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Message: <blockquote data-quote="baakyocalder" data-source="post: 2164895" data-attributes="member: 7404">Piracy in Reanaarria Bay-some 16th and 17th century material for useThe big difference in piracy in Reanaaria Bay and in the 16th and 17th century Caribbean is technology.  16th and 17th century ships could sail for months at a time without resupplying and could carry many men.  Larger pirate ships were more packed than the merchant ship, as they carried enough crew to overpower any merchant vessel (even one with a few marines protecting the cargo).Another thing to keep in mind with piracy is that small islands, channels, and other aquatic terrain features are good spots for pirates to hide.  Many small repairs could be made on a small godforsaken island in the 16th and 17th century, and they didnt' have any D&D-style wizards then!  Major ports are neccessary for large repairs, but remember that unless the citizens of non-pirate islands in Reanarria Bay know a ship is a pirate ship, the pirates can use their harbor and dock facilities.  Furthermore, most of the nations in Reanaaria Bay are at war with each other and as a major outlet of trade, the ships of other nations which are engaged in hostilities travel to Reanaaria Bay.  Pirates can pose as privateers quite easily-in fact in the Carribean many a privateer turned pirate once his government declared peace.  Then, a few months or years later, if the privateer turned pirate hadn't been caught, the new letters of marquee from the constant war between the European powers meant he was back to privateering.As for ports, I am not certain how many vessels each handles at once, but a city of 50,000 like Zoa could certainly handle many ships.  If you keep in mind that the water-based trade in Reanaaria Bay is year-round, it's not hard to imagine thousands of ships to plunder.There are many books on pirates and the Carribean in the 16th and 17th century.  A good overview of the Carribean in that period can be found in GURPS Swashbucklers .  Time-Life did a series on ships and one of those volumes is on pirates.  The complex political and economic situation is covered well for the English West Indies in Richard S. Dunn's classic monograph Sugar and Slaves: The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713. There will also be more on the Carribean in Alan Taylor's American Colonies ; though neither Dunn nor Taylor cover piracy in great detail other important social aspects of the period (particularly the slave trade and Carribean economies) are covered which makes them quite useful.  You can find other books quite easily-with that Pirates of the Carribean movie getting a sequal, I'm sure a lot of pirate books are back in print. Mark Plemmons' idea to look at the pirates as seafaring bandits is probably best-the Carribean pirates were nowhere near so organized as the Reanaaria Bay pirates but much of the Reanaaria Bay organization is at the top.  The pirate captain just has to give a cut to the pirate lords and sail when he sails.Hopefully this helps out.  While we are at that, can we get a reworking of pirate vessels in Salt and Sea Dogs so sloops are faster than heavily-laden galleons?</blockquote>

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