Pirate Cay

### Population

Unknown. Estimates say somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 (races vary constantly)

### Local Pantheons

None (at least officially. people of all kinds of beliefs come through though, and there are some small shrines to assorted gods)

### Local Language

Western Common

To call Pirate Cay a country is perhaps stretching the definition of the word. In reality it is a loose confederation of pirates who more or less pay tribute to the toughest among them. For a long time that was the Pirate King. Morgan "Firebrand" McDougal, who is said to have a mighty fleet of over 100 ships and thousands of men. The most impressive ship of all is Sky's Mercy, an airship he took over from Victorian deserters who also joined his banner. Having the only known airship out of Victorian custody, Morgan had little trouble ruling over the other pirates in his domain. Those who would oppose him quickly found themselves on the receiving end of a rain of fire from the sky.

Other pirates are permitted to deal on Pirate Cay, provided they follow the Pirate King's rules. Rule 1: The Pirate King always gets his cut of the loot. Rule 2: No killing on the island. Rule 3: No stealing on the island. As the rules are not terribly extensive, they are pretty easy to follow. Also, pirates generally don't have a lot of friendly harbors to spend their treasure in, so they try to at least keep this one friendly.

Pirate Cay shares a somewhat uneasy part of the Allied Kingdoms. By nature, they are all pirates, and looting merchant ships is pretty much their thing. It is also diametrically opposed to the mutual protection that the Allied kingdoms hope to foster. However, since the Pirate King does have control of a Victorian vessel, the other kingdoms would prefer not to get into an open war. Though Pirate Cay would likely lose such a war against all of the other kingdoms, it would be at such a high cost that it is not worth doing. As such, the Allied Kingdoms have established a set of rules that the pirates of Pirate Cay must obey, in exchange, they are allowed to do their thing without too much hassle from the navies of other kingdoms. The rules are as follows:

Rule 1: All pirate ships must fly a black flag to announce their intentions. Flying the black flag signals that the pirates are only interested in theft and will only respond with lethal force if resisted.

Rule 2: Prisoners cannot be taken unless the ship resisted first.

Rule 3: Any prisoners taken must be treated and fed at least as well as a member of the pirate crew.

Rule 4: Aid must be provided to any disabled ships found at sea (though this does not prevent the pirates from looting it).

While the vast majority of pirates more or less follow these rules, it should be noted that some pirates refuse to align themselves with the Pirate King or any of the Allied Kingdoms' rules. These pirates often fly a red flag instead of a black one (though they do occasionally fly the black one as a ruse but are usually hunted for it once word gets around). The red flag indicates that no quarter will be given. The pirates of Pirate Cay only fly such a flag in times of war or when fighting among themselves, though some do as a response to being attacked.

Recently the pirate king was eliminated and replaced by Cain the First Murderer. Chaos currently reigns on the island as Cain attempts to consolidate power. It is unclear what his rule will look like once things calm down.