Age of Bloody Seas
"The Age of Bloody Seas, when war was fought between ships on the waves and it took a special kind of skill to survive battles. What a time to be alive it must have been, we'll never see the likes of it again."With the rise of great ships and their use as cargo vessels came the natural choice of bandits to shift their trade to the seas. The development of naval weapons just meant pirates were free to use other tactics than boarding parties, and the damage done to vessels became more a concern to those targeted. Inevitably, the Rhyliss Empire and Myrisian Magocracy both began training forces to hunt pirates on the seas. For a time, this was quite successful in ending the majority of pirate activity. Merchant vessels began to operate much more frequently, and there was even ships devoted to exploring and charting the islands in the southern oceans.
Then came the rise of the Loanna Penderos, and the gathering of the Fleet of Black Sails. There are known myths about the Queen of the Pirates and the Age of Bloody Seas. What is told in modern times is an incomplete understanding of history, one which serves to keep alive the idea of the past being less developed and more savage. The collection of Lord Marseine has been a trove of information, but more recently exchanges with Myrisian scholars have shed more light on the matter.
The Conflict
Prelude
Loanna Penderos had been slowly gathering pirates to operate under her authority, from a place known as Pirate's Landing. While the location of it is unknown even today, there are still potential islands which exist in the seas which are uncharted. A number of smaller islands existed as places to stage raids and hunts from, by Imperial Navy warships and Myrisian Seahunters as well as pirates. These small settlements were often at the mercy of whomever had just pulled to the docks, and often tried to remain neutral.
Loanna had started putting an end to this by setting towns ablaze which rendered aid or sold supplies to the authorities. As word spread of her callous disregard for life and her name was discerned from a handful of survivors amidst dozens of razed settlements, a bounty began to be placed for "the Queen of the Pirates". Reportedly, Loanna had been so amused by the idea of being a queen she dubbed a chair salvaged from a victim's wreck the "Flotsam Throne".
The Fleet of Black Sails were growing in number, using her symbol of a coin being cut in half by a thin-bladed dagger or knife rather than the crossed swords used by other pirates. Those who swore allegiance had replaced their sails with black canvas so they would easily be known and feared, prompting a search for those who provided the canvas. Authorities were always one step behind of Loanna's suppliers, despite having significantly broader influence. Frustration and desperation to prove merchants would be protected drove the Imperial Navy to enter a partnership with the Myrisian Seahunters, and both forces focused their entire strength on pursuing the Queen of the Pirates.
The Engagement
"Naval tactics aren't anything like what you have on land. For one, it is impossible to really 'hold the line', as ships will always be in motion unless anchored in shallow waters. And with that, it's not really easy to have 'territory' in an exact sense. The battlefield is constantly changing, constantly moving, and you just have to adapt within the moment."There were several large engagements on the open seas, and a few times when fortified positions were assaulted on islands at sea. Loanna never had an interest in trying to attack ports on the mainland, as such would rob her of the ability to hit-and-run with the fleet. Rather, she wanted the Navy and Seahunters to waste their energy searching for her havens and assaulting them while she struck at their supply lines or merchant vessels. Two engagements stood out among the years-long war at sea: the Battle In the Red Bloom and the Siege of Tymonch.
The Battle In the Red Bloom
There is a rare occurrence when the water changes colors, though scholars are still uncertain of what causes it. Myths told about the battle say it was an omen sent by the gods over how bloody the day would be, and this has become the accepted narrative even for scholars. Three fast-moving Myrisian Seahunter ships pursued two of Loanna's ships into a thick sea of red waters, to be flanked by two other pirate vessels coming to assist. As the engagement began, four ships from the Imperial Navy were spotted on approach with weapons ready. By the time the Navy engaged, the Seahunters were badly damaged but still fighting.Myrisian magic was employed to contain the pirates, with the wind being used to force fleeing ships back into the fray or sudden waves disturbing maneuvers by pirate ships. All the while, Imperial Navy weapons were systematically removing the pirate vessels' means of escape. Weapons were aimed towards rudders and masts, despite being difficult targets at the best of times. After several hours, the pirate ships were destroyed and no prisoners were taken. Two of the Seahunter ships and one Navy vessel had to be scuttled, but removing four pirate vessels in one day was considered a fine victory.
Siege of Tymonch
The island of Tymonch was located just outside of territories claimed by the Empire, but the Seahunters gave their rivals special permission to operate in order to remove a pirate haven from their territory. Once all necessary supplies had been prepared, several ships brought soldiers to the island while the Myrisian crews created a thick fog to hide the activity. The fog cleared quickly in the noon sun, but by then it had been too late to stop the landing. Pirates caught on land had nowhere to flee to, and so they fought like cornered animals in the face of their foes. Wooden palisade walls were broken down and the town razed to the ground in a grim echo of what pirates had been doing under Loanna's orders. One pirate was left alive on the island, reporting the loss to the Queen and explaining the pirates had fought to the literal last man trying to hold out for rescue.According to records, the siege was one of the turning points in the fight against piracy and there were fewer serious engagements with pirate vessels besides a lone raiding ship being caught on the open waters. Loanna Penderos stopped being a problem after five years of concentrated attention, though records do not say exactly why this is. It was surmised a rival had finally been able to use losses as leverage to break Loanna's authority and split the Fleet of Black Sails apart into lone raiders again. Similar to a lack of information on the Queen's fate, Pirate's Landing was never located and there was no definitive leads on where it could have been. Piracy soon returned to being a scattered problem instead of a unified foe, and the Myrisian Seahunters ended their partnership amiably enough.
Aftermath
"The open seas were never safe, but they're a good deal safer now that the Emperor's fleet chose to get serious about fighting pirates. We're moving into a better age now!"After Loanna Penderos had been presumed dead and pirate ships stopped employing black sails, the Imperial Navy became much more relaxed in dealing with pirates. Most crews weren't looking to be murderous, only profitable, and so pirate crews were punished by being stranded at the nearest port without their ships or their gold. The expense of acquiring a new ship often was outside their means, so piracy began to wane as a problem. Smuggling became a more troublesome concern for the Navy, or at least those who had a say in the Navy's orders. To this day, piracy is relatively rare and limited to merely robbing a ship's crew or passengers rather than putting people to death. Despite this, no Emperor of Rhyliss has revoked the penalty of death by hanging for those caught as pirates. It was seen as a valid deterrent, used only sparingly to remind pirates of what could happen to them instead of simply being left on an island without money or a ship.
The Myrisian Seahunters, by comparison, chose to magically brand pirates who were captured with a black X on the backs of their hands. Towns and ports within Myrisian territory would refuse all service to those so marked, prompting some pirates who could not afford a magical removal of that brand to instead remove their hands. This was said to be a telltale sign of a pirate, though it should be noted the brands soon began to be placed in other places which would require a more serious sacrifice to be rid of it. Piracy very quickly moved out of those waters, as it was also becoming more hazardous with magic in defense of ships causing greater problems.
The fate of Loanna Penderos was apparently demoralizing enough there were never any who would claim to be King or Queen of pirates afterwards. Some who had an inflated ego and enough support might choose to be "Pirate Lords", but these were very few and didn't last long. The symbols used by Loanna's band, the black sails and "cut coin", were retired and have not seen use in over a century. While there have been other colorful choices of sails, there has never been black as a recorded observation. The closest was a Pirate Lord who used a dark purple color which made it harder to see his ships at night, but they were not black sails.
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