Pirate Lord Durzo Galanodel

Early Life

Galanodel started life as a petty thief with big dreams. Namely those of personal wealth and luxury. When he heard tell of Edward Newgate attaining wealth, fame and power, he knew for certain that that is what he wanted to do. Having only mediocre skill with the sword and spell, he opted to lie, cheat and steal his way to success, as well as infiltrating strongholds and manours and looting the place to moderate success.  

Meeting with Yshiggol

Eventually his ambition and lack of talent caught up with him, and Durzo found himself having bitten off more than he could chew. He snuck into an NWTC stronghold that was heavily guarded, having been used by the renowned researcher Theodorax in his experiments that enhanced the current Admirals. Things went wrong and his crew abandoned Durzo, leaving him trapped in a research laboratory, bound to be captured any moment now.   Whilst trapped and panicking, Durzo felt a voice in his head and turned to see a sight that terrified him. An enormous brain, wreathed in tendrils. A truly alien being of vast intellect, and it was dying. Although normally nearly 10 feet in diameter, the creature was dehydrated and shrivelled to nearly half its size. Its illithid colony was gone its memory of the starry void it calls home was long forgotten due to the hellfire that purged its existence from the world's memory, and its dignity was destroyed through numerous invasive and torturous experiments. It couldn't even muster up the psychic energy to shatter this mortal's mind and devour its brain to sustain itself.   Despite the abject horror at what he found, Durzo found himself unable to feel anything other than pity for the creature. He sprung it from its cage, and when he found it was unable to move, carried the creature on his back. With his stealth and Yshiggol's ability to sense the location of creatures in the fortress, the two escaped with their lives.   They escaped not a moment too soon, as when it was relayed to Anum about the disappearance of the elder brain, she realised that word getting out about the Company holding one could lead to some theorising about and possibly learning of the existence of other worlds, and so erased the facility from existence. Durzo himself also had a 50,000 gold bounty placed on his head, the highest initial bounty of any pirate in history.  

Rise to Power

The surprising selflessness of Durzo compelled Yshiggol. As an elder brain, its former colony existed entirely to further its own existence, and so empathy was an entirely foreign concept to it. It resolved to study and learn more about this strange creature. In order to do so, it asked Durzo what he desired. When Durzo naturally answered with becoming the next Pirate King (and explaining what that concept meant), Yshiggol offered its assistance, but it would need to regain a colony in order to become powerful enough to help. So it and Durzo set out to find bodies to turn into new mind flayers. During this time, the curiosity the elder brain felt around Durzo deepened from a passing interest to an intense fixation, to a complete obsession.   In order to please the one to whom it felt devoted, it followed his every whim, using its psychic powers to enslave entire towns, psychically crush enemy ships, and once it was strong enough, even subjugating an entire ancient dragon turtle to serve as a base of operations for Durzo. All the while, Yshiggol and its mind flayers made sure to remain in the shadows, with all their accomplishments being attributed to Durzo. Durzo was initially happy to revel in his good luck, but over time he grew increasingly disturbed by Yshiggol's methods, and any attempt to ask it to tone it down was ignored. Over time, he grew to fear this alien entity that was so devoted to him.   Eventually, his influence grew to the point that the Company could no longer ignore it, and Durzo became known as one of the Pirate Lords alongside Bloodbath Rochelieu and Jira the Cannibal. Seeing them as rivals, Yshiggol immediately declared war on them in Durzo's name. Durzo was now in full panic mode, but Yshiggol had not lost any of the sense of superiority it had as a conqueror of the stars. It assured Durzo that none of these hairless apes could dare harm him through the various psychic wards it had placed on him.  

Conflict with the other Pirate Lords

This was fully put to the test during the Battle of the Lords a massive conflict that saw the Shard Pirates face off against the Thousand Beast Pirates near the shores of Ryoukuni, all the while the Bloodtide Pirates waged a sea-wide series of attacks on Company fortresses, preventing them from interfering in the war and taking either captain's head. A few times during this war, Durzo did sustain some small amounts of damage, one in particular being a lycanthrope bite, nursing him.   During the climax of the war, Durzo found himself locked in single combat with Pirate Lord Jira himself, aided invisibly by the nearby Yshiggol. The elder brain greatly underestimated the power of the Cannibal, and Durzo's wards were quickly overwhelmed. In a blind panic, Durzo reached for a scroll of teleportation. Due to the nature of the New World, long-distance teleportation is a risky endeavour, as Durzo learnt when the spell misfired, sending him hurtling thousands of miles before washing up on the shore of Volan.  

Volandis

When Durzo awoke on Newhaven, he was struck by how kind and peaceful its people were, and how creatures of so many walks of life could live together peacefully. He was slowly nursed back to health, learning more and more about the wondrous place he'd found. He learnt about the magical device that allowed them to avoid danger from foreign forces. This sight inspired him, and he had a new goal: to create a greater version of this - a land where all races could be united and feel welcome.   When he was strong enough, he set sail, vowing to never forget the kindness of Newhaven's people. When he returned, he couldn't help but gush to Yshiggol about his new plans, about how excited he was to unite everyone, and create a lasting peace. He was reinvigorated. He also saw this as a way to put Yshiggol's powers to good use, by using them to strive for peace. Yshiggol couldn't possibly do anything horrific with that goal...right?   Durzo was wrong.  

Consolidation of Power

Yhsiggol of course immediately set to the task of accomplishing Durzo's new dream and came to the conclusion that the first, most logical step to achieving this goal would be to have the same advantage that Newhaven had. And so it ordered the treasure of Newhaven to be taken by force. And to ensure that the citizens of Newhaven wouldn't rally to form a counterattack, and so had them slaughtered. Durzo was horrified but was powerless to stop the mind flayers. The colony had grown too powerful and was now fully dedicated to achieving its goals at any cost.   With the treasure in their possession, the Colony then set out to bring as many races as possible under its control. Yshiggol had learned through its experiences that mentally dominating every creature wasn't going to work, as it didn't understand mortals well enough to not raise suspiscion. Instead, it selectively manipulated and twisted the minds of the leaders of various groups, forcing the rest of them to heel and coming to live on Taniwha. Recently, Yshiggol subjugated Stupendous Grand General Admiral Eduardo, the most respected and navally accomplished of the Giff. The giff are the greatest sailors and naval officers in all the New World, and taking what was previously a total wildcard and turning to his side has been an enormous military boon for the Shard Pirates.