Captain Terrance, Hunter (Petrichor 365)

One of the problems that the growth of Port Imperial is facing is getting enough food to feed its booming population.  While there is an increasingly wide belt of farms and towns spreading out beyond the city, only the oldest of them is producing anything approaching a significant surplus of food.  This means that food must be imported or gathered from the hinterlands.

One person who identified this problem early on and moved to take advantage of it, turning necessity into an opportunity, is Captain Epsilon Terrance, Master of the Hunt.  Where, exactly, his rank comes from is unclear and the title ‘Master of the Hunt’ was initially self-given but he has since gone on to make it true in fact.

Using his considerable charm and organizational skills, and several lines of credit, Captain Terrance organized a mobile column that traveled to the veldt hunted for some time, smoked and preserved the meat, and then drove back a considerable number of captured herd animals, many of which they sold to outlying communities before making it back to Port Imperial and selling the fresh and preserved meat for a young fortune.  More than enough to pay off all his creditors and outfit his next two expeditions.

Not all of the following expeditions have gone so smoothly but he has yet to fail to turn at least some profit.  Terrance tries for two hunts a year and has managed to maintain that pace so far.  Others who have tried to do the same have been less lucky but it has still created a system that helps to feed Port Imperial.

Terrance is in his late thirties, perhaps early forties, and in good physical shape.  Above average in height, he wears his hair short and has a splendid mustache.  Terrance wears a formal uniform from some unnamed country about town, out in the field, he prefers buckskins but still with a vaguely military cut.  He is a natural leader and very charming when he wishes.  Terrance is a skilled rider, an exceptional hunter, and a talented combatant when needed.  All of this, he tends to hide behind a jolly facade and one might write him off as a useless twit unless one has seen him in action.  There is even a fixed place for the slaughter of the beasts which has become known by the name of the Boneyard.

Terrance is always on the lookout for people to join the next hunt, the work pays well but is dangerous, demanding, and, ultimately, very bloody.  “Your life will be at risk but the rewards will be worth it!”

Captain Terrance is quite wealthy, indeed it is something of a mystery what he has spent it all on, with rumors of a gambling habit or a string of lovers or both.  (In fact, he has invested it in a variety of ventures across Port Imperial.)

Notes: Captain Terrance has shown up briefly in one game where the characters worked for him briefly during a bison hunt.  He seemed like a good character to expand upon.

Petrichor 365 – Port Imperial.  Previous Entry: Savose Greenoak.   Next Entry: The Squared Circle

Image from: “The Wild Sports of Southern Africa; Being the narrative of an expedition from the Cape of Good Hope … to the tropic of Capricorn” p 283 by Sir William Cornwallis Harris, found on the British Library photostream and is in the Public Domain.