Mortesecca

From YPPedia

Mortesecca (born November 2, 1966) is a Tuscan necromancer, Senior officer of the crew Blades of Ascalon. He sails the Sage Ocean. The term "morte secca" in Tuscan vernacular stands for the symbol of the skull over crossed bones (Jolly Roger).

Early life

Mortesecca was born on All Souls' Day (formal Catholic name: Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum). Fond of natural sciences, he became a member of a local academy. However due to his morbid interest for human corpses and black magic, in 1981 he was banned from that academy.

Mortesecca moved to another city where he gradually gained a reputation of a holy man, with healing and prophetical powers (see The prophecy of Ascalon). The same year, the young son of the city's ruler received a bruise after he fell off a horse and suffered from internal bleeding for days. His older sister asked for the help of the charismatic healer, Mortesecca. Although the little boy was quickly starting to give signs of recovery, when the ruler, renowned for his sanctimonious moral, found out that Mortesecca was the healer of his son, he issued an order of arrest against him.

It is said that when fleeing the city, Mortesecca cast a curse on the ruler's family which slowly led to its fall. Sworn enemy of absolute monarchy after this affair, once in Gull Archipelago, he joined the crew Fratelli della costa in its attempt to free his homeland from foreign dominance.

From Fratelli della costa to Blades of Ascalon

Due to a lack of men and to a long illness that struck down the Captain of Fratelli della costa in 2007, their endeavour was not successful. Mortesecca left therefore the crew and established, on July 15, a naval force called Blades of Ascalon. Ascalon is the sword that Saint George used to slay the dragon, so whimsically named by Richard Johnson (1573-1659?) after the city Ashqalon.

The prophecy of Ascalon

At the beginning of the century, Mortesecca proferred the prophecy:

"The Crown of a nation will be forged from the iron of Saint George's sword".

Rumors, that the legendary sword with which the Saint slayed the dragon had been brought to Sage by the pirate Waterbug, spread like wildfire. The place where the relic was hidden being unknown, all attempts to find the sword seemed to be in vain. One by one, all of the searchers gave up the hunt except Prince Pishkirlin, who after a long quest set sail to Tern Archipelago, the most likely place where the sword could be. On Ashkelon Arch Island he found Mortesecca waiting for him, and handing him the sacred sword. That has been interpreted by the historians of Sage as the necromancer's suggestion to Pishkirlin to unite their crews under one flag, which was eventually called Ascalon.