The Jolly Tradesman

Your Username: Alexander Maelstrom, Shoot First

Character Name: Alexander, Smith, Maelstrom

Date Of Birth: Oct 22
Assigned Gender: Male
Identifies as: Male
Preferred Pronouns: doesn't have any preference
Age: 31
Sexuality: straight 

Appearance
Height: 6'5
Weight: 225
Body Type: Athletic


Skills 
Swimming/underwater combat: He has spent a large portion of his life out on the water. He learned to swim at a very young age, a useful skill when most of your life is spent on a boat. This allows him to swim in many different conditions for extended periods like in cold water or rough conditions, and hold his breath longer than the average person. He was taught to be able to fight under water effectively, incase a creature dragged him under, how to use the currents to his advantage and how to manipulate your body to be able to maneuver effectively to either dodge or strike back at an aggressor. 
navigating: He can navigate almost any water way, having most memorized in order to pass through dangerous areas and find supplies for trading. Even in foggy or dark conditions he can still find his way through without hitting sandbars or protruding rocks.
ship building: Due to his lively hood revolving around his trading ship which is both his means of transportation, profit, and shelter he has learned to build and repair his own ship. This was a common skill taught on the flotillas when he was growing up and was one of the many chores they had to do on a weekly basis.
repairing equipment: As a tradesman he has to be self reliant when it comes to repairing his own equipment, he is able to do minor repairs to his tools, weapons and armor, allowing them to at least hold together until he can purchase new ones. 


Pros And Cons
(Have at least 3 pros and 3 cons of your character! Sorry, they can't be perfect. This could be something such as he or she has great people skills, but gets anxiety from large crowds. Be sure to give enough detail for each pro and con!)

PRO[+/-] Big: Some have nicked named him the friendly giant. Alex's size does come in handy, able to haul a lot of supplies on his own. Can also come in handy when helping to restrain someone or a creature. As he tends to say when it comes to the wild kingdom size does matter.
PRO[+/-] Diplomatic: This was a skill he acquired over many years of going from colony to colony and his friendly nature certainly helps with this. Its very important for a trader to maintain neutral and friendly relationships with everyone in order to keep trading with them and ensure safe passage. He has learned many ways to help stem aggressive behavior in delicate situations. If someone needs a neutral third party to help keep a fight from breaking out he is a good man to go to.
PRO[+/-] Raises Moral: He knows the negative effects low moral can bring to a ship or a settlement. His lowed laugh and friendly almost boisterous personality helps bring smiles to even the gruffest of figures either by just talking and causing people to laugh or breaking out some supplies to use as gifts to help cheer people up. 
CON[+/-] Fear of Heights: Spending most of his time on the water he isnt used to being up high, being on cliffs is bad enough, but flying all but paralyzes the poor man. The fear only being enhanced from when he tried riding a young Pteranodon that at the time couldn't hold his weight and nearly caused him to fall to his death.
CON[+/-] low Endurance: While he can swim for long periods of time, running on land is a whole other story. Due to his large size it takes a lot more energy to move it than someone who is smaller in stature, while in the water size and weight matters less due to buoyancy. Which is why he tends to compare himself to his Sarcos, faster than a tiger fish in the water but more like a drunken troll on land. 
CON[+/-] gullible: For someone well traveled he tends to trust people to quickly. Usually this is harmless fun when people cause him to believe their stories. However it can be dangerous since people can get him to believe of a new area where he can farm precious materials to trade only for it to be a bandit trap.


Pet: Jack and Jill are his pet Sarcos. He has a surprisingly close relationship with the usually cold reptiles. He found them before their eggs had even hatched in their nest when he was just starting his life as a tradesman. Unfortunately the mother had been laying nearby unseen, hiding in tall reads. She lunged at him, when he neared the nest with a bellowing rumble. Alex just managing to keep himself out of her jaws by putting his left hand on her snout and right hand on her lower jaw as he was driven back into the water. The water boiled as the two wrestled in the water. The only thing that saved him was his training in the water when he was younger and his sheer size and strength, managing to actually hold onto the mothers back and choke it out with his legs, arms not being long enough to wrap around the massive creatures neck, a feet that many still dont believe is possible. He sold most of the eggs but kept two, one a male he named Jack another a female he named Jill. During the longer voyages he spent a lot of his time training them, this in tern formed a close bond between him and his sarcos. Now they act as guard dogs in a way. Protecting him on voyages when gathering materials in the water or on land. And protecting his good when he is away from the ship in a settlement. Out of the two Jack is the more aggressive of the two and not a fan of strangers, he loves to swim with Alex though, urging him onto the saddle at times when he is tired of slowing down for the human. While his sister Jill likes to cuddle, a dangerous thing if you sit next to her since she might try to roll onto you, not a very glorious way to be killed, crushed by a loving Sarco. She also loves getting scratches under her chin.


History
Alexander, or Alex for short likes nothing more than the open horizon. Like many of his people he rarely stays in one place for very long. He grew up on what was called the Flotilla, a collection of ships and house boats his people lived on. They were almost always on the move, only staying in one place for a couple days or a couple weeks at most before moving on. He came of age and was sent out on the expedition, a trial that young people have to do to prove themselves, bringing back something of worth to help improve the Flotilla. Alex though wasn't a big fan of the idea of coming back only to work under a captain. he wanted his own ship, decide where he wanted to go. And so that is what he did.
He found out that life on the open road doesn't have to be uncomfortable, and can also be profitable. His travels have taken him to many lands, allowing him to find out what resources certain people have in abundance or are lacking in. So he started to trade goods. After gathering materials in one kingdom he would return to another, offering the materials he had brought with him in exchange for other goods or currency. Eventually saving up enough to build his own ship. It was by no means very fast and has very little means in defense, but it was sturdy and had plenty of storage which was all he needed. Now he can sail from settlement to settlement bringing supplies and goods in bulk, or even transporting creatures to sell. Every now and then he will accept an assignment from people. For an extra fee he offers his services to gathering a specific material, they can either order one storage box full or multiple, the price of course raising with the number of storage boxes used. Due to most of his lively hood being spent out on the water his two closest companions are two Sarcos named Jack and Jill who not only provide protection and transportation but also companionship. When bringing a precious item he doesn't want stolen or picked from his pocket he will often place it in the mouths of one of his sarcos. "Go ahead and see which is faster, your hand or their jaws." He will often joke.
Alex is not surprisingly a very cheerful social person. He loves to meet new people and even though he will use relationships he has built to help make more coin he is also caring, giving discounts or even just donating certain supplies to those who are effected by a disaster or drought. Those who see him at first might find him intimidating due to his large size, especially when his scaly friends are besides him. However he has never been much of a fighter, his skill with magic and a blade nothing to gawk at. But at the same time he isnt one to just turn tail and run when someone is wronged, even though he will probably lose a fight, he will still stand and fight none the less when someone needs help.