Pirates

The pirates of Aar are an omnipresent curse to this worlds tradesmen, expeditioners, sailors and adventurers.  

The factions

They don´t form a homogenic party, the pirates are themselves seperated in many groups and clans. Without question the pirates of Scorpionisland are the richest and most powerful, due to their exquisite geological position and their heavily fortified island.
You can basicly say that the pirates of Scorpionisland rule the pirate buisiness. They have the last word, when it comes to alliances, which hasn´t happend since forever. But because of their power they are widely respected (and feared).
There are plenty smaller groups, mostly consisting of a few captains and their crews who set camp in old forts or caves along the coast. However there is one other faction, that doesn´t have the military power of the pirates of Scorpionisland, but is by far richer and has a even more prosperous blackmarket.  

Guild of the golden hall

That is the name of a group, they like to call themselves a guild, which resides inside a big dead volcanocrater. Inside that crater they builded an entire city with around 2.000 permanent residents. This is truly the place where everything you want can be found - if you have a purse heavy enough of course. Their name derives from a temple/guildhall they actually covered completly in gold - as a gesture towards Gashel the submerged.  

Mythological figures

There are a few more or less commonly known legends among the pirates. The most well known one is the tale of Cozcatl the bloodsoaked.  

Cozcoatl

Cozcatl is a legendary demon pirate who´s crew consists of more or less all the different races. His ship is a giant beast of around 90 meters in lenght, has 5 decks and four masts. It has such a firepower, that one broaside would annihilate almost any ship. Even considering the fact, that at least demons and elves don´t age, nobody has "seen" them in a few hundrets of years, so this tale most likely is an overexageration by some drunk fellows.  

Jane, or the lady in silk

Jane is supposed to be a fierce pirate. Her trademarks are her green silkgowns and her red sabers. She terrorised the southern shores of Nandaahr for around 20 years from Svedero in the north down to Murkwater Harbor in the south. Nobody knows what happened to her - some say, when she gathered enough loot she threw her gowns and sabers overboard and settled down somewhere to live in luxury. Some less romantic people guess she has been killed in of the many battles with the royal fleets and the mercenaries the trader´s guild of Svedero hired to stop her.  

Gashel the submerged

Gashel the submerged can be considered the pirates god. They are a very superstitious bunch these pirates, but most of them believe in Gashel, a god they believe lives under the waves in palace made of gold, silver and nacre. They sacrifice all kind of things to him. Mostly some poor sailers they somehow got hold of. Since they are a not only supersticious but also greedy bunch the hardly ever sacrifice coins or riches, apart from one ceremony held each year at sixth full moon, where the council of Freetown (Scorpionisland) packs a small boat with all kinds of riches, lets it drift out to the sea and then set it on fire at midnight.