[HS] High Seas - Recruitment/OOC

[Aric Kale]

Possibly [HSITP] or [PITP], for Pirates in the Playground

[Cracklord]

I wonder, how would CURSED Barbossa and Blackbeard feel about each other? It's pretty clear that Edward Teach doesn't really have much belief in honor amongst thieves, or even professional courtesy, since he attacks other ships for fun. I suspect Blackbeard attacks anyone he encounters on the open seas on general principle, kills them, then shrinks their ships and makes them part of his locker.

Of course, Barbossa had a much better crew back then, and a few tricks of his own. And while Blackbeard is a necromancer, he doesn't seem to have any particular power over the dead. Beyond the ones he makes personally, I mean.

Death Larsen is a character from a Jack London story, available here. Good reading, if you need for inspiration about the Age of Sail. It's his brother who the bulk of the story concerns, as perhaps the best deconstruction of the Ubersmench I have ever seen. However, Death is far less complex. Essentially, I needed a tyrant to run my ship, and Blackbeard is something of a recluse, a figure of menace who remains in the background so I selected Death, for reasons that should be obvious.

[Aric Kale]

As you said, Barbossa has a few tricks up his sleeve. Not only that, but he's fiercely protective of his ship (though not quite to the same level as Capt. Jack Sparrow, I believe), and his undead crew can fight until their enemies lay dead at the bottom of the ocean. I think Barbossa vs. Blackbeard would be an interesting match. I wonder, would Edward Teach know of Barbossa? Because it is guaranteed that Hector knows of the legendary necromancer.

[Cracklord]

Doubtless, Barbossa has a fearsome reputation of his own, and he's one of the Pirate Lords. For all Blackbeard no longer plays well with others (since he died, and his magic started working, at least), he was once quite a different man (as he demonstrates to Kenway) and he still keeps himself appraised and aware. I imagine he picks over the knowledge of the people he forcible enlists as crew, to keep himself up to date with modern events. But I doubt they have ever met personally.

If they do meet, I imagine he'd want to talk first, if only because he's a collector of the strange, and takes an interest in old magics that he finds. He wouldn't be particularly disposed to attack you, since he is aware that he cannot kill you, but he has no allegiance, and certainly no solidarity, so it's as much a matter of his mood as anything else.

[Aric Kale]

It is true; that would make the most sense. I had never thought of Barbossa as being on an equal level in fame as Blackbeard in the PotC world.
Barbossa isn't likely to aggressively approach Blackbeard unless he feels threatened. Also, I'm not sure what he would be able to collect from the Pearl that Barbossa would be willing to part with.

[Cracklord]

Well in movie one, The Black Pearl was called 'The last 'REAL' pirate threat in the Caribbean', which says something for the man (though Sparrow might have been gilding the lilly), but as counterpoint, witness Jack Sparrow's face when he hears he's with Blackbeard, and again when he actually sees the man. Says it all, really.

As for what he would want, the only thing that would interest him is the cursed gold of Cortez, and Barbossa would be ill-inclined to part with it.

[Jakodee]

Has Edward Teach been taken yet?

[Draxx]

Yeah. Cracklord got Blackbeard, sorry about that.

Hey Grif, you ever coming back?

[Grif]

I distinctly remember waiting on someone. For the life of me, I couldn't remember if that was true.

However, I should also state that I might bow out of this RP, since the serious tone is very much at odds with what I'm looking for. It's not the fault of the players, mind, but this is probably not for me. (I prefer a more light-hearted adventure, as evidenced by my choosing of Haddock in the first place.)

[Draxx]

Ah, well sorry this wasn't what you were looking for, it's been fun.

…Though this doesn't seem all that serious to me.

[Aric Kale]

I feel like I haven't helped with that, having murdered a young lady and plundered a twin.

[Draxx]

Well, yes. I expect Barbossa is going to be facing a lot of guns and British ships, having murdered a governor's daughter. In particular, I imagine Norrington and the cannons of the HMS Dauntless want a word. Of course, that's nothing at all compared to Kidd.

Kidd shot a man in the back. That's the equivalent of taking steroids in a Sport Movie, it's worse then a death sentence.

[Cracklord]

So, after this High Seas adventure reaches it's conclusion, I was thinking I might try my hand at this separate continuity, and run a game. Now we're handling the glorious age of sail in the now, and I was thinking for the follow-up we should go with a personal favorite of mine, Time of Legends. The days of High Adventure, the birthplace of myth and legend.

Sundered from us by gulfs of time and stranger dimensions dreams is the ancient world our ancestors dwelled in, with its towers and skulls and jewels, its swords and sorceries. The days when there were oceans of light and cities in the skies and wild flying beasts of bronze, when man was young and the mountains stretched up to the sky, between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas.

An age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars, when gods, demons, and monsters walked the earth. A blend of periods, cultures and mythologies, both fantastic and shockingly familiar.

Anyone interested?

[Draxx]

Sword and Sorcery, eh? Well, I want to play an elf. The most hardcore elf to ever exist. Legolas? Yeah, no.

I want to play Fëanor. I think I'll say that again: I want to play Fëanor. For those unfamiliar with the Silmarillion, he's a pretty bad dude, all told, he burns ships, forges gems, romances babes, smacks dudes up, and doesn't afraid of anything.

The fact is that, much as they might deny it, or claim unawareness of the existence of the character, it is pretty much a scientific FACT:*Deep down, in the darkest recesses of their souls, roughly 90% of men in the world desperately want to be this guy. And they are right to want it.

Spoiler

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Fëanor

The immortal elf Fëanor, son of Finwe of the Noldor, most loved by Manwe, dressed in his black armor with the light of vengeance in his eyes. Was he a heroic elf, or a villainous elf? Fëanor was all kinds of elf.

He was the greatest of all elves and is responsible for the creation of the Silmarils, yet his refusal to give them up and his subsequent rebellion against Morgoth lead directly to the triumphs and tragedies of the entire first age. He dies like a badass single-handedly taking on Gothmog and band of balrogs, yet doomed his sons by swearing them to the Oath of Fëanor.

Doing his thing

+ 'For Fëanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him.' Get the picture? This is one dude bad enough to rescue any head of state you can name from as many ninjas as you can count.
+ Called the 'Mightiest of the Elves of old', the 'most skilled and durable', Feanor was a warrior king who had the respect of Gods and the unconditional love of his people. Did I forget to mention that he was High King of the Noldor, the Elves of the first Age?
+ His achievements were unparalleled, Fëanor, at the pinnacle of his might, 'in the greatest of his achievements, captured the light of the Two Trees to make the three Silmarils, also called the Great Jewels, though they were not mere glittering stones, they were alive, imperishable, and sacred.' The gods themselves could not replicate them. He was also a scholar of note, and invented the letters that carried his name.
+ When these gems were stolen, he vowed revenge. In pursuit of this worthy goal, he did whatever it took. Murdered his kin in cold blood, exterminated entire races, burned his ships to permanently cut his people off from heaven so they could not back down, ran bare foot over a continent of ice, and charged from his lines to the gates of Angbad to fight balrogs a dozen at a time (the last of these, in retrospect, wasn't a particularly hot idea).
- Fëanor fears nothing, for everything fears him. His overmastering pride and his misplaced chivalry are ultimately his downfall.

[darkblade]

Griff, if you want to step out it's okay. I'll take over as Haddock.

[Draxx]

Right. I'll repost my earlier boarding action, and get to work doing some honest pirating. Yo ho ho and all that.

[Grif]

Griff, if you want to step out it's okay. I'll take over as Haddock.

If you don't mind. I'm not feeling his character anymore, well, that is to say, I'm unsure on how to properly roleplay him in this setting.

Sorry for the inconvenience. It was fun for the brief time I spent here.

[Shnyder]

Some of the references come from this story.

[darkblade]

I made a grand list of things to be random encounters for this game. Strangely enough the first one to turn up is from an episode of Doctor Who that was about pirates as opposed to anything legitimately nautical. Go figure.

[Draxx]

Ah, nothing like a slew of honest piracy to quicken the blood, avast!

[Draxx]

And this is even better. However, should things proceed as I hope, I imagine I shall disappoint you and your desire for vengeance at least one more time.

[Cracklord]

My posts are getting a bit two-fisted tales, aren't they? Ah well, that's a good thing, a little pulp. Though if I start veering too far from the story, Darkblade, reign me in.




Because I like dinosaurs.

[darkblade]

I actually have plans for Atlantis and you. Kenaway is right, Blackbeard will not like what he is about to find.

[Cracklord]

I actually have plans for Atlantis and you. Kenaway is right, Blackbeard will not like what he is about to find.

That's fine. Just a character like Blackbeard needs a purpose, needs a clear driving role. He's not interesting without one, and I figured Atlantis was nebulous and nautical enough to qualify.

So I take it that Doliest has gone walkabout once more, but is Industrious still playing?

[darkblade]

Animekid, I don't know One Piece well enough to play the Straw Hats off Luffy. You're going to need to take them over before I butcher their personalities too much.

Second I'm going to need to work out who the Pirate Lords of this game are.

Since Barbossa still is a Lord, I'm going to assume that Jack is too, he's just not very involved in this plot currently being in exile after Barbossa stole the Pearl.

I need a slot filled by the Lovers from The Scar so that leaves six more spots.

Since both Barbossa and Jack are dealing with personal matters and aren't really involved in pirate politics at the moment I think it'd be fair for Blackbeard to maintain the title despite a lack of interest. So that leaves five.

I need five more giants of piracy to fill in the gaps.

[Cracklord]

I'll gladly help you out!

Spoiler: Golden Age of Piracy

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Well, it's clear (if we're using the One Piece Universe) that the original brethren court was convened under Gold Roger, the First Pirate King. That was in the days of King Charles, so Captain James Hook would be the only one here alive who'd remember him (though Whitebeard may still be alive). Hell, back in the day there's a good chance Hook was a lord himself, along with some other famous pirates. Maybe Blackbeard (back when he was still Johnny Con). We know Davey Jones was involved at some point, but beyond that we don't know a thing.

Chances are, there was already a sort of unofficial code of practices and expectations in play, but Gold Roger took the scum of the earth, the meanest scum of the earth, and turned them into what approaches a nation.

This is also probably your high magic Pirate Period, where Cervantes De Leon and the like join the story, perhaps as allies or perhaps as one of the reasons the alliance happened in the first place.

Spoiler: Silver Age of Piracy

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Something happened, ten or twenty years ago, that's been alluded to but not actually stated. Kenway seemed to have tried to found a new pirate nation, or something similar, and had some serious supporters, Blackbeard among them. What issue did they have with the Brethren Court? What were they trying to achieve? How did it all go wrong? That's an interesting question, but it led to Blackbeard's death (and rebirth), and Kenways honest change in loyalty to the Assassins. For this reason, Blackbeard probably isn't a pirate Lord, although he might have been once. Then again, I doubt anyone is going to go try and take his title and his ship from him any time soon, so he might still be on a technicality…

Spoiler: Modern Age of Piracy

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Now, we should go for a range of representation, like they have in the film. They are meant to encompass the entirety of the Buccaneer Lifestyle, after all.

Now we know about Barbossa and Jack Sparrow, as well as the Lover from the Scar(?). Beyond that, blank slate.

I feel Captain Flint, from Treasure Island, has recently passed away and left a vacant seat (perhaps the one that used to belong to Hook). Everyone feels it should go to Silver, but Silver is seemingly uninterested (he wants the buried treasure, buried in Skeleton Island (probably near skull island, where Blackbeard currently is)). So one empty seat.

Sandokan, The Tiger of Malaysia is a definite must. He's possibly even a mentor for Nemo Dakkar, given that his story concerns the same immediate struggle (although an important part of Nemo's character is he's given up fighting and wants to cut himself off from the world, at least in the book)…

I'd like to suggest Captain Blood, but I'm already playing an Errol Flynn pastiche, so instead I suggest The Black Corsair, Emilio of Roccabruna, Lord of Valpenta and of Ventimiglia. Because Italian vendettas deserve to exist as well.

Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts of course, who should probably be Pirate King at the moment, if anyone is. Whether he has something to do with the current state of Blackbeard and Kenaway, well we'll see, won't we?

… And now we need a pirate Girl.

[Draxx]

and the Pirates of Penzance

Though Sao Feng could probably stay. He's a pretty cool dude.

[Cracklord]

Alright, so here we go with it:

Spoiler: The Dread Pirate 'Black Bart' Roberts

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The Dread Pirate 'Black Bart' Roberts

Pirate Lord of the Adriatic Sea, Current Pirate King, and the most successful Pirate of all time, at least as far as such things are measured. Everything that a hero of historical romance should be; he has terrorized the oceans for twenty years with no sign of slowing down, and never takes prisoners. Had a long, serious feud with Edward Kenaway that split the Brethren Court in half, ten years prior.

So mostly Dread Pirate Roberts (Wesley) but with room for other characters to be worked in, including the Black Flag interpretation of the man.

Spoiler: Sandokan

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Sandokan

Pirate Lord of the Indian Ocean, he's a bad dude who kills tigers bare-handed and terrifies his enemies. A fierce opponent of colonialism, he became a pirate to avenge his father, a Bornean rajah killed by a British-sponsored white man. Now is more or less the de facto ruler of Malaysia, and is a tremendous threat that the East India Trading Company would dearly like to remove.

Sandokan is pretty much fine as he is.

Spoiler: Sao Feng

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Sao Feng

Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, Sao Feng is a legendary Chinese pirate, well-known as the Pirate Lord of Singapore and a force to be reckoned with. A dangerous man and fierce warrior, Feng controls the port of Singapore from behind the scenes, and with it the sea passages, had an army of Chinese pirates under his command, and used the opulent junk known as the Empress as his flagship. Runs his considerable assets from his bath-house.
Like Blackbeard before him, is a collector of the strange and mysterious, wishing to discover the power and magic that is fading from the world as the Templar Order grows in power, but unlike Blackbeard is yet to actually succeed.

Again, he's there mostly for background, though he could make an interesting ally. Mostly, he needs to be figured out as to how he works as a bender (though being in a bath house all the time and loving steam suggests Fire Nation). For inspiration, read this.

Spoiler: Jack Sparrow

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Captain Jack Sparrow

Pirate Lord of the Caribbean Sea, Jack Sparrow was a legendary pirate of the Seven Seas, and the irreverent trickster of the Caribbean. A captain of equally dubious morality and sobriety, a master of self-promotion and self-interest, Jack fought a constant and losing battle with his own best tendencies. Jack's first love was the sea, his second, his beloved ship the Black Pearl. He inherited his title from his father, Captain Teague Sparrow, Keeper of the Code as set down by Morgan and Bartholomew. Ten years past (that date sure seems interesting) he made a deal with Davy Jones, in regards to said ship. Unfortunately, he lost his ship to Hector Barbossa, and is currently the pirate Lord of the pirates of Penzance, who are getting trounced by the British navy. Had a fling with Blackbeard's daughter in the not so distant past.

Jack will doubtless get involved at some point.

Spoiler: Hector Barbossa

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Hector Barbossa

Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea, Hector Barbossa was a legendary and ferocious pirate of the Caribbean. A captain of self-serving morality, treacherous and duplicitous spirit, and the master of his own fate, Barbossa was the ultimate survivor. Ruthless and cunning, combining experience with reckless daring, Barbossa was also a deadly enemy and nemesis to Captain Jack Sparrow, whose ship he stole. He found the treasure of Cortés in Isla de Muerta. Upon falling under the Aztec curse, became an undead monster, unable to feel anything, cursed to tedium.

Who is of course sailing in this game already.

Spoiler: Captain Flint

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Captain Flint

Pirate Lord of the Pacific Ocean. Believed to be of Portuguese Extraction, Captain Flint was the captain of a pirate ship, the Walrus, which accumulated an enormous amount of captured treasure and buried it on Skeleton Island. Flint died in Savannah, of accute liver failure due to too much rum.

Right now, his seat is up in the air, and anyone could claim it.

That leaves:






Pirate Lord of the Black Sea

Pirate Lord of the Mediterranean Sea

Pirate Lord of the Atlantic Ocean

The Lovers are also around, and they can be based in Shipwreck City, or Shipwreck city can be subsumed by the Armada, whatever works.

So we have three pirates left to pick. Now ideally, one of these will be female, and we'd like to have a bloke from the Barbary Coast as well, to round off the popular demographic. That should about cover it, we can forget about Emillo, awesome though he may be we have got enough vengeance driven characters already.

[AnimeKid]

Animekid, I don't know One Piece well enough to play the Straw Hats off Luffy. You're going to need to take them over before I butcher their personalities too much.

Second I'm going to need to work out who the Pirate Lords of this game are.

Since Barbossa still is a Lord, I'm going to assume that Jack is too, he's just not very involved in this plot currently being in exile after Barbossa stole the Pearl.

I need a slot filled by the Lovers from The Scar so that leaves six more spots.

Since both Barbossa and Jack are dealing with personal matters and aren't really involved in pirate politics at the moment I think it'd be fair for Blackbeard to maintain the title despite a lack of interest. So that leaves five.

I need five more giants of piracy to fill in the gaps.

Okay then, I'll gladly take the Straw hats off your hands. I had thought that you wanted to control them at first. As for the Lords thing, I don't know if Luffy could be one. He is more of a wild card at this point. Though his name has definitely reached the ears of people. Probably due to the sheer fact that he has defeated quite a few people. Though seeing how varied the big blue is there are probably people who have not heard of him or ignored his exploits.

[Draxx]

Luffy probably isn't established enough to be a King just yet.

Christian 'Red-Hair' Shanks perhaps?

Spoiler

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How about Elizabeth Ramsay? She married a Templar, of course, which could be very, very interesting…