Maelstrom Harkory
Name: Ravi Harkory
Alias: Captain Harkory, the Maelstrom
Age: 49
Occupation: Bounty Hunter, formerly of the Navy, Honorably Discharged
Affiliation: Independent, formerly the Navy and Golden Empire
Home: Sarbon Island, Big Blue
Family: Marin Harkory (wife, deceased), Lilin Harkory (daughter)
Status: Alive
Bounty: None

Appearance:

A tall, lean and long-limbed man of dark complexion, Harkory cuts an austere figure, intimidating when he wants to be and statuesque when he would rather keep things civil. His skin is a deep brown, shifting from a somewhat paler tone to a distinctly darker one now that he has returned to life on the high seas, and he typically shaves his head and wears a navy blue turban to cover it. A handlebar moustache of blue-black hair decorates his upper lip, wide and thick and styled carefully with wax to create two careful curls at the end. His dark-brown eyes are narrow and somewhat stern of cast, but they fill with undeniable warmth when he (occasionally) smiles.

Harkory tends to dress in clothing reminiscent of his time with the Navy, but more deeply linked to the traditions of his home country. A thick sherwani coat of heavy dark-blue fabric reaches from his neck to his knees and is tightly buttoned with silver to the waist, while underneath he wears loose-fitting pyjama trousers for ease of movement and simply black-leather shoes with curling toes. While he does not favour much adornment, a silver seal pin marks his former service to the Navy and he often wears another thick circular silver pin in his turban.

Personality:

Ravi's immediate impression to most people is one of formality, austerity and courtesy. He is unfailingly to polite to everyone that he meets, a gentleman through and through even when confronting remorseless villains or notorious criminals. Linked to this is his calm and composed nature, which allow him to face danger, excitement and the passion of others with resolute dignity. His measured body language, facial expression and tone of voice do not always extend to his choice of words, however, and thus when placed in difficult circumstances he occasionally confuses those around him by saying extremely emotionally charged things in the same cordial tone.

Despite his seeming obsession with courtesy and propriety, Ravi fully enjoys the company of those who are more frank, unrestrained or impolite so long as he is able to detect that they are good people at heart. Those who are selfish or cruel to others he immensely dislikes, however, and none more so than those that hide their evil nature behind politeness and properness. He is highly fond of drinking tea, and occasionally bemuses others by sitting down, taking out his tea set and beloved heat dial and preparing a pot during high-tension situations.

Abilities:

As a previous Captain of the Navy, Harkory is a skilled seaman, a talented leader, an experienced navigator and, of course, a powerful warrior. Having worked his way up from swabbie to Captain, and being a naturally disciplined and intelligent individual, he has the capacity to fill a number of roles on a ship, including captain, first mate, navigator, bosun and helmsman. He is also a skilled strategist and tactician, capable of viewing a combat situation objectively and analytically and ensuring and he and his allies are able to work together efficiently to achieve success.

In battle, Harkory is foremost a swordsman. A traditionalist user of Western-style weapons, he carries a two-handed longsword in battle, though he is occasionally known to make use of a large longbow and arrows as well. His sword-fighting style is based upon wide sweeping attacks, punctuated occasionally by fluid and near-unstoppable thrusts and nuanced feints. His title “Maelstrom” comes from two particular techniques. The first is the Whirlpool Cast, in which Harkory draws foes into range by swinging his sword in a horizontal circle cut that seems to fall short of his targets and leave him open before following up with a second swing, far more powerful and capable of cutting down opponents in a wide radius around him. The second is the Storm Spring, a leaping attack in which he swings powerfully downwards with his sword, the momentum of the cut flipping his body in a double forward somersault before he skillfully lands on his feet. Both of these motions are so swift and well-practiced that they create small vortexes of wind, and to the untrained eye they can simply make it appear that Harkory is simply spinning on his feet or leaping through the air over his opponent's heads before the whirlwinds that he creates lay waste to his opponents.

Ravi is also a practiced archer, though he does not always carry his heavy longbow into battle, preferring to reserve it for occasions when it is called for. A skilled and strategic marksman, he was known for using his bow to launch flaming arrows into his opponents' gunpowder reserves during ocean skirmishes and ship battles, but he is equally adept at simply skewering a stationary foe with a four-foot arrow at more than half a mile distance.

Equipment:

Harkory's cherished steel longsword goes by the modest name of Pamela, but is a C-Class sword of some renown that he earned during his career with the Navy when he successfully outfought the pirate captain who wielded it at the time, Lamorge. A heavy Western sword with a simple cruciform grip and spherical iron pommel, Pamela is a full six feet in length, with a foot-long grip and five foot blade. Standing just short of seven foot himself, the sword nonetheless appears large and unwieldy in his hands. Nonetheless it is incredibly well-balanced and he wields it with preternatural speed and finesse.

His longbow, which he has dubbed Ennis, is only a little shorter than his sword and made of thick, dark wood compounded with Sea King bone. He makes use of both broadhead arrows for unarmoured targets and hardened bodkin arrowheads which are capable of punching through an inch of steel.

One of Ravi's most cherished possessions is a heat dial from the sky islands of distant Dark Blue, brought back for him by one of his compatriots in the Navy when he still served. Capable of storing heat inside it and then releasing it when activated, he most often uses it as a portable stove with which to boil his kettle for tea.

Current Story:

Ravi served with the Navy from youth until the age of 30, rising to the rank of Captain and serving with distinction in that role for a number of years before he chose to retire and returned home to the prosperous country of Sarbon where he was born. There he reunited with his paramour from his younger years, Marin, whom he soon married and shortly thereafter had a daughter, his only child Lilin. What passed after that is not a matter of public knowledge, but it is known that he has recently left his home again to work independently as a bounty hunter, exploding onto the scene with the successful capture of Silver Scythe Roan and Fillip the Lodestone.