Makeda

RACE

Human

GENDER

Female

LIFE STAGE

Young Adult

BODY SIZE

Medium

BUILD

Average

Something was very wrong. The ship was tilted at an alarming angle, water was gushing under the cabin door, and she hadn't heard the captain yelling orders for at least ten minutes. She tried the door. It was of course, locked. The captain knew her for a wily and disobedient slave and always locked her in. Rolling around on the cabin floor, she spied a dinner fork. She bent one prong, inserted it in the lock and twisted. Click! But the moment she opened the door, a storm-driven wave of water poured in. Outside, things looked desperate. The shop was rolling helplessly, and there were no crewmen in sight. Most likely, they had taken the only boat and left the captain’s slave behind. Clinging to the railing, she worked her way toward the prow for a better look. It was then, over the roar of the wind, she heard screams coming from the cargo hold. Grunting she lifted the cargo hatch and saw desperate, pale faces looking back. Slaves! Very likely freshly taken in Podolia and intended for the market in Istanbul. They had crowded around the ladder and were struggling to get out, but water kept pouring down on them. "One at a time!" she yelled, but no one heard or paid attention. She grabbed the nearest one and hauled her up, then the next. Some kindly soul pushed a blond girl up and Makeda grabbed her. Then a big woman in boots pushed her way to the top. At that moment the ship shuddered with an ominous crash. It had struck something. The hull was rapidly filling with water, and there was nothing to be done for those trapped below. She whole ship spun around with terrible force and knocked her off her feet. When she got back up, she saw that the waves were rapidly carrying it toward a rocky shore. Abandon ship! She went over the railing and into the water. In all the roaring tumult, it was impossible to swim, but the waves were carrying her, along with everything else, to the shore. After five minutes of frantic thrashing about, she fell exhausted on the beach. Alive! She could hardly believe her good luck. After a minute of reflection, though, it occurred to her that her luck was not so good. She was somewhere on the coast of Turkey, and Turks were not kind to escaped slaves, and it seemed unlikely she would ever see Abyssinia again. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she couldn’t stay here, she had to get moving before scavengers came to inspect the shipwreck. She got up to look for survivors and anything useful the sea might have brought up.

GOAL & MOTIVE

It is 1648. A Turkish ship with a cargo of fresh-caught slaves was pushed off course and abandoned by the crew, leaving the captain's personal slave locked in his cabin. Makeda was taken by Arab slavers as a young girl and sold to the Turks, eventually being purchased by a ship captain in Istanbul and then shipwrecked. Her immediate goal is to gather what survivors and supplies she can and leave the area. Getting back to Abyssinia does not seem practical. The nearest possible refuge would the Kingdom of Imereti (West Georgia), some hundreds of miles to the east, where King Alexander III might show her hospitality because of her Christian faith. It's not a good plan, but it's all she's got.

NEMESIS

Turkish slavers, really any Turks, though she might find some people to help her, especially in a Christian community.

Skills and Stats

ATTRIBUTES

Great

Health

Legendary

Agility

Great

Strength

Great

Reasoning

Great

Willpower

Legendary

Perception

SKILLS

Trade

Fair

History

Poor

Oratory

Legendary

Stealth

Superb

Medicine

Mediocre

Survival

Superb

Athletics

Mediocre

Etiquette

Good

Horsemanship

Poor

Investigation

Mediocre

Melee Weapons

Mediocre

Ranged Weapons

Mediocre

GIFTS

Quiet Coordination

Provisioning Under Pressure

Basic Survivor Triage

Weighs Testimony

Discreet Passage

Coastal Wayfinding

FAULTS

escaped slave

suffers prejudice because of her race

Inventory

No items yet.