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"Ground" rules (hehehehe):
Do not spam posts.
If you wish to get in on the RP action, create a character here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/457835.page

during combat (ship to ship or man to man) RPers can use their posts to describe their actions, these must be kept reasonable. You may describe any aspect of combat other than the death of a character other than your own.

We'll probably end up building this game's world as we go on, however keep in mind that it takes place in a fantastical Victorian era earth.

Morocco, unknown city, overlooking the ocean, mid-noon.

Captain Robert stood, slumped forward, leaning on the short wall of the balcony-walkway. A half-emptied container of rum sat next to his elbow. Brass goggles stood on his brow, beneath the dingy, brown, tricorn captain's hat. His long, light, black jacket caught the wind and fluttered at his back.
It had been nearly two months since the mutiny, the desertion. At the very least, he had saved his beautiful ship, The Black Sparrow. It was a shame that without a crew, her hulking white mass would be indefinite. Her sails had not caught wind, nor her balloon been filled in over a month.
Times were hard for Crowe, but he felt a presence here, a veritable hive of piratical activity. Perhaps he could recruit some new blood, if only he could find his way into the local underground.

Switzerland, Barbary, overlooking the alps

The old man stared at the map before him, and a feral grin that can only be described as pure evil slowly crept across his face. He pulled himself out of his lounger and, with a motion that can only be described as slinking, moved towards the door, stopping only to retrieve and dust off his tri corner hat. He placed it atop his greasy brow as he opened the door and began to step outside. He seemed to gain strength as he left, his slinking turning into the stalking gait of a predator; purposeful, powerful. Fingers flew to mustache and began twirling with well
practiced motions, and then, only then did his smile reach his eyes. A voice raspy from lack of use issued from his rictus grin and said;

"It is time, ready the mast and arm the guns."

His loyal crew set to work in a heartbeat, raising the mast and roaring the engine into life
With every joint in his spine popping with the intensity of a gunshot, he threw his head back and laughed maniacally, his voice echoing on the sudden chill wind.

As the Blinding Light took to the skies once again from her place in London Port, Voren reviewed his crew. There was a reasonable number there, and between them they looked ready to take out some pirates. Above him the airbags were inflated, the ship rising up as the clockwork rotors at the front and back started to turn. "Well crew, let's go hunt some pirates in the name of the law. And maybe rob some Spaniards in the name of fun while we're at it."

(again Im going to join up with the flying Isle Privateers. Hope Im not in trouble for breaking the posting order. Im just introing my character.)

Dale had seen some rough places in his time in his time in the army. But this was different. He couldent remember the name of the city he was in, but he knew he was in Morroco. He certainley knew he was in a shady part of town in an equally shady bar. "Hey!" A gruff bartender barked at Dale. "You gonna order or ya just gonna take up space?" Dale then proceeded to order a rum and handed the bartender the money. As Dale sipped on his drink he was thinking about what his next action would be even though he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He figured it wouldent be very hard to find a hiring pirate captain around somewhere.

As Duke said this Sophie instead watched the landscape slowly sink lower below them. This would be her first time leaving this country on her own which made her a touch nervous, though the thrill of being able to see the world was enough to overcome this. She didn't consider herself one of the crew, but more a passenger. She enjoyed the wind as the turbines started and the ship slowly began to move out.

David watched as the small skiff floated up and was then promptly attached to the bottom of his prized warship. The warship then proceded to lurch forward to the belching noise of a steam engine on the captain's order. This trip's target area would be none other than the prime skylanes of europe. British flags were raised and the ship was on it's way.

A day into the flight, it was all going well. They were about a week away from the Americas now, where they expected the majority of spaniard raids to take place. The inventor lady had been working on some project, but he wasn't particularly interested in it being made, only in what it did when it was finished.

Suddenly, a small ship was sighted: A merchant ship, but it didn't seem to be moving if at all. "Head for that ship, Theobald," he told his helmsman. "Have 3 cannon ready, but I doubt they will be needed."

As they reached the ship, they found only death. It had obviously been raided. Some of the bodies had been shot, some though seemed to be starved, and their propulsion systems had been damaged beyond repair. The shot bodies seemed a month old or more, the starved ones a week old or less. There was nothing on board worth taking, so they shot a hole in the airbag to send it into the sea, and left as hurriedly as possible.

"You know what this means? David and his Black Sun men have been at it again, and we're going to stop them. They've gone too far this time."

Sophie had wondered why they wouldn't let her board the ship, then why they had simply sunk it. One of the crew had told her it had drifted from a port nearby, unmanned and they hadn't the power to tow it with them. Thus for safety it had been sunk to avoid and collisions with the larger ships that passed through the area.

She had found the explanation odd, but she was unfamiliar with it all; it could have been policy, why would they lie. Instead she returned to her tinkering, inspired by the birds she had seen outside her window weeks before her journey began. She had brought her invention with her; why leave it to sit when it was this close to completion and when she'd be in the perfect place to test it as well. An hour later though her curiosity into the event would not vanish; she had to confront them about it. Putting her tools down she left her room and searched for the captain.

*Above european skies*

East India Company ship spotted off the port bow! one of the crewmen shouted in responce began to bellow orders "MAN THE CANNONS, BRING US ALONGSIDE, READY THE BOARDING HARPOONS! WERE GOIN IN LADS!" The massive warship shot large tow harpoons into the EIC cargo ship as the EIC crew attempted to ready their own cannons for defence, but by the time cannons were being loaded black sun pirates were already aboard and killing crewmen that didn't surrender to them.

Within 30 minuites or so the EIC ship was devoid of cargo and useful supplies, the ship's propulsion systems were disabled (and shoved off of the back of the ship) any crewmen that surrendered were now on The Fallen Murderer. any crewmen that resisted or hid were still hid or dead/dying.

Voren sighed as he saw Sophie the inventor walking towards him. He had expected her to want to know the truth, and had been hyping himself up for telling her what had actually taken place there, but it wouldn't be easy.

"Excuse me, Duke, but I have a question to ask," she said in the way he had been expecting. He didn't know her well, but could tell what she was like from a glance, and knew that if he didn't tell it straight he'd only have trouble on his hands later.
"It's about that ship, and why we sank it, isn't it?" Getting a nod in reply, he continued before she could start speaking. "It was some of the worst pirates we know of, and there's enough of a bounty on their heads to keep this ship going for three years, if we stop them. Not that that's the main reason we want to stop them. If they come across a merchant ship, they steal everything, including all the food, all the fuel to keep the crew warm at night, and leave some of the people there to die slowly. It needed to be sank so that no-one else saw it. Trust me, no-one ever wants to see that kind of a thing. But the signs point towards them being south of here, so it's south of here we're heading. Got any new equipment to help us stop them?"

"Those poor people... Is it usually that grim?" she asked.

Though when it came to talking about her inventions her eyes always lit up; she couldn't help it she had done it since early in her childhood. "I've been knocking it around for a while now. To put it bluntly it's wings. You put it on your back like a parachute, start up the boiler and the pressure pushes you forwards and should be enough to achieve flight. Well hopefully, it's untested so far."

David spotted several flags on the distance and immidiately yelled out "ALL HANDS! BRITISH AIRSHIPS OFF THE STERN! AHEAD FULL! MAKE FOR THE AMERICAN SHIPPING LANES!" The Fallen Murderer then lurched forward as a cannonball twanged off of the balloon armor.

Dale couldent believe his luck. He had actually found some captain willing to hire him.

The strange man had sat down beside him on the bar. "Whats you name son?" Dale turned and looked at the gruff man sitting beside him. "uh... Dale Turner." "Dale huh? I noticed that patch on your jacket there. You were military?" "Yep. I worked on radios and fought a little... Why do you care?" The man chuckled. "My names Robert. Ive been looking for people like you who might be interested in doing a bit of work." "go on..."

And then here he was, sitting in the belly of the Black Sparrow working on an old radio. It needed a bit of work but he knew he could get it fixed in about an hour. The ship swayed gently, they were under way. To where? Dale didn't care. He was just happy to be there.

"Reload and fire when we're close enough to pierce her armour! We've been lucky to catch her so quickly in the chase, let's not throw away the opportunity," Voren shouted to his crew who were rushing around trying to reboost the pressure behind the air cannons, and bring all 6 to one side for a double broadside when close enough. "Those pirate b*st*rds have done enough damage and killed enough guys, let's drag them in front of the whole of Great Britain in chains!"
The pirates were also heading closer, obviously wanting another fight and more pillaging. "Don't let them get too close: if they board us, they'll win the fight easily. We may be privateers, but those guys have been playing around with swords and pistols for decades, some of them. We play them at our own game, not theirs."

The enemy was within about, 200 yards when Voren ordered 3 of the cannons to fire. 2 missed, while the other simply punched a hole in the edge of the main ship, no chance of bringing down one of the airbags which was what they really needed. "Helmsman, try to keep them away. Gunners, get your aim and then friggin' FIRE!"

Sophie walked up holding a strange looking cannonball. "Use this Duke, it's one of my father's inventions". The ball was lighter than normal and copper coloured.

*Pitched combat*

David watched as the little ship danced in circles around them.then told his helmsmen "Hold!" He then yelled out "FIRE A BROADSIDE, FULL LEFT SIDE!" Hoping to blast a few holes in their hull and scare them off.

"Duke, looks like they're gonna broadside us, Sir," one of the crew said.
"Fine, time for our signature move. Drop the ship 100 feet. Then we'll rake them from below."
The special cannon ball was loaded into one of the cannon. With the enemy firmly in their sights above them and all enemy fire simply not able to hit them due to their guns' arcs of fire, the thing was fired.

The cannonball hit the underside of the enemy hull. The casing shattered raining small fragments of copper as the adhesive inside spread out and latched onto the surface. The device secured, Sophie handed a box to Duke. "Now if they get away we'll be able to at least have a chance of finding them again"

"Good. I doubt we'll be able to defeat them from here: Firing upwards always takes out some of the power of the shot. Preferably we'd ambush them. Anyway, we might as well fire one of our explosive cannonballs. We've got 6 of them after all. Load one up and fire. Aim for the propellers, or the engines powering them."
Crew hurried about him, reloading the cannons and preparing the shot. The results could be devestating.

David shouted again "Helmsmen! Ahead full! try and bring us out of their gunnery range.

As the explosive shot was fired, the ship started moving, the shot only catching the heavily armoured rear, before the enemy ship started to move out of range. "Oh well, we've got 5 of those shots left, and the important thing is that we've got a tracker on them. Let's head into that cloud bank and prepare to kill them at another time."

"Aye, cap'n!" shouted Theobald, slipping the ship through a tight turn that the big pirate vessel couldn't follow and sending the small ship deep into the clouds. The pirates couldn't follow for fear of crashing into them.

Captain Robert led Dale through the dusty streets, beggar children scampered about. At the back of a vacant lot sat the mammoth, The Black Sparrow. It's hull was long, sleek, smooth and well-waxed. Despite it's name, the vessel was a stark white behemoth of a ship. It appeared to be more of a luxury craft than a fighting ship.
Captain Robert used a steam lift to board onto the ship's main deck.

"Head for the nearest land, which will probably be somewhere over Africa judging from where we are. We need to get reinforcements if we're going to take them on, or at least something to distract them." As the helmsman turned the ship slightly so that it faced land, Voren went back to checking that the ship was in good shape. Although not much could be seen in this cloud, it would make seeing leaks in the airbags that much easier. And there was always a chance that their enemy had caught one of the airbags just enough to cause a slight puncture.

David stated to his helmsmen that they needed to make all speed back to their port of call- their shot hit the ale supply and it needed repairs before they could make a trans-atlantic flight.

Dale had never been on a vessel before. He was impressed. The deck was clean and well kept and there were a few crew members working, it did not really look like the kind of pirate vessel he imagined. But he had no complaints. The captain continued to show Dale around the ship. The next to last destination was the small armory. The wall was lined with Bolt Action Rifles and shotguns. Robert tossed a rifle to Dale, who caught it with ease, and began to examine it. "I assume you know a thing or two about these?" the captain chuckled. "Yes. This is actually the exact same kind of rifle I used." "Yes... Well its your responsibility to keep these things in working order."

After that Robert showed Dale to the radio room, where he dozed off in his chair.

Dale was startled awake. "Hello! Is anyone on this frequency?" It was the radio. Dale then picked up the microphone. "This is the Private Isle Privateers of the Black Sparrow."

(hope this revives the thread.)