CHARACTER 1: 

Nikomedes

Name: Nikomedes

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Time They're From: 1000 BC

Country They're From: Ancient Greece, specifically the southern Aegean island of Rhodes.

Languages: Doric (also called West Greek) is his native language, but he had to learn English to speak at the museum.

Appearance: Nikomedes is a formidable figure. Tall and imposing, his appearance is further made intimidating due to his general rough demeanor. His dark eyes are cold and his large hands are calloused from work. His hair is dark and unkempt, and Nikomedes, in general, has poor hygiene.

Backstory: Nikomedes grew up on the southern island of Rhodes, and his family belonged to the Hylleis tribe. They lived in a very tiny city-state and most of Nikomedes' predecessors were swordsmiths. However, when the Bronze Age collapse happened, the city-state of Rhodes fragmented into several smaller settlements.

It was in one of these settlements that Nikomedes grew up in. He was the only son, but he had two sisters. One died when she was 10 of disease when Nikomedes was 15. Their mother also died of disease a few years later, leaving only Nikomedes, his older sister, and their father.

Their city-state, called Chasus, was a fairly large one for its time. There were often small fights between people for land, which was a precious commodity. Nikomedes' father wasn't particularly gifted with physical prowess, but he was persuasive enough to get several other families to agree to give him their kleroi and allegiance in exchange for his protection. As such, despite the rough time and limited technology, Nikomedes and his family were one of the luckier ones.

Additionally, Nikomedes' father, Leonid, was close to the basileus (leader) which also increased the family's social standing. When his father died, as Nikomedes was an only son, he received his entire kleroi (land parcel). As an adult, Nikomedes expanded his wealth by taking other people's kleroi through a variety of ways, but mostly by stealing. Increasing his number of kleroi also increased his social standing and wealth, eventually leading to Nikomedes becoming basileus.

Personality: Nikomedes is both charismatic and intelligent, which makes him a popular leader among his community. As a child he was stubborn and argumentative, two traits he's kept as an adult. However, due to the small community he lives in, he also knows how to listen to others, a necessary quality to remain leader. As a leader, he is very much in control. He is determined and sometimes ruthless in his goal, which is usually to acquire power or wealth.

With his family, Nikomedes is very much the same. There isn't much that is soft or understanding about his personality. He's strict and focuses mostly on his oldest son, intent on molding him to be the next basileus. As such, while Nikomedes is a good leader, he is not much of a family man.

Weapons: Iron slashing sword that was made for him

Friends/Family: His wife, Agape and his daughter Kallistrate. He has three sons Nikias, Lysimachus, and Andronicus. His second and third in command are Clitus and Pyrrhos respectively.

Favorite Activities: There isn't much recreationally that Nikomedes enjoys doing. However, it could be said that he enjoys planning, mostly how to accumulate wealth.

Day They Were Captured: The day he was captured, Nikomedes was about to try and steal another kleroi. He at first thought he had been discovered but when he saw how different Kenneth's agents looked from everyone else, he realized something wasn't right. He still tried to fight, but was quickly disarmed and taken.

CHARACTER 2:

Agis

Name: Agis

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Time They're From: 480

Country They're From: Ancient Greece, specifically Sparta

Languages: Doric Greek

Appearance: Agis is an ideal Spartan. He is physically very strong, every part of his body fit and ready for battle. He's tall, with thick, dark hair and dark eyes. His skin is tanned from years of training outdoors in any weather conditions, and he has a multitude of scars from either beatings or training injuries.

Backstory: Agis was born a full Spartan citizen, thanks to being born in Lacedaemon. When he was a baby, Agis was a twin. However, when his parents took them to see the priests, the priests decided that his brother was imperfect. As such, his twin was left in the forest while Agis' parents took him home. For a few years, Agis lived a relatively normal life. He played with other children his age and his mother taught him what she had learned in school as a child. His father was never there as he was still living in the barracks with the other men under 30.

Once Agis turned 7, he began his training with all the other boys his age. It was a brutal, harsh training meant to make him an efficient soldier. Every moment was devoted to making him the best warrior he could be. He had the bare minimum needed to survive, which meant a thin blanket, black broth, and no comforts. Following the example of some of the older boys, Agis snuck out in the middle of the night, something allowed as long as he wasn't caught. Once out he grabbed some bread and a couple of blankets before sneaking back inside. Agis did this several times throughout the years to get actual food or small comforts. Occasionally he'd get caught and was beaten as punishment, but more often than not he was successful at staying hidden.

At 20, he became a full citizen and member of the army. As he'd been excellent during his training, he also became a member of the Krypteia, Sparta's secret police that kept watch over the Helot slaves. To become a full member of the Krypteia, he had to kill one of the Helots, which he did easily, becoming an official member of the Krypteia. He then married Cynisca, a woman whom he'd occasionally spoken with on his 'secret' trips.

Although he was required to live with his fellow soldiers, he made time to go see Cynisca in between wars. After helping to quell yet another Helot rebellion, he visited his wife and found out that she'd had a pair of twins. It was on his way back to the barracks that he was captured.

Personality: To Agis, there is nothing more important than being a perfect soldier. His wife, his family, even his own health, matters less to him than being a perfect soldier and dying honorably in battle. As such, Agis strove to be both physically and mentally strong. He was cunning and well versed in Spartan strategies and war tactics. A fearsome warrior, Agis rarely showed fear and worked to remain clear headed in battle so as to avoid endangering the lives of his phalanx. This was in effort to follow the Spartan code. He also worked to be short and to the point in both words and actions. Loyalty to Sparta and his phalanx was paramount to him, and he expected the same out of his fellow soldiers.

Weapons: A typical dory (spear), a kopis (curved iron sword), and a shield

Friends/Family: His wife Cynisca, his daughter Gorgo and son Epitadas. However, he is closest to those he grew up and trained with. These men include Eurytus, Maron and Alpheus.

Favorite Activities: As a Spartan, Agis has no time for activities that don't further the Spartan cause of being the best warrior he can. Therefore, he spends most of his free time training to become an even better soldier.

Day They Were Captured: The day he was captured Agis was sneaking back to the barracks after visiting his wife. When Kenneth's agents first appeared, he thought they were some of his superiors come to punish him. However, once he saw how strangely they were dressed and their odd weapons, he realized they must be enemies. He fought against them, but was unable to escape.

CHARACTER 3: 

Ching Shih

Name: Ching Shih

Age: 36

Gender: Female

Time They're From: 1810, or during the Qing Dynasty

Country They're From: Guangdong Province, China

Languages: Cantonese

Appearance: Ching isn't particularly tall, but she's still imposing. There is a harshness to her eyes and a roughness to her voice that makes it clear she is not a soft person. Her dark hair is generally kept back so it isn't in her way, leaving her angular features bare. While she has the resources to gorge herself on food, Ching keeps herself in shape so that she remains strong to her crew. It is for this reason that she also generally wears her captain's attire and has a sword with her at all times.

Backstory: Ching was born in Guangdong Province to a poor mother and no father. By the time she was 17, she worked as a prostitute using her name Shi Xianggu. When she was 26 she caught the eye of Cheng I, a notorious Chinese pirate who captained the Red Flag Fleet. She was brought before him and by the end of the year, they were married. Ching joined her husband on the ship, and the two later adopted a poor fisherman named Cheung Po as their son and heir. During her first years with the fleet, Ching allowed her husband to lead, though she was an active participant in his decisions.

Six years after getting married, Cheng I died. Ching took the name Ching Shih, Cheng's widow, after this. To avoid going back to her previous life, Ching quickly solidified her partnership with Cheung Po in order to become captain. Support from Cheng Po's family ensured that she would remain in power, and Ching became captain of the Red Flag Fleet.

As captain, she was quick to lay down her own laws for how pirates under her leadership were supposed to act. She instated a tax that required any plunder seized to be presented before her. The ship that captured it kept 20% while the other 80% went to the fleet's fund. She also created strict rules, including for the treatment of female prisoners. All attacks had to be okayed by Ching, and she had to be given all of the treasure so that she could distribute it as she saw fit. No one was allowed to desert their post or rape any of the female captives. If a female captive was ugly, she was let go unharmed. If one of the pirates wanted to have sex with a female prisoner, they had to marry and be faithful to her. Failure to follow any of these rules usually resulted in a beheading. Deserters had their ears cut off, which were then passed around as an example to the others. She gave male prisoners the option to join or to have their feet nailed to the deck and be beaten to death.

She also established herself as just a fearsome pirate as her late husband. She united the ships in the Red Flag Fleet and increased their number to over 80,000 junks (war ships). Her fleet took over many coastal villages from Macau to Canton, imposing levies and taxes on them. This earned her the nickname of the Terror of South China. She was known for her cruel punishments and harsh code, as well as her successful evasion of the Chinese government. Ching remained very powerful right up until she was captured by Kenneth's agents.

Personality: Due to her time as a prostitute, Ching is able to read people easily. She can be manipulative, and is powerful in a quiet, calculating way. Ching is very intelligent always thinking two steps ahead of everyone else. Politically astute and an excellent negotiator, Ching is a shrewd business woman. She has her own code of morals that clashes with other people's, but she sticks to it faithfully. Death and violence don't scare her; she sees it too often as a pirate.

As a captain, she commands fear just as much as respect. To quell any thoughts of mutiny in her crew, Ching established herself as ruthless and unforgiving. She made no hesitation in killing those who broke the code she set and those who deserted were punished just as harshly. Ching is not a soft person, and she ensures everyone around her knows it.

Weapons: A dao (sword)

Friends/Family: Ching is married to Cheung Po. She doesn't trust many people to call them a friend, but her first mate is a man named Zhang Yi. She also is relatively close to one of the females captured after they took Canton, named Lin Hua.

Favorite Activities: Ching enjoys a good game of yanqian (what was later called fan tan), and other gambling games.

Day They Were Captured: Ching didn't understand who these people with their strange clothes and weapons were, but she quickly decided they were her enemy. She and her crew fought back against them, but Ching was captured and several of her crew were injured or killed.

CHARACTER 4: 

Zhou Li Hua

Name: Zhou Li Hua

Age: 48

Gender: Female

Time They're From: 701 (near the middle of the Tang Dynasty)

Country They're From: Chang'an (present day Xi'an)

Languages: Mandarin

Appearance: As all courtesans were, Li Hua is beautiful. Her dark black hair is kept long, and often pulled up into elaborate hairstyles when she is performing. Make up covers her face more often than not with thick white make up to achieve a porcelain look which all courtesans strived for. She often wore long gowns when performing that emphasized her small, slight figure.

Backstory: Li Hua was born in Chang'an to a relatively well-off family. The third child, Li Hua was both the youngest and only girl. Her father worked as a relatively successful craftsman. He made enough to provide a respectable dowry for Li Hua when it was time for her to be married. However, when she was 17, she was "recruited" by one of the nearby brothels. Once there, she was registered and began a rigorous training. Because she was from a higher class family, she was given more compared to girls taken from poorer families with just beauty.

She was given her own bedroom and was taught music, dancing, and even received a small literary education. Li Hua even learned to recite poetry. However, she was still essentially a prisoner who had to answer to her madame. She was not allowed to leave save for when she was performing or was given permission to go out.

After living as a high-end courtesan for a few years, Li Hua met Zhou Xing. He became infatuated with her, and she with him. As an important official to the current empress, Wu Ze Tian, he was able to buy Li Hua and take her to his home. She then lived with him until she was captured by Kenneth's agents.

Personality: Li Hua is resilient and strong-willed; she is wary of most people, but often hides or compartmentalizes her feelings. It was this that allowed her to survive her time at the brothel. Her time there made her pragmatic and cold, harsh reality stripping her childish daydreams she'd had when living with her family.

Weapons: None

Friends/Family: She hasn't seen her family since she was taken, but as far as she knows, her two brothers Wan and Tian are still alive, as are her parents. Her husband is Zhou Xing and she also knows the empress, Wu Ze Tian.

Favorite Activities: Li Hua actually enjoys playing the zheng and reciting poetry, and she occasionally tries to compose her own as well.

Day They Were Captured: The day she was captured Li Huan as in her home waiting for husband to come back. However, when she saw Kenneth's agents come into the room instead, she panicked. It reminded her of when she was kidnapped at 17, and she froze while they took her.

CHARACTER 5: 

Jocosa

Name: Jocosa

Age: 56

Gender: Female

Time They're From: 1351 (Medieval England)

Country They're From: England

Languages: English

Appearance: Jocosa is a rather plain looking woman. Her hair is thin and blonde, held back so that it doesn't interfere with her work. Her clothes are similarly plain, but well made. Of average height, she wasn't blessed with exceptional features. Not particularly strong, her face has the unfortunate characteristic of seeming to be perpetually frowning. On the plumper side, her hands are calloused from spinning, and her nose is slightly off center, but otherwise Jocosa doesn't stand out.

Backstory: Jocosa was born as the fifth daughter to a poor family. Her father was a cordwainer (shoe maker, and a distinct job from a cobbler), which meant they had very little prestige in their community. Jocosa has four sisters and one brother. Her brother was several years older and was married by the time she was 16. She was closer in age with her sisters, the largest difference being five years. The five sisters worked their family's small piece of land during the harvest season and learned how to sew and weave when not in the fields.

As a cordwainer's daughters, none of them had a very big dowry. By the time Jocosa was 20 and able to leave working the fields to marry, there was nothing left to entice a potential husband, something Jocosa didn't mind. She preferred her independence, and wanted to marry someone she could say she loved. Since that seemed unlikely, she took one of the few courses of action she could. Jocosa became a spinster, making a meager living by spinning clothes.

As such she lived a rather solitary, uneventful life until she turned 51. This was when a terrible plague broke out, what we now call the Black Death. It hit Jocosa's village hard, and many of her family died, including three of her sisters, her father, and two of her sister's husbands. Jocosa prayed every day during the five years that the plague stayed, and it seemed that her prayers must have protected her, as she didn't get sick. Unfortunately, while the disease came for her, Kenneth's agents did.

Personality: Jocosa is quiet and easily forgettable. She doesn't like to go against the norm or be drawn attention to. She prefers to simply do her work, keep her head down, and be invisible. Unlike her sisters and mother, Jocosa wasn't eager to marry. There is an independent streak to Jocosa often at odds with her wish to be like everyone else. While Jocosa isn't opposed to marriage, she wants to fall in love with someone first. Something of a romantic, she held firm to this ideal, as it was very important to her. So important that she is willing to stay unmarried the rest of her life if she is unable to find love. It was this stubborn streak mixed with her want to be independent that led her to becoming a spinster.

Weapons: None

Friends/Family: Her mother and two sisters.

Favorite Activities: Jocosa daydreams often of falling in love, and talks about with her remaining sister. She also genuinely enjoys spinning and sewing, occasionally doing both for fun.

Day They Were Captured: The day Jocosa was captured she was frightened by the agents that cane for her, and so left with them without putting up a fight.

CHARACTER 6: 

Melichor

Name: Melichor

Age: 53

Gender: Male

Time They're From: 600 BCE

Country They're From: Persia

Languages: Middle Persian, though the official name is Pahlavi

Appearance: Melichor has strong features, with dark eyes and dark hair. He has a beard and moustache that hold no hints of grey, though a few strands can be found in the hair that reaches his shoulders. He's a little on the shorter side, without any particular strength. His olive toned skin is leathery from trips made in hot climates, and the beginnings of wrinkles are beginning to show in his face.

Backstory: Melichor was born in Persia to parents who already had three other sons. He was born to one of six Median tribes that specialized in priestly duties and often became Magi, or priests. He began training for priesthood very young, at seven and became a priest at 16. He then traveled, gaining knowledge and experience until he was 20. By then, a prophet named Zoroaster became prominently known, and Melichor went to study under him. Under his tutelage, Melichor became similar to what we call a missionary, traveling to teach about Zoroastrianism.

Personality: Melichor is deeply religious, his religion more important to him than anything else. Devout as he is, Melichor is a stubborn and strong-willed man. He has incredible self-confidence and often has difficulty in seeing other people's point of view, believing that he is always right. Despite his arrogance, Melichor is relatively understanding of other religions. This is mostly because he deeply admires Zoraster, and follows his example of not imposing Zoroastrianism on others.

Weapons: None

Friends/Family: Due to his travels, Melichor doesn't have any particularly close relationships with anybody. However, his parents and three brothers are still alive and he is on good terms with them.

Favorite Activities: Melichor has what many would find boring hobbies, such as discussing the battle between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu.

Day They Were Captured: Melichor didn't fight back when Kenneth's agents came for him, as he believed that fighting back would not help Ahura Mazda in his battle against Angra Mainyu.

CHARACTER 7: 

Olvir Thordson

Name: Olvir Thordson (Olvir, son of Thord)

Age: 53

Gender: Male

Time They're From: 878

Country They're From: Denmark

Languages: Danish is his native language, but he learned Norn after settling in Scalloway.

Appearance: Olvir is shorter than the typical Viking, but what he lacks in height he makes up for in muscle. He is very strong and agile, though less fit now than he was in his younger days. His hair is bleached blonde, like many others in his village, from the soap with a high amount of lye in it that he uses. (This helped to avoid lice.) He is also much cleaner than the average 9th century person, as Vikings were partial to taking baths.

Backstory: Born in Scandinavia to a father who was a farmer, Olvir's childhood was one where he learned how to take care of and run a farm with his many siblings. The earldom he grew up in was a relatively wealthy one, with a harsh but smart jarl who had conquered other lands and traded with many to ensure as much stability as possible for his earldom. As such, Olvir had a relatively good childhood. However, Olvir had always wanted to 'go a Viking' and set sail to search for a new land to farm on. So, when he had the chance, he did.

Another Scandinavian named Rollo was going to 'go a Viking' and Olvir became part of his crew. They sailed to many cities, trading and conquering them. Despite warnings about how dangerous Scotland was, Olvir and the crew he was with travelled their in their longboats. However, Olvir was permanently injured in a raid near Scotland. He decided to settle there on a fishing port called Scalloway, which was one of the main islands of a group called the Shetland Islands. Once there he quickly adapted to his new environment. He started to learn the language and also began farming again.

Additionally, Olvir met a woman whom he fell in love with. It took a few years, but eventually he was able to convince her family to betroth her to him. It then took two more years for them to officially be married, as they followed Viking traditions for marriage, which among other things, meant they didn't marry in the winter. However, after they were married, they had six children. Two were boys and the other four were daughters.

Personality: Although he craved adventure when he was younger, Olvir has settled down a bit. While he still loves the thrill of doing something new or exciting, Olvir has become something of a family man. He loves his wife greatly, as well as his children. At 53, he has decided that his days of raiding villages and being on the sea are over. However, he still retains many of the characteristics that he was known for when he was with Rollo's crew. He's very stubborn and innovative, while also being someone able to semi-easily take orders from those in authority.

Weapons: A spear and shield

Friends/Family: He has four daughters and two sons, as well as a wife.

Favorite Activities: As Olvir is now more permanently settled and no longer a Viking, he works primarily as a farmer. However, he enjoys writing admittedly bad poetry in his free time.

Day They Were Captured: The day Olvir was captured, he was with his wife and two of his daughters. Although he fought, he was quickly overpowered and kidnapped.