Fang Ryder

Fang Ryder, Ship's Cook
Fang is a Yako Kitsune, so thus his physical description has two ways, his human form and his natural, or fox form, and any form in between, but he is mostly in one of the two.

In Human form, Fang is, for all intents and purposes, a human with silver hair, slightly almond shaped aquamarine eyes, and is slender, but not thin. In natural form, he is a fox with a long slender body, silver fur, and 3 Bushy tails, all silver but ending in black fur, save one is ended in green.

Fang is a summoner, which allows for magic use and the creation and care of an eidolon. After performing a short ritual Fang can take direct control of Scourge and sense the world through Scourge's senses, including sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. There are several spells that Fang knows, including healing, damaging, and non-combat spells. Not all spells Fang knows have come to light yet, but he has shown Dancing lights, prestidigitation, thorn whip, message, thaumaturgy, heroism, cure wounds, identify, inflict wounds, dust devil, lesser restoration, moonbeam, lightning bolt, and sending to other members of the crew.

Fang can speak, read, and write in Common, Sylvan, and Elven. Tyzz has Trained him to know Thieve's Cant. Zarra has trained him in Undercommon.

Fang found and joined the crew on the 59th day of Shaweiza, the same day as Vega Tylvaren.

Fang is currently married to Lily Ryder after a drunken night in Tradora. Their anniversary is the 11th of Lorheim. This is no longer true as the marriage license was forged. they are no longer dating either.

Fang is also currently in a relationship with Zarra Dendar.

Pre and Early life
Fang's mother, Gela Ryder, is a Zenko Kitsune and was the last of her Skulk. She managed to escape a group of poachers that had set a raid against the kitsune town of Naha. After her escape she was forced to survive on her own, instead of her normal Job as Kit Raiser.

Fang's Father, Vier Mungern, is a Nogitsune, and was exiled from his skulk for refusing Inari's will and making a pact with Baphomet. This pact corrupted him, turning him from the kindly acolyte of Inari he was, into a cheating, conniving warlock that wanted more power than what he was given. Vier and Gela found each other in the forests of south central Mortrimar while they were both hunting for food to survive. Gela fell in love, and Vier thought he could use her. They spent the time to build a small house and used it as a base of survival for a few months before one night of fun turned into a new Kit. Vier didn't know what to do and simply waited to see if the newborn was a terrible Nogitsune like himself, or a pure Zenko like Gela.

Instead, the Kit was a mix of the two, a Yako Kitsune that spent no time in biting anything it smelled to be good. So, the baby Kitsune was named Fang, for his fangs that made marks in most of Gela and Vier's belongings. Vier was afraid of what a child and wife would cause for his relation with Baphomet, who had strangely been silent for a time since the kit was born. Since the Zenko and now the Yako had proven to not be worth his time, he left. without so much as a wave or a note in the middle of the night, searching for power that he has yet to find. Fang was a year old.Gela was left alone, although she was also not alone. She had a kit to raise, one of her own too, not just another of the skulk's. She was sad that Vier had left, but happy to raise her own son. Throughout Fang's younger years, their was little of note. Gela raised Fang well, keeping them both fed from hunting and a small garden. At around 6 years of age, Fang showed magical abilities, nothing dangerous, but nothing he could control either. As he grew, so did his power. At around 10 years, he began to actually control his powers to help Gela around the house with cleaning and cooking. At around the same time, Gela taught him to hunt and live without her help. She left for 3 days without leaving any food for Fang. He took the opportunity to explore his magical powers and used them to hunt, primarily with a whip made of rose vine, and balls. He succeeded in Gela's test, and Gela said to him that there was not much left to teach, except language skills. So she taught him Common for when he was to leave home, aside from the Sylvan she used normally.

For the next few years, till Fang was 15, they lived in their little house in the forest, just living day-by-day with weekly common lessons and constant magic training on his own. Upon reaching 15, Fang had grown a second tail, which made Gela worried, for she knew that the number of tails showed how strong a Kitsune is. She only had one and was worried that the extra tail came from Vier's genes. She sent Fang out to the nearest town to ask the local mages what he could do about fully controlling his magical abilities and perhaps looking to strengthen them.

Of course, Fang did what his mother asked and did exactly that. He was admitted to local mage school for 1 year on a trial basis. He heeded his mother's warnings of poachers looking for kitsune fur and had a dorm room all to himself to prevent people finding out he was a kitsune. He assumed a human form and never showed anyone his natural form, the only one who even knew he was a kitsune was the headmaster, who saw through his illusion almost immediately. The headmaster never told Fang he knew, but he also never told anyone that he knew. He did not do as well as the superiors had hoped, so they sent him home with the advice of "do not try to strengthen your magic, just enjoy what you can." Fang was heart-struck by the superiors words, but happy to go back to his mother. However, upon his return, the house was empty, no belongings, bare furniture, and no Gela.

Fang didn't know what to do. He tried to live in the house for 2 weeks, hoping it was another of Gela's survival tests. But after a week, his hope turned into desperation and into sadness and anger. Eventually he could not take it anymore and left the house in the forest, never to see it again.

Adult life, pre-ship
At his 16 years of age, Fang was considered an adult, but he was not well experienced. He set off from his house with nothing but a backpack, a waterskin, the clothes on his back, and a handaxe he used to chop wood. He was always careful of people learning of his Kitsune heritage and avoided being seen in his natural form wherever possible. He....survived, for lack of a better term, he found food and water, he kept moving west by day and would find a den or an abandoned house by night to sleep without being seen.

He continued this trend for about 6 months, until he reached the western edge of the southern island of Mortrimar. He sat on the edge of a cliff and just stared at the sunset for a few hours. Unfortunately, he fell asleep, which forced him to shift back into his fox form. He was found while asleep. And not by a friendly person. A poacher. He saw the silver fox with two tails (one black-tipped, one green-tipped) and strange markings on it's head and back. The poacher saw an opportunity to make some quick gold, so he went to pick up the Kitsune and grabbed Fang by the end of the Green tail. Upon being grabbed by the tail, Fang sprang awake. He very quickly turned to bite the poacher, his eyes went a Very dark purple and the poacher fell over dead. He knew not what he had done until about a minute later.

He went back through the events in his head over and over, not understanding how his bite had killed the man. Eventually he remembered the feeling of what was cast and went to find an animal to test his thoughts. He walked about a mile back into the forest, at night, and he came across a large elk. He spoke in sylvan to calm it and he walked toward it slowly. He laid a hand on it and spoke in sylvan to call the magic he felt before. His eyes turned Dark purple again and several deep wounds and gashes appeared on the elk and it fell over, dead, yet again. Fang thanked Inari for allowing him this powerful magic and for the sacrifice of the elk. He spent the night skinning the elk and cooking it's meat. He laid the head and most of the antlers nearby in a crook of a tree, and taking a small piece of the antler for himself to remind himself of what he can do.

He ate what he could of the elk meat and found a place to rest for the remaining night. As he woke the next morning, he enjoyed the fresh scent of the ocean walked along it, heading north, continuing the same pattern as before. He passed through several town that contained a myriad of seafarers, eventually coming to a town known as Calafort Taighde, Primordial for Port of Research. At this point, Fang was just past his 18th birthday, and he was tired of walking. He found a bistro that was named l'Étoile des Caraïbes, elven for the Caribbean Star, that was looking for a new cook. He applied, explaining that he had no prior work experience except for his own survival. The owner saw that this young human was travel weary and took pity on him. He gave the job to Fang, giving him a room at his own house and cook job at the bistro. Fang never learned the Elf's name, but will never forget his kindness.

Fang spent almost a year at this town, learning the elvish language, and elvish cuisine. He very quickly transcended his rank as line cook to sous chef. The Head chef refused to ever give Fang a chance to prove himself as the better chef, even though Fang was clearly the better chef. This made Fang angry, but continued to show off his skills. Proving to the owner and lower cooks that he was better by way of sales. He often received compliments from customers and requests to have him cook their food. The regulars learned of the head chef's stiffness toward fang and tried to demand that Fang be head chef, but Fang refused them. He told the customers that if the head chef wanted to stuffy, he wouldn't force his way. Instead he asked the customers to travel the world and look for Fang's restaurant in the future. Fang would learn later that one of these customers was Sora, a newer crewmember. Eventually, Fang became fed up with the head chef's lack of care and the lower cooks lack of skill. After practically running the kitchen for 2 months, he left. He left all his earnings on the kitchen table in the bistro's house with a small note attached, thanking him for the chance to work an honest job and teaching him Elvish language and cuisine. Fang also asked in the note if he ever figured out if Fang was a kitsune, and asked him to not tell anyone. He left 3 days before his 19th birthday and has never seen the kind elf since.

Across the next year, he had more trouble dodging poacher than normal. He has told the crew of his struggles and had this to say about it: "Poachers are terrible people Kai. Vega, you saw the scar, that was the time I was very close to being skinned. Happened a little over four years ago. Someone drugged me, so I shifted like I do when I fall asleep, they took me and tried to skin me while i was still alive. the drug wore off, i woke up with a knife at my ribs. i shifted quickly and grabbed the nearest weapon, a hammer. i smashed his skull in, repeatedly."

"I ran as fast as I could from the poachers hut and found an old fox den that was abandoned by the beach. and I spent the night crying. In the morning, I went fishing so I could eat, I cooked and ate the fish. but...I still felt hungry, so I went back out to fish. I couldn't find any more fish. so I dove further down than i should have, I almost drowned. I awoke to a plant...fish...monster...carrying me in its mouth back on the beach" S courge growls low "I know buddy, that's you. yeah, Scourge found me. he has been helping me fend off poachers since then. pretty much anyone that has learned i was a Kitsune tried to skin me for four years. Then I heard about you all and how it was filled with multiple races, and most specifically, Tabaxi and Aarakockra. then two days ago, here I am"

What Fang said was not a work of fiction, he told the truth to all that listened. And it pretty concisely tells what had happened since he left the bistro in Calafort. The only things he left out was what Scourge had told him in their time together.

Shortly after their first meeting, Fang felt a voice in his head, a low rumbling Sylvan voice. This is their first conversation upheld with telepathy:

"Hello young Kitsune, My name is Scorverant comparagent foghemtal, But please, I would like to use a different name, as mine is hard to pronounce and true names can be problematic"

"Well, first I have few questions."

"Of course, and I am sure I have answers for you"

"One, how do you know i am a kitsune. And two, what are you"

"I have an answer for both of those questions. I am an entity sent by Inari to watch over you. I know you have noticed your magical abilities. That is due to the link that Inari has bestowed between us. I am an Eidolon, and i have finally been able to take a physical form due to your growth in both magic and life experience."

"Soooo...you have been with me all this time?"

"That is correct"

"Well, that puts me at ease that my powers are from Inari and not my bastard father's pact with Baphomet"

"Yes, Baphomet has nothing to do with your powers. that is the work of Inari's blessing through your mother's kind grace towards her own kit."

"Do...do you happen to know where my mother is?"

"I do not, I only know that she is not with Inari, meaning she is alive"

"well, I suppose that is good news. Now about a name. Sco....comp....fogh....hmm...Scourge? Scourge, i like that. what do you think"

"I find it very pleasing. And simple enough to give orders in a timely manner"

"Orders?"

"Yes, i live to obey you. As is Inari's will"

"Well, i don't think i need an underling, but I could use a friend."

"I can do that as well"

And thus the friendship was born between eidolon and summoner. There were many powers associated with being a summoner that Fang would learn through time. Eventually, he learned of stronger spells and how to cast them. Upon casting his first ever lightning bolt, a Third tail grew out of Fang. Fang smiled at this,thinking of what his mother had told him before about tails and power. Thinking to himself 'yes, now i am stronger than my father, in case i ever run into him. I will not let him leave without knowing what he caused'

There are a few more minor tales, but mostly day-to-day happenings. Eventually he heard of the Glitterbeard pirates, and that there were many other races on board. He headed to the near town of Graveden's Wharf to see about getting passage to try and find them. To his surprise, the Star-Crossed lover was already in dock. So he set about to join them to escape his life of constantly running from poachers.

meeting with Gela minor
Gela, Fang's cousin, not his mom, was found at Baia portuga and revealed a lot more about Fang's family. She revealed that there is a family tree of sorts of grandma and grandpa, Lopi and Kyan. who have the brother and sister pair of Bero and Gela. and then there are three other skulk members known as the triplets. Goji, Lira, and Daru. uncles that aren't actually related to Gela minor and Fang. along with Mana. the daughter of Gela major and Goji. Fang's half sister.

Scourge, the eidolon
Scourge is the eidolon of the summoner Fang Ryder. As an eidolon, his true form is never known, while his physical form is constantly changing with his masters experience. Currently Scourge resembles a giant fish creature with a long barbed tail (now is wings), except with skin and scales being made of hardened kelp and algaes, having arms and legs, and slight electrical sparks that emanate off of Scourge's scales every so often.

Current Evolutions:
Creature type (Plant): the creature is rendered as a plant type creature.

Gills: An eidolon has gills and can breathe underwater indefinitely.

Bite: An eidolon's mouth is full of razor-sharp teeth, giving it a bite attack. The bite deals 1d6 + str mod points of piercing damage (1d8 if Large, 2d6 if Huge). An eidolon cannot make more bite attacks in a turn than the number of bite evolutions it has.

Scent: An eidolon's sense of smell becomes quite acute. The eidolon gains the scent special quality, allowing it to detect opponents within 30 feet by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents can be detected at twice the normal range. Scent does not allow the eidolon to precisely locate the creature, only to detect its presence. It can detect the direction with a move action. The eidolon can pinpoint the creature's location if it is within 5 feet. The eidolon can use scent to track creatures.

Underwater Scent: An eidolon’s sense of smell becomes even more acute while underwater. The eidolon can notice other creatures by scent in a 180-foot radius underwater and can detect blood in the water at ranges of up to a mile. The eidolon must possess the gills and scent evolutions to take this evolution.

Limbs (legs and Arms):  An eidolon grows an additional pair of limbs. These limbs can take one of two forms. They can be made into legs, complete with feet. Each pair of legs increases the eidolon's base speed by 10 feet. Alternatively, they can be made into arms, complete with hands. The eidolon does not gain any additional natural attacks for an additional pair of arms, but it can take other evolutions that add additional attacks (such as claws or a slam). Arms that have hands can be used to wield weapons, if the eidolon is proficient. This evolution can be selected more than once.

Grab (Bite): An eidolon becomes adept at grappling foes, gaining the grab ability. Pick bite, claw, pincers, slam, tail slap, or tentacle attacks. Whenever the eidolon makes a successful attack of the selected type, it can attempt to grapple the target as a bonus action. . This ability only works on creatures of a size equal to the eidolon or smaller.

Swim x3: An eidolon gains webbed hands, feet, or powerful flippers, giving it a swim speed equal to its base speed. This evolution does not give the eidolon the ability to breathe underwater. This evolution can be selected more than once. Each additional time it is selected, increase the eidolon's swim speed by 20 feet. (total swim speed 70)

Energy attacks (cold): An eidolon's attacks become charged with energy. Pick one energy type: acid, cold, lightning, fire, thunder, radiant, or necrotic. Whenever the selected attack hits, the target takes an additional 1d6 of that energy's type. Selecting this evolution again increases the damage by 1d6, but it cannot be chosen more than twice for the same attack. The summoner must be at least 6th level before selecting this evolution.

Resist energy (lightning): An eidolon’s form takes on a resiliency to one particular energy type, which is usually reflected in its physical body (ashen hide for fire, icy breath for cold, and so on). Pick one energy type (acid, cold, lighting, fire, poison, or thunder). The eidolon gains resist resistance to that energy type. This becomes an immunity at level 11. This evolution can be selected more than once. Its effects do not stack. Each time an eidolon selects this evolution, it applies to a different energy type.

Weapon training 1: An eidolon learns to use a weapon, gaining Simple Weapon Proficiency as a bonus feat. If 2 additional evolution points are spent, it gains proficiency with all martial weapons as well.

Improved natural armor x2: An eidolon's hide grows thick fur, rigid scales, or bony plates, increasing its Armor Score by 1. You may choose this evolution multiple times, to a total of 5 (including a free instance).

Flight: An eidolon grows large wings, like those of a bat, bird, insect, or dragon, gaining the ability to fly. The eidolon gains a fly speed equal to its base speed. The eidolon's fly speed can be increased by spending additional evolution points, gaining a 20-foot increase to fly speed for each additional point spent. The summoner must be at least 4th level before selecting this evolution.

Health x2: An eidolon becomes stronger and it muscles become stronger enabling it to withstand more attacks. Your Eidolon's hp maximum increases by 5. This evolution may be taken more than once.

Skilled (athletics): An eidolon becomes especially adept at a specific skill, gaining a proficiency bonus on that skill. This evolution can be selected more than once. Its effects do not stack. Each time an eidolon selects this evolution, it applies to a different skill.

Darkvision: An eidolon has darkvision, enabling it to see 60 feet in darkness in shades of gray. Taking this evolution once more extends the range to 120 feet.

Large: An eidolon grows in size, becoming Large. The eidolon gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, to a maximum of 24, and a +2 bonus to its natural armor, and disadvantage on Stealth skill checks. If the eidolon has the biped base form, it also gains 10-foot reach. Any reach evolutions the eidolon possesses are added to this total. The eidolon must be Medium to take this evolution. The summoner must be at least 8th level before selecting this evolution.

Minor Magic (Hellish Rebuke): An eidolon can cast one of the following spells as a 2nd-level spell without a spell slot, using Charisma as its spell casting ability. (Cure Wounds, Burning Hands, Earth Tremor, Gust of Wind, Magic Missile, Detect Magic, Hellish Rebuke, Ice Knife, Ray of Sickness, Shield, Sleep, Aganazzer's Scorcher, Blur, Darkness, Hold Person, Lesser Restoration, Misty Step, See Invisibility, Scorching Ray, Warding Wind). This Spell may only be cast once a long rest. A summoner must be at least level 4 to select this evolution. When a summoner is 11th level, the spell is cast at the 3rd level. The eidolon must have a Charisma score of at least 12 to take this evolution. When this evolution is chosen again, it applies to a new spell.

Telepathy
Scourge is mentally linked with Fang, and although he cannot speak, he can relay thoughts and images to Fang. Fang can also take direct control of Scourge, leaving himself to see through Scourge's eyes and allowing Scourge to speak, although with Fang's voice.

Technically, Scourge has little personality of his own, although he seems to and Fang will definitely tell you he does. his personality is the will of his master. you piss off Fang, you piss off Scourge.

Through keeping a mind link open when Fang took a dive into Zarra's mind, Scourge can now 'speak' to Zarra.