Free Captains
The most successful and famous people who prey upon the shipping lanes of the Pact Worlds system through piracy, freebooting, raiding, and smuggling are known as the Free Captains. These individuals have banded together in recognition of their common purpose and claim to be represented by an elected Pirate Council. They claim to follow a common code that tells them who can be raided, which ships can be sold or scuttled, and who has paid their protection money to be spared from these depredations. While these rules may appear arbitrary, they keep the Free Captains united enough to keep them from being easily picked off by the system's military and law enforcement agency such as the Stewards.1
Rules of the Free Captains
The exact rules to which all Free Captains agree when they conduct their business have altered over the years, but four have remained consistent. They are:1
- No Free Captain may attack another except in a duel sactioned by the Pirate Council.
- Those who pay the Free Captains' protection fee must never be preyed upon by its members.
- Any deal that is freely negotiated with a Free Captain will be honored.2
- Any crew member serving under a Free Captain is free to leave while in port, but once the ship is underway, must fight to the death if their captain commands it.
Locations
Free Captains can be found throughout the Pact Worlds system and beyond, but are most frequently encountered in the asteroid belt known as the Diaspora. The Pirate Council meets there on an asteroid called Broken Rock whose location is a closely guarded secret, and which is rumored to be very well defended.1
Long-term goals
Until recently it was thought that the Free Captains had no long-term ambitions other than to support the individual activities of their members. Certain intelligence reports have lately suggested, however, that the Free Captains' growing influence has given rise to nationalist sentiments, and that a "pirate kingdom" may be in the works.1
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 . Core Rulebook, 476. Paizo Inc., 2017
- ↑ This rule is designed primarily to let those who trade their lives for their cargo know that they won't be killed after their goods have been taken.
