Capt'n Dutch

Long ago, but not far away, Capt'n Dutch used to be an honest trader (honestly!) between Thanon and Triskellian. It's just that one day, somebody in Thanon wanted him to bring a package to Triskellian. Normally he would've disagreed of course, but the trading hadn't been going so well lately. And having an expensive hobby, such as carousing (just an example), didn't really help either. So the two aureals he would get for the package would certainly help.

But when docking in Triskellian, disaster struck. Triskellian high officials had just ordered all ships checked for illegal goods. Of course, they soon found the package. When they made clear that if he couldn't pay the (in his opinion) unreasonable fine, his ship would be confiscated, Dutch lost his temper. He pulled his sword, and a bloody fight ensued between the capt'n and the harbour watchmen. The capt'n won, though from that day on, he would have to walk with a peg leg.

While being seen to by the onboard medic, the capt'n ordered the crew to sail out of Triskellian immediately. The wind was on their side, and before anybody in the harbour could react to it, they were out of the bay. And the capt'n vowed that he would get his revenge, and that Triskellian hadn't seen the last of him!

Since trading was now out of the question, the best way to both earn money and exert revenge upon Triskellian was to become pirates, targetting mostly Triskellian traders to cripple its economy. In order to remain fair to his crew, the capt'n called for a vote on this issue. His loyal crew of course voted unanimously in favour of becoming pirates (and the ones who didn't vote unanimously soon found themselves marooned on a tiny isle).

And thus started the pirate career of Capt'n Dutch. He and his crewmen became notorious in the Triskellian waters. Soon they had so much loot that they had to get a hide-out. This was established in a small gorge in the mountains of the south cape (also referred to as the "Cape of Lost Hope" due to the treacherous reefs) of the island south of Triskellian. This gorge had the advantage of being reachable only by sea, as it was surrounded by sheer mountain walls. Over time, as loot was piling up, and as parts of the crew of the raided ships chose to cooperate with the pirates instead of being marooned on a deserted isle, their hide-out grew into a village, which, in honour of the capt'n, was named Capeville.

Yet the capt'n's lust for revenge was still not satisfied. He wanted a more direct and dramatic revenge. And soon, he found himself plotting together with Xygnier to abduct the influential Triskellian politician Rashyn. Unfortunately, their spies reported that Rashyn always was surrounded by well-trained bodyguards, so they decided to abduct his son, Farris, instead and make Rashyn deliver himself to the pirates in exchange for his son.

To be able to defend against the fleet of Triskellian, the capt'n and Xygnier also decided to make state-of-the-art warships, and there was exactly one person for this job in Calabria: The Steaming Stoat. They kitnapped him, and let him build a new type of warship, which was not driven by wind power, but by steam power.

Yet when they finally had abducted Farris, a team had apparently been sent to rescue him. They pretended to be the crew of a ship which was raided by the pirates. When they were testing the first steamship, called The Flying Dutchfox in honour of the capt'n, they took over the control of the ship and tried to bring Farris back to Triskellian. The capt'n, who of course didn't participate in the testing due to the risk of an engine explosion, lost his temper again and was forced to use his second steamship, The Flying Dutchvixen, which had a more powerful, but as yet untested, engine and drove it to the max to catch up with The Flying Dutchfox. When they caught up, they were already in the bay of Triskellian. A short and one-sided fight occurred in which The Flying Dutchvixen's cannons heavily damaged her unfortunate cousin ship.

But then, disaster struck again; the untested engine of The Flying Dutchvixen couldn't take the strain anymore, and exploded, causing The Flying Dutchvixen to sink to the bottom of the sea without survivors. And thus ends the story of one of the most successful pirate capt'ns in Calabrian history; a capt'n who went out in a blaze of glory and got a seaman's grave worthy of his achievements.