Capt. Vauquelin LaCroix

Personal Bio:

Emerging from the slime underneath the Renaissance Faire benches, Emmerich is excited to set sail with Cardinal Sins! With years of choral and solo vocal experience under their belt and just as many as a faire patron, they're ready to don the coat and take on the wrathful role of Captain Vauquelin LaCroix.

Captain’s Bio:

Character: Vauquelin LaCroix

Card: Jack of Hearts

The Sin: Wrath

AKA: La Hire, Quill, Paon

Wanted For: Piracy of ships from Western Europe and the Mediterranean, Desertion and Murder

Vauquelin Bellangere LaCroix was born in Lyon, France to a well off merchant family in the textile trade. Their first few years of life were spent in great comfort, never wanting for a thing. However, when their father's business partner and best friend decided to abscond to the sea with all earnings from a particularly large shipment, as well as any credibility their partnership had built, the LaCroix family was left in near ruin. The name “Morel” quickly became a frequently uttered profanity within the beleaguered household. Even as a child, Vauquelin knew well the source of their struggle. Acrid spite brewed early in the belly of this young one.

The sudden downturn in fortune had also brought rumors and ridicule. Fellow children Vauquelin once considered friends turned on them, mocking their ill-fitting clothes and pushing Lacroix to the fringes of their clique. It was more than they could bear. From that point on, insults were answered with swinging fists.

As they reached their teen years and solidified their tempestuous reputation, no one was interested in hiring or apprenticing LaCroix. Tired of all the trouble, and feeling they would need a firm hand to pull them back onto the straight and narrow, Vauquelin's parents insisted they enlist in the navy. They resisted at first… but a moment of inspiration; a budding scheme, convinced them otherwise.

LaCroix's two years in the French navy were overly structured, dull, and generally miserable. They spent most of their time in some sort of trouble or another as they mouthed off to and picked fights with crewmates and officers alike. The worst of the duties were always LaCroix's, though none now could say they lack a proper appreciation for the lowliest of sailors.

Finally, at 16, Vauquelin caught the break they'd been hoping for since the day they first left port. Their ship was being boarded. Without a moment's hesitation, LaCroix discarded their uniform, hat, and sash and joined the invading pirates to fight against their very own crewmates. When the dust settled, and all loot had been brought aboard, the 52 Pickup had gained a new soul.

Sword to their throat, Vauquelin looked up at Captain Lewis Cohen and told him.

“Six.”

“Six sailors I laid low to earn my place on your crew, and many more I will slay in your name.” An accord was struck, and LaCroix drew their card. Jack of Hearts.

Vauquelin thrived in this “fresh start” of sorts. With the regular outlet for their frustrations they thrived and were able to devote themself to learning every possible skill a sailor could pick up. In thanks for their instruction, Vauquelin shared with their crewmates every dirty fighting trick they had picked up and even a few they devised themself. The greatest of the skills learned from the Captain, though, was how to hone their temper. When to hold back, and when to release so as to strike with ferocious accuracy, whether it be with a lash of the tongue or the whip. When Cohen questioned the intense craving for knowledge, LaCroix told him, “When I joined you, I knew nothing of the sea. But someday, I'll captain a ship of my own, and leave no safe place for Alain Morel.”

Ten years later, while carousing in port, and armed with knowledge, experience, and an undying grudge, LaCroix formally requested discharge. It was finally time to carry out their long awaited vengeance. Since that day, Vauquelin LaCroix has been roaming the seas, capturing French merchant ships and interrogating any crew so unlucky as to cross the course of L'Erinys.