Treatise of the Pirate King

(Reference Art: Credit to Artist)

Rule One: Obey the Code of the Sea.

Rule Two: Respect the fallen sailor.

Rule Three: Guard the vessel and her crew.

Rule Four: Aid ships in distress.

Rule Five: Respect the command chain.

**Chapter One:** Setting the Tide

In no short order the three ships I held under my command at the breach of Kul Tiran waters made the standard to which all ships should be crewed. As the tides were vastly uncharted near the coast of the Isle of Harvest the crews of the Blackwater Triplets set for the harbor ten miles up the coast from the city of the Table. As the ships approached the veteran Free Company sailors used their expertise to navigate the jagged cliffs, and spires that emerged from the ocean itself. Three years after the collapse of Gilneas, and subsequently the Free Trade Company as well at the hands of Tarric DeSirrus my brother we have made it to the home of all pirates.

In the port town the crews began working on refitting and resupplying the vessel for long travel as the former Pirate King set his grandson Jerard DeSirrus to take the reins. As a result of taking over the role I plot the course across all three ships for the Isle of Sand council chambers for the coin holders of any and all crews of the sea. As the crews took their orders and immediately began work on the three large ships of the line, I took the opportunity to head in to meet with the Governor of the Isle of Harvest.

During the meeting with the Governor, I learned a valuable secret weapon that I would find worth more than fleets of ships...

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**Chapter Two:** Meeting the Circle

Upon arrival at the circle inside the Skull of Thieves, Captain Terrenial, Captain Jaqueline, Captain Desmond, and I entered the chamber seeing dozens of men and women of various races, and creeds. The speakers for each group in the circle began to gather towards the front of their crews as I took charge of the meeting stepping further into the center of the circle. Once I stepped forward the voices in the chamber grew silent, as murmurs began to spread silently throughout the individual crews seeing a man before them. I took from my pocket the skull coin as my call sign and looked to the others as they each presented their own Lords of the Sea coins.

As I looked around the room from face to face as I recognized the Bloodsail Leader, Southsea Leader, Blackwater Leader, and the Black Bandanna Leader. As my crew disseminated through the crowd to gather as much information as they could muster, they reported to me that nearly seventy crews were present, including naval representation from each kingdom, and the Horde.

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**Chapter Three:** The Battle of the Dragons

The council of the coin ended with a lot of concerns levied by the King of the Pirates as he was not trusting the man who singlehandedly united the Wyrmskull Clans, and the son of Vincent Edwards who led his own pirate crew of the Black Bandanna. The coin holders, and small crews unable to gain the coin at the table began to depart from the Isle of Sand as the dragon riders attacked the harbor devastating a few of the larger ships and destroying nearly ten smaller ships. Jerard heard the horns of the guardians as he looked to the opening above the skull in the isle and saw three massive green dragons rip past in blazing speed. Jerard began to hurry along the path that led out from the heart of the island to get to his fleet of ships.

As Jerard exited the underground network of tunnels he would see ships aflame, and ballista crews engaging with the thirty dragons that roared overhead. The pirate king gathered his forces as he scanned the horizon for the ships of the Wyrmskull Pirates and made out two longships of the line. The man dispatched his two flank ships to spread out the approach giving them a chance to entrap the dragon ships. The man signaled to the helm to course a path right between the two ships as he moved to the bow and latched onto the railing there. As the skies raged on above, he noted the four ancient dragons that cut swathes through the proto-drake attackers the seas began to flow with debris from the ships that were unlucky in the attack.

The rest of the pirate lords pushed out to sea that could muster to raise anchor to free themselves of the attack and regroup further out in the deep water. The Blackwater Company engaged with the Wyrmskull leading the encounter towards the north as the ships began to gain momentum towards Northrend. As the ships battled it out in the great sea for days straight the Blackwater armor grew to be too tough for the Wyrmskull weapons to crack. The triplets would hammer the two massive, long ships along the water line to affect the ships the most drawing their cannon crews to repair. The flagship of the Wyrmskull came into view a fast whalebone designed chaser class ship with riser construction the two massive ships began to tread too much water as the two flank ships broke off to deal with sailors in the water. The Harmony continued its pursuit of the flagship, and the leader of the Wyrmskull to enact punishment for attacking the coin holders, and crews of the free seas.

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**Chapter Four:** The Last Man to Unite the Clans…

The radiant heat from the sun sizzled against the wake lapped shore as the waters that washed in quickly evaporated from the temperature. The sands were undisturbed to time and were a bright vibrant golden color as the not-so-distant sounds of cannons rippled off of the tree line, and cliff face. As the ships continued to engage in battle nearly a few hundred yards from running aground they would not slow. Suddenly the larger ship dropped a bow anchor tugging the deck towards the waterline as the ship made an unworldly groan. The smaller of the two ships did not turn or adjust course as the crew aboard were dead from the battle at sea. The Eternal Harmony spun out to its broadside as the crews began to raise the anchor from the shallow depths.

With his hands clutched to the railing of the port side of the captain’s deck Jerard looked over the chaos on the shores as the Wyrmskull ship splintered to pieces. The battle he had endured for nearly a week at sea between the Blackwater and the Wyrmskull culminated in this final battle against the first man he ever knew to unite the clans. Lionel Stormsong of Kul Tiran decent managed to turn the nomadic vrykul clans into a formidable naval force. The crews began to raise the sails to keep the Harmony in position as Jerard marched towards the tender boat with three of his trusted guards. The ship was lowered into the water from the massive ship of the line passing by four decks worth of gun ports before finally meeting the waterline. As the tender ferried the sailors to the shore to deal with or investigate the crashed ship Jerard signaled a barrage into the tree line. As the ship launched a broadside into the tree line the foliage and trees splintered and shook scattering the wildlife from the area.

Upon arrival at the wreck of the Dragon Longboat the men began to traverse their way onto the main deck to find the dead or living among the debris. Opening a footlocker aboard the ship the crew began to investigate the paperwork seeing information on the manifest of who was aboard. The crews would find that the lost son of the Stormsong line was among the dead, locating him they brought the body to Jerard. As Jerard looked to the crews approaching he lowered his boot from the rail and looked over the man, clutching his jaw to look him over. The man ran his fingers through his own hair as he reached down to his hip for a razor-sharp knife and took a look at the man’s hand. Cutting free the ring finger from Lionel he took the bloodied ring off the digit. Jerard sighed and looked to his men with a nod, letting them know to bury the men at sea.

As the crews finished burying the dead sailors Jerard looked over the beach and ordered them to get aboard the tender.