Matey

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### Tactical Analysis

* **Buccaneer life:** Former sailors going to a life of adventure on the high seas, the Mateys deal with pesky scalawags the old-fashioned way: a good ol' rifle round to their brains from a distance. Using their skills of corsair intuition, they can also manage to pick up loose change from all parts of the battlefield - though minimal, their gains can quickly add up the longer they are alive and the more of them are there fighting.

* **Buckshot:** When faced with multiple scalawags. the Mateys can pull off their double-barreled shotguns to deal damage within a reasonable area.

* **Blown down:** As both weapons require precision (something hard to do while in water), Matey's shouldn't expect to land anything more than a dent at ships.

* **Bilge rapscallion:** Mateys, after enough time in the battle and not bathing, commonly stink harder than the most unhygienic rodents that make their living inside their ships. However, the stench has been known to deter scout units near them, whether animal or artificial.

### Background

*"A good pirate* never *steals another person's property!"*

- Allied PSA, "Pirates and You"
Back in the Golden Age of Piracy, a lot of people had reasons for boarding innocent ships and sailing away with wealth they've pillaged from the coffers of those inside those them. Past pirate shanties tell of men and women looking for adventure on the high seas. Letters of marque gave rise to royalty-sponsored "privateers" - pirates paid by the British Crown to attack enemy vessels, the most famous one being Sir Francis Drake himself. Some more saw the Age as a lucrative business, as evidenced by the slave trade blossoming during the 18th century and merchant sailors actually being recruited to the ranks of pirate crews.

But in the modern age, it cannot be said that the rest of the world has moved on from piracy. In fact, increasing instability both economic and political the world over has forced those affected to turn to the life of crime as a last-ditch attempt for financial security. Those in Syndicate-influenced lands such as Greece, Colombia and some parts of Africa were particularly affected, evidenced by many pirate bands emerging from desperate Sprawl-dwellers. While those in poorer coastal locales began to style themselves as modern-day Robin Hoods - robbing from ships passing by in order to give away their wealth to those less privileged than them. Others are willing to put their thievery for sale, letting smaller shipping businesses pay for their services to harass competitors.

Of course, an organization such as the Dread Corsairs tends to gravitate towards many of these men and women. With their lax standards on criteria for membership and promises of regular monetary rewards, many of these budding corsairs went on account, and eventually signed themselves up at the nearest Corsair ship. They soon find out, however, that success in the Corsairs entails hard work, and hard work means submitting to the will of that ship's captain. This means that when the captain wants them to swab the deck, cook the meals and look after his riches, they must do it at once if they want to secure their piece of the bounty. But nobody said anything about picking up loose quarters...

So, while those who dissented were either keelhauled or just unceremoniously thrown overboard for the sharks, those surviving *"mateys"* receive their first firearms as a rite of passage. But as those higher-ranked in the ship enjoy greater access to more exotic women, weaponry (and gold), those "mateys" have to make do with simple shotguns and sniper rifles in order to storm civilian cruise ships for ransom, pick off enemy coastal patrols, and turn on their own fellow crew and captains when necessary; a regular occurrence.