Kalaxion Invasion Guide EYES ONLY
Encryption code AZ+3
REF (23/22) Division 66bd/Subsection Orientation Basic Primary Clause: Notable Figures / Legends
*******************************************
The Living Years
Born in 1652, in the French port of St. Nazaire, Francois Isabelle Morteau has been the long-standing landlady of the Merry Dance since her execution in Broadcliffs in 1684.
To understand this influential character, we must delve now into her murky past. Morteau’s mother disguised her daughter as a boy from an early age. Her sole sibling, a brother, died young, and Morteau was born out of wedlock. The mother relied on financial support from the paternal grandmother, so young Morteau was passed off as her brother for the mother to keep the income from the old girl. With the grandmother fooled, this ruse carried on until her early teens.
Why Morteau left the family home is a mystery, although it is worth noting that her mother was violently murdered at this time.
Alone in the world, Morteau had to survive on her wits. Still, she joined the army disguised as a boy, seeing action in the franco-dutch war of that time. During which she served with some distinction.
After the war, she decided to try and find fortune abroad and joined the crew of a ship heading to the island of Hispaniola, far away from her homeland. During this voyage, destiny boarded her ship, along with a cutthroat band of pirates, led by the notorious villain and Captain of that ship, Black Caesar.
We have now to dig a little deeper into the story of Black Caesar. Once a noble and proud African tribal warlord, Caesar was lured onto a slaver ship, along with his favoured wife (legend has it, he had a fair few). During forced transportation, his wife died due to harsh living conditions onboard the vessel. Caesar fell into a dark humour and refused to eat, preferring death to the loss of his beloved. Still, death evaded him at that time, thanks to a kindly crew member who befriended him and convinced him that life was, in fact, worth still living. As the slaver ship was nearing its final destination, it was caught in a terrible hurricane; fearing the death of his friend, the crewman freed Caesar. After a brief struggle, they killed the ship’s Captain and seized control. This new crew took to piracy with little or no other option, plundering the rich, gold-laden ships that sailed in the area. Although Black Caesar had another plan, he was searching for the mythical Kalunga Line. A magical boundary between the world of the living and the dead, his goal was to cross it and bring back his one true love.
It was during this search that Madame Morteau became one of his crew.
Sadly for Caesar, it was not long before Morteau fell hopelessly in love with him. Morteau never was and still is not what you might class as a classical beauty. It is said, quietly and out of her earshot, she could even be referred to as facially challenged. Her only redeeming feature was her bewitching singing voice.
On many a becalmed night, as the pirates would make merry, she would sing to them. And it was this gift, along with her prowess with a cutlass, that made her a popular member of the crew.
Over the short years that followed, she wormed her way into the confidence of Black Caesar, eventually becoming his second in command. It was shortly after that she revealed her true identity to the Captain. Somehow a romantic relationship ensued. Why Caesar took Morteau for a lover will always be lost to us. As previously stated, she was no oil painting. And as it was to turn out, it was a fatal mistake on the captains part.
While chasing a treasure-laden man of war across the Atlantic, by sheer chance, Caesar stumbled across his true goal, the fabled Kalunga Line. Despite his crew’s cries, especially Morteau, he crossed this bridge between worlds.
What happened there, like many events in this curious life, only Morteau knows. But what is known is that somehow Caesar was successful in his mission and returned from the world of shadows with his one true love.
As you can imagine, Madame Morteau did not take it very well.
Torn by the grief of being replaced in her beloved affections, she snapped and began to howl in despair, until Caesar was eventually forced to tie her to the mast of the ship, in fear that she might do some grievous mischief to herself, or some other member of the crew.
For three days and three nights, she stayed that way, screaming at all the injustices life had thrown at her. Her crewmates unbound her on the fourth day, believing her rage to have finally abated. Before the sun had set on that fateful day, Morteau calmly beheaded Caesar and his recently undead wife. It was said that she pickled both the heads and kept them in glass jars in her cabin. With Caesar gone, she took the mantel of Captain and began to share her misery to any that might dare to cross her path.
In the years that followed, the name of Morteau was feared. Her brutality was the stuff of nightmares, and her list of crimes was far too long to detail in this summary of her life. As ship after ship fell to her band of pirates, she began to amass a fortune in plunder. Greed has a strange effect on humans.
The crew, emboldened by the idea of not having to share the loot with her, began to plot against her. Mutiny was in the air.
Eventually, she was overthrown.
Her crew did not kill her and instead handed her over to an English frigate to claim a bounty. She was brought back to England in chains, tried and executed in Broadcliffs. But in many ways, that is where the story really starts.
The Undead Years.
Data on Madame Morteau’s Undead years will follow soon, there’s a lot to cover.