The pirates of Sirdinarl were once a royal house in the kingdom of Telnor, ruling over the oceanside province of Salestar. However, the line of the Founding Kings came to an end, and the Lords gathered to choose from among themselves a new line of kings. When the votes were counted, the Lord of Salestar was not selected, despite his use of bribes, assassinations, and false rumors. In anger, he attempted to usurp the throne for himself, but his rebellion was put down. Fearing a wider revolt from the lord's supporters among the other royal houses the king refrained from executing him, and instead banished him from Telnor. But what the king did not count on, was that the lord's supporters would defect with him. When the lord left Telnor, he was accompanied by the entire Telnorian Navy, the shipwrights of Telnor, and most other men whose profession linked them to the sea. They sailed south, conquered the native people of the islands, built castles, and called their realm Sordinarl. Initially they demanded that Telnor recognize them as an independent nation, but towards the end of the nation's existence, even up to the point of their abduction of the Crown Princess of Telnor, they ceased to make demands and began plotting to overthrow the royal house and rise to the throne of Telnor themselves. There are four different "classes" among common Sordinarlians: the Sailors, the Shipwrights, the Shadow Blades, and the Islanders. The sailors are pretty self explanatory, so I will skip to describing the Shipwrights, the Shadow Blades and then the Islanders.

The Shipwrights: Considered the upper class among common Sordinarlians. They are often wealthy, because the existence of Sordinarl as a nation depends entirely on having a good navy, and they get paid well for making the best ships in the world.

The Shadow Blades: a feared order of assassins, who are renowned throughout the continent of Vitarentel as among the best assassins in existence (if not the best). I will be doing a post describing them in more detail, which I will link to here as soon as it is finished.

The Islanders: the indigenous people of the tropical island chain now known as Sordinarl. They are usually easy going people, but when it comes to the topic of their subjugation they can be extremely dangerous. I am still working on the culture of the people, but before contact with the Sordinarlians they were a peaceful people. Each island was ruled by a Great Chief, who "owned" all the territory under his domain. The Great Cheifs would then distribute the land among their relatives, who were responsible for the care of the people on their land, and also the use of the land itself. The Islanders believe in a pantheon of gods, and one can still see their shrines (large stacks of rocks pointing to the sky) as you walk through the islands. Men participated in fishing, hunting, and gathering food, while women would often mend their equipment, assist in food gathering, and raise their children.

So, thoughts? Suggestions? I'm going up to the Polynesian Cultural Center here in Hawaii on Saturday, so I will be taking a lot of notes so I can work more on the Islander's culture, which I am basing off of traditional Hawaiian culture. The culture of the former Telnorians is like Telnorian culture with elements of the Hawaiian culture mixed in.

The pirates have an interesting history, with good depth.

Cool! I love cultures based on the South Sea islands.


*Pokes* These guys are very intriguing. I want to read more about them.

@Jonathan, thank you very much, good sir.

@Calista, I'm hoping to do more on the Islanders soon. I was also planning a Shadow Blades update, but I haven't been on HW for a while! I just started my first year at a Christian college, so I haven't had much time to write...

Cool! Oh yeah, I totally understand about school eating writing time. And I'm not even out of highschool yet.

I managed to get the post up about the Shadow Blades! Go check it out here.

Yeah, just wait until you get to college! Jk, it's not that bad, I just procrastinated a little bit, and now that finals week is here, it is coming back to haunt me

*Clicks link*


*Chuckles* Hmm, yeah, procrastination has a habit of doing that to me too.

What type of ships do they use? What type of armament?

I picture them using triangular sail, schooner-type vessels, with long, narrow hulls designed for maximum speed. They typically attempt to hit merchant ships, steal the cargo, and run before the naval escort can catch them. Due to the skill of the crew and the design of the ships, they are extremely successful.

The armaments on the ship are two or three ballistae, designed to launch large hooks attached to ropes on the ships to pull the target closer, but they can also be used to great effect with small round projectiles. They have also designed a ammunition that uses to balls connected by a chain designed to destroy masts, but these are only partially effective because they often cannot reach and maintain a velocity fast enough to break the wood.

As far as the pirates themselves, they use whatever they can find to arm themselves, scimitars, sabers, and short axes or hatchets are favorites, though from time to time they will grab a broadsword. They also use bows and crossbows to great effect from the rigging.

Any more questions? I always love answering, although I haven't been on HW's in a long time (college does that to a person...)

Schooners.
I like schooners, and those are definitely good uses for a schooner, I think, and very realistic pirate tactics that were used in the golden age of piracy. (I'm a bit rusty on nautical history at the moment, though.)

Okay, those make sense, and ballistae remove the risk of blowing the ship up before they can raid it, which I think was a problem during the 17th and 18th centuries.

They have quite the impressive arsenal. Do they not use broadswords frequently just because of their size and length being used in fairly tight corners? Or do they not have the metal?

The ship design won't be called that in the book, but that is the closest thing that we have by which I could describe it...

Lol, I think your nautical history is correct, though...

Correct, and it also enables them to pull the target ship closer for boarding, if they hook a spot strong enough. If they can't board the ship, they don't get the cargo, and have nothing to take home and sell...

They pretty much use what they can get. Correct! Their only source of iron and steal is land raids on Telnor (the largest human nation during the pirate's time), so they were fairly conservative when they had it, but also shorter, curved blades are better for fighting in the close-quarters of a ship anyway.

Keep the questions coming! I may not be able to respond quickly, as I am interning with my church here in Hawaii and they have me pretty busy, but I will get back to you eventually!

Okay, that's cool then. (Even better. I like it when my history is correct and not mixed up.)

Yep, that's a good point. Would they use winches and pulleys to pull the captured ship close enough to board? Or just try and catch it?

That makes sense. I'm not sure many other writers consider that when they pick the swords their cultures use.

I like the fact that is based around pirates...very cool.

I like the brief history about the shadowblades as well, im wondering if they have a strict order of rules they follow or something...?