Drovic Wildfire

Drovic Wildfire
Drovic was the son of a whore, like most Wildfires, he didn’t know his father, and like most Wildfires he learnt to fight in the gutter. However, he knew he had the blessing of the volcano, an Ifrit born of fire. There have always been whispers that Laurel Firebrand herself was an Ifrit and therefore Drovic always figured he was destined for greatness. He had a dream of unifying the Wildfires. Their sheer numbers alone would overwhelm any rival family. His top priority was to win the Swordsong and claim the Charred Star (buckler) and leadership of the family. This task took him 60 years, but eventually his competition got old, and tired while Drovic’s fiery determination and grit only intensified. The longevity afforded to him by his Ifrit ancestry proved the decisive factor. Eventually he was the strongest and most senior of all the Wildfires! However, decades of Swordsinging left the family poor and depleted in more ways than one. Drovic, now the 122nd Salamander (title) of the Wildfire clan, decided to organise an expedition of general lotting and pirating. It was during this period that he reunited with two of his favored children. Each provided a unique skill that would help Drovic achieve his vision.

 

Drovic appears erratic to strangers, sometimes skillful and patient, other times brash and tempestuous. Though his crew may know him, strangers read Drovic in the following way: If he draws Salt (his rapier) you may yet live, if he draws Pepper (firearm) then abandon all hope!

Drovic’s support as The Salamander (Head of Wildfires) stems from the underclass of the family. Perhaps a story that truly embodies this truth is that of the last Salamander, Boudicca Wildfire. A powerful bruteish women, Boudicca ruled the Wildfires by martial skill and intimidation. Paranoid, she only crewed her ship with the most loyal and powerful Wildfires. What happened to the rest of the family concerned her little and she made sure all the families wealth flowed to herself and her sycophants. Drovic learned the importance of personality and stories during her rule. He worked to increase his own reputation in the back alleys and dark pubs of the underclass while quietly fermenting discontentedness with Boudicca’s leadership. Knowing he could never defeat Boudicca directly, Drovic worked hard to get a place on her ship to wait and watch for the right moment. It took years, but eventually Drovic became a deckhand on her ship and he knew that when the opportunity came, no one would fight her overthrow, other than her elite crew.... Boudicca never found out about the betrayal, or got to face off against her rival,  her and her crew simply drowned in the deep. Drovic watched the explosion in a small craft with some shame and a lot of horror clinging to the Charred Star (which he stole from her closet that night). The powerful explosion seemed all the more gruesome in the black of night. Of course, only Drovic knows this version of the story, to the rest of the Wildfires Drovic defeated them all in combat and then fled the sinking ship damaged during this heroic feat (his greatest secrets). Since that day, Drovic always makes time for the underclass and keeps his ears to the ground. He know everyone, and everyone knows him, because he knows what happens to a Salamander if people are willing to look the other way.

Depictions:
Drovic is usually depicted as a Swashbuckler (archetype: picaroon)