Space Pirates

The generation ships of the Solar Raiders and the Heavens Peace Accord pushed the entire Xolar System in one direction when it came to the design of their ships – the bigger, the better. Invasions were executed by large and almost entirely self sustaining ships. However once Selenoid raids had reached their peak, that dogma in design became the greatest weakness. A single Selenoid was capable of teleporting on board and punching a hole in the hull of the ship, before teleporting out again. A raid of this nature could take seconds, but slow entire armies down by days, weeks or stop them for good. Initial attempts at stopping such attacks involved packing the large, road sized corridors with junk, making it impossible for a Selenoid to teleport on board as no space on board would be physically large enough. But the new safety feature made it equally impossible for the crew to carry out any actions on board. For a time, space travel was grounded.

On Jendar the recently formed JDA (Jendari Defence Army) found itself embroiled in the Rin Rebellion. The Alleglance of Gnossos turned to research, looking for any way to stop the Selenoids and Ashnyr returned to its Warsport.

On Kannis, the planet that had faced the most Selenoid Raids, the Supremacy fought onslaught after onslaught. New forms of Selenoid, beyond the usual Warriors, Gunlords and Gunbeasts, emerged including the Gargoyle, Homunculus and Dart. And many of the Exiled Tribes had also turned on the Supremacy, giving the Selenoids human followers, expendable troops, allowing them to fight a war of attrition, a strategy not previously available to them.

With the gap in star shipping opening up, criminal elements stepped in to fill the void. Organisations that were profligate with human life, and were also not required to uphold many of the treaties and laws that nations, alliances or even corporations were, took advantage of the situation.

Smaller and lower cost ships could be used by criminal gangs to transport goods or even troops for the right price. The Selenoids seemed to largely ignore these smaller vessels, either due to their improved speed or presumed lack of importance. Most organisations turned a blind eye to the criminal activities of the crews, being wholly reliant on their compliance. If the Pirates refused to ship your goods, you had no alternatives. If you prosecuted Pirates for smuggling drugs alongside your goods, they refused to ship your goods. The situation quickly spiralled out of control with a small Pirate empire emerging.

Quickly realising the potential power, the largest Pirate clans quickly united and wiped out any divergent elements, centralising power within a Pirate Syndicate of several Clan Captains that ruled space shipping with violence and brutality.

Generally any Pirate crew is untrained and under equipped, with most Clan Captains choosing to run their ships at the lowest cost with maximal profit. With economies struggling due to the ongoing war with the Selenoids, many people choose to serve on Pirate crews for the comparatively high pay, however their pay is a tiny fraction of the cost of advanced weaponry or personal shield generators.

Many crews choose extremely garish uniforms, much to the amusement of your average soldier. However the bright colours serve a practical purpose. In the tight confines of a space ship, where illegal boarding actions are a common occurrence and where visibility and communication can be difficult, brightly coloured uniforms can greatly reduce the likelihood of friendly fire incidents.

Besides with the advanced scanners and visibility aids of current warfare, camouflage or even drab colours serve little purpose on the battlefield.