Who are 'you' in the game?

[SelphieSelfie]

Encountered this scenario earlier:

A slug captain hails and invites himself aboard your ship to present a flask of something slimy.

Now, most gracioussss captain, you must join me please in a drink to our alliance.

1. Drink
You take a cautious gulp. It's foul, but doesn't do any lasting damage. It's a thousand to one chance, but this Slug actually seems to be trustworthy. He casually celebrates your newfound trust by repairing part of your ship and offering to sell you his wares.
*10 hull repaired and a store appears.

2. You take one gulp and wake up with the rest of the crew in the cargo hold... which contains noticeably less scrap than before.

This confirms you are actually an 'unseen captain' who runs the ship.
It'd be great to actually have him/her in the game. Possibly already having that +20% crew damage (Like Captain Kirk ) and who gets you a 'Game Over' if he dies. Something like that'd be a fair tradeoff.

[HarkintheMantis]

This is a theroy but i think your the helmsman on the ship
I hope that makes sense in CE

[stylesrj]

This is a theroy but i think your the helmsman on the ship
I hope that makes sense in CE

Considering you're addressed as Captain in both Vanilla and the fact that CE is called Captain's Edition... I think you're an unseen Captain or the first crew member on the ship (and if they die, command is diverted to the next crew so now they're Captain and thus are you)

Unless Helmsman is another name for the Captain (like Skipper).

[Sleeper Service]

I like that the game leaves this up to interpretation, to some extend. My assumption in CE that the player is a physical being that is not physically represented on the ship has some evidence in its favour though, mostly events that state things like "You reach for your pistol" or the event where you get physically knocked out by drinking that Slug juice. All this implies that you are a real Captain person not visibly represented on the ship that always dies last and that can't fly the ship on his own.