Vice Admiral Serenity
Serenity Otep had humble beginnings. She woke into this world by another name, a child with simple desires holding a thirst for exploration and adventure deep within her spirit. As she grew into an adult she became burdened by a life of servitude to pay off her father’s gambling debts, her mother having perished when she was just an infant. After her father perished miserably in debtor’s prison, she decided there was no life left for her to live in her home country – a bitter and cold place in the north. At the tender age of 18, selling all she owned, which may or may not have included some garments of stolen silk procured from a passing merchant, she bought passage on a Dutch fluyt cargo vessel. Given a rare opportunity where she did not have to pose as a male and considering her linguistic capabilities, the fluyt allowed her to work with the crew teaching them to read, helping write and organize cargo manifesto’s, and even acting as a partial liaison with other merchants and ships. One balmy night, after almost a year of sailing and gaining experience on the sea, the fluyt was attacked. The night was cold and foggy, when suddenly a brigade of pirates, representing the feared ship The Fiery Dragon, boarded quietly. In a matter of minutes they had taken complete control of the fluyt when suddenly the night sky lit up in flames surrounding the small Dutch vessel. The pirates – calm and menacing themselves – gave Serenity and her companions a chance to serve them or be left to the a brutal death of fire and water. Knowing her options were limited and certainly not wanting to perish, the young woman – who had never had much of a sense of moral dissertation anyways – opted to join the pirates. It was here when she adopted the name Serenity and found herself fitting in rather comfortably with the life of pirating. She continued to help with the manifesto’s of stolen goods, the divvying up of treasure that was procured, as well as continuing her liaison missions. She soon became an ambassador for the ship – a “pretty face” if you will – to help lure other unsuspecting merchant ships, cargo vessels, and others into their fiery wake, as well as procuring alliances with those who remained faithful to the allegiance of pirates and the SeaDog nation at large. After The Fiery Dragon ran ashore in ruin, her life became forfeit. Stranded on an incredibly small island with little food and no means for survival she found herself lying on the beach one night, staring up at the stars wistfully, wondering what death felt like. In an instant, a freezing cold, slimy hand grasped her throat and drug her into the water – deep down into the abyss, where she faced a menacing creature in female dragon form. A demon of sorts. Through forced telepathy she learned this was not just any demon queen, but Tiamet – the primordial goddess of the salt sea and a symbol of chaos within creation. Her physical body was decaying after millions of years of life and her soul needed to continue on elsewhere. She chose Serenity Otep (which comes from the Egyptian word for “Hotep” meaning “to be at peace”) as her host in exchange for life.
After an incredible rebirth that combined chaos and peace into one, she embarked on a new journey as a new creature altogether. In agreement with Tiamet – she was allowed to keep her own soul during the day, however at night – she transformed into a humanized version of the beast goddess, who usually portrays herself in a demon, dragon or faun form.
After roaming the sea and devouring countless other ships for several years, she finally found a group of pirates who would allow her to embrace her chaotic nature as much as her peaceful one. During the day, Serenity acts as the Vice Admiral for The Draconian Fleet and at night her chaotic Tiamet nature takes over. She has learned to use this combination of self for her own advantage, as well as that of her fleet. She also acts as an Ambassador to help forge new alliances across the seven seas.