Editing Pirates of the Baltic Sea (section)

===Captains’ Table===

Buccaneers enjoy plenty of freedom. Their services are vital to Åland’s economy, so the government allows them to get away with quite a bit, within limits. But there are limits. And in addition to Ålandic authorities, the Buccaneers need to tread carefully with Swedish and Finnish governments. To a degree the same is true of all the governments in the Baltic region, but those have a much higher threshold to take aggressive action against Buccaneers in their home port, especially with much greater threats like the Raiders of Thule around. Generally it is much simpler to just increase their patrols if the actions of the Buccaneers become a nuisance.

Still, the position of the Buccaneers is not secure. One too bloodthirsty crew or a corporate false flag operation could ruin their carefully cultivated reputation and relationships. Even early on it was obvious that some kind of internal policing would be necessary. That is how the Captains’ Table formed. It is something of a Buccaneer Parliament. Every captain of an accepted Buccaneer crew has a vote when the Captains’ Table gathers, and a single majority decides the vote. And only the Captains’ Table can accept a new crew into their ranks. One cannot just sail into Åland and start Buccaneering. Newcomers need to present themselves and be accepted.

In practice, it would be impractical for all the captains to gather for every single matter, so the Captains’ Table gathers rarely. Most of the day to day decisions are handled by the Admiralty.

====Admiralty====

Captains’ Table votes into position five Admirals, who have the right to act and make decisions on the Table’s behalf. Usually the Admirals are semi-retired Buccaneer captains whose best days at sea are behind them but who possess experience and cunning in spades. Admirals deal with the authorities and the media. They also arbitrate disputes between Buccaneer crews. Anyone with a grievance with another crew can bring the matter before the Admiralty. And it is the Admirals who police the actions of Buccaneers. They have a right to issue commands and pass judgement. And if necessary, other Buccaneers enforce their decisions. Any crew who decides to just ignore an Admiral will soon find three other crews on their doorstep.

Admirals serve until they choose to retire, unless they are voted out by the Captains’ Table. This is rare but has happened. Captains’ Table can also overturn a decision of the Admiralty. This is just as rare as voting out an Admiral, and usually one follows the other.
For all their authority, Admirals do not interfere with the affairs of Buccaneer crews unless they have to. The two most common ways to end up facing the Admiralty’s judgement are arbitration and breaking the Buccaneers’ Code.

Some might think that it would be a simple matter to evade the judgement of the Admiralty simply by fleeing Åland. But the Admiralty has a powerful tool in their arsenal. The Black Mark. A crew can be tried in absentia if they refuse to face judgement, and that nearly always results in being Blackmarked. Black Mark is an effective death sentence. It marks the crew as a target for elimination for all Buccaneer crews. There is a lot of prestige in being the crew to take out a Blackmarked crew, and the crew that does so gets to keep all the Blackmarked crew’s surviving assets. Announcing a Black Mark always results in a race as the Buccaneers rush after the target.

No Blackmarked crew has survived. Some have tried to seek refuge with the traditional enemies of the Buccaneers, such as the Raiders of Thule or the corporations, but those groups are dangerous in their own right and have little reason to feel sympathy for fugitive Buccaneers, so this has never ended well. Fleeing the Baltic for good might be the only way to survive, and even that may not help. There is a tale of a crew who abandoned the Baltic and fled to mainland Europe. Only to get gunned down in Belgrade a year later by another crew who had followed them to the mainland and tracked them down.

====The current Admirals====

=====Captain Almstedt, Johannes Almstedt=====

At close to seventy, Captain Almstedt is the oldest of the Admirals but still shrewd, and shows no signs of planning to retire. An Ålandic native who turned from fishery to smuggling, he gets along well with local people and authorities, and spends a lot of time smoothing things over after some minor incident. Captain Almstedt has a bushy gray beard but he has lost most of his hair and always has a woolen cap on his bald head. Almstedt’s crew has retired and his ship, Magne, has not left port in years.

=====Captain Empress, Alexandra Romanov=====

Romanov apparently is the Russian captain’s actual surname, and since her first name is that of the last Russian Empress, she got the nickname swiftly. Even at past fifty, her blonde hair that she keeps in a ponytail has yet to show any gray, and she is still considered a “Look, but don’t touch” kind of woman. She used to captain the former Russian missile boat Rasputin, but now the captain is her daughter Anastasia, or Captain Princess.

=====Captain Falk, Helena Falk=====

Captain Falk is easily the most well known of the Admirals. Stories of her past exploits still get told in the bars. The stories say that in her youth she brawled, drank and womanized – she prefers other women – harder than most men, and pulled off some really daring heists and escapes in the Baltic. But fast life took its toll. After a close call, her left side is covered in scars and her left arm, leg and eye are cybernetic replacements. Or as she says: “Got a hook, peg leg and eye patch. All I need is a parrot.” Close to sixty now and her hair gone gray, she has slowed down the pace quite a bit. Captain Falk still enjoys an occasional drink, flirts casually with pretty women, and sometimes takes her ship Falcon out to sea, but mainly she focuses on her duties as an Admiral.

=====Captain Jester, Jesper Lykke=====

In his youth, the Danish Captain’s curly red hair, handsome face and leanly muscular body turned eyes, and he still looks sexy at past sixty and with his hair gone gray. However, Captain Jester is asexual and no one gets invited to his bed. Calling him Captain Whatawaste is a sure way to piss him off. But as long as one is not trying to hit on him, he is known to be very good company, with an endless repertoire of stories. He is nearly always busy, though. Easily the most diplomatic of the Admirals, Captain Jester is not just an Admiral, he is one of the 30 members of Lagting – the elected Parliament of Åland. When he is not handling government or Buccaneer business, he is away from Åland, meeting the representatives and media of one or another nation of the Baltic Sea region, reassuring them that the Buccaneers are freedom fighters, not bloodthirsty criminals. He has been quite successful in this. So successful that corporate hit teams have targeted him on a few occasions. Captain Jester always has a crew of Buccaneers around for protection.

=====Captain Dread, Markus Umar=====

Captain Dread is a Finn. Do not say the words “A Finn? But you’re black!” That would result in bodily harm. He may still have his ancestral Nigerian surname, but every member of his family he has ever known was born in Finland and he does not tolerate people who would deny his heritage. He got his name from his hair. He keeps it in dreadlocks.

Captain Dread is the youngest of the Admirals, being in his late forties. Funnily, it was his greatest victory that effectively ended his career at sea and got him elected as an Admiral. In a clash with a corporate sponsored pirate hunter, Captain Dread lost his original ship but then he and his crew boarded and captured the pirate hunter, a 250 ton stealth missile boat. The ship is among the most dangerous the Buccaneers have, but needs a large crew and has significant operating costs, so it only leaves port if the Buccaneers are facing a serious threat.