Editing Pirates of the Baltic Sea (section)

===Estonia===

A country of around 1.3 million people on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. Estonia has over two thousand islands and islets in the Baltic sea, many of these making ideal meeting places for Buccaneers and clients or customers in the Baltic states. And there are plenty of those in Estonia. Over there, the Åland Embargo was largely seen as a business opportunity rather than an obstacle to trade, and most Estonian corporations are perfectly happy to do off the books trade with the Buccaneers, making Estonia-Åland route a smuggling route with heavy traffic.

And not all trade between the Buccaneers and their Estonian partners is in physical products. Banking and online services are also a source of brisk trade. A free trade regime, competitive commercial banking sector, innovative e-Services and mobile-based services are all hallmarks of Estonia's market economy. They are also at the leading edge of e-government, with 99 percent of the public services being available on the web 24 hours a day. It is no secret then that many Buccaneer crews have accounts in Estonian banks and sites, phone numbers with Estonian telecommunication companies, and online storage in various commercial servers, usually behind cover of front companies provided by yet other service providers. These services are considered safe to use with little risk of megacorp interference. The Ease of Doing Business Index places Estonia among the top 20 in the world, and the country has the third lowest business bribery risk in the world.

Although Estonia is in general resource-poor, it is not reliant on just its service and information technology sectors. Food, construction, and electronic industries are among the most important branches of Estonia's industry, followed by the machinery and chemical industry.
However, there are vast disparities between different areas of Estonia. Over half of the country's GDP is created in the capital city of Tallinn, and that is where most of the wealth is concentrated. This has been a contributing factor to the situation that has given rise to one of the most brutal rivals of the Buccaneers, The Raiders of Thule. They operate semi-openly from the island of Saaremaa. The Raiders leave Estonian shipping alone and support and are supported by some populist right wing political groups with support in the areas outside the capital. Their supporters downplay their violent activities at sea and paint them as Robin Hoods supporting the country’s rural economy, and with the government’s silent acceptance of trade with Buccaneers they lack the political capital to shut down the Raiders, even if they’d be happy to see the pirates gone.

====Tallinn====

The capital and the main financial, industrial and cultural centre of Estonia, with a population of half a million people. Tallinn is situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, 80.32 kilometres (49.91 miles) south of Helsinki, and the Helsinki-Tallinn route is one of the busiest passenger sea routes in the world. The city has a highly diversified economy with particular strengths in tourism, logistics and especially information technology and cybernetics. Tallinn has been called the Silicon Valley of the Baltic Sea.

The Port of Tallinn is one of the largest port enterprises of the Baltic Sea, with five constituent harbors. It is a popular port of call for Buccaneers, many of whom do business in Tallinn.

====Saaremaa====

The largest island in Estonia, with a total population of 30 000 people. Once a popular tourist destination that still has its own passenger port, the island sees fever visitors these days, but has an entrepreneur-friendly, safe, and strain-free economic environment. Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, the entrepreneurs include the pirate group Raiders of Thule. Just like Åland’s economy is dependent on the Buccaneers, Saaremaa depends on the Raiders. Although the atmosphere is less welcoming in Saaremaa, where the raiders are only grudgingly accepted by the general population although the authorities treat them friendly. The Raiders are on their best behavior in their home port, not wishing to dirty their own nest, but they have no code of conduct like the Buccaneers do, and enough rumors about their ruthlessness get around that many locals have serious doubts about the value of having the Raiders around.

====Navy====

Estonia never had a large navy, with only half a dozen commissioned ships, so when Triton Corporation started offering naval mercenary services around the Baltic Sea, it was not a huge decision not to upgrade their aging fleet and instead contract Triton for Navy services. Although this decision ended up forming the core group of what became the Raiders of Thule as former Navy personnel looked for other opportunities.

Currently, Estonia is contracting ten Triton vessels, mostly patrol boats for force protection at sea and in ports, along with a minelayer and a pair of mine hunters.

Estonia still maintains its own Border Guard that has patrol boats of their own, and although these are police rather than military vessels, they are not to be laughed at, and perfectly capable of catching and apprehending a careless Buccaneer crew with their fast patrol craft. 

Buccaneer wisdom on Estonian Navy: “Forget the Tritons – beware of the Border Guard!”