Posted by SOE rep Vhalen on SOE forum 10-17-2005
I would hate for any Norrathian not hear a little about Seafury Buccs history. So here is a little information for all of you.
The Seafury Buccaneers is a pirate organization. Buccaneer roots began with the end of the Age of War. Numerous warships from the defeated armies came together to form the largest pirate organization ever to raise sails. This is how the Seafuries began. Their ships outnumbered most trade and patrol armadas. They could easily overtake nearly any fleet on the ocean. It was during the Age of Cataclysms that this horde wreaked havoc on the seas of the Shattered Lands.
The city of Freeport took a stand against this force. Employing ships of the massive Far Seas Trading Co. fleet, the Freeport Militia set out to lay a trap for the pirates. The Militia converted the merchant ships into concealed warships. These converted merchant ships eventually found the location of the Seafuries. The Freeport Militia sailed the territory of the pirates until they took the bait.
The Seafury Buccaneers arrived with only enough ships needed to seize a small fleet of merchant vessels. With this small raiding force came the prize, Admiral Bloodbeak, leader of the Seafury Buccaneers. The trap was sprung and the pirates found themselves outnumbered and far from port. The pirates were forced to flee. With the Freeport vessels giving chase the pirates led them into a most dangerous sea called the Sea of Sand. The Sea of Sand was a massive wall of sand that flurried in an area that was once the location of the vast Desert of Ro. No ship could survive the deadly flurry. Near this maelstrom the pirates and the sailors would do battle in close quarters as ships collided. In the end, Admiral Bloodbeak was captured. The Admiral was shackled and returned to Freeport.
Bloodbeak, a highly intelligent but cruel aviak, was in for a surprise in Freeport. To Bloodbeaks astonishment he found that the ruler of Freeport offered him freedom if he would allow his Seafuries to become part of Freeport’s forces. The Seafuries proved themselves to be one of the deadliest raiding forces on the sea. The Overlord offered Bloodbeak an opportunity to sail under the protection of Freeport provided the raiders of the Far Seas do his bidding. No one is sure how the Overlord persuaded the strong willed Bloodbeak to succumb to this deal rather than take death, but so began the alliance of the Seafuries and Freeport.
The Seafury Buccaneers act as a high seas raiding horde for Freeport. They sail the seas siezing every merchant ship not bound to the Far Seas Trading Co. or Freeport. They are allowed to keep a portion of the goods they plunder, sending the rest to Freeport. Above all else they are to seize or sink all orc and Qeynosian war galleys. The Seafuries gain much information of the outlands. This information is then passed on to Freeport.
To much of the populace of the Shattered Lands this is still nothing more than a savage pirate organization allowed to carry on their activities under the protection of Freeport.
The Freeport Militia has an uneasy and forced alliance with the Seafury Buccaneers. The Freeport Militia regards them as nothing more than mere pirates and thieves not fitting to assist the mighty empire of Freeport. They have no love for each other and bar room brawls and street fights often occur between the two. If it were not for the Overlord's will to keep the aid of the Buccaneers, the Freeport Militia would have executed most of them and cast out the rest.
Siren is an ambassador of sorts. She is the first mate of Bloodbeak. Bloodbeak does not care to see Freeport again and spends his time aboard his ship, The Gullstalker, far from Freeportian eyes. Bloodbeak will not allow himself to ever be captured again.