User:Hawki/Darrick Lang

Darrick Lang is a former sailor of the Westmarch Navy. He has reddish hair and bronze skin.

Early Life
"Those times are past us. You don't ever have to revisit them. Your father didn't follow us from Hillsfar. We left him there those years ago. We left him there, and good riddance I say."

- Mat Hu-Ring

Lang was born c. 1240. He and his friend, Mat Hu-Ring, grew up together in Hillsfar. Lang lived there for fifteen years, over which period of time he loaded freight in the town's river port, and learned to kill when tribes came from the [[Dreadlands|north] to loot and pillage. He had an adversarial relationship with his father, who was a butcher. For a number of years, he could never understand his father's anger towards him, or why he beat him. He always assumed that he was the one at fault, that he had done something to incur his wrath. It wasn't until he got older that he realized what was really at play in their relationship.

Upon turning fifteen, he and Mat traveled to Westmarch to enlist in the Westmarch Navy. Doing so allowed Lang to escape his father, but Mat had left a good family and good prospects at his family mill. Lang felt guilty over the possibility that Mat had left a potentially better life behind.

Lang constantly pushed himself and climbed the ranks, which included being disciplined by the captains he served under. This included being flogged on more than one occasion. On the rare occasion, Lang let his fury erupt, so scarred was he by his experiences with his father. However, he mostly kept it hidden from his fellow sailors.

Lang served on the Lonesome Star under Captain Tollifer, alongside Mat Hu-Ring. c. 1263, he and his ship faced a ship of undead sailors while on patrol. The fighting was hard and brutal, but Lang and his companions were able to prevail.

A few months later, Lang and his fellow sailors were part of a mission to rescue Lhex, nephew of King Cornelius, from the clutches of pirate Captain Aribar Raithen. They sailed into Tauruk's Port, where they fought their way through the pirates there. He fought one of the pirates and got caught up in a rage that he nearly killed the man, despite his pleas for mercy. Mat stepped in at the last moment, reminding Lang that they needed the pirate alive. Lang drew off, and interogated him, revealing that Raithen's ship was in the harbor, and that Lhex was onboard. Lang ordered the pirate be gagged.

Lang and his sailors managed to spot Raithen's ship. They boarded it stealthily and silently killed any pirate they came across, setting a fire as a distraction. He and Mat made their way to Lhex, but found themselves confronted by Raithen. A swordfight broke out, but they broke off the fight as the fire began to consume the ship. He and Mat made it off the ship, at which point a cod wild poured down through the Hawk's Beak Mountains. A chilled Lhex whispered something about "Kabraxis," and a gate to the Burning Hells. He looked at Lang, stating that it was just a myth...wasn't it?

Lang didn't know what to say. But he did have plenty to say as he, Mat, and the other sailors took him back to the Lonesome Star, namely that his job was to get Lhex back to Tollifer, and he had no concern about demons. He threatened Lhex that he'd tell the king that he failed to reach the boy in time, if he didn't shut up. Lhex retorted that if they didn't investigate Kabraxis, he'd tell his uncle that Lang had been derelict in his duty. Lang realized that the king would indeed want to know what had happened. And the possibility of actually seeing a demon...he was curious.

Personality and Traits
Lang was determined and skilled with a sword, but his experiences with his father mentally scarred him, to the extent that he could let his own anger get out of hand sometimes. He found smoking repugnant, not to mention that the habit reminded him of his father's pipe. He had a similarly dim view on pirates, believing that they deserved death, whether at his own hands, or the hangman's noose.