Gender: Stallion
Species: Unicorn
Breed: Warlander
Height: 16'2hh
Colour: Chimeric dark bay. Most of his body is dark bay, with his legs and head being an even darker shade. His left foreleg, including the shoulder, is white, as is the adjoining hoof. The other hooves are black.
Markings: Extensive black tree marking on both sides of his neck. White splotch underneath on the left side.
Mane and tail: Black with brown highlights, reasonably thick. Mane is braided with colourful beads in places, tangled in others. Tail is short, having been docked in his second year when he was captured by pirate hunters.
Horns: Two black antlers, each with five tines. On the right side, the second tine from the back is slightly smaller, having lost its tip during his first fight.
Build: Muscular, sturdy, robust, compact and strong. Surprisingly agile, able to turn on a dime. Light feathering on each foot.
Eyes: Dark green, warm and earthy.
Scars: Multiple, across his whole body. Most caused by swords, including a large, deep slice out of the flap of skin joining his left hindleg to his body. Each one has a story, which he's more than happy to tell.
Tattoos: 1) An ace on his inner right coronet, given by one of his crew as a token of respect when he beat them at a gambling game. 2) An anchor on his left flank, given by his second in command when he became leader of his bachelor herd to denote his position. 3) A skull-and-swords brand on his left shoulder, forced upon him when he was captured by a band of mercenaries who were employed to hunt pirates. He escaped, but not before they'd branded him forever as a pirate and docked his tail. 4) A small mare's head on his left thigh, given by one of his crew when he took Gráinne as his mate.
Voice: British, with a Welsh hint. Deep and authorative. HIS VOICECLAIM

Bartholomeo is neither good nor evil. He simply....is.

The first thing to note about him is that he is extremely loyal to his family and his friends. He lives by a code akin to honour amongst thieves, where loyalty to your direct band trumps everything else. Once you have the pirate's faith, you have an infallible friend and an unfailing protector. He will die for his comrades, and has plenty of practice fighting alongside a large band of fellow horses. A great all-rounder, Bartholomeo is capable of both leading and following, and will mould himself to each situation as needed. Although his favoured jobs are that of the soldier and the spy, he also has rudimentary knowledge of healing and lore gained through his long years of roaming with his pirates.

He's an adept fighter thanks to his vast experience of brawling both with his band and with enemy herds, and he's got a keen eye for thievery as well. In his youth, he was fascinated with the notion of fame and glory, although this has faded over the years to an easy contentment with what he has. He does, however, covet the pretty things of others - he is a bit of a magpie and enjoys hoarding beautiful things, be it women or trinkets. He is innately resourceful and will utilise anything he possibly can to hand himself an advantage.

In everyday life, Bartholomeo wears an easy smile and has a sharp sense of humour. He is jovial and quick-witted, the first to make a joke and the last to stop laughing. His friends would probably describe him as fun-loving, and he certainly finds it easy to see the funny side of life. He rarely allows himself to be perturbed by anything that happens to him, and easily goes with the flow. He is also quite partial to the odd fermented apple binge in order to get drunk, and loves to happily swagger around in a typically piratey inebriated state.

Despite his generally cheerful demeanor, the antlered man does have a ruthless streak, and if he or his band is harmed he will lose no time in seeking vengeance. The laughter and the warmth can die away in a fraction of a second to be replaced with cold, hard power, and although it takes a lot to get him angry, it's equally hard to talk him down once he's lost his temper.

Given his rather materialistic nature, Bartholomeo is quite happy to work for a price. He does, however, have a strict code of morals that he will not break, and will kill only when necessary. He's a useful hired thief or hitman, but will demand recompense for his assistance.

Since losing the love of his life and his child when he was young, the stag has vowed never to fall for another woman. To ease the pain of his broken heart, he engages in meaningless one-night-stands in order to satiate his basic urges, but always ensures no offspring come of the trysts. Should he find the right woman, however, he will have no qualms about turning monogamous for her, and giving her all of his heart and undying loyalty.

Captain x Elise = Bartholomeo
Captain x Anastasia = Tilney, Tuppence, Carlisle (deceased), Aelfwine

Tilney x Arah = Maude
Tilney x Nephele = Byron, Jude

Bartholomeo x Gráinne (deceased) = Jack (deceased)

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The pirate's childhood was a happy one. Born to loving parents and a large extended family, he was never short of company. Brawling with his brothers and cousins soon toughened him up, and he was also born with powerful magic - he could move metal objects with his mind. It wasn't long before he'd built up a collection of small weapons which he happily used in fights alongside his natural assets, quickly earning him a reputation as a competent swordmaster.

When he was two, Bartholomeo's feet began to itch. As much as he enjoyed his life, he sought fame and glory, and wanted to make his own way in the world. He left his family to head into the wilderness, where he fell in with a bachelor gang of other young stallions. He quickly gained a high rank in the bachelor herd due to his confident battling ability and his twirling steel swords, and his band soon gained a reputation as fearsome mercenaries. They worked for trinkets and favours, and their notoriety grew by the day. They also discovered the joy of fermented apples, and spent many a day swaggering drunkenly through the meadows of their home.

Whilst his pirate brothers indulged in innumerable wenches, however, Bartholomeo was painfully shy around women, and always made excuses for why he wasn't whoring his nights away alongside his men. One night about six months after he joined, his band fought against a smaller group of vagabonds lead by a woman named Gráinne. She was a beauty; with her flaxen chestnut body, small antlers and wanton curves, all his men coveted her. She was a fierce fighter and almost succeeded in defeating Bartholomeo and his pirates, however their sheer size eventually overwhelmed her. They took her and her herd prisoner, but whilst Bartholomeo's band leered at her and made bets on who would be the first to bed her, Bartholomeo himself found himself growing closer to her. They soon became the best of friends, and eventually more. Due to Barthomoleo's influence within the bachelor band, the moment he claimed her as his the rest of the men left her well alone.

Gráinne soon found herself enjoying the company of the pirates, and agreed to join them as one of their own. So began the best year and a half of Bartholomeo's life. With his lady wife alongside him and his pirate band at his back, there was nothing they couldn't do. During this time, his sister Aelfwine joined his crew, and he took great pride in showing her how they lived their lives. His men respected his antlered sister and, after a stern warning by him and the threat of him using his swords to remove their manhoods, they resisted the urge to try and bed her.

As time passed, Gráinne bore a son to Bartholomeo. The boy was a flaxen chestnut like his mother, with pale antlers and his father's earthy green eyes. They named the lad Jack, and he was doted upon by even the most unruly of pirates - they rarely had a newborn within their midst, and they all protected him fiercely. After all, they were all good men, despite their pirate name; they whored, stole and fought, but never raped or harmed children, and only killed when necessary.

By this point Bartholomeo had risen to the leader of the band, and his thirst for glory lead them further and further afield. By the time he was four, he was one of the most notorious men in the land, and had been branded on his shoulder by one of the many attempts to capture him. He was known as Black Bart and also the Scimitar, as well as his childhood nickname of Byron. Jack had grown into a fine yearling, and Gráinne had agreed to have another foal. All was perfect for the young pirate....but alas, it could not last.

The events that followed were, without doubt, Bartholomeo's fault. He grew too greedy and too arrogant; he thrived off his reputation and the strength of the men behind him. With his whirling swords, muscles and battle prowess, he thought himself invincible. He decided to take on an opposing band that was far larger than his own, yet he thought their men weak and assumed it would be another easy victory. They had good weapons that magpie-like Bartholomeo wanted, so he lead his men into battle without a single ounce of fear in his heart.

His arrogance was his undoing. The opposing band had far too many soldiers, and they were quickly overwhelmed. He lost sight of Aelfwine in the melee, but worse was to come. He and his band bid a chastening retreat, but not before Gráinne had been killed by one of the opposing band. Heartbroken and with his herd decimated, Bartholomeo and his remaining men fled.

The opposing band, however, were not satisfied. They sent three of their assassins after Bartholomeo's remaining men to try and kill them in their sleep; he was caught unawares, but that didn't stop him taking down one of his assailants. The other two went after Jack, knowing that the most painful way to ensure Bartholomeo's submission would be to murder his son. Bartholomeo and his men fought against the assassins to defend the yearling, but they were too weak from the battle, and the pirate was knocked unconscious. He awoke to find Jack's throat slit and the rest of his men either murdered or taken prisoner - they'd left Bartholomeo alive so he could suffer the ultimate indignity of knowing they had taken everything from him.

Blinded by grief, he took everything from them. He hunted down and killed the assassins, but it was a hollow victory. He had lost everything precious to him - his wife, his son, his band. For weeks he was so hollowed by sorrow that he could to nothing but wander on his own, a roaming vagabond. He stopped eating, stopped caring; he simply wanted death to embrace him and reunite him with his wife and son.

But his pride got the better of him. His pride would not let him die; his pride would not give his family's killers the satisfaction of knowing they'd won. So he forced himself to lock his grief away and start fighting again, putting his muscle tone back on and growing strong again. He joined another bachelor herd with similar ideals to his previous one, and did not tell them of his history. This time, he joined in with their shameless whoring, because losing himself in the succour of a woman could help him forget what he'd lost. He ensured no children came of these trysts, however - Jack's memory was too raw.

For three more years, Bartholomeo roamed with his new pirate band. Although he was a reformed man in that he did not grow too arrogant and see himself as infallible, he still kept some of his old ways; his brawling, his drinking, his loud laughter and wicked innuendoes. These pirates could not have known that their fun-loving brother had lost so much. Again he rose to lead them and grew in notoriety, but this time he knew his limits. His band often wondered why he wasn't more ambitious, but the pirate was afraid of the past repeating itself.

Just after his seventh birthday, Bartholomeo decided to leave the band and make his own way. He'd lived among pirates for five years, so thought it was time to live alone for a bit. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't used to having to watch his back all the time - days after he left his crew, he was ambushed by a gang of thieves. They stole all his equipment - his scimitar and arakh, his belt, his model pistol, even the rope he kept twined around his hindleg. Most painful of all was the loss of the green sash that used to belong to his dead sister Carlisle, and he was furious at himself for losing it. The thieves scattered in every direction, and Bartholomeo's tracking of one of them brought him to Helovia.