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Captain Khurn Svikulf

Race: Vargr Sex: Male Age: 46

Sozrakh

Khurn's History

Khurn was born in 1058 on Ughz (A424551-E), a starport world in the Firgr Subsector ruled by a feudal technocracy. He grew up in the shadow of the port, hustling through its alleys and earning favor with visiting corsair crews by running errands, fixing problems, and guiding smugglers through the maze of docks and tunnels. Known for his sharp tongue, clashing wardrobe, and instinct for survival, Khurn became a familiar face to pirates long before he ever left the ground. At 17.

In 1076, Khurn’s street-earned connections bore fruit when Rrukkha “Coinbite” Gvokhuzal, a rising syndicate boss, called in a favor and secured him a berth on a brand-new Ruguelka-class Corsair. The ship’s captain—an old associate of Coinbite’s with ties to a Solomani crew—named the vessel Gloamhound in honor of that connection. Though Khurn started as the newest crewman, he quickly rose through the ranks, outmaneuvering veterans with a mix of sharp instinct, fast talk, and fearless initiative. By the end of his first term, Khurn wasn’t just another pirate—he was a growing force aboard the Gloamhound, with ambition to match.

1080–1083: During the chaos of the Fourth Interstellar War, the Gloamhound roamed far from Ughz, exploiting scattered patrols and fractured supply lines to raid freely across the Reach. But war cuts both ways—after a brutal skirmish, the Gloamhound was left limping, her captain gravely injured. With command suddenly his, Khurn struck a bold deal with Lieutenant Sultana, a sharp Imperial Navy officer: in exchange for a hidden cache and the ship’s boat, the Gloamhound was allowed to escape. “War’s about leverage,” he later said. “Sometimes that means knowing when to sell the wings to save the beast.” The gamble paid off—Gloamhound survived, and Khurn forged a lasting connection with Sultana that would lead to future ventures. He later backed the recovering captain in a formal crew challenge, earning respect and a permanent promotion among the Gloamhound’s ranks.

1084–1087: As the Gloamhound carved a path through the Sword Worlds, Khurn thrived in his role as executive officer, earning both respect and wariness from the crew. His growing command presence and sharp political instincts helped the ship stay one step ahead of local patrols and rival corsairs. While the captain handled navigation and high-level deals, Khurn worked the shadows—rekindling his syndicate contacts across the region and securing access to off-the-books fuel, black market salvage, and intelligence pipelines. During this period, Khurn also took a liking to a young human named Crockett, a sharp but restless hanger-on at a border station. Over drinks and half-truths, Khurn agreed with him that joining the Marines might be the best shot at real freedom and training, telling him, “Out here, you need more than a fast tongue—you need people who'll watch your six, and the Corps teaches that better than we do.” Crockett left the next day. Khurn didn’t say goodbye, but he did leave a coded voucher for gear and transport waiting at the depot. For all his bravado, Khurn hadn’t forgotten where he came from—or who might follow.

1088–1092: The Gloamhound’s luck finally broke in a brutal ambush by rival corsairs near a lawless fringe system. Outgunned and cornered, the ship escaped—but barely. Khurn was nearly killed, pulled from the wreckage with crushed lungs and a shattered arm, spending months in regen tanks for organ and limb reconstruction. The bill: Cr45,000 in unpaid medical debt, still hanging over him like a bounty. “I’d rather have died than owe that much to back-alley butchers,” he quipped later, though the humor rang hollow. During recovery, Khurn held on to power through messages and loyal crew, still acting as XO from a medbed. The Gloamhound limped through its own repairs—and so did he, returning scarred, quieter, and colder, with a sharper eye for risk and betrayal.

1092–1095: Back at full strength, Khurn led the Gloamhound on a bold raid against a fortified convoy tied to a minor noble house. The strike was swift and profitable—the crew thrived, and Khurn’s standing soared. Even the aging captain, wearied by old wounds, began hinting at retirement, quietly suggesting that the ship might soon need new hands at the helm. No formal change came yet, but more and more, the crew looked to Khurn in times of risk.

During this time, the Gloamhound joined with a loose pirate band operating along the Pax Rulin fringe, pooling resources to establish a hidden asteroid base in a dead system near the border. It became a place to refuel, repair, and trade without Imperial eyes. One of the band’s more capable vessels, a 200-ton Far Trader called the Firecurve Jackal, committed itself specifically to partnering with the Gloamhound. The two ships often ran missions together—Khurn called it “mutual leverage with mutual guns.” Between the base, the band, and his growing reputation, Khurn wasn’t just navigating space anymore—he was building power.

1096–1099: Khurn’s return began in darkness. Left for dead after a failed raid, he awoke alone on a barren moon—injured, disoriented, and with a year or more of memory erased. He knew who he was. He remembered the Gloamhound, the base, the crew, even old grudges. But the entire chain of events that led to his near-death? Gone. Someone had betrayed him. He didn’t know who. Or why. Only one truth burned through the fog: he had to get back.

He spent months traveling under false names, following instinct and fragmented clues, slowly working his way across the Reach toward the pirate base he still remembered with perfect clarity.

Later that year, while traveling aboard a subsidized passenger liner, Khurn crossed paths with Scout Silas Lane. When the vessel suffered a catastrophic systems failure, the two found themselves trapped in a collapsing section with members of the Velyan noble family. As fire and vacuum closed in, the options narrowed to one: save the few who could still move, or lose everyone trying to be heroes.

Khurn said, low and cold, “We can’t save the dead. Move?” Silas made the call. Together, they sealed the bulkhead and pulled back.

The decision saved lives—including Khurn’s—but earned them the wrath of Byddryg Velyan, the family patriarch, who swore to make them pay. Khurn emerged from the wreckage alive, half-healed, and hunted once more—his memories lost, his ship missing, and his enemies multiplying.

1101–1105: Khurn finally caught up to the Gloamhound—still flying and still feared, but under someone else’s flag. Captain Vaak had assumed command during Khurn’s absence and now led the pack from his flagship, the Scourge of Norridan, which included the Firecurve Jackal and the Gloamhound. But not all loyalties had shifted. With the support of his loyal crew, Khurn worked from within and regained his rightful place as captain. Their base didn’t last. An Imperial assault crushed it, forcing the pack to scatter into the Dustbelt. Khurn argued for independence and a new stronghold. Vaak disagreed, obsessed instead with rumors of Captain Zhukevi, the legendary Vargr corsair said to command from the hidden pirate haven of Theev. The pack fanned out, seeking Zhukevi’s agents. When they regrouped, Vaak presented an opportunity: a subsidized merchant supposedly carrying a rich cargo of Luxuries—but rumored to be a test arranged by Zhukevi himself. The plan: load the Firecurve Jackal with the Gloamhound’s veteran marines and crew, board fast, and follow up with the Corsairs. As the Jackal approached, two fighters launched from the “merchant”, and pop-up barbettes tore the ship apart. It was an ambush. Khurn ordered the pack to engage, the crew followed Vaak and jumped.. The Corsairs fled—abandoning the marines and Khurn’s partner, Commander Korzaya, to die. At Torpol Station, Khurn challenged Vaak for leadership. Still reeling from loss of his shipmates, he lost—Vaak dropped him with a stun glove and slammed his head into the deck, hard and public. Khurn awoke later to radiation alarms blaring—a silent command he had instilled in the ship’s intellect Zhethra. set to blast the alarm if anyone else attempted to breach it. The thieves were gone, but so were the supplies and every last credit.

Additional encounter in 1104

In 1104, Khurn was brought in on a pirate crew’s plan to fake an attack on the Free Trader Midnight Runner. The deal: Khurn would stage the ambush with the Gloamhound, take the cargo, and the crew would vanish with the ship. In truth, they planned to keep both—and frame Khurn and the trader’s pilot, Cal Cooper, for the theft.

Khurn caught the setup early and teamed up with Cooper to flip the con. They staged the ambush anyway, spoofed the logs, and left the traitorous crew floating in an Imperial patrol lane. Cooper kept the Midnight Runner; Khurn took the cargo—only to find it was worthless bulk foodstuffs. The crew got arrested, Cooper got a ship, and Khurn got shafted with a hold full of grain.

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