Son of Arlie and Merian, John Damon Battisto grew up a child of Merukis. He learned to sail, to fight, to think on his feet from the best of them. He learned a love of adventure, and he learned how to lead. When he was roughly 25 years old, his father retired from ruling Merukis, and J.D. and his brother Barry took over.

Barry took up the job of running the enforcers and keeping the inner city stable, while J.D. took to the docks, the harbor, where he sought to forge alliances with the reevers and legitimate sailors. He spent most of the year working hard in the city, but each summer, he would take a voyage with a different crew, earning him the title "the Summer Sailor" from the people of Merukis. After fifteen years of this, though, the barely aged man decided to retire with his brother, leaving the city to trusted lieutenants. The two brothers set out together for further adventures, learning from their father and sister that their aging was inversely proportional to how much fun they were having.

The greater their adventures, the less they aged.

Thus, the two men set out for trouble, and they often found it--from fighting slavers to sneaking kisses from princesses, from dancing with revels to infiltrating Srisian navies, from riding hippogriffs to battling behemoths, from climbing the World Tree to spying on Abaddon, they did it all, and through it all, J.D. sought every summer a voyage on any sea he could find.