Captain Katie
A bright-eyed and loud-mouthed 5 year old stood tall on the bow of her daddy's ship, holding onto the rail tightly as the boat tilted toward the sky before teetering over another wave. The ΛZMΛRÉ seas were especially choppy that day and a storm quickly brewing, but little Katie didn't care. She felt like she was flying in those moments.
After the ship came slapping back down onto the churning water, Katie looked over her shoulder and there was daddy fighting with the wheel. She could see the crew behind, pulling ropes, tying knots and screaming inaudible curses at each other and the oncoming storm. Her daddy shouted “Get away from the edge!” There was another wave coming, but Katie obeyed her father and ran to his side.
“Hold onto me!” her father said as he steered the massive ship straight into the coming wave and braced himself. She wrapped her little body around his tree trunk leg just as he'd taught her. She knew she was safe holding onto his leg. Her daddy was the strongest man on the ship.
“When I grow up, my ship will sail up there!” Katie screamed at the top of her lungs while pointing at the sky just before the impact. Her father looked down at her, smiled fearlessly and chuckled out loud.
As the wave hit, Daddy was laughing and shouting “ready to fly!?” She was. Katie felt an incredible rush as the ship pointed straight toward the sky, but this wave was considerably bigger than the others. It engulfed and capsized the ship, and somewhere in the chaos, Katie lost her hold on her father's leg. Katie was one of only three souls on the ship that night who survived; her father was not among them.
More than 2 decades later, Captain Katie stood on the front deck of her airship as it tore the blue skies above Khymeria. The wind was whipping her face, but she didn't mind. Most of the other airship captains wear thick scarves on their faces to prevent windburn, but not Katie. Her skin is too tough for the likes of windburns. She was suddenly reminded of that tragic life-changing day when she lost her father, and she wondered if he would be proud of how she now sails in the sky.
Not only is Katherine Windrun the best airship pilot in Kyhmeria, but she pioneered in the recent creation of these mechanical sky beasts. Because of the crystal propulsion system that can be constructed there alone, Khymeria is the only Splinter that has taken to the skies. Her ship, Windrunner 2 is without a doubt the fastest of the airships. It can be sailed with a crew of as few as four people and a single boiler generates all the steam that is needed to fly the massive vessel.
Captain Katie was recently offered a handsome reward by the Order of the Silver Shield to sign onto a one year term as a Moxian Gladiator in representation of Khymeria. While flying has always been her passion and her life, fighting has been her favorite hobby. She is skilled in all weapons of close combat and forms of physical defense. She also has a bunch of steam-powered tricks up her sleeve, different applications of the same crystal tech that allows her to fly.