Endless Isles
In the Beginning
"in the beginning the land was dry and the world was whole. Man could walk as far as he could see and vast seas of sand stretched in every direction. In the beginning there was an emperor. he ruled the land and was a god to men. His cartographer's came to him one day and told him that they had mapped the world and all that was in it. The emperor was proud of his men and asked them what more could he add to his domain.
'We have mapped all the land in almost every direction,' they told him,' We have seen the edge of the world, and further. But we wonder now, what could be below?' they asked him.
'Sky,' they told him,' Sky. The sun leaves your empire for the night, it must rise in another. The moon and stars walk from one land to another' The emperor did not wait for another word. He set his men to dig, and so they did. It was not long before their spades broke through, into the world below. The bright sun shone through the breach from the depths of a surreal world. The world moved as flames rise from a fire. And the good emperor looked down and saw in a flash, a beautiful queen. she looked at him from the rippling world and he reached down to her. And in another flash she was gone. The emperor had never seen a woman so gorgeous, and wished for her to be his. He would not stop until her took her under her control.
'Men,' he said to them,' dig! Dig into this world, make it mine!' And they dug and he searched for his queen. They dug until the only sand left was that sifting on the bottom of the ocean and only the hardest or rock was left behind. Some say he's still out there, digging. Past the fringe, on the edge of nothing, carving these endless isles..."
The Oath
Two-Dagger Torriaeu, the legendary Laugher of Louisport and the Haverland Sacker managed to steal Death away, taking her away and learning the secrets to life eternal. He swore the first oath, and bound death to whisper the oath to the greatest pirates of every age to come, to keep the seas free from the tyranny of Kings.
"Two-Dagger Torriaeu
stole the death away
bound her to his ship
and made a deal with her
'we pirates will rule' said he
'we men of ship and sea
see that we shall never fall
and I will let ye be!'
and so death saw to it
that any pirate willing
should never perish forever
but never live true"
The Crusaders
After the oath, there were some who didn't like what they saw. They wanted to return the world to how it was, by killing the immortals. Every last one of them. First they take your shadow, then they burn you, and you won't dance the shade away. These are the crusaders, who have 3 missions:
Finding 'Two Dagger Torriaeu' and reversing his bargain with Death. Killing every last man to have taken the oath. Destroying every last vestige of knowledge of the oath.
They are based at the legendary Fort Cross, where they take prisoners, and accept those few pirates who are tired of their 'life'. Then they kill those who cannot die.