Fantasy Pirate Stories

 Just to help with the visuals and the terms, here are some definitions and descriptions:  The Library: a large repository of information located on the mainland. Scholars, scientists, and engineers go there to study and to experiment.  Succession War: Following the death of the childless King, his three top generals all made bids for power, as did the dominant religious leader, whose lands are called the Papal States. The relentless and brutal fighting among the four is such that many peasants and minor lords are instead emigrating to a series of islands across what is called the Sea of Monsters. Knights Vigilant: Brutal order of knights loyal to the Papal States. The chief enforcers of religious law and the wishes of the religious leaders.  Goblin Islands: Island chain frequented by goblin raider ships, though they do not originate there. Sea of Monsters: So called because of its population of sea serpents and other smaller beasts  Goblin: Up to three feet tal...

This is the result of a though experiment based on conversations with a friend at work. Before writing I rolled two D20s to determine the fate of the story: a ten indicating things would end in a draw, and a one, indicating heavy losses. Her body dropped onto the wooden deck of the ship, which rocked slightly in the waves.  “Is she alive?” Said a voice. “Should be. She was coughing out water when we picked her up,” said a second. “And    Ceru knows how to grab people without hurting them.” Sophronia Lovelace sat up on the creaking deck, accepting a water skein from a man with a bandana around his head. Two others knelt next to her, one with long, flowing hair and a long scar across his cheek and the other balding with what hair was left grey and thinning. She drank while that bald man looked at the other, who began calmly sharpening a cutlass.  “Where did you come from, missy? You weren’t just out for a swim a hundred miles from shore,” said the bald man.  “It s...