User:Pishkirlin/sandbox/Guide to Brigand Kings

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Admiral Finius

Sacre bleu! We are in the presence of royalty

Death is nothing; but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.

—Napoleon

This quote, heard in Finius’ defeat chant, leaves no doubt as to the identity of the historic figure who inspired the Admiral. Compare also his portrait with the painting by Jacques-Louis David of 1812, "Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries".

Consider also the uniforms of Cadre of His Ultimate Magnificence, the members of which wear French sailor berets and reveal yet another clue leading to the French Emperor. Indeed, the first words of Finius' engagement chant even incorporate one of the quintessential French phrases as viewed by the English. No portrayal of a stage Frenchman in an English farce would be complete without a character in a beret and striped jumper, shrugging his shoulders and muttering "Sacré bleu!"

Royal Anchovy

The presence among Finius' trinkets of a tin of anchovies might also suggest that the Admiral belongs to a species that predates said fish and therefore should be sought among the marine fauna populating the French waters of the Mediterranean or the Atlantic Ocean. Nonetheless, there is no fish of the same guise of Finius among the predators of the anchovy. "Royal anchovy" is also the name of an artificial fly used as bait by flyfishers. It is therefore most probably a humorous reference to a term related to both the piscine world and to aristocracy.

A piscine Napoleon

In order to find Finius we shall look elsewhere, specifically in India-Pacific region where the Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), commonly known as Napoleon Wrasse or Napoleon Fish, may be found. The Humphead Wrasse is the largest living member of the family Labridae, with males reaching 6 feet (2 meters) in length, while females rarely exceed about 3 feet (1 m). Its thick, fleshy lips and hump that forms upon its head above the eyes gives rise to its common name, the Napoleon Wrasse, which gives these fish a profile reminiscent of Napoleon Bonaparte with his hat.

Azarbad the Great

The Zoroastrian fire

The name Azarbad, common among the Persian people, comes from Aturpat, which is Old Persian for “protected by fire”. Azar is, in fact, the Persian word for “fire” and Azarbad’s character is marked by both fire and flame-related themes revolving around a mysterious flaring stone called “Heart of Fire”.

The reference to fire is most certainly related to Zoroastrianism, the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, which was the primary belief in the area before the Islamification of ancient Persia.

In Zoroastrianism, fire (atar, adar) is an agent of ritual purity and its associated purification ceremony represents the basis of ritual life. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire, a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom is gained.

During the Sassanid era (226–650 CE), many of the dynastic kings issued coins with a symbol of fire on the obverse and both seals and bullae incorporating the symbol were common.

The Heart of Fire

The key element of Azarbad’s character is the shiny stone called “Heart of Fire” that adorns his turban and given in ransom for his release to those who defeat him at sea. His flotilla icon depicts this stone.

In popular culture, the Heart of Fire can refer to:

• A shiny, red glowing stone from the planet Kiffu in the Star Wars universe, traditionally given to someone you loved and cared about. It is said that the stone holds a little of the spirit of both the giver and the receiver.
• A little bit of Fire Elemental essence in World of Warcraft, used in many crafting recipes as well as a couple of quests and may be dropped by any number of flame-based creatures throughout the lands.

Barnabas the Pale

The first puzzle that presents itself in regards to Barnabas, concerns the nature and the origin of this eerie character. His appearance is that of a spirit: is he a supernatural being or merely a dead man? Are the skeletons of his crew the same skellies that curse our islands?

The second question may be easily answered by comparing the list of known skellie names to Barnabas’ crew and taking note of the fact that skellie names reference death only, while the Eldritch Abyss skellies the follow Barnabas take for their names terms referring to moral depravation, sin and damnation. Their glowing eyes are in stark contrast to the dim, dark and dull eyes of the skellies who ordinarily make incursions upon our islands.

As for the nature of Barnabas, we may find hints to his origins residing within his characterization and chants. When Barnabas is defeated, he exclaims "From the Abyss I was born and there I shall return." Though this exclamation may lead one to ascribe a supernatural or otherworldly origin to him, there exist several hints elsewhere that belie this belief.

The key hint lies within the death chant, which ends with Barnabas' exclamation: "Perhaps now I shall finally have my peace and see her lovely face again...” From this, we might infer that Barnabas is a damned soul unable to find peace for an unknown reason. Even more interesting is the revelation that he longs to see once more the lovely face of a mysterious woman. As with LeChuck from Monkey Island and Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, Barnabas appears as an undead captain cursed with immortality due to his broken heart. It is therefore quite unlikely that he might be a demon or any other otherworldly creature.

The words he speaks recall Genesis 3:19, wherein God reminds Adam of his origin and inescapable destiny: "...until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return". For Barnabas, the Abyss replaces dust.

The Abyss

What is the "Abyss"? In biblical literature, an abyss refers to a bottomless pit, the underworld, the deepest ocean floor, and hell. The word derives from the Greek ἄβυσσος (abussos, also transliterated as abyssos), which is conventionally analyzed as deriving from the Greek element meaning "deep, bottom" with an alpha privative, hence "bottomless".

In oceanography, Abyss refers to the abyssal zone, the abyssopelagic layer of the pelagic zone located at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters that remain in perpetual darkness without ever receiving daylight. Barnabas’ crew, the Eldritch Abyss, takes as the other half of its name "Eldritch", which comes from the Old English el-, a prefix meaning foreign, strange or uncanny and rīce, meaning kingdom; hence “of an Otherworldly or strange country.”

At the beginning of every engagement, Barnabas exclaims: "Your ship crossed over to the Abyss, and with it comes death!” Both occurrences make reference to the definition of “Abyss” that pertains to the semantic field of mysticism, while Barnabas' victory chant encourages his crew “to strike [the enemies] down and throw them overboard. We can always use more crewmen..." Death via drowning appears to be Barnabas' preferred method for recruiting new members. Note also that bodies pierced through the abdomen, and thus those struck fatally by cold steel as Barnabas may only be confronted in a swordfighting challenge, tend not to surface under the impetus of the gasses of decomposition but rather will be inclined to sink into the depths of the submarine abyss. Death via drowning is also mentioned in the grappling chant, where Barnabas invites his men to arise from their “watery graves.”

Was Barnabas' untimely demise also due to drowning? It is not improbable, as in folklore supernatural activity is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in such as murder, accidental death, or suicide. In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often believed to be vengeful deceased or imprisoned souls trapped by their misdeeds.  

Chthulu and R’lyeh

While all of Barnabas’ trinkets are related to the paranormal in some fashion, one peculiar trinket in particular is deserving of our attention: the cursed idol. Its form reminds one of Chthulu, the fictional cosmic entity created by horror author H.P. Lovecraft and described as "a pulpy, tentacled head surmount[ing] a grotesque scaly body with rudimentary wings." The parallels between Barnabas and Chthulu are difficult to discern until one takes into account Lovecraft's assertion that Chthulu lies buried in the sunken city R'lyeh deep in the abyss of the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps it is this cursed city of the Abyss into which Barnabas’ drowned corpse sank.

Brynhild Skullsplitter

The skaldic poetry

To better understand the character of Brynhild, we must explore her cultural background, particularly the style of skaldic poetry and its most common figure of speech: the kenning. A kenning is a circumlocution used instead of an ordinary noun in Old Norse and later Icelandic poetry. For example, Old Norse poets might replace sverð, the regular word for "sword", with a compound such as ben-grefill which translates to "wound-hoe." In Brynhild's discourse we find a few common kennings: mead-bench (table), ring-giver (ruler or sovereign), and whale-road (sea).

Orkney

Brynhild’s name also contains a kenning: Skullsplitter. This is another fairly common one, used to indicate an axe or sword. It is worth mentioning that Skullsplitter was also the pseudonym of a historic figure, Thorfinn 'Skullsplitter' Hausakljuv, the earl of Orkney, an archipelago off he coast of northern Scotland, who died in 963.

This is not the only hint that leads us to Northern Scotland. Brynhild's crew's name, "The Thanes of Frost-daughter" incorporates one of the ancient titles of nobility, "thane," which refers to a person equal in rank to an earl's son who holds lands of the king, is chief of a clan and became one of the king's barons. Note also that the islands of Orkney were the center of a powerful Norse Earldom which lasted from the ninth to the thirteenth century and remained under Norwegian sovereignty right up until 1468.

Frost-daughter is the second kenning that we encounter in Brynhild’s characterization. It references Brynhild, as in her chants she speaks of herself as the "daughter of the hoarfrost." One may note how some similar terms are associated with personifications of natural phenomena in Norse culture, which appear as euhemerized sovereigns of Scandinavic peoples.

The Ice Wyrm, a longship?

Although it is not exactly a kenning, the name of her flag, the Ice Wyrm's Brood, must also be analyzed and deciphered. Here we find that wyrm is an alternate spelling of worm or wurm, a mythological creature in British folklore, represented as a dragon without wings or legs. It could stand by extension for any dragon, but it is plausible to believe that it can refer to the longship.

Among the longships used by Vikings was one called Drekar, or dragon ship. Also one of the most famous Viking ships, built for the Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason, was called Ormen Large or Long Worm. This hypothesis seems to confirm the announcement posted on Brynhild's islands: "From o'er the whale-road the frost-daughter came, amid the clatter of mail and creaking of timbers-dragon." Dragon-timbers here is clearly a kenning for ship or longship.

Gretchen Goldfang

The Gypsy Queen

Nomadic nature, superstition, allure for gold (and dental prosthesis of such a metal) all remind one of Roma culture. The Romani, more commonly known as gypsies, are an ethnic group in Europe who trace their origins to medieval India. Gypsy names are usually the same as those of the people in the country of their residence and since Gretchen is the German diminutive of Margareta, we could safely assume that Gretchen hails from either Germany or a Central-Eastern European country with a large German-speaking population. She could belong to a Sinti community, which among gypsy populations is distinguished by its strong German influence. Margareta derives from the Latin Margarita, in turn related to the Greek μαργαριτης (margarites) meaning "pearl" and common to the Romance languages as the word for "daisy." Floral names are not unusual among gypsy women, as one of their traditional jobs is that of a florist. As for her nickname, it is important to note that a smile of gold signifies wealth and a high status in a Gypsy camp. Everyone who possesses a sufficient amount of that precious metal enjoys false golden teeth.

The Evil Eye and Roma people's mystic powers

Many fictional depictions of the Romani in literature and art present Romanticized narratives of their supposed mystical powers of fortune telling and a stereotype that Romani people have psychic powers is still present. The evil eye, upon which Gretchen’s flag is named, is a belief that envy elicited by the good luck of fortunate people may result in their misfortune. The perception of the nature of the phenomenon, its causes, and possible protective measures, varies between different cultures. In Roma culture, gypsies may put a spell on anybody just by staring them deeply; the most common one is called “the glamour” and is also known as “evil eye.” Glamour was defined by Sir Walter Scott as "the power of imposing on the eyesight of the spectators, so that the appearance of an object shall be totally different from the reality." Scott, during an explanation of a reference to "the Gypsies' glamour'd gang," in one of his ballads, remarks: "Besides the prophetic powers ascribed to the Gypsies in most European countries, the Scottish peasants believe them possessed of the power of throwing upon bystanders a spell to fascinate their eyes and cause them to see the thing that is not." Many gypsies carry amulets and talismans as good luck charms. In gypsy lore an amulet is an item from nature that is either naturally, or artificially (through ritual), charged with magical power. A typical amulet would be a stone with a hole through it or a rabbit's foot. In some cultures, the foot of a rabbit carried as an amulet is believed to bring good luck. In France, a rabbit's foot when worn on the left arm is believed to be a remedy against dental problems.

Gypsy fashion and Gretchen's look

Gretchen’s apparel perfectly matches the common Gypsy fashion. Jewelry and accessories such as amulets, beads, exotic earrings, rings and anklets are beloved by this nomadic people. In their fashion, peasant women wear the same basic pieces: bloomers, bodice, chemise (blouse), skirts, and hat. Married Gypsy women (or Romni) also wear a diklo, a square bandanna-like cloth tied around their heads, while unmarried maidens ordinarily wear a scarf to tie their hair back.

Vargas the Mad

Among the Brigand Kings, Vargas remains the most mysterious, despite the fact we have learned much about him, and is perhaps the most loved for this very reason. While some of the mysteries enshrouding Vargas were partially revealed during the events of Halloween 2008, we've found that we have learned very little about this mysterious character as new questions arise about his past.

During those events, pieces of a sailor's log containing hints leading to the infamous Brigand King and the Cursed Isles were found. Only a few lines from those pages were recorded, but they sketched the bare bones of a story. A fleet had been gathered for a voyage of a group known only as the Enlightened Ones. Though the true purposes of this voyage have been lost to the sands of time, some have posited that the voyage may have been for the purposes of scientific exploration, colonization or conversion of savages. We may never know, as the voyage never reached its intended destination due to the fascination of the captain with a mysterious book, which drove him into madness and the Cursed Isles.

On Halloween, the Ocean Masters approached Vargas one by one to say: "You were a good man once and a fine sailor. Vargas the Wise, we called you. You could chart by any star. And now this is what you put your mind to? I wonder what manner of thing your thoughts filled with chaos.” We might therefore infer that Vargas is not native to the Cursed Isles and more than likely is the very captain mentioned within the log's tattered papers.

The story of Vargas may remind one of two famous seafarers, whose journeys end in tragedy: Dante's Ulysses and Melville's Captain Ahab. The journey of Vargas is a journey in search of knowledge, the precluded knowledge reserved only for initiates. In keeping with esoteric tradition, one who experiences the sacred without due preparation dies or becomes mad. Such is the case of Ulysses, whose ship was swallowed by the sea during its journey before reaching the sacred mountain of Purgatory, as no access could be granted to the lives aboard the doomed ship.

A similar metaphysical quest can be found in Moby Dick, wherein the journey of the Pequod resembles the one described in the log. We have a relatively noble expedition that turns into a disaster because of the captain’s obsession with a white whale. Here, as with the author of our log, the duty of telling the story falls upon the only survivor.

Madness and Enlightenment of Vargas the Shaman

Even though insanity and enlightenment may be seen as antithetical, they are, in fact, closely related, particularly in the framework of shamanic experience.

The figure of the shaman is closely associated with madness. According to the prominent religious historian, Mircea Eliade, "When an initiate becomes a shaman he takes the risk of being mistaken for a 'madman' but his ‘madness’ fulfills a mystic function, it reveals certain aspects of reality to him that are inaccessible to other mortals, and it is only after having experienced and entered into these hidden dimensions of reality that the ‘madman’ becomes a shaman."

The behavior of someone chosen in this way becomes progressively stranger and such a person "marks himself off progressively by some strange behavior: He seeks solitude, becomes a dreamer, loves to wander in the woods or desert places, has visions, sings in his sleep, etc.. Besides being solitary and dreamy, sometimes a shaman "becomes violent and easily loses consciousness, takes refuge in the forests, feeds upon the bark of trees, throws himself into the water or the fire or wounds himself with knives."

All of these elements can be found in Vargas' characterization, from the death chant, where he exclaims, "Things are getting a bit dark around here mates ... seems the dream world is calling. Crack a few skulls for me," to the names of his swabbies speak of violence.

Founder, leader and follower of a syncretic movement

Vargas seems to combine elements from different cultural movements and syncretic beliefs of the Caribbean, resulting in a very peculiar cult. His hair reminds one of Rastafarians, for whom the process of locking their hair is a sort of spiritual journey. Rastafari teaches that patience is the key to growing locks, a journey of the mind, soul and spirituality; its spiritual pattern is closely aligned with the Rastafari movement. The formation of natural dreadlocks involves allowing hair to grow in its natural pattern, without cutting, combing or brushing, but simply washing it with pure water.

Another cultural element that Vargas potentially shares in common with Rastafarians is the consumption of cannabis (the green fog of the Cursed Isles?) perhaps for spiritual purposes. Members of the Rastafarian movement use cannabis, in fact, as a part of their worshiping of God, Bible study and Meditation. Among Vargas’ trinkets, we also find a reading pipe that is reminiscent of a Rastafarian pipe. This, also known as the Wisdom Chalice or Chillum Chalice, is a sort of water pipe with a hose for inhaling. The water cools and filters the smoke and the hose provides additional cooling.

The Cursed Isles cultists share the use of religious symbols like veves with other syncretistic faiths of the Caribbean such as Santeria and Vodou. However, strictly peculiar to Vargas is the baldness of his crew. Although the tonsure is not uncommon in religious practice, as it is seen as symbol of renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem, this is in stark contrast to the hair of their leader.

Unsolved mysteries: the Siren’s comb and the jigsaw puzzle

It is ironic that one of the trinkets in Vargas' possession is an object neither he nor his crew can use: a comb labeled the “Siren's comb.” The reference to sirens is one of the great unsolved mysteries surrounding Vargas. Sirens also appear in his disengagement chant, in which he mentions a mysterious song that could be the siren song. This references ties in to Vargas' quest for knowledge, as postulated by Horkheimer and Adorno in their Dialectic of Enlightenment, in which the song of the sirens represents the forbidden knowledge of everything and the man's ultimate enlightenment.

Finally, the last mysterious object is a jigsaw puzzle that may represent Vargas’ inclination to study and research as well as his complex and indecipherable personality. During the events of Halloween in the year 2009, he delivered his messages to pirates in the form of a jigsaw puzzle.

The Widow Queen

The mourning widow

When one runs across the Widow Queen, one may wonder what may have been her late husband’s tragic destiny and figure him to be a victim of matricide. One might draw this conclusion as one of the Queen’s trinkets is an arsenic ring, which she may have used to poison her unfortunate consort. Nonetheless it is worth mentioning that both poison rings and pillbox rings had other purposes besides being used to slip poison into an enemy’s food or drink to facilitate the suicide of the wearer. In fact, these rings were more commonly used either as a miniature pomanders, to house a small holy relic or keep close a memento of a loved one.

In Elizabethan times, things became rather morbid when jewelers made mourning or funereal rings (coffin shaped, skeletons and skull decorations, etc.) which were then given to mourners to commemorate the death of a loved one. The arsenic ring, rather than holding the poison used to kill the Queen’s husband, could therefore merely contain some small portion of his mortal remains.

We might postulate that the Brigand Queen is indeed grieving the deceased as the name chosen for her flag, the Black Veil, is a symbol of mourning and bereavement in Western culture. In some traditional societies, such as Greece and Italy, widows wear black for the rest of their lives.

Influences from Homer’s Odyssey

This hypothesis, however, appears in stark contrast with the Queen’s highly sexed appearance and could hardly explain the reason for her crew being entirely comprised of female swabbies, from which emerges the latent misandry of its leader. Still, one must consider that this choice may be a sort of reaction to unwanted courtship of some number of odious suitors. Such a theme reminds one of the story of Penelope in the Odyssey, who pretended to weave a burial shroud for Odysseus’s elderly father Laertes to trick her suitors. The Widow Queen, with her hourglass emblem, may be associated with the deadly Black Widow spider; is she, like Penelope and the spider, weaving a mourning veil for her missing or deceased husband? Note how despite of her connubial fidelity, Penelope was known to “[display] herself to her suitors, fanning their hearts, inflaming them more," which presents another similarity with the Widow Queen and may explain her provoking appearance.

The members of her crew are known as the Silken Sirens. While the term “silk” reminds one of the spider that inspired the Queen’s character, for she also possesses a silk handkerchief among her trinkets, the Sirens redirect us again to the Odyssey. The three dangerous bird-women, posing as seductresses, lured sailors to their death with their bewitching song. Curious as to hear the Sirens but unwilling to risk his ship and crew, Odysseus ordered his men to bind him tightly to the mast of his ship and stuff their ears with wax so they would not hear the sirens' song.

One final character from the Odyssey may be associated with the Widow Queen: Circe the sorceress. Circe, a minor goddess of magic on a small Mediterranean island, was known to transform her enemies or those who offended her into animals through the use of magic potions. She was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs. When Odysseus encountered her, she was working at a huge loom, which in itself draws another parallel to the spider's weaving, before turning his men into pigs; similarly, the Widow Queen likens the attacking crew to pigs in her death chant and herself to a goddess: “Destroy the swine that dare challenge a sea goddess!"