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# The Waverider - Prologue

Throughout this book, you will follow The Waverider as its crew explores the world, seeing it through their eyes and experiences.

You can read the Waverider stories in any order, except for the prologue, which goes first, and the epilogue, which goes last. It is recommended, but not strictly needed, that you read Estoria after the prologue, as the expedition starts there. From there on, follow the index in alphabetical order, or look at the map and choose your own path.

Explore the world, sailing with the Waverider crew!

## The Waverider

The Waverider is the largest ship ever built, and perhaps the last of her kind. She is captained by Solonex Virellus, explorer, adventurer, and madman, depending on who you ask. Over a hundred paces long, her masts claw at the sky, and her shadow swallows smaller ships whole.

There is no gold leaf, no carved angels, no silken drapes. The Waverider was built to survive, not to dazzle. Her hull is thick oak, iron-banded, her timbers stained with pitch and salt. Her sails are heavy blue canvas, patched and dyed, stitched with a single white wave, the only mark of pride her captain allowed. She creaks like an old god waking.

Below decks, the ship is simple but efficient. Crew quarters are clean and close, the mess hall serviceable, the library small but practical. Captain Virellus' cabin is modest, a cot, a desk, a chair, and a view of the sea. At the heart of the ship lies the navigation room, where ink, maps, and instruments mix in ordered chaos.

The ship's crown is the observatory fixed atop the mainmast, a steel cage with a glass dome where stars are charted by skilled hands. It is said that from there, the world looks both infinite and terribly small.

The Waverider, setting course for the horizon

## The Mission

The mission is simple, though no one expects to live long enough to see it through.

Map the world.

It began as a merchant's dream, new routes, new trade, safer gold. But for Virellus, it became something else. A calling. He has chased the horizon for half his life, seeking knowledge, exploring new lands.

The Waverider was built and launched in Estorio Ventura, the great naval heart of the world, where fortunes are made and graves are dug in the same tide.

## The Crew

Every one of them is exceptional, or broken, or both. The best never come cheap, and the desperate never come honest.

### Captain Solonex Virellus

Born in Morvelyn before the plague, gone to sea before it struck. Now in his forties, lean and sharp-eyed, a man who measures everything, winds, words, lives. The crew say he's fair, but not soft. He despises slavery and treats his men as equals, which some call weakness and others call madness.

He hides his reasons for sailing, though no one truly trusts a man who stares at the horizon that long.

Captain Solonex Virellus

### First Officer Venera Sorn

Venera Sorn fled the wars of Freevalor to find peace at sea. She is a hard woman, scarred across the face, disciplined, and loyal to her duty. To the crew she is stern but just, a commander who demands excellence not for her pride but for the ship.

She keeps her own pain buried deep, but the crew can feel it, like the tension before a storm.

First Officer Venera Sorn

### Navigator and Cartographer Phaedros Pelagos

Known as the "Island Wolf" in his reckless youth, Phaedros is now in his late fifties, grizzled but sharp. One of the finest navigators of the Olydrian Isles, he is blunt and unafraid to question orders, even from the captain. To the crew he is a stubborn old man. To Virellus, he is an old friend whose honesty he values more than obedience.

He says he can chart the world. Some say he already has, and just wants to prove he's right.

Navigator and Cartographer Phaedros Pelagos

### Boatswain Ulfar

Ulfar is a mountain of a man, broad and loud, with hair like a storm cloud and a beard to match. No one knows if he has a surname, nor why he left Draknir, and no one dares ask twice. He is the link between officers and crew, and when he gives an order, even the wind seems to listen. But off duty he drinks, wrestles, and laughs with the crew, calling them brothers and bastards alike.

To the men he is both hammer and heart, and they know he'd go to hell and back for them.

Boatswain Ulfar

### Carpenter Otto the Dwarf

Otto the Dwarf, and that is the name he goes by, is the ship's carpenter, smith, drunk, fool and general annoyance. He works miracles with wood and iron but only after a shouting match or a threat from Ulfar. He calls Venera "Pillowtits", which has earned him several smacks over the head, smacks he, if given opportunity, returns to her behind. He has survived doing so, which says more about his luck than his worth.

He claims he is a warrior, and that his axe is blessed by dwarven gods. In truth, it's tin over pine and covered in nonsense runes. But he can fix anything that breaks, even when he's too drunk to stand.

Carpenter Otto the Dwarf

### Medical Officer Selene Kavira

Selene was born a slave in Estoria. Bought by a healer as an apprentice, taught the craft, then cornered for a different kind of service. She ran. Virellus found her, bought her, freed her, beat up the previous owner and gave her a cabin instead of a cage. She's stayed ever since.

Now in her thirties, she is a healer of rare skill and a mage of quiet power, though the work wears on her soul. She mends wounds that break her mind, and prays for fewer reasons to use her gift.

Medical Officer Selene Kavira

### Ship's Cook Brannick Tull

The Waverider's cook is a squat man named Brannick Tull of Albirica, with arms like hams and a face that always looks offended. He boasts that he can make a feast from anything that once breathed, swam, or grew in the dirt, and often does. Fish stew, gull pie, eel bread, something he once called "sea-hare surprise." The crew say he can cook everything, but nothing he makes tastes like food.

Still, he runs his galley like a fortress. No one touches his pots, no one questions his art, and those who do eat double rations of salt as punishment. Yet when the sea turns rough and stomachs empty, even the proudest officer swallows Brannick's creations without a word. Hunger, he likes to say, is the best seasoning in the world.

Ship's Cook Brannick Tull

### Diplomat Severin Valerius

Round, smiling, and always holding a cup, Severin Valerius seems a man made of ease and appetite. Beneath that soft laugh hides a mind that cuts like a blade. His charm is his armor, his words his weapons. No one knows where his true loyalties lie, but everyone listens when he speaks. He is fond of saying "Be smart and act stupid".

Diplomat Severin Valerius

### Marine Commander Decimus Brutio

Decimus Brutio once fought in the arenas, a slave turned champion who earned his freedom one corpse at a time. He is older now, his eyes cold and patient, his body carved by scars. He leads the landing party. Fighters, scouts, diplomats, killers.

He knows when to strike and when to wait, when to attack and when to feint, and he trusts neither gods nor luck. In his silence lies the promise of violence.

Marine Commander Decimus Brutio

### Marine Scout Gato Dax

Gato was born in the gutters of Estorio Ventura and raised by hunger. He joined the army to escape the gallows and found purpose as a scout. He is young, quick, and quiet, with eyes that see everything and a soul that trusts nothing.

He moves like smoke through city or jungle and disappears like a lie.

Marine Scout Gato Dax

### Marine Arven of Ashen Vale

Miner's son from the Twin Cities, lungs full of iron dust, heart hard as the ore. A true brawler, comfortable in the center of the fray.

Marine Arven of Ashen Vale

### Marine Rahim of Zarhalem

A desert warrior who believes every battle is a trial set by the djinn.

Marine Rahim of Zarhalem

### Marine Velan of the Great Empire

Once led slaves into the Necropolis and came out white-haired and silent. Now, he fears nothing.

Marine Velan of the Great Empire

### Marine Eira mac Braigh of Caerduin

Wolf-hide armor, pale eyes, and an axe that once belonged to her mother. Fierce, with a quick temper, but equally quick to cool down. In love with Ulfar, though she, wrongly, thinks no one knows.

Marine Eira of the Caerduin

### Marine Kethra of Zarhalem

An assassin once in the khalif's service. Her curved blades have tasted royal blood, yet she moves like any market woman with a basket. Given as a slave to his enemies, slitting their throats before vanishing in the night.

Marine Kethra of Zarhalem

## The Launch

When The Waverider leaves Estorio Ventura, the harbor is lined with people-sailors, merchants, thieves, and the forgotten. Some cheer. Some just watch.

The ship slides into the sea like a blade into its sheath. The wind catches her sails, and she groans as if waking from a long sleep.

To the city, she is a marvel. To her crew, she is a gamble.

To Captain Solonex Virellus, she is destiny.

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