Marquesta Kar-Thon is, in many ways, the embodiment of Krynn’s Age of Despair: a survivor of legacy, betrayal, and loss, carving her own name upon the waves of a world still recovering from its cataclysms. You can buy the War of the Lance sourcebook here:
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https://youtu.be/gZgURwxF4VM
Video Script
Cold Open
She is a survivor of legacy, betrayal, and loss, carving her own name upon the waves of a world that is still recovering from its two cataclysms.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about the pirate Maquesta Kar-Thon. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga YouTube members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron by following the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing DLA Dragonlance Adventures and the War of the Lance sourcebooks, including Dragonlance Chronicles, Maquesta Kar-Thon and The Dragons of Chaos novels for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
It would be easy to see Maquesta Kar-Thon as little more than a swashbuckling captain — a half-elven pirate who dared to sail the Blood Sea of Istar during the darkest ages of Krynn. That’s certainly how the bards like to tell it: the daring smuggler who outwitted Dragonarmies and wrestled her own fate from the jaws of the Maelstrom. But I believe Maquesta — or “Maq” as she preferred to be called — was far more than that. She is, in many ways, the embodiment of Krynn’s Age of Despair: a survivor of legacy, betrayal, and loss, carving her own name upon the waves of a world still recovering from divine wrath.
Born in 326 AC, Maquesta was the daughter of two worlds that could not have been further apart. Her father, Melas Kar-Thon, was a proud Ergothian sailor — a man of the sea, rough around the edges but loyal to his dream. Her mother, Mi-al, was a Silvanesti elf — a woman of grace and secrecy, living in hiding aboard the Perechon, the ship that was both their home and their livelihood. For four brief years, this family defied both land and law, sailing the Blood Sea in quiet defiance of the prejudices that divided elf and man. But history has little patience for forbidden peace.
Life on the Blood Sea of Istar was not easy, especially for elves. They were hunted, blamed for ancient sins and the Cataclysm. A bounty was placed upon their heads. Mi-al vanished without a trace, and in desperation, Melas altered his daughter’s very appearance, shortening her ears so she might pass as human. Imagine that — your heritage literally cut away, your identity reshaped by fear. It was the first betrayal Maquesta ever suffered, though it would not be the last.
By the age of twelve, Maquesta was already a sailor in truth. Her father taught her every rope and current of the Blood Sea. By twelve, she could chart a course blindfolded. And when she first took the Perechon’s helm alone in 338 AC, with her father watching proudly from the deck, Maquesta was no longer a child. She was born to the sea — as though the god Zeboim herself had marked her for some strange destiny.
But destiny is rarely kind. In 344 AC, her father made a bet — one last, desperate gamble. He lost. The Perechon was sold to a minotaur, Attat Es-Divaq, a merchant-lord of the islands of Mithas and Kothas.
