In the years following the collapse of the human empire there was an explosion of piracy completely unmatched in historical terms. Over time, a unique sub-culture commenced to evolve around this particular class of criminal, predicated by a philosophy centeredon the notion that the life of a Pirate was the truest expression of individual autonomy imaginable. Subsequently, many human Pirates have come to believe they are not criminals at all, per se, but are in fact libertarians in the purest and most literal sense of the word.
Renegades such as this make it their prerogative to operate beyond the confines of established law as a matter of what they hold to be inherent, inalienable rights with regard to personal freedom and self-governance. If this lifestyle brings the Renegade Pirate into conflict with others over material goods, the Renegade simply views this discordance as a natural extension of the principles of social Darwinism, and judges it to be well within his or her rights to take by force anything he or she has both the desire and the means to procure.
Fueled by this concept of consummate libertarianism, many Renegades began to overly romanticize their rebellious way of life. Some cultivated the conviction that they were freedom fighters and outlaw antiheroes and began to steal from the rich and powerful in order to provide for the impoverished and impotent. The preferred targets for these particular Renegades have long been the religious institutions of the Zealots, whom the Pirates hold to be charlatans on a grand scale. This tendency to prey on vulnerable Zealot fleets has drawn the attention of the paramilitary clerics devoted to upholding the Law, and they have made it their divine mission to eradicate piracy in all its myriad incarnations. These intrepid Zealots are uncharacteristically brutal in pursuit of such Renegade raiders, and escalating violence between the two groups has elevated the conflict to the status of what many would characterize as full-blown war.
Insurrectionists to some, revolutionaries to others, the Renegade Pirates of the Novus Æterno universe roam the infinite oceans of space in pursuit of ultimate independence. As long as the allure of living a life of bounty and personal gratification beyond the boundaries of society’s laws remains strong, their ranks will continue to grow.
