J'qena Windreaper—the mere mention of her name brings sighs of awe and wonder from some (the impressionable, the villainous, the free-spirited), frowns and curses from others (the solid, the upright, the uptight). She is unquestionably the most famous sailor on the Sea of Duqan at present, arguably the most renowned of all time. Depending on who you ask, she is either the greatest swashbuckling heroine that ever lived, or the vilest and most despicable pirate. Take your pick.

She's as handy with a spell as she is with a cutlass, and swings from the ropes like she was born in a crow's nest—some say she was. She's outrun the ships of the Imperial Navy more times than anyone can count, certainly more than anyone in the government will ever admit. They say she braved the Black Mire of Dorg'n, where the moss hangs so thick on the trees that the light of day never shines on the ink-black water, and discovered an ancient tower built by giants, filled with more gold than the High King's got in his treasury and more wondrous items of magic than all the libraries of the Empire could hold or describe. It's known for sure that she killed Thorqian the Marked, the most fearsome pirate of the archipelago, who used to bite open the throats of his victims and lap up their blood. Some say she bested him in a fair fight, others say she stabbed him in the back, still others say she killed him in bed with a dagger she hid in her hair.

Some folks say the elves have given her a special name in their own language, a mark of honor in their barbarian culture. They call her "elf-friend," but what she did to earn the name, only the elves can say. Others tell tales of how she snuck into a dwarven stronghold, saw the inside and got out to tell about it. Her first mate's a goblin, Ish'm Dragonclaw—which proves she's either up to no good or a noble liberator. Depends who you ask.

That's the way it is, you see. Living the life of an adventurer means doing things that get you noticed. And once you're noticed, people start to talk. They may say good things or bad—it probably tells you more about the person talking than it does about the subject of their gossip—but they'll talk. Like they do about J'qena Windreaper. Scourge of the high seas or example to be followed, take your pick.