Jane Azarok Barnaby



Jane Azarok Barnaby is a woman with one hell of a lot of history and a reputation to match. She was the third out of four Dread Captains at the helm of the Graveyard Galleon, where she proved her boldness and cunning intelligence for seven years. Now, she is Captain of the vessel once more. The skeleton, who stands only 1.53m (5') tall, has since merged with a Grim Reaper by the name of Azarok. The two continue protecting the island with fierce loyalty while regularly swinging by Thatch's Tavern for a drink.

Anna is also technically a part of Jane. She's a small part of her soul that has spliced off and formed its own consciousness, although her memory is limited to age seventeen. The ghost loves being around people and playing small pranks on them, such as throwing corks or filling their boots with sand. For the most part, she seemed innocent, until she turned out to be the Weaver.

Backstory
You can find "A Tale from the Past", a story from Jane's backstory, here! Born to a poor factory-working family in Tilburg, the Netherlands, in 1887, Jane (known as Anna Smidt at the time) was the eldest of six siblings. She worked long days at a textile factory, trying to earn enough money to keep all the mouths fed. She simultaneously raised her siblings, since both her parents were working themselves to the bone for meagre wages as well.

In 1904, when she was seventeen, her father got increasingly ill, along with her youngest sister. With his income gone, Anna left the care of the family to her oldest brother Willem and went to sea to earn more money. After six months at sea, she returned to find a new family in her home, and her real family in a mass grave outside the city. Plague had taken them while she was gone.

Stricken with grief and the only home she knew now gone, Anna returned to the sea. She ended up on a pirate ship and took on the name Jane Barnaby, which she'd stolen from one of their victims. Still, the young woman was far from a fearsome pirate. She was only trying to forget the past and build a new life.

After a particularly bad storm, she fell off the deck after a rogue wave hit her ship. She woke up on the shores of Isla de Oro. Before long, several Captains had their eye on the dedicated and intelligent woman, who was oblivious to their interest. She also got a strange egg from Luxor, which turned out to be Eggy.

Within days, she caught the interest of the Nightwatch. One night, they jumped her in Darkwater Alley and dragged her to the cliffs above the Siren Caves. Grim put a bullet between her eyes and kicked her off the cliff to meet Davy Jones. Once in the Locker, she begged to be allowed to continue living to protect the egg she carried with her everywhere. The deity approved and sent her back up to join the Nightwatch.

Although she was terrified of the monster she'd become, she kept caring for Eggy as she tried to acclimatise to her life. She quickly proved herself in various raids, both as deckhand and as Captain. Grim, who was both Dread Lord and Dread Captain at the time, took notice of this and promoted her to Dread Captain of the Graveyard Galleon within two weeks of her appearing on the island's shores.

Despite her inexperience, Jane fell into the role of Dread Captain like a natural. She took care of the island, her crew, and Eggy in equal measure, swiftly becoming the fearsome undead guardian that her rank dictated she should be. She whipped her crew into shape, turning them from the infamous unruly crew to a close-knit group of undead protectors.

At the same time, she started getting into more trouble with the supernatural. She carved instruments and tools from her bones for fun as as pastime. As an experiment, she used one of those bone flutes in a demonic ritual. Initially, she thought it'd been a failed joke of an experiment, but as time wore on, the flute began affecting her more and more. A Djinn had taken hold of it and was feeding off of her negative emotions.

With help of Joey Jester and Raven Ivanof, she was exorcised, but the process went terribly wrong. Instead of simply removing the lesser infernal, they left her defenseless for a much more dangerous one: a Grim Reaper now known as Azarok. The Reaper slowly but surely took over Jane, completely copying her identity and posing as the Dread Captain. They changed her appearance and behaviour to match the Horseman of Death: a pale-skinned, silver-haired woman with golden-crimson eyes who carried a scythe and rode on a pale horse.



Eventually, after lengthy battles with Eye and Yam and a final combat alongside the pirates against Astigmatism, the Reaper was driven out and left Isla de Oro to return to Hell. Jane returned to normal for the most part and continued her duties as Dread Captain, although the ordeal had changed her forever.

Except the Reaper didn't stay away for long. Having fled the Underearth, they returned to the only familiar place and person they knew: Jane. The game began anew, with them repressing the undead Captain while pretending to be her. It was clear that the old ways couldn't continue, though, and the two were forced into an uneasy cooperation with new rules, mainly to protect Jane.

Over time, the two started trusting each other more. Despite some regular trouble, cultural difference, and vastly different views on morality and beliefs, they got along well enough. Their souls started merging into one as they continued working side by side. Their appearance changed to match their collaberation, a mix between the Reaper and the undead skeleton. They now look like a skeleton with a ragged black cloak, a scythe on their back, and blue hellfire burning in their eye sockets.

After a rather harrowing experience that brought them both back to Hell, where they were killed by Azarok's brother who was in turn killed by the Graveyard Galleon crew, a part of Jane's soul split off and became the little trickster ghost now known as Anna. The ghost has been haunting the tavern and the beach since, playing all sorts of small pranks and pelting people with shells and corks.

Jane and Azarok continue working together under the shared name Jane Azarok Barnaby. Although their Captain days are now behind them, they serve as the Master of Many Things, being Puppetmasters, Guildmasters, Loremaster, and Masters at Arms.

Appearance & Gear
Jane Azarok appears as a human skeleton dressed in a ragged black cloak. Despite their unusually short length of 1.53m (5'), they're generally perceived as threatening. Their hood is generally up but still reveals their skeletal face. Blue hellfire flames burn in their eye sockets, their brightness and size changing depending on her mood, energy levels, and how much Azarok influences the pair. Occasionally, they also have wings made of cerulean hellfire, which sprout at their shoulder blades and flow down to their ankles. When their appearance changes to become more demonic, their fingers and toes can become claws and their teeth sharpen into fangs.

Jane Azarok's main weapon is an enchanted war scythe, which can cut through both physical things and souls. It's a large polearm at 2m (6'6), with runes running along its razor-sharp blade. When they are angered, blue hellfire flames burn on the blade without burning the metal. It's made to be fire-resistant to withstand their regular usage of flame. It normally rests in a holder in their back.

Other weapons include Jane's Marksman rifle, which was given to her by Luxor Jones, two enchanted flintlocks given to her by Raum, two more normal pistols, and then a whole assortment of daggers, knives, hatchets, caltrops, and other weapons she's scavenged over the years. She stores all of these inside the cloak, which is enchanted to have a pocket dimension of sorts.

Personality
Now they're no longer Dread Captain, Jane Azarok has dropped most of their terrifying reputation and has settled down to find a fulfilling life as a skeleton. They're usually fairly friendly and welcoming people, especially to Castaways and crewless Pirates. However, they rarely trust anyone and hide their true feelings, thoughts, and past well between layers of deflections and half-truths.

Jane is the more friendly of the two, always ready to offer a bottle of milk and a cookie to those who need it. She's a dedicated worker and can often be seen busying herself with her various duties as Loremaster and Puppetmaster. There's a quill in her hand more often than not. Although she's tough to give trust, once someone has it, it's likely to be there to stay. She can get quite lonely from time to time, though, and seeks out company in the tavern when she does.

Azarok, on the other hand, still struggles quite a lot. Their upbringing in Hell is the polar opposite of how things are run in Puerto Dorado. They long to find connections with other people, to belong, but their very existence tends to scare people away. When they do manage to find a friend, they cherish them deeply and will do everything they can to keep them. Azarok has very little respect for the republic's rank order, though. They consider respect to be something one has to earn or assert through sheer strength. Once the other party has proven to be superior, Az will figuratively roll over and obey them.

Abilities & Skills

 * Skelly Cooking As the main cook for the Graveyard Galleon, Jane knows how to make an assortment of skelly foods, ranging from tasty ice cream and calcium cookies to the more convenient cheese rations.
 * Ex-Captain Having served as Captain for seven years, she has connections all over Puerto Dorado, and she knows Isla de Oro like the back of her hand. Her ship has no secrets for her.
 * Master of Many Things As Loremaster, Guildmaster, Master at Arms, and Puppetmaster, Jane Azarok is a bit of a jack of all trades. She has connections and skills just about everywhere.
 * Nightwatch Shipwright In their nightly ritual, the Nightwatch rebuild their ship from wreckage in the Boneyard. After years of this, most of the Nightwatch have become skilled shipwrights.
 * Servant of Jones Jane Azarok has a contract with Davy Jones. While it allows them to continue living as an undead skeleton, they are bound to Isla de Oro, forced to guard it for the rest of their immortal lives with no hope of afterlife.
 * Multilingual They can speak, write, and read Dutch, English, Infernal, and latin.
 * Magic Initiate With the help of Azarok, Jane has been studying magic for years. Although most of her magic is limited to frost runes and simple levitation and teleportation, she still has some abilities.
 * Hellborn Azarok comes from Hell and has the ability to summon and control hellfire to match.
 * Shadowtravel Azarok is able to travel through shadows, disappearing and reappearing from areas of darkness.
 * Wingbearer Azarok can have a pair of wings on their back that provide them with flight.

Other Information

 * The easiest way to disable Azarok is to throw them in water.
 * Throwing a whole bunch of tin or iron powder at them will also do the trick.
 * Both Jane and Azarok detest water and cold, and they can regularly be found napping in the sun or in a fireplace.
 * Jane has been possessed by two demons in total: first a Djinn, then Azarok.
 * Jane's favourite fruit is pear, but she can no longer taste or eat it now she's undead.
 * Jane used to have six siblings back when she was alive.
 * Azarok's brother, Ar'gol, was an asshole.
 * Whenever Jane and Azarok don't feel like being Dread Captain for a bit, they'll transform into a little cat-sized dragon (pseudodragon) with the name Azahar to cause a whole bunch of harmless messes or just nap in a fireplace.
 * Azarok has a rare type of colour blindness making it so they can barely discern red colours, seeing blue instead. This means yellow is green and red is purple to them (and Jane, too).
 * The only reason Jane learned ice magic is so she could make frozen cream as a treat for herself and the crew.
 * Although the two are often merged and the same being, sometimes their individuality still shows. There are a few subtle differences between them, such as Jane using nae while Az uses nay, and that Azarok's first instinct is always to lie when asked a question whereas Jane will deflect.
 * Jane has written several stories for Puerto. The ones on the Wiki are: The Weaver Diaries, A Tale from the Past, Dance with the Devil, Taking Shelter, and In Irons.
 * Jane's pronouns are she/her and they/them.
 * Jane joined the server on November 14th, 2020.
 * She became Captain on November 28th, 2020, and stepped down on May 17th, 2021. Then she became Captain again on November 12th, 2021.
 * She was Lord for 20 days in February 2021.
 * She was Lord for 20 days in February 2021.