Guild Wars 2

Hi there ArenaNet team,

We are a small roleplay Guild playing mainly in this city, and we would like to get a precision on the Pirates status in the Lion’s Arch.

To put it simply, we have based our guild roleplay on merchants, and sea captains.
The main problem we have, regarding the Lore, is to know whether or not the city officials supports Piratery.

To be frank, we though it wasn’t really the case, for us the Council mentioning Pirates was more a kind of a reference to its roots and history, since now Lion’s Arch became more of a merchant city.

Pirates of course, do still exist within the city, mainly located near the Hooligan’s route. But this is not the same to say that the Council would officially support them.

But since the Dragon bash event, the Captain Council on the Plazza mention the “Pirate” word a lot, so it’s a bit confusing, we have to admit.

The paradox here is Magnus’ Lion’s Guard is well accepted within other nations territory, as some of its strongholds are spread across Tyria.

If Pirates from the Lion’s Arch attack ships in the Sea of Sorrows (because that’s what Pirates usually do to feed and live), why then other nations are not at war with the City State ?

So our questions are :

Is Piratery tolerated, supported by the Lion Guard and the Captain Council, or do they mention it only as a reference to the city past ?

Should Pirates be quiet and discreet about their real activity in the city,
or can they speak about it in the front of a Lion guard ?

The debate is open, but we would like to get an official response on this matter, if possible.

Thank you for your hard work on GW2.

‘Privateers’ is a name for “legal pirates” endorsed by the powers that be. Though, pirates need not attack trade ships. they could raid coastal towns and villages of some of the other races like the hyleck and such.

It’s an interesting question.

I think it depends in part on just where you draw the line on ‘pirate’. The Covington pirates, for instance, are clearly at odds with the Lionguard, to the point where the Bloodtide meta event is the Lionguard finding out that she’s intending to attack Lion’s Arch and hitting her first. On the other hand, as you note, there is a bunch of pirates living within Lion’s Arch.

I would suspect, though, that what’s going on here is essentially the distinction between privateers and indiscriminate pirates. The pirates within Lion’s Arch probably have an understanding with the Captain’s Council – they won’t raid the settlements and ships of Lion’s Arch or its allies, but anyone who displeases the Captain’s Council becomes fair game (thus giving other nations good reason to keep LA ‘on side’). The pirate nests we find outside Lion’s Arch, on the other hand, are those that refuse to follow these strictures and just want to raid anything they like.

Now, this is mostly conjecture, but it seems the logical explanation given what we see. So to directly answer your questions – piracy probably is tolerated or even supported by the Captain’s Council, but only within certain bounds – pirates looking to exceed these bounds would need to be careful.

Thank you for your feedback.

@Dustfinger
Yes, Privateers, like the official wiki wording about the Council, was more logicial to us. It’s the ‘Pirate’ mention the Council characters make in the latest patch, that bring some confusion.

@draxynnic
I think this is our understanding too. ‘Privateers’, recognizing LA authories & structure, could have been a better word, to help drawing a line between them and Pirates.

LA is led by pirates, and even the Covington ones can use the city, even after stealing the ship of a member of the Captains’ Council. Until they break the city laws.

The city of pirates isn’t a place where you shoul hide if you are a pirate Rather if you are a filthy landlubber. Yarr!

I do not doubt that without the threat of the Elder Dragons, especially Zhaitan, the pirates of LA would be preying onto the ships of other nations. And it is convenient for the council of captains to renounce any responsibility for actions outside of LA. They have entered into an alliance with Kryta because being between a nation hostile to you and Zhaitans minions would probably mean the end for the “privateers” – it was thanks to the Pact that LA was defended.

Should the threat of the elder dragons get neutralized then the current state of affairs may change, although i think we are seeing a long-term change here, with LA turning into a center for trade and piracy (or “privateering”) fading away from it eventually.

In the case of Kryta, I don’t think Kryta has any maritime presence on the Sea of Sorrows to speak of any more. It’s questionable whether Garrenhoff is actually Krytan in any real sense, leaving the towns on Lake Viathan – of which only one is intact – the closest thing to a Sea of Sorrows port for Kryta… and Treemarch Estuary doesn’t exactly look navigable to ocean-going vessels (and then it’s blocked by the Dominion of Winds anyway). So Kryta might simply not care about LA-based piracy because there are no Krytan ships to raid.

Of course, the big question regarding LA post-Zhaitan is just who are they raiding. The sylvari nation has only existed for twenty-odd years, the Rata Sum port is on the other side of Orr, and the only other major nation on the SoS that isn’t dragon minions or an LA protectorate is the isolationistic Dominion of Winds. With the availability of land routes and the asura gates, there really shouldn’t be enough maritime shipping on the Sea of Sorrows to sustain nearly as many pirates as we’ve seen since the raising of Orr.

Which is probably why so many of them have turned to raiding instead.

draxynnic.3719:

In the case of Kryta, I don’t think Kryta has any maritime presence on the Sea of Sorrows to speak of any more. It’s questionable whether Garrenhoff is actually Krytan in any real sense, leaving the towns on Lake Viathan – of which only one is intact – the closest thing to a Sea of Sorrows port for Kryta… and Treemarch Estuary doesn’t exactly look navigable to ocean-going vessels (and then it’s blocked by the Dominion of Winds anyway). So Kryta might simply not care about LA-based piracy because there are no Krytan ships to raid.

Of course, the big question regarding LA post-Zhaitan is just who are they raiding. The sylvari nation has only existed for twenty-odd years, the Rata Sum port is on the other side of Orr, and the only other major nation on the SoS that isn’t dragon minions or an LA protectorate is the isolationistic Dominion of Winds. With the availability of land routes and the asura gates, there really shouldn’t be enough maritime shipping on the Sea of Sorrows to sustain nearly as many pirates as we’ve seen since the raising of Orr.

Which is probably why so many of them have turned to raiding instead.

Garenhoff is Krytan. Deal with it. But it’s just a very small trading port.

Apart from being on a map that is mechanically treated as part of Kryta (but so is Bloodtide Coast… and, for that matter, Southsun), there is no evidence that Garrenhoff has any Krytan authority over it.

Believe me, I’ve looked. I once thought as you do, until I investigated further.

Antares.2586:

Is Piratery tolerated, supported by the Lion Guard and the Captain Council, or do they mention it only as a reference to the city past ?

Should Pirates be quiet and discreet about their real activity in the city,
or can they speak about it in the front of a Lion guard ?

In Real Life, piracy on any scale had a home base that accepted that particular brand of piracy. There were acceptable targets, and unacceptable targets. The Buccaneers, for example, often sailed on British ships and/or were commanded by British naval officers and were only allowed to attack Spanish and French shipping. The British did not even consider them pirates until British shipping became a major part of West Indian trade.

To quote “Muppet Treasure Island”:
Take Sir Francis Drake/ The Spanish all despise him/ But to the British he’s a hero and they idolize him/ It’s only how you look at Buccaneers/ That makes them bad or good/ And I say we’re all members of a noble brotherhood

Does anyone know if the charr have a fleet? Whether it be linked to the sea of sorrows or anywhere else?

I was going to say that there is absolutely nothing to indicate it but then I remembered that they have a submarine where they test knew weapons. So if they don’t have one, they are on their way.

To be honest, that’s even more of a mystery than the question of who the pirates of Lion’s Arch prey on. They’re testing a submarine, and that becomes the prototype for the Pact submarines, but the charr don’t seem to have access to any water bodies larger than a lake… so if it wasn’t purely intended for export, why?

It’s possible, given that we’re told the charr started their technological base from stuff they found in dwarven ruins, that the Iron Legion pushed south and established a presence in Deldrimor Front, and thus they have access to the Elon basin there.

Maybe they’re just planning ahead. Them and the asura do still intend to rule everyone eventually.

I think pirates are in charge of lion’s arch their by naming themselves privateers. They support their own piracy deeds in the name of the city. Instead of spending money on a party you would think they would invest money into the towns infrastructure so it isn’t destroyed every time a disaster comes through. It is a city built on rotting and destroyed ships. Now that the dragon directly attacking it is dead maybe we will see some improvements.

draxynnic.3719:

To be honest, that’s even more of a mystery than the question of who the pirates of Lion’s Arch prey on. They’re testing a submarine, and that becomes the prototype for the Pact submarines, but the charr don’t seem to have access to any water bodies larger than a lake… so if it wasn’t purely intended for export, why?

It could be a research project, or it may be intended for lake work. The helicopter in Fields of Ruin was an individual endeavor by a researcher, if you believe what she says.

It seems ‘Pirate’ is a world lightly used in Lion Arch context, since a Captain suspected in the story today, claims she is a respectable citizen, then Marjory tells her she’s a lucky Pirate.

I’m a bit afraid sometimes Piracy is viewed a bit like through a kind of disneyland theme park prism .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy
First sentence : “Piracy is typically an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea”

An official comment from Anet on Pirates status in Arch would be much appreciated.

My Guild just want to know if it’s ok to commit crimes and robbery at sea, then come and shake Magnus’ hand (Lion guard head) in Lion Arch, if the Council is well aware of your doings.

Knowing that clearly would unlock roleplay situations we are facing currently, between merchants and so-called city pirates.

Thank you.

draxynnic.3719:

Apart from being on a map that is mechanically treated as part of Kryta (but so is Bloodtide Coast… and, for that matter, Southsun), there is no evidence that Garrenhoff has any Krytan authority over it.

Believe me, I’ve looked. I once thought as you do, until I investigated further.

Well. A human settlement in Kryta. No seraph guard, true, but no Lionguards either. And in GW1 that was inhabited by Krytans, minor proof but maybe counts.

It is a party of the Krytan landmass, so I wouldn’t link this anywhere else.

What he’s stating Gandarel, is that it is most likely independent at the current moment. Why it would be such is an unknown, but is most likely to be related in some way to the wizard.

Indeed. Bloodtide and Southsun are mechanically counted as Kryta despite Kryta having no presence in either, so the mechanics don’t line up well with the lore there (heck, mechanically speaking, Lion’s Arch is counted as Krytan – kills in instances set within LA count for Krytan Killer). Now, obviously Kessex is at least partly Krytan, so there’s more of a link there, but the nearest territory that is definitely Krytan is in Triskellion Vale, and while it may not mean anything, there’s a line of havens between anything Krytan and Garrenhoff. (Human Storyline)The home of the orphan PC's parents is near Garrenhoff, but they were also in hiding, and may thus have deliberately chosen somewhere isolated that isn't technically part of Kryta, but yet has a majority human population so they don't stand out.

The people of Garrenhoff also seem to lack any feeling of common feeling with Krytans – there’s at least on NPC there that speaks of the inhabitants of the rest of Kessex as ‘barbarians’ (or some similar sentiment, I don’t remember the exact wording), and I don’t think she was specifically referring to the bandits and/or centaurs. Certainly, they have few reasons to want to be part of Kryta – their main trade appears to be by a waterway that Kryta has no presence on, they’re isolated from Kryta by land, their defenses are provided by Isgarren, and basically all being Krytan would mean is being subject to interference and taxation from Divinity’s Reach. Why would they want that?

There’s also an element that, with the rest of Kessex being a war zone and most Krytan settlements in the zone having been destroyed or under constant threat, there’s no indication of any attempt to recruit the elementals to the war effort. This could be because Isgarren claimed that he could only protect one village, but it’s probably more likely that the Krytan leadership knew that Isgarren and Garrenhoff have little reason to help them.

Since the destruction in Kessex is relatively recent and Garrenhoff’s protected status extended to well before that, what I suspect happened is one of the following:

The first possibility is that, like modern Lion’s Arch, Garrenhoff was founded in the chaos after the rising of Orr, and Isgarren moved in and established his protection of the town – possibly even having been responsible for its founding in the first place by providing a safe haven: it is, after all, apparently named after him – before Krytan authorities moved back in to the region. When Krytan authorities did arrive, Garrenhoff had no reason to join Kryta willingly and was well enough protected by elementals that it wasn’t worth taking it by force (if the Krytan monarch at the time was even inclined to).

The second possibility is that Isgarren actually seized control. This could have been done without the knowledge of the Garrenhoffers, but it’s possible that at some point Isgarren showed up with a sufficient display of power to force Kryta to accept that Garrenhoff was now his fief and not under Krytan authority.

Bottom line is that it is in one of the maps that is regarded as being representative of Kryta and its surroundings, but there’s nothing to indicate that Divinity’s Reach has any real authority over it any more than they do over Bloodtide Coast.

If they were truly sanctioned privateers, which nation did they initially serve? And how did that come about given all the different races? I’m still finding it difficult to see where they become “good guys”.

As I said elsewhere pirates are generally thieves, rapists and murderers (especially from the point of view of their victims) and I’m inclined to destroy every single one of them if the game actually let me.

Just posted over in a related thread that I thought was worth crossposting here:

The question I’ve been asking about the pirates is just who are they committing piracy on - since the rise of Orr, the Sea of Sorrows hasn’t had many ports to ship to and from. There’s Lion’s Arch, and the little village of Garrenhoff, and maybe the Grove if there’s some hidden port nearby that we don’t see, and there’s not much worth shipping to or from down the eastern side of the Sea of Sorrows… that’s not enough to sustain piracy even on the scale we see with the Covingtons and Jackdaws and so on.

To be honest, I’d expect pretty much every ship on the Sea of Sorrows since the rise of Orr to be sailing to or from Lion’s Arch – in which case, why would LA put up with it when the Lionguard is going to significant effort to attempt to guard the land trade routes – or it’s sailing to or from Arah, and I’m sure anyone living would agree that one of Zhaitan’s ships is fair game. Thus, it’s possible that most ‘pirates’ in Lion’s Arch were actually the Lion’s Arch navy in fighting against Zhaitan, and they’ve just been using the term for tradition – while the truly criminal pirates have been pushed onto land and are effectively bandits with a liking for maritime themes, traditions and hideouts rather than true pirates.

Covington, at least, spent most of her time attacking shipping to and from Lion’s Arch. And there is a sizable refugee camp on Stormbluff made up exclusively of sailors who had been wrecked by pirates.

Despite the seemingly small number of ports, and obvious dangers of the open sea, I think shipping is an important industry. In Edge of Destiny, Morgus Lethe was considered a pressing problem solely because he sat astride a major shipping lane. All the ports we see ingame, with the exception of Lion’s arch, are bustling places for their size. And then there’s a conversation by the Lion’s Arch asura gates- I don’t remember what was specifically said, but my takeaway is that those gates aren’t really used much for the transport of goods- something further evidenced by the amount of resources the Lionguard pour into keeping the roads clear. The general sense from the game is that shipping is still the life’s blood of Lion’s Arch, and an artery that the pirates can tap in to.

Lion’s Arch’s asura gates are used for goods, though we don’t really see it in game, but to transport goods through the gates it costs a fee.

A regular everyday person may use the gates for personal travel for free. A merchant on the other hand, or possibly anyone looking to move a large amount of items, have to pay a fee to the owner of the gate or the gate operator. Since travel through the gate is close to instantaneous, and you can bypass all dangers that might be on the road, the fee for the transport of goods is probably very LARGE. Something that the poorer merchants probably can’t afford, hence them needing to use the Lionguard controlled roads.

If what Captain Shud, the owner of most of the asura gates in LA, says is true. She is the richest captain on the council and possibly all of LA.

draxynnic.3719:

Thus, it’s possible that most ‘pirates’ in Lion’s Arch were actually the Lion’s Arch navy in fighting against Zhaitan, and they’ve just been using the term for tradition – while the truly criminal pirates have been pushed onto land and are effectively bandits with a liking for maritime themes, traditions and hideouts rather than true pirates.

This is also our opinion about it. It seems the most logical.

Thanks for sharing.

Actually, my impression is that use of the gates is expensive for most people as well – I think there are a couple of NPC conversations to that effect. For some reason, our characters have a free pass, but not everyone gets that.

Probably the same break between lore and mechanics that makes gold coins worth fifty times as much as full-on gold ingots, and various other weirdnesses in the comparison between the adventurer and regular economies.

To be honest, what I think has actually happened is that ArenaNet has gone ‘of COURSE there’s lots of shipping on the Sea of Sorrows’ without actually thinking to put a reasonable number of settlements on the bay to support that shipping. We’ve got Garrenhoff, but little reason to actually bring stuff to take ship from Garrenhoff rather than taking the overland route to Lion’s Arch (the road to LA from Black Haven doesn’t seem any more dangerous to me than from Black Haven to Garrenhoff). There may be a harbour near the Grove, although I don’t think I’ve seen any sign of it. Perhaps the isolationist tengu have a port as well as the trading posts in Kessex and the Caledon. Port Royal is now under Covington’s control, and Port Stalwart is, apparently, Claw Island – both of those would effectively be secondary ports for Lion’s Arch anyway, more a stopping point for shelter from the dangers of the open sea than a trading hub. There could be something we can’t visit between Sparkfly and Southsun, but there’s not really anything to speak of in Sparkfly to have fuelled a major trading port.

And Rata Sum is on the other side of Orr by the sea route, and I don’t see how Zhaitan could have blocked travel further south without also having blocked the Strait of Malchor. On the other hand, it’d be pretty pointless to ship anything by sea from Rata Sum to the unexplorable territory, so let’s be generous and say that those dastardly asura captains have figured out a way to get through the Strait of Malchor – reliably enough to be worth it – but not south past the Ring of Fire.

So, basically, from the rising of Orr to the rise of the sylvari nation, there have been at most three major ports for shipping on the Sea of Sorrows – LA, Rata Sum, and the Dominion of Winds. Since the tengu don’t exactly seem to be great seafarers, that means that most shipping is going to be regarding either LA or Rata Sum as its home port – and the asura probably aren’t going to put up with LA turning a blind eye to semilegal pirates raiding asura ships. And raiding their own ships is effectively stealing from their own pocket.

To be honest, I think ArenaNet’s writers have written themselves into a bit of a corner here. They can have Zhaitan blocking off the southern sea routes. They can have Lion’s Arch be a major trading hub as well as being a pirate-friendly port. They can have the coast of the Sea of Sorrows be as sparsely populated as we see ingame (and this isn’t just the typical MMO scaling factor issue, there is in fact a lack of anything that’s even supposed to be a major port city on that coast except for those that have already been mentioned). And they can have the whole system be something that stands up to scrutiny. But they can’t have all four.

Now, the new book may go some way to answering these questions, but in the meantime I think the most plausible explanation is this:

Most “pirates” in Lion’s Arch, at least those sanctioned by the Captain’s Council, aren’t. They’re the Lion’s Arch navy, tasked with interdicting Zhaitan’s corpse barges and generally keeping Zhaitan’s maritime strength down enough for shipping to remain a viable, if risky, venture. The term ‘pirate’ is maintained primarily for historical reasons and to allow them to pretend that they haven’t actually “gone straight”. Such ships may be given license to ‘raid’ shipping, but in practise this is more of a combination of tax and training exercise than true piracy.

Following the principle of catching more flies with honey than vinegar, though, Lion’s Arch maintains an open door policy with genuine pirates to enter Lion’s Arch, on the proviso that they follow the laws while they are there – the hope being that they might see the benefits of the Lion’s Arch system (including the possibility of Council membership) and turn a new leaf themselves. Outside of the city, though, criminal pirates become fair game – they won’t be prevented from leaving or followed back to their lair, but a crew that boasts too much about who they’ve raided while in LA may later find that their names and descriptions, along with the description of their ship, have been circulated among the havens and authorised pirates.

This explanation is speculation on my part, but I can’t think of any other that fits the evidence.

Former pirates.

They got old, and rich and decided that legitimate trade was easier, and safer than piracy.

Like most people who took the reigns of power for themselves, they aren’t above a little hypocrisy when it comes to their attitude to other pirates out there.

Btw, in GW2 atm, what can a real pirate do? Noone is unsing the waters but the undead and 1-2 sailors, and most of the goods are transfered with the asura gates.

Noone needs to cross the sea to trade btw. Maybe if an asura wants to trade something pretty huge to the Black citadel or Ebonhawke, and they can’t use the gates and decide ships are faster than the land-travel.

Pirates are attacking local merchants on the land only.

Again, Gandarel, that’s not true. All indications are that there is a sizable shipping industry that we players just happen to never see. Drax hit it on the head, I think- in this regard, the game has created an irreconcilable contradiction. There’s no place to ship goods, but nonetheless, goods are shipped, routinely and in large quantities.

No one needs to cross the sea for trade, but shipping supplies through the gate is so freakin expensive that it is the only viable way for many. I remember specific conversations in Divinity’s Reach about whether supplying Ebonhawke is worth while and whether it wouldn’t just be better to bring them back here to fully back the war against the centaurs, this being among commoners obviously.

I’ve spent some time in-game doing research on the topic. Most of what I found backs what I’ve already said, so I won’t repeat those parts, but there were some tidbits of interest. Unfortunately, the ambient dialogues on the docks of Lion’s Arch and Rata Sum are extremely lacking, both in terms of quantity and information provided. Nonetheless, there were a couple gems.

First, a dialogue on the smaller set of Lion’s Arch docks tells the tale of a passenger ship that was wrecked by pirates. The pirate’s dredged up the passengers belongings, and then brought them into the city to sell. This, combined with the pirates in LA specifically identified as Covington Pirates or Cutthroat Pirates, shows that the Captain’s Council does tolerate hostile crews within city limits- or perhaps more accurately, turns a blind eye on them.

As for the relationship between Lionguard and pirates, it doesn’t seem to be as hostile as I had supposed. A pirate-turned-fence in the Undermarket suggests that the Lionguard can bought off to look the other way. In the Bloodtide Coast, the garrison of a haven sits on their hands and do nothing when a caravan is attacked right outside their walls. Indeed, aside from the campaign against Taida Covington, I could find no example of the Lionguard actively attempting to halt pirate activity, in or out of the city.

Due to this, I see no evidence myself that Lion’s Arch employs privateers, under the name of pirate or otherwise. There are no hostile nations to the city that sail the sea. In the precious few naval operations we see the city undertake, the forces were Lionguard. And with evidence that true swashbuckling pillaging pirates within the city, no other explanation is needed for the NPCs labeled so.

To the point of naval commerce, I found one truly excellent dialogue. Nossi, an asura on the end of Dawnside Quay who regrettably lacks a wiki page, says that shipping brings the asura “everything we can’t or don’t bother to create here in Rata Sum- natural resources and foreign goods.” Shipping, not their gate network, provides the asura their trade with the other races. That makes at least one major shipping lane between Rata Sum and Lion’s Arch. The same asura also confirms that Rata Sum freely allows pirates to dock and sell their ill-gotten loot, describing it as a “win-win arrangement.” Their only caveat is that the pirates must behave themselves while moored.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

In the Bloodtide Coast, the garrison of a haven sits on their hands and do nothing when a caravan is attacked right outside their walls. Indeed, aside from the campaign against Taida Covington, I could find no example of the Lionguard actively attempting to halt pirate activity, in or out of the city.

Actually, there is a Lionguard running around trying to get aid from adventurous passersby while that event is active. That event chain – when it doesn’t get stuck, which it does 90% of the time – can also involve pirate attacks on the haven; thus, I suspect the reason why the Lionguard don’t send out a force themselves is that they’re worried that the Bloody Buccaneers will slip in and take the haven behind them, making the problem that much worse.

I stand corrected. Truth be told, I’ve never found the event un-stuck.

I came across it unstuck for a couple of days a couple of months ago – I just happened to be leveling a few characters in Bloodtide at the time and came across several attacks on the haven. It seems to have gone back to being stuck pretty much permanently now, though.

Kinda belongs to the topic. I was reading through the wiki when I saw the banner of the Aetherblades

To all you GW1 veterans, looks familar doesn’t it?

With Usoko taking power and the Ministry of Purity hunting down criminals, it’s not too unlikely that the Crimson Skulls set sail for new tides, maybe Lion’s Arch. The Aetherblades could be descendents of some Crimson Skull members, maybe even the whole gang. Would be a nice little nod to Factions.

I’m not really sure about that connection. Skulls aren’t really that unique when it comes to pirate flags/banners…

The red backdrop could possible come from their ties with the Inquest, or they might just like that color.

Well I think the red backdrop is the strongest hint. Why would sky pirates use red? When I think of the sky, the colors blue and white come to mind. I guess most people would rather think of those than red (okay the sky can be red during the evening but still…).
Besides, it’s not only that both show skulls, but both show pierced skulls. Of course it could be coincidence, but why would it? It’s not like Anet has forgotten about GW1. Maybe the Aetherblades aren’t related to the Crimson Skull, but I’m still certain that this was ment to resemble their flag.

The Crimson Skull display a horned skull, not a pierced one. At least that’s how I always saw it. Still, the aesthetic resemblance is striking.

Hrrrmn…

Interesting observation, but I don’t think they’re close enough to be derivitives of one another. More likely is that there’s a common point of reference that they’ve both drawn from – it might be worth seeing if we can find other pirate banners to compare to..

Regarding being red… maybe it symbolises the setting or rising sun? Or blood? Perhaps the founder of the Aetherblades just liked red? Not every organisation needs to keep to the stereotypical colours associated with their operations, after all.