British Empire

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The Union Jack, flag of the British Empire
The flag of the Allied

The British Empire is the largest player made empire in PirateCraft. Headed by Prime Minister Michty, the empire dedicates itself to international stability.

Ideals

The primary interest of the British Empire has always been the security of its colonies. Originally founded as a tight-knit defensive alliance of honest players, it swiftly grew into a global community within a matter of weeks.

A common focus of the British Empire is expansion. New territories are accepted into the empire with open arms so long as the residents are deemed trustworthy. Existing colonies are encouraged to develop infrastructure and recruit fresh citizens. It is unknown how long the empire will continue to grow at its current pace, the limit may quite possibly be defined by the government's ability to maintain lawful order among its citizens.

Politics

Despite the use of the term "empire", the British state is more accurately described as a direct democratic federation with an imperial theme. Democracy and freedom of speech have been entrenched in British values from the very beginning. Territory and riches are not gained through conquest, but through labour, cooperation and trade. Players who disobey the rules of PirateCraft and lack in common decency are not welcome in the empire.

To date, the British Empire has never declared war on another nation but fought many a conflict with crews who wanted to test the empire's mettle. Foreign crews of players are treated in the same manner as they treat the British Empire. Individuals who call themselves pirates may enjoy a neutral relationship with the British Empire - so long as they leave British settlements in peace. Those who evoke the wrath of the empire incur it in full force.

Currently the British Empire is a member of the alliance known as "The Allied", also known as the League of Nations. It consists of a number of nations dedicated to world peace and stability.

Current Government

The BE government, winter 2015




Prime Minister -o- Michty

Vice Prime Minister -o- DirectorAnivian

Minister for War -o- CaptainCrackerz

General -o- Zoroax999

Minister for Justice -o- Bislo1

Chief of Police -o- Gottalovepunks

Minister for Recruitment -o- Lazydog11

Election Commissioner -o- PaulOnFire






Charter

Scroll Banner 11.08.2015.png

Charter of the British Empire

The First Amendment - Amendment of the Lords


The Charter of the British Empire serves as a basic set of principles that every citizen must adhere to. It was signed by the incumbent government officials at the beginning of May 2015.

Laws

Justicia 11.08.2015.jpg

Laws of the British Empire


The laws of the British Empire are rules which must be complied with by all British citizens. Breaking a law may result in a punishment. The point of laws is not to catch players out - with a little bit of common sense a citizen should never be involved in criminal activities. Players who unintentionally break the law may be dealt with leniently under circumstances. Peacekeepers are expected to act sensibly and fairly when dealing with felonies.

History

Founding

Atlas of the British Empire - 11.08.2015
Royal Dragoons riding into battle
British redcoats wearing the iconic British uniform
A British convention on 27.09.2015

The dissolution of the Queendom of Evermoor at the end of 2014 resulted in both a power vaccuum as well as many homeless players. The time was ripe for new great crews to emerge. Of all the upstarts, the British Empire was the most successful. Founded in January 2015 by CrazyPirate, its growth skyrocketed and within a couple of weeks the British Empire already counted 20 citizens.

Most of the newly acquired territories were focused around the North Sea, which quickly became the safest area for British citizens to reside. Expansion into other quadrants provided mixed results. Heavy pirate activity in the east led to many new British colonies being raided, which in turn resulted in frequent skirmishes between buccaneers and British redcoats. In particular a British retaliation raid on pirate-controlled Havanna led to much bloodshed, the battle was however ultimately lost and the British forces opted to abandon their struggling eastern colonies and instead claim new territories on the far western side of the world.

First Era of Turmoil

After a brief period of respite, petty conflicts expanded to previously peaceful colonies. For and foremost pirates Bensterpc and Pipsterpc utilised the opportunity to plague weak members of the Empire. At the same time, elections were taking place in order to determine the first government of the British Empire. The first round of voting was mired by rogue voters who weren't part of the British Empire as well as multiple ballots being cast per elector, so the position of Election Commissioner was bestowed upon PaulOnFire to manage the elections in a fair and transparent manner. The results were close but clear: CrazyPirate and Michty beat Chailey and Bislo1 to the posts of Prime Minister and Vice Prime Minister.

The first action of the new Prime Minister was to try and appease the boiling tensions between the raiding pirates, the returned former Queen of Evermoor, Reptaria, and the head of the TUPE alliance, Unic0rnjunk101. Peace deals were consistently breached, which led to bold British action against Bensterpc and Pipsterpc: Their southern fortress near to British controlled Port Royal was assaulted and damaged, their fleet set ablaze. Attacks were expanded to Havanna, which was damaged in multiple raids. The newly revived elves of Evermoor who had formerly announced their friendship to the British Empire now declared war, which resulted in the streets of Evermoor being blown up with cannons.

Shortly thereafter peace was agreed upon by all sides. The elves of Evermoor rebranded themselves as the Elven Empire of Lothlorien. The British forts surrounding Havanna remained claimed as a monument to the war and attacks on Port Hope by Unic0rnjunk101 ceased.

The Planning of London

The newfound peace led to an explosion of construction projects across the Empire, the biggest of which was the planning of the capital city of London. The city was to function as a semi-historical replica of 17th century London and would serve as the main centre of commerce, culture and recruitment in the British Empire. Each building would be custom designed by the Empire's architects.

An area was selected to house the capital city. Deforestation went quickly and a storehouse was erected to contain the building materials for London. The first wall of Buckingham Palace was built and The course of the river Thames was plotted and partly excavated with TNT.

This prosperous time was not to last. Two British government officials defected to the elves, sparking an internal crisis. The government took its time properly assessing the individual applicants for the empty government positions.

Conflicts during this time were mostly with the 0utlaws and their subject territory of Verussia. After a series of skirmishes, the British Empire managed to convince the Verussians to split themselves off from the 0utlaws' influence and go their own way.

The Elven Ball

A brief distraction came in the form of the Elven Ball, a majestic celebration event organised by the elves. The British Empire received an special invitation - five of its members were welcome to attend. The Prime Minister and a few high-profile members were chosen to represent the British Empire.

The Elven Ball started out well, there was much dancing and many drinks to go around. Elven security guards were the only players allowed to carry weaponry at the event and were responsible for maintaining order.

Accounts vary as to what happened next. What is certain is that TUPE troops appeared out of nowhere and forced their way into the ballroom. The Elven guards were no match for them - chaos ensued. Some say the bartender took cover behind the counter, dodging arrows as they flew. Others say that Queen Reptaria managed to climb onto the chandelier to escape TUPE's blades. Many players met their death that day.

Second Era of Reform

Once the new British government had been appointed, things began to ease a bit. An influx of new recruits brought the British Empire's all-time member count over 100.

The British Empire now found itself able to exercise influence on a global scale. The armed forces felt increasingly confident and boisterous in the aftermath of their previous victories and started intervening in foreign affairs more often. Several botched military operations tarnished the British Empire's image, however. One such operation was led on Verussian soil. Due to misinformation and bad assessment of the situation, British troops marched into North Verussia and sieged the storage compound in order to retrieve "stolen goods". The badly armed Verussians became increasingly unruly and every wrong move on their part was punished with an execution.

The operation became a big topic of discussion on the forums and led to an agreement between the elves and the British to supply the Verussians with reconstruction materials. It also led to an overhaul of the British military system. This did not stop unknown parties from mass-griefing the North Verussian island with TNT in an attempt to frame the British Empire, however.

Such acts of slander, which had been common during the previous large-scale wars against the British Empire began flaring up again and took much effort to lay bare.

The War against the 0utlaws

In May 2015, the 0utlaws, TUPE and various other crews and individuals declared war on the British Empire. A combination of badly equipped, rowdy new recruits of the British Empire and difficulties collaborating efficiently led to many disastrous skirmishes. The difficulty of running such a big empire was painfully evident.

Many hours of brainstorming and careful planning helped improve British performance on the battlefield. Morale was low, yet the British refused to bow and bit by bit the tide began to turn. The elves joined the British forces in their defence against the 0utlaws and together they managed to ransack one of HardTimez' bases.

The war dragged on and neither side was willing to capitulate. The 0utlaws' pride would not let them make peace and the elves scornfully turned down an offer to let them retire from the conflict in return for a donation of significant amounts of cash and materials to the 0utlaws.

In July 2015 an alliance was forged between the main empires of PirateCraft. The combined Elven, Verussian, Iborian, Ottoman and British forces - the "Allied" - began to score victory after victory against the 0utlaws, allowing daily life to return to normal.

On 30th July 2015, video evidence was obtained by Zindarak showing the 0utlaws and their allies harassing, spawn killing and allegedly hacking. HardTimez was permanently banned from the server and his crew members were issued a two-day temporary ban as a warning. Upon returning to the server, they chose to join the crew known as Red Lotus whose captain was the infamous long-time player KingKarim. The fighting continued for another week until KingKarim was, in turn, banned for harassment. The remnants of the crew split up. Some formed a smaller crew known as Black Flag, others allowed themselves to be assimilated into the Starks and the Elven Empire. The main perpetrators were not granted peace until they'd paid war reparations.

The Autumn Elections

CrazyPirate resigned as Prime Minister in August 2015, leaving Michty as head of state during the election period. The elections were conducted in the same manner as in March. Two candidate duos emerged: Michty with DirectorAnivian as Vice Prime Minister versus Bislo1 with CaptainCrackerz as Vice Prime Minister. The victors were ultimately Michty and DirectorAnivian with their promise of bolstering the military and economy of the Empire in addition to reforming the British recruitment strategy. The new cabinet was appointed in the following weeks.

Third Era of Shift

The Allied nations dominated international politics as the primary world organisation during the months following the 0utlaws' collapse. A period of mutual prosperity and world peace set in, allowing the empires of PirateCraft to recuperate.

In October 2015, it was discovered that the Allied nation of Verussia had been plotting against its supposed allies. The rogue nation was ousted from the organisation in accordance with a unilateral vote, allowing the elves to declare war. Other allied members and foreign entities gave their support in the Allied invasion of Verussia which left the cities of the Verussian continent plundered and in ruins. While the war was dominated by the elven forces, the Verussians never truly surrendered nor accepted demands regarding the abdication of KingRS.

Other crews had been growing in influence in the meantime, especially raider organisations with a strong focus on military might. It soon became apparent that upstarts such as Delta and CoV were capable adversaries and had established themselves as notable world powers.

Hand in hand with this change came the stagnation of British military strength. By this time British towns were largely siegeproof, yet most citizens lacked the sheer volume of gear that hardcore PVPers had managed to amass through daily raids. Groups of powerfully equipped raiders were able to beleaguer British ports and disrupt trade, a problem the empire still has to contend with to this day. Unsurprisingly, harassment reports coming from British members increased significantly.

Large-scale British projects were making progress in the meantime, including the development of a British HQ, the rejuvenation of British business ventures as well as security development and political undertakings. The First Amendment to the British charter was passed, allowing the appointment of Lords as honorary advisers to the government.

Present Situation

The British Empire is currently working on a multitude of different projects and developing new strategies to deal with the changes in international politics.

Settlements and Forts of the British Empire in Alphabetical Order

Allies

Enemies

Previous British Governments

The BE government, spring 2015
The BE government, summer 2015
The BE government, autumn 2015

Former Settlements and Forts of the British Empire in Alphabetical Order

Old Documents and Images

Map of the first colonies of the British Empire
Map of the provinces of the British Empire at the end of April 2015 (click to view in higher resolution)
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