A Pirate's Code
The sea's of Aliria are highly trafficked. Most merchants transport goods from place to place on contract moving unassuming products. Savvier sailors choose to contract their ships for normal transport as well as unsanctioned goods. Some ships carry contraband cargo. Some carry illegal spices and drugs. Others smuggle animals from exotic lands to underground "black market" merchants. Sometimes these goods are acquired fairly from their origin, but most times they are acquired by piracy. These pirates have developed a worldwide code of sorts to let the various clans and merchants of the world know what "extra" their cargo might hold.
This Pirate's Code is simple and recognizable to a trained eye, but unsuspecting to a passerby or an unseasoned dock warden. The code itself is an item rather than a spoken word. Wrapped around the belt of every dockhand working a particular ship is a small band of cloth. This cloth is dyed a color representing an approximate black market good the captain is selling in addition to the surface good they're moving. The captain can then be called by waving a similar colored cloth or item. This can spark as a private conversation about the actual contraband they may be selling or trying to get rid of. These bands can be used together as some ships may be carrying goods from many places.
Colors:
1. Red: Red is used to signify that the cargo on the ship holds living things of some kind. Most likely exotic animals from The Shimmering Isle or the far east.
2. Green: If the contraband is a grown product, then green will be the signifier. Many plants are illegal to consume, own, or smoke in many parts of Lothlonde, so pirates make a living smuggling it from place to place.
3. Purple: Designated to stolen goods, crew wearing purple are pirates in the truest sense. They steal from other various things and sell them to the highest bidder. 4. Yellow: Some materials, like ores or gems, are so scarce that the unsanctioned trade of these is banned in most ports. 5. Cyan: Being the most exotic color, Cyan bands represent Artifacts found in raids, tombs, stolen from traveling merchants, or seasoned blacksmiths. Most often the few ships that carry such items have in their possession dangerous and often magical artifacts. 6. Orange: Some religions and governments around the world have banned blasphemous texts or scrolls that are deemed too dangerous for certain eyes. Orange bands represent crews that have come into possession of banned books or dangerous tomes 7. Forest Green: The darker green, while still a grown product, is meant specifically for plants that are psychedelic in makeup. Mostly delegated to mushrooms, these can be especially hard to transport and are normally very high priced.
Colors:
1. Red: Red is used to signify that the cargo on the ship holds living things of some kind. Most likely exotic animals from The Shimmering Isle or the far east.
2. Green: If the contraband is a grown product, then green will be the signifier. Many plants are illegal to consume, own, or smoke in many parts of Lothlonde, so pirates make a living smuggling it from place to place.
3. Purple: Designated to stolen goods, crew wearing purple are pirates in the truest sense. They steal from other various things and sell them to the highest bidder. 4. Yellow: Some materials, like ores or gems, are so scarce that the unsanctioned trade of these is banned in most ports. 5. Cyan: Being the most exotic color, Cyan bands represent Artifacts found in raids, tombs, stolen from traveling merchants, or seasoned blacksmiths. Most often the few ships that carry such items have in their possession dangerous and often magical artifacts. 6. Orange: Some religions and governments around the world have banned blasphemous texts or scrolls that are deemed too dangerous for certain eyes. Orange bands represent crews that have come into possession of banned books or dangerous tomes 7. Forest Green: The darker green, while still a grown product, is meant specifically for plants that are psychedelic in makeup. Mostly delegated to mushrooms, these can be especially hard to transport and are normally very high priced.
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