Editing Fringian Golden Age

Ca 4900AD to 5050AD, the so-called Golden Age of Piracy within the [[Distant Fringe]], though in reality it was anything but golden. Communities that had struggled to self-sufficiency and even prosperity became the targets of murderous bands of brigands and cut-throats.

By the closing decades of the 49th century settlements had spread across the Distant Fringe. During the 50th century these outposts began to thrive, particularly under the auspices of the profit-hungry development organisations. Worlds began to improve their infrastructures and the agricultural and industrial bases they needed to be self-supporting. Interstellar trade started to change from basic commodities to more luxurious and expensive goods.

As the salvage left over from the Dark Age began to run out, the Scavengers and others living at the fringes of society began to look for other ways to make their living. The increasingly rich merchant vessels passing through empty, largely unpatrolled systems were just too tempting a target. Many Scavengers quickly evolved into pirates, putting their tough and durable ships and their familiarity with the wild regions of the Distant Fringe to good use. They soon developed a fearsome reputation.

In the first decades of the 51st century corsairs and freebooters ran wild. They grew in confidence and began to raid shipping, outposts, and even surface facilities. Pirates even enjoyed the covert support of some local populations, long under the heel of development companies and looking to improve their lot in life. The pirates’ isolated hideouts grew into functioning city-ports and loosely organised pirate kingdoms began to emerge, joining together bands of corsairs under the overall command of a pirate lord.

As piracy became a serious threat, development companies started organising their ships into convoys and Starmerc organisations began to emerge, fielding heavily armed escort vessels capable of defending their wards. Bounty hunters pursued the most valuable offenders and freelance lawmen and mercenaries, some of them little more than pirates themselves, began to offer their defensive talents to threatened groups. Over time individual systems banded together for mutual protection and defence – some of these formed the foundations of modern interstellar states.

The Golden Age of Pirates ended with the emergence of modern starfaring navies, the diminishment of development organisations, and the increasing sophistication of security organisations. Piracy is still a problem in some of the more remote areas of the Distant Fringe, but is nowhere near as endemic as it was during the 50th and 51st centuries.