Space pirate
The popular image of space pirates is drawn from a variety of popular culture and media influences, but any connection to reality is heavily rooted in pirates of the previous millenia, rather than their present day counterparts.
Modern pirates do not usually 'raid' ships as shown on film - selling stolen cargo on the world for which it was destined would be a risky proposition at best.
Instead, most pirates live in semi-anarchic communes which are to a great degree self-suficient. When they do steal, their prize is more often data (by physically intercepting the uplink between a planet and a Temple ship), which can be used for blackmail.
A modern space pirate's income is mostly from a practise known by the archaic term 'privateering' - transporting people out of systems where they might not be welcome. In real terms, then, pirates should be properly called smugglers.
Subgroups
There are several subgroups of space pirates which may be worthy of mention.
- Science Pirates use the privacy of deep space to conduct illegal research
- Space Punks are a separate subculture, some of whom see themselves as pirates, following the model of film/TV pirates and living by hijacking or robbing passenger vessels.
- Retropirates make their living by salvaging disused ships for spare parts, especially in Scattered worlds where spacecraft are part of life, and official spares can be beyond the means of many.
