1. Notes

Piracy

Piracy

Pirates are a continual problem for the The Thousand Isles. Most of the naval resources of the Inner Archipelago go into building and maintaining the large fleets of war galleys that dominate the inner archipelago or the great merchant fleets of Galleon and Fluyt that make up the yearly cycle of the great trade fleets. Deep water Ships to hunt pirates are something of an afterthought for the merchant houses and governments. The Galleys are useless in the open ocean of the Reaches and the merchant ships, while well able to protect each other in mass formations are too slow to catch the pirates. 

In addition the Giants to the north and Mbo to the south plus various rogue states among the Thousand Isles actively support the pirates as an effective counter to inner island expansionism into their respective spheres of influence. Local island governments and merchant houses also support individual pirates depending on the specifics of the areas affected.  The population and governments of the Reaches, long suffering under the heels of the great merchant houses, covertly and overtly support the buccaneers giving them a strong base of operations. .

Hence pirates rule the reaches and prey on the outlying islands and the inter island trade, even in the inner archipelago.

While many citizens of The Thousand Isles think of the pirates as mere brigands, in actuality many of the communities and citizens of The Northern Reach were pushed to a life of piracy by the predatory policies of the The Merchant Houses of Haven and the other merchants of the The Inner Archipelago. While a considerable moral spectrum exists for these pirates, and some certainly live up to this murderous reputation, many (such as Diamond Joe are considered folk heroes by their communities. 


Notes