18TH CENTURY PRIMER

[pyracy]

18TH CENTURY PRIMER
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This is a primer for your convenience and consideration, to give you a bit of an idea of what a character can expect as far as work, food, clothes they might want to wear to blend in, and beyond. By no means is this comprehensive, and if you want to know more I can point you in the direction of some sources (and I will try to add to it as time permits), but rather to kind of...Get rid of a lot of the falsehoods presented about the Long 18th that kind of persist, and so players can kind of have a more immersive feel for how it actually all works in the time period.

FOOD
So, what do people typically eat?

Caveat: For the moment, this focuses mostly on the Spanish and British holdings in the West Indies, and will be expanded as need dictates.

Being honest, guys, Early Modern Period food isn't a whole lot different than what's recognizable today. Sure, they ate a lot of tropical fruits: Pineapple, custard apples (apparently the most delicious thing known to man with pulp the consistency of custard and a fruit punch flavor), mangoes, and bananas, which will probably look a little strange to a modern person. Ever seen a non-genetically modified banana? They look a little odd. You might also find alligator pears, blim blim (a relative of star fruit), oranges, coconuts, breadfruit (tastes and smells like fresh bread when fried), plantains, different species of eggplant (aubergines), coco plums, soursop, mammee and monkey apples...There's a wealth of native and transplanted fruits that simply go wild in the climate, and nearly all are delicious. Nearly all will be smaller than what the modern person has familiarity with.

Meat is a bit of a luxury, unless you have money, are a Navy/EITC agent/pirate, and things that are pretty heavily consumed are: Bacon and other cuts of pork, eggs, chicken, beef (all of it, down to tongue and eyes and intestines), sausages, fish, shellfish, eel, manatee (mostly eaten as a jerky called boucan), sea turtle, dolphin, crabs, clams, oysters, shrimp, venison...Pretty much anything they can catch and kill. It's best not to ask what exactly it is. And they use everything, down to the blood for blood sausages and blood puddings.

Speaking of pudding. Go to an inn, boarding house, or tavern and order pudding, you might be expecting a great glob of J-E-L-L-O. And you'll be surprised. Puddings as you know them aren't a thing. Instead, you'll be presented with something that has been boiled in a bag, right alongside the meat, that's fairly cakey and sliceable. Some are savory, some are sweet, and none are going to remind you of the little plastic cup filled with sugary goodness. The closest you'll find here will be something called a flummery. Flummery is a jiggly wiggly thing, this is true, kind of like a cross between jello and pudding. And it, like most dark stouts of the time, is going to contain something called isinglass. What is isinglass? I hope you have a strong stomach, because that would be a fish bladder. No, your food won't taste fishy. You probably won't even know it's in there if I hadn't just opened my fat mouth.

If you're looking for some green or starchy things to round out your diet, you've got a wealth to choose from. Breadfruit is eaten as both a fruit and a vegetable, when fried. Avocados are on the menu, for those with a hankering for some guacamole. Leafy greens like spinach, mustard, and collards are all available. Peppers are widely available, especially scotch bonnet peppers. It's what makes jerk seasoning so delicious. Pumpkins grow well in the climate, and a wide variety of other squash types are easily found. Rice is a huge staple. Potatoes can be found, as well, and there's even a variation of mashed potatoes for the picky eaters. And there's a ground root called tannia which can also be cooked the same way, mashed with a splash of milk and some butter, maybe a little garlic, and has a nutty, starchy flesh.

Sugar is king, but to get your fix you'll either have to have money, or have a taste for rum. Sugarcane fields are plenty in the Caribe, and molasses, rum, and sugar are all major exports.

And that's all well and good, I know you're saying, but what about the actual fucking food, Amanda? Chill, bbs. I'm getting there, okay. So, you want to know some specific dishes you might be running into? I got you.

Do you like pancakes, kids? Well, you can have some fucking pancakes. They'll be more like the British version than the American, served with lemon, lime, or orange to squeeze over it, and maybe some sugar or honey to sweeten it up a bit. Or maybe a little jam or marmalade. What about oatmeal? You can have some oatmeal, too, if you want to. Scotch eggs? Yeah, you can get those, too.

Pies and cakes of all kinds are a thing, down to mincemeat and pork, if you want them. Salads even exist, if you're the type to go light on meals. Racks of lamb stuffed with oysters are always a treat, and who doesn't like a big, fat, juicy steak, am I right? Fish pie is even a thing. Gingerbread, cookies, puddings, flummeries, jellies...Man, the list goes on. Soups and stews. Breads. Cheese. You can eat like a king with enough coin in your pocket. And depending on where you are, things may or may not be heavily spiced. Somewhere like Tortuga? Probably. Pirates are known for loving spicy food.

What's that? You want to know more? Cool, cool. I have some links for you to look into, then.

Savoring The Past: These guys are serious about getting it as close as possible as they can to the original recipes. They also have a Youtube Channel you should check out.
The Cookbook Of Unknown Ladies: Recipes from the Westminster Archives, from beauty to food. They also give these recipes a whack and give a verdict for the modern palette.

CLOTHING
So you're ready to play dress-up. Now, understand, fucking everything in this time period is taxed. Everything. Absolutely. Except for stockings. So in reputable ports (Nassau versus Tortuga, for example), every last bit of pretty you want to lay your hands on is going to have a luxury tax. Because how dare those poors want to look pretty. (No, I'm not kidding.)

But, if you want to blend, you have to dress the part. So ladies, your attention, please, as we're going to be running through your new wardrobe, first.

Firstly, you're going to be wearing a shift. This is your official undergarment, ladies. It'll serve as your nightgown, your underdress, and most importantly, your underwear. Knickers/panties, pantaloons, bras...Yeah, those aren't a thing, whoops. You're gonna just have to learn to be open to the breeze. Not so bad, though, right? Looks comfy enough. Well, this is just the beginning, and most of you are going to have to learn to dress yourselves. Over that, you're going to slide this torture device on to sit over your hips, called panniers. They won't be as exaggerated as they will in the next few decades, but they give you that 'birthing hips' look. Also, you'll be wearing stays. Not as uncomfortable or constricting as a 19th Century corset, but the same concept applies. You'll also be wearing a pair of wool, cotton, or silk stockings that go all the way to your thighs and tie with ribbons. Sweet, I know. Also uncomfortable as fuck because at this point true short row heels haven't been invented and you'll have a great honking seam right under the heel of your foot.

Alright, so you're standing there looking like an idiot with a hip hoop skirt and a corset that pushes your boobs in and up to your chin. What's next? Well, your dress, obviously. Depending on what you can afford, it'll either be really plain in dull colors, or in lovely silk taffeta or printed cotton, which will cost you a fortune. Heeled mules, a little hat to perch at a jaunty angle on top of your poofed up and tortured curls and tie under the chin, a couple of pockets pinned inside your dress, and maybe a shawl over your shoulders and crossed around your middle, and you're ready to face the outside world. Oh, and there are no zippers. Enjoy.

And I better not be hearing any gentlemen snickering, because now it's your turn. Men, as it happens, start with a shirt. And it doesn't matter what class you come from, shirts are pretty much all cut the same. Square boxes, pretty much, with wide, full sleeves gathered at the shoulder and cuff. There are no buttons, and you use what's called a shirt pin to keep them closed. And, so you know, this is your combo nightshirt/shirt/underwear. In fact, these suckers are cut so long on purpose, you're pretty much going to have to wear them like a diaper. So sexy, am I right?

After the shirt, we move on to your breeches. They range from above the knee to below the knee, but never longer. And only Navy sailors wear full pants. Oh, and did I mention? The ass in these suckers are baggy as hell: I mean, all that shirt has to go somewhere. Some men, especially sailors of all stripes, prefer looser pants that tie at the knee called slops. You will also be wearing thigh-high stockings that tie with a ribbon. Everyone does. It's a thing. Show off those legs.

You have the choice between boots or a pair of heeled shoes. Yes, you can have fancy designs on your stocking ankles if you really want to. You'll also be wearing a waistcoat, and this is as far as you'll ever remove your clothing outside of your bedchamber, or you'll be seen as a brute. On top of that, you'll be wearing a frock coat. Like women's dresses, colors, materials, and styles will be determined by how much money you have to spend. Add a hat (tricornes are a safe bet), a baldric if you wish to carry a sword, and you're good to go for being seen in public.

EMPLOYMENT
So you're ready to start answering help wanted ads. Great! You might even find actual help wanted ads in local magazines and news papers. And jobs will be as varied as the types of people that do them.

AS A BIG FUCKING NOTE: Gender segregation is very much a thing. A woman won't necessarily get to be a blacksmith, naturalist, scientist, doctor, or so on if people know she's a woman. There are, however, reams and reams of examples of women posing as men to do what the fuck they want. This is legitimately 100% always an option.

Sailing is a popular job, though not as much as it was back during the Queen Anne's War. In truth, a lot of honest sailors at this point have already turned to piracy, and while the peak of the Golden Age has passed and piracy is on a downslide, wolves of the sea still stalk the trade routes to lift cargo from honest merchant sailors and Spanish treasure fleets. It is, of course, still very viable for an occupation, and you typically learn on the job. Women can disguise themselves as men, if they wish, and join an honest crew, or say fuck it, let their hair down, and join a pirate crew without doing anything, as pirates don't give a shit what your gender, race, or sexual orientation is (as a whole, you may find this is not always true) as long as you can do your job. There's more about this in the piracy section.

A note, however, because sailing is a dangerous job. Dying at sea is a very real possibility, and a risk that must be considered.

Being a maid or a barmaid is always an option, or perhaps you don't mind knitting all day. If so, you can make stockings and bags and whatnot. Farming is possible, as is any sort of real manual labor. Keeping horses on some of the larger islands is a possibility. Maybe you're more suited to the Navy, or the EITC, and want that structure in your life?

The truth is, if it's something that needs to be made/used/whatever, there's a job out there. If you can find your niche, you can run with it. But in truth, employment isn't always easy to come by, and you may find yourself looking longingly to the sea, thinking about those pirates you saw in Tortuga in decent clothes with money to throw around.

ENTERTAINMENT
Yeah, but, there's no tv. Aren't people fucking bored?

Nah, not really. Most people work most of the day. They're busy, because industrialization hasn't taken off yet. Give it another sixty or seventy years before things really start cranking in that direction. Those jobs above? All have to be done by hand, so work is very involved, from the scullery maid to the craftsman.

But they do know how to have fun. Zoos and circuses exist back in civilization (Europe, in other words), and to get in, you can bring a dog or a cat to help feed the animals. c: Or, if being a horrible monster just to see an elephant isn't your thing, the theater (theatre) is a big draw, from the rich to the poor. Maybe you can afford to watch a rehearsal (because yes they sold tickets to that) or the polished show. Either way, Shakespeare is still in heavy rotation, and new playwrites are churning out new pieces all the time, from the serious and esteemed, to the bawdy and inappropriate. Ballet is an option, as well, and don't forget the opera.

More in Europe than the outlying colonies, there are things called pleasure gardens. In these there is typically music, fireworks (new and astonishing to the average European at the time), have a meal and a bottle of wine, and look at the pretty flowers and trees. Fairs at different times of the year are always a lot of fun. Depending on how big it is, you might see tumblers, acrobats, musicians, puppet shows. Maybe there will be some remarkable displays of human strength or other human oddity. Food and drink is everywhere, and it's a place where the average person can let their hair down a little and spend too much money.

Curiosity exhibitions are also a thing. Strange animals and peoples from different continents (which will be, without a doubt, absolutely disturbing to modern individuals who understand and can be concerned about the exploitation involved - really, it's a gross thing). In London, some people even get tours of the mental asylums for entertainment. And while public sentiment will not be with them, characters are free to speak out against this grossness.

Gentlemen might wish to partake in blood sports of the time. Cock-fighting is highly popular, but animal cruelty concerns will kill it over the next few decades.

And for people that might want nothing to do with the above, there are certainly alternatives. Card games are popular, from Pope Joan to Hazard. There are plenty of dice games to wager on, as well. Reading, by those who can, is also popular, enough so that people keep notebooks to hand at all times, called Commonplace Books, to copy down bits of the books they read that they want to remember always.

And, if that's not your fancy, there are certainly brothels and taverns and pubs. Taverns are, by nature, a sort of social hub for any town they're present in, and a patron will find all kinds of things happening, from gambling, to singing to dancing to eating to politicking. In pirate-friendly ports you might find crews doing their recruitment duties, decked out in the nicest clothes they have, boasting about how little they work and how well they eat. And how much money they make.

Some examples of the types of songs you might hear are:
Fathom The Bowl
Admiral Benbow
Little Drummer
Ye Jacobites
Here's A Health To The Company
Spanish Ladies
Star Of The County Down
Down Among The Dead Men

Yes, those are from Black Flag & Rogue, fight me.

And as for brothels, well. You've got a variety. High class ladies that'll cost you quite a bit, but offer pleasant company as well as sex, to the dock walkers of port towns, who advertise their wares with tattoos. And, of course, what are called fancy boys. Be sure if you indulge, you wear your cundum (yes, it's spelled that way, and no, it's nsfw/nsfl).

TRAVEL
So what's the travel situation?

What do you think the travel situation is? This is before the great Industrial Revolution, so with that, you can forget trains, planes, and automobiles. For the most part, if you're on land, you can look forward to using your own two feet, a carriage, or a horse to get around, depending on where you are and the size of the town/island/whatever. If you don't own one, you'll have to rent one, and you'll definitely need exact change for that. Don't forget to tip your driver.

Or, if you're looking for going out in the wide world, you can see about ship travel. There are many, many kinds of ships on the waters, from many different nations. Depending on the port of call, several of these could be available, or you might find yourself on a tiny little catamaran if you're just island hopping. Regardless, unless you're an as of yet unheard of long distance swimmer, these are your ticket to the wider world. You may just be able to pay for passage, or some captains might expect you to work for your passage. Better find a nice looking crew member to show you the ropes (literally, where do you think that phrase comes from).

PIRACY
And perhaps the most important part of this entire thing, piracy.

For starters, piracy is, by definition, robbery on the high seas. Which, in layman's terms, means stealing people's shit out in international waters (or near a shoreline). There's not enough time or space for me to go into tactics and strategies, as there are books dedicated to the subject (one I recommend is The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics And Techniques, 1630-1730 by Benerson Little. It's academic but good stuff, if you're into it.), but suffice to say it involves a lot of using fake flags, a lot of sitting around, and a lot of waving swords around and looking scary so people just give up their stuff. Obviously, this doesn't always work, but they try. Every pirate captain has their own version of the Jolly Roger, and the images on the flag are supposed to convey a message. For example: Barbossa's flag is a skull with two crossed swords. He's the second best swordsman in the series, and he's known as the man so evil, hell itself spat him back out. The message there is pretty clear, when he has the colors hoisted.

Secondly, piracy isn't nearly as romantic or glamorous as it looks in the movies; it's actually a fuckton of hard work. Pirates are just sailors, in the end, and with that, they do all the boring stuff other sailors have to do. Sails have to be mended, cracks in the hull have to be filled and tarred, the bilge still has to be pumped. Pirates have the advantage, however, in that in clear weather and lack of danger, they've got safeguards in place, and a few rules:

1. They have a set workday. Four hours (eight bells - each time the bell's rung is a half hour) of working, four hours to fuck off and do what you want, including drinking.
2. Captains and ship officers can't punish a crew by taking away rations. Every person aboard is entitled a full share of everything, whenever they actually want it. Feeling like some daydrinking? Go for it.
3. No gambling for money. It keeps crew conflict down. The same thing goes for fighting, as well. You keep that shit under control until you get on land, and the bosun will oversee a fight until blood is drawn. And then it's over and you let it go.
4. Captain really gets no special treatment. He eats the same as the crew, and he works the same as the crew - sometimes more.
5. Your voice can and will be heard when decisions need to be made. Every person on the ship has an equal vote except the captain. His counts only twice.
6. You're guaranteed your pay at the end. Every person is, including the ship itself (to pay for repairs and food and the like).
7. Stealing is not tolerated. Hilarious, considering what pirates do to make money, but it is what it is. You get caught, you're probably going to be executed. As long as what you steal is equal or greater in value to a piece of eight.

The average person is likely to at least have some sympathy for pirates, and many will regard pirates as folk heroes. This is supported through several historical references to pirates and through many academic studies that I can scan if you want to really see them (or you can dig around some databases yourself, if you want). The argument that's being made academically - and that I myself have made academically - is that there isn't a lot of love for the rampant capitalism during the time, with the heavy taxes on everything and the conditions a lot of sailors suffered thanks to cheapskate ship masters and owners. Pirates kind of gave that system a black eye and made several luxury goods affordable if one didn't mind shopping the black market. That said, announcing you're a pirate isn't a smart move. Piracy is punishable by hanging by the neck until dead.

Sailing, as well, is exceptionally dangerous. There are hundreds of ways to get injured or killed doing it. Tangled in the rigging is a way to go, getting hit by a cannonball, getting knocked overboard, sailing Cape Horn, hurricanes, being caught and hung, getting shot, getting an infection...Like, there is no limit to how you can die. This is not a profession for the faint of heart.

Pirates typically have shorter trips compared to other sailors. They island hop, mostly, so where a navyman might be at sea for months, unless a pirate crew is undertaking a long journey, a few weeks is mostly what a trip will look like. So, in effect, typically pirates eat better than other sailors. But food does run out, and when it does, they eat weird shit like sea turtles (which is considered a delicacy, gross). Pirates, also, are typically more friendly with the natives of the islands and through the New World, trading weapons and other goods for food and other supplies.

While it's not true for all pirates, because all are not equally-minded individuals, there's plenty of evidence for lbgqt+ pirates and women pirates, as well as a distaste in general for chattel slavery. Hell, pirates even had a form of domestic partnership! It wasn't always sexual or romantic, but two pirates could form an alliance - platonic or no - called matelotage. On the romantic side, it was straight up gay marriage. On the platonic side, it was two pirates agreeing to share among one another, including all their worldly goods. A good canon example is Pintel and Ragetti. Theirs is actually a familial example, as Pintel is Ragetti's uncle.

With the slavery issue, pirates were well known for taking slaver ships and freeing the people aboard. A lot of these people ended up joining pirate crews (Blackbeard is notable here, his first mate was a man named Black Caesar and there is every indication they were good friends, and his crew itself was made up of around 60% freed people; Stede Bonnet also did things like this...Which makes sense, he was bffs with Blackbeard.), some ended up forming proto-Maroon colonies, and a lot went to Tortuga. Because in Tortuga, slavery is very much banned, and has been for a good long while. There's safety for sure for POC there. Well. As safe as Tortuga ever is.

And women pirates have always been a thing, most notable being Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who may have possibly been an ~item~ along with Jack Rackham (who canonily is dead in PotC, but where my Black Sails folks at). Both of them dressed as men in fights and made sure their boobs showed so anyone they went head to head with knew they were getting their asses kicked by ladies. They were such badasses and amazing. But they're just the most famous of plenty of other lady pirates who didn't bother hiding they were ladies.

There's also a lot of evidence that pirates weren't a group of complete assholes in other ways. Like a lot of sailors at the time, if a pirate had a family back home somewhere and died, instead of sending his worldly goods back to them (because it would be a financial blow to the widow/family, since they'd have to pay the postage), they'd gather those items together and have an auction. At this auction, they'd highly overbid on those items, and at the end the money would be gathered together and sent to the family/widow, along with a note explaining it, so the family could save face, and receive some relief money.

And pirates party, and they party hard. Their thought on this is simple: We might be dead tomorrow, so there's no sense in worrying about it.

POTC PIRACY:
PotC piracy pretty much follows these guidelines (huehuehue) to the letter, with some extra bits tagged on, simply because in their world, piracy is a helluva lot more organized, everyone knows everyone, and magic is very much a thing in everyday life.

Firstly, the Code is a thing. It was a thing in real life piracy, as well, but here it's set out in a big book called the Pirata Codex, and Captain Edward Teague (Jack Sparrow's dear ol' dad) is Keeper. He's a retired pirate lord, and he's the one that makes sure the Code is followed, no exceptions. Except when he doesn't feel like it, which is a different can of worms altogether. (For more info, please see the book, Price of Freedom.)

Along with the Keeper, there are nine pirate lords who act as a governing body for the big things involving pirates, and they actually don't come together very often. So far, as of the start of the game, there have been exactly four official meetings, and a few unofficial, and exactly two pirate kings (Elizabeth Swann/Turner being the latest). The pirate lords have governance over different parts of the world (your pirate lord in the Caribbean is Jack Sparrow - good luck getting him to do anything, really), though most tend to hang around in the Caribbean, and not all of them (read, mostly any of them) really like each other. Getting them in the same room is dangerous and a headache and not done lightly.

Also, the pirates have a pseudo-capital, which is not Tortuga, but a place called Shipwreck Cove, which is built in the mouth of an extinct volcano out of old shipwrecks of those trying to go in or out through the notoriously dangerous passage known as the Devil's Throat. It's a lot like Tortuga, but a place where pirates go to retire and have a family. The Court meets here.

RESOURCES
Because there are npcs and characters ingame that call this character home and hey. Maybe you want your threads to have the authentic feel. I got you, fam. Lemme link you some things.

18th Century Slang: A fairly nautical list of the kind of slang a person is probably going to hear in English-speaking places. Some of this is awful. And by awful I mean hilarious.
Thieves Cant: Another slang resource that's more London-centric but definitely would find its way to the Caribbean.
Currency Converter: Curious about how the money of 1748 lines up with today? You can use this, to get a good idea of how the money exchanges.
Cost Of Living: Obviously different places would have different ones, but this gives a nice base estimate of what things looked like.
The Pirate Empire: This is actually a good, solid blog with quick-to-read articles about all aspects of pirate life.

code bases by tricklet