Delmaria Darkskull

Captain Delmaria Darkskull (born John Christopher Balnette on April 4th, 1687) is an English pirate, admiral, and privateer who operates in the seas of the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America. Son of Captain Adam Balnette, who served as Keeper of the Code during the Emergency War Effort in 1702-1704, he was raised as a youth in a slightly wealthy family under the idea that his father was actually a merchant. Soon, however, his father's illegitimate business operations would begin to interject in to his life, forcing him to take on a life of piracy to keep his hunters from finding him.

For a time Delmaria served under the flags of numerous nations and employers, including services in the British, French, and Spanish Navies, alongside short-lived employment under the Brtish East Indian and Dutch West Indian Trading Companies. Though mainly considered a free captain, his services are often called forth under the jurisdiction of the Brethren Court, as well as other pirate organizations, such as "The Libertists," which he currently serves as Second-in-Command of, as well as his own guild.

Early Life
John was the only child to Amelia and Adam Balnette, an upper-middle class family who lived in a small trading town known as St. Joseph's Cove just on the Southwestern coast of England. For the most part, he grew up as a very quite child, not paying much mind to the other children around his age. He did not often see his father, who was often away on "merchant's business," but when his father did return he often brought home a wide array of old and weathered books and journals, which John took pleasure in reading. He progressively taught himself how to read and write, as his town did not have it's own schoolhouse, and from there he became very well educated, building a fascination for sailing vessels.

By his fifteenth birthday John had developed in to a strapping young man, and as a gift John was given a place aboard his father's ship (at which time his father planned to inform him of his real role.) Later that night, though, a group of "business-men" who had done work with Captain Balnette took John hostage, where he would later be rescued by a passing British patrol ship. As John was soon to be returned home, however, his home-town was ransacked by the same group of pirates he had been spirited away from, which led to the death of his mother, and John being taken in by the British as a deckhand.

Time in the British Navy
As time passed John began to lose thought of his past, and began to learn from the other crew members the ways of a sailor. The captain of the ship, Captain Charles Rutherford, on the other hand, was much more strict about such practice going on, and open beat the young boy for disrespecting orders. It was not until some time did the ship he was on encounter another, much larger ship, captained by the captain's brother, Commodore Icabod Rutherford. Wanting to tease his little brother, the Commodore forced the Captain to fight John in a duel, which ended in John killing his former captain. Impressed, the Commodore took the boy aboard his own ship.

Over time John learned the basics of sailing, cannoning, and even sword-fighting from the Commodore, much to the dismay of the rest of the crew. At one time, the Commodore considered awarding the boy a higher rank within the Navy, but was consistently talked out of the idea by his First Mate. It was on a journey to a small, secluded part in the Basque region of Spain did John begin to develop thoughts away from the life of a sailor, encountering his first meeting with his new love interest, Maria Truneworth, the adopted daughter of her father Garcia de la Avaricia.

A few nights after meeting Maria, she warned him not to go along with the rest of his crew to a nearby cove along the shore, where Avaricia had told the Commodore a group of resting pirates hid. Not taking her warning, he went, and it was there his crew was ambushed by Avaricia's men, the Commodore being shot by Garcia himself. Scared, John fled from the battle by himself, running back to Garcia's home where he hoped to grab Maria and take her away with him aboard Rutherford's ship, The Darkskull. However, while the two fled Garcia's estate, he confronted them, which led to John shooting a piece of glass in to Avaricia's eye, blinding him on one side.

Birth of a Pirate
John and Maria spent most of their time running about the ship, trying to maintain the ship by themselves as they fled from Garcia's henchmen. They made very few stops along the way, mainly trying to work their way down to Southwestern Spain, where Maria intended to meet with an old rival of her father's where they may hide. Early on in their voyage, Maria mentioned to John that he should rename the ship to mark his captainship, and he did so by renaming the ship the "Maria Darkskull," in honor of both Maria, and his fallen Commodore.

Arriving in Cadiz, Spain, they met with Baron Hernan Jaenada, one of Avaricia's fiercest rivals in hopes of taking refuge in his home. Instead, they were thrown in to the midst of what would be one of the first battles of the War of Spanish Succession at the Battle of Cadiz, where they attempted to wait out the hovering British armada within a small tavern hidden amid the ruins, where some of the other civilians hid. During this time John met a younger Captain Edward Teague, who introduced John officially to the life of piracy, giving him the name "Delmaria Darkskull."

After a month in to the siege of Cadiz, Teague and his crew, accompanied by Delmaria and the Spanish army, headed out in to the dead of night to spring an attack on the British forces, successfully catching them off-guard. However, during the battle, Delmaria was seemingly captured by enemy forces - instead, he was actually kidnapped by Captain Teague, being brought to a secret pirate stronghold far off the coast of Spain. It was here Delmaria was reunited with his father, and it was revealed to him that he was a pirate.

Delmaria spent numerous months training in the pirate fortress under the close watch of his father, who eventually decided to induct him in to a secret society of pirates known as "The Libertists" by having him take a "test" - torturing him for ten days continuously with little food or water. Having passed the test, he was rewarded with his own "mark," which symbolized his introduction to the group.

It was not long after his introduction that Delmaria met with the rest of the group, where he became apart of their fleet. This was his first encounter with Captain Roger Renveil, who would become one of his greatest enemies under the now-infamous guise of "Jolly Roger." Still, at the time Delmaria sailed onward with the group to London, where they planned to interrupt a meeting between Avaricia and his "benefactor."

While they looked over this meeting, however, Delmaria was pulled forward by Renveil, who revealed himself to be working with Avaricia. Garcia intended to kill the boy himself, but before he could, Balnette rushed in to the warehouse, where a duel ensued with the father and son facing the two pirates. In the end, Avaricia and Renveil retreated, but not without dealing a near-fatal blow to Delmaria's father. Darkskull was instructed by Balnette, however, to tell Teague that he was to act as the Keeper of the Code in his abscence, before running off from the boy.

Flight to the Caribbean
With their mission now jepardized by the British attempting to capture the pirates in London, they hastily fled from London and coincidentally ended up taking refuge in the ruins of St. Joseph's Cove. Distraught, Delmaria demanded to see Maria, who he believed was safely aboard Jaenada's ship - instead, the news was broken to him that he had sent her off to a friend in the Caribbean, as a way to ensure her safety. Angered, Delmaria stormed away from the group, and set immediate course for the Caribbean.

After months of delayed and tiresome sailing, Delmaria finally made first port on the volcanic island of Padres Del Fuego, where Jaenada had told Delmaria Maria had been sent. Eager to find her, he searched across the entire island for weeks, asking every man or woman he saw where she was. It was after being jailed for starting a very violent bar fight that he was finally found by Ernesto Victorio, a noble on the island, who bought Delmaria his freedom. The two developed a very strong friendship, and soon the two devised a plan to topple the tyrannical governor of the island.

The two men lead a rebellion against the governorment of Padres Del Fuego, which largely grew from public support. What begin as a few skirmishes in the streets turned in to masses of poorly-armed civilians storming the mines and forts of the island. The Governor's grip on the island weakened so greatly that by Christmas day in 1703 the militia had stormed the mansion, killing the governor and looting his home, which Victorio ascended to his seat and officially declaring Padres and pirate port. In the process on looting the mansion, Delmaria discovered Maria, who had served as one of the governor's maids.

Employment Under France
Maria and Delmaria soon settled down in a small house just on the outskirts of the main town of the island, where they laid low for a few years. By 1710 the two had been married for a few years, and Maria had already beared two children - Delpadros Darkskull, born on June 2nd, 1705, and Marina Darkskull, born on June 15th, 1706. However, things began to change as Don Victorio's policies began to change; to help with the plummeting treasury of the island, he sold back some of the old fort to the Navy, as well as loaning out a nearby quarry to the East India Trading Company. Soon, the Navy began to patrol around the island regularly, forcing Delmaria to hide more and more inside his home. He even went so far as to growing a large beard and dying his hair a deep black to hide his identity, but even then was he fearful of his family.

Delmaria and Maria fought constantly over whether they should move off of Padres or not. It was one day when Maria stormed out of their home that she was caught in the crossfire between a rogue crew of pirates and a militia of Navy soldiers doing battle, in which a bullet lodged itself straight into her heart. Knowing that they would soon come after Delmaria after finding out who his wife was, Delmaria left his children to Don Victorio, and flew from the island aboard a small fishing boat he stole from the docks.

Many nights Delmaria spent wandering around his ship, thinking of what to do or where to go. Often he would stand on the edge of the ship, contemplating suicide, but he kept to himself and continued sailing. Just off the coast of Cutthroat Isle, however, Delmaria was taken prisoner by a crew of Spanish privateers, only to be then stolen back by a crew of French privateers after hearing who was onboard the ship.

Delmaria was brought to have a private meeting with French privateer Pierre le Porc, who proposed that Delmaria joined his forces. Taking it in to consideration, Darkskull accepted, and was soon awarded by being reuinted with his old ship the Sea Dragon, which had been fetched specifically for him.

Delmaria spent numerous years under Porc's service, rising through the ranks until he became one of Porc's more respected privateers. The French forces had managed to progressively push back Avaricia's men to the shores of his island under Delmaria's direction, and the pirate was eager to launch an attack against the island in hopes that he would be able to kill Garcia. However, Porc saw Delmaria as a very large threat to his power over the French forces should he be victorious, and thusly sent out Delmaria and a small brigade of French ships promising that he would sent reinforcements behind him - this did not, however, occur.

Delmaria was captured by Avaricia's forces, and taken to Avaricia for punishment. Instead of being executed, however, Garcia had a much more devious plan up his sleeve - Delmaria was handed over to Renveil as a "gift," and was forced to serve under Roger "for the rest of yer miserable life!"

Service Aboard The Harkaway
On his first time aboard Roger's ship, Darkskull was called in to Renveil's private quarters. Stepping inside, he was immediately subdued and chained down in to a chair. Renveil's personal witchdoctor, Amo Dorsi, was then instructed to preform a curse on Delmaria that would "eternally remind him of his service to [Renveil]." The result was a horrific skull tattoo being etched permenantly on to Delmaria's face, akin to his last name.

Delmaria was tasked as a cannoneer in Renveil's forces, and as such was forced to man very arcane ammunition and cannonry that caused many of his fellow sailors to lose limbs and their lives due to how elaborate they were. Whenever he would not be on the job, the crew would be subject to very severe punishment based on how they had worked that day, though Delmaria himself was always treated more harshly than the others.

Darkskull would often watch as the Harkaway would go after fellow pirate ships, an action which is often looked down upon by the Pirate Code. Renveil did not discriminate when it came to sinking ships, and nearly every vessel they passed met the same fate as the other. Darkskull began to worry what Renveil's plans were as to why he kept going after fellow pirates, but was often "talked out of" asking questions by Renveil's henchmen, who, as Delmaria described it, "Seemed to be more dead than alive."

One evening during July in 1717, Renveil made land at the pirate island of Tortuga for what he described as a very "special" occassion. Although the crew was forced to stay aboard the ship as Renveil and Dorsi made their way through the island, Delmaria managed to sneak off the ship and follow the two to the Faithful Bride Tavern, where Renveil was set to play a game of poker against Captain Jack Sparrow to decide who would claim the role as Pirate Lord of the Caribbean Sea. Sparrow continuously lost hand after hand, and as Renveil came within a single hand of winning the seat, Delmaria managed to steal an ace from the dealer and slip it in to Sparrow's shirt, sending it down his sleeve and in to his hand. When the game ended, Sparrow claimed the Piece of Eight, and in a fit of rage Renveil attempted to shoot Delmaria, but instead missed and hit Dorsi. In his dying breath, Dorsi set a curse on Roger, transforming him to Jolly Roger, and his entire crew (with the exception of Delmaria) in to undead.

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