First Issue: Tonsilatus âThornsplitterâ Diaton - Lowborn Cassian
Our newest segment, Pirates in Space will introduce some of the fiercest and most famous pirates in the galaxy. Todayâs issue is about Tonsilatus âThornspitterâ Diaton.
Famous almost in his pedigree Thornspitter was a lowborn Dominion Privateer in the Dominion Navy, excercising almost historically wild and uncontrolled raids onto Exile or Subjugated Worlds to allow Dominion to instigate Martial law on said planets until the raiding stopped (Which they mostly did when political enemies and general opposition had be quietly âshipped offworldâ.)
DNN in these phases of âoutsourcingâ managed to paint Thornspitter as a villain inventing stories to make him sound more morbid, corrupt and evil. Until eventually he became just that. Not satisfied by merely mimicking what the DNN accused him off. Thornspitter and his then First Mate, Necksnapper Brutallus, set out to give them something to talk about.
In this period Thornspitter hires a rather large amount of Draken Crew, knowing they are more likely to follow his orders as long as he provide them targets to fire at. It is also in this period he earns the name Thornspitter, through the Draken game of Thornspit*.
First Raid against the Dominion Overlords:
It is a quiet day on Cassus Spaceport 71, when a heavily armed frigate hailing with Military Boarding Code docks on Platform 5 and 6. The Dominion Lowborn Navigator has some trouble clearing out some merchant shipment, which apparently caused a commotion in the docking back. The frigate suddenly begins to turn around, in a movement that nearly scrapes paint off the side, the leviathan of a beast almost creak. That is about the time when the groundforces know something is wrong and try to enable shields, but too late the heated plasma cannons blow the entire platform into a molten mess with one barrage through the lowered shields and disappear without much of a radar chase.
At first the DNN calls this a Seperatist attack, caused by exile slaves or off-world merchants and keep the truth hidden. Their own Privateer has begun to like being the most feared man in the Dominion Space. And was not about to let that opportunity slip away.
In the first immitate hours after most Dominion ships were recalled to Cassus fearing for another attack on spacestations or the planet itself. However it would be some time before Thornspitter would show his face again.
Raids against the Dominion:
Off-world raids and attacks on settlements began to escalate around the time of the first release of DNNâs assumption that Thornspitterâs attacks had been a seperatist action, hoping to spike his own âpopularityâ he made sure there was no doubt who he was in his entire slaughter. Attacking DNNâs stations and making his own broadcasts was the first time people actually saw Thornspitter.
A scarred, but strangely aristocratic âvillainâ with a flair for dramatics, Thornspitter wanted to spread fear, and held his own public executions on the network whenever he could get away with it, within the time it took Dominion Fleet showing up.
His invention for cruelty showed in the way the Draken revered and respected him. Collecting skulls of those that wronged him and their subjects was a habit of his. One particular skull of fellow newsreader Amias the Agile was found in the aftermath of Thornspitters regime of Terror as a flush-o-matic âaccessoryâ.
Thornspitters own regime lasted for nearly a decade before he was caught, by his own Vanity the Captain had left his ship giving a broadcast on how invincible his ship was, to fight off the invading Dominion Fleet. The Ravager was shot out of the sky, falling like burning debris on the already destroyed city. Thornspitter and his last men was finally rounded up, and even then in his own megalomania Thornspitter claimed himself Emperor of the Dominion. He was executed the following day on Cassus.
Thornsplitter most famous achievement is the fact he has the longest running score against Dominion Ships, and has on his record at least 76 Dragoons, 31 Frigates, 1 Flagship and 2 Spacestations. All within Dominion space. While his achievements doesnât aspire to anything like other well-known pirates who are opposed to the Dominion out of their controlling sphere, Thornspitter was merely about creating a sphere of fear that could dominate far better than any Emperor could have done. Similary he is the Pirate with apparently the lowest rate of looting, and seem to have been more focused on razing dominion infrastructure and housing to the ground. What little looting there was has been against army deposits for power sources, food and ammunition. His crew at the time of his death was nearly only Draken, with two Chua engineers and one Mechari operative. He is the only pirate to ever have been publicly executed on the DNN network, to calm the masses, and to quell his legendary status.
*Thornspitting requires two sets of Cactus Fruit with any type of thorns. Where most Draken prefer the thorns to be actual useful for spitting. Two opponents sits faced with eachother and has to eat the fruit while spitting thorns or spikes at the opponent. The winner is often declared early, but some games can take hours before a playersubmits. Thornspitter in this regard is supposedly famous for having won this game against actual living cacti.
