#silent ryan ironside

[spotinthespiral]

Ryan-Posting again! ♡

Otherwise Titled: a stressed Orphan and her protective Guardians.

Ryan gets her Found Family .2 seconds after entering the Armada Ship. Subodai watches her back from the start, and his take is basically: That's a child. She's capable, yeah, and a great leader, but she's a child. I'm protecting her with my life. He effectively becomes her Dad. (As well as her First-Mate)

And then, of course, there's Dead Mike. He's like her uncle. He was the one person who didn't ever abandon her or her parents (willingly) and he swore his afterlife to avenge her family, and now to care for her. He's a big softy, and the moment he realized Ryan was still alive, he swore to be there for her till his second death.

And, as it goes, I also love the concept that Ryan is generally pretty harmless-looking when she first starts her adventures. No name for herself, she doesn't speak, and her actions are sneaky so people rarely know it was her who hit them. Until she becomes more infamous, Dead Mike and Subodai act as her big scary goons. They hit hard and w/o hesitation if Ryan orders it.

(Also picturing Ryan ready to tear someone to pieces, but she's already low on health, and Ratbeard or Steele holding Ryan back with Subodai and Mike roll up their sleeves and go demolish the enemy. And/or Armada coming by in a town, and Ryan ducking behind Subodai and clinging to his hand (hoof?) As she uses him as a wall between her fear and herself.)

[spotlightstudios]

I had planned on posting these last night, but I was just so eepy.

Anyways, here's Captain Ironside (red) and Grandmaster Blueflower (blue) side by side!

And.... here's a lore-dump thus far:

BlueFlower is my W101 avatar. The only wizard I ever put *any* effort towards. She originates from the school of Ice Magic, and (as all young wizards were) was forced into saving the Spiral.

Her magic takes a toll on her wellbeing, the air around his is always freezing, she's too pale, her hair at some point turned white as snow, and her eyes even changed their colors in sone sort of adverse reaction to her battle against Malistare. She had dark circles under her eyes because she rarely sleeps. She's *always* on the move, only stopping at her house to change her mount or say hello to Laudrec.

She's worn her shroud for years, ever since she found it at the Bazaar as a truly young wizard, and her outfits have only grown more and more layer-filled, recently making the change from armor to robes.

She's a student very focused on her studies, and she's constantly trying to help as much of the Spiral as she can. Always riding on sone sort of crytalline unicorn, pegasi, or elk, she's a force to be reckoned with. The longer she's been at her job, the more patience she's gained. Now, just like a death in a snowy expanse, she gives her enemies no mercy is freezing them to death in the battle circles, simply outlasting them in the cold.

Meanwhile, Ironside is my P101 avatar! Her title being "Silent" isn't just a reference to her Swashbuckling expertise, but she's also a Mute, the development happening shortly after her parents were killed in the mutiny. (Some part of her thinks something she's said as a child had set them off.)

She's young and inexperienced at first. Even with her crew growing by the day, for a long time she simply drove the ship and stood as captain. Subodai was the true "captain" material, and flanked by Ratbeard and Dead Mike who knew to manage a crew, she hardly had to put in any real captaining for quite some time.

But, she got there. Upon being nearly killed in Monquista, she took matters into her own hands. She was still anxious about her crew choosing to stage a mutiny, but instead they were proud when she took the lead and began completely slaughtering the enemy and ordering them around. (Through silent signals, of course.)

She's deathly afraid of the Armada after she was put on their official list of enemies, that never goes away, but she knows better than to run. She has to cut them off at the source.

Her appearances are currently pretty grim. She's short, her armor changes often depending on where she's raiding, but her hat stays the same, the feather reminding her of her first-mate's Warrior Plume. She's always using small knives or a sword/knife combo, never long-range or staffs. And her glasses? Her eyes beneath are a vibrant red as well, but she prefers to see the world through crimson lenses. Everyone is an enemy, everyone's a danger. Until, of course, she's relaxes on her ship at night or celebrating among her crew in a tavern cellar. Then the glasses cone off and she can relax.

She's very chill and easy-going, sass more often than not overtaking her that gets her in some trouble. But, her crew is always there to get her out of it.

Unbeknownst to her, someday she'll be regarded as Captain Ryan Red-Eye, Destroyer of the Armada.

[spotinthespiral]

New pfp! 👍

Decided to use Ryan (my Pirate Captain) for this! Mostly because I seem to keep drawing my pirates despite Intending this as a wiz-centric blog lol.

I need to draw her and the others more often...

[spotinthespiral]

I meant to post this like 6 hours ago but the file goofed 👀

Anyways, here's roughs of Captain Ironside and Young Jack! (As always, ramble below the cut!)

Like I said, these are rough designs for them! Ryan's only on lvl like, 36, and Young Jack is literally an npc I hyperfixated on because his plot is ridiculous. Ryan (Silent Ryan Ironside) is on the right, Young Jack on the left 👍

Refs and wip sketch:

So, lore ramble as I warned about:

Ryan has the Grizzleheim origin, and her parents were killed in a Mutiny. She's a Swashbuckler, and her First mate is consistently Subodai (horse Warrior). Ryan became a Mute after her parents were killed, and communicates with her crew solely through a complex system of tapping patterns, or simple hand signals. She's slow to trust, and is very loose with dropping people at the first sign of disloyalty, but she picks up her crew like they're each a stray sopping wet kitten. She's still a teen, so when they all joined her, they basically pulled "It takes a village to raise a kid" and the entire Crew works to boost her up as well as keep her safe.

Young Jack recap (w/o bias I hope) I'd that he's the nephew of a guy on the docks of Flotsam who went missing. You find him near the broken lighthouse, he's cursed, you hunt down the dude who made the curse and kill him. Give the head to Young Jack to keep him from getting zombified. Young Jack swears off pirating, and that's the last time he's seen.

Personal Explanation for the art above:

Ryan took the quest would really planning to follow through. She stumbled across Young Jack's trail by chance and found him injured and surrounded by undead. His old crew. She sympathized, and helped him back to his uncle, but Old Scratch and everyone else of Flotsam agreed that the boy was doomed to die of his curse by sundown. Only way was to kill this old immortal famous pirate, so Ryan did just that. She felt like she couldn't just stand down, and she killed the guy and presented it to Young Jack just before sundown.

Jack swore off pirating and retreated with his uncle back home, but I like to think Ryan kept in contact. Jack started work in the tavern, and Ryan made Flotsam her crew's go-to stop just to check in on Jack. They were friends, Ryan's first real friend, and got along swimmingly. Ryan taught him the codes and translations for her taps, and they bonded. (Currently they're still courting. Jack thinks she's just the coolest girl he's ever met, and she thinks Jack is reckless, but sweet.)

One time, I like to think just after Monquista, Ryan went to the tavern, only to get news that Jack had been kidnapped, by pirates, then the Armada. Ryan has a paralyzing fear of the Armada, but snuck away from her crew. She was trading her surrender for Jack's safe return. Ryan managed to send Jack back safe, giving herself up to Deacon in the process.

Jack, in my headcanon, has a giant slash scar across his face because of this incident. When he got back and tried to tell Ryan's crew what had happened, Subodai was furious. Subodai is basically Ryan's mentor and adoptive father, so when he heard what had happened his was in such great distress he didn't even think. He drew his sword and slashed Jack across the face without a second thought, before the crew could stop him.

Everyone ended up bannmding together to vet Ryan back in one piece, but that incident is what I think drove Jack to join Ryan's crew. If he remained away from her, he'd only be a dangerous outlier for enemies to use against her. Staying close let both of them be safer, and happier, despite how he swore off pirating not long ago.

Obviously Jack doesn't fight, he's not an npc I can pick up and take with me, so I like to think he's just kinda the housewife here. He keeps the ship and crew in order when Ryan's going onto land for extended periods of time. He also probably keeps track of Ryan's debts, favors owed, and things of that nature. Besides that though, they're just really close, and it's good that Ryan bonded with someone outside her crew for once, even if he ended up in the Crew in the end.

[spotinthespiral]

Shout-Out to Cool Ranch, for making me forget I was a Pirate.

Legit I was in there for so long being a bounty hunter and driving one of the Bison-Origin ships I was convinced I was a Cowboy. When the 7 finally mentioned Captain Blood I was like, ???????

Also, my roomie heard me say, "Right. Captain Blood." Outloud and glanced over to my screen before going, "Are you still in the wild west? Which pirate is this??" And I tiredly replied that it was Ryan (my main) and she just kinda laughed and shook her head. (<- Has never played P101 or W101 in her life btw. She just hears me mentioned it once in a blue moon.)

[spotinthespiral]

Pirate-posting incoming hopefully ♡

[spotlightstudios]

Ironside's companions all joined her for different reasons:

Subodai: Her first mate, and the first one to believe in her. I have no doubt he saw her ups and downs in that brig, and he knew there was something special about her. He won't leave her side. (Found family Mentor/Father acquired!)

Bonnie Anne/Sarah Steele: Both in the same boat. Avery sent Ironside to help them, so they tagged along. Then they found themselves actually enjoying their time w/ Ironside and decided to stick around.

Fan Flanders: Assumed that Ironside's ship would be small and discreet enough to hide from the law on. Then she got caught up in the hijinks, and she loves hijinks, so obviously she stays for the thrill!

Dead Mike: Obviously, he was one of her parents crewmembers. He's never gonna let her out of his sight again, or lose her like he did her parents. (Uncle acquired!)

Old Scratch/Ratbeard: Gods, they assumed she was going to be an easy fight. Sone frail little wannabe captain who's turn tail and run. She did nothing of the sort. She fought them into submission, and they had no choice but to surrender. The longer they're around, the more they realize just how hard it is for her to be a strong captain, so they stand behind her and bolster her where they can.

Felipe De Riveral: ??? Dunno really. Same vibes as the last two, but he misses how much she struggles sometimes. He'll sing her praises anyday though, and he loves being on her crew. She and Subodai are both pretty quiet, so I imagine he speaks up w/o hesitation when Ironside is trying to articulate something she cant.

[spotinthespiral]

I haven't put most of my insane Lore out yet for most of my 101 ocs, but here's one I find really funny:

Silent Ryan Ironside is a girl who's meek at first glance, who tries to abide by etiquette, and she's extremely agile and athletic. Her silence and her sneaking attack methods are what she's known for. She's a shadow.

No one besides her crew and her enemies has seen how she takes on pirates triple her size with nothing but a dagger, or how she'd absolutely claw and bite if disarmed. No one really knows that she swings her daggers as though they're axes, or that there's a ferocity behind her red eyes.

She was raised in Grizzleheim. Bears raised her in the freezing cold and trained her alongside their cubs to be a warrior. She tries to keep that part of her hidden, if only for the safety of her friends and family, but habits die hard. ...She also has a collection of wood-carvings in her cabin, most of them having runes or familiar Grizzleheim imagery.

[spotinthespiral]

So, all of my pirates are in cahoots. Ryan hired Griffin as an information smuggler and diversion man. Leech was on the run from the Armada and got caught, but Ryan needed him so she broke him out. Griffin babysits Leech, and Leech becomes the new diversion-guy for when Ryan needs to get somewhere unnoticed.

But, I like to think that Ryan never taught Leech her tapping code that she uses instead of talking in an attempt to keep him from betraying her for fun. He's clever though, and he learns it through observation alone, and he just never mentions it.

[spotinthespiral]

Gonna post sum Ryan art soon, probably including a headcanoned design for Young Jack too. Just... in the works hehe-

[spotlightstudios]

Must be absurd for my Pirate ocs to meet my wiz Blueflower. In her average attire she wears armor from Grizzleheim and a cat mask + carries an axe sparking w/ electricity. Then she fights and they expect her to go charging but instead she smacks the axe on the ground and fucking FROST GIANT smacks his hammer right into their face.

I'm a strong believer of the belief that any sane pirate would shoot her and the fight would be over, but if she got the chance to cast I think it'd be terrifying lmao.

[spotlightstudios]

Wizard 101: Hey kid, you just got pulled into Wizard School, and it looks like you're ready to start. Go down that path and someone will teach you to fight. Oh shit, that's Malistare, uhhhh, *one minor battle later* Good job kid. Go and do some little quests and beat up some fairies, you're doing great! :)

Pirate 101: You're in jail. Pirates are breaking you out of jail! They're... asking about your trauma. You're a pirate, an orphan, the son of a whore and a scotsman, you were raised by another group of people, now you're pulling a jail break and helping other prisoners escape! A uhhh, a guy threatens to murder you. He's the one who locked you up. The pirate guy almost dies and you have to drive his ship??? *one stressful sail later* Hey kid, go beat up this guy who stole from me. I'm gonna cheat and scam you, btw, just so you know. :)