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Please note that much or all of this page is currently in what we are calling “Bullet Draft” format, i.e. it’s not been fully written out but we’ve listed the ideas we’re working with in bullet-list form. We will be fleshing these out further and turning them into proper paragraph prose at some point in the coming year, but we wanted to put the lore out for players to read before the first event, even if it’s not as polished as we’d like it. Any sections here that are in bullet list format are not final and are subject to change, so please ask the GM team for confirmation & more details before basing major parts of your character on anything that is not fully written.

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Overview

• Corsairs are highly religious and superstitious, praying to the gods regularly to try to ward off bad luck and bring good fortune.
• They don’t depend on the gods for much, though, other than via the use of divine magic by mystics.
• They view good or bad luck as the gods putting their thumbs on the scale of life, but there’s a general attitude that Corsairs who depend on miracles are thought to be lazy and not really pursuing their own ambitions.
• Better to make your own luck through skill and audacity than to depend on the gods to make the dice roll your way.
• Each Corsair hears the call of the Gods in their own way. Mystics in particular often say that they hear a song calling them to serve and act on their God’s behalf.
• Organized religion is limited to the Greensingers and occasional monastery of Oruunari mystics; other faiths are passed down from mystic to mystic in master-apprentice relationships. Many mystics come into their power through hearing their deity’s song and then seek out a more experienced mystic to learn the ways and secrets of the faith.

Greensingers

• The Greensingers are a loose organization of druids, with branches throughout the Archipelago.
• They don’t have any formal political power, but their willingness to use ritual curses and to gang up on political leaders and Captains who cross them makes them a force that most Corsairs don’t want to cross if they can help it.
• Their stated organizational goal is to maintain the health of the Archipelago’s ecosystems. Mostly this takes the form of monitoring fish, game, herb, and timber yields and productivity to make sure that nobody is over-harvesting something.
• They also act as trouble-shooters when the natural world starts acting up or large and/or dangerous species show up where they’re not expected or wanted.
• Those who particularly follow Selenir often act as navigators for their Crews.

Lockerpriests

• Lockerpriests act as the legend-keepers of the Corsairs, recording and passing down the stories of the Corsairs they come into contact with.
• Highly respected for their role as keepers of the dead and storytellers.
• Lockerpriests frequently appear as a pair, with each Lockerpriest teaching a new one all the stories they’ve learned and guiding them in how to best approach their calling.
• Lockerpriests often travel to local Monasterio to dictate the stories they’ve collected to the Oruunari monks; they frequently have a cordial and cooperative relationship with Oruunari followers.

Monasterios

• Oruunos is not a highly-favored deity in the Alliance, but those who do follow the Wizened God tend to cluster together into monasteries, or Monasterios, which hold much of the written lore of the Archipelago.
• Most of the monasteries were built by the Vauldan Empire during the Occupation; only a handful have been built in the two centuries since.
• The monks keep the records of great stories and travails of the Corsairs through the centuries, brought to them by Lockerpriests, and so for anyone seeking to learn the history of the isles (or just read tales of grand adventure) the Monasterios are an excellent place to start digging.

Favored Gods & Saints

Alethos

• Alethos isn’t a terribly popular deity in the Archipelago — the Corsairs aren’t a peaceful people, by and large, and while Alethos’ teachings are used in maintaining the cohesion of individual Crews they are almost never accepted by the Corsairs as applying to the Alliance’s society as a whole.
• Baellin is a common Saint worshipped by Captains and other leaders.
• Rahama is sometimes chosen as a patron Saint of courier ships.
• Elemi is respected but not followed by many; the Corsairs have too loose a relationship with laws to really love her or her precious codes of order.
• Nbatu is respected for his passion and courage, but his followers are often viewed as being too uptight and rigid about his opinions on right and wrong.
• Vadesh is quietly worshipped by many Portsmiths, though he is rarely the foremost Saint of any Corsair.

Bakharos

• Bakharos is beloved by many Corsairs, as the Laughing God represents the burning passion and ambition that is one of the great ideals of Jadefang culture.
• O-Del is a favorite of many of the craftier Portsmiths, and there is always a small shrine to him in the cabin of every ship’s carpenter.
• Kavahn tends to be worshipped more openly in Alliance society than in other nations; thieves, rogues, and assassins may not have the derring-do of a Swashbuckler, but the idolization most Corsairs have of their piratical past makes it hard not to admire a good heist or an assassin who can take down a King.
• Lumia is adored by the Corsairs, and every bar, pub, and tavern in the Archipelago has a shrine to the Saint of Revelry in it, usually in a prominent spot above the bar.
• Tekatli is not idolized like some of the other Bakharan Saints by Corsair society at large, but she has a significant and ardently loyal following amongst the merchant fleet of the Alliance.
• Eravae, as the Saint of bards and musicians, has a special place in the heart of every Corsair, and most shantymen and Shantymages start their performances with a brief prayer to her. Many Shantymages have a tattoo of a colorful finch somewhere on their bodies in her honor.

Druathos

• Besides Druathos’ strong presence amongst the Corsairs in the form of the Greensingers, the Green God is granted respect by most Corsairs, especially those who go out onto the waters or into the jungles of the Archipelago.
• Cazadores usually follow Vallaros & Aragh rather than Druathos, but they still have a deep respect for the Green God and the need for balance in and understanding of the wilderness.
• Every sailor says prayers to Perdruna when storms are on the horizon, and the people of Ashwind keep shrines to the Saint of Storms to protect them from the volcanos’ eruptions.
• Selenir is perhaps the most-worshipped Saint in the Archipelago, simply because of her role as the patron of sailors, navigation, and exploration. Every ship has a shrine to her somewhere on board, and most Corsairs who spend a great deal of time on the waves have an amulet of a star or compass on their person.
• Anselt is perhaps the least-worshipped of Druathos’ Saints in the Archipelago, as most Corsairs have a dim view of the importance of farming. However, those Portsmiths who raise crops in Isole Verdi and all of the fishermen of the Archipelago pray to Anselt for bountiful catches and to drive away predators who would attack the fishing nets.

Oruunos

• Oruunos is not widely followed in the Archipelago; the Corsairs appreciate how useful knowledge can be, but few feel the draw towards knowledge that is required to be truly dedicated followers of the Wizened God.
• Asmarta is appreciated by Corsairs for her reputation for spontaneity and the insight and power she can grant her followers.
• Madina has a very small but very passionate group of followers throughout the Alliance, tinkerers and shipwrights who are obsessed with building better and better ships and ship-based weaponry.
• Tholmar’s followers are primarily the monks of the Monasterios; other Corsairs may appreciate the ideal of preserving knowledge, but few worship Tholmar with a true passion.
• Taerek is called on for patience by many masters as they (try to) teach their apprentices, for Corsairs are not always particularly good students, but there are few shrines dedicated to him outside of the handful of large schools that the Empire and, after the Betrayal, the Admiralty set up to teach the next generation.
• Zur is perhaps the Oruunari Saint with the largest following throughout the Alliance, as every Corsair can appreciate the value of getting your hands on a good secret. Whether it be political maneuvering, gossip, skullduggery, or the location of hidden riches, many Corsairs offer prayers to the Shrouded Saint when they’re trying to learn something that other people don’t want them to.

Vallaros

• Vallaros is, unsurprisingly, heavily favored by the notoriously conflict-prone Corsairs. Many follow the Iron God’s teachings as lay followers, seeking to grow stronger and better at whatever it is they pursue. Even those who don’t dedicate themselves to Vallaros have a deep respect for the capability and independence that the Iron God seeks to foster in mortals.
• Aragh has a passionate and dedicated following amongst the Cazadores in particular, but many Corsairs offer prayers to the Saint of the Hunt to help them in seeking out whatever quarry they’re after in the moment.
• Xyston’s emphasis on personal strength and freedom from restraint make him easily the most-followed Vallarian Saint.
• Xing is appreciated by the Corsairs, but not truly beloved by many of them; they tend to view her as too passive and reactive compared to the other Saints.
• Detaya is quietly worshipped by many Portsmiths, who appreciate her support for drudgery and back-breaking labor and the inner strength she gives to make it through difficult times. Otherwise, though, she is disregarded by many Corsairs as “not glorious enough.”
• Misano is favored heavily by Captains and other leaders amongst the Corsairs, who seek to learn the secrets of tactics and strategy from her teachings. She is viewed with wary respect by other Corsairs, who appreciate her desire for victory but tend to think that she is a bit too disinterested in the glory to be had from winning.

Religious Customs

Offerings Of Grog

• Whenever it’s possible, the Corsairs’ standard ritual when making a serious prayer to the gods is to pour out a thimble’s or shot glass’ worth of Grog as an offering.
• After the offering is made and the prayer is said, they take a shot of the remaining liquid to finish the prayer.
• “Pour one out for the Gods” is a metaphor for prayer

Driftwood Shrines

• Corsairs customarily build their holy sites and shrines out of driftwood and salvaged parts from wrecked ships. Shells, corals, and sea-creature bones are used to decorate them, anything that washes up on the shore or can be found by a beachcomber.
• The belief is that these objects have been returned by the sea, or reclaimed from some disaster by mortal hands, and thus have an aura of divinity to them.
• Religious amulets, when not made of precious gems and metals, are often fashioned of such mundane materials as shells, driftwood, and sea-corroded metal.

Spirits Of The Seven Seas

• Corsairs, more than most peoples, worship the seven great oceanic spirits used by practitioners of Hydromancy, treating those entities as demigods who are almost as important in their worship as the Saints of the True Gods.
• Jadefang Mystics are very clear about the fact that the Seven Spirits are not actually gods… but that doesn’t stop the Corsairs from praying to them quietly when they feel the need to placate or propitiate the oceans they’re sailing across.