The Certainty of Tides
“Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.”
- Maya Angelou
Five months ago the San Saba Board signed itself into existence. An alliance of powerful personalities and factions from across the Lonestar Wastes; these hegemonic powers reinforce one another’s right and rule as a matter of contract. The Junkerpunks; a dynamic group of high-octane tradesfolk whose surf (and turf) are the wavy or winding routes that make up the skeleton of the San Saba’s domestic trade, were the only major financial identity in the Lonestar to find themselves without membership on the San Saba Board.
The Clutch
Read more about the unique setting of The Clutch, the Muddy Water Accords, The Drowned Ones, the Cicatrix, and more!
In the months following the inception of The Board, charters for Junkerpunk sailing vessels have dried up. JP ports, previously cramped with cargo, are now largely vacant. And their sailing crews, lifetime seafolk, are listless and drinking away their melancholy at port. It seems that, without a meaningful contract to the largest trade identity in the San Saba, the Junkerpunks may not be able to stay afloat.
The Flotilla
A list of the nominal, alleged, and notorious ships and captains aligned under the tattered Junkerpunk flag.
And so, in a dramatic and characteristic fashion, the Grand Admiral Sinker Swim enacted a huge fucking heist, broke into the radio station that sits at the top of the tallest tower in Waking Prime, and played a prerecorded tape that found its way onto every radio band the entire Lonetsar Wastes over - and Sinker Swim let every Junkerpunk know in no uncertain terms that there’s a big fucking problem - and a big fucking party to be had about it.
Now, several weeks later in The Clutch, the party looms afore you in splendid Junkerpunk style; the streets of the port city are brightly lit with preserved-fish lanterns, burning eerily too-orange thanks to the distilled Leviathan blood that fuels them - and the air is thick with the salty scent of preserved meat and sea air and fireworks. Grand Admiral Sinker Swim may not be able to command the Junkerpunks and underdogs of the wastes to action with explicit authority, but they can certainly ensure the attendance of every hooch-fiend in the San Saba with enough booze.
The only question that remains - is what does Sinker truly want with the legion of Junkerpunk gutterrats, bilgebums and seadogs? And once the party is over - who pays the bar tab at the end?
Delivered by King's Courtier Admiral Clearwater, the argument in verse, aka: Why we should be thieves and pirates and ruffians - not merchants and politicians and stuffy bureaucrats.
“The grave here is deep,
As is the memory,
Of all that was and has been,
The ocean remembers,
All it dismembers,
And it brings them all back again”
“They say that in mornings,
It’s a sailor’s grim warning,
To wake and see waters gone black.
But it’s the pitch that resides,
On these inky black tides,
That shows us how to come back.”
In response to the earlier...slam poem from the rugged and handsome but also a little manic, Clearwater Admiral.
THE CLEARWATER VISION; INDEPENDENCE ABOVE ALL ELSE
Everyone is born Free. When we are born we are not heirs to an apocalypse. We are as free and new as every generation that has come before us, and princes of a world all our own. All generational notions are lies designed to control us.
The ruin of Freedom is Slavery. No one person is fit to rule another, not the Longberths us or we our greater selves. We are all imperfect, and too varied, for it to be moral that a group of us makes decisions for all of us. To allow others to create litigation structure is to give up one’s own freedoms, which is tantamount to giving up one’s own life and the greatest folly a man can commit.
Slavery is a function of Hierarchy The notion that some people are above the imperfect rest is a lie. When we begin to entertain the idea that some people are worth more and others less, it becomes ethical to mistreat a portion of the population. Without hierarchy there is no tool by which one might determine between the worthy and unworthy, the notion fails altogether.
Hierarchy is a function of Interdependence Society is a formalized hierarchy, for leadership is the first step in both. Entrenched hierarchy normalizes the mistreatment of the indisposed and widens the gap artificially between the haves and the have-nots. More people become enslaved while less people remain free. Therefore, Interdependence is Slavery and Anarchy is Freedom.
THE MUDDY WATER ACCORD; INTERDEPENDENCE MEANS A FREE COMMUNITY IS STRONGER THAN A FREE INDIVIDUAL.
Ships Have Captains for a Reason. A sailor is not a slave if they choose their path, nor are they a slave if they choose to follow a leader. Structure and hierarchy are not weaknesses as long as they serve a purpose. When you are at the bar sharing a pint, every sailor is equal. But in the midst of a storm, you follow the orders of the captain because we ALL sail home when we work with one voice.
Each Ship Has a Place in the Fleet, No Matter Where They Sail. Your obligation to the Junkerpunks is equal to your obligation to yourself. Freedom is equally as important as the success of the lowest of us. We are interdependent on each other for our collective success. We chose the Junkerpunks for a reason.
There is an Honor Amongst Thieves. The Articles of Code are all the structure we need. No organization or entity can control the wastes, or hold dominion over another - this is true. But total anarchy is naive, and having order is not necessarily a bad thing. People will disagree from time to time, and relying on the survival of the fittest to sort things out hurts us equally in the end. We need at least some rules we can rely on.
Sink or Swim, We Survive and THRIVE Together. We are already the experts at what we do, and we have the resources already. We have the ships, the crews, and the trade routes already. The RRC and the Board still have to catch up. We just have to leverage what we have collectively to ensure we have a place in the Wastes. We can choose to be better than the Board.
We Get to Choose If or When We Join, not the Board. The Board should have to beg us to come back because we do it better. Leaving us out of the San Saba Accord is their own mistake, and the best revenge is living well. When they are ready to own up to this mistake and make it right, only then will we consider joining them as equals.
Which Philosophy did the Junkerpunks Choose?
Grim Warning
A Comic by Balee Leggett and Shan Lind
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Muddy Water affiliates, the situation does not take a more dire turn.
In the small hours of the evening, Admiral Clearwater finds herself utterly fed up with a bunch of punks who aren't living up to their calling - at least by her definition, and determines it's time to take matters into her own hands. Sinker Swim hopes for help, and drinks to both.
When the tides of action receded, leaving the Junkerpunks stranded along the shores of consequence like so many pieces of driftwood, the depot still stood! But at what cost?
The Clearwaters, smelling blood in the water, vow to take their rage out on any establishment that gets in their way of independence. The RRC will build an Oxline into The Clutch despite the Clearwaters resistance. Sinker Swim is acquitted and without too much attention slips away into the unknown so they can save face before returning once more as the shining Admiral.
For now, the rough seas have settled. The Clutch will endure as it has for ages. The Flotilla will gently rise and fall as the tide flows into the channel. Through their actions, those who attended Sinker’s Junkerpalooza have helped open up trade routes to and beyond The Clutch. The Junkerpunks have adopted the progressive Muddy Water philosophy. The Clearwaters, riot-minded as ever, continue to represent a dangerous splinter faction willing to resort to violence as quickly as verse
Also, did that person ever find their pants?