Gorrell
(GOAR-l)

Race: Orc
Role: First Mate of the Copper Horizon

The first thing most people notice about Gorrell is that he is enormous. The second thing they notice is that he is grinning at them — wide, toothy, tusks and all — in a way that their instincts can’t quite decide is friendly or threatening. Both instincts are correct.

Gorrell is a wall of muscle covered head to toe in intricate clan tattoos that wind across his green skin from his shoulders to his forearms, each marking earned rather than decorative. His dark hair falls in long locs bound with gold, and gold rings catch the light at his nose and ears — the only ornamentation on a man who otherwise looks like he was built for a shipyard and never left. He goes shirtless as a matter of preference, which tends to settle most arguments before they start.

As First Mate of the Copper Horizon, Gorrell is the backbone of the ship’s operation — the person who translates the Captain’s authority into reality, handles discipline without drama, and reads a situation faster than most people can describe it. He is decisive in the way that only someone who has made difficult calls in difficult moments can be, and he carries that authority so naturally that people follow him before they’ve consciously decided to. He is also, as he will tell you himself, in charge of morale — and he means it. Gorrell has a gift for knowing when a crew needs to be pushed and when they need to laugh, and he deploys both with equal effectiveness.

His twin hand axes go everywhere with him. In his hands they move less like weapons and more like extensions of himself — easy, efficient, and very, very fast.

Interesting Facts:

• His grin has ended more than a few confrontations without a single word being spoken. Gorrell finds this enormously satisfying.
• He has a gift for reading people that borders on unsettling — he spots a lie, a hidden motive, or a changed plan almost before the person delivering it has finished speaking. On a ship, this makes him invaluable. In a negotiation, it makes him dangerous.