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Even as a child, Prince Antonio Velenosa felt drawn to the sea. He'd spend time by the shores near Lenosia, watching the ships come to port, and panic his house hold servants and guards by giving them the slip and swimming in the sea alone. There are secrets in the dark waters of the sea, hidden beneath the fathomless depths but not everyone can see them. For some, they're lost beneath the crash of the waves and the bright light of the sun, but for others... For others they can hear the voices lost to the waves, the whispers that come in the night. They understand what it is to look upon those dark waters and know that more, so much more, rests beneath the surface. Prince Antonio Velenosa was one who could look upon the waters and know that there was more. He could hear the Siren's song from the depths, understand the nothings that she whispered in his ear and it was her song that lured him to the shores, invited him deeper so that the urges that followed him in childhood, to spend all his time about the waves, carried him into adulthood. From a boy on a skiff, to a Captain at the helm, Prince Antonio has known a life of adventure. He made a name for himself as a young captain of royal blood escorting Lenosia shipping to Arx and the homes of the great houses, fearlessly meeting threats head on. Whether pirate or storm, the bold captain seemed to take any danger in stride, and his daring always seemed to carry the day when more timid men might have been lost. Unfortunately, it seemed his good fortune couldn't hold forever, and the entirely-too-bold captain may have underestimated how many enemies among pirate shavs he had been making, as a flotilla he was leading to the Darkwater Reach was ambushed by an exceptionally well organized and far more numerous force of Shavs. While House Velenosa stood by its prince, and claimed no one could have acquitted themselves better by escaping with as many ships as he did from the trap, the losses and embarrassment of the defeat have left the bold prince chastened and looking for redemption. That redemption wouldn't come at sea, but at the court of Arx, where a bold young captain with now an underserved reptuation for recklessness could prove to the Lyceum he had sound judgment and even temperment. If he can just stop himself for strangling any smug nobles asking about how he lost to shavs, of course.

Antonio is a very handsome man, if not classically so. His hair is a dark, sooty brown, his eyes a warm honey shade, and if his mouth is a bit narrow, it's also fetchingly bowed and prone to lazy smiles. His style and manner are self-possessed and exceedingly easy. If it took him time to arrange his shoulder-length hair to best emphasize the sun-lightened streaks, you'd never know it. His skin is slightly weathered from sun, wind, and sea salt, giving him a decidedly rugged appeal.

He might have been sent to Arx to play at Court, but Antonio's first love is still the sea - even after what he's lost there. He's not the sort to be defeated by a loss, though. Antonio is as resilient as water, and as tireless as the waves. He doesn't dwell on past failures, and he doesn't think about the possibility of more in the future. It's just not in his nature. He pairs a crass sailors' sense of humor with a nearly boundless well of positivity. In his mind, there's nothing he can't do. This is not to say he's chipper, or even one of those annoyingly cheerful sorts, he just doesn't give up. Not on his friends, not on his men, and not on himself.