Brandr’s grandfather was Bjorn the Bloody Axe, a Free Captain of the Shackles nearly 60 years ago. Unfortunately, the family line descended into decadence and sloth after the Bloody Axe retired to the Land of the Linnorm Kings with his vast wealth. His sons and daughters squandered the pirate’s hoard on lavish parties, fashionable clothes, and rich food. Only a few decades after old Bjorn’s death, the family fortune was gone, and the family had scattered across the Inner Sea to evade debt collectors.
Brandr grew up in a household defined by wretched excess. His mother drank herself to death while he was still a boy, and Brandr’s father, Gunnar, spent most of his time drifting from court to court in Taldor and Cheliax. This left Brandr to be raised by the old servants at the ancestral hall, many of whom had been crewmen on the Bloody Axe’s pirate ship. They filled Brandr’s head with tales of daring raids and deadly storms in the Shackles, and taught him all they knew about sailing, fighting, and the freebooter’s life.
Shortly before Brandr came of age, a gang of toughs seized the family hall to cover his father’s outstanding debts in Taldor. After a pitched battle where Brandr and the aged servants tried to fight off the thugs, he was forced to flee. Brandr signed on with a Qadiran trading ship, and spent nearly a year honing his sailor-craft and building up a network of friends on the Ruby of Katheer. When his ship accepted a consignment of luxuries bound for Sargova, Brandr started a planning a mutiny to seize the ship and take his first step toward becoming a Free Captain of the Shackles pirates.
Unfortunately, a massive storm blew in, and thanks to the incompetence of the Qadiran helmsman, the Ruby heeled into the wind and a massive wave swept many of the crew overboard, including Brandr. He survived the storm, only to find himself adrift in the trackless sea…
