Pishkirlin

Pishkirlin (born May 13, 1978) is king of Ascalon and captain of Blades of Ascalon.

Early life
Pishkirlin was born in a fief of a baron where his father was running a distillery. He studied rhetorics at the university of a larger city, then diplomacy at the episcopal college. Once he accomplished his studies, the bishop sent him as court official to another country. His stay was brief because of the beginning of a war of succession in 2001.

Pishkirlin returned to his homeland in the tumult of the war, and offered his services to the commander of a neighboring empire's army. His purpose was to struggle for the liberation of his homeland from foreign dominance, but he soon realized one occupier would simply replace the current one. However he was convinced that he could have found the key to the balance of power at the eastern borders of the empire, so Pishkirlin moved there.

Being accused of high treason, in July 2006 he was sentenced to death in absentia. Pishkirlin fled for his life to the Sage Ocean.

Dissident activity on Sage
In September 2006 he settled on, where he enlisted in that island's Navy. In the first weeks of his stay on Caravanserai Island he jobbed for several crews before joining The Black Crows. He soon gained the confidence of his mates and he was first promoted to pirate, then officer.

A very influential day in Pishkirlin's pirate life came in October 2006, during a visit to, in the. In a seaport inn, he met a member of Fratelli della costa, a crew aiming to gather all the Italian pirates of Sage. One month after, he was introduced to Lord Bummaku, captain of the crew, Pishkirlin resigned his position as officer of The Black Crows to join Fratelli della costa. As the crew's scribe he wrote the code of conduct of his new crew.

Having shown both bravery and wisdom, as a reward for his intense activity in support of the crew, on 14 December he was promoted to Senior officer. One month later, after achieving the rank of Admiral in the Navy, Lord Bummaku appointed him Ambassador of the crew to Fearless Privateers.

The Sacred Military Order of Saint George
Due to a lack of men and to a long illness that struck down Bummaku, the endeavour of Fratelli della Costa was not successful. Pishkirlin was in the meantime pressing the Royalty of Fearless Privateers to assist his family in acquiring the Grand Magistery of the Sacred Military Order of Saint George. The cession to Pishkirlin's family was recognized by a patent of Elkbrains, King of Fearless Privateers, of March 27, 2007 (Agnoscimus et notum facimus). On 23 April 2007, day of Saint George, Pishkirlin officially assumed the rank of Captain of the The Knights of Saint George, a naval force dedicated to chivalry, and vowed to take it even to the furthest reaches of the globe.

As a reward for the services rendered to the crown, Queen Alfhild assigned him the title of Prince of Fearless Privateers and appointed him Chancellor of the flag.

The Kingdom of Ascalon
At the beginning of the century, the necromancer Mortesecca, Master of the Arcane, proferred the prophecy:

"The Crown of a nation will be forged from the iron of Saint George's sword."

Rumors, that the legendary sword with which the Saint slayed the dragon had been brought to Sage by the pirate Waterbug, spread like wildfire. The place where the relic was hidden being unknown, all attempts to find the sword seemed to be in vain. One by one, all of the searchers gave up the hunt as a wild goose chase; all except Prince Pishkirlin. Unwilling to abandon his dream of finding the sword, he persisted in his efforts to that purpose. After an accurate research on the Saint's apocryphal hagiographies, he discovered that the book "The Illustrious and Renown'd History of the Seven Famous Champions of Christendom" contained precious information about the relic and that the last copy of the book supposedly belonged to Vargas the Mad.

On July 2007, the infamous Brigand King took over Kasidim Island and set up his headquarter there, but soon after was attacked by the Army of Darkness. Taking advantage of the mayhem caused by the blockade, Pishkirlin managed to sneak in Masada Palace before it was occupied by the attackers and come into possession of the book. Among its pages could be read:

thy sword which is called Ascalon is framed of such excellent mettle by the curious workmanship of the Ciclops, that it will separate and cut the hardest flint, and hew in sunder the strongest steele, for in the pummell lies such pretious vertue, that neyther treason, witchcrafts, nor any violence can bee proffered thee, so long as thou wearest it revealing along with the name of the sword, its most likely location: Ashkelon Arch Island.

Pishkirlin set sail to Tern Archipelago and once at the Island, he found Mortesecca waiting for him, and handing him the sacred sword, he offered the Prince the Crown of Ascalon.

Rise and fall of the knights of Ascalon
In the early years, the crew and the kingdom flourished. As a king, Pishkirlin worked hard to give Ascalon a strong heritage establishing several institutions in charge of domestic affairs, from conferring titles of nobility to training his subjects, exploring the ocean and even foretelling the future. He also ran numerous events and led the knights of Ascalon into adventurous quests in search of moral and material treasures. Nevertheless, towards the end of the summer of 2010, the interest for the occult inherited by his mentor Mortesecca drove him to the brink of insanity. He embraced Sufism, left the Knights of Saint George in the hands of his pupil Azeitona and decided to cut himself off from the world.

Pishkirlin as a pirate artist
Pishkirlin's early works begin in September 2009 with four entries for 'Design Brigand King Eggs for the game!', three of which were selected to become the new Brigand King Eggs available at the Trading Post, granting him the Gilded Egg trophy.

As a Brigand King philosopher
On January 2008, encouraged by the announcement of the | Brigand King Philosophers event, Pishkirlin started enquiring into the Brigand King's background in order to compose statements for their flags. The results of his research were so accurate that he won the contest twice, with entries for The Enlightened and for the Fleet of his Imperial Scaled Highness, and got an honorable mention for The All-Consuming Flame.

Although his first Brigand King trinket dates only March 2008, Pishkirlin claims that his first encounter with one of them occurred at the time of the aforementioned Kasidim VI. According to the so-called Saga of Ascalon, several Brigand Kings crossed Ascalon's path, from Vargas, who stole the famous book from Mortesecca, to Azarbad, who used to belong to sister brotherhood before setting ablaze the temple the Knights of Saint George were supposed to guard.

By the end of 2009, Pishkirlin completed his essay " The Seven Un-worthy. Guide to the philosophy of the Brigand Kings".

Naval rank

 * Admiral of Scrimshaw Island Navy

Crew ranks

 * October 2006 - November 2006: Cabin person, pirate and officer of The Black Crows
 * November 2006 - April 2007: Officer, fleet officer and senior officer of Fratelli della Costa
 * 23 April 2007 - 17 December 2010: Captain of Knights of Saint George
 * 18 December 2010 - present: Captain of Blades of Ascalon

Titles and styles

 * 16 May 2007 - 5 June 2007: Lord Pishkirlin of Fearless Privateers
 * 6 June 2007 - 20 July 2007: His Royal Highness Prince Pishkirlin of Fearless Privateers
 * 21 July 2007 - present: His Majesty King Pishkirlin of Ascalon

Coat of arms
The personal Coat of Arms of the Monarch is also The Greater Coat of Arms of Ascalon and it is used by Royalty to symbolize the Crown. Its blazon is the following: "Quarterly, the first and the fourth quarter Argent, Gules a cross; second quarter Gules Saint George killing the dragon proper; third quarter Gules, in pale a sword proper over a vol Or.

Blockades
Pishkirlin has navigated in the following blockades:
 * Amity X, on the Attractive Shiner (sloop);
 * Ventress X, on the Credible Salmon (baghlah);
 * Gauntlet XI, on the Clever Guppy (dhow);
 * Ashkelon XII, on the Upright Pollack (war brig).