History Characters / SeventhSeaThePirateNations

* ReluctantRuler: One of the defining traits of those who hold the title of Pirate King or Queen. Not for any altruistic reasons, though. The First Charter orders that whoever hold the title must remain on the island of Aragosta to resolve disputes between captains. Putting it bluntly, in an ocean teeming with riches and adventure, being King or Queen is a first class ticket to boredom and poverty. This is probably best exemplified by the "election" of the current Pirate Queen. King Gosse wanted to retire after being maimed on the job, but no one would take the crown from him. So Gosse declared that the '''last''' person to enter the Bucket o' Blood on the last day of the year and say "I don't want your job!" would become the new monarch. All hail the [[JustForPun late]] Queen Bonaventura!

* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: La Bucca was originally established as the most remote prison in all of Theah. Montaigne and Castille exiled their most subversive political prisoners to waste away and die on the island. After the overthrow, they've established a multinational capitalist democracy -- though the aesthetics of ramshackle homes and suspension bridges lead one to believe it's nothing more than a WretecheHive of anarchy and greed.

->"Gold is not the goal, it is the means to the goal. And that, my friends, is freedom." --
>- '''Allende'''

->"Make no mistake, we are now in greater danger than ever. For now, we have something to lose." --
>- '''Chaplain Nsōwaa Nkansa'''

->"In the old world, men are slaves to a fiction, an idea. But when the Company enslaves a Théan criminal or a Rahuri headhunter or an Ifrian prisoner of war, it does so by imposing its will and strength upon that weaker being -- a being of such little internal value that it deserves, nay, craves bondage! Thus, I have allowed even these wretches to realize potential beyond their wildest dreams. Moreover, the best among them earn enough money to buy their own freedom. I am the rising tide which lifts them, as well. The best of them thank me for bringing them here and the worst soon become thankful—or else perish in ignorance, to be replaced by someone better and more deserving." -->- '''President George O'Rourke's Letter to the Shareholders'''

[[Characters/SeventhSea Click here to return to the character page.]]

->"Without a ship and sail, every island is a prison. Théah’s just one big island." -- ''Vincenzo Gatto''

->"In the old world, men are slaves to a fiction, an idea. But when the Company enslaves a Théan criminal or a Rahuri headhunter or an Ifrian prisoner of war, it does so by imposing its will and strength upon that weaker being -- a being of such little internal value that it deserves, nay, craves bondage! Thus, I have allowed even these wretches to realize potential beyond their wildest dreams. Moreover, the best among them earn enough money to buy their own freedom. I am the rising tide which lifts them, as well. The best of them thank me for bringing them here and the worst soon become thankful—or else perish in ignorance, to be replaced by someone better and more deserving." -- President George O'Rourke's Letter to the Shareholders

->"Gold is not the goal, it is the means to the goal. And that, my friends, is freedom." -- ''Allende''

->"Make no mistake, we are now in greater danger than ever. For now, we have something to lose." -- ''Chaplain Nsōwaa Nkansa''

->"Truth, courage and virtue were born here. They never left." — ''Bengüsu Zabat, Numanari Historian''

->"There are many kinds of people from Montaigne, or that far-off Ussura, or Avalon. You speak with a half a hundred voices aboard one ship. Among ourselves, we may speak with single voices. But to you I say, we are the Rahuri. And we speak for the Sea." — ''Great Cacique Jibaro''

->"Without a ship and sail, every island is a prison. Théah’s just one big island." — ''Vincenzo Gatto''
[[quoteright:269:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thepiratenations.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:269:Drink up me hearties, yo ho!]]

From the Bucket o' Blood, the first nine captains came together to forge an alliance to resist Castillian and Montaigne pirate hunters. They proved so successful that the island became a haven for smugglers, dissidents, pirates, and generally the lowest-common-denominators of Theah. The budding Republic was solidified by the nine captains when they signed a formal Charter declaring the nation, and Gatto was given an offer to sign the Charter alongside them. He did so, returning to his beachside home as a withered old man, but his dream of being a pirate realized- and he was never seen again...

* ReluctantRuler: One of the defining traits of those who hold the title of Pirate King/Queen. Not for any altruistic reasons, though. The First Charter orders that whoever hold the title must remain on the island of Aragosta to resolve disputes between captains. Putting it bluntly, in an ocean teeming with riches and adventure, being King/Queen is a first class ticket to boredom and poverty.
** Probably best exemplified by the "election" of the current Pirate Queen. King Gosse wanted to retire after being maimed on the job, but no one would take the crown from him. So Gosse declared that the '''last''' person to enter the ''Bucket o' Blood'' on the last day of the year and say "I don't want your job!" would become the new monarch. All hail the [[JustForPun late]] Queen Bonaventura!

->"In the old world, men are slaves to a fiction, an idea. But when the Company enslaves a Théan criminal or a Rahuri headhunter or an Ifrian prisoner of war, it does so by imposing its will and strength upon that weaker being—a being of such little internal value that it deserves, nay, craves bondage! Thus, I have allowed even these wretches to realize potential beyond their wildest dreams. Moreover, the best among them earn enough money to buy their own freedom. I am the rising tide which lifts them, as well. The best of them thank me for bringing them here and the worst soon become thankful—or else perish in ignorance, to be replaced by someone better and more deserving." ~ President George O'Rourke's Letter to the Shareholders
[[quoteright:154:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theatc.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:154:[[LawfulEvil Nothing personal.]] [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil It's]] [[WarForFunAndProfit just good business]].]]

The most powerful merchant cartel to come out of Theah since the Vendel League, a corporation with the power of a nation that answers to no Crown. The Company holds absolute dominion over most of the Atabean Sea after they were disowned by Vendel League for social darwinist business tendencies, then violently expelled from Montaigne when L'empereur discovered their business philosophy also rejects the absolute rule of monarchs. The company was able to recover and bought the long failing sugar and tobacco plantations of Jaragua, using them to go from a small shipping venture to a global superpower in the space of 30 years.

Most of the Company's Thean customers think they are an honest merchant company, charitably resettling Ifrian war refugees on the Atabean islands, shipping sugar and tobacco back to Theah for consumption, all while being harried by pirates and smugglers. Few in the public know the truth- the company has created a civil war in the Ifrian nation of Mbey, is shipping Ifrians (refugees and kidnapping victims alike) and Thean convicts to the Atabean plantations to work until death, and it's powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Avalon's navy and Montaigne's army in a war. Only in the past few years have the Pirate Nations been able to win victories against the Company to stall their ultimate victory over the Atabean and domination of the few Thean colonies. Time and the actions of Heroes will tell if their luck will hold.

* [[AnAdventurerIsYou A Postal Worker is You]]: So much of the ATC is wrapped up in the inhumanity of the slave trade that there are only three character options for playing someone directly associated with the company- a "Seahorse" postal worker, a deserter, and an escaped Atabean Slave.

->"Gold is not the goal, it is the means to the goal. And that, my friends, is freedom." — ''Allende''
[[quoteright:219:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/labucca.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:219:Let's talk money.]]

* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: La Bucca was originally established as the most remote prison in all of Theah. Montaigne and Castille exiled their most subversive political prisoners to waste away and die on the island. After the overthrow, they've established a multinational capitalist democracy- though the aesthetics of ramshackle homes and suspension bridges lead one to believe it's nothing more than a WretecheHive of anarchy and greed.

->"Make no mistake, we are now in greater danger than ever. For now, we have something to lose." — ''Chaplain Nsōwaa Nkansa''
[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jaragua_5.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:180:Live free or die!]]

* WeirdCurrency: Jaragua's people have so few precious metals and Guilders on the island that they use stamped seashells as their internal currency- which are carefully managed with the help of the Vendel League volunteer Herlief Asgersen, an old man working out of spite for what [[ThatThingIsNotMyChild the ATC has become.]]

[[quoteright:169:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/numanari_3.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:169:[[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece We were great once.]] Time to be great again.]]

[[quoteright:185:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/therahuri2_8.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:185:She started hunting Kraken when she wore ''diapers''.]]

* [[CoolOldGuy Cool Old Person]]: Rahuri Caciques (kah-seeks), the heads of the island villages. Adventurers in the Atabean will inevitably need to seek the help of the Rahuri in order to get around the numerous sea monsters. The abuses of the ATC have made the Caciques much more skeptical of Theans and their intentions.

* SpiritAdvisor: Rahuri magic involves making a journey to the metaphysical Island of the Dead. From there, they can call upon an ancestor to assist with their journey. It's not uncommon for visitors to a Rahuri village to see numerous green, translucent ghosts working diligently to build boats and homes, guard against attackers, or maintain equipment- any suitably important task they have been summoned for.

[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/SeventhSea Click Here to return to the Character Page.]]

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Company's ''Seahorse Division'' (Postal Service) is the only branch of the company untouched by the violence of the slave trade, but it allows the Company to pick and choose what information from the Atabean Sea makes it back to Theah, thus hiding the full extent of their abuses of the Ifri and Rahuri from any nation that might be in a position to stop them.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: The Company had no qualms about who it enslaved, so long as they worked until death. The overwhelming majority of slaves in its Jaraguan plantations were of Ifrian descent, but about one-in-twelve was a convict or political prisoner from Theah.