Captain Amanda “Yeah-Yeah” Connacht

Was born to a mother of noble blood whose soul had left her body well before she died giving birth. Left with a father, noble only in name, who knew nothing of raising a girl, she grew up in the bars and brothels of Northern Ireland. From him, I learned early, not the normal practices of a high-born lady, but mastery of trade, single combat, the art of war, naval navigation & siege.

In this turbulent childhood and throughout adolescence she developed a talent for gaining trust and loyalty, either through a seemingly mutual benefit or fear of retribution. Soon thereafter, her father was killed as a show of "English justice" for crimes against the Crown. She made it her mission to cripple the Crown and attempt to regain everything it took from her. She assembled a crew worthy of legend and will continue her assault, come what may.

So it begins...

Born in Sligeach and believed to be a daughter of the Mór-Ríoghain clan, Amanda “Yeah-Yeah” Connacht was a stillborn child pulled from the womb of her dead mother and given breath by unknown means. What is known is that she and her father, a nobleman and fierce sailor once held in high regard amongst the clan, were marked as cursed and driven from their home when the wet nurse spoke of the events 9 years later to a man she believed she could trust. Her father found work in trade in the ports of Dublin and Belfast while Amanda discovered and explored the darker sides of their taverns and brothels. She exploited her position as a highborn lady and employed her mastery of trade, single combat, and deception to build a fearsome reputation and successful life for her and her father.

When she was of an appropriate age, she began to accompany her father on his expeditions. It was on these voyages that the crews began to notice certain oddities. Her hair would turn strange colors, the colors of the sea, shades of blue, white, and emerald. Her father would take necessary measures to conceal this trait as best as he could by dying her hair frequently. It was becoming more and more common for her and her father to hear comments amongst the crew regarding the strangely favorable weather conditions on their journeys when foreboding forecasts had been made. Her father knew the time had come to tell her of who, or rather what, her mother was. Her mother was a ceasg. She was Banríon Mhara, ruler of the ceasgs and as such held sway over the seas and its inhabitants. As Banríon Mhara’s daughter, she had inherited some of her mother’s influence; the color of her hair was the mark of a ceasg, a powerful one. Her father meant to protect her from those who would seek to take advantage of her abilities. Even the details of her birth, which until then had been considered extremely mysterious, were finally brought to light. Doctors were baffled that she came out of the womb seemingly to have drowned as her lungs were filled with salt water. It was then she knew that her mother had not abandoned her but returned to the sea.

Prosperous as they were, the yoke of the English was difficult to cast off. The pressures of English rule through Ireland were prevalent. The resistance to this despotism would come to a head when the Crown attempted to occupy her port city of Belfast and use it as a base for English rule in the area. Before that time, the locals and merchants had managed to keep a steady level of unrest so as to keep the English at bay. The English began to demand royalties and payment from merchants and common folk alike for protection and to avoid persecution. This would not stand. Her father intervened on behalf of his merchant crew and was put to death for sedition.

Yeah-Yeah knew the only way to hurt them was to choke their lines of trade. She used her seafaring knowledge and experience, began to devise a plan and gathered her crew. The contacts and trust she’d gained over the years with her father would now be of great use. The only person she trusted with her life was “Hell-Cat” Jacki, a wench that kept one of her bars & brothels in order; she would become her first mate. Over the course of a year, she collected about her only those she would trust with her life. The crew would know no master but her and they knew well enough never to cross her. She only needed a ship; her father’s had been burned by the English. The best ships for her purposes would be an English ship. She planned to cross to Ireland’s west coast, Galway. There, she used her contacts to disguise her crew and stow away on an English ship headed to the Caribbean. Halfway through the journey, out of help’s reach, they would overtake the crew, leaving none alive to tell the tale, and raise the Black.

She continued to the Caribbean to further her reach into English pockets. During the journey, in the Captain’s Quarters, she discovered maps of trade routes, beach patrol schedules and manifests of many English ships and some Spanish they had planned to intercept. She was more than happy to relieve them of their duty. She would spend the next years building an empire of thieves across 3 ports that would bring English trade to its knees. However, she would soon meet someone she did not intend that would change her course forever…