War on Pirates

 

Historical Context

Piracy had been a threat for the travelling merchants of the entire Haan Archipelago for time immemorial, countered with expansive defence and joint counteractive efforts by the peoples of the Trade Isles.
The island of Karte, separated of the rest of the Trade Isles by a wider stretch of ocean, had not benefited as much from these efforts, and historically faced higher loses to pirate activity in both its borders and its sacred rivers.
By the year 3004 E.Alz, attacks to the ships travelling to and from its west coast had risen exponentially, dealing a heavy hit to the Kingdom of Karte's economy and taking the import and export efforts on the island to a near stop.  

The Effort

 

Revenge

In the year 3006 E.Alz, after two years of explosive warfare, elusive tactics and red currents, the pirates still left standing organised themselves under the shared goal of retaliating against the Kartian.
They quickly agreed that their numbers and their resources had been stretched too thin for any attempt at a siege or a diplomatic agreement, and that they would have to turn instead to an up close and personal hit to the King himself, one that would turn the whole "War on Pirates" project into the smallest of items in the Monarchy's priorities.   On the hot night of the 18th of Burning, 3006 E.Alz, the pirates made their move to the City of Dia, capital of Karte, through the Tantalej river.
Through careful gathering of information and expert manoeuvring through the night, the fleet managed to evade the many patrolling Hunter Ships, with a single conflict in which they crossed paths with a merchant brig called "Sand Bird", which they swiftly captured and added to their numbers as a decoy, taking it north.   The fleet launched an attack, taking the city by assault.
They raided the palace where a member of the pirate force called Hylmer captured the son of King Rastapuj, Prince Kuja, taking him back to the Sand Bird. The prince was held captive in the brig for several days while the Kartian guard searched for him.
They finally found the location of the brig on the 1st of Swimming, being tipped on the location by former crewmember who survived the attack.
Surrounded on land, the pirates took the bruised, chained prince to the deck as the crew prepared the ship for a quick departure. There a woman pushed the boy to bend over the railing and, in front of the guard, cut the head off the prince and threw the body overboard into the waters, as the sails took the wind in and the captured ship departed with the head of the prince and the victory over the Kartian kingdom.  

Consequences

The beheading of Kuja marked the end of the War on Pirates, and the start of king Rastapuj's descent into mental and political instability. It is nowadays considered a key stage that moved the Kartian society towards the civil war that eventually ended Rastapuj's life.   The groups of pirates allied with each other under the name of Irates, and the Sand Bird was renamed Beheaded and kept as the flagship of the new criminal organization, with the Skull of the Beheaded Prince as their relic and Symbol of Power.   Though each island still takes measures to control piracy on their coasts, the High Rust diminished both the size of the countries' militaries, and the resources available to patrol the waters, leading to an increase in pirate activity in recent years.