[@ClocktowerEchos]

Pirates are still a thing today, in the real world. Parts of Asia and Africa are plagued by them. And yes, the reason I thought to ask was because I remember how much you loved your Ryukyuan pirates.

Of course in a modern setting your pirates probably wouldn't be raiding and burning coastal villages, and they probably wouldn't be sanctioned as actual privateers during peacetime. I was just envisioning a situation where many of your citizens own private ships that they use for piracy on other nations (specifically mine), with little fear of punishment from their own government due to its poor relations with mine.