Cheryl Sheppard

Deck Hand Cheryl Sheppard

Cheryl is a natural seafarer, having spent most of her life on the waves, following the death of her mother. Many who know Cheryl, know that behind her young, feminine appearance, there is a foul-mouthed, grog loving sea-dog, as tough as they come. Having fought off pirates attacking merchant vessels, and even, playing the part of the pirate in raids, Cheryl knows how to use a blade. As one of the newer members of Helga Stormchild's mercenary company, Cheryl has found it challenging, adopting her fighting style from ship-ship combat, to fighting on firm ground, so, after the Heritor declared a voyage to the Ghosts, Cheryl was all to eager to get back on the deck of a ship, and feel the salt breeze in her hair.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Slender, lean-muscled

Apparel & Accessories

South-eastern Style merchant robes, smoke-leaf pouches

Specialized Equipment

Hand-to-hand combat, ship sailing

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Cheryl was born and raised on a farm, near the port town of Kellos. Her mother was in an abusive relationship with Cheryl's father. Cheryl her self received regular beatings most days for the smallest of things. Cheryl always believed her father wanted a son, and was angry at the world for giving him a daughter. Cheryl could do anything the other farm hands in the town could, though her father could never see it. When her mother passed away, Cheryl was only seven years of age. Fearing her Father, Cheryl fled from her house in the night, making her way down to the port, and stowing away on a merchant vessel. The ship was well at sea, when a deck hand discovered her, hidden away inside a canvas covered crate.
Instead of having the young girl thrown overboard, the captain put the girl to work. impressed with how she handled all her tasks, and how well she took lo life on the sea, the Captain kept her among his crew. Cheryl thrived with life at sea as she grew older. She even earned the respect of some of the tougher members of the crew after she proceeded to break several arms and noses of a group of stevedores at one port, after they shouted vulgar suggestions to the young woman. Her skills with a cutlass, improved greatly, as her ship was often plagued by corsairs and pirates. Once or twice, the captain ordered his own crew to raid other ships when times were hard. Cheryl, gladly leaping onto the other ship and making off with stores her own ship sorely needed.
At the age of twenty three, just off the coast of Magus port, a great storm came blowing in from the northern horizon. A huge wave caught the crew of the ship by surprise, capsizing the vessel. Cheryl fell into the ocean, grabbing hold of a loose barrel, as another wave slammed down on the ship, splitting it in half. Over the roar of the wind, rain and the waves, she heard the cries of her crew mates as they struggled in the sea. something was dashed across her head, knocking her out cold. When she came to, She was lying on a beach, several miles from Magus port. She had only the sodden clothes on her back and, by some miracle, her cutlass still in it's sheath, tied to her waist. She could see no others from her ship alive, but many dead crewmen were washed up on the beach. burying those that she could, she stumbled up the beach and began to walk toward Magus port. She hadn't walked far when she encountered a company of mercenary warriors, led by Heritor Helga Stormchild, marching toward Magus port. Cheryl was welcomed among them for the relatively short journey to the port. There, she asked around for any signs of survivors from the shipwreck, but all she heard was of the bodies and cargo washed up along the coast. With a heavy heart, she turned to a Tavern by the port, for a few drinks to help her deal with the loss of the friends she had made among the crew, and the end of her life at sea. One of the captains from Helga's Mercenary companies approached Cheryl the following day, and offered for her to sign up with the Company, before they shipped out on their way to Ondos. Desiring a sense of purpose, Cheryl agreed and set sail with the company.
Cheryl was reluctant to leave the ship once they arrived in Ondos, but marched with the company to where they would be needed for the coming siege. When the wall was breached, Cheryl was forced to fight in hand-to-hand combat. Her footwork and combat style, more suited to fighting on the deck of a ship, but still she fought on, cutting down several enemies herself, while other mercenaries around her were also cut down. Exhausted, Cheryl's legs buckled after the battle and she sat for a long time after the battle. Again she was surrounded by dead, and here was she, one of the few survivors. The captain who had brought her along lay dead, somewhere in the breach, and she was here, alive. She longed to be back on the deck of a ship, not fighting on the land, so was filled with excitement, when Helga announced her surviving warband would not be continuing the ground war here in the Monarchy of Ondos, but instead voyaging across the waves, to explore the fabled Ghost Archipelago.
Cheryl's excitement only grew, when at last she felt the timbers of Tempest beneath her feet, the spray of salt water, and the sound of wind through the rigging. She was back where she belonged

Gender Identity

Female

Sexuality

Heterosexual

Education

Cheryl's education comes from time spent on the ocean. She is an expert deckhand, able to tackle any role on board a ship.

Employment

Cheryl is a Deckhand on board the Tempest

Accomplishments & Achievements

Helped defend the city of Ondos.

Mental Trauma

Fleeing her home as a young child from an abusive farther has left Cheryl with nights full of nightmares

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Cheryl is motivated by the promise of adventure. Being at sea lets her experience so much more than she could have hoped for in her childhood.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes Drinking, sailing, flirting, dancing, gambling
dislikes, being on land, being made to stay in one place

Hygiene

Cheryl enjoys cleansing her body in the ocean after being on land. cleaning away the dirt and grime that remind her of her childhood days spent on the farm.

Social

Religious Views

Cheryl believes in the many gods of the seas. she will make offerings to them each day to pray for a safe voyage.

Speech

there are two ways cheryl speaks. With the others on her ship, working beside her, she is loud, cursing frequently often speaking a crude, dockside common tongue. When Cheryl is in taverns, or dockside supply stores, when the ship is in port, she can be very well spoken, and flirtatious, often getting what she wants for much less than the asking price.

Wealth & Financial state

Enough coin to keep her going

Current Location

Ghost Archipelago

View Character Profile

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Deck hand

Birthplace

Kellos

Current Residence

Aboard the Barque "Tempest"

Gender

female

Eyes

deep blue

Hair

short, straight, copper-red

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

tanned-white

Height

5'7"

Weight

178lbs

Known Languages

Common tongue, some southern dialects.