Black Isles

Summary
The Black Isles is a mostly oceanic nation located in the south-east of Eldham in the Kraken Fall's Sea. It's capital is "Porthnegys" - a port city that was abandoned by the first explorers from Rathnir and taken over by the The Black Skulls, who rule the surrounding seas and archapelago. The indigenous islanders, initially subjugated by the pirates and sailors, grew their relationship over time to that of equals with The Black Skulls and began to share their culture, religion and join the ranks of the pirate crews so that even islanders could be leaders. The nation has a rich culture and religion of three deities which are worshiped by many.

History
The Black Isles were founded by player EarlGreyT3a following the collapse of The Pirate State of Barbossa. Following the perilous Uraka & Barbossa Conflicts, the sailors and pirates of Barbossa were in chaos. Many Barbossans had disagreed with their leadership and had their problems with the late pirate state and saw the unfortunate collapse as a new chapter for piracy and merchant culture. While the remains of Barbossa (and most of it's people) were absorped into the neighbouring Uraka, a small group of sailors - namely EarlGreyT3a, the founder of The Black Isles, and Tyr Leuxos, who is widely disputed to have been a traitor of Barbossa - set sail for new lands. A short while later, after navigating through the delicate and winding river channels of Leifmyrr, the group found themselves in the Kraken's Fall Sea; within this sea lay an archapelago known as "Ngu Meutoro Punge". When the crew landed on the largest of the islands, they were peacefully greeted by the island's indigenous inhabitants who believed them to be friendly merchants looking for simple trade. Not being acquainted with local customs, EarlGreyT3a proclaimed the island as "Scurvy Shores" and named the archapelago "The Black Isles"; he welcomed all sailors, merchants, mercanaries and pirates salvation in a truly free land with no laws, no regulations and no foreign alliances forcing their hands.

The group had found the land and independence they had yearned for however now came the hardest part of their journey: administration. Debates were plentiful between the group causing many rifts to form among the swashbuckling crew; Leux - as she had done many times before on her odyssies - argued that the island natives should be treated with a respectful and peaceful demeanour much like they had done to the sailors when they first arrived but Tea and the rest of their hardy band of pirates was having none of it. Before long, a brutal and supressive subjugation and begun on the island natives, powerless to defend against the well-trained, battle-hardened crew. Tea was proclaimed the Pirate Lord by his fellow sailors while Leux, in defiance of the regime, began documenting and studying the culture and religion of the islands. As time progressed, more and more fleets of ships arrived to the islands and claustrophobic yet colourful slums grew to accomodate the indigenous people, while the pirates enjoyed lavish vessels and sturdy fortresses.

As the population of the islands grew rapidly, Tea sent out calls to sailors to find more unclaimed land to encorporate into The Black Isles. Player Trelanganack, a new but prospective sailor to the Isles, answered these calls following his discovery of a small sliver of mainland peninsula bordering the world's edge. On the peninsula lay an abandoned merchant town known colloquially as "The World's Edge", it had clearly been a costly yet unsuccessful investment of a long-gone band of swashbucklers based on the lavish architecture presented on the harbour wall; the land on which the town lay was under the jurisdiction of the Rhokian Shogunate so negotiations began (with the help of Leux's plentiful diplomatic connections) to purchase the land from them. With the approval of the Pirate Lord, Trelanganack (and his trusty partner Alfred I or "Buck") began repairing the former trade port and expanding the city to facilitate further settling from merchants and island natives. With this reinvention of the city, it was renamed "Porthnegys" - roughly translating to 'port of business'. The sudden migration and urbanisation of many of the sailors and island natives quickly grew the city's economy and, after much protest, the Pirate Lord Tea proclaimed it as the new capital city of The Black Isles. Following the success of the endeavour, Trelanganack was promoted within the Black Skulls to the positions of Corsair, Head Diplomat, Governor of Porthnegys while Buck was made Co-Governor and became well-known as the go-to builder within The Black Isles; alongside this, Leux's reputation was restored due to her help in the negotiations with Rhokia and her documentation of the native religion and culture slowly became adopted by many sailors and merchants within the Black Isles, finally ending the subjugation of the natives.

Immensly proud of the nation he and his corsairs had built, Pirate Lord Tea began vocally opening diplomatic ties with foreign powers (a practice not undertaken before to preserve the young Black Isle's independence). Head Diplomat Trelanganack was sent on Tea's behalf to open negotiations and alliances with many of the nations sharing the Kraken's Fall Sea, including: Sylvania, Alzaria, Rohkian Shogunate and the Socialist Union of Paloma. Today, the Black Isles are well regarded as a fierce yet peaceful and well-spoken nation with a firm grip on maritime trade and a near monopoly on naval combat thanks to it's members Barbossan origins; the citizens of The Black Isles are all very happy people and civil unrest among the public is totally undocumented. Though few of the original indigenous islanders remain, many sailors in The Black Isles - namely the Pirate Lord himself - have adopted the customs and religion of the locals, resulting in an unheard of cultural mix in every aspect of life, including the language!