Captain Fernandez

Character Name: Antonio Fernandez, son of Don Carriedo

Age: 29 (oh god so old /sob)

Appearance: spoiler cut for large images

Spoiler:

Class (captain, wench, crew member, cabin boy): Captain...well, former captain and probably co-captain now, of the Espada del Oro

Sexuality: very fluid, but he's now extremely faithful to Gil.

Personality: he used to be very happy-go-lucky, even as a pirate, but after the abduction and imprisonment, he's finding it difficult to recover his footing and his old sense of self. He's a little bit broken still.

Background: God, let's see if I can remember all of it...

Antonio was born the son of a wealthy Spanish nobleman. His mother died when he was still quite young, but he and his father were close. Antonio was all set up to be a courtier until he took over the estates until he was overheard insulting King Charles II. Fortunately it wasn't John of Austria who overheard him, but his father knew the insult would get back to the important parties fast enough. He smuggled his teenage son out of the country on the first trustworthy boat he could find.

That Antonio ended up the cabin boy of Espada del Oro within the year was no real surprise. The old captain was a friend of his father's, and Antonio was from a port town; he'd gone on plenty of sailing trips crewed by men whose jobs were as much to answer his questions as to keep the ship in good condition. After three and a half years and several promotions, not to mention an almost entirely new crew, Antonio took charge after the old captain's death. He wasn't the pampered little noble anymore, though he was still just as likely to insult the King of Spain.

Antonio preferred loyalty of love rather than fear, so he used his slow temper to the best advantage and didn't discipline his crew overmuch. Someone who continually shirked work was more likely to lose food rations than get a beating, with the rationale that you worked for food - and it was harder to work if you could barely move. He shared the wealth, too, especially since he had less need of a lion's share of the pillage. His crew never starved and never ran out of work.

The rivalry with Captain Kirkland is long and stupid and doubtless started over some asinine misunderstanding. All he knew was the other man was completely incapable of taking a joke, and much worse, he hurt Gilbert. Antonio would never forgive him for that - in fact, he tried to kill him for it, but they both ended up captured.

(and that's pretty much up to the present)