Before he turned buccaneer, he had been a merchant, known under a different name. While traveling in Vendel lands to trade for chocolate, he noticed a metallic gleam in the grass of a field. He stopped to look at the object lying there, and was struck by lightning. After he came to, he discovered that he had acquired the ability to sense the arrival of storms. He was also puzzled to discover that from then on, all the Vesten he met called him "Velik", even those that had never met him before. He never learned why that was or what the name meant.
Constanza met him when he was loaned to the Maris Stella by Allende, when the captain asked Constanza to capture the Dauphin and its cargo of Syrneth artefacts.
