#cause black sails... pirates... idk

[hauntingblue]

I don't know what to say... everyone got a happy ending except the people who actually wanted a real revolution and had a cause for it... but it's not like we had much of their opinions on this I guess... also no final lez sex scene... tragic

[piratemadi]

hi :) this is certainly a question out of nowhere but i’ve been rewatching black sails and i just got to the part with max & drowning the cat and i feel like i’m MISSING smth djdnjd i can see the metaphor for fixing the cause not the symptoms but idk is there smth more do u think?? wld love to hear what u think if u can :-)))

this ask is 4 months old but ty for sending it :* but literally max's greatest counterrevolutionary moment like her drowning the cat isn't just abt fixing the "cause" of the problem it's pinpointing an innocent suffering animal as the "cause" of the problem as opposed to the cause being the cruelty of the father. max isn't actually interested in solving problems systemically even tho she's well aware of their existence (& even has a reasonably good understanding of them!) bc she's a deeply pessimistic, misanthropic, & faithless person as a result of what she's been thru. she does not believe the father (whether that refers to richard guthrie's father or to her own father or the empire as father) can be or will be changed or destroyed. so the solution is to kill the cat, because it's small & easy to kill.

it's interesting bc when you think of the resistance portrayed by the show you don't see the pitiable & weak. yes we have women & children involved but the pirates & the maroons are not easy victims! i think what max more directly means here in her conversation with marion guthrie is to kill the spirit of the resistance. remember what destroys the revolution isn't public executions or mass re-enslavement, it's the strategic dismantling of the most powerful factions & their relationships with one another. she is killing the most innocent & beautiful thing about the revolution, which is the will towards unqualified liberation, solidarity, & hope.

in another way tho & this is what makes it so delicious max is also talking abt herself. she is without reservation the most physically defenseless main cast member & she is repeatedly punished for that fact. she's killing the cat in the bahamas but she's also killing a part of herself! this is what max does it's a trademark part of her character she kills parts of herself so that other parts may survive. in this conversation she is amputating a part of herself that she realizes will not survive an alliance with guthrie. so she kills it on her own terms.

the sad thing is that it's never going to work. the will to revolution is never going to truly die. suffering will always go on. max will always have to retreat farther & farther. there will always be more sacrifices to make. because the truth is that this kind of system functions on suffering the empire runs on misery & inshallah people will always resist it. people will always fight for their survival, homes, families, & to live & die in dignity. so she will keep drowning the cat & it will keep coming back. truly the greatest character ever written

[doitforbangchan]

Midnight song- P.SH

Pairing- Siren!Seonghwa x Pirate! Reader (afab/fem)

Warnings- cursing, death, pirate themes and maybe more idk

WC: 2.3k

Just a lil something i meant to put out for Halloween.. oh well plz enjoy anyways :)

Masterlist

They say that a siren's song is the most tempting sound in all the seven seas. That the delicate melody is pure seduction in its most refined form. The same could be said about the siren itself though too. 

The ‘they’ in question are the sailors- the pirates that travel the open waters far and wide. As the daughter of a notorious pirate captain you grew up hearing many tales of the creatures that dwelled beneath the waves; none more notorious than the siren. They were always depicted as beautiful beings, with the most attractive faces and the body of a fish. 

Your whole life was spent upon a ship; at first your fathers then when you became an adult you found a crew of your own. Now you were almost as famous a captain as your father, a woman captain was nearly unheard of let alone one as cunning and quick witted as you. You worked hard for your reputation, showing off your prowess and not letting any man or law stand in your way. 

You had never believed in such tales of any fantastical creatures, having never seen one yourself in all your years of sailing. Never once had you encountered anything particularly out of the ordinary- until you did. 

The night that you saw it - saw him- for the first time had been a dark one, the moon shrouded by heavy gray clouds covering everything in a sheet of black. You and your crew had come ashore to celebrate a particularly plentiful plunder. The bar you had spent most of your evening in had become boring, the men in there were too far up their own ass to take you seriously, so you decided to take the party back to the ship that was docked down by the shore. 

As you made your way down the dock you noticed something from the corner of your eye. There was an unnatural shimmering down by the edge of the dock, a stark contrast to the dark wood, that drew your eye. Just as your head turned to fully see what was causing the light a loud splash was heard and the shimmer was gone. 

You rubbed your eyes with the back of your palm, staggering over to the edge of the dock. You peered down into the dark murky depths, narrowing your eyes to find the source (if there was one anyway). Just as you were about to continue on your way, you saw it again. Faintly there was a glimmer that seemed to be moving slowly under the dock. 

You dropped to your knees, your shins hitting the wood roughly and you stuck your face closer to the water. Maybe it was the copious amounts of liquor that was coursing through your body, or maybe the sea hysteria was catching up to you faster than you had anticipated, but looking down into the water you could make out a mass.. And a face. If you didn’t know any better you would even say that the figure waved at you. 

But you did know better. It was the alcohol, it had to be. There was no way there was anything of note down there. A manatee maybe- but definitely not a person. Either way the mass was no longer visible to you. With a shake of your head to clear your thoughts you stood back on your feet, albeit wobbly and mildly unsteady, and you made your way back to the ship.

The next time you saw him was out in the open sea. Your trusted ship - the ‘Halazia’- was speeding through the water, allowing the wind to guide you to your next adventure. The sun was beginning to set, giving the sky a deep orange glow that was fading into decadent purples. Most of the crew was below deck preparing to turn in for the evening, leaving just you on the top deck.

 You were looking over a map you had recently acquired, the old parchment laid out on a barrel that you were leaning upon. A sudden thud of the wood of your ship was heard to your right, making you jump slightly and spin around, your hand going to the hilt of your sword. 

A gasp escaped you as your eyes made contact with another pair- a much darker pair, so dark you could not make out the whites of them. Someone, or something, had climbed up the side of the boat and was peering over at you. Only the top part of their head and face were visible as the being stared at you. 

Your hand did not leave your cutlass as you held his gaze, his eyes unblinking as they drank you in. Somehow you just knew this was no normal person. For one there was no way anyone could have made it on your ship without your knowledge. And reason number two was you were out in the middle of the ocean, miles and miles from the nearest island. 

The beating in your heart accelerated as your mind raced. You felt like you could not move; as if you were frozen in place under this beings scrutinizing gaze.You did not know what was happening to you, or what he was and why you were reacting this way. The last stow away was swiftly dealt with with the very blade that sat on your hip. 

The two of you stared at each other for what felt like hours, though logically you knew it was only a few seconds, before a loud clamoring of footsteps were heard making their way up the steps to the top deck. 

The sound broke the spell you seemed to be under, making you turn your head quickly to see a few members of your crew making their way up. Just as quickly as you looked at the crew you looked back to where the being was, only to find he was gone and a loud splash was left in his wake. 

It was three weeks before you saw him again. It was late- much too late for you to be awake- but you could not find an ounce of sleep. You had been tossing and turning in your quarters for hours, unable to get comfortable. The stuffiness of your room did nothing to quell your unrest and you found yourself craving fresh air. With a gruff sigh you got out of bed and slipped your long coat on, then made your way out onto the deck. Since it had to be nearing three in the morning the whole crew was asleep, leaving you alone once more. You did not mind though. The solitude of night was a nice change to the normal chaos of the day. 

You sat on the railing overlooking the open seas. The water was mostly still tonight thankfully, giving you a sense of peace. This was exactly what you needed, the salty air and sound of the moving waves were already doing an excellent job of lulling you to sleep, your eyes growing heavier by the second. 

That was until a delicate voice called out to you. 

“Hello.” 

Your eyes snapped back open, the sleep knocked from you like a punch. Leaning over the side of the ship directly next to you was that being again, only this time his whole head was showing and he was resting it on his forearms as he drank you in again. Although you did not see much of him last time you inherently knew he was the same creature as before.

 You felt like you could not speak nor move under his gaze. You could do nothing but notice how handsome he was. His black hair was shaggy as it framed his face, his lips a pouty and a rosy pink color. The light from the moon was doing wonders in illuminating him for you.

He smiled when he saw he had caught your attention, addressing you again with his deep purr, “Hi there.” You tried to reply but the words were caught in your throat, unable to come out. He noticed this and a giggle left him, his head tilting in amusement. “Hmm, you can’t talk? Siren got your tongue?” 

Siren.. Siren.. No fucking way

All of the air returned to you at once, making you gasp quietly, and finally regain some of your composure. “Who are you?” You asked. 

“Seonghwa.” He replied, never blinking as he twirled a piece of his hair. “You’re Y/n.” 

“How do you know my name?” You demanded, frightened but intrigued all the same. No, not intrigued, more like enthralled by him.  

Seonghwa shrugged coyly, tapping his sharp nails on the wood. “Heard a lot ‘bout you. Been watching you for a while.” He leaned in closer as if he was going to tell you a secret, “I like looking at pretty things. Do you like pretty things too, Y/n?” 

You found yourself nodding to his question, face heated up at his words. His voice was deep and sensual, like soft silk. “Yes.” 

His lips curled into a charming smile. Damn he was the most gorgeous man you had ever seen. “Mm,” Seongwha ran the tip of his tongue over the front of his teeth, showcasing the sharp canines- sharper than what is natural. “Then how about you come take a good look at me?” 

You could feel a sense of trepidation at his words. He was tempting, too tempting, and the warning alarms in your brain were starting to go crazy. As much as you wanted to get closer to him you could not. For the first time in the last few minutes you defied him. “N-no, I will stay o-ver here.” You mentally chastised yourself for stuttering, wanting to remain the strong captain you knew you were.

The creature narrowed his eyes at you, clearly showing his annoyance at your resistance. His nails tapped even harder against the wood. Then he smiled again, an innocent look taking over his features and he batted his long lashes at you. “Aww, you don’t wanna see me? You’re gonna hurt my feelings, darling.” He lowered his voice even more, the timber of it sending chills down your spine. “Come over here, before I make you.” 

You vehemently shook your head, denying him even though you felt your toes move as if they were inching towards him anyways.

Stay strong. Y/n. You must not give in to him. 

Seonghwa gave you a pout then you heard a loud banging sound coming from beneath him, as if a large mass had smacked harshly against the side of your ship. “Alright pretty girl, we’ll do things your way. Remember you asked for this, hmm?” 

The siren began to hum, a rich melody flowing from him in waves. He sang to you, in a language you had neve heard before yet you understood it instantly. It was a song of longing, of need and fulfillment. It was absolutely bewitching. 

As his voice grew louder you felt your brain begin to fog, like your inhibitions were releasing slowly from you. Your body was swaying to the tune and your feet started to move against your will. It felt less like walking and more like you were floating towards him. 

His voice felt like warm honey as it engulfed you, sticky and sweet and oh so delicious as it ensnared you. You wanted to drown in it- in him. 

You had made it, albeit slowly, over to the edge, now standing directing in front of him. Seonghwa ended his song with a soft, pleased sigh. “There she is, my jolly sailor bold. Did you enjoy my song? I sang it just for you.” He lifted his hand and ran one long finger down the side of your cheek. Even in your dazed state you could feel how cold and clammy he was as he caressed you. 

A mindless nod was your only response. Words would not find you- could not find you- while he had you under his control. Not that you currently mind. The only thing on your mind was him, him, him. Nothing else mattered. 

His hand traveled from your cheek down your neck and then to your shoulder. His nails traced the veins under your skin as he went, his black eyes never faltering as he watched the trail. “So delicate, too soft for a pirate. This life isn’t suitable for a pretty thing like you, don’t you agree?” Another nod was all you offered. “Mmm, you don’t want to grow old out here, become weathered and grizzled and burdened by the piracy. No no, I think it’s best to stay this way. To stay soft and tender and young. Forever.” 

His final word came out like a deathly hiss as he grabbed you forcefully, yanking your whole body over the edge of the ship with him. A scream was caught in your throat as the cold water washed over you, your limbs thrashing violently. 

Even though the saltiness burned your eyes they were frantic and wild as you fought with your captor. From this close you could see him fully. Could see the lower half of his body was indeed not human. A long fishtail with iridescent scales was in place of where legs would normally be. From down here his teeth were sharper and they were curled into a teasing smirk. 

You fought against him but he kept dragging you down further and further into the depths. Water was filling your lungs making them burn terribly. Seonghwa dug his nails into your skin breaking the surface making rivers of blood trickle out.  

The dastardly creature cooed at you as you struggled, “It’s ok darling, it’ll all be over in a second. Then you will always be remembered just as you are.” 

You could not get away. You knew your fate was sealed as black dots started to fill your vision. The last thing you would ever see is this monster's teeth tearing into your shoulder and a flurry of dark red. 

©doitforbangchan 2024

likes, comments and reblogs are encouraged! I love to hear feedback, it keeps me going :)

Permanent tags: @athforskz , @jehhskz and @seungfl0wer

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

The pirate poll thing was baffling because *we were losing the whole time* and yet it turned into this massive attack on ofmd for, idk, daring to be in the same poll as black sails? And then somehow the way it gets told is that ofmd fans were the ones being nasty first and causing all the drama 🙄 I watched the whole thing unfold and that is not even remotely what happened.

I was lurking around at the time and it was so, so weird to watch. It was Stede against Flint, I think, was when it started really going downhill, and I believe Flint had a comfortable lead the whole time, but people started getting so aggro towards OFMD for literally no reason whatsoever. It was just bizarre behavior, it was like a bunch of people suddenly had an excuse to pop a massive hate boner for OFMD and boy did they take it! And ever since then, there's been this narrative that OFMD fans couldn't handle losing or whatever when that literally did not happen at all. The Stucky poll did NOT help - again, I never saw anything more than tumblr-typical Marvel haterism from OFMD fans on that poll but the things being said to and about OFMD fans was just awful. People still throw around buzzwords from that one like "OFMD is queerbaiting!" even though a two-second glance at the show would disprove that. I know lots of people who got hate sent for them just for leaving tags supporting OFMD on those polls.

Just bizarre behavior all-around. Like, I'm not a fan of Black Sails at all, I don't like how it treats its female characters and characters of color and I don't like how we're asked to sympathize with characters who own slaves in the text of the show. I liked it fine when I was an angry teenager/undergrad and it was airing, but as I've gotten older it's just left a bad taste in my mouth and I honestly feel it has very little genuine substance despite some really cool scenes and characters that I still like. And...who cares??? It's just a show I don't like! It's very easy to not interact with it! I'm not going to waste my time badmouthing it whenever I see it pop up! Some people are truly obsessed with hating OFMD to a degree that absolutely baffles me.

[moonstonexgallery]

Some reworks on my designs for Blue Reef Cookie and Staghorn Coral Cookie 🦪🦈⚓

Inspired by @cosmicwhoreo's designs for the Salty Sharks ^^

And some changes on their designs

Blue Reef Cookie's changes

I gave him a ponytail (idk i wanted to, got inspired by a doodle made by @wisteriaaa)

Gave him an anchor pendent

Decided to give him fins

And yes, he is Black Pearl Cookie's distant cousin

Staghorn Coral Cookie's changes

I gave them a fur jacket

decided to go for a tanktop

they have a Salty Shark pin

idk i wanted to give them a necklace too XD

I STYLIZED THEIR EYECINGS MYEAHAHAHAHA!!

Now let me show you some lore here o3o

BLUE REEF COOKIE LORE

Blue Reef Cookie was a merman once, until Sea Witch Cookie gave him a potion to give him the power to breath on land, and gain some legs, and he experiences the whole land part of Earthbread.

Blue Reef Cookie used to be apart of a different pirate crew in House Barnacle, where he was with a captain named Captain Fishhook Cookie, and he, and his crew is most wanted for many robbery crimes, and Blue Reef Cookie didn't want to commit these robberies, but did them anyway thanks to one of the main rules "Never decline", one day was that he was at the Vanilla Kingdom, and while they were stealing from many markets, Blue Reef Cookie met Strawberry Tart Cookie, and they became friends, that was until some security Wafflebots came to confront the crew, as well as Blue Reef Cookie, who was frustrated, and sad, because he couldn't get to talk to the princess a little more.

One night, he snuck out of House Barnacle, just to see Strawberry Tart Cookie, the talk went well, until Captain Fishhook Cookie came in a ruined the talk by taking him back to House Barnacle, just to scold him, and threaten him later on, after that, thats where Blue Reef Cookie became increasingly quiet...

Before they set sail, Blue Reef Cookie fell into the Duskgloom's waters, causing his whole appearance to change, with a smile, he swam back up, and got back out of the ship with a smile, attacking Captain Fishhook Cookie's crew, as he eliminated each and every one brutally, he got close to the captain with one thing to say...

"You have no idea what you got me into.. Captain.."

After the whole ordeal, he left House Barnacle behind, and decided to head to House Caviar, to be as the Sailor of the Salty Sharks, and an honored first mate of Captain Caviar Cookie.

When they got to the Duskgloom Sea that night, Black Pearl Cookie makes her next encounter with a random ship, after she got rid of those hollow whales, she recognize the sailor she saw in the Duskgloom waters before joining the Salty Sharks, her only thought was..

"My cousin..?"

STAGHORN CORAL COOKIE LORE

Staghorn Coral Cookie was a rebellious teen in an unspecified neighborhood, they would use sharp weapons to throw at wooden planks like a sport, which one of the neighbors were worried about, due to them getting hurt, but since Staghorn Coral Cookie was very much capable of taking care of themselves after getting slight cuts on them, and careful with knives, whether it be for sporting, or cooking, they know how to not aim it at people, they did have good skills after all.

That one night, they were cutting up some fruits for their cake, they heard a noise from the other room, and they went to investigate, they saw a robber in their house that just broke in, and they would NEVER go down without a fight, so they used their knife to fight off the robber, it took a few couple of wounds to stop the robber, until they finally got him on the ground, the robber then took the knife, and left a fresh cut on Staghorn Coral Cookie's eye, and threw it at the wall, then left.

After the incident that happened last night, Staghorn Coral Cookie woke up in their neighbor's house, who was named Lace Coral Cookie, and she patched them up, which they were grateful, then after that, they heard the news that the robber was rightfully arrested for trespassing, and attempted assault, and Lace Coral Cookie would let Staghorn Coral Cookie stay at her house for a while.

One month later...

Lace Coral Cookie, and Staghorn Coral Cookie made it to the Crème Republic, and they made a few friends, and meet Consul Clotted Cream Cookie as well, and lastly, Lace Coral Cookie, and Staghorn Coral Cookie made their way to House Caviar, to meet the almighty Captain Caviar Cookie, where they told them about the incident that happened in the neighborhood they used to live in, and how they fought back, Captain Caviar Cookie felt bad, but also proud of Staghorn Coral Cookie's bravery, so he promoted, not just them, but also Lace Coral Cookie to be apart of the Salty Sharks.

Iiiiii think thats all the lore i can YEET here XD

Anyways, hope ya like it ^^

NON VHS VERSION

[asurrogateblog]

Cannibals, Pirates, and PhDs: How Did I Get Here?

I mentioned in some tags earlier that I’ve only actually been a real fan of Pink Floyd for under a year, and that the confluence of events that led up to it is pretty absurd. Some interest seemed to be taken in this, so I though I’d elaborate.

I didn’t know how to shorten this timeline and have it make any sense, so it’s... long. But idk, I think it’s pretty funny. If you’re nosy like I am this is for you.

My Backstory Timeline:

early childhood: my parents essentially mainline me and my little sister with The Beatles. I know almost no songs written past the 70’s until at least sixth grade. I develop a childhood crush on Paul McCartney, a joke that the universe really decides to play the long game on.

2014: my dad calls me over one night, and gravely tells me he’s been waiting to share something until I’m old enough. I brace myself to be told about sex or secret half-siblings. Instead, he tells me I need to listen to The Wall. Irritated at the idea of wasting an hour and half of my night, I nevertheless comply and go up to my room and put it on. I do not come back from this, clearly having inherited some sort of generational curse.

Around the same time, I am also secretly watching Hannibal every time my parents send me upstairs because Game of Thrones is “too gory”. This will trigger three important things: an interest in psychology, a love of horror media, and a classical music phase will train my attention span to last well past the three minute mark.

2014-2023: Over the intervening years, I become a casual fan of Pink Floyd, but make a deliberate point not to learn anything about the band. I like being able to imagine my own meanings for the songs. Also, I am motivated against this by a childhood memory of being deeply frightening by a picture of old Paul McCartney (LOL). I do not want that to ever happen again, so no learning.

Cut to April of 2023: I am finishing up my first year of my PhD program studying media psychology. I am in a bad place mentally, and am going through another horror movie phase to fill the hole. As a result, I get very into American Psycho. The main character, Patrick Bateman, is a fan of superficial 80’s pop music, particularly Genesis. I decide to start listening to Genesis to see if I agree with his tastes. While researching “best Genesis albums”, I come across The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I listen to it, and am blown away. I had no idea that the Phil Collins band made music like that. This sends me down the prog-rock rabbit hole. I still won't learn any lore.

Summer of 2023: MEANWHILE, I am also going through another pirate phase. I have a fairly encyclopedic knowledge of 18th century piracy (and am still quite active in the Black Sails fan community). Around this time, I get really obsessed with this one random guy named Dennis McCarthy who was hanged in 1718.

I decide to work poor Dennis into a science fiction story I’ve been working on. The premise is essentially that the universe is an abandoned simulation, and a ‘glitch in the matrix’ starts to, among other things, bring people from the wrong time periods back to life. The format of the story is vaguely monster-of-the-week, in which the characters have to solve various problems caused by mistakes in the code. I think, “hey, you know what would be perfect for this? that fanfic I wrote about The Wall in high school.” Said fic (which that stupid fucking beatles movie stole from me) is about a world in which Pink Floyd never existed, but a wannabe rock-star discovers a box full of their records and decides to copy them. While he is touring his plagiarized version of The Wall, he realizes that the events of the album are starting to happen to him in real life. By working this concept into my new story, I go through another one of my periodical The Wall phases. It's in full swing when fall rolls around.

September of 2023: This semester, I take a grad-level narrative theory class in the English department. I decide it would be helpful to follow along with a specific example, so I choose The Wall. Using the terminology I am learning in the class, I start to realize that The Wall is…. incredibly narratologically fucked up. To help orient me, I watch the bootleg concert recordings, and the trick with the surrogate band sends me so out of my mind that I decide I must break my rule about never learning band lore.

This is where the two plot-lines converge. I don’t remember which came first, but around this same time, I think to myself “hey, if Genesis was hiding such an incredible album under the 80’s pop, what must Pink Floyd be hiding?” On that whim, I put on Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which equally sends me so out of my mind that I decide I must break my rule about never learning band lore. I needed to know what the fuck happened to get them from Piper to The Wall.

September-November: In the two months between the onset of this and finally making another sideblog, I dedicate all of my free time to learning as much about Pink Floyd as humanely possible (and writing a 20 page essay for that narrative theory class). As you can imagine, this is a lot to unpack all at once for someone who didn’t even know who Roger or Syd or any of the rest of them were. Luckily, I am over-educated enough to be a very fast learner. Aside from the band lore itself, I of course also fall in love with the rest of Pink Floyd's discography musically-speaking. Having this interest to latch onto genuinely pulls me out of my depression.

Cut to February 2024: I am really enjoying myself, and want to keep this going as long as possible, but I am starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel on Pink Floyd lore. I decide I need to feed the fire by supplementing with lore from another band. The Beatles seem to have a strong fan presence on tumblr, why not revisit a childhood favorite? The universe laughs at my expense.

That about brings us up to date. I have gone through so much character development over the last eight months, it’s crazy. Pink Floyd is definitely one of those things that is less of a “phase” and more of a permanent part of my mindscape. Weirdly enough, since I am studying media psychology, all of this has also been really good for my career? I never took an interest in -real- media figures (as opposed to fictional characters) before, and I feel like I have a much clearer sense of things now. It's definitely influenced my research, so whatever domino effect this has on my future is bound to get even funnier.

Anyway, that’s my backstory!

[etoilesombre]

hi! this is maybe very out of the blue, but - i'm reading 'our feast is but beginning' on ao3, and in a comment on part one you write something about the urca gold being a cursed symbol and that it makes zero economical sense. idk really what i am asking but maybe - do you have posts on hand that deal with that? or would you write down some of your thoughts on that? it sounds really interesting! thanks (:

OOOH I'm so excited to talk about this -- it is actually going to come up more in the final chapter of that series, and it comes up as a major plot point in longfic, because I think its a really great example of how in some ways Black Sails is Just a Story. Which is also to say: none of what I'm saying here is a criticism of the show. The Urca Gold is Pirate Treasure writ large, it serves its function in the narrative, we don't actually need to think about the real world implications of stealing it.

But IF, for instance, you were a fanfic writer and kind of a history and econ nerd, and inclined to 'well actually' stuff, then you might see a couple problems with the gold as a solution for a free and independent Nassau. I think of them basically as problems of scale and form.

Let's talk about scale first. Basically, if you are going to steal and not die, you have to make a few calculations.

If you can steal something big, run away and live anonymously ever after, good for you! No problems. (This was Silver's initial plan. He was smart.)

If, however, you are going to steal openly, and maintain some sort of defended home base (see: bandits, organized crime, pirates) you have to ensure it is not worthwhile for people to come get their stuff back. This is why, as a pirate, it behooves you to have a reputation for extreme violence, and also a remote hideout. Merchant ships have insurance, the right people quietly profit from the fencing of pirated goods; nobody actually wants to die, so piracy is cost of doing business, and the world carries on.

The Urca gold is in a completely different class of stealing. This isn't holding up a truck; it isn't robbing the bank. It's robbing the Federal Reserve. Five million Spanish dollars, in today's money (yes, there are issues thinking of it this way, but the point holds) equals somewhere around 250-300 million US dollars.* There is simply no way that it is not worth Spain's (or England's) time and resources to go get it back. The cache they were fighting over at the end was one share and it was enough to cause all that trouble. The full amount would be worth sending a good chunk of your navy for, and the fact that this did not happen immediately requires some suspension of disbelief. Anyway.

Flint's theory seems to be that it's enough money to allow the pirates to defend Nassau against that threat, and basically establish themselves as a rich colony the empires won't fuck with. This is treated by the show like a reasonably serious proposition. So why does it fall apart? You can buy anything with that kind of money, can't you?

Now we get to the problem of form. Gold is only useful if you can exchange it for stuff you need. This is a problem for the pirates on two different fronts, defense specifically and trade in general.

In terms of defense, the pirates would need, very quickly, enough ships and guns to fight at least one imperial navy. But only the major powers were capable of manufacturing those ships and guns. Even if the pirates bought up all they could in terms of well-armed merchant ships/found a corrupt governor or two to buy guns and powder from, it would always be a losing battle because no matter how much money you throw at them, the powers that make warships are absolutely not selling you any. Why would they, when they can use them to come take the gold instead?

So, if the pirates aren't going to live long once they have this gold, can they at least spend their last months being filthy rich and enjoying themselves?

Not really.

We see Jack's crew members getting huge shares, everyone else on the island taking payment to help with defense when the time comes, as well as Jack paying laborers exorbitant amounts. So there's plenty to go around right?

This is how inflation happens. If we all suddenly have twice as much gold, but there is no more actual physical stuff, almost instantly the stuff will cost twice as much. This problem at least theoretically could be corrected by increasing trade. [Also, realistically, people would leave. But let's say they're staying for belief in the pirate republic reasons.] Because in the wider economy of trade in the Atlantic money is still valued normally, you can just import what you need.

And, maybe. This is more plausible than the rest.

But that sort of correction takes time, and given the whole 'war with civilization' situation, there can't be legitimate and sanctioned trade. It's pretty hard to get enough illegitimate goods in for an economy to prosper --- especially because if you're relying on black market trade during wartime, notoriously there ends up being price gouging and then you're back to square one with inflation.

In conclusion: the show does not get bogged down by this, as it shouldn't. It's fine. But yeah, the gold is fake and makes no sense, and Flint and Jack especially are borderline delusional about what it can achieve for them.

*This is actually not as impressive as I wanted it to be, once I started looking up reference points, eg, how much outstanding student debt is there? how much money does besos have? how much is defense spending? Did y'all know we should fight capitalism and eat the rich?

[askaniritual]

good morning. black sails thoughts:

kinda weird that it’s called black sails. their sails are white usually, it’s the flag that’s black

at the part of the season (2) where everybody is just monologuing about the themes and the Importance of Narrative. idk why this shows dialogue is so fucking good 80% of the time and then the other 20% is just endlesssss speeches about like. exactly just the shit i see on the screen. like yes i know flint fears judgement from somebody who knew him when his cause seemed more noble

as the themes of liberation and redemption get more prominent the show’s inability to engage with the slave trade gets more and more painful to watch. like regardless of how stupid it is to say that the pirates all need to be pardoned so that they can (presumably) work on sugar and tobacco plantations staffed by enslaved people, what am i supposed to assume is going to happen to the not insignificant number of pirates who are black? am i supposed to imagine they’re also going to be pardoned? lol. lmao even

both anne and miranda r characters i find very compelling but i just don’t think either of their actresses r very good. anne’s actress doesn’t do enough and miranda’s does too much

i know it was 2015 or whatever so i can only expect so much but it is really funny that in a show filled with graphic, full frontal sex of both the heterosexual and lesbian variety the most we get for the show’s Big Gay Reveal is a half shadowed kiss and a silent montage of them sitting around in bed fully clothed. flint was more naked that time he opened the door for miranda

[rusty--rose]

thinking about rusty rose (+ black rose by association) soooo headcanons/assorted thoughts time. mostly centered around rusty i just like her

rusty she/it (it/its is out of reclamation + for funsies) black they/she . i dont make the rules i just enforce them

rusty used to be a regular little girl and was horrifically altered into a killing machine. the only organic part of her body left is a bit of its face. if youve ever discussed her with me you know i believe this wholeheartedly despite knowing the rating of the show would definitely keep them from touching on this.

the eye thats behind a cage is like. used for receiving signals and ui and other stuff. but most importantly its pretty much whats keeping its brain going and keeping it from processing what happened to her body. because if she did itd freak out

... i wonder what would happen if someone on the crew pointed it out lol.

something something phantom pains and traumatic memories hitting so bad that she shuts down (literally or mentally? thats for you to decide) for a few days! yaaaaayyy how fun!

i think the no place crew doesnt trust her fully with the obvious exception of black rose . they kinda just let her do whatever. it doesnt process this cause shes too focused on steering the ship and keeping it functioning (at least in the time between dread leaving and the new yoke invasion, which is probably a while if were taking weird time shit into account).

speaking of that. it doesn't sleep! she does that all night! the others have shown concern for this but it insists shes fine.

ok maybe im thinking more about her fully shutting down for a few days now . what about it. i should make a separate post about this but thats not how i operate

itd probably be after blackrose finally says something. i imagine she kinda feels that something is wrong deep down but pushes it back because she doesnt understand that stuff! theyre just a pirate girl! but one day she ends up waking up in the ungodly hours of the morning and goes to check up on rusty, poking her cheek to get her attention, and it just hits. thats skin! rusty is a friend! theyve always known that, but she never really thought about the whole robot thing too hard. and they end up asking about it. it doesnt go well, see above.

sails fixes her its okay :] like its not a perfect job but shes ok . sorry that was a long tangent

anyway YAYY HAPPIER STUFF UHM. i dont think it has a good singing voice. its very flat. not that the crew cares (once they properly warm up to each other at least)

the whole crew is family to me . rusty doesnt know the concept but it makes it feel warm. she thinks somethings wrong the first time it starts feeling like that

im a supporter of the flicky NOT being her power source theory (if it ends up being that you can ignore this part) so . sometimes she lets it out. its the crews parrot :]

idk this post is getting messy. im very sleepy ill just hit post now

also i made this ↓ feel free to use it

[making-my-wey-down-town]

The Famous Introduction Pinned Post

Hi, Hola! You have found the way!

Not any way tho. Me, Wey. You found me! Hola! Que pedo? Pásale a lo barrido 🧹

(2024 note: I need to update this)

That hooman that you see there. Si ese! That’s my sona. A pleasure to meet you. (Outfits change often lol) (Also! The formal clothes supposedly gives the hint that I work as a security guard on the game :v)

More about me: I’m a lazy simp artist. *bows with no shame* Yeah, that’s all of my self presentation :3

As you can see, I’m very much currently hyped with The Daycare Attendants. The scrunckly bois ❤️ I don’t have a specific way to draw the bot bois tho.

So in my blog you will find mostly reblogs of them than my own art. But I will try to share more of my doodles and ideas in the future. (Cuz can’t be considered an artist if I don’t do or share shid right? :v)

Besides being on the FNAF SB fandom I’m also interested in Welcome Home, The Arcana, MHA.

All my art is under #wey draws

My main OC’s are under #wiggles and giggles the clown twins (watch their very first Halloween experience #quick doodle , they are cosplaying as Skid and Pump!)

Here their reference sheet: (old reference btw, their shoes are bigger now etc)

Gremlins dressed up as clowns basically. My babies 💜 (they were born after i got hooked on the game of FNAF SB)

Facts about them:

Both of them are boys. So he/him pronouns to each

3’6ft

Small animatronics that love to entertain families with their clown acts in the Pizzaplex

Their pants have hidden pockets, stuffed with materials and items for their clown acts. Mostly balloons. (Their hats have stuff too)

On birthday parties they always end up covered in cake

Free to roam around where the public is. Need employee permission or escort to go to restricted areas

Often seen in the daycare where there is a lot of kids to play with. Sun doesn’t always enjoy their visit (such troublemakers sometimes)

At night, when the Pizzaplex closes they immediately go to the daycare. To play with Sun and accompany Moon in his patrols (Moon will never admit he appreciates the company)

They can’t be separated. It causes an extreme anxiety for both, especially if it’s forced

Twin telepathy. Normally knowing what the other thinks. Often saying stuff at the same time and finishing each other sentences

They rarely fight with each other

Both love the attention

None of them knows personal space

They either help or create chaos (Both? Excellent partners in crime)

Press their nose, it does honk noises. They also have a feature to make their shoes do funny sounds

Fart jokes (noises) are hilarious for them

They are indeed high intelligent AI’s but they have the knowledge of a child. Teach and treat them like a kid

Can handle a limited amount of water if they get wet. Preferably to avoid it

Their white eyes can turn black with red pupils when turned in security mode. It is only to intimidate intruders and potentially dangerous people. (Can act scary if their target doesn’t normalize)

They have no virus! But that doesn’t mean they can’t obtain it 👁️👁️

Facts of each clown:

Giggles (Gig):

Likes the color blue and sharks

Normally the one who makes troubles (nothing serious, just mischievous child behavior)

Loves to make people smile and laugh but also get in their nerves (depending the person and situation)

Wiggles (Wig):

Likes the color pink and bunnies

The more responsible one of the two but still gets involved in troubles

Loves to make people have fun (specially if it’s done by his clown acts)

In the future I would like to share some ideas of AU’s I have in mind (idk if they are good enough lol) but for now my goal is to finish art projects that are meant for many friends and awesome artists.

—————————————————

AU’S Que Hice!

Ahoy! Mateys (AU mermay) - The journey of a high spirit kid named Y/N!

Dreaming of becoming a pirate one day!

Sailing the ocean in search of grand treasures and fun adventures with the unbelievable help of two sirens, their best friends!

Who and which said sea creatures seem conflicted with their actions and feelings when it comes to Y/N.

(non-romance just to clarify)

As it’s very known that these two species can never get along.

Will their friendship overcome the stereotypes?

Jump aboard and find out!

——���——————————————

My social skills are terrible very good. I have a messed up social battery, it comes and goes. So is very common to find me active some days and then gone for some weeks (months). But frens, moots feel free to reach me anytime. Bother me. Tag me. Be random. Quick chat or a question. I’m okay with all that. I also like it, feels like I’m not forgotten (I’m not the greatest to initiate the conversation but I will totally respond to whatever I get included on 🫂💞)

As for strangers, people who follows me. (Actual real people and not bots lol) Feel free to send asks. Just don’t expect a genius answer from my part heh. Remain respectful, and yup :)

Thank you for your time and attention until the end if you got this far. *hugs ya and gifts ya a real Mexican taco 🌮* Have a nice day/night! Te quiero güey ❤️

[olderthannetfic]

Hi ONTF, sorry to vent in your inbox but I’ve just stumbled into 3 different posts in rapid succession that had me boggling. I don’t know, they were probably just vent-y tumblr hyperbolic posts but is this really how a lot of people on here are about the media they consume?

One was about how another show ended in a queerbaiting mess (did it? Really? Does queerbaiting mean what you think it does?), the second one was about how people should boycott any show with even a hint of queerbaiting (which, in context, seems to mean with any shippy dynamic that doesn’t become canon in 2 episodes!) and the third one was about people insisting that a show is actual representation when, as much as I liked Good Omens, it just isn’t.

I was left staring at my screen with the impression that these people are either looking at meh shows they don’t actually think much of with their slash goggles firmly on and basing their opinion of the show’s worth on weather their ship becomes canon or trying to shoehorn representation in shows that they did enjoy because otherwise they wouldn’t feel as good about liking them? Idk, I guess what I’m asking is was it just 3 badly worded posts or is this an attitude you’ve noticed on this hellsite?

And at the same time if representation, no, let’s be honest: if the canonical status of their specific ship is so important to them that they can’t enjoy a show unless it’s there why do they seem to mainly be watching mainstream stuff with low chances of an actual payoff? I keep rewriting this part, I keep getting sidetracked. Basically I agree with you that people on here seem to put way too much faith in the idea that mainstream shows are writing things a certain way to bait queer audience when I think they’re just doing what mainstream shows have always done and most just don’t much care. But I wonder what has caused this idea, what gave people the expectation that their queer ship, often between well known main characters, has a chance in hell of becoming canon? Is it because roughly ten years ago a couple of shows went “actually yes, this infamous cannibal is in love with the fbi agent! Straightbait! Our main pirate is queer!”? But Hannibal and Black Sails were both pretty niche, not super popular shows. They were, and remain, exceptions. Sherlock and, idk, Got, were whole other beasts popularity wise. The fact that it is still unusual is why people where so happy and excited about ofmd! But statistically? Either a show is clearly marketed to a queer audience or the chances of a queer main character/ship are abysmally low and I don’t get why people keep doing this to themselves. Sorry, I’m rambling and confused at that absurd boycott idea and I’m curious to hear what you and others think.

--

Well... when you mostly read books by AO3y people and hang around in fanfic space, reality does cater to you. One forgets how different the rest of the world is.

And in many ways, that's a good thing.

But I spend a lot of my time on original m/m rather than big name shows, and it definitely helps.

When one swims in the AO3/Tumblr/Tiktok/whatever waters all day long and then goes back to really big media, expecting the same status quo, one is disappointed.

[purplespacecats]

So, after season 1 of Black Sails, I'm invested in the plot, and I'm rooting for Eleanor, Max, and Silver. Jack has grown on me. Flint, on the other hand, I am only rooting for because I know that his core motivation is gay Wrath, but I'm still pretty fucking ambivalent about him given his disregard for others' lives.

I'm also really not a fan of how disturbingly realistic the racialized violence is. I mean, I get it, all of the violence is depicted in a disturbingly realistic way, but the fact that Max spent most of the season being graphically beaten and raped does not sit well with me. Especially since I feel like the narrative role of her ordeal was to cause her white ex-girlfriend guilt. And while she initially did not want Eleanor to save her, in the end she was saved by Eleanor and Anne.

Then, it seemed like a cool narrative where the people who were enslaved on what's his name's ship freed themselves by signaling the pirates and then beating the shit out of their captors, but in the end they had to be saved by Eleanor as well.

So idk. I'll keep watching, because it's definitely engaging and I want to get to the gay shit, but I have some qualms!

(also if anyone can direct me to discussions within the fandom of the politics of race in this show I would be much obliged)

[sechurae]

Comfort Movies!

Got tagged by @tacticaltaxonomist and @exultedshores thank you <3 I added like, parts of series of movies and counted them as one, and added one series cause i ran out of movies.

List 7 comfort Movies and tag 7 people.

the mummy (1999) and the mummy returns (2001)

2. The Lord of the Rings (all 3 as well! high five)

3. pirates of the caribbean (first 3 movies, after that idk whats there)

4.Road to Eldorado (my beloved)

5. John Wick (comfort for me, not for the characters, f to them but im different)

6. Halloween (1978) (he is just like me fr)

7. Black Sails (Shores, you need to watch it with me.)

Tagging @srrrokka and @rising-dawn-uvu, even tho you probably already did that too. But hey, again, never too many movies. @antysmok @comediakaidanovsky @mymummydust @samyong i'm taking liberty to tag mutuals, have fun :)

[princessmyriad]

It feels like a crime to say this when we’re trying to get it renewed, but don’t watch OFMD if you’re not enjoying it, life is too short! And if you don’t like Goofy™️ shows then you might not like Good Omens either, or if the issue is just that you don’t like improv then you might like parts of season 1 since it has a dramatic overarching plot but you probably won’t like season 2 as much because it’s more focused on the main characters being silly together (like OFMD.)

If you want a serious pirate show, Black Sails is Game of Thrones-esque and at least 3 of the main characters are queer.

Anon cause I’m shy, sorry, but I’ve seen both shows so I figured I’d give my 2 cents!

Oh thanks for the info about good omens!

I am enjoying omfd its just different than i was expecting haha i cant binge it in one go as theres only so much improv in that style i can handle, but i certainly am having a good time with it in little bursts 😊 the parts that are funny are very funny i just have to accept that there are also parts that dont land quite as well for me

I might have to check out black sails then at some point, idk i was hoping for somewhere between the full grit of game of thrones and an openly queer rep version of pirates of the carribean (regardless of your stance on depp you have to admit those were well written, funny movies at the time at least the first couple). I get its difficult to write a comedy thats also serious enough to be compelling maybe ill just have to write omfd in black sails universe fic if i watch the latter too 😅

[reign-life]

#tbh i wanna hear about both#i saw the edges of the second one but idk the full story#and havent heard about the first Oh get ready and buckle up

Pirate-Battle: I reblogged a post that went into way more detail, but I'm going to just more or less quote what I said in the replies of this one

The pirate-battle blog(which is still up surprisingly) was a blog where different media pirates were pitted against each other the in standard tumblr bracket style. Steve Bonnet(OFMD) vs James Flint(Black Sails) as a first round match is what caused all of this drama. The mod was rather unprepared in how... passionate people got over their faves. Then in a desire to win, some Black Sails fan started accusing OFMD of racism again(disclaimer: "is OFMD racist" is a debate that comes before this poll and this isn't just fans getting too heated). The (white)mod responded by saying that criticizing the Gay Pirate Show(that was competing against another Gay Pirate Show) in the notes of a tumblr poll was "queer infighting", would get the show cancelled, and that black people calling the show racist(in the poll and in general) is what homophobes would want and that they're "doing the conservatives' work for them". Did I mention that Stede Bonnet was a real slave owner?

Gayestnoncanonbitchestournament: This bracket(formally noncanongayestbitchestournament) was about the gayest noncanon couples. While it was intended to be about cases where the couple might as well be canon(apparently the mod said he ran it so Wrightworth could win), the rules and contestants said a different story. Cus they allowed Jesse x Ash's mom(pokemon) in when the two had barely interacted before. Below are the tags my friend decided were worthy enough to be screenshotted

Also someone took the url after the mod deactivated and reblogged the original post I mentioned in the screenshotted tags. So if you want to see it, I suggest checking there

Because I noticed two instances of Poll Blog Drama(and am expecting more ngl), let's vote

[rootbeerfloats]

black sails

i have NOOOOOOOO IDEA imso sorry help ive never heard of this before... idk what type of media it is either help... ok heres my guess: webcomic series about pirates