Squire of the Sea

[Grey Roger]

Nice work!

Of particular interest are the one with dark hair, white shirt and blue trousers and the one with fair hair and light blue dress. Here's why:


On the left, character model "50_33Petra". On the right, "towngirl1".

If you go into a tavern in PoTC, you'll often see a random character sitting at a table waiting to be hired as an officer. Sometimes it's female, and of those, occasionally she uses the "50_33Petra" model. She's not quite the same as yours, with grey trousers instead of blue, and a blue sash, but when I saw your pictures I was immediately reminded of this one.

"Towngirl1" can be seen wandering around towns, either a random visitor or a permanent resident. A few of them are associated with quests. The one in the picture is Sabine Matton, daughter of a storekeeper and not very happy about it because he wants to send her off to her godmother on another island, and ultimately to force her into a marriage. If you do the right things, you can get her as an officer. For a female PC, this is very easy - Sabine looks up to you as a role-model and actively asks to join you. A male PC needs to be sneakier - nothing unpleasant for Sabine, but you do end up double-crossing her father.

If you don't like the brown part of "towngirl1", there's also this:

"Brinkley" is a more ornate version of "towngirl1", without the brown bit and with more elaborate decoration on the blue. She's used for a specific character, whom you may meet if you choose to play Captain Jack Sparrow's storyline.

And all of this reminds me that I need to get on with Purpure's pirate outfit! The beret which she's wearing in those new pictures will be a problem, but I should be able to finish off the model with the tricorne hat.

 

[Grey Roger]

And all of this reminds me that I need to get on with Purpure's pirate outfit! The beret which she's wearing in those new pictures will be a problem, but I should be able to finish off the model with the tricorne hat.

Done!


The shirt and vest have a bit of extra detail. That's because I'm not much good at creative freehand drawing but I'm an absolute demon at copying and pasting. So the texture for this outfit is a mixture of pieces from four existing character models with the colours changed to look similar to your "Varicoloured Lotus Crew".

There are two ways this outfit could be used. It could be available as another starting character - some other characters already have several different starting outfits so you can choose to play Horation Hornblower starting as a midshipman, a lieutenant or a commander, for example. Or Purpure could start with the dress, then earn the pirate outfit after going up a few levels.

Presumably Lotus is Purpure's new ship. What sort of ship is it?

I had a look at your website and found that the crewmember who looks like "50_33Petra" is called Margaret. It would be very easy to either assign her as Purpure's officer right at the start of a game, or put her somewhere for the player to find. How do you see Purpure meeting Margaret? And what is Margaret's job on the ship?

I didn't find a name for the crewmember in the light blue dress but the same goes for her - how does Purpure meet her and what does she do on the ship? She could also be assigned at the start of a game or put somewhere for the player to find.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

It might be a late reply, but to answer your questions:
- Light blue dress blonde crewmate is named Wilda. She's recruited somewhat later in the story as she's a reclusive monk in the local monastery (the setting has ordained women). She's one of the ship cooks in the story.
- Margaret Jocasta is also recruited later on and is a fencer. She meets Purpure during a duel to prove who's worthy of joining the ranks of many captains in that particular year, and eventually agrees to be part of the Lotus Crew. Besides fencing, she can load Long Tom.
- The Lotus Ship is a very small brig.

Edit: I'm not sure which hat you thought was a beret, but Purpure wore a bandana as a teenager and a wide-brimmed hat as an adult.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It might be a late reply, but to answer your questions:
- Light blue dress blonde crewmate is named Wilda. She's recruited somewhat later in the story as she's a reclusive monk in the local monastery (the setting has ordained women). She's one of the ship cooks in the story.
- Margaret Jocasta is also recruited later on and is a fencer. She meets Purpure during a duel to prove who's worthy of joining the ranks of many captains in that particular year, and eventually agrees to be part of the Lotus Crew. Besides fencing, she can load Long Tom.

Good to see ye in these waters again!

 

[Grey Roger]

It might be a late reply, but to answer your questions:
- Light blue dress blonde crewmate is named Wilda. She's recruited somewhat later in the story as she's a reclusive monk in the local monastery (the setting has ordained women). She's one of the ship cooks in the story.
- Margaret Jocasta is also recruited later on and is a fencer. She meets Purpure during a duel to prove who's worthy of joining the ranks of many captains in that particular year, and eventually agrees to be part of the Lotus Crew. Besides fencing, she can load Long Tom.
- The Lotus Ship is a very small brig.

Edit: I'm not sure which hat you thought was a beret, but Purpure wore a bandana as a teenager and a wide-brimmed hat as an adult.

Wilda: it just so happens that there's a cloister in Cartagena in the game. It should be possible to put Wilda in there so that Purpure can find her.
Margaret Jocasta: by amazing coincidence, character model "50_33Petra" is supposed to be a fencer! Is Long Tom a cannon? There is no provision in the game for a single specific cannon but she can easily be given gunnery skill to help with cannons in general.

For Lotus, how about something like the Lady Washington? Here's a Wikipedia article about the ship:
Lady Washington - Wikipedia
There's a model of that ship in the game already.

Hat: I probably mistook the wide-brimmed hat for a beret. Not that it matters because there is no female model with such a hat either, so she's still getting the tricorne with feathers in the game.

 

[Grey Roger]

@Purpure Longstride: could you perhaps write a couple of lines for Wilda and Purpure when they meet? Putting Wilda in the Cartagena cloister is easy, now she just needs something to say to Purpure, and something for Purpure to say to recruit her as an officer.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

@Purpure Longstride: could you perhaps write a couple of lines for Wilda and Purpure when they meet? Putting Wilda in the Cartagena cloister is easy, now she just needs something to say to Purpure, and something for Purpure to say to recruit her as an officer.

I'll get back to you shortly.

Edit: Here's a rough draft of when Purpure and Wilda met. Edit as you see fit for the game mod. Lady Washington sounds like a good ship for the Lotus Crew.

Wilda: Hello! What brings you here to the cloister? Need anything? A piping hot meal perhaps?

Purpure: I'd like to ask if you want to join the Lotus Crew.

Wilda: Oh! I've heard of that crew. I'm flattered that you'd like me to join you.

Purpure: You're really excited about this.

Wilda: Yep. Just let me tie up some loose ends and I'll be right at the docks soon.

 

[Grey Roger]

Dialogs in the game generally consist of pairs of lines - the other character speaks first, then you answer, then dialog continues to the next pair until the end. So Purpure needs one more line to finish. Or rather, two, because the ship might be at a beach rather than in port. So I'll add two more lines for Purpure to finish:

"Good, I'll meet you there.",
"We're not moored at the dock. You'll need to find your way to the beach. I'll meet you there."

She'll only use one of them, depending on where the ship is. Apart from that, the dialog text will be exactly as you wrote it, unless you choose to change it.

How does Purpure learn about Wilda being in a monastery? In your story, presumably she does not go round random monasteries hoping to recruit someone; and in PoTC, the player is unlikely to visit the Cartagena cloister without some clue to suggest going there.

Now, could you write something for Margaret Jocasta? I think I can arrange that she'll only appear when your own fencing skill has improved enough. One piece of dialog will be the initial meeting, which will lead to the duel; then another piece of dialog can lead to her becoming an officer.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

I've made a thread to carry on discussion of my art and potentially the Lotus Crew's cameos in the game mod after this post.

Finding Wilda: In Sea Heart, Wilda has already heard of Purpure's reputation as they live on the same island, and was part of the audience in the tournament that Margaret Jocasta duelled Purpure in. Not sure what the hint in PoTC is exactly.

Margaret Jocasta's dialogue will be edited into this post later.

Edit: Dialogue for Margaret Jocasta's recruitment. Edit as you see fit.

Margaret Jocasta: Hello. What do you want, miss?
Purpure: Hello, would you like to join the Lotus Crew?

Margaret Jocasta: You're Purpure, then? I've heard a bit about you.
Purpure: Yes, that's me. Is something the matter?

Margaret Jocasta: I'd like to test your mettle in a fencing duel. Rumour has it that you don't back down from challenges.
Purpure: Fencing duel? But... I don't think-

Margaret Jocasta: Come on now, don't be shy. A captain should know how to hold her own.
Purpure: Oh... Alright, but I can't make any promises about being much of a fight.

(Post-duel, if Purpure won)
Margaret Jocasta: See? I know the Lotus wouldn't back down from a challenge.
Purpure: So, you'll join then?

(Post-duel, if Purpure lost)
Margaret Jocasta: Hm, not bad, but you'll have to best me if you'd like me to join.
Purpure: I'll be back someday!

 

[Grey Roger]

@Purpure Longstride: So Wilda should be recruited after Margaret? That can work. Wilda can't live on the same island as Purpure in the game because the player character is not tied to an island, and anyway Purpure starts off as British by default and therefore begins the game on Barbados. If Wilda lives in a cloister then she is in Cartagena. But she may have heard of Purpure from other visitors to the cloister.

Where does Purpure meet Margaret - in what sort of location? The easiest place in the game would be in one of Cartagena's taverns, which is where players normally go to hire officers and crew. Otherwise there are all sorts of places in Cartagena.

Also: how does Purpure get the Lotus?

 

[Purpure Longstride]

Margaret Jocasta: She lives in the same general place as Wilda so they would theoretically know each other either way.

Lotus ship: It's a commissioned ship some time after she proves worthy of captaincy in the RPGMaker story.

 

[Grey Roger]

About Margaret's dialog, one thing remains to be added - a pair of lines for when Purpure lost a duel and then returned to try again. Perhaps something as simple as:

Margaret Jocasta: "You're back, then?"
Purpure: "Yes, I'm ready to try again."

How about this? Purpure happens to go to Cartagena, visits the tavern, and sees a likely officer who turns out to be Margaret Jocasta. Agreeing to the duel, they go to a place just outside the town, along with some spectators, one of which is Wilda. After the fight, Wilda returns to the cloister. If Purpure wins the fight, Margaret could perhaps tell Purpure that Wilda lives in the cloister, then Purpure can go there to find her.

If Lotus is a commissioned ship, does that mean Purpure is a privateer rather than a pirate? In the game, that would mean she needs to buy a Letter of Marque from a governor - this is a normal part of gameplay. That could be when she receives the Lotus. Or, if the player chooses to join the pirates, she can still get the Lotus - the game mechanism for joining the pirates is the same as for receiving a Letter of Marque from a governor.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

In the RPGMaker story the island she lives on has a treaty with the Kingdom of Basque, which is the alternate universe's version of Spain, despite the island being of mixed influence from England, Africa, France, and the Far East.

TLDR, it has something to do with the merchant Corrin, the Basque royal family, and Purpure's foster mother as well as the other seafaring families on the island.

I did play the privateer background in Burning Sea, so you're not too far off about the guesses about the Lotus.

 

[Grey Roger]

If it necessary for Purpure to have a home on an island, there is one on Barbados - though not in the same town in which the game starts - which can easily be adapted. It's normally labelled as "Mrs. Mason's House" but has no significance except in the "Hornblower" storyline, as Mrs. Mason only exists in that story. It can simply be renamed as "Purpure's house".

In your game, are any nations at war? At the moment, in Purpure's game in "Pirates of the Caribbean", all nations are set to be at peace but not allied, which makes things boring for a privateer - the only ships Purpure can attack as a privateer are pirates. Britain (Purpure's default starting nation) and Spain can be set as allies, which would match your idea of Purpure's island having a treaty with Basque. Other nations in the game are France, Holland and America, all of which have colonies; and Portugal, which has no colonies in 1840. And, of course, pirates, who are permanently hostile to everyone else!

Does Purpure meet any officers when she gets the Lotus? What I'm thinking is, she'll visit a governor to buy her Letter of Marque. When she leaves the residence, rather than her ship suddenly changing to Lotus, one of the Lotus officers can tell Purpure that she's just been given a new ship. That gives the player the choice to keep, store or sell the Carnation or whatever other ship the player has at the time.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

House: In RPGMaker's version of Squire, Purpure was lost at sea and then fished out by a really old ex-pirate, Lucinda Longstride. As she was a young girl then, Lucinda adopted her until adulthood. Since the modded Sea Dogs version takes place in an entirely different setting due to game quirks, the house could have been taken over from knowing some old woman looking to sell that house.

Spoiler: After Purpure's adulthood.

Lucinda dies some time after Purpure went to sea again as an adult.

While I hadn't ironed out the background details, the Speedies (British amazonian branch of the Royal Navy) go after Purpure for two reasons:

- Corrin being arrested, beaten up by a Speedy, and then broken out of arrest by the Lotus Crew.
- A coconut farm in Seychelles being burned down in an arson attack and witnesses said Purpure did it. (The main plot of the planned sequel to the RPGMaker story kicks off with this, and it turns out the other "Purpure" is an impostor* that happens to look like her.)

So you can say Spain and England would be uneasy allies here.

*Sonia is stated in my story to look a lot like Purpure's slightly older sister, but they have no genetic relation and greatly dislike each other as Sonia keeps picking on Purpure when they were kids.

 

[Grey Roger]

Since Purpure is already an adult when the game starts, mainly because there are no child models in the game, would you still like "Mrs. Mason's House" to become "Lucinda Longstride's House"? There are some models of old women - in fact, one of them is used for the tavern keeper in a pirate settlement. Another could be used for Lucinda if you want her in the house.

The reason I was asking about wars is that the Letter of Marque is only useful for attacking ships hostile to the nation which issued it. If the Royal Navy is hostile to Purpure then she'll want a Letter of Marque from someone else, but unless the government who issued it is also hostile to Britain, it won't help her. In fact, getting into fights with British ships without a Letter of Marque from an enemy of Britain will probably turn her into a pirate! Then again, if the Royal Navy views her as a pirate, perhaps that's the way to go, rather than a privateer?

Sonia probably can't be made the way she appears in your pictures. This is Danielle Greene, a key character in the original unmodded "Pirates of the Caribbean" and the source of almost all female models who aren't wearing dresses.

There are a lot of variants now with different textures, including some with a tricorne hat - Purpure's second model is one of those. But the key features are the long boots and long sleeves, which are part of the physical model. They can be recoloured but they can't be removed, so Sonia's sleeveless vest and shorts aren't possible. The best I'd be able to do is make the hair dark, vest green (possibly with white zigzags), and the trousers black.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

Pirate vs Privateer: Yes, she's basically viewed as no longer being part of England for various reasons.

Lucinda's house, lack of kids: The house can still be Lucinda's house in the mod.

Impostor 3D model: The impostor dresses as Purpure to sell the illusion that Purpure set the coconut farm on fire to begin with. Biggest difference is the impostor has no hat as she couldn't find one that she liked wearing long enough. Maybe a bandana instead.

 

[Grey Roger]

If Purpure becomes a pirate, all other nations become hostile as well. But it does make it easier for me to give her the Lotus when she joins the pirates.

Or she might become a British privateer, lose the Letter of Marque when Britain turns hostile, then get it back along with any rank she had earned when she clears her name. (She might not become a British privateer. This is FreePlay so players can do whatever they like, including buying a Letter of Marque from someone else or choosing to become a pirate.)

Lucinda's house: I'll rename it but won't place Lucinda unless she has something to do.

Impostor model: as with Sonia, a bandana isn't possible because the basic female model in trousers doesn't have one. But I can easily make a version of Purpure's outfit minus the hat - just apply the same texture to the standard "Danielle" model. Possibly change the face as well.

Lotus: Does Purpure meet any officers when she gets the Lotus?

Incidentally, I've been looking at your other art on Tumblr. One picture I noticed was "Lucrietia Bowyer: Introduction". If Purpure is going to be a pirate with the Royal Navy chasing her, Lucretia might be an important character. As for her gun, take a look at this:
Nock gun - Wikipedia
It's a multi-barrel gun. It was around in the Napoleonic period and if you ever watch the TV series "Sharpe", you'll one of the main characters using it. Unfortunately it's not in the game but it might interest you anyway.

 

[Purpure Longstride]

Lotus officers: The people you see in the pieces "Varicoloured Lotus Crew" and "Lotus Crew at Rest" are pretty much her crewmates and "officers" in Sea Dog's gameplay terms. Probably going to be tough to mod a woman pirate with a permanently bad leg, a chubby tall man pirate, an African man, or a redheaded young-looking woman. An average-built brunet man with green eyes on the other hand would be less so, hopefully.

Impostor: Feel free to apply the changes as long as the player knows this is a phony Purpure and not her twin or elder sister as she has neither of those relations.

Lucinda: There's probably not much that Lucinda would do that can't be done by other NPCs in the game, as in the RPGMaker story she was Purpure's guardian and a mentor of sorts, but the Sea Dogs modded character starts off as an adult.

Lucretia definitely has a bone to pick with Purpure all throughout Marquis because of the Corrin incident as well as the Speedies' presumption about the Coconut Farm Arson being Purpure's doing. The redhaired officer that can be seen under the Speedies tag on Tumblr is the Captain Gillian Speedy* alluded to later on in my story.

TIL about nock guns. I depicted Lucretia with a gatling gun due to it being steampunk-influenced.

*I used to think that the textbook authors were having a lark when they wrote Captain Charles Speedy went to Larut, because Speedy sounds more like a fanciful name than anything else.

 

[Grey Roger]

Officers: you're right about the woman with the bad leg, it won't be possible to make the walking stick. Especially since, if the player gives her weapons, she'll use her right hand for a sword and her left hand for a pistol, which is what all character models do. The only problem with the African man isn't that he's African, but that if he's the one I think (yellow/white shirt, yellow trousers), he has very long hair. I can't give the red-headed woman a hat like that but a bonnet is certainly possible - possibly this one with different texture?


Then there are these two - they don't fit in with the descriptions "chubby" or "average built", but one of them has a short waistcoat and the other has a bandana:


Lucretia: probably a retexture of this:

I can't do a Gatling (nor a Nock gun, unfortunately, otherwise I'd use it for the "Hornblower" storyline) but if she needs something special, I know where I can get a double-barrel musket for her.

Impostor: the player certainly won't mistake her for Purpure because the player is Purpure. Sisters won't be an issue unless someone tells the player that Purpure has one.