Talk:Corsair

Since when was Badrang the Tyrant a corsier?! I thought he was the "lord" of Marshank! =:Hollyfire ^{Queen Tsarmina's Lair} 18:24, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

Prior to that he was a corsair with Clogg. --LordTBT File:Tbtico.jpg ^Talk! 04:59, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Motivations of Searatry

I've always wondered: what is it that the searats and corsairs fight for? I mean, the world of Redwall appears to lack a centralized economy - in point of fact it appears to lack an economic system of any sort, aside from barter trade, so why be a pirate? Piracy implies trying to achieve a gain of some kind through robbery on the seas - but where's the gain in pillage when you can't sell off the goods? Without money, obtaining treasure seems meaningless - indeed, without monetary value, treasure is effectively worthless. I suppose we could assume they're in it for the pleasure of pillage and butchery, but searats often refer to trying to obtain "booty" (i.e. Gabool's treasure trove). But why bother when they can't get any gain out of it? Anyboy have a theory on the motivations for searats? - d2r 22:06, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

Well there's slaves too. And also revenge like Capn' Clogg's war against Badrang. Brockfang Eeeee aye eeeeee 22:08, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

I noticed that, too... --Bluestripe the Wild File:Bluestripe.jpg ^{I am the Wild!} 22:08, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

When you have a massive pile of treasure, you can command others around as a result of your successes. -- LordTBT File:Tbtico.jpg ^Talk! 22:28, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

The power of command from treasure would be economic in origin, given that it would represent a lot of monetary power which could concievably be used against you. But since there's no economic system in place to convert treasure into utility through selling to produce money to buy arms, food, booze, "company" etc., treasure in Redwall appears to lack instrinsic value except as a shiny thing that looks nice. I suppose that the effort required in getting the treasure would make you intimidating (since you'd have a reputation as a murderer and butcher), but the question is what the corsairs' ultimate motives are. I mean, slave-taking is something they do, but that's a means to an end (propulsion of the ship). But to what end would one embark on piracy when there is no economy to create gain through theft? - d2r 22:32, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

Well I don't mean usage of a treasure pile as pay; simply having the largest amount de facto makes one the authority figure. The ultimate motivation is to be evil for the sake of being evil. The characters are black and white. It's sort of like how Redwallers aren't motivated to go start hordes. -- LordTBT File:Tbtico.jpg ^Talk! 23:22, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

Shiny things. LOL --Bluestripe the Wild File:Bluestripe.jpg ^{I am the Wild!} 23:31, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

I have a friend who reads Redwall and will occasionally come up and ask me about where Redwall would have gotten the silver that Chickenhound stole or where Grath got her metals/feather or stuff like that; I think that BJ hasn't thought these sort of things out (Normally I wouldn't, either) because Redwall isn't real and because it is a fiction figment of a man's imagination, however brilliant or entertaining, it can dodge those bullets and doesn't have to really deal with the 'hows' and 'whys'; I mean, if he explained the theology to the corsairs or the trading routes of the Redwallers, it would bore a considerable number of people and add 50 to 100 pages per book. It's probably just one of those little bits we will never really know about Redwall.

--Long Patrol Girl File:Kailee Pic LPG.jpg ^{"Fish and Chips!!"} 23:44, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

Well, obviously there are a lot of unanswered questions. You know, come to think of it, I think I'll make a list of the huge ones and post it as an essay. This being said; I find it interesting to speculate on these kinds of things. Still, I don't understand why they'd value treasure if it's effectively worthless without a monetary standard to give it value. You'd think they'd place a higher value on food, or wood, or something like that. I guess that you're right in that Jacques just plain didn't think it through that deeply - which is a shame. I actually think that the series would be even better if Jacques had managed to include a coherent account of these kinds of things, as opposed to leaving them as givens. But then I guess it's ultimately meant as a children's book. - d2r 23:56, January 24, 2010 (UTC)

True; I think that you would confuse the little seven year olds who sometimes read it even more. True, it would be interesting (Perhaps a companion? I read a comic like Redwall that goes into economic stuff and the different trade and stuff at the end of the book). Although, yes, there are many loose ends, which also seem to be good, in a sense, for they can be the inspiration for many a fan fiction. I would like to see the loose ends assembled into a list, though.

--Long Patrol Girl File:Kailee Pic LPG.jpg ^{"Fish and Chips!!"} 00:01, January 25, 2010 (UTC)

I'm writing a list right now in my blog, actually. Stay tuned... - d2r 00:03, January 25, 2010 (UTC)