Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
(OOC thread here.)
In 1492, an Italian mariner sailed west on behalf of the Spanish monarchy, seeking a new trade route to India. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas.
These islands were beautiful, with warm weather, sandy beaches, fertile land -- and abandoned ruins with no sign of the original inhabitants. But crucially, among the ruins, his crew found gold jewelry. And that was enough: The European colonization of the New World began almost immediately.
But soon after the first European settlements in the Caribbean were established, the undead poured out of the sea, devouring the living, many of whom rose as new members of the horde.
European powers might have abandoned the Caribbean if it wasn't discovered that the destroyed remains of the undead were a powerful psychedelic drug known as ash. While it has created countless addicts, it's also unlocked magical and spiritual awareness in many of its partakers.
So the European powers maintain a loose grip on the Caribbean, even as they settle more firmly into the rest of the New World. In the Caribbean, pirates, privateers, naval vessels and merchants hunt for treasures left by the original inhabitants of the islands while dodging the ever-increasing numbers of the undead. Shadowy cults who predict the End Times are nigh lurk in the shadows.
You are crew members on the pirate ship Tarantula, under the command of Englishman Silas Davies. He carries a letter of marque from the Portuguese Empire and instructions to rob the Spanish and Dutch and not get caught stealing from other European powers. But as the Portuguese do not control any ports in the Caribbean, the nearest friendly harbor is weeks of sailing across the Atlantic and the letter of marque is just a piece of paper Davies keeps in his cabin.
The Tarantula is two days out of the pirate port of Nassau. Davies has promised the crew treasure on this journey, but his exact plans he's only shared with Scaggs, his quartermaster, his fellow Bristolian.
It's close to sundown when unnatural storm clouds suddenly come roaring across the horizon after a nearly cloudless day and rain begins to lash the deck.
Within minutes, the weather has gone from clear to hurricane conditions.
In 1492, an Italian mariner sailed west on behalf of the Spanish monarchy, seeking a new trade route to India. Instead, he landed in the Bahamas.
These islands were beautiful, with warm weather, sandy beaches, fertile land -- and abandoned ruins with no sign of the original inhabitants. But crucially, among the ruins, his crew found gold jewelry. And that was enough: The European colonization of the New World began almost immediately.
But soon after the first European settlements in the Caribbean were established, the undead poured out of the sea, devouring the living, many of whom rose as new members of the horde.
European powers might have abandoned the Caribbean if it wasn't discovered that the destroyed remains of the undead were a powerful psychedelic drug known as ash. While it has created countless addicts, it's also unlocked magical and spiritual awareness in many of its partakers.
So the European powers maintain a loose grip on the Caribbean, even as they settle more firmly into the rest of the New World. In the Caribbean, pirates, privateers, naval vessels and merchants hunt for treasures left by the original inhabitants of the islands while dodging the ever-increasing numbers of the undead. Shadowy cults who predict the End Times are nigh lurk in the shadows.
You are crew members on the pirate ship Tarantula, under the command of Englishman Silas Davies. He carries a letter of marque from the Portuguese Empire and instructions to rob the Spanish and Dutch and not get caught stealing from other European powers. But as the Portuguese do not control any ports in the Caribbean, the nearest friendly harbor is weeks of sailing across the Atlantic and the letter of marque is just a piece of paper Davies keeps in his cabin.
The Tarantula is two days out of the pirate port of Nassau. Davies has promised the crew treasure on this journey, but his exact plans he's only shared with Scaggs, his quartermaster, his fellow Bristolian.
It's close to sundown when unnatural storm clouds suddenly come roaring across the horizon after a nearly cloudless day and rain begins to lash the deck.
Within minutes, the weather has gone from clear to hurricane conditions.
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