Detlef Wolter

The Captain

• "A merchantman who enjoys tales of piracy and legendary booty way too much and dreams of becoming a famous adventurer."

• Basic Info

  • Name: Detlef Wolter
  • Gender: Male
  • Played by: UAZ-469
  • Race: Human
  • Age: 45

• Appearance

  A bit short with only 1,5 meters height, but with a thick black beard and some girth (Likely from alcohol), one could put a pointed cap on his head and call him a garden gnome. Though just to show others how much he means it with bringing back the era of wooden ships and iron men back into space, he wears the outfit of a pirate captain: A blue coat, a white shirt, brown trousers, black boots and a tricorne hat - which is just a costume. But no matter how much he wants to be Blackbeard, he's just too short.

• Personality

  Since he was a child, his father always told him bedtime stories from the golden age of piracy, of freedom, large battles, betrayal and, most importantly, incredible treasures: Enough to make kings of each crewman. Nevermind that those were entirely fictional and draw their sources from common portrayals in media. But those stories would always fire Detlef's fantasies and soon he knew what he wanted to do one day: Travel through space in the search of adventure and booty, the stuff legends were made of.
  
  Because of this, he is always up for a new adventure in the hopes of making a fortune through treasure and finally making his mark in history. Otherwise his expenses for ship and crew are just too high to afford voyages "just for fun" and will try everything to make a quick buck. Which is made worse by the fact that Detlef loves wasting money on pirate-merchandise, much to the annoyance of his friend and first mate, Marti.
  Although if one spends some time with him, one might get the impression that he isn't suited for adventures at all: while he is a nice, polite, very curious, and a bit dumb guy who deeply cares about his crew and passengers, he's too afraid of conflicts and will back off immediately once intimidated or losing an argument. Also, he'll do everything to not having to do the dirty work himself, often coming up with some excuse or arguing on how exactly he isn't the right man for a task. But nevertheless, should he end up to be the unlucky one, he'll still do his best.
  Don't even try to bring him into combat, as he has no combat experience at all and will likely flee.
  
  Detlef's love for everything pirate-related has led to him adapting some commonly used terms, even when he doesn't exactly know what they mean in the first place. Attempting to incorporate pirate-speak into his speech was quickly met with mockery though, so he had stopped it since.
  
  But whatever you do, never attack his crew or the ship.

• Abilities

  Having spent many years on his ship and reading books about piracy, Detlef is an extremely talented navigator, who will always find an efficient route to his destination. Though if the chosen route is in fact a good one, is an entirely different question altogether.
  
  But for all his experiences, he's an awful helmsman. He can steer the ship, just don't expect for the vessel, possible goods and the persons onboard to come out unscathed.
  
  During all these years, he took the "piratey way" a step further, and learned on how to play an accordion, with several shanties he could play flawlessly from memory. Mostly to drive way boredom on longer voyages or to lift up the spirits.
  
  He helped his parents running their restaurant for maritime cuisine often after school. Given the right ingredients, he can create various dishes, mostly for passengers.

• Equipment

  Apart from his clothing, he carries a compass, and sometimes a flintlock pistol with him. The pistol though was illegally modified, like Marti's musket, into a lasergun, and a quite accurate (but weak) one. But he's too much of a coward and too inept at combat to use it efficiently. Also, he keeps the gun inside a drawer of his desk to not get into trouble with the local authorities when he leaves the vessel.

• Companions

  Given that Detlef can't afford a proper crew, he's travelling with his childhood-friend Marti alone - a slim, tall man around the same age as him, always with his reading-glasses on and actually possessing combat experience from being born into a militaristic family.
  
  He shares the same love for the age of sail. But while the captain is mostly interested in the pirate's life, Marti focuses on the colonial powers. Particularly on the East India Company, trying to comprehend how they could build up such a massive commercial empire in foreign territory. Also, to not give the impression to strangers that both Detlef and Marti are just some desillusional wannabe-pirates out to conquer the galaxy, he dressed as a Dutch mariner.
  
  In contrast to the captain's upbeat nature, Marti is calm, reserved and distanced, as he prefers to keep it professional at all times. Also, he isn't hesitating to show his annoyance at Detlef's antics and sometimes stupid decisions, though he will always be at his side when his friend got into trouble again.
  He takes the job of the helmsman and is responsible for the security onboard. For the later task, he comes armed with an old-fashioned musket, which was illegally turned into a lasergun. Add Marti's excellent gunnery to it and he becomes a dangerous foe in combat situations, who won't stop at anything to protect passengers and his friend with a few well-aimed shots.

• Background

  Kicked out from his parent's home and restaurant-business after a certain..."incident" at a young age, he has since resorted to travel through the galaxy with his best friend Marti on his personal ship. Given the costs of maintaining his vessel and dream, he's forced into the life of a merchant. One day, at least he hopes so, he would finally gather enough money to at least explore the galaxy at his own will, and not being restricted to work from contract to contract just to keep the vessel afloat.