Database: Adéwalé (Black Flag)

Born: 1692, Trinidad Died: Unknown

Born to enslaved Ogoni parents in Yoruba, Adéwalé was sold to the owner of a prosperous planation before his teens. He remained on this plantation, working the fields, until his mid teens, always scheming of ways to escape his predicament, but uneasy with the prospect of living life as a fugitive.

Then fortune struck, giving Adéwalé the sign he needed. At some point near his 16th birthday, a group of buccaneers raided the plantation, robbing it of raw cane, refined sugar and as many reales as they could find. Seeing in this an opportunity, Adé grabbed a crate of sugar and hauled it aboard one of the longboats the Buccaneers had rowed ashore. Surprised to see a slave among them, the Buccaneers were nevertheless thankful for the aid, and welcomed Adé among them.

Adé sailed with this first group of men for many years, quickly learning the ways of a seaman, grateful for the chance to develop his own skills and chase his own passions. And though his life among buccaneers was not free of the husual bigotry of the era, Adé found the prejudice to be more confrontational than restrictive.

In 1715, misfortune struck a cruel blow when the ship Adé was aboard, struck a shallow sandbar near the prot of Havana. The buccaneers – mostly British at the time – tried desperately to free the trapped vessel, but after catching sight of an approaching [[Spain|Spanish Galleon, abandoned ship only to be torn apart by schools of circling bull sharks. Adé made peace with his fate, and stood his ground.

Taken to Havana for questioning and inspection, Spanish authorities eventually decided to send Adéwalé to Spain, where they felt he would make an excellent interpreter, owing to his fluent command of Spanish, English and French. Some weeks later, they loaded him into of the Galleons that made up their perennial treasure convoy, en route to Seville.

Thanks in large part to a hurricane, however, that trip never took place. With the aid of a young Welsh pirate named Edward Kenway, Adé escaped the bilboes that bound him. Freeing more prisoners as they went, Adé and Edward commandeered a Brigantine and set sail just in time to beat the worst of the storm. When the hurricane passed, Adé was free once more.

From that point forward, Adé sailed as the quartemaster aboard Captain Edward's ship, the Jackdaw. Operating out of Nassau for a time, they grew wealthy off their spoils and lived the lives they had always dreamed. But Adé was a man who valued the democratic ideals of this pirate community far above the spoils they acquired while living it. And as he saw Edward Kenway fall deeper and deeper into a spiral of selfish greed and pointless glory, he wondered if there wasn't a better alternative... a more noble cause he might adopt to suit his ideals.

In 1720, these very ideals were put to the test when Captain Kenway sailed to a meeting with the notorious Bartholomew Roberts. Adéwalé had never trusted Roberts, and had hoped Edward might come to the same conclusion before it was too late. Unfortunately, Adé's instincts were correct. In Edward's absence, Roberts' enormous crew attacked the Jackdaw, hoping to subdue her. Adé took command of the Brig and sailed her and her crew to safety, regretting the loss of his Captain, but confident he had made the right decision.

Some months later, Adé resolved to meet with Ah Tabai at the Assassin's village in Tulum. There he spoke at length with the old Mentor and asked him many questions about their Order. After hearing answers that pleased him greatly, Adé joined the Order, then set about devising a scheme to locate his old Captain.

Months later Adéwalé and the Assassins got word that Edward Kenway had been languishing for many months in a prison in Port Royal. They learned too that Mary Read and Anne Bonny had also been taken there. Adé and Ah Tabai put a plan in motion to rescue them. After the escape – a tragic success – Adé returned the Jackdaw intact to Captain Kenway, and bade him visit the Assassins as soon as he was able.

And in due time, Edward Kenway did just that...