The Rock Coast Broeders & Sistas is a Pyrate Republic founding island state based on The Rock (formerly Jamaica). The island nation is led by Governor-Captain Bazl ‘Blakbard’ Jackson and the elite pilots of Blakbard’s Buccaneas. The port of Kingston is the Broeder’s heavily defended headquarters and boasts an exceptional shipwright foundry.
The creation of the Rock Coast Broeders government in2439 CE is directly linked to the life and career of Governor-Captain Blakbard, a former fisherman-turned-pyrate due to a familial blood grudge.
Rock Coast Broeders
From Fisherman to Governor-Captain
Governor-Captain Blakbard has told the tale of his rise to power on many occasions, usually while drinking and laughing in Kingston’s taverns.
As he tells it, Bazl spent most of his youth on his father’s trawler, Pauper’s Fortune, which towed nets around the waters of Kingston. The port’s residents were suppressed by the Windward Islands Empresa, the commercial branch of the Masqued Guildas, but the young fisherman had an active imagination and he dreamed of an adventurous life.
Bazl’s father encouraged his son to read his salvaged Ancestor text, the ancient A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates. Bazl was captivated by the stories of Black Sam, Bartholomew Roberts, Anne Bonny, Blackbeard, Israel Hands, and many others. These tales of pyrate adventures and honour-bound codes in an unblighted Antilles Archipelago stirred his emotions and his mind took flight.
Just before his 18th rotation, the Jackson family trawler was attacked by a Hopesail Confederacy raiding privateer vessel. The trawler crew bravely fought back, but Bazl’s father was killed in the skirmish.
After repulsing the boarders and quickly returning to Kingston, Bazl found himself master of a humble sea trawler. From that moment he swore he would be reborn as Captain ‘Blakbard’. He would grow a thick beard, just like Blackbeard, and earn a reputation as an honourable and deadly Prince of Pyrates, just like Henry Morgan and Samuel Bellamy. He would lead a crew based on contracts and a Pyrate Code, like Bartolomeu Português. He would live a life of maritime discipline, ensuring an equal division of plundered goods and compensation for injury. More so, he swore to lead the South Archipelagos to a united future based on freedom and mutual respect.
Bazl’s ambitions drove him to a decade of hard work on the blighted seas. He added three more ships to his fleet and formed a loyal crew. When Kingston’s Masqued Guildas enforcers, the Cartazes Factors, raised the island’s taxes in 2438 CE, Bazl knew it was the time to strike. Bazl led a rebellion of sailors and dock workers that took Kingston from the Windward Islands Empresa in three bloody weeks. His greatest plunder was securing the SkyLance Thunderbolt.
After fully securing The Rock in 2439 CE, Bazl Jackson created the Rock Coast Broeders government and transformed into Governor-Captain Blakbard.
Championing the Pyrate Code
Bazl would earn a reputation as an honourable Governor-Captain that lived by the Pyrate Code, mutual respect, and fair contractual agreements.
In 2448 CE he launched the Kingston Cup in the hopes of encouraging semi-peaceful interactions between South Antilles sailors. Sail-powered sloops, catamarans, and sea-skimmers competed for a year’s worth of plunder by being the first to circumnavigate The Rock. Of the seven ships that sank during the race, only three were due to human malice. Most pyrates considered the event a success, and it has become an annual tradition and rite of passage for many young pyrates in search of a way to kickstart their own fleet, including Captain Ionie Brown (now deceased), Quartermixter Anne Read, and Captain Soarin’ Strachan.
From these champions Bazl formed an elite guard, Blakbard’s Buccaneas, tasked with leading assaults. From Kingston’s refurbished shipyard a hybrid sail/turbine flagship was built, the Pauper’s Fortune, becoming Blakbard’s flagship.
After taking The Rock and forming a republican government comprised of provincial councils, Governor-Captain Blakbard’s goals became more ambitious. In 2452 CE, Blakbard’s Buccaneas tacked North to Tainos Supremo and blockaded Puerto de Revolución. After several months of conflict, the Buccaneas wrested control of the port from the Guantánamo Corsarios.
To satisfy his purported principles of pyrate equality and goodwill (and for this act to be considered more than the barbaric pyracy of old) Governor-Captain Blakbard gave the port’s denizens the opportunity to choose independent self-governance. Revolución citizens conveniently voted for the Rock Coast Broeders to become their suzerain protectors.
After securing the Rock and a Northern power base, in 2455 CE Governor-Captain Blakbard next journeyed East and parlayed with the Cibernetica Legión based in Pòtoprens. He greeted Mansa-Faama Teodoro Nguema with gifts and shared his vision of a united Southern Antilles. The stoic ciber-ruler was impressed.
Teodoro agreed not to attack the Rock Coast Broeders, co-found the Pyrate Republic, and champion the Pyrate Code. In the following years a surprisingly diverse pantheon of pyrate factions would join the Pyrate Republic, including the Cangrejo Hybrids, Guantánamo Corsarios, Malvada Armada, and Yucatán Flotilla.
In 2467 CE Bazl’s once burly frame is portly, his beard is white, and he spends more time drinking rum than sailing.
His reputation amongst the of pyrates the Southern Antilles, however, remains impeccable.
He continues to maintain the integrity of the Pyrate Republic, even as competing pyrate warlords threaten to tear the alliance apart each day.
2448 CE: Captain-Governor Blakbard launches the Kingston Cup, a sail-powered competition between independent sailors that involves circumnavigating The Rock.
Inaugural Kingston Cup winner Captain Ionie Brown of the Sea Mumma would go on to become a celebrated Blakbard Buccaneas pilot before dying in the blockade of Puerto de Revolución.
Anne Read won the fourth annual event in record time piloting the Mar Rex. She would eventually become Blakbard’s Buccaneas primary Quartermixter, second officer of the Pauper’s Fortune, and Governor-Captain’s most trusted adviser.
Three-time champion Captain Soarin’ Strachan piloted the sloop Blightcutter. He up-skilled to become a talented SkyLance commander and is now Blakbard’s heir apparent.
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