Crime and Piracy

Upon getting more into that pirate book, I've been doing some more thinking about my version of pirates. During the Great War, or at least during the beginning, raids and sea battles tended to be organised into two sides - the Easterners and Westerners, both of which had joint navies numbering in the thousands

However, because of the.difficulties attacking the enemy due to distance and frequent storminess, any semblance of organisation broke down soon thereafter, erupting chaos. Instead of huge international fleets, single countries would send small flotillas to defend and attack, and the sheer number of different factions caused everything to go horribly wrong. Pirate crews sprang up on both sides from disgruntled mutineers or from private profiteers, and official navies would often go AWOL and rekindle old and supposedly settles rivalries. The war industry swelled and pulled in millions of mariners, whilst thousands of coastal communities suffered pillaging and plague. It is still so recent in many communities' histories that there was no time to romanticise the murder, rape and destruction; this is all that pirates are associated with, so most children do not idolise them as we do. At least the degree of chaos they caused forced the war to come to a close.

On the other hand, air piracy is quite fanciful to the masses, most likely due to the rareness of reported occurrences. The air freight industry is small compared to water freight but there are still definite boons - quicker travel, better security and others. Since they are most often chosen to deliver luxuries or to remote locations, they became an easy target for mortar-armed ground crews. So air freights shipping lanes are set up following air currents and mountain ranges to deter ground attacks. However, air pirates still could operate once these new practices arose. They are indeed rare, due to the high start-up costs and low income compared to sea pirates and as such, most of the air pirate captains turned out to be humane ex-military, nobility etc. Stories grew and emerged from famous encounters and retired crew members, of a similar scope to Treasure Island, so they are more often than not considered roguish scamps prowling the skies rather than actually dangerous terrorists, and this viewpoint has even permeated and leaked into the governments too. One of the more famous incidents included Eden Sterling on his way to the Deep Forest.

There probably were a number of pirate republics during the Great War, probably small affairs dotted along isolated coasts and islands. The most powerful and well-known were the Cliffrats based in New Kohia/Firanzim and were key in leading to the continuation of the colony there. Public opinion was mostly fear and disdain so they were mostly stamped out after peace talks. In the modern era, public opinion of air pirates is favourable and there are plans out and about to storm and take over Morombo. Chivalrous, roguish, genteel. Well-to-do industrialists, aristocrats and ex-military.