Navy vs Pirates: The Golden Age of Piracy 1 Table of Contents 3. Letter from Director 4. Introduction 5. Research Notes 6. Committee Structure 7. Queen Anne’s War 9. The Three Pirate Ports 12. The New World and Trading Routes 14. Piracy 21. Relations between Countries 24. Uniting the Pirates 28. The Bermuda Triangle 29. Mission Statement 30. Character Bios 2 Letter from the Director Hello Delegates, I’d like to happily introduce you to Pirates vs Navy. I am ecstatic to be able to dive into the world of swashbuckling buccaneers and see what you guys can do as pirate captains. In this crisis committee you will be representing some famous pirate captains who rocked the British, Spanish and French navies. Being pirate captains is the perfect scene for this as you can challenge the authority of the navy, wrestle with or unite the other captains or even discover the treasure of the Bermuda Triangle. Due to this committee taking place during the Queen Anne’s War there will be war games. However, a big emphasis will be put on investigating and discovering the treasure of the Bermuda Triangle and trying to establish yourself as pirate king among all the captains through any means necessary. I hope to see many pirate expeditions and deals made to solidify power. This committee takes place over the course of a couple years during the time of the Queen Anne’s War so don’t be afraid to let your objectives span some time. If you have any questions about your character, the committee, or anything in general regarding this crisis, please email me. This committee is a bit unique in terms of objectives so please feel free to reach out if you are confused at all. Looking forward to this crisis, Marcelo Vargas [email protected] 3 Navy vs Pirates: The Golden Age of Piracy Our committee is mainly based in the time period between the early 15thcentury to early 18thcentury; coined as the Age of Exploration, this time period marks the time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea for the purpose of gathering more gold, glory, and spreading the word of god. Encompassed mainly by the actions of the British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, this time period holds the accounts of many interesting seizures of land and gold. Establishing trade and mercantilism as the main school of economic thought, the 16thcentury encouraged more exploration to the West, and from the Protest revolution changing the sphere of authority of the Roman Catholic Church and the Ottoman empire continuing to expand, there was much reason for the European countries to pursue western expansion. In the Indian subcontinent, during this time period, the Mughal empire also grew mainly based under the roots of trade, exports, and war as well. The Age of Exploration has had much historical significance; being the time period that would later be the cause of Europe gaining many new “exotic” foods and sources of money, the Age of Exploration will later be the cause of much disease in the Americas as well as many more wars with the natives in the lands. The Age of Exploration is the cause of a civilization in the West later prospering to one day learn how to farm, make its own form of government, and bring the unfortunate aspect of slavery to the West.1 During its later years this time period would also usher in the golden age of piracy where swashbuckling pirates would reign with nothing but gold and glory in mind. With all the prosperity brought in by the Age of Exploration pirates had amazing chances to marauder and take what they wanted from ships. With powerful pirates' captains with who want to amass their own fleets and crew: will pirates thrive in this age of exploration and piracy or would they be taken down by the countries who they chose to plunder from? 1 Briney, Amanda. “Discover the Age of Exploration.” ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, January 24, 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/age-of-exploration-1435006. 4 Research Notes This background guide is meant to equip you with all of the basic knowledge you need to know about pirate operations before entering committee and I recommend that you read it before doing your own research so you can have a contextual understanding of what will be going on during this committee. This guide covers the life of pirates, where they operated from, the relationship between nations at the time, uniting against the nations and even the Bermuda Triangle. The alignment of how nations feel about pirates is given in the guide however these alignments are can be changed depending on what goes on during committee. If you would like to use other countries not directly mentioned in this guide it is recommended that you research them more with other sources and make sure they were involved during this time period when it came to pirates. In this committee you will be representing a pirate captain during the Golden Age of Piracy however, while these characters were real people and some even interacted with each other do not take these relationships that they had as fact as some characters were tweaked to make sense with these committees. I would recommend to instead focus on the relationships made in committee over those made before. That is not to say that you should not research your character as the more you know about your character the better you can represent them and their goals. The committee will begin in the year 1706. When doing research everything up to this date will be taken as reality. Any events that happen after this have not happened yet and as such may or may not happen in committee. Events that take place in committee will largely impact the turn of events that take place during this time period. Looking up and familiarizing yourself with a map of the pirate strongholds of Nassau, Tortuga and Port Royal would also be recommended as it will make visualizing the routes of pirates easier. It will also be recommended to investigate a map of the Bermuda Triangle which will be advantageous to finding it (this will be expanded on more later in the guide). 5 Committee Structure and Notes In this committee you will be a pirate captain part of the Flying Gang. This was a group of ex- privateers who operate out of Nassau (a port that will be expounded about more later) The Queen Anne’s War lasted 11 years and this committee will span a couple years of it towards the middle to the end of the war. Due to time constraints the committee will only be meeting at various points in time during these years. However, this does not mean that every committee session several years will have of passed. Delegates will receive a notice of how much time will pass before the end of each session so that they can plan their crisis notes accordingly. Due to this crisis arcs and notes that span long periods of time are encouraged as well that ones that take happen more rapidly. Since this committee takes place in war, we will be participating in war games. Each committee member depending on their character will command their own crew, ships and have a certain amount of money to spend on various things such as recruiting crew members or buying ammunition and such. Committee members will order their crew through crisis notes which will be carried out by their first mate. How much this crisis will be delegate-driven or crisis-driven is a huge part up to you, the delegates. We plan to use your own actions (such as crisis notes and resolutions) as much as possible when deciding the direction of the committee. Resolutions that are passed in the front room will have the most impact on committee as these will represent the body of what the pirate captains as a whole think is the correct form of action. However, while this committee can be largely delegate driven remember there will be some overarching goals to keep in mind during this committee. 6 Queen Anne’s War Otherwise known as the War of Spanish Succession, Queen Anne’s War was a conflict between Great Britain, the Netherlands and several German states against France and Spain. It would include many raids and battles in North America by Britain and France. This 11-year war would not be the last time France and Britain would fight.2 As Spain’s heirless leadership, King Charles II, battled decreasing health conditions, many European leaders began to make claims to the throne. King Louis XIV of France wanted to crown his eldest son, a grandson of King Philip IV of Spain, as the next king. However, England and the Netherlands, not wanting France to unify with Spain and hold the power of two nations, opposed this merge. But without interference and on his deathbed, Charles II named Philip, Duke of Anjou as his heir. Philip was a grandson of King Philip IV of Spain.3 Worried about France’s new power and ability to control Spanish possessions in the Netherlands, the English, the Dutch and German states in the Holy Roman Empire joined to declare war against France. They hoped to take the throne away from the Bourbon family and to gain possession of certain Spanish held locations in the Netherlands and Italy. This act began what would be called Queen Anne’s war in 1702. 4 After King William III died, he was succeeded by his sister-in-law Anne who was a daughter of James II from whom William had taken the throne.