"Shrewd, discerning and alacritous, this one intends to last."

Lenicivus ves Cteline, "Lein"
Former Helmsman of SSS Rochambeau
Estranged of the Shardlands

Skills
"Best Damned Helmsman" - Lein's good at steering those flying tubs; really good. His natural talents in astronautics, cultivated from early childhood in the wind tunnels of the Shardlands and most of his life spent behind the steering wheel all coalesce into an instinctual competence at any sort of vehicular navigation. Direct combat isn't necessarily his speciality, as his career as a smuggler has taught him to profit off running over mutineering. But when the chips are down and one needs an exit strategy, Lein will always be ready to fly.

Crossbow Marksman - Lein's primary role at hunting parties back in the Shardlands was the bait, but he was also trained in marksmanship to take down smaller enemies. By smaller enemies, it can either mean the occasional flying lizard, or the occasional raider foolish enough to appear down the iron sights.

Hardened Survivalist - Don't ask why he's taken up cooking or why he's good at finding food. He'll just going to laugh and say he'll never tell.

Equipment
Arm prosthetic: A prosthetic of bone and rope, honed with a considerable amount of craftsmanship. It's not the prettiest around, but it makes up for the lack of polish with fine motor control as well as containing hidden compartments for a switch-blade and some poison pellets.
Yvelin scarf: An enchanted scarf with a series of bells attached to the end of it. Given to Lein as per Yvelin custom, it has natural cleansing wards that filters any air passed through it. The bells chime at the presence of significant wind in a distinct pattern attributable for each scarf.
Goggles: A goggle made of thick glass and leather. This one's well-worn but has since been a long time when it was last used.
Gale-ripper crossbow: A steel-reinforced crossbow with low weight but high draw power. Its steel ammunition is designed to cut through wind and thick armour, but the tensile strength has since been toned down by Lein so as to not puncture ship hulls.
Fancy tail brush: For the sophisticated and vain.

Weaknesses 
Arrogant and weak to flattery, he'll do much to prove himself as a competent pilot and take on dangerous tasks just to prove to himself that he could. Although his actual skill has kept up with his ego thus far, his constant compulsions for panache might just outlay his stakes...
He has much repressed guilt over failing his duties as helmsman in the Rochambeau, and his ego is a manifestation of deflecting blame. For if one is supposedly flawless at their work, how could they have possibly caused such a calamity?
Although he's also 'pardoned' for his crimes and he's so far only taken jobs outside the ire of the Navy, he's still on the hook for a number of charges. As long as he acts his part in being beholden to a nameless benefactor's beck and call, he's good in the eyes of the Navy. So long as he doesn't act out of order, that is...

Backstory
Hailing from the flying islands of the Shardlands, Lein had long since understood the meaning of survival. He grew up watching his neighbors thrown into flesh-ripping wind-tunnels by local warlords, village islands being smashed to pieces by rampaging astral beasts, and entire tribes falling under the unfortunate vice of delisium abuse. His family was the few that kept to the old traditions, even if it meant being driven into the coldest, inhospitable parts of the Shardlands by ousting warlords that constantly fought for delisium geysers. The Yvelin have endured much suffering, Lein was taught, and they would endure as long as necessary. And it would be up to Lein to carry on the torch.

But Lein had different ideas. Ever since he had glimpsed at a stormless sky he dreamt of being taken up into the void and conquer the very edges of the horizons, travelling the world and seeing other worlds not filled with poisoned winds and screams in the distance. Although his carefree attitude and aptitude in gliding curried much favour with his tribe, he was always missing in important gatherings and celebrations. His aloofness conflicted with his family's priorities of preservation and tradition, and no amount of cajoling or berating could stop Lein from sneaking out from his storm-watching post to watch warships sailing to and fro. Such a friction came to a head when Lein became of age, when he rejected his rite of passage. He had seen what delisium did to others, and with delisium abuse slowly creeping into his own family, Lein instead chose to take his chances with a passing smuggling ship.

Thankfully, Lein's skills with the glider translated well into astral seafaring, quickly climbing up from a deckhand to helmsman. He never took to captaining ships and moved between ships and allegiances quickly. Nonetheless, he grew a small following of infamy from his navigational talents and tendancy to agree to the most dangerous heists. He eventually settled on The Rochambeau, which to his description, was the "dumbest bunch of hooligans saved by sheer luck".

Not much is known about Lein's last voyage on The Rochambeau - not the cargo, the objective, nor even its navigational history over the course of three months. All that is known is that a passing trading ship happened on The Rochambeau, run aground against a rocky cluster. Upon exploration, they found a dessicated corpse of a void Leviathan, entire crew emaciated from hunger and dead from delisium poisoning, and the arm bones of a Yvelin, picked clean. They also discovered an imprisoned Lein, clutching unto an empty vial of delisium in one arm and the other amputated and missing. Even under interrogation, Lein did not elaborate, simply stating that he had a "disagreement with the crew" and it "cost them more than it cost [him]". Afterwards, he was arrested for a rather staggering number or charges, but after a dubious bargaining plea and a couple smuggling runs under an unmarked banner, Lein was pardoned. What exactly he smuggled, Lein does not care to elaborate or even has cared to find out. 

Lein disappeared from much of the smuggling scene, only to reappear with a prosthetic arm and acting as if nothing happened. Only, he ran mostly safe runs (still legally dubious but arguably deniable) and a motivation to accrue as much wealth as possible. After he heard of the blockade on the Shardlands, Lein asked around for a sponsor to break through the blockade and retrieve Yvelin refugees stuck inside, but with tensions running high between the militant forces within the Fragment, not much has come of it. Besides, he has shown a particular interest in delisium and a potential cure to its effects...


[hider=Addenda: Shardlands]
"On one hand, the mere existence of the Fragment that once used to be called the Shardlands is a miracle. On the other hand, none of its inhabitants would agree with you."

The atmosphere of the Shardlands is far less defined than other established Fragments, to the extent that the upper atmosphere is dominated by astral creatures. Astral energy readily filters all the way down to the surface, and the local flora and fauna have long since adapted to compete with astral beasts - giant burrowing bears and flying centipedes often have territorial fights in the mountains of the Shardlands.

What common logic of gravity seems to be reversed here, as landmasses tend to be tugged upwards by an invisible force, and floating islands held down by giant plant roots are a common sight. The geology is porous, with wind tunnels several hundred meters in diameter spewing powerful winds of dust and rock into the atmosphere. Traditional buildings that stretch across large tracts of lands is impossible here, and instead the local populace, the Yvelin, have instead developed a sporadic residence on the floating islands. 'Land traversal' is an impossibility in most circumstances; travel is often performed with hardened gliders and airships that ride the wind currents across the terrain. This, however, also makes the Shardlands an ideal place for shipwrights and astrologers alike to study the effects of void traversal - provided they find a safe place away from the violent wildlife.

The unfortunate history of the Shardlands is intertwined with the land's most abundant and arguably most cursed bounty, zephrite. Typically found deep underground, it is often carried by the wind Moulins to the surface atmosphere, where it reacts with the astral energy to create a potent drug-making material called delisium. In its raw form, it has a mild hallucinogenic effect as well as a temporary boost to one's physical and magical capabilities. Long term exposure or repeated use of delisium, however, results in psychosis and arcane corruption over the course of a few years. For several centuries, the Kurin have used the drug as both a form of innoculation against the corrupting effects of the void as well as a way to fight off the astral creatures. The imbibing ceremony at the Kurin's rite of passage is the most important event in their life, as it marks their coming of age but also shortens their lifespan to just under 50 years. The Kurin's life in an atmosphere saturated with delisium results in the their signature red hair as well as some natural resistance to the deleterious effects of delisium.

The more concerning form, however, is refined delisium. It significantly increases both the positive and negative effects of the substance, imbuing any users with enough power to perform extraordinary feats of both martial and arcane prowess. However, it also significantly hampers mental functions and drastically increases tendencies toward aggression and mania, as well as reducing one's lifespan to a few short years. When the refinement process first became known to wider public, the Shardlands were soon inundated with military presence both from the heartland empires from more established Fragments and criminal warlords vying for control over delisium geysers. The Yvelin populace have either become embroiled in the bloody conflict, have been pushed out to the most inhospitable corners of the Fragment, or worse, become delisium addicts. 

The Shardlands as it stands is in a deadlock - the Yggdrasil has issued a blanket embargo on all delisium trade and a strict perimeter that restricts access to the Fragment, and remains a criminal safe haven that can slip through the security. The wider Yvelin diaspora, then, have remained locked outside of their own home Fragment, though few have ever made plans to return.
[/hider]