Matao

Matao was born the son of a great war chief. His father expected Matao to assume his place. He was disappointed. Though Matao had the shoulders and frame of his father, nothing either could do seemed to fill the boy out. Despairing that he would ever have a proper heir, Matao's father sent Matao to live with an uncle, while he bent his efforts to his new son.   Matao’s uncle was a fisherman and he set Matao to work on his boat. The same lack of physical power made life difficult. His agility and excellent hand-eye coordination made him an excellent caster of nets, but he struggled to pull them back in.   At fifteen, Matao was out on the water alone. He had gone out to prove that he was capable of adding to the tribe on his own. He cast his nets out and managed to snag a large hall of fish. Struggling to get the net back into the boat, he fell in got entangled in the net, and sunk straight to the bottom.   He should have drowned, but didn’t. It wasn’t like some of his kin that seemed to be able to hold their breath for extended periods of time, but instead, he could actually breathe the water as it filled his lungs. Even more, the pressure of the depth seemed to hold little discomfort for him.   Struggling to get himself clear of the net, he eventually came back to the surface, but the current had taken his small boat away. Normally a weak swimmer, Matao figured himself to be swept away. Instead, a gentle current came up behind him and propelled him along until he reached the shore.   Over the next few years, Matao’s uncle used him to dive deep for the best pearl oysters and abalone. Matao’s power and control over water grew and he even learned to communicate with the water creatures. Eventually, he grew tired of the fishing life and set off, swimming from island to island, often spending days at sea.   That was how he met the Siren’s Call and her captain. Matao was swimming along in the deep ocean, miles from any land when the ship came on him. He spoke with the captain for several minutes. She seemed amused at his apparent lack of concern for being adrift in the middle of the ocean and invited him aboard. He has been a member of the crew ever since.