Multiverse Pirates

Throughout history and the multiverse, the enterprising and the outcast have joined together to sail the aether seas.  Some are seeking prosperity or adventure and others have darker, more inscrutable motives for their voyages within and between the spheres.

There exist many pirate factions throughout the multiverse, each with their own histories and intentions. Yet one thing they all have in common is the anger and fear they inspire in all the spheres and empires.  They are a scourge of the sea and air in all realities.

### **The Smalls Fleet**

The fleet was started by Captain William Smalls who claims to be a descendent of Robert Smalls a man born into slavery who stole a Confederate military ship the CSS Planter and rescued several other slaves by posing as a Confederate captain before sailing it to Union controlled waters. The members of the Smalls fleet are very proud of their history of not taking orders and not accepting things as they are. They believe revolution is the future, past and present and question any authority they do not already respect (and even some that they do respect). They hold most traditions in contempt as they are always pursuing new and better ways to do things.

Symbol - White star somewhere on clothing or person

### **The Asura Fleet**

The founder of the fleet was a woman named Parvati. It is unknown if this was her birth name. According to fleet history, Parvati was the illegitimate daughter of a powerful Maharaja. She was exceptionally proud of her royal blood. Incensed that she was blocked from what she saw as her true place by the illegitimacy of her birth and her gender, Parvati vowed that she would follow in the footsteps of her predecessors and take her own kingdom as was her blood right. She stole jewelry and gold statues from her father’s palace and traded and negotiated these into a small fleet of ships manned by the fiercest swords money could buy. After buying their loyalty, she tested their loyalty, removing those that would forswear oaths for money and creating the kingdom she wanted full of loyalty to herself.

In addition to rewarding loyalty, Parvati enforced that one could rise through the ranks through merit regardless of bloodline or birth status. As far as her fleet is concerned only her blood counts as royalty. Marriages of her descendants are arranged by the leader of the fleet and the spouse is chosen from the most successful captains of the fleet ensuring strong and clever children.

This fleet is known for their loyalty to each other and the fleet as a whole. They will sink or destroy their own ships to keep their treasures from falling into enemy hands. If the crews are taken captive, the fleet will negotiate for their release. If the negotiation fails or if it is found the crew was mistreated while being held, the entire fleet will be recalled and those that dared to challenge and mistreat the Asura fleet will be annihilated.

Symbol – Piece of clothing or sash that is red with an ochre (golden brown) border

### **The Dread Fleet**

The Dread Fleet has had the same leader since its founding. There are many stories for how the Dread Pirate Morgan obtained his immortality - a pact with a witch, eating the flesh of the kraken of the abyss, stealing the pearl at the center of the multiverse, playing dice with the true Davy Jones. Each story is sworn to but the Dread Pirate remains silent about which one is true. What is not a rumor, though, is that when his crew grows too old, they are given retirement for their service to this immortal (it is even rumored that he has shared his immortality with those that impressed him best). Even those that don’t serve on his flagship, learn the secrets of the arcane and deep mysteries in his fleet. Stories abound of how the ships appear from nowhere in billowing clouds of the devil's own green breath and that some of the captains can sink ships from half a mile off with a glance through an obsidian stone provided by Morgan himself.

Symbol - Piece of black clothing or sash with a white crescent moon prominently displayed

### **The Cursed Fleet**

Throughout the multiverse and history, ships have disappeared under the water or into thin air or under a miasma of curse and darkness only to sail again crewed by those not quite human, not quite alive, not quite…there.

These ships have fallen under curses from wrong choices or simply being in the wrong place. Whatever the reason, whatever the specifics of the curse, they will sail forever, never knowing rest, seeking that which might free them or maybe just seeking to bring everything under their flag.

The main ship of this fleet is known as The Doomed Albatross. As a bird, an albatross brings hope and luck, and on a ship it brings fear and dread. The Albatross is captained by a mysterious figure called the Rabbit’s Wife if you’re whispering warnings in the tavern or called Kindness if you are on your ship and trying to avoid the bad luck her name and notice will bring you. Her end game is unknown but her growing fleet of the damned is worrying. Despite the ill luck she trails like a cloak, she is not to be slighted.

Symbol - Grey and pale green - can be worn as a sash or arm band of each color or a piece of clothing that is mainly gray with pale green accent/border.

### **The Siren Fleet**

The Siren fleet is known for its beauty. No obviously mended sails, no mismatched or peeling paint. Everything is fresh, colorful and gilded. The Siren fleet are proud of their ships and are very concerned with aesthetics. They will only surround or cover themselves in beauty. Their clothes are fashionable and expensive. As far as they are concerned, there is no such thing as too much jewelry or too many accessories.

However, though their beauty is entrancing, their appearance in a battle causes fear. No one has survived capture by this fleet. People tell of storms obeying their sung commands and glimpses of feast tables laden with bloody red meat. Many talk of seeing sharpened teeth behind their painted lips and others speak of hearing whispers and cries from the tattoos on some of them. Some even speak of dark claws cutting through blade and bone. It is whispered in the taverns that non-human blood runs in the Siren fleet and that they feast on those they capture.

Symbol - Piece of clothing or sash that is a dark sea blue with white lace border or accents to mimic the waves