1. Events

The Pirate Crusade

War
1170-1173

Approximately 75 years ago, the Piracy situation in the The Northern Reach had gotten so out of hand that the governments of the The Inner Archipelago were forced to act. With the blessing of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Mithras they assembled a great fleet of deepwater warships and undertook a seven year crusade to root out piracy in the Northern Reach.

While the pirates and comunities of the Reach attempted to resist, they were disorganized and outnumbered and eventually, utterly defeated. Many of the towns in the Reach were sacked and occupied and many of the ports were burned. The Crusade not only accomplished its mission of destroying piracy but it nearly destroyed civilization entirely in the northern reach.

After the conclusion of the Crusade, the surviving governments were forced to sign a series of exploitative treaties that forced them to pay reparations and acknowledge Inner Archipelago trade monopolies over the entire region. Two of The Merchant Houses of Haven and one joint stock company of The Antilles (The Antillean Northern Reach Trading Company) were granted complete monopolies on all inter-island trade in the Reach. In addition the town of Skull River Bay was placed under direct authority of the Inner Islands, ruled by a Governor appointed by the four victorious powers.

Over the last seventy five years though, the The Northern Reach has regained much of it's strength and independence, as the The Inner Archipelago has been distracted by numerous wars between it's major states, most notably the War of Antillian SuccessionPiracy has risen once more and the black flags of the Pirates are now being seen even in the waters of the Inner Archipelago itself.