[Ansteorra] The whole pirate thing...

[Duncan MacNamara]

>I keep hearing tell about Letters of Marque...as a law abiding citizen, I'm
>more interested in the issuance of a Bounty. Whether the Bounty come from
>the King, a Baron, or a Free Company (merely looking out for the safety and
>security of their business interests, of course) makes little difference to
>me.

If you want to play that little game again, I can and will defend myself and 
my crew. We have done absolutely nothing wrong, and the whole fiasco with 
whoever was behind stealing our cannons last protectorate very nearly came 
to mundane authorities being called in. Someone steals my things again or 
detains my crew against their will, and there will be consequences. I, and 
my first mate, have told you that as soon as we gain a Letter of Marque, we 
will proudly call ourselves privateers.

>A privateer is a mercenary with a ship...a right pricey commodity! And
>claiming to be a naval captain is very presumptuous.

Just how do you figure that? How is it any more presumtuous than any of the 
other personas out there?

>A pirate is an outlaw--just that simple. Lately, I have seen a number of
>folks claiming publicly and proudly to be pirates. Why anyone would claim
>publicly and proudly to be a murder, cutthroat, or thief, is
>baffling--especially in an organization devoted to the concepts of chivalry
>and honor. Still to each, his own.

Try listening to me speak of honor some time. I hold my honor in very high 
esteem, and in fact it is the ONLY reason I don't lie and forge a Letter of 
Marque and call ourselves Privateers anyway. So to quote a "hollywood" 
captain I've heard, "Don't dare impune me honor."

>The fascinating thing is that "pirates" don't like being treated like
>pirates...(refer to "murder, cutthroat, or thief"). I for one don't have a
>problem with having SCA "pirates"--so long as they play the part in our 
>time
>period (not some half-baked attempt at Johnny Depp in the Regency Period)
>and I'm allowed to treat them accordingly.

And seeing people who portray Vikings... and the people they would have 
raided... you don't see them treating the vikings like murderers, theives, 
etc... And there we get back into the pirates vs. vikings theme... If you 
really want to get technical, Vikings sailed the sea and raided by ship. 
Stealing, killing, pillaging and plundering. Pirates sailed the seas, 
raiding by ship. Stealing, killing, pillaging, and plundering. The only 
difference besides the obvious lapse in time period is that to the Norse, it 
was an accepted part of their Culture.


Now... This needs to stop. I will HAPPILY call ourselves Privateers, but I 
would like to have that magic piece of paper stamped "Letter of Marque" 
first.

Lord Duncan MacNamara
Captain of the Iron Lotus
Commodore of the Allied Outlanders Fleet