Southland: The Crossbones

THE SOUTHLAND

A Fantasy Core Setting

© Jerry Harris 2014

Published here as Open Game Content.

(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Southland Index

The Crossbones

This was once a pirate group covertly sponsored by the Hegemony, in an attempt to siphon off the wealth that the Commonwealth was shipping out of the Southland.  The effort was joined by pirates from the Oriental Empire and the Commonwealth and even unknown countries.  However, the attacks were a minor nuisance, relative to the total shipping. 

Then came Captain Hobart, a former Commonwealth Naval officer and nobleman.  Whatever motivated him to turn on his country did so with a vengeance.  His knowledge and tactics turned this rag-tag group into a navy in their own right (albeit a pretty grubby one).  The price on his head is astronomical, but his crews remained loyal to him, trusting and fearing him more than the Commonwealth.

Giant monsters surrounding the continent had always been a menace to shipping.  The island of Tasmania, or Monster Island, was not only populated with them, but they seemed to be actively and intelligently keeping intruders out.  Hobart correctly figured out that there was someone controlling them.  At great cost, Hobart and the pirates managed to explore the island and found a degenerate clan of Ancient survivors.  He managed to force them to teach him how to use an Ancient magical device that could control the monsters.  Hobart then massacred the group (though there are a few survivors, who are currently in hiding). 

This was a scary development.  The Crossbones took possession of the island and openly declared it sovereign territory under Captain-Emperor Hobart.  The Commonwealth Navy would have found this amusing, but with giant monsters backing up the claim, the pirates could make it stick.  Striking from a hidden, fortified, well protected nearby base, the Crossbones are a force to be reckoned with.  Effectively, he’s made the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Southland a hunting ground and the south of the continent, a danger zone. 

While the Navy hasn’t been given sanction to assault the island, they have beefed up their presence and the shipping is more protected.  It’s something of a stalemate.  As long as Hobart alone can control the monsters, his rule is also secure, but the pirate captains are grumbling about the lack of easy pickings.  Hobart may be planning more ambitious adventures, perhaps an invasion of the mainland and taking the gold and diamond shipments there.     

So far, Hobart has only made one major mistake.  The Gillmen, living offshore, often came ashore to take eggs of the giant monsters to raise them as their servants.  While he approached them under truce, Hobart didn’t like the non-human intrusion and slaughtered the poachers.  This brought quick retaliation from a small army of Gillmen and their giant monsters.  The Crossbones with their monsters held their own and beat them back.  Hobart even took a magic trident from their king, who was leading the assault, though he escaped.

While the Gillmen haven’t made such a large scale attack again, they are a constant guerilla warfare menace to the island and to the pirate ships at sea.  Worse, they’re not discriminating between the pirates and the colony, and they have been attacking coastal settlements.  It’s pretty much another stalemate situation, as no one is able to effectively strike back at the Gillman’s underwater bases.    

The pirates also have mobile supply points in secluded bays all around Tasmania, giving them greater range and making them harder to spot. 

The town of Hobart (how modest of the Captain-Emperor) is every bit the den of pirates you’d imagine if it were a Disneyland ride.  It is, however, an actual functioning municipality.  There are women (with questionable backgrounds brought in or purchased from various other nations) and children (of dubious parentage).  It is well-defended by ships, monsters, and even coastal emplacements and siege batteries.  There are also a network of informants on the mainland, keeping the pirates informed of naval movements and shipments.