Maude Carter

Maude Carter, also known as the Ashen Hyena, is the ruthless Dread Captain of the Graveyard Galleon. Appointed by Davy Jones for her coldhearted pragmatism, she reigns over the crew with an iron fist, with only one goal in mind: to serve Jones by protecting Isla de Oro. Her nickname is derived from her ashen grey clothing and her cut-throat personality.

Backstory
Born as the daughter of a lady of the night in 1663, Maude Carter was taken in by Rachel Lindsey, the owner of an alehouse in Plymouth, England. She taught Maude all the tricks of the trade as a barmaid, showing her how to use her charisma and beauty to convince the patrons to do almost anything -- including paying generous tips.

As she grew older, Maude took to the role of a pawnbroker, giving sailors and pirates loans in return for their valuables, and she was damn good at what she did. However, while she loved Rachel, she wanted to see more of the world than just the town she grew up in. When she was seventeen, she said her friends goodbye, took on the disguise of a man, and joined a pirate ship to sail the seven seas.

Over the years, she climbed the ranks, eventually making it to first mate at age thirty-one. The captain of the ship she served on made some bad decisions, and over time, the crew began to mutter amongst themselves. Sensing an opportunity, Maude skillfully approached the right people and planted some ideas in their minds. It led to a mutiny that saw the captain to be left at a dock and Maude in his place.

Those years of being a captain were her glory years, and she led herself and her crew to countless bounties. Her fleet expanded from just one ship to a total of four small but swift vessels. The ships would work together in tandem to take down larger and more valuable targets, earning Maude the nickname 'the Ashen Hyena' for the pack tactics she used and the grey clothing she wore.

As a captain, there were few jobs or treasures that Maude wouldn't go after. Hunting down bounties, capturing merchants, even occasionally following rumours and maps leading to supposed treasure. The steady supply of funds kept her fleet satisfied, even if she ruled them with an iron fist. While no one would call Maude a good person, her ruthless efficiency certainly made for excellent pay with fewer risks.

Despite the many stories about the 'hyena pack', the ships often went on their own way. During one of those trips, Maude followed the rumours of magical treasure to an uninhabited island. While the rumours turned out to be true, it didn’t go as they expected.

It ended up being a trap laid by sea witches, and while Maude and her crew fought their way out, the captain had contracted a dangerous curse. She found a cutlass that magically bound itself to her, and whenever she killed using it, it devoured all her empathetic emotions.

She tried to burn the cutlass, throw it away, blow it up with a cannon, but no matter what she did, it returned to her side unharmed. As its effects began to wear down on her, she turned more and more cruel, losing her ability to care for others and how they feel.

Eventually, she no longer wanted to part from the blade on her own accord. That is when it changed, allowing itself to transform into a 3.50m-long (11’) bladed whip. The whip form is beyond lethal, and she rarely uses it for anything other than intimidation.

By the time she was forty-two, her reputation had caught up to her. The British were sick and tired of her fleet making the high seas unsafe and decided to neutralise the threat. In a gruesome battle in which the pirates fought valiantly, the entire hyena pack was destroyed or captured.

During that battle, Maude was torn apart by a cannonball and taken into the depths. There, she was welcomed by Davy Jones, who was beyond pleased to have such a fierce and cruel warrior amongst his ranks. Since her body was destroyed, he crafted her a new one, made from the strongest skeletons he could find.

Maude spent her time in the abyss waiting and training, trying to prove herself to the deity in any way she could. She wanted out, to continue fighting. Year after year, she was disappointed, no matter how hard she tried.

She’d almost lost hope when the god summoned her to his throne room and appointed her as the next Dread Captain. She swore never to disappoint him like the previous captain had and went to Isla de Oro, her cursed whip-sword at her side.

Appearance & Gear
Standing 1.65m (5'5) tall, the skeleton is dressed in all grey with a golden trim, from her knee-high boots to her ankle-length coat. Even her Captain's hat is ashen with yellow decorations. While she does wear trousers, she leaves her torso uncovered.

An eerie yellow glow emits from her ribcage, shining through her eye sockets. The same glow radiates off of her weapon of choice. When she is upset or the curse is particularly powerful, it'll surround her like a toxic aura.

Maude uses a very distinctive weapon: the whip-sword. The nasty bit of steel can either be a 75 cm (30") cutlass or a 350 cm (11'6") whip. It is a weapon made to maim as much as kill, offering its wielder a terrifying amount of range and control. After years of working with it, Maude uses the blade as an extension of her body.

When dealing with magic, she often has a bunch of lead-lined protective measures, such as a special set of gloves and extra soles to put in her boots. She has several protective charms made of various materials such as lead, black tourmaline, and hematite. One can never be too prepared.

Personality
To be able to keep wreaking havoc on the fleets and ships of the large nations, Maude has vowed undying loyalty to Davy Jones. She sets to whatever task he gives her with single-minded determination. Her methods are ruthlessly efficient, not caring for who or what gets damaged in the process so long as she gets the right results. They don't shy away from cruelty and violence.

This behaviour has garnered her few friends, both when she was alive and during the long years spent in Jones' Locker. She's fine with that, though. Few people can see eye to eye with her, and it frustrates her to no end when people don't understand that her way is the right way. Too many questions asked might just result in the person getting a lash of her whip.

Maude's personality is mostly due to her curse. Whenever she takes a life, the curse takes her empathy, compassion, and other such feelings related to caring for others. Over time, she's grown to rely on this and the thought of caring for others unnerves her. Whenever the curse's effects fade, she sets out to kill again, intent on keeping the status quo.

Being a Dread Captain, her only superiors are Davy Jones himself and the Pirate Lords. She obeys the six of them with near complete loyalty, almost never audibly questioning their orders or going against them. Fellow Captains or anyone ranked lower will be scrutinised quite closely.

In short, violence isn't the answer. Violence is the question, and the answer is a wholehearted yes. Efficiency and quick performance are key.

Abilities & Skills

 * Cursed Due to her curse, Maude is unable to feel empathy, even if she is capable of feeling the full range of emotions. This apathy allows her to be far more effective at killing and is encouraged by Davy Jones. When their curse is weakened somehow, they can kill with their bound weapon to restore it again.
 * Undead control Having spent years training in the abyss, Maude can control several skeletons at once and is almost never in only one place at a time. However, this also means she's rarely fully paying attention.
 * Servant of Jones Maude 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 an afterlife.
 * Warrior With decades of hard work, Carter has mastered control of both the cutlass and her bladed whip and is a formidable opponent in battle, always staying one step ahead. However, she tends to refuse to use ranged weapons in favour of her blades.

Other Information

 * Almost always, she'll be carrying a bottle with her own mixture of milk and skelly juice, essentially a form of energy drink but then for the undead. She uses the stimulant to be able to stay conscious across several bodies, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
 * Maude weighs 7.8 kilograms or 17lbs. Her clothing and weapons combined almost weigh more than she does.
 * She has an undead hyena called Koda that occasionally appears. For the most part, Koda wanders around the Galleon, serving as Maude’s extra eyes and ears.