Trelanganack

Trelanganack Kowklopen is the former CEO of the Eldham International Shipping Federation (EISF), Governor of the city of Porthnegys, Co-Governor of the town of Kragmen and Commodore of the Black Isles. Regarded as one of the former kings of Eldham's narcotics underworld, he is an opportunistic and ambitious merchant who often places his grand ideas above the human cost of his endeavours. He is often identified under the colloquial nickname 'that shipping guy', earned as a result of his successful shipping company and frequent trips to all corners of Eldham. He is closely allied with the Pirate Lord EarlGreyT3a and his co-governor and business associate Alfred I (aka Buck).

The Beginning
Shortly after the collapse of The Pirate State of Barbossa as a result of the Uraka & Barbossa Conflicts, a young and ambitious pirate stepped onto the world stage: Trelanganack. Seeing the newly opened niche of seafaring, merchant nations, the lowly sailor joined up with the Eldham-based Tortugan colony in the city of Riverheim. Though initially optimistic, Trelanganack quickly realised that the leadership of Riverheim - and Tortuga as a whole - were uninterested in maritime affairs or merchant pipe-dreams after stumbling across an abandoned and destroyed town just next to Riverheim that was covered in anti-Riverheimian propaganda; it was likely that the small garrison of guards in Riverheim had attacked the town and seized it for later expansion, one sign read "YOU CAN'T HAVE ALL THE LAND, RIVERHEIM". This worried Trelanganack and, while Riverheim slept, he quietly departed the city (and the rest of Tortugan colony) in a small boat.

Sailing & Wandering
Following his departure from Riverheim, the lowly pirate began sailing around the eastern hemisphere of Eldham. He explored the Rohkian Shogunate, Sylvania, The Confederation of Garxijos, the Socialist Union of Paloma, Santos and many more in search of trade and a suitable place to call home. Through this constant travel and almost nomadic lifestyle, Trelanganack built up many distant connections in the merchant world through his frequent trade whilst educating himself on global affairs by reading the CoG's newspaper "Nuts and Bolts". It was through his travels that he heard of the recently established nation of The Black Isles, created by survivors of the Barbossan collapse who aimed primarily for freedom, independence and trade. Eager to build wealth, friendships and a nation, Trelanganack set sail for the Kraken's Fall Sea.

Start of Piracy
After a long journey through the winding river canals of Leifmyrr, he finally found himself in the Kraken's Fall Sea where the archapelago known as the Black Isles lay. He was immediately greeted upon landing on the island of Scurvy Shores by the Pirate Lord EarlGreyT3a, founder and leader of the Black Skulls (who ruled the lands); Tea explained how the ex-Barbossans had settled there and began subjugating the indigenous island population to make way for merchant expansion. Untroubled by the pirate's moral violations, Trelanganack settled right in and got very friendly with the citizens - namely Alfred I or "Buck". This was the beginning of the first proper chapter in the life of the lowly pirate Trelanganack, everything before had been but a boring prologue to everything that he knew was possible in future; this is where the story begins.

Porthnegys
After a few days on the island, the Pirate Lord put out a call: "any who find suitable land to consitute merchant expansion shall be rewarded and made governor of their discovered land". The goalpost was marked. The lowly pirate Trelanganack immediately raced to his tiny vessel, still floating just off the coves of the Scurvy Shores, and set sail. It was not before long that he found exactly what he had hoped for: an unclaimed, undisputed peninsula of mainland fairly near to the archipelago; on this peninsula sat a small, derelict port town likely settled by another band of pirates who promptly abandoned it due to a lack of business. The town had been colloquially named "The World's Edge" due to it's close proximity to the world border. Sensing unutilised potential, the lowly pirate raced back to The Black Isles to report his findings. After some diplomatic negotiations with the Shogunate of Rohkia to purchase the land, the Pirate Lord gave his permission to have it settled and Trelanganack was made the official governor of the city. As soon as he was appointed governor, Trelanganack appointed his closest ally Buck as his co-governor and they sailed to The World's Edge together. The pre-existing sections of the city were restored to their former beauty while the giant fort atop was reinforced into a major defensive position. To honour the massive revitalisation of the city, Trelanganack begged the Pirate Lord to have it renamed and - after many hours of pleading - it became the capital city of The Black Isles and was renamed to "Porthnegys" (roughly translating to 'port of business'). The city grew quickly with the southern side of the city being an open, pleasant merchant port based on the original architecture of the town while the north side of the city became densely packed yet colourful slums inhabited by the subjugated indigenous natives of the Black Isles, forced from their archipelago home. Following the founding of Porthnegys, Trelanganack was promoted to the positions of: Governor of Porthnegys; Corsair of the Pirate Lord; and Head Diplomat of The Black Isles.

Introduction to Government
As a result of his promotions, Trelanganack was brought into the "government" of the Black Isles as a corsair and governor. His position as governor of the capital city gave him some weight within the negotiations of policy however his authority was superceded by that of the Pirate Lord and the nation's religious advisor Tyr Leuxos, with whom he would soon have a bitter rivalry. The Black Isles "government" - known as the Black Skulls - was similar to a council or advisory team who presented ideas and/or external affairs to the Pirate Lord for debate within the council between corsairs with the final verdict decided by the Pirate Lord himself.

Leux and Trelanganack were opposed from the start. While Trelanganack was a very practical, hands-on individual who cared little for religion or internal legislation, Leux was a religous advisor who spent most of her time away in foreign nations and writing literature. Their first clash came when Leux suggested officially adopting the language of the subjugated islanders as the language of the Black Isles, which Trelanganack vehemently opposed in favour of a harsher Celtic language to fit within their pirate stereotype. The debate grew and grew until only the Pirate Lord could quell their vitrolic arguing. The two would clash many times again and their rivalry became well-known to many of the corsairs and the Pirate Lord himself.

Foreign-Affairs Work
Another result of his hard work was his appointment as Head Diplomat of the Black Isles. The Pirate Lord Tea sent Trelanganack to negotiate deals with the neighbouring nations who shared the Kraken's Fall Sea with the Black Isles. Thanks to his earlier time as a semi-nomad merchant, Trelanganack was able to easily negotiate Non-Agression Pacts with nearby nations such as Sylvania and Paloma, though relations strained with Sylvania following the Luxwind Scandal - in which the Sylvanian government directly authorised the construction of a secondary capital city within the Kraken's Fall Sea, commonly regarded as territory of the Black Isles; this scandal lead to panick within the Black Isles prompting the Pirate Lord seek out The Silver Captain's son to reunite the former Barbossans into the Republic of Barbossa.

Reunification
Following the Luxwind Scandal, the Pirate Lord EarlGreyT3a sought out the son of the Silver Captain "Sarlician" (Sarli Tobbler) to bring about the reunification of Barbossa in the form of The Republic of Barbossa. When the reunification came, the Black Isles was the first to join and was met with praise from the former Barbossan's who believed the age of piracy to be long deceased. As a result of this praise, Porthnegys became the capital city of the new republic (though this was also partially due to it's strategic and geographic advantages) and Trelanganack maintained his authority as governor of the city.



The War of the North-East
Immediately upon the reunification of Barbossa, The Uraki Imperium announced it's planned conquest of the north-east (including The Confederation of Garxijos, Riverheim, The Confederation of Anarchist Communes, Yunria, Katolis and Rodinnbrok). The new Barbossa was brought into the war through it's complex web of alliances and Trelanganack was drafted into the military and sent to the front lines to fight. Conditions on the front were awful and, though fighting had yet to occur, many soldiers deserted or revolted as a result of their treatment. Not long into the war, the Barbossan leadership signed a pact of neutrality with Uraka and ordered their soldiers to return home; Trelanganack ignored this order and instead volunteered and joined up with the COG military and was drafted into the Andreus Unit.

While stationed on the front, he made many friends from the north-east and even made some profit selling building materials to fortify endangered towns. Days turned into weeks and there had still 0 battles fought. More and more soldiers began deserting but Trelanganack remained adamant and prepared for the order of attack to be given. Finally, in an anti-climax, the COG surrendered to Uraka and dissolved itself into it's constituent member states. Trelanganack, though a little discontent, accepted this and returned to Barbossa and his city of Porthnegys to resume his governmental positions and carry out his work at home.

The Barbossa-USSE War
Trelanganack was once again drafted into the ranks of Barbossa for the Barbossa-USSE War. He fought alongside his allies from his home of Porthnegys such as GuardReady, successfully surviving the war and killing two troops of the USSE Military - earning himself the Barbossan "Red War Veteran" medal. He was initially stationed on the defensive wall of the Barbossan capital of Al-Basaad however, when the USSE's supply depot was destroyed and their leadership formalised a retreat, joined the forward charge of Barbossan's in the storming of the USSE Army Camp and the securing of the area. It should be noted that Trelanganack also made some profit from this war by selling brews and alcohols to the friendly troops stationed in Al-Basaad, walking away from the conflict with a few thousand dollars profit and a shulker's worth of potions ready for resale!

The Sign-Over
While the troops celebrated their successful victory against the USSE, Trelanganack slinked off home to meet with Alfred I and privately conquer the city of Townscape; the two were successful in their endeavour and the town was renamed "Kragmen". However, back in Al-Basaad, the Barbossans were caught unawares as the De Vrijmasten Raden (DVR) fleet sailed up to the fort and bombarded it with cannon fire. Realising the magnitude of the threat at hand, the Barbossan leadership signed over Barbossa's territory to the DVR in exchange for freedom and peace. The DVR officially proclaimed the termination of all pirate activity and culture in their territory.

Trelanganack and the rest of The Black Isles were deeply unhappy with this arrangement. Throughout their history, through thick and thin, they had preserved and practiced pirate culture despite the prejudice from foreign powers. The final straw came when the DVR's leadership, when drafting up their map, didn't even include the Black Isles on their map; believing this to show the DVR's disregard for the Black Isles and it's people, Trelanganack, Buck and Pirate Lord Tea declared independence and re-established the Black Isles as an independent nation once more.

Re-Establishment
Following the re-independence, the Pirate Lord promoted Buck and Trelanganack to the rank of "Commodore" - the highest rank within the nation - and tasked them with reforming, re-establishing and expanding their nation. Kragmen and Porthnegys were further developed and the Council of the Corsairs grew closer than they ever had been before. The Pirate Lord and Trelanganack discovered that a heavily fortified port city to their north named "Griefswald" had been left unguarded and empty; war was swiftly declared and the crew sailed to the city and took it over with no resistance.

The 2nd Horizon Day
One day, while out sailing, Trelanganack stumbled across the great city of "Rivergate" in the Uraki vassal-state of Eleanor. When he arrived, he found the citizens preparing for the monthly holiday of "Horizon Day" - a holiday dedicated to Eldham-wide culture and religion and the education and revival of these practices. He decided to attend and joined the crowd in the grand Rivergate Library to listen to the speeches; he drank 14 bottles of rum, completely selling-out the local tavern and filling the bottle-recycling barrel. He had to be escorted back to the library so that he didn't fall in the complex canal system of the city. This brave yet idiotic show of crassness and hardy-ness made quite the impression on the locals and foreign diplomats at the event and consequently saw a wave of new citizens and sailors to the isles at home...

Founding


Shortly after the establishment of Porthnegys, Trelanganack had an idea. The restoration of the city had cost great amounts of clay for the brickwork and clay was not a material native to the area surrounding the city. What if they could import it? And then began Trelanganack's fascination with the world of shipping. His first attempt was unsuccessful. It was branded as "Trelanganack Shipping & Postal. and after mass producing advertisements and talking to some of the nearby allied nations he was getting no business, which led him to this conclusion: people utilise shipping when it is both inituative and efficient. With this conclusion met, he began to realise the untapped potential of the shipping market. He journeyed, first across Leifmyrr but soon across all of Eldham, uniting all of the smaller postage and trading companies under the "Eldham International Shipping Federation". When negotiating with companies, he would tell this story:

His strategies proved effective and before long he had infrastructure spanning all of Eldham. Less than a week into his venture he had a staff of 8 couriers, 7 associates and 17 merchants who regularly employed his service.

Narcotics Expansion
Ever the opportunist, Trelanganack realised another potential business venture that could utilise the service provided by the EISF. At the time, the EISF simply transported diplomatic postage such as letters and gifts or bulk shipments of materials for builders, both of which made sizeable income however there was another market which made more: narcotics. Narcotics (and brews) were some of the most profitable items in Eldham and there was a massive market for them, with the added efficiency and speed of the EISF's delivery system, they could be the most lucrative market ever - with most of the profits going straight to the man at the top, Trelanganack.

He began speaking to the SAMCRO Cartel, a well-known drug organisation in Eldham led by fearsome kingpin Jesus Regulus, who had become violent and ruthless followong the death of his son at the hands of a rival cartel during the Serrona Drug Wars. Initially frightened by the narcos and fearing himself to be out-of-depth, Trelanganack quietly met the demands of the cartel in exchange for their drugs to be trafficked through the EISF. This deal persisted for a few weeks before Trelanganack realised something: there were no drugs going through the EISF! Fearing betrayal, he headed straight to SAMCRO's HQ where he found it barren. The boss was in his usual spot yet nothing was actually going on. That was why there had been no drugs, the complacent leaders at SAMCRO had been too inefficient to get them out of the labs and onto the EISF courier's horses. That had to change.

Tensions with SAMCRO
Trelanganack began pulling individual cooks/brewers aside and asking them about their bosses. He found that, while the workers were eager to make money, the higher-ups in the cartel were too lazy and had failed to provide them with any of the requirements they had stated they needed to cook. He knew what he had to do. He began to usurp the SAMCRO Cartel by buying out their cooks with better deals. With this newfound deal, Trelanganack controlled both supply and trafficking of narcotics across all of Eldham, giving him a near monopoly on the market. To this day, the colloquially nicknamed "Trelanganack Cartel" or "Porthnegys Cartel" supplies an estimated 30% of all brews and drugs in Eldham while it is thought to traffick and transport over 80% of all brews and narcotics total. When Jesus Regulus discovered this betrayal, he threatened Trelanganack and his company, stating:

This threat did not deter Trelanganack and he continued recruiting and using SAMCRO cooks, growing his team of brewers to 5 companies encompassing a total of 14 individual experienced brewers. He began negotiating with even more cartels and honest breweries offering distribution of their product, dealing with The Qadafia and their supply of Grit (a drug only produced in the city of Qadakh); Mikey's Grotto of Nueva Trinidad and their honest brews; the Business Supply company; the Alexandrian Brewing Company; the Ocean Club Company; the Dollar Smart company; and even a mysterious kingpin from Rathnir, who wished to expand his unique products into Eldham. The shear supply of narcotics became so great that Trelanganack had to employ the use of multiple of the EISF's depots and warehouses to store all of the product at any given time.

Trelanganack, to preserve the EISF's dominance in the industry, began using his wealth to buy out smaller delivery and shipping companies and "incorporating" them into the EISF itself - though this usually meant they were simply dissolved with their assets and employees going directly to the EISF.

Dissolution
Due to the great success of the company, many cartels and other organisations grew paranoid and jealous. Following the establishment of The DVR in the former territory of Barbossa, there was an influx of merchants and business men and women to Leifmyrr and Serrona. Before long, conflicts began to brew. Raiding parties were frequently spotted around EISF properties and warehouses and high numbers of the EISF's stocks were illegally seized and resold on the black market. These conflicts led to Trelanganack striking back and sending parties of his own to attack competing cartels, leading to a small conflict in the much larger "Leifmyrr-Serrona Cartel Wars". Following a few skirmishes and unofficial battles between hired mercenaries, the rival cartels deduced that they should (metaphorically) cut at the roots and not the leaves.

Before long, 3/11 of the EISF's suppliers remained with the other 8 being destroyed or taken over by the rivals. Even Trelanganack's head brewer - a close friend of his - was abducted, tortured and killed with his head arriving at the EISF HQ using it's own delivery system. With his hand forced and organisation slowly waning, Trelanganack decided to formally retire and dissolve the EISF, ending the conflict for good.

Allegations
Many have alleged that Trelanganack was the leader of this unofficial cartel and attempted to expose his illegal narcotics dealings across Eldham. When interviewed about these allegations, he stated: "I was the CEO of the Eldham International Shipping Federation. I shipped things." Though findings have been inconclusive, it is commonly believed that Trelanganack is, in fact, behind the international narcotics trade and many cases in various courts of law have been left open regarding their individual investigations into the EISF.

Operations
The Trelanganack Mining Company is a much smaller and lesser known organisation when compared to the EISF however it's profits are great and it's scars greater. The TMC's HQ can be found within the EISF HQ in Porthnegys -due to the two companies strong partnership- and the lion's share of it's properties can be found in the Barbossan Republic, it's home nation. The TMC's goal is quite self-explanatory: to mine as much from the ground as possible and sell the resources for as much money as possible. It employs a wide number of mining strategies, such as coffin mining (known more commonly as "strip mining"), open-cast mining, quarrying and bore-holing.

History
The company was established by Trelanganack following the discovery of deeper caves and the higher yields of ore found further beneath the ground. This prompted him to invest heavily in infrastructure and tools to tunnel as deep as possible to extract as great a yield as possible to be exported abroad for high profits or even reinvested into Barbossa to help the recovering nation grow.