Mike Kelly is a young Irishman (lad) in the 1700's. He elected to live a life of piracy, unknowingly following a long family tradition, by stealing away on The Fledgling, the famed ship where his elder brother is Gun Master.
Mike is short and wiry, with messy red hair and deeply sun tanned skin. His clothes are too large, as they are stolen from properly sized sailors, and he generally wears an aggressive, challenging expression. He has a tendency to pull back his shoulders and puff out his chest to make himself look more imposing.
Mike is hot-tempered, with a fuse about the size of a snipe's beak. He'll do what he's told...when hell freezes over. There are only a select few who Mike truly respects, and with both of his parents gone missing and an epic hero of an elder brother who didn't even know he'd been born, Mike feels a great need to prove himself.
Mike owns no tools of his own. He simply borrows from those around him. He does have a tendency to bite when in a scuffle, however.
Mike's mother and father were one of the couples who were unfortunate enough to have their beloved, plucky son press ganged into the British Navy. And then they found out that they were expecting another baby...and nine months later, Mike was born.
Mike was always described by his mother as inhumanly energetic. When his parents mysteriously left, and his sooth-saying grandmother said they'd never be returning, Mike moved in with her. This lasted for about five months, during which Mike and his fellow young men caused heaps of trouble for the British Navy that dared come to their village. But soon the old lady tired out and sent him to find his brother, who by this point had become a national hero.
Mike worked his way from ship to ship, following his grandmother's directions until he found The Fledgling, which was at the time on a quest to rid her First Mate, Richelle Oaken, of a fatal curse. After a series of misunderstandings, Mike was embraced by his brother and joined the crew.