Adrian

Name: Adrian Dukei

Race: Zora

Age: Adult

Gender: Male

Tropes:

• Pirate
• Blue Blood
• Anti-Villain
• Evil Virtues
• Wicked Cultured
• Tall, Dark and Snarky
• Master Swordsman
• Cool Sword (both his family saber and the magic one he temporarily had from Ruto, literally cool in the latter case)
• Identity Amnesia (in the past)
• With Ruto, briefly Lady and Knight

Appearance:

|| [look] Adrian is a tall, stately Zora with an aloof manner. He wears no clothing, as is typical of most Zoras. Only a supple white swordbelt, made of some water-proof material, augments his natural look. From the left side of this belt hangs Adrian's majestic fencing saber, and a plain, trusty dagger is thrust into the right side. Adrian's body is also fairly typical for a Zora: lean, lithe, and lethal. His right side bears signs of having been gashed at some time, although the wound must have healed at surprising speed. Adrian's right forearm bears several parallel scars, as if it was slashed by some monstrous beast. ||

History:

Toccata & Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach

Toccata&Fugue

|| [history] The details of Adrian's past are as murky as the ocean off Zora Cape. It is known that he was born into the Dukei family, an aristocratic Zora line in Hyrule. The Dukeis were entrusted with the task of protecting Lake Hylia generations ago by a Zora king. Like all first-born sons of his line, Adrian inherited this responsibility and with it an elegant, bejeweled fencing saber, ceremonial in nature yet still very dependable and lethal in battle. Trained from a young age to wield this sword, Adrian eventually became a master fencer. However, there was little sign of trouble at home, so Adrian decided to seek his fortune abroad upon reaching the age of 15. This was shortly before Ganondorf's siezure of the Triforce of Power, and Adrian did not return until several years after Dragmire's defeat at the hands of Link and Zelda.

By all accounts, Adrian spent most of his time abroad in Termina. What is not generally agreed upon is what he did while there. Some say that he became a pirate, ranging the waters near Zora Cape like a shark with a crew of cut-throats under his command. Adrian himself claimed that he was just the opposite--a pirate hunter, risking life and limb to protect the shipping lanes (and with rather scant reimbursement from ungrateful Hylian merchants, he might add). Whatever the case, his career was ended when a clumsy Goron by the name of Eoin unintentionally stowed a bomb amongst his cannonballs, causing an accident which sank his ship. Leaving his crew on a deserted island, Adrian swam back to shore and set off to avenge his loss. His pursuit of Eoin led him back to Hyrule, where his every effort to obtain "justice" was frustrated by the intervention Eoin's newfound friends. Confronted by too many foes to contend with, and learning that Eoin was a hapless buffoon who could not have possibly engineered the sabotage on purpose, Adrian eventually decided that vengeance simply was not an option.

Adrian spent the next couple of years obtaining funds for a new ship so as to rescue his crew, although his methods were again nebulous. Some of it came from the spoils of war, as Adrian returned to his ancestral task of defending Lake Hylia and kept the area around it remarkably free of monsters. However, some say he also extorted money from travellers passing nearby, demanding payment for the safety his efforts provided. Whatever the case, Adrian eventually managed to save up enough money for his purposes.

For a time, Adrian found himself under the close scrutiny of Princess Ruto, who accompanied him back to Termina through the portal between the two lands to ascertain the truth of the rumors about Adrian. Fortunately for Adrian, the testimony of the local Zora tribe, while not conclusive proof of Adrian's innocence, was positive enough to satisfy the Princess. Ruto returned to Hyrule, and Adrian finally purchased a new ship for his rescue mission. Alas, when Adrian arrived at the island, he found that only a pitiful remnant of his former crew had survived, namely the first mate Shanai, the lookout Constance, and the cabin boy Jin. These few comrades returned to shore, sold the ship, divided the money between themselves, and tried to find a way to employ their skills on a smaller scale, but their efforts proved largely fruitless, both in Termina and in Hyrule.

And then fate through one more mysterious cloak over Adrian's past by robbing him of his own memory. One day at Lake Hylia, he was found, unconscious and lacking his saber, by Princess Ruto. Being informed by her of as many details of his past as were readily known, and quite in the dark himself as to whether the rumors of his piratical past are true, Adrian resolved to make a fresh start on life. Ruto supplied Adrian with a new saber, one imbued with freezing water magic, and made him her personal agent for various dangerous assignments. For a time, Adrian knew contentment in this role.

However, there remained one piece of his past which Adrian felt compelled to reclaim--namely, his family's fencing saber. This eventually led him on a search which went all the way back to Termina. When he finally found his ancestral blade and grasped it in his hand, all of his memories came flooding back. Remembering his past deeds, and comparing them with his brief time as Ruto's servant, Adrian finally came to terms with how twisted he had really been. He had convinced himself that raiding the ships of those stingy merchants was a just means of receiving his due, and that the sailors of those ships had only themselves to blame if they had resisted and been cut down. He resolved to return to Zora's domain and submit himself to the judgment of their court, fully expecting to be executed for his crimes.

Ironically, when Adrian returned, he found that he was entirely barred from Zora's Domain for having left his post. Unable to receive justice at the hands of his fellow Zora, and disdaining to allow anyone else to administer it, Adrian became a restless, aimless wanderer. Eventually he took to hunting bounties, both to make a living and to atone in some small way for his past. Given the recklessness with which he pursues his quarry, it's likely he also hopes to end his life in action, although thus far none of his targets have come close to overcoming his skill. ||

Abilities:

|| [abilities] Level 8 Corsair

Fencer Rank 5: Skill with a blade is essential to the line of Dukei, both as a noble art demonstrating their dignified lineage and as a functional capability for performing their ancestral duty of defending Zora's Domain. Adrian was taught fencing from a very early age and displayed remarkable talent and enthusiasm for the craft. He has continued honing his skill throughout his life and today it would be very difficult to find someone who could match him in pure swordsmanship.

Seamanship Rank 3: Adrian spent years as the captain of a seagoing vessel. A touch ironic considering he's at least as home in the sea as over it, but it wouldn't do to have to swim huge distances, and his crew certainly needed it. At any rate, Adrian knows well the workings of a ship at sea. ||

Relationships:

Eoin:

An utterly vexing buffoon of a Goron who sabotaged Adrian's ship with a bomb, then lacked even the decency of being a worthy target for vengeance. >P

Aubrey:

A simple-minded Hylian bard. Adrian took Aubrey under his wing for a time on returning to Hyrule, in order to establish a reputation as a philanthropic and trustworthy gentleman. They naturally parted ways when Adrian's real agenda leaked out, though the naive lad later made a point of forgiving Adrian. e.e

Ruto:

At Last I See the Light from Tangled

At Last I See the Light

The Princess of the Zora in Hyrule, which makes Adrian honor-bound to obey (or at the very least respect) her wishes. It was, in point of fact, a joy to serve her...for that fleeting time during which he was oblivious to the taint his soul would bring to her presence.

Shanai, Constance, and Jin:

With Cat-Like Tread from The Pirates of Penzance

With Cat-Like Tread

The survivors of Adrian's old pirate crew. His feelings toward them today are...complicated. They are doubtless criminals deserving of the gallows or worse, yet it was largely Adrian's doing that they became such...and you don't rove the seas with people for as long as they did without building a rapport that is difficult to sever.