Duke Crocker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
betterthanaplan) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2019-12-04 09:37 am
betterthanaplan) wrote in fandomhigh2019-12-04 09:37 am
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So You Want to Be a Pirate!, Wednesday, period two
Class was back! Duke was perched by the ships wheel when the students came in, and gestured to the deck in front of them to have a seat.
"Pirate ethics!" he said. "Sounds like an oxymoron. But the fact is, you can't run a ship like this by yourself — at least, most regular, non magic people can't. And if you want to get a bunch of rough and tumble, antiauthoritarian criminals to work together functionally on basically anything, you're going to need a set of rules. Or, you know, guidelines at the very least. So, how do you do it? You're setting off to sea, a very dangerous place, with nothing but your boat, your wits, a couple months maybe worth of frankly terrible food, and a whole bunch of sailors, most of whom have killed people, all of whom are looking to make sure everyone else thinks they're willing to kill again to get their way. How do you convince them to follow your orders? How do you make them a crew?"
Duke looked over the students, giving them time to think about their answers.
"There's no one right answer to this question. Despite what stories would have you believe, there was never a centralized pirate government or 'code' everyone followed. Following a king kind of defeats the point of being a pirate. Pirates with kings were called 'privateers', and were kind of like those trust-fund kids who play at being homeless while always calling home to ask for more money when they run out. And don't get me started on the nonsense of 'honor amongst thieves'. These people lie and cheat like breathing. You're going to need something more than 'we're both criminals' to be able to trust them." He frowned, eyes going a little distant. "And even then, you still have to watch your back."
He shook the darker moment off and looked at the students again. "So how about it? How do you get loyalty out of your crew? Do you use fear? Money? Superior knowledge? Or do you even lead at all? Who says a boat has to have a captain? Surely there are other ways to organize, right? Let's hear it."
"Pirate ethics!" he said. "Sounds like an oxymoron. But the fact is, you can't run a ship like this by yourself — at least, most regular, non magic people can't. And if you want to get a bunch of rough and tumble, antiauthoritarian criminals to work together functionally on basically anything, you're going to need a set of rules. Or, you know, guidelines at the very least. So, how do you do it? You're setting off to sea, a very dangerous place, with nothing but your boat, your wits, a couple months maybe worth of frankly terrible food, and a whole bunch of sailors, most of whom have killed people, all of whom are looking to make sure everyone else thinks they're willing to kill again to get their way. How do you convince them to follow your orders? How do you make them a crew?"
Duke looked over the students, giving them time to think about their answers.
"There's no one right answer to this question. Despite what stories would have you believe, there was never a centralized pirate government or 'code' everyone followed. Following a king kind of defeats the point of being a pirate. Pirates with kings were called 'privateers', and were kind of like those trust-fund kids who play at being homeless while always calling home to ask for more money when they run out. And don't get me started on the nonsense of 'honor amongst thieves'. These people lie and cheat like breathing. You're going to need something more than 'we're both criminals' to be able to trust them." He frowned, eyes going a little distant. "And even then, you still have to watch your back."
He shook the darker moment off and looked at the students again. "So how about it? How do you get loyalty out of your crew? Do you use fear? Money? Superior knowledge? Or do you even lead at all? Who says a boat has to have a captain? Surely there are other ways to organize, right? Let's hear it."
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