Esteemed Village,

In my capacity as a Lord of the Pirates of Meropis, I would like to personally invite your seafaring citizens to apply to join our fine and upstanding High Clan. I am writing because several Eleusians have approached me asking about becoming members of the Pirates in recent years. Some of them are even good enough to qualify, by my estimate. The barrier, however, seems to be an outdated Eleusian law forbidding citizens from joining my beloved organisation.

Outdated, I say? Aye! On several counts:

1. The Pirates of Meropis no longer extort. Our bygone business model of charging protection fees has not been in effect for nearly a century, and I am told that this was the main reason behind the original Eleusian law.

2. The Pirates do not require any members to plunder. While pirates are welcome to plunder (and I will plunder anything unfortunate to end up broadship my ship), this is a personal decision that each crewmember is free to make on his or her own. An Eleusian member of PoM would never be asked to, or expected to, plunder or commit "acts of piracy".

3. The Pirates do not require members to actively sink any ships or sail with any particular crew. We work strictly on a volunteer basis. A Pirate can sail with whomever he or she chooses, and leave a ship if he or she is ever uncomfortable with a chosen target or with fellow crewmates.

In short, an Eleusian Pirate would never be obligated to sail with an enemy of Eleusis, fire on an Eleusian citizen or an Eleusian ship, plunder a ship, extort a sailor, or engage in any aggressive behavior at sea whatsoever. The only Eleusian law that an Eleusian citizen would violate by joining PoM is the outdated law prohibiting an Eleusian from joining PoM in the first place!

Alas, I am a pirate by trade and by nature. If I were you, dear Village, I would now be asking the all important question: what do you stand to gain by having citizens who are members of PoM? Fact is, your current sailors are missing out on the single most valuable seafaring resource in Sapience, for no good reason. Pirates were the first to solve the vast majority of voyages. We were the first to defeat the kraken. We are the most active innovators when it comes to combat tactics and the most willing trainers of new sailors. Indeed, I have personally taught sea combat to several Eleusians who could not find suitable teachers in the Village. When your Villagers join PoM, they gain access to a trove of seafaring knowledge unavailable anywhere else and grizzled sailors who will teach them just about anything for a good bottle o' rum.

It is unquestionable that your future Pirate citizens will bring this knowledge and experience back home to your Navy. They'll become local leaders of voyages, seamonster expeditions, and combat. Hashan's Navy was in a sorry state mere decades ago, but has grown to be among the most formidable in Sapience largely by virtue of its Pirate members. A similar phenomenon has been seen in Mhaldor. Citizens who are members of PoM time and again lead their cities to success.

Now, I am wholly unfamiliar with the political structure of Eleusis but I imagine this is the sort of thing the Village might debate and discuss among the Hierophants. I would welcome the opportunity to present on the subject in person and answer specific questions (under conditions of relative sobriety).

Let me know, and right quickly! Too long have some of the finest sailors in Sapience been robbed of the opportunity for growth that PoM would offer. That said, dear Village, tides shift, ships tilt suddenly...and perfectly good offers are wont to roll off poorly-secured tables, if allowed time to sit.



Kuriel Al'Jafri
Lord, The Pirates of Meropis
Wordsmith, Table-Based Metaphors

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Scarlatan, in the year 848 AF.