Notes

This cycle of the Saga of Life had, until now, few stories based on history. I wanted to compensate that, apparently, for this story is filled to the brim with events and characters based on true history.

Not all of it is 100% true, of course. To simplify the story (and shorten it) I’ve had to change a few things. But I’ll explain the true origins of this story below.

Captain Kidd

Pi is my version of “William Kidd”. This is a famous captain who became a pirate around the start of the “Golden Age of Piracy” (roughly the start of the 18th century).

He started in the employ of the British king. It was his job to find pirates—though they weren’t called that yet—and destroy them to keep the British trading ships safe. (They had discovered India and America by now and used their ships to steal valuable material from those colonies.)

When away from home, however, the journey dragged on and they met obstacle after obstacle, until his ship crew openly told him he had to become a pirate. Or they’d throw him overboard.

So he became a pirate. Although …

Kidd has done many questionable things and has certainly attacked or plundered other ships. But whether he was a true pirate, we can’t be sure. Most proof points at the fact he refused to become a pirate and tried to stay an honest employee to the king. That’s probably why he struggled with his crew that told him: “Don’t be boring, we would be great pirates, and then we’d earn way more gold!”

He was clever. He followed the rules. An example of that is when he met a large Dutch ship and his crew begged him to attack it, but he refused because he knew it was a bad move politically at the time.

In the end, he parked his ship somewhere and hid all his possession on “Gardiner’s Island”: an island of which few knew the exact location. That’s probably where our idea of pirates hiding treasure chests comes from. Pirates want to keep their riches safe somewhere, but they can’t take it with them (to policed harbors or on long journeys), and it’s suspicious to spend it all. So they stow it away, below the sand, in a secret place. (But the idea, of course, is always to come back later and use it themselves.)

After hanging up his pirate sword, he planned to live a normal life with his wife Sarah.

That pardon for pirates, as the story states, indeed specifically made an exception for him. (Though the reason for that is a bit more political than the story describes.)

In the end he was tricked (with false promises that the pardon would apply to him too), accused of murder and piracy, and hung to death.

Stede Bonnet

Paunet is my version of “Stede Bonnet”, also known as “The Gentleman Pirate”.

He came from a rich family and lived a comfortable live. But he was bored and unhappy, so he decided to become a pirate.

He had no knowledge of ships or plundering. He paid his crew a fixed salary; all the other pirates simply received a fair share from whatever they plundered. His method of piracy was mostly distant and friendly: his worst deed was burning a ship that was already deserted.

He fooled his home island (Barbados) into giving him funds to build a ship. A ship to hunt pirates, in service of the British empire. Only when he left the harbor did he suddenly raise a pirate flag and continue life as a pirate.

(No, Stede and Kidd never met each other in real life, for Stede only became a pirate after Kidd.)

Hornigold & Charles Vane

Karlos is “Charles Vane”. Another famous pirate. He was known for being incredibly cunning and inhumanly cruel. His accident in touching “the curse” (for a long time) is my personal explanation for why he wasn’t mentally stable anymore.

Thorngold is “Benjamin Hornigold”. Less famous, actually a pretty average seaman. But he’s still well-known and important, because …

Both these characters were instrumental in the creation of the largest pirate legend of all: Blackbeard. Hornigold was his mentor and taught him. Karlos Vaan “challenged” him to become a pirate, as opposed to using his exceptional skill for the British empire or only minor plundering.

And Stede Bonnet? He, funnily enough, became best friends with Blackbeard and saved his life multiple times.

This story is a kind of setup. Later stories will continue with these characters.

About fighting when the war’s over

This has happened several times in our history. For example, if one side of the war wasn’t certain the peace treaty would actually make it through, they’d secretly prepare to fight all the same. Especially at sea, or with long distances, it’s hard to receive messages accurately and quickly.

But most examples of this are surprisingly recent, and illustrate that difficult communication isn’t even the biggest problem here. Take Hiroo Onada who, during World War 2, received the command to defend the island Lubang. Even thirty years after the war, Onada still believed the war wasn’t over and kept fighting anybody who wanted to live on that island. Eventually, they had to fly in his old captain (from the war) to officially “release him from his duty”.

The Shenandoah was a ship that kept fighting for years when the war was already over. They did it because they just could not believe they had lost. But when they wanted to return home, eventually, they couldn’t do so because everyone accused them of piracy and cruelty by now. While they thought they were honorably fighting for their home land and would die heroes!

This wasn’t the case for our specific characters, such as William Kidd, though. I still found it an interesting phenomenon that I wanted to include in a story.

About buccaneers and pirates

Of course there were “sea bandits” far before Willim Kidd and Blackbeard entered the stage. Even in the oldest written texts we can find, there’s proof of people who build ships … and thus people who attack those ships for their own gain.

Hopefully the story clarifies this. That’s why I consistantly chose the word “buccaneer” until they finally start using the word “pirate” (at the epilogue).

The difference, though, is that those buccaneers were very rare creatures in the old days. Because what were you most likely to encounter at sea?

• Either a fishing boat
• Or a war ship full of soldiers on its way to yet another war

You don’t want to attack that second ship; it’d be your death. So your greatest possible gain would be a pile of dead fish. Not very attractive.

But, at the start of the 18th century, the empires of that day discovered the other side of the world. England, France, Holland, they all started sending ships to grab gold and other valuable material from their colonies overseas. Suddenly the job of a buccaneer was very attractive. If you plundered a ship, you were actually rich.

And most ships couldn’t defend themselves; they’d rely on other ships being sent with them like bodyguards. Like William Kidd. He was actually taught how to be a good captain and given a ship to defend trade ships. Most pirates started in service of an empire, educated by said empire, only to betray them and become a pirate later (when they were far from home).

Those two events combined led to the “Golden Age of Piracy”: lots of gold to steal, lots of captains, lots of ships given to them for free.

Characters

• Pi Kid (Ape): in service of his home country (Casbrita) and believes in doing what’s right. Very skilled and smart captain. His idea of morality collides with that of his crew. Dreams of being a hero, then loses that dream when he sees the consequences.
  • Halfgod, child of Gulvi, father of one of the original Seafarers.
  • Talks in a weird mix of formal and pirate slang (with some “aye” in there)
• Paunet (Peacock): has an easy life. Rich family, lots of money, pretty estate, marry a powerful woman at a young age. But he wants excitement, adventure, danger. That’s his hart and he increasingly follows it. Cares a lot about appearance, clothes, being formal and neat.
  • Talks pretty formal, adding “say I” to many things (“It’s no problem, say I.”)
  • Also a descendant of the original Seafarers, but not a halfgod.
• Paula (Peacock): a pretty grey person, who wants a simple and safe life and nothing more. Has to come out of her shell in an attempt to keep Paunet home. She fails; then chooses her own happiness.
  • Family member of president Barbela. Once Paunet is gone, and she gets everything, she becomes a very powerful character on the island.
• Thorngold (Rhino): big and strong, loves cannons.
• Karlos (Cat): black, elegant, vain. Is touched by the curse and never the same again. Good fighter, even against swords thanks to his nails.
• Widagai (Parrot): accidentally starts the trend of pirates keeping a parrot as their pet. Would rather not be a pirate and just play an innocent messenger.
• Mogono (Mongoose): a brown mongoose (on Barbela) who has been in the exact same place, doing the exact same thing, every day. Content with his simple and safe life.