Pirates, Smugglers, & Thieves

As humanity journeyed into the stars, it all seemed as if things might just turn out fine. Bold explorers were establishing colonies on other worlds and vast riches flowed back to Earth. Riches that tempted the greedy and cruel corporatists. When the first incorporated worlds revealed their true, oppressive nature, the pirates began to rise up. They were fierce and independent. Resisting through protests or acts of terrorism would never work - but acts of thievery? The corporations needed commerce and profit, they needed shipping and business.

The pirtes simply asked:

If this is a lawless frontier? Who says we follow your rules?

Taking from the Rich

The first pirates emerged in the worst of the corporate systems. Worlds where they didn’t even bother with the pretext of indentured servitude and went straight to slavery. When protestors were slaughtered like cattle, enterprising and angry groups decided they would steal the rarest asset: ships. The ships were the true route of the executives power. With control of the ships, a corporation could run a navy, control police, rain hell upon their enemies, and trap their workers with no recourse but to obey or die. It wasn’t protests that mattered, it was the ships.

In the early days, a pirate crew would find an opportunity, capture a ship, and disappear into the void. In time they would tune their ships:

• Speed to conduct raids
• Fire power to slug it out
• Armor to tank through corporate escorts

As piracy spread, whole pirate fleets formed. As fleets formed, the pirates were emboldened. They captured whole systems to use as their own. Operations would break into corporate systems and attack shipping, manufacturing, anything they desired. It grew to a point that the corporations couldn’t ignore it - but they also couldn’t stop it.

Perhaps the biggest problem was with the soldiers. The rank and file of the private navies had more in common with the pirates than their rich overlords. They weren’t motivated to fight and die for some jackass’s extra pennies. It created a system full of holes. So many could be bribed, others would simply never raise the alarm. It gave the pirates time to spread and gain power. In return, the pirtes would often take care of the poorest among them.

The Pirate Population

To be a pirate was to refuse oppression. They were fed up with the suffering and for many, so long as they didn’t inflict that suffering on someone else, they’d do anything to escape. It speaks volumes to the depth of abuse that mass-thievery was the moral high ground, but as the pirates say:

If the company-man swindled, forced, and coerced his workers to make a deal-
If the company-man stole because his workers had no choice-
If the company-man never deserved what he got-

Then we are not stealing, because it was NEVER his to own in the first place.
We are offering the company-man the same deal he makes: give us all you have and I WILL GIVE YOU NOTHING in return.

Among the pirates, there is no such thing as thievery when it comes to a company shipment.

What they take has no legitimate owner and what they do is use it to feed themselves and even the less fortunate among them. To live in a pirate base is to have a decent life. They grow their own food where they can, enjoy the latest movies, and work a reasonable shift for a cut of the haul. The injured receive medical care and they all work to lift one-another up.

Mostly.

Factions

The pirates are not a unified force. Some are territorial and will claim a cut of all shipments in their territory - while attacking rival pirtes who invade. Some pirate factions have gone to war with each other. It’s not a happy family, except for their common enemy. When faced with a Corporate Pig, pirates will often set aside their differences. It’s better than they should fight and die together slaughtering their enemy, than to fight each other so the pig can slaughter the survivor.

Pirates in New Athens

The proposal to colonize New Athens created a rare and unusual opportunity. It was common enough for the pirates to have control of a system - one they’d conquered. It was common enough to even have a moon as a base of operations for the larger factions. Never had a pirate been afforded the chance to shape a world from its very foundations - to be welcomed in and have a say in the laws of the land from day one. There was no fighting, just a tacit acceptance.

Those who ventured to New Athens did so eagerly. They used the corporatists money to buy more ships and to build their bases. There was a loose agreement: the pirates could operate in and participate in governing New Athens, but they could not steal from it. It was a reasonable trade off. Their new worlds would give them opportunities only dreamed of before. And the inexperienced corporate executives had mistakenly left in a few loopholes that any good thief would happily exploit.

Legalized Piracy

When acts of piracy happen with New Athens, it’s legally a police seizure or a police enforcement. There is no unified code of law for the entire system and the void of space is often treated as the pirates’ domain. Where a pirate cannot legally take without reason, they simply use a corporatists excuse:

You didn’t pay for your permit/license to pass through my territory. You may pay the fine or we impound your valuables.

They weren’t stealing. By the letter of the law, they seized goods to satisfy a debt. Still, the pirates are selective. They don’t attack the average citizen or most of New Athens businesses. No, they just focus on those who can afford and deserve to be raided.