Life in the Archipelago is an adventure. The Corsairs live for the thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline of riding the line between life and death, the anticipation of the next roll of the dice. They are an energetic and driven people, living their lives with complete authenticity and no shame for who or what they are, pursuing their ambitions and the next great adventure with equal amounts of cunning, skill, and courage.
The thrill of the hunt is a driving force in Jadeite culture. Originally, this was exercised in hunting ships and beasts. However, with the passing of the Fairwinds Edict outlawing piracy, Corsairs have taken to hunting more metaphorical prey, whether that be adventure, lost treasures of the past, a new and lucrative trade route, or just sailing off to find whatever’s beyond the horizon. They view the journey as being just as important as the reward at the end — the thrill of danger, the satisfaction of overcoming a challenge, the sense of exaltation as they prove to themselves how far they can go. A truly worthy hunt should have a grand reward at the end, of course, but to a Corsair just being able to tell the story of a glorious victory or defeat is a reward in and of itself.
Corsairs see death as an inevitable thing, an ending that should be accepted and even welcomed rather than fought against or delayed. This sense of inevitability spurs them to make the most of the time they have, driving them to heights of daring (and foolishness) that few other peoples would willingly entertain. In the Jadeite perspective, the best life is one that is lived fully, no matter how briefly, and that leaves behind as many stories as you can manage. Though many Corsairs don’t have the energy or drive to make that kind of burn-brightly-but-briefly lifestyle a habit, the spark is always there to do something with the time you have in the world, driving every Corsair forward.
Money and wealth are viewed with an odd sort of ambivalence by the folk of the Archipelago. On one hand, they’re often critical in getting what you want out of the world, and they’re a great way of keeping score and proving how amazing you are. On the other hand, they’re fundamentally secondary to what really matters to the archetypal Corsair — their legend, the stories that they tell and leave behind. Becoming rich is always a means to an end, in the Jadeite perspective, and money that sits in a vault somewhere is just being wasted. Better to spend it immediately on Grog and feasts to make friends and allies, fabulous clothes and jewelry to show how successful you’ve been, or invested into better arms and armor or a bigger and faster ship. Even if you come back from a voyage with nothing but a new tale of adventure to show for it, that in and of itself is its own form of treasure, as a grand story of your exploits is worth quite a bit in terms of respect gained and the attraction of new hands for your Crew.
What do the Corsairs value in people?
The ability to enact your will upon the world, no matter how you go about it, is the ultimate goal of every Corsair. They value power above nearly everything else, short of the sanctity of the bonds between a Crew. Not all of this emphasis on power is focused on the individual, however; all but the most self-centered Corsairs seek to increase the power of their ship or Crew, believing that having a power base belonging to many is more stable and less prone to betrayal than concentrating all of their power into the person of the Captain or some other singular figure. “Better to rise with your mates than leave them to stew in envy over your success” is a common adage when explaining this concept to outsiders.
“To avoid risk is to avoid living” is another common saying. To risk it all on a roll of the dice is a consistent trope in tales told amongst the Corsairs, though unlike other cultures they are just as willing to tell tales of brave fools who gamble, lose, and have to deal with the consequences of their audacity as they are to tell tales of those who get lucky and win big — they know full well how dangerous the world is, and enjoy the grim humor of going down in a blaze of glory when a big bet goes bad. To be willing to bet it all, whatever the outcome, is the ideal, and those with that kind of courage (or madness) are highly praised for it — often posthumously.
Authenticity is another core value in Jadeite culture: the ability to be your true self, without shame, self-deception, or regret about who you are and what you want. No Corsair has the right to tell any other what they should be, or how they should act, barring a minimum amount of courtesy and common sense. Self-expression and self-determination are sacred parts of Jadeite culture, and the nation sports more than their fair share of folk who take advantage of this freedom to become their truest self. The only concern a Corsair should show about getting what they want is how the methods of pursuing their desires will impact their Crew.
Corsairs are, on the whole, a courageous lot. You don’t have to be the first across the gap when boarding a ship, but may the Gods help you if you’re always the last. Jadeites view cowardice as a poison, and are not shy about cutting it out — quite literally, if someone acts the coward repeatedly. They don’t demand constant outstanding courage from each other, but there’s a base level of willingness to face physical harm that every Corsair is expected to have, no matter their position or profession.
The folk of the Alliance tend to be resourceful, and to abhor waste. The Archipelago experienced many centuries as an economic backwater compared to the other nations of the Continent; it has only been in the last century and a half that real prosperity has spread throughout the islands, and the scars that centuries of poverty etched deep into the bones of the national culture have yet to fade. Any capital or goods are to be kept in tip-top shape, and never wasted, allowed to fall into disrepair, or purposefully destroyed unless it serves a greater purpose; in the Jadeite mind, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get another of whatever it is any time soon, so you have to make what you have last as long as possible. This leads, in many instances, to hoarding tendencies amongst the Corsairs, which is only exacerbated by their love of showing off trinkets and other items of wealth.
Finally, Corsairs are unshakably loyal, at least to their Crew. Your Crew is the only thing between you and death, in the eyes of Jadeites, and to betray that bond is both unthinkable and unforgivable. Despite their massive cultural emphasis on self-determination and self-sufficiency, Jadeites are incredibly group-oriented when dealing with their Crews and close kin, putting their in-group’s interests above their own personal well-being in the majority of instances. Even when irreconcilable differences occur within a Crew, it’s understood at a fundamental level that this means that someone needs to leave the Crew, rather than any kind of bloodshed or betrayal. The contracts, constitutions, and oaths that make up the basis of a Crew’s organization are the backbone of cultural consistency in the Archipelago, and may the gods help anyone who betrays them, for no self-respecting Corsair will.
Jadefang names are structured “personal name + family name,” with the family name usually being preceded by a “de,” “del,” or “de la” prefix, depending on the name.
The Corsairs are an eclectic bunch, and thus often tend to have names taken from across the Continent. However, the strong Amethran roots of the nation give their own unique flavors to the names of the people there, and the Occupation by the Vauldan Empire centuries ago mean that many who are born there have names that would be familiar to Vauldans.
Native Amethran names resemble real-world Spanish or Portuguese names, as well as names from the various unique regions within the Iberian Peninsula such as Aragon or Basque. A large minority of Corsairs have Vauldan names, passed down from the Occupation, which resemble Byzantine or Roman names. Other names can be taken from any nation, depending on your character’s origin or parentage; see each nation’s Names section for more details and name generators for that nation.
Most Corsairs have a nickname, granted to them by their Crew or a particularly clever-tongued Locker Priest, which they answer to just as easily as their true names. These are formally written as “personal name + “nickname” + family name,” i.e. Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, though in most cases in conversation they’ll just be referred to by their nickname alone.
Amethran names: Samuel “Shady” de Saldaña, Nahia “Cutter“ de Bolívar, Lisandro “Brandy” de Brandão, Elisabete “Bets” de Cordeiro, Inazio “Torchy” de Iribar, Gazeta “Inkspur” de Elosua
Non-Amethran names: Ivan “Bugeye” de Rodriguez, Olivia “Frostbite“ de Zimisces, Tiberius “Spots” de Sagarra, Emillia “Twitchy” Helgisdottir, Meghan “Seagull” Séaghdha, Nash “Redbeard" MacDhuibh