Captain Verda “Black-Eyes” Rivers

Captain Verda “Black-Eyes” Rivers
  Human | Captain | Spellcaster
  The Betrayal That Taught Her Numbers
  Verda Crowell earned her name the hard way—but not in chains.
  She was once a surface pirate, serving under captains who spoke of freedom while quietly measuring crew members as expendable assets. During a high-risk raid that went catastrophically wrong, Verda argued for withdrawal. The captains ignored her calculations.
  When the escape failed, they needed someone to blame.
  Verda was stabbed, stripped of her spellbook and gear, and thrown overboard into a sinkhole channel believed to be a dead end—an Underdark maw that swallowed ships whole. The crew logged her as lost and sailed away lighter and safer.
  They assumed the dark would finish what they started.
  Magic in the Black
  Verda survived because she was not just a sailor—she was a caster.
  Bleeding out in absolute darkness, she drew on instinctive, brutal magic: force shaped through pain, will sharpened by spite. She cauterized the wound herself with unstable spellcraft, then followed ley-echoes and arcane pressure instead of light.
  For weeks, she survived by magic and calculation:
  Conjured heat to stave off hypothermia
  Minor illusions to bait predators away
  Blades enhanced with raw arcane force
  Her eyes changed first.
  Prolonged exposure to the Underdark and repeated low-light spellcasting darkened them unnaturally—pupils wide, irises nearly swallowed by black. When she finally reached an Underdark port, people flinched when she looked at them.
  That was when the name Black-Eyes stuck.
  The Ledger Mage
  Verda does not cast spells flamboyantly. Her magic is efficient, precise, and unsentimental—force barriers timed to the second, killing hexes calculated to conserve energy, illusions used sparingly and tactically.
  She treats magic like currency.
  Every spell has a cost. Every cost must earn its return.
  She keeps a mental ledger—not just of coin and cargo, but of favors owed, lives risked, and betrayals committed. Magic taught her one lesson above all:
  Power wasted is power stolen from survival.
  Command Through Arithmetic
  Verda does not inspire loyalty with speeches or myth. She commands through predictability.
  Her crew knows exactly where they stand:
  Loyalty is rewarded swiftly and disproportionately
  Competence is protected
  Betrayal is answered decisively and without emotion
  She does not threaten mutineers.
  She simply removes them—often using subtle magic to ensure the lesson spreads without spectacle.
  Mutiny under Verda Rivers is rare. Those who attempt it are remembered briefly.
  The Darkwake Corsairs
  Verda rebuilt herself by gathering others who understood loss without melodrama:
  Disgraced spellcasters
  Ex-naval officers and deserters
  Underdark navigators and smugglers
  Survivors who value preparation over bravado
  The Darkwake Corsairs specialize in routes others can’t survive—collapsed tunnels, arcane storms, lightless seas. Verda’s magic allows the ship to pass where maps fail.
  They fly no banner. Recognition is a liability.
  Code of Black-Eyes
  Verda enforces three unbreakable rules:
  Do not steal from the crew.
  Do not lie to the captain.
  Do not waste resources—spell, steel, or soul.
  Break a rule once, and she will listen. Break it twice, and your name is entered into her ledger permanently.
  Names written there are always collected—eventually.
  Settling Accounts
  Every pirate who betrayed Verda is dead or ruined. Some never knew why their protections failed or their luck turned. A few recognized her too late—eyes black as ink, voice calm, calculations complete.
  She did not hunt them for revenge.
  She hunted them to balance the books.
  The Truth of Verda Rivers
  Verda does not trust gods, ideals, or destiny.
  She trusts numbers, preparation, and magic that does exactly what it is told.
  Those who sail under her know one immutable truth:
  Cross Verda Rivers once, and she will cross you back— twice as deep, with interest fully calculated.