The Sweet Westerlies

Come you bold sailors who ride blue waves
And list while I sing you a song
Of the cruel knaves who did take my love from me
Beware of those sweet westerlies, brave souls
Beware of those sweet westerlies.

Two hundred years ago, a small fleet of pirate ships terrorized the Inner Sea, plundering dozens of ships, raiding ports, and crippling naval forces. Their legend lives on today, and they are the reason for the size and might of the Gepeshien navy.

Summary

Admiral Sabrith led her pirate fleet from the deck of the Sudden Scorn, a stolen frigate made all of crimson catal wood and sporting black sails with the Westerlies' symbol in bright red. Her band also included Eswe Captain Jashan of the Taciturn, the brutal Captain Seressa of the Dawn's Saga, the refined and bloodthirsty Captain Palanoire, and the Lashe Ragwheel Captain Tritus of the clockwork ship Ambition, among others.

The Sweet Westerlies, as the fleet was known, menaced the inner sea for nearly nine years before the Saveen wizard Batbayar, furious that Sabrith had razed his coastal birthplace and killed his family, tore the ships apart with an epic spell that consumed him as well. On certain nights, the scene is reenacted by a ghostly fleet with no visible foes.

Historical Basis

Born Thessavian in a coastal town in southern Vessun, the young woman who would become Admiral of a pirate fleet was a bully and a thug who delighted in taking things from those weaker than she was - and proving that people were weaker by taking things from them. She attempted to start a Blood Pearls cell, but her town didn't provide the anonymity of a large city, resulting in little more than trouble for her and her family. She had a falling out with her parents, who were appalled by her behavior, and after they kicked her out she took a menial job on a ship. Two years later, an attempted mutiny found Thessavian (now calling herself Phricia) marooned on a small island with her fellow conspirators. Tritus Psanamen, exiled from Hamat'e for Unwilling Modifications on a Sentient, was one of her accomplices. Between the two of them, they engineered a small boat from materials at hand and promptly boarded a merchant vessel, killing the crew and manning it with her mutineers. Rechristening the ship Naikara's Fury and herself Captain Vasilion, the young woman began her piracy career in earnest. Over the next year, Vasilion's strong personality and unprecedented success attracted many others. The fleet grew, dubbed the Sweet Westerlies after a line in an old poem. When she captured the ship she would name Sudden Scorn, she took the name that would go down in history as the most infamous pirate to ever exist - Admiral Sabrith.

We sip the gerrot wine, my love
Watch the fiery sunset glow
But though sweet westerlies blow tonight, my love
They herald devastating woe.

Spread

Most coastal communities have some horrible tale or another that is at the very least attributed to the Sweet Westerlies.

Variations & Mutation

Sabrith has been romantically connected to every single one of her captains in stories, and even to Batbayar, but those tales are nothing but speculation. Likewise, many attacks and disasters are attributed to the Sweet Westerlies, but only a few confirmed. The Vessunan scholar Tivales collects stories of Sabrith and maintains that somewhere her journal might still exist. The ghostly pirate fleet has never been confirmed by a reliable source, but sightings are regularly reported in dockside bars.