A culture of pirates

[Jabrosky]

In one of my stories' worlds, I have a Mediterranean-flavored people called the Heladoans who have a huge penchant for piracy. They're divided into city-states that constantly fight each other, but they also like to prey on foreign merchants and raid coastal settlements. The reason for their piracy-based economy is that the islands on which they live don't have many natural resources, so they often have to take what they want by force.

I wonder what kind of governments would work well for my pirates' city-states? I'm inclined towards some kind of democracy, in part because historical pirate crews were often democratically run, and additionally because it would enhance the Heladoans' Greek flavor.

[Devor]

Any variety of government would fine if the people being governed have the attitude for piracy. My questions would be more economic. It's hard to picture a world in which there were that many pirates, but merchants still behaved like merchants. I'd expect to see a hybrid merchant-pirate to emerge as the norm.

[Jabrosky]

Any variety of government would fine if the people being governed have the attitude for piracy. My questions would be more economic. It's hard to picture a world in which there were that many pirates, but merchants still behaved like merchants. I'd expect to see a hybrid merchant-pirate to emerge as the norm.

The honest merchants have soldiers called "shipguards" as part of their crew for protection against the pirates if you're wondering how they get around safely.

[ThinkerX]

Sounds a bit like the 'Barbary Coast' (sp?) from...call it 1400 - 1850, give or take. Moslem pirates operating from fortified city states like Tripoli were the scourge of the region. To an extent, islam allowed for this; one of the legitimate sources of income for a moslem was wealth taken by conquest from non-moslems. The city states themselves were essentially dictatorships.

[Ankari]

Sounds a bit like the 'Barbary Coast' (sp?) from...call it 1400 - 1850, give or take. Moslem pirates operating from fortified city states like Tripoli were the scourge of the region. To an extent, islam allowed for this; one of the legitimate sources of income for a moslem was wealth taken by conquest from non-moslems. The city states themselves were essentially dictatorships.

Yes, but even that example is only a faction of the entire population doing the pirating. I can't think how an entire society can be based on one facet of income as the OP desires. To be a purely pirate based income would mean that you would have tons of ships with captains. Well, captains won't allow another captain to control or dictate his ship.

I like ThinkerX's example. You would have a government that allows the pirates to operate from their ports. In exchange the pirates would pay some kind of tax on the loot it acquires as well a guarantee to assist in naval defense.

My two cents, don't spend it all in one place

[Saigonnus]

Democracy wouldn't be the only possibility for a pirate culture. You could easily have duplicitous city leaders in a republic or even monarchy... could give rise to a pirate king. Perhaps the king is the most powerful of the pirates, of course he would allow piracy in his kingdom and maybe a tithe from all spoils go to the home cities of the individual boats to support those cities. Likely the king would have his own fleet of pirates, handpicked men from other ships to comprise the crew and making them the most effective pirate vessels.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Civilizations that get all their resources from plunder cannot be very large; it's simply not practical to steal the amount of food needed to feed a civilization large enough to support shipbuilding. However, since they're quite clearly adjacent to the sea, they can obviously practice aquaculture and get a lot of their food that way.

[Leif GS Notae]

Of course, it depends on what is propping up this society.

I agree with Benjamin, you cannot have a society on plunder alone. However, if there is another reason why they exist, they can do so with pride. Think privateers given writs from their rulers to "protect their investments", which means they could execute war-like acts on their opposition.

If you want a real idea how that works, I can't recommend "Under the Black Flag" by David Cordingly. A great assembly of pirate theory and history that can give you a good idea of what to expect in this type of society.

Good luck!

[Fnord]

You should check out Hakim Bey and the concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone. His inspiration was pirate utopias. It's interesting stuff, if a little dense at times.

Pirate Utopias - Pirate Utopias - Hakim Bey