Sadly, she was born into an unfortunate world of persecution, where she and her wandering family were hunted like prey throughout Europe. They could never call any one place home for long. Their pursuers included radical Roman Catholic groups who saw the Romani people as a threat to their faith. They became fugitives, outcasts, treated worse than lepers, always seeking refuge. With the collective talents of the many members of this tribe, explosives were often used as a distraction through many attacks, a skill Salina would later find useful.
Alas, this would not last, tragedy struck when their camp was attacked by a fanatical cardinal and his brutal underlings. Salina’s family was mercilessly slaughtered, and she lost her family, leaving her with nothing but a handful of cherished memories.
Salina’s world was shattered. The tiny flame she had always suppressed at the unfairness of her circumstances, brought on only by her existence and the existence of people she loved began to flare. There was absolutely nothing holding her back. Without her family as her anchor, she had become lost. The initial ember of injustice quickly grew into a blazing inferno and an appetite for vengeance that could only be quenched by the screams and blood of those who were responsible. She set out to find the zealots and miscreants responsible for the camp massacre and pursue righteous retribution. Unfortunately, despite her skills in explosives, the mission was an exercise in futility. She had found herself captured and sold into slavery; her spirit shackled alongside her body. Her actions sealed her in a new fate, a poor soul forced to board a slave ship. To begin a long and miserable life of captivity. Darkness and despair slowly closed in on Salina.
One fateful day, not a shining glimmer of hope, but the black sails of a great ship appeared on the horizon. The Damned Promise closed in on the slaver’s ship. An onslaught of warriors more varied than the Roman empire routed the slavers’ defenses. The captain of the liberators, a man with commanding presence underpinned with compassion for the unfortunate souls held captive by the slavers, stepped aboard. Redbeard, a legend on the seas, humble seafaring merchant, called pirate by those unfortunate enough to cross his path. Salina immediately felt a kinship to the man. After introductions, and an exchange of a few stories, Redbeard and Salina found they were cousins reunited. Finally, a glimmer of hope in her otherwise bleak existence.
After a few weeks of travels, raids, and libations Salina found herself bestowed with a title, “The Chastiser.” She became the enforcer of the crew’s rules, the one who meted out punishments. She had no say in making the rules or choosing the tools for punishment; she simply followed the orders from the captain, meting out discipline to those who broke them.
Her story seems to be simply of grief and tenacity, of a soul molded by persecution and a spirit that wouldn’t break, is actually a story of resilience. Since joining the crew, she has discovered courage and hope in unexpected places in the harsh world she formerly traversed. She had found a new family, different from her first, but filled with comradery and love just the same.
