Crimson Tide

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Crimson Tide at a Glance
Midnight Ocean
Monarch Misery of Pirates of the Damned
Member crew(s) Arctic Blades, Booty Lubbers, Chaotic Evansecence, Cookie Pirates, The Crewe, Dark Strike, Dead Pirates Society, The Legends, The Legionaries,La Renard, Marine Knights, Midgard, Misfit Pirates, Monkey Face Fighters, One Oor in the Water, Orange Revolution, Pirates of the Damned, Sanguine Justice, Scarlet Star, Seasick Penguins, Skull Hunters, Stormy Seas, Thundercats, Wanderin' Wenches, White Wynds
Islands controlled

Xi Island
Angelfish Island
Lagniappe Island


Allies Avalon, Broadsiders, Carpe Noctem, Elysian Fields, Lunar Bin, Midnight Armada, Moonlighting, Silver Dawn, Silly Symphonies
Wars None
Last updated on 03 February, 2007
Favicon.png Flag Info

Crimson Tide is one of the oldest flags in the world of Puzzle Pirates. The original founding date on the Azure Ocean is approximately August 12, 2003. It is one of the largest flags on the Midnight Ocean. The flag has governed Xi Island since it opened to colonization, and more recently, took over the role of custodians of Angelfish Island and Lagniappe Island.

Government

Crimson Tide is a benign oligarchy led by its royalty. The crowns are placed on the heads of representatives of the founding crews, as well as those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to the flag. Misery, the centerpiece of the oligarchy, transitioned the flag from an absolute monarchy to the current oligarchic form. Shuranthae sees to the day to day governing of Xi, Gummyworm was reinstated as governor of Angelfish and Uberknight continues to govern Lagniappe Island.

Current Governing Body

History

Azure

There are few left today who remember Thanos' exact motivation for forming the Crimson Tide, but it is still clear that he was looking for an alternative to what the rest of the flags who were ruling the ocean offered. He placed the island of Xi at the top of his list of goals and made it into a happy home for his ragtag band of pirates. As the last day of the Azure Ocean dawned, Thanos left Xi with his loyal servant, Piggy Rocky, and headed for Midnight with high ambitions.

Midnight

Thanos washed onto the shores of the new ocean of Midnight and immediately began working to re-form his crew, the Pirates of the Damned, and his flag, Crimson Tide. On this new ocean, Thanos vowed that Crimson Tide would bow to no other flag; so while others played, he and his senior officers worked. New crews, such as the Cookie Pirates, joined the flag and older crews from the days of Azure grew stronger. Tedv's Numenoreans merged with Jenvieve’s (now known as Misery) Gladiators, reorganizing the two crews into one unit and helping to solidify the strength of Crimson Tide. Thanks to the hard work of its crews, and especially the ceaseless pillaging of Misery and Dotte, Crimson Tide shocked the ocean when it managed to purchase a large number of shoppes on Alpha Island. The flag began hoarding commodities for the future colonization of Xi and producing war ships in mass numbers.

Tensions began to rise between the old guard of Azurian times and the new guard of Midnight. Things especially became heated and personal between Crimson Tide and the Rudder Revolution, the combination of Rudder Lubbers and Orange Revolution. When the war mechanic was created and introduced to the game, these two flags decided to exercise it. There were terms originally stated, and whether or not they were followed is an issue still disputed today. After Benda's attempts to run away in battle failed, resulting in a sunken cutter, Crimson Tide called foul. Thus, the war ended after only four hours. However, these four hours would in many ways impact the shape of the ocean for years to come.

Many believed that Pennsuedo's victory in the war would break Crimson Tide, but instead it had the opposite effect. The lost cutter was instantly replaced by Thanos. Many in the flag who had doubted Thanos before were impressed by this display of leadership. Crews that had been less than attached to the rest of Crimson Tide now banded closer together in response to the pressures being exerted on them by the Rudders and other anti-Crimson Tide forces on Midnight. Crimson Tide slowly withdrew from the rest of the community, becoming a unit onto themselves. The hoarded commodities, already impressive, were doubled. The fleet, already fearsome, was tripled.

Azure returned for a short time to allow players to experiment with the newly created blockade mechanism. Crimson Tide soon found it was quite good at these blockades thanks to the help of its allies and secret weapons, Aiziril and Greenwolf. It took the ultimate prize of Alpha Island. It was clear that Thanos had not been idle and had a few tricks up his sleeves. He and his flag were ready for blockades to hit Midnight.

Crimson Tide's ultimate goal was Xi; they wanted to rule it just as they had in Azure. However, they were told by the Dread Ringers that Xi would not be opened for colonization until a supply chain had been established. So Thanos, as representative of Crimson Tide, conspired with Imperio, Tyr's Own, The Jolly Company, Black Sails and a few other secret allies to divide the ocean among themselves. After the first few weekends of blockades were over, they had taken the first islands in the supply chain.

They also participated in the defeat of the Rudder Revolution in that flag’s first attempt at gaining a home island. The conflicts between Rudder Revolution, who reorganized into Rudder Hell, were epic; the events culminated in what many people still argue is the greatest blockade ever: Papaya I. The blockade lasted twenty-four hours and the maximum twelve rounds; each side seemed to hold insurmountable advantages at different times. Ultimately, an inspired final round win by Crimson Tide, caused by high level puzzling and battle navigation, led to the end result of a tie. Much emotional and physical energy was expended in these blockades.

That's why some were surprised when Crimson Tide decided to take on a force that many people considered to be the darlings of the ocean, Nyx's Scions, in a bid to conquer Turtle Island before them by dropping an unexpected war chest. Nyx's responded with a war chest of its own. In what could arguably be considered the most expensive blockade ever (the war chests alone were one million PoE each and many ships had been sunk to Davy Jones’), Crimson Tide emerged victorious. The colonization of Turtle was very controversial and many feelings were hurt; some left the game due to the results.

The ocean experienced relative peace for a time after this. Crimson Tide's fleet, as massive as it once was, was much reduced after the blockades at Papaya and Turtle, and internal flag changes occurred. A relative peace was even formed with Equinox (the latest incarnation of Rudder Revolution). Thanos began to have other interests outside of the game, so Misery and other royalty members started to take on increasing responsibility in the flag. Eventually it was time for the peace to end, and the alliance decided to help Greenwolf in his bid to take his dream island- Jorvik Island. However, their efforts failed and the Looterati instead successfully defended the island they had won a few weeks earlier. Two months later, a second attempt to win Jorvik failed.

This failure was ultimately the end of an era. Thanos passed the crown to Misery and she became the second monarch of Crimson Tide. While Misery and Thanos had much in common, they ultimately had very different philosophies on how a flag should be run.

Approximately two months later, the moment that Crimson Tide had long waited for arrived: Xi was finally opened for colonization. The controversial decision was made to return Turtle to Vilya so that all efforts could be focused on Xi. The island was taken with little resistance, but the flag enjoyed every second of the blockade.

In the months after colonizing Xi, Crimson Tide again underwent internal changes. Misery worked hard to reconnect the flag to the rest of the ocean and fundamentally changed how the flag operated. Some members disliked these changes and left the flag, while some crews wanted larger parts of Xi than they had worked for. However, the overall health of the flag and island was put ahead of individual wants leading to the exit of these crews as well. After a crew split in Pirates of the Damned, things began looking bleak; it looked as if the Tide might end.

However, thanks to the arrival of fresh faces, as well as the strong leadership of Misery, this did not happen. By the time Crimson Tide's allies, Avalon, were in peril at Spring Island, things were back in order for Crimson Tide, and they successfully helped their allies fend off Parthanos and his newer version of Imperio. Shuranthae joined Crimson Tide, once again solidifying the skill level of the flag. New crews seeking to earn their fame and glory joined the Tide, while old rivals, such as Orange Revolution, mended fences and joined the flag.

Over the rest of 2005, Crimson Tide had a few setbacks and public losses in blockades, putting the flag under heavy criticism. Some saw this as a signal that Crimson Tide had become weak, leading to a race to attack their of Xi. Notorious Fandango won the race and dropped a war chest in September 2005. However, Crimson Tide proved they were still a force to be reckoned with, defeating one of the largest foes that any island-owning flag on Midnight had faced.

Crimson Tide continues to be one of the most powerful flags in the game. They have proven time and time again that they can be the difference between loss and victory in a blockade, and that even when others doubt, hope among members is all that a flag needs to survive.

External Links

Forums Thread References

Blockades At A Glance

First blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Turtle I
Date: 15 May 2004
Stance: Attacking Precolonized
Sinking? no
Contenders: Vilya vs. Crimson Tide, Nyx's Scions
Score: 0:7:1
Result: Won precolonized
Second blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Xi I
Date: 14 August 2004
Stance: Attacking Uncolonized
Sinking? yes
Contenders: none vs. Crimson Tide
Score: 0:7
Result: Successful colonization
Third blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Heph's Forge III
Date: 2 July 2005
Stance: Attacking Colonized
Sinking? yes
Contenders: Seraph's Nightmare vs. Crimson Tide
Score: 3:0
Result: Unsuccessful attack
Fourth blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Namath I
Date: 23 July 2005
Stance: Attacking Uncolonized
Sinking? yes
Contenders: none vs. Moonlighting, Crimson Tide
Score: 0:3:0
Result: Unsuccessful colonization
Fifth blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Xi II
Date: 25 September 2005
Stance: Defending
Sinking? no
Contenders: Crimson Tide vs. Notorious Fandango
Score: 3:1
Result: Successful defense
Sixth blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Eta IX
Date: 18 November 2006
Stance: Attacking Colonized
Sinking? yes
Contenders: Dies Irae vs. Crimson Tide
Score: 3:1
Result: Unsuccessful attack
Seventh blockade for Crimson Tide
Midnight Ocean
Blockade: Eta X
Date: 2 December 2006
Stance: Atacking Colonized
Sinking? yes
Contenders: Dies Irae vs. Crimson Tide
Score: 3:1
Result: Unsuccessful attack