Crown Prince Ezequiel Clemente

"'Ungodly? I am the godliest man ever to raise sail, Cardinal. You serve one God, Lambertini, but I have served dozens. From the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean, when men see my sails, they pray.' ~Prince Ezequiel Clemente to Prospero Lambertini"

Ezequiel Clemente (also known as Zeke Williams) is the younger brother of the departed King Ferdinand Clemente VI of Spain, Princess Stardust Clemente, and Archduchess Hannah Clemente of Austria, as well as the uncle of King Lawrence Clemente, nephew of King-Consort Albert Clemente of France, and cousin of Princess Genevieve Clemente of France, and currently serves as the Lord Admiral of the Grand Armada. He was exiled from Spain on September 30th, 1751, but returned to Spain on March 20th, 1752. There is a persisting rumor that he is, in fact, secretly the son of his supposed uncle, Jack Bluehawk, but the basis for and origin of this rumor is unknown.

Early Life and Piracy
Ezequiel Clemente is the Crown Prince of Spain. He was born under the name Ezequiel Clemente, and was the son of King Philip Clemente V and his wife, Grace Goldtimbers. Prince Ezequiel Clemente grew up alongside two of his brothers, Ferdinand and Silus, in his father's palace in Madrid, and trained in the ways of combat by the legendary Sir Lunius Sargento, a childhood friend of his father. In his youth, the Young Lion gave a great deal of his time to studying, learning and a multitude of languages, including French, English, Russian, Swedish, German, Portuguese, among others, and extensively studying word histories and political philosophy. Even going as far back as their childhood, Ferdinand and Ezequiel could never be found very far from one another, doing everything together. They even roomed together in Palacio de Clemente, despite their father offering to give them separate rooms. However, often neglected by his Philip, who heavily favored Ferdinand over his second son, the young prince developed a strong rebellious streak, and consistently failed to meet his father's expectations. At age sixteen, after a particularly volatile fight with his father, Ezequiel was sent away to live with his mother in Versailles, France. During his time in France, it was arranged that he would marry a Spanish woman by the name of Mercy Chainsilver.

When he was nineteen years old, the prince boarded a ship, intending to take a trip to the colonies his father's empire controlled in the New World. However, whilst passing through the Caribbean on its way to New Spain, the ship was raided by pirates under the command of a pair of betrothed pirates, Elizabeth Anne Black and Mark Stormwrecker. Zeke opted to join the pirate crew, adopting the alias "Zeke Williams," rather than die or be held for ransom with the rest of the crew, disguising the fact that he was, in fact, a Spanish prince. Mark and Elizabeth took a shine to the youth, educating him in the dastardly ways of the pirate, regarding him as their son. In the following years, Zeke would set off with his own pirate ship, the  White Wolf, a War Frigate, and continue his life of pillaging, amassing a crew. Some time after this, Mark Stormwrecker vanished without a trace, leaving behind a bereaved Williams, and his wife, Elizabeth, who would soon vanish as well. The loss of his parental figures had a profound effect on Zeke, and his conduct became much more sinister subsequently, for a brief time. However, it would not be long before the majority of Williams' crew was killed after being sold out by a member of it to the East India Trading Company, who caught the White Wolf in an ambush. This encounter earned Zeke the pirate brand upon his arm, and he would go on to work with a much smaller, more close-knit crew, lowering the bar of his ambitions.

The Return Home
Eventually, Williams disbanded his entire crew, and sailed the seas in a more exploratory capacity. He worked as a mercenary, meeting and becoming friends with Leonhard Bosch, whom he fought alongside during his tenure as a mercenary for the Dutch military. On his solo voyages, he eventually met back up with his older sister, Hannah Clemente, who convinced him to return to Spain with her. He was welcomed back home by his father with open arms, and accepted as a Spanish Prince, though, due to his sudden re-emergence, and his father's great disapproval of his beliefs and mannerisms, Prince Ezequiel never held much power within the nation. Philip even saw him as such a great disappointment that he would later try to have his name struck from all records, preferring to forget that his second-oldest son even existed. Despite this, the Forgotten Prince was accepted as a Ranger of his father's Ranger Order.

Rebellion
Ezequiel's older brother, Ferdinand Clemente VI, and his younger sister, Halle Clemente, helped him see further into the tyrannical ways of their father, and Ezequiel joined Ferdinand's cause to take the throne from King Philip through revolt and rebellion. Ezequiel participated in all three of the violent rebellions that his older brother led against Philip. The first two of these mutinies were hardly notable; they were small-scale riots that were quickly and easily crushed by the tyrannical King Philip, both of which were never even formally named by the history books, being referred to only as a collective with the third and fourth, the collective of the three events being referred to by Pearsonic historians as the Red Rebellion, and the Lion Rebellion by modern Monarchic historians.

War of the Triumvirate
The third rebellion came in the form of The War of the Triumvirate, in 1745. After their uncle, Leon Goldtimbers, had been defeated, Ferdinand, along with Edgar Estrépito de Hierro (Ironcrash) and Silus Clemente, a younger brother of Ferdinand and Ezequiel, led a rebellion against Philip, and Ezequiel followed.

The War of the Triumvirate would be a brutal conflict, with Samuel Harrington of the East India Trading Company and his forces pledging to support the rebel cause. The rebellion began with a mutiny led by Ferdinand, Edgar, and Silus in the headquarters of the Ranger Order in Gerona. Bravely striking out against the unrelenting tyranny of Philip, the mutinying Rangers executed those who supported the king. Meanwhile, Lord Samuel Harrington of the EITC had landed in Pamplona with forces to support Ferdinand's campaign, and Queen Grace Goldtimbers, mother of Ferdinand, Silas, and Ezequiel, sent General Francis Bluehawk with French troops to aid them as well. This coalition tore through the Spanish countryside, putting down any loyalists to Philip that they could find in rather small-scale battles and confrontation as they tirelessly hunted for the king and his men.

Philip had led his armies into the Pyreene Mountains, garrisoning them in a fortress built by ancestors of the Clemente family years earlier during the Crusades that sat atop the mountain of Pico d'Aneto. The combined forces of the French, the EITC, and the Lion Rebellion fell upon King Philip's encamped men, attacking the fortress with all of their might and fury in the Battle of Muerte de Clemente. Despite being vastly outnumbered, King Philip's forces were able to win the day due to having better cover and strategic positioning, as well as being holed up in a fortress. Lunius Sargento slew Edgar and Silus. Ezequiel fled Spain with the body of his younger brother Silus, making for the Caribbean, and burying the poor boy in a crypt on Cutthroat Isle. Enraged and saddened by the loss of his brother, the second-oldest Clemente son vowed revenge against his father, rather than Lunius, knowing that Lunius was merely following orders and upholding his honor.

Post-Rebellion
Despite their defeat in the Battle of Muerte de Clemente, Ferdinand and Ezequiel would continue to rebel in smaller ways, killing a Spanish soldier or causing them to desert here and there, causing general disturbances and speaking out against their father. However, in one particular instance in 1745, the younger of the two was finally tracked down, captured, and imprisoned following an attack on a Spanish ship, but Kelly "Stormeagle" Diaz would come to the aid of Prince Ezequiel, freeing him from Spanish custody. Diaz would be remembered for her actions, and would be made a noble years later, in 1750, as a result.

Both of Ezequiel and Ferdinand were finally exiled from Spain in 1746. Ezequiel would go on to found and lead a guild of mercenaries known as the Northern Caribbean Company (North). As the leader of the Company, Ezequiel would impede in hardly-noteworthy ways upon the operations of the Spanish Empire in the Caribbean and the rest of the New World. North would accept a mercenary contract from the Kingdom of Haven, and serve to defend the island ant their interests for a time, before the exiled Prince set his sights on grander things, sailing off toward the horizon with a head held high, filled with ambitious (and rebellious) thoughts once more. For three years, the wayward Spanish Prince sailed the seas once again on Canción Maldita (the Cursed Song), under the name Zeke Williams, flying the Spanish banner (much to the chagrin of his father), and hunting down pirate ships, conscripting criminals from the crews he defeated into the Northern Caribbean Company, with the intent of building an army to return and take the throne of Spain from his father once and for all, accruing additional vessels and arms over the three-year span.

The War of Spanish Succession
In 1749, hearing word that his older brother was planning yet another rebellion, Ezequiel set a course for home. He would return not as a disgraced failure, he decided, but as a conquering instrument of justice. The Prince weighed anchor near Cadiz, in the Strait of Gibraltar, and made camp, awaiting the arrival of Ferdinand, who commanded an army of devout, holy knights known as the Order of the Lion. When the vengeful Clemente son arrived with his own armies, he found his younger brother with an army of several thousand mercenaries, ready to rally to his cause. Surrendering his men to Ferdinand's ambitions, Ezequiel took a position as second-in-command of his brother's armies. However, a detachment of ships under the command of Lord Admiral Spadus Ignacio IV was soon sent to annihilate the Lion Fleet at anchor. Philip had vastly underestimated his sons' capabilities, however, and his ships were reduced to splinters in the Skirmish of Gibraltar.

Following their naval victory, the brothers Clemente struck up the banner of the mighty lion, forsaking the eagle sigil of their father's family, and taking up the sigil of their mother's, and marched on Cadiz, but their father awaited with his own army. Overconfident as ever, King Philip Clemente had only brought with him only half of the men that his sons had gathered. The two armies met on a sunny day, on a field near the intended target of the invading army. The sons drenched the plain in the blood of their father's armies, slaughtering them quite easily. The Battle of Cádiz was an easy victory for the Lion cause. The prideful father had underestimated his determined sons for the second time. It would not be his last mistake on the field of battle during the War of Spanish Succession.

With Cadiz taken, more Spaniards rallied to the cause of the rebelling sons, taking up arms against their tyrannical king. Ferdinand and Ezequiel marched their armies north, sweeping away encampments and outposts of Philip's forces as they went. However, Ferdiand would soon order than they split up. Ezequiel's target would be the unprotected Madrid, while Ferdinand marched further north to take Barcelona. The Lion soldiers swept into the capital city of Spain, confronting Philip's men in the streets, and sacking the city, pillaging and plundering it, and slaughtering any Pearsonic loyalist they could find. The Prince claimed the city as theirs, and the Young Lion put Palacio de Clemente, the colossal monument to his father's greed and vanity, to the torch, reducing it to naught but ashes, along with all of their kin, even siblings, who still supported Philip.

Though Ezequiel had won the capital city of the Spanish Empire, they still had Philip and his dwindling armies to deal with. Ezequiel rode into the Pyreenes Mountains to assist his brother, who was sieging Fort Paradox, the stronghold that their father had holed up in. When he arrived, Ferdinand ordered him to hang back with the cavalry and wait for his signal, much to his chagrin, but he followed his orders. The Young Lion stood by and watched was his elder brother assaulted the fortress, bombarding it with cannonfire and charging it multiple times to no avail, before he finally breached the gates of the old keep. Just as quickly as his men had entered Fort Paradox, however, Ferdinand ordered them to retreat, fleeing through the gates that they had just burst through.

Believing he had the last of the Lion armies within his clutches, Philip ordered all of his soldiers to charge out after his son's forces. The loyalists to the king pursued Ferdinand's men as ordered, snapping at their heels like the rabid dogs that they were. No sooner were they out of the fort than they heard the thundering of hooves. In came Ezequiel with the Lion cavalry, smashing their left flank with his lancers. Broken and frenzied, the king's forces were butchered by the princes, who emerged victorious. The victors of the Battle of Barcelona marched proudly into the fortress, tearing down the eagle banners of House Clemente, and replacing them with the new sigil of the royal house: the Lion. Philip came out to meet his sons, and was met with an immediate round from the pistol of his eldest son, bringing his reign, along with his life, to a decisive end. Ferdinand was immediately coronated as the King of Spain and all its lands.

The Serpent of Cadiz
The Lion victory at the Battle of Barcelona and the coronation of Ferdinand VI marked the end of the Pearsonic (Paradox) Era. With his brother's reign fully secured, Prince Ezequiel set sail for the Kingdom of Haven, wishing to serve the strange and mystical land that he had formerly utterly abandoned once more, where he became Lord Protector of the nation. Soon after his return, Clemente married Queen Keira Kinover-Mar and became the King of Haven, but the two divorced after a relatively short marriage, due to disagreements between the two monarchs over Ezequiel's compulsion to continue to help Spain.

Following his divorce from Keira and departure from Haven, Zeke pursued a place in the hierarchy of Spain's government, joining the Spanish Syndicate, and taking up his Clemente name once more. He began as the nation's Director of Military Development, overseeing the training of Spain's military forces. However, the prince soon took on the office of Secretary of State, managing the majority of Spain's foreign affairs. It was during this time period that he married Lady Mercy Vega as well, though the two would later divorce. Later, he would help lead a coup alongside his older brother, King Ferdinand Clemente VI, in the overthrowing of Premier Leonardo Cortes on July 25th, known to Spaniards as Lion's Day, and restoring the absolute power of the Spanish Monarchy and marking the end of the Nationalist Spain (Spanish Syndicate) Era and the beginning of the Monarchic Spain (Kingdom of Spain) Era. The Young Lion's contributions to the effort were great; he ran his sword through Cortes' back, and led a group of Spanish Inquisitors to assassinate Vice Premier Barón Tierras-Cruzadas, stabbing the man to death in the streets outside of a tavern in Madrid later that night. Ezequiel then managed to forge peace with the British Empire for the first time since his family had assumed power. Ferdinand named his younger brother Hand of the King, and his heir, in the event that he would not conceive any sons.

Hand of the King
In the coming months, under the leadership of the Clemente brothers, the Kingdom of Spain would flourish and grow, undergoing many government reforms spearheaded by Ezequiel, and forming an organized armada. When Lord Admiral Guldan Amengual turned on the Kingdom of Spain, joining a band of rebels who sought a return to Pearsonic ideals, and was subsequently defeated by the Prince on October 19th, 1750, who would go on to be the temporary Lord Admiral of the Spanish Navy. The Prince also led Spanish forces during the Pirate Rebellion of 1750, most notably on November 24th, 1750, during the Battle of Isla de la Avaricia, when the combined forces of Britain and Spain soundly defeated a coalition of rebellious pirate guilds led by Darkskull, leader of the Undead Rebels. After extensive searches made by Ezequiel, the prodigal Princess Halle Clemente of Spain was returned to Cadiz on December 9th, 1750. The next day, on December 10th, 1750, Ezequiel was giving his grandfather, Prime Minister Johnny Goldtimbers, a tour of his prized ship, the Cursed Song, docked at the Spanish colony of Isla de la Avarica, when he saw a familiar ship approaching on the horizon. It was the Dark Knight, the flagship of the Undead Rebels, fleeing Kingshead, being pursued by an EITC warship. Ordering the Song to weigh anchor, Ezequiel manned the wheel, and set out to meet the Dark Knight with another Spanish warship, Pierro de Hierro (the Iron Dog), captained by Viscount Zenter Vega. The Dark Knight was met with a hail of cannon fire from the three ships, and sank to the depths of Mar De Plata, ending the Skirmish of Kingshead. Darkskull was plucked from a piece of floating wreckage of his ship, taken back to Avaricia with the Spanish forces, and immediately executed personally by the Spanish Prince on the charge of piracy, marking the decline and death of the Undead Rebels and the Undead Rebellion.

Subsequently, Ezequiel would organize the talks for Swedish independence from the short-lived "empire" of Haven-Denmark-Norway, leading to the dissolution of the Danish government, and the abdication of the Danish lands. Following grievous insults and attacks by the Kingdom of Haven, King Ferdinand would declare war on the small nation, placing the task of the Invasion of Tui'Tonga on the shoulders of his Hand, who would recruit the former Danish official who had been the ambassador to Spain, Magtongen Le'Overalines, to write up the plans for said invasion. However, on a merciful whim, Ferdinand would offer Haven a treaty, drawn up by his younger brother, and the war was avoided.

As a result of the treaty, Ezequiel was made Overseeing Governor of Haven, and charged with the task of maintaining order within the nation and seeing to the construction of a Spanish mission in its capital, as well as being given command of Spain's military garrison on the island. He would proceed to defend Haven against the invading Undead forces of the wife of Jolly Roger, Rosa, who had a long-standing grudge against Queen Keira Kinover-Mar. Following a pitiful revolt against the Spanish occupation, Ezequiel recalled the Spanish garrison and left the ungrateful people of Haven to be annihilated by the forces of the Undead. Once the dust had settled, the survivors were supposedly hunted down and killed by the Spanish Inquisition on the orders of their Grand Inquisitor, the Crown Prince, for the charge of mass paganism during the New Year's Day Massacre on January 2nd, 1751, and the lands of Tui'Tonga were given as a gift to Austria.

Moving forward into 1751, Ezequiel continued to serve the Kingdom of Spain, maintaining his government roles. Following the Fernando Reforma on January 20th, 1751, Ezequiel's roles included: Hand of the King, Prince of Spain, Chairman of the Minister Council, Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, Lord Commander of the Paladins of Santiago, and Overseer of the Spanish Armada, though he would later lose them all following his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in March of 1751.

Post-Spain
On March 27th, 1751, being rather troubled and unsure of himself after a political dispute with the British Empire, Prince Ezequiel boarded the Cursed Song, and sailed across the Mediterranean to embark on a mission to the Holy Lands, ordered by his elder brother to take Guillermo Ortez, as well as a detachment of Spanish forces, and quell a violent Moor resistance that had arisen after the Spanish Empire had taken Jerusalem. From there, the Prince vanished into the deserts of the Middle East for a period of two months, living in Jerusalem for that time, with his older brother, King Ferdinand, exiling him from the kingdom indefinitely. However, seeking to mend things with his grandfather, Prime Minister Giovanni Goldtimbers of Great Britain, Ezequiel began an undercover espionage assignment, infiltrating Pulp Daggerlord's Rebel Black Guard, a militant rebel cell and splinter of the true East India Trading Company. Ezequiel was able to rise to the rank of Admiral of the cell's naval fleet, before being excommunicated due to Daggerlord's extreme paranoia that members of his organization were secretly working with the British Empire. Daggerlord attempted to execute a large number of his own people, including his most valuable assets, who reformed into a company of mercenaries known as the Elite Warlords. Ezequiel made the decision to join the Warlords, adopting his retired alias, Zeke Williams, when working with the Warlords, and was made Admiral of their naval forces.

Ezequiel would fight alongside Spain once again during the War of the Rebel Black Guard, captaining the Cursed Song on behalf of the Elite Warlords during the first battle of the war, the First Battle of Mar de Plata. Under his command, the Cursed Song was one of the most vital and destructive vessels of the battle, and, when the smoke cleared, Ezequiel was more than happy to reunite with his family and friends from Spain on the shores of Isla de la Avaricia.

The Prodigal Prince Returns
After his exile, Prince Ezequiel Clemente was returned to Spain by his elder brother. His return prompted the mass exodus of Ferdinand's Cabinet, including his daughters. Not long after, on September 30th, 1751, Ezequiel was exiled from the Kingdom of Spain and stripped of all ranks and titles following a conviction for war crimes committed during the New Year's Day Massacre, and took his prized ship, the Cursed Song, across the Mediterranean Sea and returned to Jerusalem, where he lived a quiet life of exile before he was pardoned by his nephew, King Lawrence Clemente, pardoned him of his crimes and allowed to return home. Immediately, he would begin working toward the betterment of Spain, rallying and re-organizing the military, resulting in his ascension to the Royal Court, and his promotion to the rank of Admiral within the Grand Armada, though he would soon be raised to the Cabinet and awarded the title of Lord Admiral after his success during the Battle of Lisbon.

Guild History

 * Stormwreckerz (POTCO) - Officer
 * Ocean Gods (POTCO) - Member
 * Caribbean Rangers (POTCO) - Member
 * The Delta Empire (POTCO) - Member
 * La Casa De Espana (POTCO) - Member
 * The Paradox (POTCO) - Officer
 * The Delta Republic (POTCO) - Officer
 * Casa Di Royale (POTCO) - Veteran
 * North (POTCO) - Guildmaster
 * The Outlanders (TLOPO) - Member
 * Kingdom of Haven (TLOPO) - Officer
 * Spanish Syndicate (TLOPO) - Officer
 * Kingdom of Spain (TLOPO) - Co-Guildmaster
 * Royal Black Guard (TLOPO) - Officer
 * The Elite Warlords (TLOPO) - Officer
 * Kingdom of Spain (TLOPO) - Officer