#grovels

PARRY : What line will your character refuse to cross?

Cyril’s morals are a disaster skewed and... distasteful, at best.

Despite the glaringly obvious inaccuracy in his opinion, Cyril considers himself a man of virtue, and will generally tout himself as being of upright character. He is not necessarily a braggart, nor does he ostentatiously boast commonly or out of habit - but if say you try to challenge him on his morals, or ask him what his boundaries are - he will rather condescendingly tell you his views. He tends to come off confident and sometimes cocky on things he believes.

His strictest boundary involves any and all trafficking of children. Though it cuts rather considerably into his profit to omit children from his trade, he absolutely will not deal in children, under any circumstances. He will never break this rule. If any among the crew attempt to or successfully kidnap children for sale, or intentionally harm a child while under orders from Cyril ( ie, using a child as a hostage, harming a child during a raid, etc ) they will face consequences at his hand. In some cases, Cyril will equate harming a child to mutiny, and the offense will carry the same punishment. 

Cyril will go as far as to disrupt organizations or individuals who engage in child trafficking in any way, it’s that important to him. This ultimately leads into his second boundary, which is a bit more blurred in its firmness:

Cyril won’t take a life without reason. He abhors the idea of taking a life for multiple reasons, though one of those reasons is admittedly self-serving. People are simply worth more to him when they are alive. They’re product, cargo to be sold and profited from, so long as they are alive and in good health. There is no point in snuffing out a life that could be put to good use, whether that use is to line his pockets, or to provide labor - or both.

Beyond the monetary benefit, he genuinely does “value” every life - though that’s perhaps not the right term as his definition of value is... questionable and wildly dependent upon context. But he does strongly feel that taking a life should not be done lightly. Excessive, crazed, or otherwise pointless violence is something he has a strong distaste for - especially so when it could prove fatal. He does not allow this kind of behavior among his crew, nor does he find it attractive in strangers. Restraint and wisdom in battle are things he admires and strives both to emulate and enforce.

However, he will step across this boundary and take a life if he, in his own opinion ( because clearly his is the moral standard against which others should be judged ) believes they are better off dead. This typically means they’re someone who has done something Cyril considers morally unforgivable, or otherwise severely detrimental to his business. Trafficking children falls into the former category. He’s executed a fair few merchants and criminals he’s caught engaging in such activities. In the same category, only the most extreme mutinies warrant an execution, but they do happen. In the second category, Cyril is known to execute the captains of other vessels he takes, though this is rare due to the aforementioned financial interests of keeping them alive - situations and motivations for such an execution will vary - and will also vary depending on the crews thoughts towards their captured captain.

In general, Cyril will always try to subdue people first, with killing them only ever being a last resort. However, he is a pirate, so ultimately he will put himself first. If he’s in a situation where, say, someone might blow his cover, burn an alias, or he has a hostage... If he’s forced to kill someone to get out alive or get his way - he won’t be happy about it, but he’ll do it.