Antonius, the pirate tiger

A fierce and terrifying beast from the deepest recesses of the Aranellan wilds, this massive tiger was captured by Derathainni poachers who planned to sell him off piece by piece, but the sour destiny was changed when the poachers were themselves slain by Reman pirates. The pirates claimed the treasures the poachers had taken and their ship, but when they discovered the huge cat caged below and slowly dying of starvation the captain took pity on the thing, or so he claims. Eugenios, captain of the ship called Windward Mirth, took the tiger back to his own estate where he and his servants restored the beast to health and slowly tamed it. The captain would take great pleasure in presenting his feline associate to guests and "guests" alike, and it was said the cat lived better than many kings. Yet neither Eugenios nor his tiger were in the prime of their youth any longer and thanks to bodies slowed by the toll of age the captain began to look to his future. He had a daughter, a spirited thing who'd captained a pirate crew in her own right for many years already, so he sought a means to secure her position should his time, by sword or sleep, come to an end. He sought a strange wonder-worker who lived alone on a tiny southern island and asked what magic might be done to protect his daughter after his death. The old arcanist said magic could serve to protect the young piratess, but the cost would be Eugenios' beloved tiger. The captain, knowing the cat's time was perhaps even shorter than his own agreed and brought Antonius to the island where he went alone with his beast into the steam caverns below the island. Now, none of the crew can say rightly what happened in those caves, but when the captain emerged he could speak no words and a pallor had overcome his swarthy, sun-scarred skin. The witch bade the sailors depart with their captain, his time past and the thing he asked done, and to take the tiger with them. As they sailed from the island the captain grew weaker until he passed in the night. Some of the crew demanded they return and slay the old witch who'd clearly laid some poison curse upon their captain, but they could not find their way to the island again. When they returned to report to the captain's daughter what had transpired, a note scrawled in her father's dying hand said the tiger was named Antonius now and that he would be her protector so that she should never fall while he remained by her side. In honor of her father, she became Tetauria the tigress, pirate of the Reman islands and Antonius became her protector. In 30 years at sea, neither have been so much as wounded. Or so the legends say.