Ranting and raving about my Pirate Au, for which I have a fanfic meticulously planned for, but writer's block is kicking me in the ass over. The thing I keep making art of, too. obvious cw for problematic shit haha >:)
Fun fact: some pirate ships had iron reinforcement! That's 100% what Peter would be in a pirate au; iron bones instead of steel bones, still with his super strength, and still made to serve in Arthur's navy, so he still has that instinctual loyalty to him. He spawned in Harwich (bonus history points, for irl Sealand protecting that port and it being a huge shipyard during that time?) and was an anomaly, sure; in what world does a fort/ship get its own personification? And just like in mainverse, he's sent to war anyway, and it's assumed he'll probably die during it.
Child Peter is a powder monkey! He's bloodthirsty and a menace, eager to wreak havoc for the glory of his absent older brother. He wants to be close to the action, and he can heal very quickly, even from mortal wounds -- so he's perfect for the job, and is taking the place of a human child. Traumatizing, but it's a net good, right??
After the war, there's no use for him, and it's decided that he'll be broken up and the timber used for other endeavors. which was what usually happened to ships that outlived their usefulness. . . Which Arthur just can't abide by. He's not really keen on getting close to Peter, because this is very shortly after Alfred gained independence, but he also cannot bring himself to let his other blond-haired, blue-eyed, enthusiastic, super-strong little brother be killed in the most painful way imaginable.
So he took advantage of the Elizabethan law which protected Sealand irl and pirates in the first place: ordered him to throw anchor outside of England's territorial waters, where his jurisdiction ends, and wait until he can convince his bosses to not decommission him. But, uh. . . a royal navy warship, relatively empty, just sitting out there with notoriously incompetent naval guard looking over it? It's free real estate.
Being basically fucking dumped out at sea like an unwanted puppy, Peter is in bad shape, both physically and emotionally, when he's commandeered by pirates. They fix him up, induct him into their crew, and give him a self-discovery arc where he emotionally tries to separate himself from the brother who abandoned him.
Meanwhile, Arthur very much notices his absence, and begins The Chase. He will hunt down that crew and have them personally hanged for daring to steal from him. Captain Kirkland takes sail, always one step behind the pirate crew -- and all British vessels are on the lookout for Peter.
This continues for decades. Peter is coming into himself, physically aging into his teens and growing bolder. More skilled. More confident. But full of righteous fury and still extremely fucked up, leaning on substance abuse and whatever distractions he can conjure up to deal with his demons. Arthur is more and more obsessed, even going as far as to attempt to sink Peter a few times; he'd rather have his brother drowned at the bottom of the ocean by his own hand than to let his property be taken by pirates. The rift between them grows ever-larger, even as they have increasingly close encounters.
Arthur is closing in. But Peter's inherent loyalty won't allow him to fight back -- only flee. This causes a ton of friction with his crew, up until Arthur is breathing down their necks. There's a mutiny of sorts, and Peter is put into the brig, made to wait while his crew tries to fight for their lives. Only, Peter enters the protective haze which always happens when Arthur is in danger, and he's reduced to his basic instincts. No longer lucid, just a hollow shell of himself, made to submit, serve, and slaughter.
The cannon fire stops, and Arthur is bewildered, until he takes out a spy glass and watches as Peter tears his own crew apart limb from limb. His property returns to him, just as obedient and doting as the day Arthur ordered him to throw anchor, until the haze lifts and he's utterly distraught.
Slow burn of Peter degenerating back into Arthur's lapdog. All the spicy ship elements -- physical age gap between teen peter and adult arthur (which is bigger in terms of real years), incest, stockholm syndrome, even some mind control-type shit. Peter eventually giving in and falling head over heels, but struggling because at this time, Arthur is a bastard who mostly sees him as a weapon he can fuck. Tons of angst, obviously, with wholesome moments sprinkled in, like Arthur saving Peter from getting hanged for piracy, teaching Peter how to read, etc.
Plus side conflicts of friction with Arthur's crew (mostly thanks to the rampant classism in the Royal Navy, Peter is both condescended upon as A Poor and an object of jealousy for having high rank anyway), Peter's continuing struggle with his own sense of free will and fighting to be seen as a person, and those demons he tried to drown in rum still haven't quieted down. Plus more miscellaneous conflict that I'm keeping a secret for now. >:)
I'm obsessed, because I've made it mirror Sealandic history, but it gets so much more unhinged than mainverse ever can. There's so much more potential when Arthur is at the height of his empire, and the low of his morals -- giving that Arthur his own obedient superweapon of a little brother is inherently more interesting than giving him to the crumbling-empire, post-WW2, badly-injured Arthur of mainverse. And I'm deranged about it, but also cannot get myself to fucking write.