Widow Yamih

Portrait of Widow Yamih in the Mural Room of Hyacinth

**Widow Yamih**, the **Black Widow** or **Yalurang's Widow** as a Davarian pirate leader who terrorized the Ivory Sea during the Tenth Era. She commanded over 300 stolen Pracian ships manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates — men, women, and even children. She entered into conflict with the major nations, such as the Ascani Empire, the Falians, and the Borean League.

She is widely considered to be the among most successful pirate lords in history, based on the fact that she commanded the largest crew ever assembled, and that she died in her own bed as a free woman. Widow Yamih is wholly responsible for the driving out of nobility and Hiberians in *Pramidia*, as she did not attack Davarians, and unexpectedly enriched trade along the west coast of Neuphany, as her behavior drove trade from the Borean League from the Ivory Sea to the Arpasian Sea.

## Enslavement and marriage

Widow Yamih was abandoned by her Davarian parents in *Pramidia* at infancy and enslaved in the city of Macah on its eponymous island. As she grew up estranged from the House of Myrtle, her chattel enslavement entailed prostitution and procurement.

In her twenties, she received a "terrifying tattoo" on her back, which was believed to be cursed and performed by a hag to make her immune to any blade or disease. She was called *Yamih* (dark one) or some version of the word up until her marriage. In CE 585, she married Yalurang, of the Ivory Princes pirate family.

The Ivory Princes ruled most of *Pramidia* in the time preceding Hadassa's seizure of Hyacinth. Sources differ on Yalurang's motivation for marriage: some argue that he became infatuated with the madam they called *Yamih*, while others argue that the union was purely as a business move intended to consolidate power. Either way, *Yamih* is said to have agreed to lend her powers of intrigue, as it were, to her husband's endeavours by formal contract, which granted her a 50% control and share of his pirate empire.

Following their marriage, *Yamih* was known mostly as Yalurang's Wife, or *Yalurangni*. She adopted his son Lim as her own step-son and he was mentored as an heir to the Ivory Princes. *Yalurangni* also bore two more sons to her husband.

The growing power of the House of Myrtle in the southern Ivory Sea forced Yalurangni to use military assertion and his reputation to bind former rivalling pirate fleets into an alliance. By CE 596, this coalition was a formidable force, and one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of the Old World; at this time they were known as the Blue Cranes.

## Ascension to leadership

On 12 November CE 596, Yalurang drowned after his flagship *Wobbegon* was scuttled and he unsuccessfully attempted to flee; the remnants of a Fabian fleet slaughtered his crew and his accompanying ships, leaving the Blue Cranes in a state of disarray. Yalurang's Widow immediately began maneuvering her way into his leadership position. She started to cultivate personal relationships to get rivals to recognize her status and solidify her authority. She acted quickly to solidify the partnership with her adopted son Lim through intimacy.

In order to stop her rivals before open conflict erupted, she sought the support of the most powerful members of her husband's family, his nephew and his cousin's son in particular. Then she drew on the coalition formed by her husband by building upon some of the fleet captains' existing loyalties to her late husband and making herself essential to the remaining captains. Finally, she leveraged her Davarian heritage to create peace between her fleet and the House of Myrtle, swearing that any ship with a Stinging Star on its flag would not be attacked anywhere in the Ivory Sea, as long as they did not interfere.

Since she would have such a large force at her command, Lim became her second-in-command, and would assist her in managing the Blue Cranes' day-to-day operations. However, in order to maintain authority over the other Ivory Princes and male crew, she named him official captain of the fleet. She was recognized as the leader by the high-level captains and unofficially among the extensive crew as the "Black Widow," or Widow Yamih. It was said her "bite," a euphemism, would "poison" the minds of any man she invited into her quarters. This meant that she had unilateral control over all of the Ivory Princes of *Pramidia*.

## Blue Crane Code

Once she held the fleet's leadership position, she started the task of uniting the fleet by issuing a code of laws. Widow Yamih issued the code of five regulations for the Blue Cranes. The codes were regularly enforced and with strict adherence, lest they fall victim to the appropriate punishments.

1. Disobeying an order of a superior meant castration and maroonment; anyone who disobeyed Widow Yamih was beheaded on the spot.
2. All goods taken as booty had to be presented for group inspection. The booty was registered by a purser and then distributed by the Fleet Commander. The original "procurer" received 20% and the rest was placed into a pool of wealth called the Garden of Riches.
3. Actual money was turned over to the ship's captain, who only gave a small amount back to the "procurer," so the rest could be used to purchase supplies. The punishment for a first-time offense of withholding booty was severe whipping of the back. Large amounts of withheld treasure or subsequent offenses carried the death penalty.
4. No one was to steal from the pooled wealth of the Blue Cranes, or from any villagers that supplied the pirates. This meant that Davarians and those with the House of Myrtle were strictly off-limits.
5. Widow Yamih's code had special rules for female captives. Standard practice was make the most beautiful captives concubines or wives. If a pirate took a wife, he had to be faithful to her. The ones deemed unattractive were released and any remaining were enslaved. Pirates that took advantage of female captives were put to death; infidelity with a female captive resulted in him being castrated and marooned, and his mistress tied to a heavy stone and thrown over the side of the ship.

Violations of other parts of the code were punished with flogging, clapping in irons, or quartering. Deserters or those who had left without official permission had their ears cut off, and then were paraded around their squadron. The code, according to some witnesses *"gave rise to a force that was intrepid in attack, desperate in defense, and unyielding even when outnumbered."*

## Pirate career

The fleet under her command established hegemony over many coastal villages, in some cases even imposing levies and taxes on settlements. Widow Yamih robbed towns, markets, and villages, from Macah to the coasts of Grand Victoria. In one coastal village, they beheaded 80 men and abducted their women and children, selling them into slavery.

In December CE 598, the Ascani Empire tried to destroy her fleet in a series of fierce battles. During this time, Lim boarded and captured nearly every imperial vessel, leaving the Ascani Empire to use fishing vessels until they allied with the House of Lorraine, and Calin the Bald, to reconcile and use their massive fleet.

Prace rerouted all of its merchant vessels east, preventing Widow Yamih from taking their goods. This made Ascani trade more difficult and further aided a growing merchant class during the Borean Period. For years, the Blue Cranes under Widow Yamih's rule could not be defeated, neither by Ascanium nor the Borean League. She recruited thousands of men who lived in *Pramidia*, but also ventured into Selendor, *Cantabria*, *Velusia*, and *Solernia* to recruit young men to join her pirate fleet.

In July CE 602, Calin the Bald inflicted a series of defeats against Widow Yamih at the Battle of the Rat's Mouth, where they surrendered to Calin the Bald and his Illyrian fleet on 10 July CE 602 (the date of birth of Robaerigon). Widow Yamih accepted amnesty offered by Ascanium to all pirates who agreed to surrender, ending their career and allowed to keep the loot they acquired. This amnesty allowed most of her fleet of 17,000 to remain alive and with their riches, with less than 100 men taken as prisoners, 150 executed, and 300 banished. The remaining pirates only had to surrender their weapons.

## After piracy

Lim was repatriated and even joined the Rosicrucians as a convert to Saclis. He became a captain in the new Ascani navy, even one day serving Calin the Bald's son Robaerigon. He took a Catalani wife, much to his step-mother's protests.

Widow Yamih renamed herself Qiuxu and married into Davarian nobility, becoming a member of the House of Myrtle, thanks to her vast wealth and influence. She was involved in the salt trade and managed to put down marauding pirates in the Ivory Sea, remnants of her late husband's surviving family. She also spent a significant amount of her wealth rebuilding parts of Hyacinth that were condemned, revitalizing the palace. During this period, Qiuxi had four daughters and two sons. She retired from public life shortly before the first of the invasions from Vostok Manda.

She died on 7 March CE 641, surrounded by her family in Hyacinth.