Ulrik

While every member of the Riftrunner's crew has earned their position, there's only one who was made for it. That's Ulrik. He was, quite literally, made to defend the crew. Or any crew. Ulrik isn't picky. If you're on the same ship as him, he's ready to lay down his life once again to protect you. After all, he's a construct, which makes him easier to repair than a flesh and blood dragon. Some dragons might be horrified by the thought of being brought back in a shoddily-constructed artificial body. Not Ulrik. This body will let him die a thousand glorious deaths and still rise to die yet again.

Hopefully those adventures will be much better than his first death, which he somehow still remembers. The first mate of an infamous captain of the Thousand Currents, a so-called Pirate King. Together they were unstoppable, the various coastal clans fleeing at the sight of their flag. But Ulrik wasn't there for the plunder. He was loyal to the captain, a brave guardian dragon who fought for justice for those outcast from the greedy landlubber clans. Well, at one point that was true. Successful raids had turned the Pirate King as selfish as the landlubbers, the corruption of a hold full of gold and jewels wound tightly around his heart. Eventually, Ulrik was fighting to protect the rest of the crew from the whims of their captain. And also to protect the captain from himself. Never could Ulrik abandon the dragon that was once his friend. He stayed, hoping to find some remnant of the virtuous dragon that once was and remind the captain of his past.

But all Ulrik found was his doom. The Pirate King, proud and unwilling to consider the concept of defeat, invoked a ancient item of water magic in a duel against a rival. Amidst a whirling typhoon, he sailed his ship upon a cresting wave. Right into the side of his rival's ship. Among splintering planks and shattering masts, Ulrik did everything he could to save the crew from their captain's madness. But the storm prevented any flight. The water itself seemed to grasp at panicking dragons and pull them under the roil. Anyone who wasn't a water dragon surely drowned. The last thing Ulrik remembers was running across the broken deck, ready to beg the Pirate King to stop this needless destruction. But his old friend just laughed, caring nothing for Ulrik's pleas as both ships sunk beneath the waves.

Looking back, Ulrik can only think that such an end was what his friend wanted. Perhaps he had seen what he had become, and chose to atone in his own way. Or maybe he simply wanted to end his tale in a battle worthy of legend. Well, that's not what it was. There's no glory in needless destruction. The Pirate King died ignobly, taking any respect Ulrik had for him down to the bottom of the sea alongside his ship. Ulrik's only regret is that he couldn't do anything to save the crew. They didn't deserve to have served their last days under a tyrant. He would have done anything for a second chance to save them.

When he regained consciousness in a body of metal and magic, surrounded by the remnants of some arcane ritual, that desire is what kept him self-aware. A less driven dragon might have thought themselves in a dream, and failed to realize they were back in Sornieth. But Ulrik immediately knew he had been given a second chance. Not to give a lesson on the Pirate King's life, or whatever it was that the pearlcatcher that had revived him was talking about. But to serve aboard another ship — and this time he wouldn't fail to protect the crew. His path was clear. Ulrik rushed towards the fortress he could see looming in the distance, ready to search for a new vessel to serve aboard. The pearlcatcher summoner was left panicking beside her ritual circle, already coming up with plans for how to claim that the escaped combat robot wasn't her fault.

Ulrik had no trouble joining the Riftrunner's crew. They accepted him the moment he offered to protect their lives with his own, without even asking to see a demonstration of his skills. Which was good, because he didn't even know what his new body was capable of at the time. Through experimentation, he's figured a lot of it out since then. He was clearly built for both combat and easy repair. His outer armour might crumple, but his critical internal components are buried deep enough that damaging him in any lasting way is a challenge. Even if you crush Ulrik into scrap metal, he's confident that Jerrence will only have to reconnect a few joints before he can move again. Ulrik can handle repairing himself after that. Dents and scratches in his armoured plates are something he can fix with a hammer and a bit of paint. Bright red is good both for intimidation and for hiding fractures in his armour that will need a full replacement.

But what excites Ulrik far more is the additional combat abilities this body came with. In his original body he fought with claws and steel. That's still his preference. In his mind nothing can beat a halberd for keeping an opponent at a distance or his claws for fighting up close. But his built-in weapons come close. As befitting something built by an arcane clan, it's lasers all the way down. Small lasers hidden in his shoulder joints. An explosive laser blast replacing his breath attack. Tiny lasers in his claws for cutting and welding. He's got firepower far beyond what his own magic could ever have accomplished. (Which was mostly making other dragons seasick.)

And Ulrik knows that he's going to need that firepower. He's not protecting a hardened crew of veterans. He's guardian to six idiots and their broken ship. Also Lotorc, but she's competent. Ulrik can be proud to serve alongside an obelisk like that one. Those aethers, though. They have no idea what they're getting into. Greener than one of the Gladekeeper's sprouts. Yet there's a chance that could be for the best. This time, Ulrik will do what he can to guide them along a better path than the one the Pirate King took. One last favour for his old friend. Assuming they live, of course. Ulrik's survived stormy seas before, but he can only assume that travelling between dimensions must be much, much worse.

Ulrik sends a lot of time in Saburo's tavern for someone who doesn't need to eat or drink. But he's still an old sailor at heart. Taverns are where someone like him belongs. Also, he's going to eventually beat that awful Tonukk at his own games. The nocturne must be cheating, there's no way one dragon could be that lucky. Once Ulrik can prove it, the lasers are coming out and the cards are going up in flames.