Rovers of the Eternal Horizon

## Overview

The Rovers of the Eternal Horizon (Rovers) are a group of pirates under the command of Pirate Lord Warton 'Cruelty' Fletcher. They are currently business partners with the fledgling star nation, The Rebel Alliance. Although the pirate group isn't officially integrated or aligned under the Alliances flag, Fletcher wouldn't hesitate in helping a friend of his.

## History

### Golden Age of Piracy

   In the year 2100 Warton Fletcher was only a captain of his frigate and a few other smaller ships. His crew, the Corsairs of the Eternal Horizon were like any other pirate group out in the galaxy. For a few, it was an adventure in the final frontier, for others it was the freedom from whatever issues they may have had in the past, but for most it was the ever present dream of hitting it big as a pirate. The Corsairs were one of many pirate groups that struck fear in empires. Both small and large as they plundered mining stations and trade routes throughout the galaxy. During the year 2119 Fletcher was invited to attend a gathering of pirates, promises of treasures galore for all. Like any young and impressionable upstart pirate Fletcher took the bait as well as many others (Bliss 'Merciless' Drachen) The goal of such a large gathering of pirates? To raid the ancient empire's vault filled to the brim with credits, treasures, and ancient artifacts. Based upon long range photography the vault was located on a shielded world, a planet with a shield that spans the entire upper atmosphere of the world, that was on the edge of the Ancient empires border. The plan assembled for this raid was rather simple; the pirates will blitz their way towards the shielded world, assigned groups tasked with engaging and distracting the defense fleet and space fortress. With the use of Ion cannons and large EMP bombs they'll disable the planetary shield and land a sizeable pirate force on the surface to crack open the vault. But like any other plan, they don't usually survive first contact with the enemy. It was fine at the start, the massive armada of pirate vessels jumping into the system took the old defenders by surprise. The entire system was filled with fighter craft, lasers, missiles, mass driver rounds, flak, you name it. Taking down the shield was also a piece of cake, the sheer number of bombs and ion cannons firing literally torn the shield apart. It was when they landed on the surface and approach the vault that things got complicated. No matter how many explosives they use, blaster fire they fired, splicing they did, they couldn't crack open the vault. The only device that could possibly open the doors to the vault was a 3x3 tiled floor, each individual square containing a symbol and emitting a strange noise when stepped on. Many attempts to decipher the floor puzzle was met with confusion and frustration, what's worse was things in space was going south. Although the defense fleet was being overwhelm by the sheer number of pirates, the superior shields/armor/weapons that they fielded was making the pirates pay for every vessel the defense fleet lost. What's worse was that the fortress had called for backup, first it was a couple of escorts than some of their cruisers came into the systems, than an entire battlegroup emerged on the horizon. It was a massacre up there as Fletcher and the ground time struggled to open the vault, it wasn't until Bliss Drachen figured it out. He figured out that it was a combination of some sort with the strange noise being an indicator that they've hit the right tile for the password. In no time they've open the vault and was rapidly filling the transport ships with all the loot they can. By the time they left the system over 75% of the pirates involved in the raid were either killed, captured, or missing. After this raid both Fletcher and the galactic scene was forever changed and would spark into something that no one could easily foresee.

### The Great Purge

In the year 2120 a galactic wide transmission was sent to all star nations of the galaxy, the mutual destruction of the pirate scum of the galaxy. Thus began the great purge, dozens of nations partaking in the hunt of pirates. The once easy trade convoys that were plundered by pirates were now escorted by small military fleets. By all means the corvettes and frigates wasn't much of a deterrent for the heavier pirates they still cause an occasional casualty. One ship turning into two, two ships turning into raiding parties, raiding parties turning into whole pirate groups. With the whole galaxy against them it was no surprise that at least third fourths of the pirate groups in the galaxy was wiped out. The most noteworthy empire doing the cleansing of the galaxy was the Kel-Azaan Holy Mandate, a fanatical xenophobic spiritualist empire who took advantage of the pirate purges. But as the galaxy purge and burned one pirate stronghold after another, Fletcher was already enacting his ambitious plan to save his loyal crew members from total annihilation. Although the raid on the Ancient empire cost the lives over three fourths of the original pirate gathering, the spoils from the endeavor made the few survivors very rich. Even with splitting the profits into the hundredth's every pirate had enough credits for even their future generations to be rich. For Fletcher the great loss of life as well as several of his own crew lost, made him numb of the grandeur of the spoils. So while other pirates spoiled themselves in booze, women, and trinkets, Fletcher invested in building a fallout shelter. Food, weapons, sensor nullifying plating, water, etc. no matter the price Fletcher ensured that the series of asteroid bases would hide his crew from purge. So as the galaxy purged pirates from its folds, Fletcher and his crew hunkered down for the coming storm.

## Organization

### Fleet

There are a total of Five fleets that fly the Rovers flag, each one under the command of a number Mate. The size of the fleet varies between the five admirals, ranging from a small collection of ships to that of an armada. Factors that contribute to this is their role, activity, leadership, and income. The basic foundation of a Rover fleet is a single Keldabe Battleship, four Interceptor Frigates, 8 Crusader gunships. and a wings of StarVipers and Skipray's. The ships in the fleet can vary as many Rovers often like to capture vessels of interests, leaving the crew members of a ship on a shuttle or two near a colonized planet.

### Armies

The Rovers, like their ancient predecessors, prefer to be in among the stars than being a 'ground pounder'. But if the need to assault a complex that doesn't involve orbital bombardment, they usually deploy a large amount of light and heavy infantry.

## Command Structure

Although leadership amongst large pirates groups may vary because of various factors, they normally have the basic command structure of a normal pirate crew.

Pirate Lord Warton Fletcher- Elected head honcho of the Rovers. Is the 'chairman' of the Rovers pirate counsel as they question what will be their next target and the agenda of the crew.

Quarter Master Marlow 'Silver-eye' Thorne- Right hand man of Fletcher, responsible for managing the Rovers. Disciplinary actions, rationing supplies, setting up patrols, etc.

First-Fifth Mate-Darren 'Crafty' Rhys, Tompkins 'Slick' Salvodore, Veronica 'Ruthless' Tydes, Fenton 'The Sparrow' Stafford, 'Betty 'Fortune' Saunders: These are the leaders of the five fleets that the Rovers command.

Navigator Roxie 'Deranged' Jinx- She's responsible for keeping star charts up to date as well as responsible for clear communications between the fleets.

Ship Master Thomas The Sculptor- He's responsible for maintaining the integrity of the vessels as well as commissioning new ones.

Master Gunner Rummy Vargos- Head Gunner of the Rovers, responsible for maintaining the fighting capability of the Rovers. Whether its firing a blaster, swinging a melee weapon, or aiming a turbolaser.

Master Engineer Will Staples- Head Engineer of the Rovers, he and the engineers under his command are tasked with reverse engineering technology salvaged from ruined ships.

#### Ranking

The Rovers uses a ranking system to quickly identify the experience and service of individual members.

Greenhorn: New recruits that have no experience or training to be a pirate. The patch they wear is that of a femur bone.

Regular: Majority population of the Rovers. Usually consist of local pirates joining or specialized individuals that are recruited for their talent. Must have served at least one to four years with the Rovers. The patch they wear is a skull and cross bones.

Veterans: The suppose cream of the crop of the Rovers. They've served and lived long enough to take on the leadership role. Majority of the ships captains in the Rover fleet are veterans. Service length must reach at least ten years. The patch they wear is a helmet with glowing eyes with twin cutlasses crossing as the background.

Old Guard: Members that have displayed utter ferocity of being a pirate or have survive so long their almost ancient make up the Old Guard. Ranging from surviving the Great purge or facing the levitations of the Galaxy, they're all highly respected and revered by their crew members. These members are given special titles and benefits. Fletcher is considered to be among their ranks. Their is actually no patch for these individuals as all Rovers new and old are forced to memorize all members of the Old Guard.

### Other Pirate Groups

Bloodsail Pillagers

Hollow Raiders

Pirates of the Lost

The Black Tooth Grins

The Golden Guns