The First Conclave

The **First Conclave of the Tenth Brethren Court** took place on September 19th, 1754 in Hector Barbossa's Grotto, located on the small Caribbean island of Devil's Anvil. With piracy in perhaps its greatest peril, Pirate Lords from all across the Seven Seas convened to form a Tenth Brethren Court. At this meeting, a new pirate was elevated to the status of Pirate Lord, a Keeper of the Code was chosen and a new Pirate King was elected to lead the Brethren Court through such turbulent times.

## Background

Just a few years prior to the Conclave, the Ninth Brethren Court had been called into existence under similar circumstances. The Pirate King of the Eighth Brethren Court, Richard Cannonwalker, assembled the Ninth Court and was once more elected as Pirate King. A group of the fiercest pirates was mustered, and the fight was taken to the Royal Navy and East India Trading Company. Though the efforts were promising at first, it was naught to be; Cannonwalker was killed during a naval battle and the Ninth Court was disbanded, its remnants scattering across the globe to avoid capture and hanging by the British crown.

In Cannonwalker’s absence, Jolly Roger’s forces grew. In just a few years, over half of all pirates in the Caribbean fell to the power of Jolly Roger, only to rise again as his servants. The Royal Navy and East India Trading Company did not fare much better. The state of piracy was perhaps the most dire it had ever been.

However, the tales of King Cannonwalker's death were greatly exaggerated. Richard washed ashore on Tortuga in 1754 as if nothing had happened, and at once spread the call far and wide for the Pirate Lords to convene again. With haste, the Pirate Lords and other powerful Captains made their way to the Caribbean for the meeting of the Tenth Brethren Court.

## The Event

The Pirate Lords met in a damp cave, lit only by candles. Many were Lords from previous Brethren Courts, but others were new. Isabella, a former Spanish Captain and prodigy of the waves, had taken Captain Strife’s place on the Court. Zaiah Viphonarrus, formerly Isaiah of Spain’s House Avaricia, took a seat on the Court as well.

After each Lord presented their Piece of Eight and the Pirata Codex was confirmed as the Court's guiding rulebook, the true meat of the business began. To begin, the Lords voted on whether or not to admit the Captains Skully Rattlebones and Seraphim among their ranks. Rattlebones regaled the Lords with the tale of how he had died hundreds of years prior and rose again as a skeleton, and professed his appreciation to have found a band of pirates for he and his crew to roam with. The Lords admitted him unanimously.

Captain Seraphim, however, was a different story. Unable to attend due to defending his home island, Lord Zaiah spoke as to why his confidant Seraphim should be admitted. The other lords, either unimpressed or indifferent towards Seraphim’s accomplishments, passed him over. Lord Cannonwalker in particular spoke on Seraphim’s lack of accomplishments hurting him. Lord Zaiah was unhappy with Cannonwalker’s speech, but Seraphim was refused admittance nonetheless.

The final item of the night’s meeting was the matter of Pirate King. There was almost unanimous agreement that a Pirate King would be necessary to lead the Court through such dire circumstances. Of all the Lords present, only two put their names forward for consideration: Zaiah, and Cannonwalker himself. Zaiah received a vote from Lord Garland and voted for himself, but all other votes went to Cannonwalker. After giving a rousing speech professing optimism about their predicament, Pirate King Cannonwalker handed the Pirata Codex to Lord Hamm, making him the Keeper of the Code once more.

As the Lords celebrated their new Pirate King with cautious optimism, Zaiah approached the new King. With his pride wounded by two major votes swinging against him, Zaiah whispered “this isn’t over.” Shortly thereafter, the Brethren received word that the Royal Navy was enclosing upon their location. With due haste, the Pirate Lords and their crews scattered to evade capture, agreeing to meet again on a future date to continue their operations.

## Attendees

* Pirate Lord Richard Cannonwalker (voted in as Pirate King)
* Pirate Lord Finn Hamm (appointed Keeper of the Code)
* Pirate Lord Isabella
* Pirate Lord Jeremiah Garland
* Pirate Lord Zaiah Viphonarrus
* Pirate Lord Stormwalker
* Pirate Lord Skully Rattlebones (voted to be a Lord during the meeting)

## Screenshots

The other Pirate Lords await Zaiah's arrivalLord Garland speaks before the other LordsThe Brethren Court all togetherZaiah and Richard have a tense exchange of words