Otto Van Tuyl

Quoted text © 2005 Jesse K. Tabor.  Used with permission.

All other content © 2006 M.E.L.E.E., Inc.,1988 MELEE unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved. (SM)s used with permission.

Highlights:

NationalityNetherlands

Year of Birth     1624

Birth Month     October

Birth Day  4

ProfessionPirate, sailor, torturer and a poor blacksmith

Likes /hobbies  torturing , sailing  melee faction battles, pickpocketing the dead

Mother Name        Beatrix

Mother Nationality Dutch

Father Name            Ravenger

Father Nationality:   Dutch

close cousin, Victor

Coat of Arms          none as yet

Current affiliation:

Citizen Since: ACI XV (1996)

Torturing, Sailing, Melee faction battles, Pick pocketing the dead.

How arrive here         It was the beginning of the Dutch wars, and it was the 29th of November 1652. The Naval Dutch Admiral Tromp employed us pirates of the Mangled Hand; led by captain Victor van Tuyl (my cousin), to help aid him on a convoy mission. Along with the convoy of over 250 merchantmen, we sailed next to 85 warships down the Channel. We had to be watchful though, cause Admiral Blake of England would be waiting for us. Bad weather pursued, and no English appeared. Still, an evil feeling of uncertainty wreathed around the convoy as a storm sobbed.

   My name is Lt. Otto van Tuyl, and there I set on the stormy deck of the Mangled Hand commonly waiting for the next unspeakable thing to happen. For the ocean’s belly is a secretive world of hidden turmoil and it can kill you in many manners, especially in war times. To fall off a ship and be abandoned is pretty much a death sentence. I stood up and peered at the unwieldy thunder zigzagging around the heavens and  lightning randomly impaling the unpredictable waters. A waterspout formed in the distance and I trembled at Mother Nature’s ability to shake humanity’s faith. But nothing could stop us from going our set route.

   At night, Tromp sought shelter under the cliffs of South Foreland and everyone had this feeling that Blake was looking for us. Bastard! 

   The next day, the weather improved and so we sailed westward past noon with the precious convoy always close by. It was way past noon when we met Blake's English armada and quickly, a bloody engagement began. Cannon balls flew all around hazardously, but the Mangled Hand stood firm as captain Victor blared out orders. We persevered as possessed men in their dying hours. The ringing metal, explosions and chaotic screams shrieked like demons in my ears. 

   Victor, seeing Tromp’s Flagship being assailed by two English Vessels, gave the order to ram the English Warship the Bonaventure. It is then we boarded their ship and a close handed melee erupted. Hacking weapons, rifles with bayonets and pistols made a violent pell-mell. An old friend I knew for the longest time was shot in the head and his brains discharged, smearing my black shirt with his gore. The pirates of the Mangled Hand were well trained but so were the men who served the Bonaventure. We got lucky, and found ourselves victorious. Many victims wailed all around us and begged for aid. We aided our friends but pushed the wounded English over board. “Let the sharks feast on English soup,” is what Cousin Victor proclaimed. Our victory came with great costs, cause half of our men were dead but we were well paid. Then, something strange happened...

   That night, while counting our lost, costs and payment, the Mangled Hand was carried off by strange winds. We crashed on the primitive shores of Alluvium, where few ever stay dead and many come back to fight again after being slain. Not being detained, we joined up with a group known as the Triad under a great man known throughout as Magnus. We did not see many Dutch, and we were not battle tested yet when it came to fighting without a ship and gunpowder. We were soon battle trained by a man named Parish, and ever since then we have been causing trouble like pirates should. We even later betrayed Parish and so joined up with Alonso Coronado to crush the faction known as Justice under Parish (which we rightfully did so many times). Even in the days when Magnus ruled Triad we befriended the smiling Spaniard Coronado. We were even the one’s to suggest him as the next leader of Triad and rightfully it became so. There, Shamus the Red joined the Mangled Hand ( a crazy Irish man who wears a plaid dress) and we became a trio along with cousin Victor. We later dubbed ourselves Van Tuyl’s Vandals.

Honors & Achievements:

* Founder of Vandals

* Winner of the Ironman Battle Royale at the Spring Equinox MELEE GATHERING, ACI XXIV.

Aert at MELEE GATHERING, Spring Equinox ACI XXIV (2005).

Location: Motomushi Mountain (mka. Challenger 7 Park).

Aert at MELEE GATHERING, Autumnal Equinox ACI XV (1996).

Location: Motomushi Mountain (mka. Challenger 7 Park).