The Fellowship

Perhaps the most enigmatic of all the privateer fleets of Tyrnabay is the collection of representatives from every race of Folk on Cartyrion that calls itself the Fellowship. Like any pirate fleet, it is a menace to trade and commerce, but it has the reputation of being known as 'the Gentlefolk's Fleet' because of its customs and practices.

Fellowship Rules

The Fellowship's practice of piracy is guided by several rules set by and for themselves. They try to do as little damage to their prey as possible, and never seek to take ships themselves as prizes. They rely instead on their Stormtamers to pursue and overtake their targets. Once a target ship has surrendered, they are courteous to the vanquished. They never take hostages - only loot. They leave modest, but notable payments in gold with the defeated sea captain to compensate the families of any crew that may have died in the encounter.

Nobles traveling on merchant ships overataken by the Fellowship have been heard to say that, were it not for the loss of their valuables, they enjoyed the encounter - and some even looked forward to having it happen to them again!

Come Join the Good Life

One additional thing the Fellowship is famous for, especially among the other fleets of Tyrnabay and the Wolf's Bay Free Traders' League is their policy toward recruiting. The crew of every ship they board is offered the opportunity to join them. As the pirates go about the business of transferring loot to their own ships, they will converse with the defeated crew members - telling them of the rich rewards, the raucous, bawdy taverns of their base in Wolf's Bay, and the personal freedoms that come with being a "Fellow".

It is not unusual for the Fellowship to gain a couple of members from each ship they take, though they will always ensure enough crew remain on the defeated ship to permit it to be safely sailed back to its own home port. In their history, there has been only one exception to this. Upon running down a merchantman out of Siren's Point for what was the hapless captain's eighth career time, the captain himself, who was majority owner of the ship, is said to have offered to join the Fellowship. His crew agreed, and the entire ship's company as well as the ship itself joined the fleet of the Fellowship.