] Resides In: On his ship, The Howling Tide

As you can tell, I'm a pirate. A very proud pirate. I wasn't always a pirate though. I too had a story before I became what I am. Here it goes!

I was born in the most beautiful place in the world, Cairns. It is a city in Tropical North Queensland, Australia, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest. It is almost on the equator so it is blazin’ hot in the summer and mild in the winter. We can swim year ‘round though, which is the best part. The water never gets that cold, which is why the reef is so huge! But I’m not here to give you a lesson in the ecosystem of a corral reef. I’m a bloody pirate! I just know a few things. Anyway, I was born in a tropical paradise. I’ve got an older brother, Victor, he’s only got about a year and a half on me though. People thought us twins growing up. We both loved the ocean. Never was there a day we went out in it. We swam, surfed, fished, dived for clams and such. We never went to school. Mum taught us to read and write and required us to read a book a week and then summarize it for her to keep our skills sharp. I am formally uneducated, but I am not dumb by any stretch of the imagination. I challenge you to find anyone who can recite poetry to you as well as I can. Plus, living on a pirate ship, there is lots of down time and I pick up books in every port we travel to.

Victor and I were always fascinated by ships we would see on the horizon. We would play all the time that we were pirates and practiced sword fighting with sticks that would wash up on the beach. We talked about it as we grew up and one day a pirate ship landed on our shores. It wasn’t often that a ship that big braved the reef, but this one did. The Fairest Maiden she was called, and she was glorious to behold. I fell in love with her at first sight. I talked Victor into following the men as they climbed off the ship and make their way into town. We were little scamps; I was eleven and Victor almost thirteen. Victor was the one who was brave enough to approach some of the men and asked to speak to the captain. After much taunting and teasing of us by the men, and us not backing down, they saw they truly meant what we said about wanting to see the captain. We were taken to him and brought on board.

Victor was made a deckhand and I was a Powder Monkey, which means I got to assist the gun crew. It was the most dangerous work on a ship. We were treated harshly, barely paid and were seen as expandable. Powder Monkeys had little hope of promotion, and were often deserting. But not me! I was so in love with the ship and the life that there was no way I was going anywhere. When I was nearly thirteen, I got promoted to deckhand with Victor. He taught me and I learned fast. I put my back into my work and thrived. The harsh treatment of the crew only hardened me and thickened my skin. Victor was a softer soul than I and lost the romance for the pirate way of life. He wasn’t suited for the constant bickering and fighting that came with living amongst criminals and the dregs of society. Before he was eighteen Vitor called it quits and hopped on another ship destined for home. Out of the shadow of my brother, I thrived. I no longer followed his lead in everything I did and could stop worrying about his approval. I broke my back day after day and proved that I could follow orders and lead at the same time.



Eventually I was promoted to Boatswain (‘bosun’), which is a junior officer. I started supervising all activities on the ship and learned how to do anchoring to naval provisions. I reported directly to the Quartermaster and became his shadow. I respected him with such regard that over time he started to treat me like a son. He learned he could trust me with all things and that my loyalty to him was unwavering. I observed him and learned from him. The captain knew and appreciated my desire to be just like him. When I was twenty-five we bit off more than we could chew when we went up against a Spanish fleet that hailed from Havana and was carrying the King’s dowry for his new Queen. The flagship of the fleet was so weighed down with cannons they blew us to smithereens. We had to make for shore and it took two months hard work to patch up The Maiden. Bones, my Quartermaster and father, perished during the battle and was lost. I was appointed the new Quartermaster as I was closest to him and was most likely to perform the job as he did.

After Captain, the most authority on a pirate ship was the Quartermaster. I was the captain's right hand. I supervised which men boarded a target vessel when we were attacking other ships and, I got to lead the attack myself. After the takeover, it was my decision what loot was taken and was left for the fishes. I was also the one who ensured the loot’s fair division amongst the crew. My share of booty was the same as the captain's: double the share of an ordinary seaman. So, I was doing quite well for myself in a short amount of time. The downside of the job, it was me who dished out the punishment. I had to flog many of my fellow crew members. Though, I will say, that because of my severe lashings, I didn’t have to give them often. Now comes the best part: When a pirate captain captured a second ship and wished to maintain a fleet of his own, the quartermaster was the prime candidate to become its captain, which is exactly what happened to me!

We commandeered a French slaving vessel, La Concorde, and she became mine. With the Frenchmen dead I freed the slaves and gave them the option to become my crew or get dropped off on our next stop and fend for themselves. Ninety percent of the men joined with me. The women and child and ten percent of the men were allowed to leave. My new crew and I set about converting her into a fearsome pirate ship. When we were done with her renovations, the vessel had forty cannons onboard and bore the name The Howling Tide. You did not have to be a werewolf to become a crewmember though, roughly, forty percent were werewolves. Because of my status as Captain, I was also the Alpha of the pack. I was, however, very clear that my pack was not required to follow me into every battle. Now and then, when I ran into my brother who had taken up a kind of piracy, I helped him in battles against hunters of supernatural hunters. My pack could fight from the ship, using the cannons and keeping the vessel safe. But I did not ask them to join me on land. If I died, the pack and the ship would live on. My Quartermaster would take rank as Captain and Alpha. Thus far, I am still going strong.