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- "At some point in the past, the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea passed his Piece of Eight to Barbossa."
- ―Unknown
Boris Palachnik, sometimes called Borya, was a Russian pirate captain who succeeded in becoming a Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. His Piece of Eight was a wooden eyeball. When he became a Pirate Lord is unknown. At some point in his life, he became the leader of the rogue pirates that violated the Code of the Pirate Brethren.
Biography
Pirate Lord
- "I've known him for years! I've gambled with him, gotten drunk with him more times than I can count."
- ―Hector Barbossa on Borya
It is unknown exactly when Borya became a pirate, but it was before the late 1720s. His ship was the sloop Koldunya. He became a Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea, and was known and respected by all pirate captains who lived in Shipwreck Cove. At some point in his life, he met Hector Barbossa, and they became good friends. He also met Jack Sparrow, a son of Captain Edward Teague, Keeper of the Code. Seeing how good sailor Jack is, even in his young age, Borya predicted that Jack would become a Pirate Lord himself.
Rogue pirate
Borya's rogue pirate flag.
- "That's Koldunya—means ‘witch’ in Russian—and she belongs to Boris Palachnik, the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. Borya's our rogue pirate captain."
- ―Jack Sparrow to Esmeralda
In the early 1730s, Borya became the leader of the gang of rogue pirate that violated the Pirate Code. He eventually assembled seven pirate captains under his command, the French pirate Christophe-Julien de Rapièr among them. The crews of merchant ships they attacked were always slaughtered after the fight. Only a few men on the attacked ships managed to escape death by playing dead. The rogues butchered even the crews which surrendered without fight. Borya's fleet soon began to spread their attacks on all oceans of the world. The rogue attacks soon forced the Navies of European countries to escort merchant convoys.
A year after the start of his rogue activities, Borya's sloop encountered Hector Barbossa's schooner, the Cobra, in the waters north of Bermuda. The Cobra was heavily laden with ivory, after the successful attack on the French barque. The crew of the Cobra raised Barbossa's black pirate flag, to which Borya's crew responded by raising their red pirate colors. Though the Pirate Code called all pirates to respect each other, Borya's greed for booty prevailed, and he ordered his men to open fire on the Cobra. The battle between the two pirate ships lasted until sundown, and ended with the sinking of the Cobra. Borya's men killed all survivors they could find in the water, to leave no witnesses. But they didn't know that Barbossa and the few of his man managed to escape from the battlefield in the boat under the cover of the night.
Shipwreck Cove
Meeting of the Brethren
- "Monsters, not men, da? Such evil deserves only death from us, Captain Teague."
- ―Borya to Edward Teague
Two months later, the Koldunya docked in Shipwreck Cove, where Borya participated in the meeting of the Brethren Court with other contemporary pirates - Don Rafael, Dona Esmeralda, Edward Teague, Mistress Ching, Eduardo Villanueva, and Jack Sparrow. The pirate captains at the meeting expressed their dismay over the occurrences of rogue pirates attacking peaceful merchant ships, for the fear of war on piracy being declared by the colonial powers of Europe.
To Borya's surprise, Barbossa also appeared on the meeting, where he told the story of his own encounter with the rogues. Pretending to be a loyal pirate, Borya proposed to go hunt the rogue vessel with the Koldunya, but Jack Sparrow noticed that there are too many attacks for only one ship to be causing them all. The Pirate Lords agreed to find the rogues and deal with them once and for all.
A suspect
- "You say Borya is evil rogue pirate because he has Bermuda-rigged sloop, da? Hah! How many Bermuda-rigged sloops in this world, I ask you? Hundreds...maybe thousands, Captain Teague, Keeper of Code. You know this. So do I."
- ―Borya to Edward Teague
A few months later, one of Barbossa's men, One Tooth Tommy, saw Borya in Shipwreck City, and recognized him as the captain of the slop that sank the Cobra. Though he hadn't know who Borya is, Tommy talked about his encounter with Jack Sparrow. The same night, Tommy was drowned by Christophe-Julien de Rapièr, one of Borya's rogue captains, who wanted to silence a dangerous witness. Tommy's death alarmed Jack, who started to search for the rogue sloop in Shipwreck Cove. Together with Esmeralda, Jack rowed around the harbor, until he saw the Indian brass bow chaser on the Koldunya. That cannon was the first to open fire on the Cobra.
- "He is the one. He has sent me many dead for more than a year now. He commands others. There are seven captains under his command, and they all send me souls. Mercy is something they know not. Their ships bring only death."
- ―Davy Jones on Borya
Jack told of his suspicions to Hector Barbossa, who recognized the Koldunya as the ship that sank the Cobra. Captain Edward Teague and Don Rafael joined them on the docks, and they agreed to search Borya's ship. They didn't find Indian bow chaser on Borya's ship, but Teague decided to call for an official court of inquiry. In the Pirate Hall, all the witnesses told their stories, but there was not enough evidences against Borya, and Teague decided to summon Davy Jones, the Lord of the sea. Jones knew everything that happened in his watery kingdoms, and the Brethren Court spoke a magic call that brought Jones onboard the Troubadour, Teague's ship. When asked about Borya's guilt, Jones recognized him as the leader of the rogue pirates, saying that he and his men sent many souls to the sea bottom without mercy.
Imprisoned
- "Seems that when Cap'n Teague's men took our condemned friend Borya down t' the dungeons to question him, the little coward sang like a songbird—before they could even heat up the irons or ready the rack! Gave up his confederates and disclosed where and when they're supposed t'gather to divide up their swag. 'Tis some little island, east nor'east of Cuba."
- ―Hector Barbossa to Jack Sparrow
Borya and his whole crew were quickly imprisoned in the dungeons of Shipwreck City. They were all sentenced by Captain Teague to hang. For unknown reasons, Borya gave his jailers the names of all rogue captains under his command. Thanks to those informations, Christophe-Julien de Rapièr was captured while he was trying to flee from the island. The French pirate and his crew were also sentenced to hang.
A day before the execution, Barbossa visited Borya in a prison, where Borya apologized for the destruction of Barbossa's ship. Borya even gave him his most precious token, his Piece of eight, the sign of pirate lordship, thus making Barbossa the next Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea, though Barbossa didn't know the meaning of the Piece of Eight at that time. Borya even offered to give the Koldunya to Barbossa as a payment for the loss of the Cobra.
The same night, Jack Sparrow, who believed that Christophe is innocent, helped him and his crew to escape from their cells, but Christophe's guilt was proved a moment later, when he freed Borya and his crew too. The rogues escaped to their ships, leaving Shipwreck Island forever.
Search for revenge
- "Borya offered to pay anyone who could report the whereabouts of a certain Captain Jack Sparrow, a merchant captain who was sailing an East Indiaman for the East India Trading Company."
- ―Esmeralda to Jack Sparrow
For the next five years, Borya continued with rogue piracy, and he remained in the Caribbean, though he was now an outlaw in the eyes of the Brethren. He also wanted to exact revenge on Jack Sparrow, whom he blamed for the downfall of his organization.
Appearances
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom (First appearance)