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Pirate Portraits

History of the United Pirates

The United Pirates [UP] was the first pirate guild in Ultima Online ever. It was founded in July 1998 on the Catskills shard by Hawkeye Pike and Hook. The guild stone was placed inside Hook's tent at the coastline east of Vesper. (At that time you had to place a guild stone if you wanted to create a guild. Tents were the cheapest way of player housing. A tent contained one strongbox accessible to the owner.) In the beginning the crew counted 5 members: Hook, Hawkeye Pike, Fatty Bolger, Zora Red and Folco.

The pirate life proved to be a lot of fun. More and more members joined the crew. Especially the interaction with the Virtue Village, a landlubber community next door, spiced up life for both sides. The events and conflicts with the Virtue Village persisted for more than 3 fascinating and suspenseful years.

In November 1998, the United Pirates acquired a good real estate at the beach of a bay east of Vesper. This allowed them to finally build a big tavern as headquarters, and it was named The Jolly Roger Inn. (In the beginning, items could not even be locked down in houses. Crafting new furniture was a daily business.) A lot of events were regularly held there, like treasure hunts, duels, fight nights, sailing contests and gambling nights. The pirates built more and more houses around the bay, and the area was soon to be called the Red Skull Bay.

The crew of the United Pirates prospered and became popular, even across shards. A lot of scoundrels and outcasts joined the brethren, enjoying the pirate life, the battles, the wenches and the ale. In the year 2000 the crew counted up to 50 members.
But the times changed. In May 2000, the world was divided into Trammel and Felucca. More and more people left or became inactive. Communities disbanded and ceased their activities. In March 2001 Hawkeye Pike finally decided to leave Britannia for good, after establishing a pirate community on Buccaneer's Den. Somewhen in 2002, the crew of the United Pirates slowly disbanded. Many pirates had vanished, never to be seen again. Even the famous Jolly Roger Inn was lost. Britannia became a safe and peaceful place again, for a couple of years.

In December 2007, Hawkeye Pike was washed ashore again in Vesper. After 6 years he had finally returned to Britannia. In March 2008, after having vainly searched for a decent and active pirate crew to join, he decided to try and re-unite the pirates of Catskills once more. The United Pirates guild label, which was still upheld by the old and loyal pirate Yellowbeard, was passed on to Hawkeye Pike. With Hook's help (who had returned to Britannia as well) he reestablished the brethren of pirates once again.