Corsairs, who are they?

[Carlos_Benitez]

The Corsairs cannot be easily defined. The size of their Empire, and diversity of their activities make it very difficult to say clearly what a Corsair is.

Bloodthirsty pirates of Cadiz (eg. Gentle) have a tough way of life, bred in battle and often out for their own profits.
Battlescarred pilots of Etna live in a constant battle against a powerful enemy, and are disciplined and single-minded in their devotion to the empire.
Young pilots of Crete (eg. most new Benitez) are often idealists, seeking to benefit the people by bringing home wealth or food to some of the poorest settlements, but often pressed into being pawns of greater conflicts, or enter the service of self-serving warlords.
The rich political class of Crete (high ranking Benitez and, I think, Brotherhood) like to think they care greatly about the poorer people of Crete but are more interested in managing conflicts, expansionism and maintaining the way of life in which they are accustomed.
The merchant class of smugglers and logistics pilots within the empire are less self-serving than many pirates, but more closely resemble tiny House corporations, aiming to maximise profit whilst also helping in their own way to keep the war-machine moving.

Given the many roles within the faction, I'd say it is more effective to view them from the perspective of a small underdeveloped house; the smuggler class are equivalent to trade corporations, the political class are equivalent to police. The warrior class are equivalent to a Navy, and the Pirate class would be equivalent to Pirate groups within houses, except for the fact the Corsair govt. encourages them rather than criminalises them.

Claims that the Corsair Government is unstable and lacks any real power used to by accurate. However, the reorganisation of the Corsair Government and creation of a Supreme Court has lead to increased stability and co-ordination.
Politically, the Empire has now been stable for years. If dissent is to occur, it would originate (if we exclude lolcaps) from the Pirate-class, and could lead to their criminalisation, paving the way for the transition of the Corsair Empire to a "lawful" house.
However, the odds against such a house surviving, when surrounded by so many enemies who's space effectively isolates them from other trade-hubs in Sirius, are extremely slim.
Much like during the early years of the British Royal Navy, when Britain stood alone against Spain, Holland and France, the Corsairs ability to survive so far has depended upon revenue and resources generated by piracy.
Ultimately, the Corsairs know that they cannot reform their society and lose the revenue of piracy until their enemies are either defeated or back down; something which is only likely to happen if Corsairs abandon piracy. This, in effect, is a vicious circle likely to lock the Corsair Empire in it's current state until it either succeeds or is ultimately defeated.

(And, this is if we ignore the Corsairs established Hispanic-supremacist dogma established by hundreds of years of hardship, which have seen Corsairs believing they have a right to other people's property, and a right to take the space and planets of other races.)

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