Twin Moon

**Twin Moon** is a confederation of pirate clans active throughout the Settled Systems, named for the twin object Ultima Thule that serves as its headquarters. With a force of over 3000 ships, making it one of the largest fleets in the Settled Systems, Twin Moon is a mighty pirate armada consisting of clans that were refused membership in the Spacers Legion; as a result, Twin Moon considers all other major factions their enemies, and raid them indiscriminately. In recent decades, Twin Moon has begun expanding outward from the Oppenheimer System, establishing strongholds in the Sagan, Cheyenne and Demeter systems.

## History

### Background

Piracy has been a common practice ever since mankind first built vessels capable of traversing Earth's oceans, and continued when they expanded throughout the Sol System and beyond. Piracy has always been met with strong consequences, including and up to capital punishment, forcing many pirates to commit increasingly dangerous heists and robberies just to survive.

For decades spacefaring pirates were divided into individual crews or small navies, and warred with other pirates as often as they raided civilian and government vessels. As humanity expanded outward, however, many of these small navies became more and more isolated, forming small communities that were more akin to tribes than crews. The larger tribes formed clans, each of which held far greater influence than the average pirate captain.

### Origins & Foundation

During the Herschel Wars, several spacer factions banded together to form the Spacers Legion, ensuring the indepedence of tens, and later hundreds, of colonies and space stations. The Legion was typically open to any faction joining them, from simple homesteaders to mercenaries and pirates; the few that were denied membership, however, had to rely on each other to avoid the newly-created United Colonies and Herschel Nations. Some of these pirate captains, jaded by centuries of conflict with their fellows, called a parlay to negotiate an alliance between them, ensuring that all their crews could continue raiding indiscriminately without drawing the full might of the H.N. or U.C.; in their mind, these pirates were clans in and of themselves, and together they could become unstoppable.

These captains ultimately met on Libertalia in the isolated Oppenheimer System, far from any heavily-populated region. Here the first Great Parlay was assembled: hundreds of pirate captains came together to discuss internal conflicts and mutual defence. This Great Parlay ended in the writing of the Code: a loose set of laws governing legislative decision-making, hierarchical command authority, individual rights, and equitable division of revenues between the various clans. They would make Libertalia and the entire Oppenheimer System their headquarters, from which they would raid the Settled Systems together. Thus was born Twin Moon, the first society run by pirates, named for the twin object Ultima Thule in the sky above them. To maintain the loose rules of the Code, the pirate captains would elect one among their number to serve as Pirate King, who held command over the armada's greatest vessel, the *Ivan the Terrible*.

### Price Era

#### Great Galactic War

Near the start of the Great Galactic War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history, Salen Dune of the Hanseatic League called on all spacers in the Settled Systems to take up arms and fight for the Hanza Republic. This call extended to Twin Moon, but none of the clans, some of which shared Dune's beliefs, answered the call. In response, Dune conducted a "state visit" with Josia Price, who revealed that the clans had ignored his request on his explicit order. True, Twin Moon despised the United Colonies and Herschel Nations, as did all pirates within Twin Moon; this did not mean, however, that Twin Moon wished to see them erased from the galaxy, thus robbing Twin Moon of their livelihood. Additionally, Price assured Dune that, were the Hanza to prove victorious in the war, Twin Moon would raid them just as much as they raided the current superpowers.

In a private debate with the Liberty Table, Price convinced the captains that being enemies of the U.C. and H.N. was much more viable than living alongside the Hanza, and that Twin Moon should take up arms with the Alliance against the League.

### Filthy War

Since the 2470s, Twin Moon has been locked in a direct conflict with the Herschel Nations, a conflict known as the Filthy War, over its expansion into H.N.-controlled systems.

## Overview

Members of Twin Moon can be identified by their use of the twin crescent flag, the jolly roger of the 25th century. Members can also never leave once they have joined, for death is the only way out.

Twin Moon has a strict hierarchical structure that, theoretically, allows any member to rise through the ranks. Membership is offered only once a recruit has proved themselves, usually through a raid. Becoming a captain and leading a clan simply requires obtaining your own ship and crew; sitting at the Liberty Table, however, is another matter entirely.

### Clans

Originally consisting of thirteen clans, Twin Moon currently consists of more than fifty; fifteen of these clans - known as the "major clans" - sit at the Liberty Table, while the remaining forty-or-so minor clans are each sworn to one of the major clans.

Some of the most infamous clans in Twin Moon's history include:

* Clan Cleaverson
* Clan Heim
* Clan Price
* Clan Thorson
* Clan Thrask
* Clan Trace
* Clan Venture
* Clan von Ironclaw

Each of the major clans can directly trace their history back to one of the thirteen founding clans of Twin Moon.

As a confederation, the individual clans and fleets of Twin Moon are indepedent of one another, but all must answer to the rule of the Pirate King. Those within Twin Moon that do not serve aboard a vessel must live and work on Libertalia under the rule of whatever captain leads their clan. Civilians of every clan live and work amongst each other on the station.

### Liberty Table

The Liberty Table is a large, cracked glass table located in the great hall of Libertalia around which the most powerful pirate clans sit; these clans make up the "ruling class" of Twin Moon's heirarchy and it is they that interpret the Code. The Table is also a metonym for the authority of the captains and their leading role in Twin Moon's society.

There are just two ways to earn a seat at the Liberty Table; the first is to become first mate to a captain who is then elected king, as tradition requires that they hand over control of their ship, their clan and their seat at the Table to their first mate. The second is to commit a great, daring achievement on behalf of Twin Moon, usually a heist. Most go through the former route, but a few have succeeded via the latter, such as Josia Price.

When a sitting captain is elected Pirate King, their clan ceases to exist and its position is taken by a new clan headed by their former first mate (e.g. Clan Venture taking over from Clan Trace, or Clan von Ironclaw taking over from Clan Price). Only captains with a seat at the Liberty Table can stand for Pirate King; there is no resignation for the chosen Pirate King, who must serve until their death.

## Trivia

* Twin Moon's "Jolly Roger" - the opposing crescents - was inspired by the waning crescents of Ultima Thule, which, due to their unique orbit, are opposites when viewed from Libertalia.