The Shattered Seas

Marla is wiry and weathered, with leathery brown skin etched by salt and sun. Her gray hair is braided tight and piled atop her head with bits of shell and bone woven in. She wears a patched shawl draped over her shoulders, layers of mismatched skirts, and always carries a curved bone pipe clamped between her teeth. Her eyes are sharp as broken glass — milky in one, eagle-clear in the other.

Clever, caustic, and unshakable, Marla knows how to play the long game. She’s brimming with sharp wisdom, barbed advice, and a biting sense of humor. Many fear her, some revere her, but all know better than to cross her. Beneath the crust, though, is a woman who’s seen too much loss and quietly looks out for the forgotten — especially the orphans and drifters who remind her of her old crew.

Once the quartermaster aboard the infamous *Leviathan’s Grin*, Marla Venn retired decades ago after a shipwreck left her stranded in the Outer Isles. She washed ashore in Port Vultaire with nothing but the clothes on her back and a mind full of secrets. Now she runs a crooked pawn stall down by the docks where sailors trade goods, weapons, or information for a few grimy coins. Whispers say she still has maps no one else has seen, and that her shack has more than one hidden compartment. Unbeknownst to many, Marla has a hidden connection to the notorious pirate crew known as the *Ghosts of the Shattered Seas*, having once been a member before her retirement. She still receives messages from them, and her stall serves as a drop point for their clandestine operations.