In order to truly rise, one must rise above the ground or swelling waves we're born on.

The eldest daughter of the inimitable human Pirate Queen Lian Fei, Xiangshan has lived a life of both splendor and great hardship. She was raised among pirate families, mercenaries, and fishing folk, but with the wealth of a pirate queen turned to her grooming. A youth of strict education with constant escapes and rebellions shaped her as both an aspiring noblewoman and raggedy urchin. From the very beginning, she found herself in constant conflict with Lian Fei's vision and reputation. Her mother had little interest in her criminal enterprises at all anymore, preferring that her favored children cultivate legitimate wealth. It proved a constant annoyance that Xiangshan was not only keenly interested in more violent schemes, but that she had a natural talent for the blade and for leading others into trouble.

All of this came to a head when Xiangshan's marriage to a lovely, if boring, merchant's daughter was arranged without her consent or input. The merging of their wealth would have made the Feis one of the wealthiest families on the Coast without resorting to piracy, but Xianghshan had had enough. Rather than marry her, Xiangshan wooed, kidnapped, and press-ganged the girl onto a crew of loyal friends and spent nearly a year raiding ships under her own banner and evading her mother's and the law's furious pursuit. While she remains rare friends with her once-intended, who now serves as one of her lieutenants, the damage to her 'good reputation' was done, and her future as a criminal was sealed, to her mother's great chagrin.

Now, her growing fleet of pirates extort tribute from merchants along the Coast and the isles while fighting without hesitation against orcish encroachment. The Blooded Houses have tried and failed to wipe out her operation several times, and thus Xiangshan continues to dictate the terms of sea travel even as their navy grows more formidable by the day. Entire communities of thieves, smugglers, fishing families, bankers, sex workers, shipwrights, bartenders, and shopkeepers swear allegiance and pay taxes to Xiangshan Li Fei alone and disregard the Blooded Houses or other powers entirely. She is a power to appease and every bit as capable as her retired mother, who spends most of her time gambling in the Tooth and basking in the adoration of her fans. It's that adoration that drives Xiangshan, some say - to escape the shadow of great Lian Fei, she'll have to do something grander than even the embellished tales of her mother's piratical feats.

The Pirate Queen's next steps remain unclear. She's made some inroads with Zori Ineluka of the Ramparts, offering aid in their summer wars against the Horde in return for some secret benefit. She's dotted the islands of the Ragged Sea with fortresses and colonies, trading with local spice empires and crowding out competitors by force. Rumors speak of her building a ship far greater than any seen on the Sea in its history, as host to her palace, a grand menagerie, and countless new weapons. There are so many rumors about her 'next move' that the truth becomes impossible to determine. And that's just how she likes it for the moment.