Misery

Misery is a princess of Crimson Tide and is a senior officer in Pirates of the Damned.

Contributions and Accomplishments

 * Midnight Ocean
 * Princess of Crimson Tide
 * Former queen of Crimson Tide
 * Former captain of Pirates of the Damned
 * Former captain of Gladiators
 * Former governor of
 * Former governor of
 * Azure Ocean
 * Princess of Crimson Tide
 * Captain of The Gladiators
 * Won Marigold, a gold monkey, in a couples fashion contest

Biography
Misery, still active, has history stretching back to beta testing on the Azure ocean. She has always been a leader.

Azure
Misery originally began playing with friends and fell in love with pillaging. Her intense hunger for pillaging led her to create her own crew, The Gladiators. The Gladiators quickly became one of the most active crews to sail Azure, with Misery herself often found at the ship's helm. She soon became one of the most experienced sea battlers on Azure, passing pirates who had been playing for nearly a year. Many flags courted her and her crew, but Thanos and his flag eventually won her over. The Gladiators made the fateful choice to join Crimson Tide, and Misery soon became royalty. Despite not getting in at the beginning of beta, she still had plenty of time to win a familiar. Paired with Arianna she won Marigold, a gold monkey, in a couples fashion contest.

Midnight
On Midnight, the Gladiators sailed again, though this time as a combination of the original crew, a few famous pirates and her first mate, Tedv. However, this was not to last. She was faced with a crew split, leaving behind very few members, including Misery and Rome. They went on to merge into Pirates of the Damned. She first came to prominence on Midnight where she was renowned for her marathon pillaging. She and Dotte helped Pirates of the Damned and Crimson Tide gain an early foothold by pillaging for endless hours. Her dedication earned her the first sublime experience in Sea Battle on the Midnight Ocean.

Early Blockades
As 2004 progressed, Crimson Tide saw a less active role taken by Thanos, and Misery stepped in to help fill the void. She became captain of Pirates of the Damned in January of '04 and assumed the monarchy of the flag in July of '04. In May of '04 Crimson Tide won Turtle Island. Misery became governor of that isle not long after. The island was held for only a brief time before Xi opened. Deciding that holding Turtle was a goal of the previous leadership, and not the best thing for the flag at the time, Turtle was given back to Vilya. Misery had presided over the controversial first island transfer.

Misery was known far and wide as one of the most dedicated blockaders on the ocean. Her skill at Carpentry kept many ships afloat, and her Gunnery and Battle Navigation sent many to the bottom of the sea. Eventually, when Thanos stepped down, she became the monarch of Crimson Tide, a position she still holds today. In August of 2004, Crimson Tide, led by Misery, fought a difficult battle to claim. Midnight Armada defended the blockade, and were given a pre-determined number of boats by Vilya to do so. The plan was to have MA defend at Xi and then have CT defend at  with the same number of Ringer supplied boats. During the battle, Silverdawg, an unaligned third party, was given a large number of ships by Fools of the Gods to oppose the attackers. While it made for a more fun blockade, it did greatly increase the cost as well. After the isle was taken, she was the first citizen of the island, and as monarch, the first and lasting governor. She supervised all construction of the island, including the housing built nearly a year after colonization.

Player Blockades
After Xi, Crimson Tide came to defend Park. Misery was stunned to find Vilya had broken the deal made over Xi and provided far fewer boats for defense than had been previously agreed upon. The defense was also strictly monitored by Poseidon to make sure they never gained too much of an advantage, despite a surprisingly small turnout by MA.

In response to this, Misery teamped up with Whitefire to provide player defenses for two newly opened islands, Remora and Chaparral. Providing the bulk of the defending force, they defeated the attackers at Remora, and then joined with the forces of PAROT to defend Chaparral successfully as well.

Thanos and Misery wed on Halloween day of 2004, and Rome, Misery's long time crewmate gave the bride away. For a celebration, they threw one of the biggest parties and tournaments to grace Midnight. The swordfighting tournament alone gave away over one million PoE. Thanos and Misery later became estranged, to the point where neither actively acknowledges the event ever happened-yet many flag mates still remember this as a happy day.

Contention (Within and Without)
As 2004 drew to a close, Misery was faced not only with the stress of leading both a large crew and flag, but with the return of Thanos. Thanos was vocally unhappy with the direction the flag had taken and through IMs and out of game communication incited some older members to speak out against her leadership. To allow her to focus on flag issues, Misery passed the captain's hat to Rome. She kept her role as queen and reformed the governmental structure of the flag. Although Crimson Tide is not a democracy, all voices are heard and acknowledged, unlike the times under the previous leader.

2005 saw the formation of the flag Notorious Fandango. Their first announcement of a plan, often viewed as a form of extortion, found many opponents. Misery resurrected the name The Gladiators to serve as a focal point for people opposed to Notorious Fandango. The Gladiators was an alt crew designed to move to each attacked flag, bringing with it Crimson Tide ships and personnel, as well as other like-minded people from all over the ocean. It's very nature as an alt crew allowed anyone to join regardless of political affiliation, while also preventing hassles by providing a safe floating crew that was immune to war declarations and associated entanglements. Misery, acting with The Gladiators, admiraled the defense at Nu. Their involvement resulted in Notorious Fandango being hugely out manned. They went on to defend against Notorious Fandango at Remora, where again the were admiraled by Misery. The Gladiators continued to defend against Notorious Fandango, though never in as large numbers as at Nu and Remora. The crew was disbanded on May 9, 2005.

Aggression and Defense
Announcing their Summer of War, Crimson Tide swung into their first acts of aggression since Misery took over. In their first ever blockade as themselves against a defending flag, they dropped a chest on. Seraph's Nightmare defended their island in a sinking blockade that lasted only three rounds. In the following war, Crimson Tide is generally considered to have won. It was close, but the navigational prowess of members like Shuranthae left them sinking more of Seraph's Nightmare's ships. Not long after the Summer of War began, several members of royalty ended up called away from the game for extended periods of time due to real life issues. This, with some Ringer policy changes, as well as a summer already full of blockades caused the so-called Summer of War to be brief.

After the summer had ended, Notorious Fandango declared their intentions to strike at the heart of Babylon and blockade Xi. Crimson Tide had held the island for over a year with absolutely no contention. It was the first time anyone had had the nerve to attack CT at their home. After word came her way, Misery showed her consummate skill as a politician. With help of her flag and royalty, they canvassed their alliances, calling in favors from the numerous blockades they had aided in since taking the island. Misery and CT had built a lot of goodwill with other powerful flags, like Silver Dawn and Avalon. In what was considered a clever and unorthodox move, she cashed in 2 hours of time from several Notorious Fandango members that she had won in an auction, that was, ironically enough, designed to raise funds to blockade Xi. Quiglin, Leif, Dorel and Stevedave wound up sailing for CT the first two rounds of the blockade. She had also purchased Whitefire, as well as the Notorious Fandango admiral, Looseweed. Looseweed was granted a rain check for his services, and Whitefire was otherwise occupied the day of the blockades.

The ocean was divided in the largest blockade ever seen. As always, Misery stood at the head, admiraling her fleet. At it's peak in round 2, each side fielded 7 war frigates, though not at the same time. As round 2 drew to a close, the scores tied, and Notorious Fandango won the first, and only, sudden death tie breaker round ever. It was the only round they won of the blockade.

Politics post-Xi
Stepping aside from the main spotlight momentarily, Crimson Tide has taken a support role, backing Avalon against the Liliputian Alliance, helping Notorious Fandango attack Turtle, and aiding Broadsiders in the monumental struggle for Jorvik. The friendships and alliances created under Misery shaped, and are still shaping Midnight today.

Misery was the longest standing monarch of a major flag on Midnight. Traditionally avoiding the YPP forum, she relied on her royals to represent her flag there as well as in game. Despite her waning Midnight playtime, she is still active behind the scenes in Crimson Tide, guiding and advising her royalty corps.

Despite an active and influential career on the ocean, Misery considers her biggest accomplishment to be changing the perceptions of her flag after she took over. Around the time she took over, many on the ocean took an adversarial stance towards Crimson Tide. Under her, Crimson Tide changed and fostered friendships and alliances around the ocean. Her aiding Fandango, in particular, is seen by many as the hallmark of her era, where flags can act on friendship rather than petty grudges.

She proved her commitment to her philosophies by entrusting the palace deed to Shuranthae, who has assumed day to day operations of Xi. Eventually, she turned full control as governor of the island over to him.

In June of 2007, Misery made the final decision to step down as queen of the flag she had guided for nearly three years. Fannon was elected as the new monarch of the flag.

Even though she no longer sails the seas twelve hours a day anymore, she always keeps a watchful eye on her flag mates. She continues to be a valuable member of Crimson Tide and her experience and instincts still influence the flag today.