Campaign Introduction
The days we live in oppression be over. Let now be the days when the islands sail as free men!
~ Pirate Lord Silverking ~
~ Pirate Lord Silverking ~
Gatpowder and Cutthroats
In the year 960 AC, Mason Lamonia IV, the seventh monarch and sixth king of Ravenna, sanctioned the dwarf explorer Utmaen Shadowsail and a detail of seven galiots on an expedition south into the Coral Depths in search of anything beyond the horizon. Utmaen's journey was hard-sailed, but brought him to the resource-rich coasts of the Silver Piece Islands.
The Silver Piece Islands were home to the native tribe of the Cururi Nenar. The primitive but alive culture had lived among these islands for as long as the Ravennian kingdom had existed, solidified in worship to the Exalted Elemental, Hwesta. Nevertheless, Utmaen brought news and pieces of these islands back on his return, and grand migrations were put in place to stake Ravenna's claims on them. Initially, the relationship between the kingdom and Nenar, albeit the difficult language barriers, was healthy and open. However, over time, lords of these new settlements slowly chipped away at the tribe's land, piece by piece, until the natives were even driven off of whole islands. With each new Ravennian colony, the impression of the Nenar dropped until it broke out into open hostility that lasted for years following the settlement of Darkwater in the year 1142. It was stopped when reigning king at the time, Victoria Lamonia III, met personally with the Nenar chief and formed the Nenar accords, which drew the borders between the two sides, entailing that both sides were to keep to themselves.
prejudices against the other as a result. But, things came to a head when Joseph Lamonia III passed the Pelor Decree in the late year of 1301, which venerated Pelor and prohibited public worship that wasn't his. It didn't take long before uprisings were incited on countless occassions through the islands, much of which was difficult to control given the kingdom's lighter presence of enforcement there. The people shouted for the overturning of the decree, but when it showed no signs of it, the colonies shouted for independence instead. Both sides felt forced to take up weapons against the other, as did the pirate lords, who in this sudden civil war began to use their wealth and power like military leaders, leading the islands to autonomy while working to ensure they held absolute control over it in the end. On the mainland, it was the Ravennian Civil War. In these islands, it was the Silver Piece Rebellion, or the Rise of the Pirate Lords.
The islands rest at war, and while the great leaders move and work to solidify their domains, poor unfortunate souls are about to suffer a cruel punishment out east, just off the coasts of the barren Solitary Island, aboard the Silver Scourge, the flagship of the island’s most fearsome pirate lord, Lord Silverking. These victims had crossed him one way or another, and they were about to get a death penalty he thought to be a mercy. With a pirate's joy, a plank was lowered over the side of the ship...
Such was the political climate until the day the Silver Piece Rebellion came. Ever since the first colonists reached the islands, a culture of piracy had steadily begun to grow with each passing year. By the year 1222, it was an enterprise of numerous pirate captains who fashioned themselves as lords, all but untouchable by Ravennian privateers. Religiously, Pelor and Eadro were the two gods a Ravennian worshipped, however since the settlement of the islands, this had begun to change. On the mainland, citizens elevated Pelor due to his connection with farms and harvests. But, in the islands, most colonies elevated Eadro instead. Naturally, islanders and mainlanders developed
These islands are the richest miles of land the kingdom has ever come upon; do you think I'm going to let these drudges throwing a religious tantrum get in the way of that?
~ Commodore Heckett ~
~ Commodore Heckett ~
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