Kaina Wendreef

[Kaina Wendreef]

Kaina Wendreef

Age  Twenties

Gender  Male

Origin  Kharsaga

Occupation  Scavenger

Kaina Wendreef​

Once a proud Navigator in training of Kharsagan stock, a student of the School of Stars, the eldest of the Wendreef siblings fell from grace having abandoned his people, his home, and, on good rapport, his wits.

Kaina Wendreef, firstborn of the Embrace-side branch of the Wendreef clan and protege of retired admiral Irina "Halfsail" Wendreef, was gifted a golden spoon. His passage through life was written plain to most: sit tight beneath his grandmother's wing, absorb a portion of the wisdom that earned her station, set into the naval academies of the Kharsagan Embrace, and make his family proud. The young Kaina disagreed.

While he flirted with dreams of becoming an admiral and sitting on the Board, he yearned foremost for prestige. Holding firm to a knowledge that he could accomplish anything under his own power, he left the academies at sixteen to enroll in the School of Stars. The title of admiral, it happened, promised a much longer journey than Kaina was willing to commit. He desired position now, or as close to immediacy as he could manage. The School of Stars, known as the first school to many, could promise that if he displayed the proper talents and work ethic.

As it happened, he possessed neither.

Much to the chagrin of his instructors, his peers, and the counsel of Tempestarii brought in to tutor the boy, Kaina refused to accept accountability, failure, or fault. Loudly refused, and often at that. By all accounts, he made himself insufferable. He challenged material beyond his ken, grew belligerent with instructors, mocked peers who outperformed him in their studies. By his eighteenth name day, he was expelled from continuing his education.

The following months proved harrowing for him. He entreated admission at each of the remaining four schools only to be denied. He was offered guidance, granted the tools to reform his behavior, counseled with patience and understanding. It was not enough. The refusals hit Kaina as an insult, an injury of pride that spiraled the young man deeper into stubbornness. He met their responses with violence, engaged their kindness by petitioning his grandmother's longstanding respect.

Irina did not suffer her grandson's insolence.

Kaina, having met failure, fled. He fancied himself a martyr, misunderstood by his own people. They were wrong, he knew. For all the wisdom they attempted to share, for all the aid they rendered him, Kaina's eyes were occluded by arrogance.

The interceding years found the wayward Wendreef adrift on a stolen skiff. He sailed without aim, straying from the flotilla and landing in Unicorn Bay. The White Port, heart of Altalusian trade. Penniless and shorebound, he took to the city intent on making his name known only to run up a debt at the Mouse and Minutes boarding house and pub, where he drowned his frustrations in hapless libation. For months, he could not find more than petty labor, and he toiled dockside loading barrels and avoiding brawls.

At the height of this, a friendly local approached him with a plan. Hidden in a jamble of jetties sat a small but reputed dicehall run by a retired company of sailors. It was easy: invest in the dice and let luck take the wheel. A single good night promised to fund Kaina's ventures, perhaps even acquire him a ship, a crew. He spent what little coin he amassed on this advice, took to the sport with reckless passion.

And when his purse ran dry, that same friendly local offered him a loan. A few coins here, a favor there. Nothing arduous, nothing suspicious. Kaina accepted once, twice... it became a habit, his ledgers running red with the blood of debt. To this he shrugged, smiled, and knew his friend surely would not collect.

He was right. The friendly local never came asking for coin. That role was delegated to enforcers from the dicehall. Burly fellows that outpaced Kaina's stride, towering over his lank and promising no escape. They demanded payment. When he professed an inability to meet their demands, they strapped him to a barge on a two-year contract to case the Boiling Sea. A scavenger's vessel christened the Boilbilge, a craft piloted by indentured sailors that sought treasure in the form of shroud stones within the depths of uncertainty.

So Kaina's story continues, a diver set against fear.