Pirates... (Closed for female characters)

[Dashenka]

Well the title kinda says it all doesn't it?

However it might need a little explanation. I haven't got any story line set into stone but I would want a little depth and plot. If you are looking for a Pirate game with damsels in distress being keelhauled, raped and tortured, this isn't for you. Some of this might happen but I don't want that to be the goal of the game.

So what I'm looking for is some players with an idea on what they would like to play, and a character they would like to play and I'm not going to give roles that I want, because of that.

If you have an pirate oriented idea in mind or just an interesting character or if you think you can take a game like this to the next level, please do not hesitate to reply.


One of the ideas that I have: (but again this is NOT set in stone yet)

The year is 1780, or thereabouts. The Golden Age of Caribbean piracy is in the past, but it still isn't quite safe to set sail for the colonies.

A brigantine operating from a pirate haven off the east coast of Africa preys on merchantmen sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, and our story starts just as the pirates capture the governor of India's daughter on her way to join her father there.

The pirates grow greedy, amassing a tidy stash of treasure, they get the navies of a few different countries sent after them eventually, and a mutiny breaks out. Also, they use the governor's daughter as their ship's bicycle.

Right so I'm gonna leave it with this and going to once more ask for creative players who do not shun a little bit of violence and a lot of alcohol. This probably won't be a very quick game knowing myself but one post a week at least is what I'm aiming for. I don't expect 10 paragraphs but please do try :) I'm not a grammar nazi but one thing that does set me off is interpunction. A sentence ends with 1 dot followed by 1 space and starts with a capital, a new paragraph starts with an enter and a capital, etc etc.

Any takers?

[LimitlessNikkie]

Hmm could be interesting, keeping an eye on this.

[effervescent]

Yes, this definitely sounds intresting and I really like the idea that you have. The story about the captain, The crew, and the prisoners they keep. I really think that is the main thing about pirates. :)

[OHWceta]

I do have some RPs ideas with pirates in mind. Though my pirates are a little less than typical for what you'd think of pirates normally.

[Ramster]

I'm in! I'll play an older shipmaster, I think.

[RipTide]

I'm absolutely in. I'd be interested to play one of the new crew members.

[Kristine]

Privet Dashenka :)

This sounds interesting... Though maybe without slave-part...
Classically Caribbean pirates had their own code of honor, and in fact many of them were runaway slaves. And they were among first societies back than in that part of world with actual democracy among their lines... Even Captain of the ship was forced to listen to each sailor and they didn't have slaves and divide the treasures equally... Well that's maybe bit romanticized and not true to every known pirate in history but anyway...

oh, and of course, this is your roleplay, i'm not here to preach :p

[Dashenka]

It would be to accomodate the story. Not reality :)

So does that mean you will join without the slave part?

[Kristine]

Yes I know, that's just a story... didn't want to sound annoying :)

Well, I will gladly join even with slavery part if you want. But I somehow have time problems right now... I think I won't be able to log in more than once a day, if it's ok for you.

[Dashenka]

God once a day is plenty for most us... :D

[Kairi]

I would very much like to join as more of a boat technician, someone who knows how to run the sails and make repairs, like rat off of sinbad for those of you who know the disney show. If you'll have me my character is bull headed but intelligent and she's always got 2 or 3 bottels of rum stashed near by... she ALWAYS has her rum hehe. Let me know how the set up goes because I am very interested in this idea.

[EvilBeast]

This could be fun. Count me interested.

[Dashenka]

Ill get a character sheet up soon..

As things stand now, I might have to make a selection on players as too many people signed for my comfort. I prefer around 5 or 6 to keep it all running smoothly. But please do submit your character and we can select from there or maybe extend the number of players.

[Hart]

Sounds interesting! I love a well-themed RP and since the other group plot is still in the working I don't think it would be over-stretching myself to join this one too.

Very interested in playing a young existing crew-member with influence. Perhaps 2nd in command or part of the mutiny?

Don't mind an application process either, keeps things from getting too out of hand... ;)

[kckolbe]

This sounds interesting, but I don't have a character concept yet.

[Dashenka]

Right this is kind of the speed I'll be posting at :)

Let's make a few character sheets and see what we end up with.


Name: If you are a pirate some nicknames would be nice.
Age: Not that I'm expecting many but pirates didn't get much older than 40 unless he/she is a captain.
Role on the ship: Crew, Captain, Captive etc...
Background: Where did your character come from? How did he/she end up being a pirate? If you want to play some captive person please state why you would be interesting for pirates to take on board. (Any low life scallywag would be murdered so you need to be worth taking on board)
Appearance and interesting feats. How your character looks and what his/her trademark is. (Massive hat, wooden eye, wooden leg, scars, curly beards, etc)
Anything else you would you like us to know.


Please copy paste the above in a new reply and post it here. I hope to get this started somewhere next week. Also don't be afraid to post double characters. If somebody already submitted a captain and you wanted to play one too, just go ahead and post. If it's interesting enough, we'll make it work.

[LimitlessNikkie]

Name: Fara, the sharks teeth,
Age: 22
Role on the Ship: First Mate
Background: Born on the coasts of England Fara was little more then a maids daughter destine to marry have children and work herself to the bone just as he mother had done and her mother before her. To say Fara was less then enthused would be an under statement, she wanted nothing more then to escape the confines of the fate laid out for her.

Fara was lucky in may respects, the mistress of the house thought it good for her boys to play with the other children and she Fara got to play with the two boys learning things many young girl would not, like how to tie a knot and use a slender dagger. She fought with play swords and until she was 9 years old she lead a carefree life filled with the joys of doing something few of her sex ever had a chance to.

But by the time she was 13 it was obvious that playing with the boys was effecting her. She seemed to have little patients for the girls and their frivolous ways. She cared nothing for bonnets or ribbons and smirked shaking her head when one was over come with the vapors. Sewing held little appeal when their were trees to be climbed or swimming to be done, but above all these faults one lay above all the rest and that was her fascination with the wilds of the world.

This fascination was to be blamed completely on the lord of the houses younger rakish brother. The man was in his late twenties when he descended upon the house in a whirl of fine cloth and foreign scents. Fara was taken with him from the very start. At the tender age of 14 he was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen with sun gilded skin dark brown hair that was a bit too long curling along the edge of his collar and eyes so blue they riveled the sea to the west.

Above his beautiful looks that infected her mind and made her feel wholly female for the first time was his stories. Sir Andrew had traveled the world for the last five years and was filled of stories of men who spoke to god and woman who wore covers over all of themselves save their eyes, of place filled with nothing but sand and others so lush and green you'd soon grow sick of such overwhelming beauty.

Like an illness his words infected her, awoke in her a desire to see places so wondrous she could hardly imagine them. Long after he left that wonder lust stayed with her and her dreams turned to the horizon as she yearned to see just beyond that border far more then she ever wanted anything.

Her mother worried about her as one would expect. At 15 Fara was at the age to be flirting with the boys, dreaming of love and romance, to be enchanted by a soft spoken word and a lingering glance but Fara had no interest in such things. Her body bloomed and she seemed to grow lovelier by the day but she cared nothing for the boys who doted on her wanting only to see the world that she spent every night dreaming of.

Sailors were always coming into port in a town a few hours ride from Fara's home on the country estate but it was a few months before her 16th birthday before she managed to get there. It seemed she'd finally found a use for flirting. A few hours of weedling the stablemasters son and she and him took the elicit trip to the port city. There Fara was caught up in the whirl of activity, for a day she hid beneath her cloak and sat in the back of a pub listening to the men jest and tell stories wishing with all her might that she could go with them.

Henry was bugging her pleading with her to come home when the air in the pub shifted. At first Fara wasn't sure what changed, it took her a moment to realize what it was. A woman stood framed in the door way the light caressing the curve of her hips as the woman surveyed the room. She was dressed like the men only a bit rougher as if she'd been long from Port and Fara felt drawn to her, wanting immediately to cast off her cloak and approach her.

The woman walked threw the pub as if she owned it and for the next hour sat at a solitary table drinking her legs kicked up light winking off the hilt of her slender rapier. The men were talking of her and it didn't take long for Fara to hear who she was, Selena Shark, the deadly pirate feared by anyone with a mind towards living. She was rumored to be ruthless and cruel but none of those facts seemed to matter to Fara who watched her with wonder.

Henry fed up with Fara's refusal to leave left her behind, not that she noticed spending long hour in the pub. By midnight the place was alive with new whispers, Shark was taking on new crew. As if the hands of fate had moved just for her Fara knew this was what she'd been waiting for, why she was never content with the idea of being a mother and a wife, this was what she'd been meant for. But for all her convictions it took some convincing to get Shark to take her on.

To Shark the girl was little more then a babe strayed too far from her mama. She was skinny, wide innocent looking eyes looked at her with hopeful excitement and a mass of curly dark brown hair made her look all too young. She would have told Fara no entirely it it wasn't for the way she spoke, lacking all feminine charms she was calculating and swift, quick on her feet her mind agile and quick to comprehend, the girl missed nothing.

During the fading might Fara never strayed far from Shark, fetching her drink when she required it and offering her opinion when ever Shark wanted it and for the next five years nothing much changed. Fara became Shark's trusted adviser her opinions valued above all other. During that time she honed her skills with a rapier becoming very well versed in it's use, learned to distance her emotions form the some times ugly work of a pirate and took the edge off the wonder lust that always drove her to seek out the next horizon.

At twenty tragedy struck. Shark took ill and never recovered dying of blood poisoning. As First mate the ship went to her but Fara had no heart for captaining the ship that she'd always feel in her heart belonged to her dear departed friend. She choose a new captain and with a heavy heart found a new captain and a new ship to serve. Again she fell into the roll for which she was comfortable advising a captain and holding a few fingers of authority over the crew as the first mate.
Appearance and interesting feats. Fara's most notable aspect of her appearance is the thick mane of mahogany curls that fall in a graceful tumble down her back. By some quirk of genetics or a secret feminine habit they always look soft and shiny always perfectly ordered in a silken fall down her back. She was average in her height standing at 5'6' and weighing a scant 103 pounds. Gentle curves accented her hips and she had a small but well formed bust that even with binding seemed to defy her efforts to flatten it. She had a small mouth, pert nose and wide slivered blue eyes that even now looked a touch too innocent even knowing what kind of reputation she held.
Anything else you would you like us to know. Fara is skilled with a rapier, dislikes all firearms never having developed a taste for them. She takes no kindness to too much attention from a man more comfortable being treated as any other member of the crew then as a desirable female never having come to terms with her sexual nature having no taste for the drunken paws of men who had no care for her own desires. She never gets drunk and only drinks when it's required of her and only spends as much time below deck as is required spending the rest high above the water in the rigging her eyes trained on the distant horizon.

[Hart]

((Bear in mind I usually loathe using cartoon/anime images. But it was next to impossible to find a stock that wasn't Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom...  :-\ ))

Name: Leon Harlowe (Leo)
Age: 24
Role on the ship: Boatswains Mate (ship master in charge of the crew and their management).
Background: Like most pirates, Leon came into the profession out of desperation, seeking to carve his fortune out of sea spray, steel and gunpowder. His childhood, if one could call it a childhood, was spent amongst the hustle and bustle of the London streets. A street urchin by profession (nay, livelihood) abandoned by his prostitute-mother, many would say he was never destined for an honest life. And true enough, the wry young boy was an adept thief with a tongue and mind almost as fast as his hands and feet.

He grew up learning the ways of the rogues and, knowing no other lifestyle, he loved it. The freedom, the rush or living on his wits and the debauchery that surrounded him. He learnt the tips and tricks that helped him survive; learning how to read people's body language, pick a pocket, he was even skilled with a dagger. But as he grew older, he realised a move from the city streets was needed to fuel his increasingly sinful lifestyle. And liquor and wenches came readily to pirates, so joining a ship was a natural choice.

And so it was he joined the fateful crew where he would begin the next chapter of his life. Beginning as a lowly crew member, Leon was initially discontented scrubbing the decks and chewing tack with the rowdy, slow bunch. He sought recognition, exciting jobs and the promise of wealth. It was lucky then, that the captain was captured by naval officers during a sortie in a Spanish port one day.

Sure, the crew had suggested leaving the man to rot in his cramped cell, but Leon sided with a strong band of the old captain's supporters, helping devise a plan to bust him from incarceration. To this day, no one is sure how a pack of playing cards, a woman's dress and several loaded muskets were turned into a plan worthy of swiping a pirate out from under the noses of the Spanish navy, but the details were lost in the haze of whiskey and rum that followed their celebrations. Needless to say, Leon was at the heart of the escapade and won the Captain's trust, who placed the young swashbuckler in positions of larger and larger power.

After half a year of leading raids on the French coast, Leon had learnt the graceful style of florentine-fighting, using two swords as deftly as one. Thrown into the deep end of seamanship when he was entrusted with guiding a commandeered trade ship back to a pirate port, Leon picked up the delicate skills of navigation. And all the while, he gained the respect of the crew, for it was here he truly excelled. Leon's way with words was his real weapon, able to diffuse situations and persuade the weak-willed with ease.

And so now the dashing, young pirate is Boatswain's mate amongst the pirate crew. In charge of managing the crew, just below the first mate, but with greater respect in 'the trenches' as it were. From rallying the men to sail or leading a boarding assault, Leon takes it in his stride. Though the nagging voice of ambition still sounds in his mind every now and then...

Appearance and interesting feats. Bright blue eyes stand out against his thin face, the strands of his loosely-trimmed blonde hair falling lightly on his gaze. He has an almost elfin demeanour, his sharp chin and shallow cheeks making him look a little younger than his 24 years.

His body itself is lean yet toned, his corded muscles a product of a hard life at sea. Leon isn't particularly bulky, nor strong. But what he lacks in pure, brute force, he makes up in speed and agility. A youth spent on the run has made the man a fast fighter and something of a gymnast while moving through the rigging of the ship. This is only to his advantage in a fight, his flashy style of fighting with two swords heavily reliant on his confidence in movement.

Long arms and legs end in strangely supple hands, which still retain the light touch needed of a thief.

In terms of dress, Leon tries to stand out from the 'mundane' of the crew, trying to wear the light shirts, well cut pants and leather boots he never had as a youth. He is also rarely without a tricorne hat of some kind. However, despite his attempts at sophistication, Leon never goes overboard, knowing all to well the rough life a pirate leads.

Anything else you would you like us to know. Despite the outward image of loyalty, Leon is at heart, out for himself. His goals, his needs, his desires. He is a determined man and able to use his wit, skill and cunning to get what he wants. He has a knack for placing himself in positions of power and his quick hands and tongue aid him in situations where the strength and intimidation he lacks, would ultimately fail.

[Dashenka]

Two nice characters. All other interested still interested? Please post your character soon. I will do the same soon. :)

[EvilBeast]

dash,

I'm working on mine. Just don't know really what role he'd fill on the ship. I hope to have him posted today.

[Haibane]

Possibly interested. Maybe as a governer's daughter who is on a small warship (sloop, brig) travelling between two islands and happens to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm thinking a dusky Spanish maiden, alluring but cluelessly innocent.

Where is the game set please, Dashenka? Caribbean or somewhere a bit more original...? ;)

[Dashenka]

Well I would prefer the Arctic ocean obviously... not so damn hot :D  But I don't really have decided on a setting. Caribbean would be fine, or maybe Asia or something. I'm really open for suggestions and waiting for character sheets before I hammer it out in stone.

[Ramster]

After a quick browse through my Bolitho novels, I'll go for the Indian Ocean, circa 1780. It was probably an even bigger hotbed of piracy than the Caribbean back in the day. Parts still are!

So here's my character, or at least a mock up of him. Seeing as there are no other volunteers, I'll throw my name in the hat as captain, or else I'm happy to play the sailing master. I'll tweak the biography below as necessary depending on the period and his role.


Name: Albert Griffiths (Blond Bert to officers and ratings who want twenty lashes!)

Age: 39

Role on the ship: Captain

Background: Born in Swansea, Wales, Albert first went to sea at the tender age of 9, when he learned the dangers of underage drinking by being press ganged into the Royal Navy. Hardened by a few years of scampering up the rigging, he served as an able seaman, then as a midshipman, master's mate and sailing master, finally receiving his first command of a sloop in what turned out to be the last week of the Umpteenth Dutch War, just shy of his 27th birthday.

Rather than stay on shore and wait for a new conflict to break out, Bert signed up for a whaling voyage as a sailing master. After two months searching the pack ice, and only harpooning three whales, he and the crew had had quite enough of the cold and the guarantee of meagre pay for their failed hunt. They took command of the vessel, dropped off the train oil they'd boiled in France with a minimum of paperwork, then set sail for the East Indies under a number of false flags, where the ship wouldn't be expected, selling the whaling equipment on the way.

Grizzled by a life at sea, Griffiths has raided the oceans on either side of Africa for  more than ten years now. He currently sails a brigantine called the Courtesan, and prefers to prey on Dutch and English merchantmen. He hates the English almost as much as the Spanish, the Spanish almost as much as the French, and the French almost as much as the Dutch. Nor can he stand the Portuguese. He's willing to tolerate almost any nationality as long as they make themselves useful in his service, though.

Appearance and interesting feats:

As his nickname would suggest, Albert sports a long blond head of hair, and being quite the dandy he shaves every week or so. He stands a lofty 5'11, and still likes to climb the rigging himself for exercise, to get his bearings, and to shout at his sailors on deck during drills. It's rumoured that he has sired two bastard sons in ports 12,000 miles apart. He also has the annoying habit of drawing incomprehensible little symbols to his ship's charts, some indicating reliable treasure ship routes, others marking such mysterious locations as the den of the Kraken to pull his navigator's leg. He can fire and reload a musket or pistol three times in a minute, and carries six loaded pistols on a bandolier. While in the navy, he grew half deaf in his right ear, a result of overenthusiastic gunnery.













I'll amend and add to the profile once we've firmly decided on a starting point and date, and as I come up with any more interesting details before the game starts.

[Haibane]

Mm, Sean Bean. In a 95th Rifles uniform. Hotness of the first order.

[kckolbe]

I like him, Ramster.  Already a Sean Bean fan as well, and Blond Bert is one hell of a name, doesn't hurt that it is similar to that of my favorite pirate.  So is the majority of the crew composed of ex-whalers?