Pillager Pirates

The pillager pirates are the controlling power of the frontier coastline and the standing threat against which every Uncharted Lands decision is weighed. They are pillagers in every familiar respect — banners, crossbows, organized hostility — with one addition no prior record prepared the expedition for: they sail.

Observed Capabilities

The pirates operate square-rigged vessels in coordinated formation, from single-mast patrol boats up to the tall ships that anchor at their fortified coves. Fleet discipline is real: patrol sails hold station, signal banners pass messages between ships and shore, and raids on the coastline follow the tides. Ashore they behave as conventional pillager patrols; afloat, they are something the Archives have no precedent for.

Territory

Pirate control extends along the surveyed coastline from the southern anchorages to at least the headland north of the landfall site. Two of the three known ancient structure sites lie inside their patrol routes — whether by coincidence or intent is an open question, and not a comfortable one.

Threat Assessment

Direct confrontation is not viable at expedition strength and has not been attempted. The operating posture is avoidance, observation, and selective theft: camps go dark at dusk, nothing is built on a sightline to the water, and the expedition's single offensive operation to date was the quiet removal of a tall ship from a lightly guarded anchorage.

Field Notes

The pirates have not yet connected the missing ship to the expedition, or at least have not acted like it. The refit proceeds accordingly: quickly.