Questions about Pirates of Drinax [SPOILERS]

[Jorren]

Hi, new to the forums here.

Our group just wrapped up The Treasure of Sindal (scenario 5). I had a couple of questions:
In the introduction to the campaign, the morale rules say that Morale also drops by 1 for every month that goes by without a division of the spoils. Does this imply that morale drops every month if there are no spoils to be had, or is it only if the PCs get spoils and fail to share it with the crew?

At the end of scenario 5, my players decided to hand the bacteriological missiles to Petyr Vallis rather than risk a dangerous fight. What are the implications of Petyr’s deployment of these missiles on Aslan worlds? Do the Aslan retaliate immediately or do they try to find out who was behind the attacks? Or do enemy clans use the opportunity to take lands from enemy clans who lost large amounts of their population to the missiles instead of trying to find out who was responsible? I am presuming Petyr would use captured Aslan merchant vessels instead of his own pirate ships to deploy the missiles. The scenario implies that Petyr would try to deploy the missiles against Tlaiowaha, but the description of that world makes it appear that such an attempt would fail due to the large number of warships and defense satellites in that system. Presumably it could be done by surprise with a civilian trade ship (like a captured Aslan trade vessel), but I would think that pirates would be reluctant to go on a suicide mission of this sort.

Thanks

 

[Morningkiller]

If the PCs are hiding or not sharing spoils then they are likely to face a mutiny.

Pirates are all about getting their share. It's a dangerous job and no-one likes taking risks so other people can profit. There are some parts of the pirates code that are definitely not guidelines.

Vallis probably has the skills to deploy those weapons even on Tliowaha. He seems quite fanatical so might be ok with a risky mission if he gets to whack billions of Aslan. With a biological agent it is a lot easier to set it off remotely and still infect enough people to get the ball rolling on a planet-wide kill, so smuggling it in is an option.

The political blowback is hard to estimate. If real-life is anything to go by then the Aslan both retaliate immediately (against their favourite early suspect) and also begin proper investigations. They won't want to look weak so stomping even an innocent party will help there. Internal clan politics will also get messy as they jockey for position.

If Vallis claims responsibility then you could see Aslan warships steaming towards Theev and other pirate havens in the Reach. The Imperium has to respond and you soon have a border war which could escalate further depending on how diplomacy goes. This could well scupper Drinaxs plans of being a neutral buffer zone between the great powers.

Sounds like fun!

 

[EvilDM]

It all depends if Vallis can successfully frame a other clan for the attack. If yes there will likely be an all out war between those clans, throwing the Reach side of the Aslan empire into chaos and forcing the Tlaukhu to intervene.

If it is ever found out that Vallis is responsible for it all clans who have lost posessions to the attack will likely band together and attack the Reach and destroy Theev. If the Imperium intervenes they might even face a more unified Aslan force than otherwise.

So there is a good chance that giving away those weapons has doomed Drinax and the Reach.