Blighted

Blighted was a flag on the Midnight Ocean.

History
Blighted was formed on the 30th of August 2006 by the crews Empires Fall and Black Spots. The intention of Blighted is to serve as a home for crews who desire something more casual and fun than a typical flag. Shortly after forming, crews from across Midnight Ocean began to join, and membership swelled.

Controversy
Blighted was involved in two controversial blockades, which led to the islands (Meke and Nu) in turn being sold to another flag. The experiment of opportunistic blockading, followed up with island transfers via blockade for profit caused ripples of debate throughout the ocean. Though the controversy was compelling, it left Blighted with the desire to prove themselves as capable blockaders and inspired them to focus on a full fledged attack.

Pirate auction
On February 9th 2007, Blighted conducted a pirate auction, which raised over 2 million Pieces of Eight for future events and blockades. Jamesdoom had promised that he would declare war on any flag his winning bidder wished. Springheel won the monarch for 160,000 PoE and a war was declared on Tyr's Own, which lasted until March 3rd. Two enemy sloops were sunk during this period in pvp combat.

War with Phobos et Deimos
On April 16th 2007, a war declaration from Phobos Et Deimos was accepted by Blighted. The motives of the aggression are not quite clear, but it is suspected that it was due to the blanket ban imposed by Springheel on his pillages against member of the crew Bad-Booty Pillagers. The war was fought following the Avalon Convention. A scorecard detailing the results of the war can be found here.

Oyster V
Oyster Island was blockaded by Blighted, for the fifth time in the island's history on May 5th 2007, against the flag Broadsiders, who had held it since November 2006. The war declaration was never returned by Broadsiders, and the island was won in four rounds. Calamarie was elected governor of the island by the monarch of the flag.

War with Pale Gold
During the first weeks of May 2007, Koopakid of the flag Pale Gold convinced its royal council to declare war on Blighted for reasons not yet explained. Immediately after one of Pale Gold's sloops was sunk by Blighted members, a truce offer was extended by the former and accepted.

Oyster VI
Blighted found itself on the defending end of the first ever Brigand King blockade. Vargas the Mad and his flag The Enlightened attacked Oyster on June 16th 2007 and were defeated 3-0. Vargas had run out of ships by the end of the second round. The third round of the blockade was won by Blighted without contest.

War with Curse of the Black Pearl
In June 2007, the flag Curse of the Black Pearl declared war on Blighted after one of their ships was sunk during Oyster VI. Following the commencement of hostilities between the flags, a Blighted sloop with 4 pirates on it, sank one of their war brigs with 13 people on board. This event was followed by the sinking of one of their sloops with only two shots fired. Apparently they had previously engaged the black ship and before recovering from any of the damage they engaged a Blighted ship. This sinking resulted in a claim by Quintius, the captain of the crew East Indian Trading Co, that Blighted has control over El Pollo Diablo.

Government

 * Main article: Blighted's Government.

Blighted has a very relaxed code of behavior, with these main points asked of its pirates: do not create drama, be respectful, and keep a level head. No member of the flag is forced into doing anything they do not feel comfortable doing, and all activities are on a volunteer basis. The majority of the flag endorses PvP, pillaging, war, and blockades, though a strong minority find their fun in shoppe keeping and economic ventures.

The typical atmosphere can be described as playful and roguish, as demonstrated by the "everyone is a Titled Member!" running joke and the fictional "Offices" assigned to some of its members. Blighted eschews politics and conventional allies in favor of a more flexible approach. The flag will more often than not stay neutral during blockades, though recently many jobber deals have been negotiated to assist Blighted when the time comes.

Monarchy
Blighted utilizes a rotating monarchy, and each crew has one to two people to help with decision making. Elements of normal flags, such as royalty and voting are not used. This allows the flag to act quickly with declarations of war, temporary alliances, and war chests.

The Flag
As part of the celebrations related to the opening of the new website and forum, Arminius designed a flag to represent Blighted (see infobox). The flag is stylized after that of St. Pierre and Michelon. The blue quarter represents the midnight ocean and contains a golden War Frigate. The top left quarter is the skull and crossbones, used by notable pirates, such as Stede Bunnet, Edward England, and Blackbeard. The center-left white quarter contains the chart stars of archipelagos in which Blighted has governed an island. Originally there were only two stars: one for Meke (Coral), and one for Nu (Opal). More stars are added as Blighted successfully blockades other islands. Finally, on the bottom-left, a red quarter contains a yellow apple, referencing to an infamous YPP! Forum thread on the subject of apples.

As of May 5th 2007, a third white star was added to the center-left canton to represent the conquest of Oyster Island on the Diamond Archipelago.

As of July 29th 2007, a fourth red star was added to the center-left canton to represent the conquest of Cranberry Island on the Ruby Archipelago.

As of November 18th 2007, a fifth star was added to the center-left canton to represent the conquest of Cleopatra's Pearls on the Pearl Archipelago.

Blazon
Azure, a war frigate Or, per tierce a fess Argent, five mullets Gules and Argent and Or and Carnation and Celeste in roundel, in chief Sable skull Argent and two sabres Argent in saltire, and in base Gules an apple Or.