Captain Blackwake
Captain — Corsair Compact, Northern Fleet
Blackwake commands the Compact's northern fleet from a position that requires him to balance genuine piracy, maritime law, treaty obligations, and the political reality that his fleet is the only thing preventing the Port Authority from simply declaring the Compact illegal and blockading them out. He is afraid of something specific: that someone with enough resources and patience is manufacturing a pretext to justify exactly that blockade. The planted flag was the opening move. He knows it. He is trying to find out who made it before they make the second move.
Motivation
Self-preservation, institutional preservation, and a genuine but pragmatic code of conduct. Blackwake is not a good man by most definitions, but he is a man with consistent principles that he has not abandoned under pressure — which in Ragged Hook puts him in a smaller category than it should.
Attitude Toward Players
Assessing. He is running a continuous evaluation of every person he deals with — their resources, their allegiances, their pressure points. He is not hostile. He is careful. Players who demonstrate neutrality or competence will find him willing to exchange information.
Combat Statistics
Special Abilities
Tactics
Blackwake fights to win but prefers not to fight — combat is expensive in ways that matter to him. He will negotiate exit conditions before a fight starts if negotiation is possible. He will not surrender if his crew is threatened.