Abigail was brought up in a manner that was very strict upon formalities. As she grows more and more familiar with Nassau and the inhabitants thereof, she eventually develops a sort of compromise between the formalities of her upbringing and the casual familiarity that those around her share. 

The use of given names is a very intimate matter – it is not typically done, where she comes from – and learning to overcome that particular hurdle has been the hardest for her. Due to this she has levels of address and propriety that are rather uniquely her own, and tend to display rather clearly how comfortable she is with someone at any given time, for those who pay particularly close attention.

The use of Miss or Mister before a person’s given name is Abigail’s indication of being casual with someone, and completely comfortable in their company. It is her way of acknowledging that the use of given names is customary here in Nassau, while also holding on to the safety net that proprietary customs can claim for her. 

• Most commonly; Miss Anne and Mister Jack, and in some cases Mister Joji, Mister Billy and Mister Charles. 
  

The use of Miss or Mister prior to a surname indicates Abigail is not wholly comfortable yet, or may consider the person to be more accustomed to such address on account of her awareness that they, like her, come from the stringent manners of England. This is, for Abigail in Nassau, as much a formality as it is a safety net. 

• Most commonly; Miss Barlow, Mister Hamilton and Mister McGraw.
  

The use of a title is no longer a sign of respect from Abigail, so much as it is an indication of fear, and possibly even anger or distrust. When Abigail refers to someone as captain or governor rather than by their name, it tends to be more an act of rebellion than a sign of submission to authority, and tends to be fairly notable one way or another. 

The only exception to this rule tends to be Charles Vane, whom she may refer to as Captain Vane of the Ranger when being particularly formal, or simply the Ranger’s Captain, Mister Charles Vane if she has reason to be less formal, but still determined to make his station clear for one reason or another. 

• Most commonly: Captain Flint, Governor Rogers

Trust is a very important thing to Abigail – she is a woman who values honesty and ( all ironies aside ) was raised to uphold the truth first and foremost as the virtue most valiant among men. It is for this reason that her relationship to Charles Vane is so poignant – even if it is a rather subtle note in their brief time existing in one another’s spheres. 

When Abigail was presented with a letter from Miranda Hamilton – a woman she remembered from her childhood – she had every reason to want to run toward that comfort and familiarity. Yet despite this, she hesitates and informs Eleanor that she has been promised a safe return home by Captain Vane – she trusts him despite everything she has been taught about pirates and every reason she has to be fearful of her position. 

Even though she holds in her hand the promise of safety, she does not fall blindly to it and she displays a clear reluctance to leave – which is strange until one considers the fact that, when the fort was under attack and Abigail had no idea what was going on, Vane ordered his men to have her kept safe and unharmed. That no one was to touch her. 

Considering her time with Low, Abigail knows one thing with alarming surety – that was not an order Captain Vane needed to deliver. Harm to her person – physical injuries of any sort – would not change her weight in gold for being returned alive. Yet he did give that order and – as we see from how remarkably undamaged she is in a physical sense in the wake of her ordeal – it is an order that was executed in full. 

Abigail Ashe has no reason to doubt in Captain Vane because he has granted her none. He has been honest in his intentions from the start – to ransom her to her father – but he has done so in a way so remarkably different from Low that Abigail is not blind to what one may dare to consider an honorable trait in him. It is in fact because of Vane and his actions that Abigail was open to observing Flint and his crew critically, rather than hiding in fear throughout the duration of her journey. Abigail’s ability to trust in pirates, and believe them to be something more than monsters, started with her treatment as Captain Vane’s hostage.  

I mention all of this partly due to various verses I have either present or in the works in which Abigail refuses to leave, or in some other way, finds herself in service to Vane by personal choice after the events of Charlestown – but mostly, because I was captivated by her resistance to leaving and needed to rewatch the entire arc to figure out where that resistance stemmed from. 

The titles of Abigail’s works are as follows:

• The Hope Of Lady Tremaine: A collection featuring all three novellas staring Lady Tremaine ( The Woman Scorned, A Lady At War, and The Pirate Queen respectively ) 

• The Heroic Adventures Of Jeanne and Arcanus: A collection featuring all five of the novellas concerning Jeanne. ( Birth of a Hero, Dawn of a Saviour, Life of a Warrior, Song of a Legend and Rise of a Martyr respectively )

• Of Liars And Thieves: Novel starring Redbeard. The most honest accounting of the events at Charlestown. 

• The Monster of Maytown: Novel starring Bandit, arguably her most popular work. A fictional accounting for how Redbeard became a pirate legend. Coming from the perspective of Bandit and a new ( entirely fictional ) character by name of Annabel, the tale makes both pirates and those who oppose them sympathetic, making it difficult to decide, in the end, who the real monster of Maytown actually is. 

• Chasing the Dragon: A collection of novella starring various captains and lieutenants of the Navy who attempted to stop Redbeard in his pirating. ( The Misfortune of Captain Golding, The Mysterious Disappearance of the HMS Siren Song and Captain Jethro’s Journey Into Madness respectively ) 

• A Life Of Hope: A collection of adventures starring residents of New Hope that shed further light upon the idea that those who live as pirates may not be so different from those who live under a crown. ( Jack and the Missing Goat, A Tale of Three Daughters, The Worries Of Mrs Dallinger and When The Fathers Come Home, respectively ) 

• Shadows Of The Past: Novel starring Blaine, based on stories gathered from sailors over her time as a waitress, this is the first and only of Abigail’s stories to feature supernatural elements. The kraken, a sea witch, mermaids and even an undead pirate captain all make appearances here. Notable for the fact the main protagonist never says a word the entire time, the story explores the world Abigail has crafted over the course of her works from the perspective of someone who has seen real monsters and lived to tell about it – only, to choose not to.

• The Queer Life Of Mort: A collection of novella which explore past stories already told, but coming from the perspective of the oft-times ridiculous sailor Mort. Painting the tragedies and monstrosities of her works in a brighter and more comical hue that mocks the shadows from which they stemmed. ( The Ten Times Tremaine Tripped, Jeannes Jovial Jerkin, Redbeards Ridiculous Raincoat and Bandit’s Best Brawls respectively. )  

In monsters and valiant men Abigail has taken to writing as her sole form of therapy and healing. By the time anyone meets her there ( unless otherwise plotted ) she will have five years of writing under her belt. Though she specializes in novella, as of five years into the game she has seven published works – four of which are collections of aforementioned novellas and three are independant novels. 

Her stories all have similar arcing themes in the pursuit of truth, and in the questioning of what is right and what is wrong. There are notable characters throughout her works that make appearances rather frequently, though the role they play may be as major or minor as she needs to chase her overall point. 

These characters are all based off individuals she met in what she internally refers to as the ‘Charlestown Event’ and her conflicting views have been picked apart to give her a working cast that allows her to craft dynamic tales without having to reach too far in order to create them. 

For those who are likely to interact with her in this verse, I thought it might be handy to have a short list of them so they can perhaps be confronted – either by people who recognize them or, perhaps their source material themselves having something to say on the matter. 

Lord Garrott & Lord Abbott: Both these men are based off Abigail’s father. Lord Garrott being the face of all that which Abigail sees as false and evil in her father, and the darker side of what is called ‘civilized society’ while Lord Abbott, who appears infrequently but is a kindly man who supports the legitimization of the fictional pirate city New Hope, is all that she believed to be good in her father. Lord Abbott seeks to live honestly and to offer other men the same opportunity – he is considered one of the heroes of her works, though he shows up seldomly. 

Captain Redbeard: Commonly seen in tales forging sympathy for pirates, this man is based off Flint and all that Abigail recognized as good within him. Redbeard is an ideological and morally gray hero who defends truth as Abigail sees it, and shows up most prominently when protagonists hold strong belief that pirates are evil and nothing more than that. 

Redbeard is designed to humanize pirates, while not taking away from the fact they do terrible things. Rather, he stands for giving the stories behind why pirates do those dark things and why they may not be as dark as one may prefer to believe. 

Redbeard is motivated by the need to grant outsiders a safe harbor, and to bring a lasting peace between pirates and merchants that will put an end to the wars at sea between men who were once brothers to those they now decry as villains. He shows up, or is at least mentioned, in every single one of her works. 

Captain Shane: Commonly seen in tales where pirates are evil, this man is based as much on Lowe as he is on Flint’s temper and the utterly unyielding and unforgiving nature of that temper. While Redbeard rarely does anything too utterly unforgivable ( with the notable exception of an entire city destroyed in his grief ) Captain Shane is the monster her father always whispered about. Shane is motivated by money and power, and will do anything it takes to obtain them. He is a common villain in her tales and has a bad habit of dying only to come back and ruin things later, representing the nightmare of Lowe in Abigail’s life rather starkly in so doing. 

Captain Trent: Of all the pirates in Abigail’s stories, Trent is perhaps the hardest to understand. Like Shane, he is motivated by financial gains – but like Redbeard, he has a bigger goal in mind that is known only to himself. He is determined to uphold the sanctity of piratical freedoms, though why is never truly discussed in any of Abigail’s works. 

This, of course, owing to the fact she honestly doesn’t know. Trent is based off of Vane, and much of what he does is as mysterious to her as Vane’s own actions – but one thing she ensures, is that no matter how frightful Trent may be at any given time, he always keeps his word. Whether that word is a forgiving one or a terrifying one depends on the needs of the tale at the time, however. 

Lady Tremaine / Jeanne / Miss Martin / The Mother: These four women are all based off Barlow. In the tales of Jeanne, Barlow is both Jeanne and The Mother.

Lady Tremaine stars in three novellas about a woman wronged by society, a woman who was tormented and deceived by those closest to her who, with the aid of Captain Redbeard, saw justice delivered upon those who had wronged her. She ultimately resides in the fictional pirate city of New Hope, where she presides over trade. Her cameos in other works see her as a benevolent if shrewd businesswoman.

Jeanne’s mother is a friend of Captain Trent’s and seeks to convince Lord Garrott to pardon Trent’s crew in exchange for their service in defending the fort. Her mother is killed by one of Lord Garrott’s men, who declares sympathy for pirates an act of piracy itself. While this man roams freely, Jeanne seeks to have him punished and informs Trent of what occured. To her horror, rather than make the man himself pay, Trent calls the entire city to task and renders it aflaime. 

Jeanne’s tale takes place over a course of five novella that are printed in one collection, though may be found in individual serials in specific markets. It tells the tale of how Jeanne becomes a hunter for hire, and will as soon hunt men of the crown for their crimes as she will pirates. Many believe, thanks to Jeanne’s cat being named Arcanus, that Jeanne is in fact based off Joan d’Arc.

Miss Martin is the only version of Barlow that is completely true in its tragedy, beyond the Mother of Jeanne. In Abigail’s novel Of Liars And Thieves, Miss Martin rescues and later protects the young protagonist who has been kidnapped for ransom by pirates. Miss Martin, in her quiet and unassuming way, helps the protagonist to slowly see Redbeard’s crew as men in their own way, rather than as monsters. 

Along with Captain Redbeard, Miss Martin goes to the protagonist’s father – a new character by name of Lord Aston – who turns out to have been the very same man who caused irreparable damage to Redbeard and Martin both. When Martin challenges Aston on his actions, she is cruelly shot and silenced by Aston’s general. 

The tale that unfolds then, is precisely that of Charlestown – even going so far as to include Trent coming to Redbeard’s trial with the protagonist’s diary, and the protagonist being chased from the town by survivors declaring her to be a witch.  

Bandit, Blaine & Mort: These men are all based off individuals Abigail met aboard Flint’s ship, and though their personalities and roles are designed to add a comedic element to any tale, their appearances are specific enough there is no doubt the men would recognize themselves if ever they heard the stories. Bandit is an enormous man with arms that look like they could uproot trees – Blaine is a silent man who carries a strange blade from another land – and Mort is a short, bald man with a mean face bearing interesting scars and tattoos.