The Black Flag Society

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The Black Flag Society	The Black Flag Society
Type 	Terrorist Organization(?)
Formed 	2019-20
Founder(s) 	Unknown
Military Overview 	Military Overview
Affiliated Factions 	
* None
Societal Overview 	Societal Overview
Capital 	
* None
Currency 	
* Barter
Irreverent, childish, and foolish are all accurate descriptors of The Black Flag Society, though nevertheless those that willingly count themselves amongst their ranks would protest that characterization. In their eyes, they are a generation of 19th and 20th century bohemians reborn. Politically motivated, driven, and with boundless enthusiasm for the work they do, the Brothers and Sisters of the Society are alike in only a seldom few other ways. Most, though not all, abhor the state and other collectivist organizations (an understandable stance, given their self-proclaimed heritage), and most, though not all, share a love of progress bordering on the fetishistic, which more often than not manifests as mechanical augmentation.
The Society itself resembles a franchised book-club more than it does a legitimate military force, and rarely tries to organize on a larger level, only maintaining a command structure for mutual defence and support, should individual groups come under attack. A member of the Society’s main point of contact with the organization comes through their immediate Fraternity: A group of members tied together by geography, ideology, or convenience. Each Fraternity operates through direct democracy, with collective choices made by majority, or through members empowered to act on behalf of the Fraternity as a whole for a limited amount of time. Using this cell like command structure, the Society is left fragmented but flexible, with enough freedom granted to each individual member for the Society to attract people of various different political affiliations.
With each member of the Society possessing various different political allegiances of varying different strengths, it’s unsuprising that they have an eclectic personality. Some members engage in mercenary behaviour, offering their services for money, others carry out terror attacks on upstart nations too small to resist, and the vast majority spend their time drinking wine and debating with other members. While the outside perception of the Society is of violent extremism of the worst kinds, internally the Society is laid back and artistic, consciously embodying the bohemian persona. However, one would be foolish to antagonize the Society. Many of its members are suit users, and all are armed in some way.
Each member pays a small membership fee in exchange for a pretty membership card and their addition to the Society’s mailing list. Most members stop paying at a certain point, and either no-one notices, or no-one cares.
==History==
The Black Flag Society has no official date of formation, as it had no official formation. Rather, it has existed in one form or another since before the war, though has only gained name, form, and infamy in the peace following the destruction of the Vannai Mothership at the hands of ACC forces. Afterwards, some pilots saw fit to retire, taking their suits and skills to other places now that the lingering threat of complete annihilation had faded. 
Groups of these pilots, now free to pursue their own goals, began to form into small, tight knit groups that, over time, slowly began to make contact with each-other through the connections formed between pilots during the war. Now free of the responsibilities and pressures of the war, many took up artistic pursuits, engaging with one another in lively debate, reading and writing poetry, or partaking in large volumes of alcoholic beverages (not an art, but an important part of their artistic process). This became the core of the soon-to-be Black Flag Society, as the different groups began to mutually bond over their adopted love of art, music, and politics. 
Some of these groups rapidly became more radicalized or militant as their political affiliations, spurred on through the echo-chambers formed by their growing isolation from society at large, grew more and more extreme. The echoes of this radicalization could be felt through the loose organization at large, resulting in a slightly chillier atmosphere that led to many moderates disassociating themselves from the groups. Even as the organization became more insular and acted more and more like a faction (not in spite of, but because of their extreme political views), the Society remained unformalized even as the members began to openly proclaim themselves members of an organization that didn’t exist.
It wasn’t until a group of Society mercenaries were destroyed by an ACC raid that the Society was ready for an event known as the Founding. An unnamed and unknown pilot worked behind the scenes to forge the loose coalition into a slightly less loose coalition. By formalizing the previously unofficial title “The Black Flag Society”, and setting up a very, very loose command structure, the Founder aimed to help protect each and every member through mutual defense. The theory was that even if the various members might disagree on topics, they shared a mutual hatred of “statist, conformist shills” and that they would do well to protect one another against the hated Statists. The theory proved true, as members concerned that they would be next (entirely ignoring the fact that the mercenaries in question had attacked ACC first), sought the safety in numbers that the Founder offered.
==Political Views==
Members of the Society are mostly ardent individualists, and many follow the teachings of philosophers such as Stirner and Nietzsche. With the twin inspirations of individualism and progressive views on science borne of their natural rejection of conservatism, members of the Society often hold transhumanism as one of their core beliefs. 
The Society often come to blows with the European Federation, as the former expands its spheres of influence into previous hotbeds of Society activity. This has led to a number of brushfire wars between Society Fraternities and Federal forces, though neither faction is willing to risk the possibility of all out conflict.
==Base of Operations==
The Black Flag Society do not operate out of a single facility, instead making use of innumerable safehouses scattered throughout the various minor nations with whom they have barely functional working relationships. The largest of these safehouses is a small compound just north of the South African borders, where the administrative work required to keep the Society together is done.
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:TE Factions