So, we're told there will be a choice, to become real pirates.  What?

What do real pirates do? Take prizes.

What do real privateers do? Take prizes from hostile powers.

Why? 1. To get rich. 2. To harm the hostile power by depriving them of shipping and cargo.

Why would the Empire be issuing new Letters of Marque? Because there is a hostile power which they cannot defeat by direct force of arms. Privateers are one form of attrition warfare.

Why hasn't the Empire crushed the pirates we know about? 1. Because they're harmless. 2. Because the Empire  fleet is busy elsewhere. 3. Because those pirates might become useful.

Why is the Empire experimenting with new ship technologies? Because their existing fleet isn't cutting it.

All the pieces fit together: the Empire is at war with someone big, and they're creating new Privateers as part of that war. And in the next episode, all the pirates who are going to defeat Quartz Christie are going to get offered Letters of Marque to engage in commerce raiding against that hostile power.

Part of Quartz Christie's mission was to test out her prototype. But if she found someone in a rickety old pirate ship who could survive against her, then that pirate ship would be a good candidate for an Empire Letter of Marque.

Gonzaemon was scouted a long time ago. We haven't heard details, but there are impressions that Bentenmaru under his command had quite a reputation. So the Empire decided to recruit him, and he decided to accept it. However, for some reason the Empire didn't want his existing crew.

Possibly it was because they had intelligence about Marika that suggested that she had the potential herself to become a great pirate captain, and they wanted to give her the chance to become one. To that end she would need a ship and she would need a crew. So the cover story was that he died, leaving the Letter of Marque to his sole heir, Marika.

So who's been trying to kill Marika? The enemy, and those in the Empire working with/for them.

And how is that for creating a castle in the sky?

UPDATE: One more prediction: All the pirates are going to turn the Empire down.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Engineer's Disease at 08:33 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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