Castiel’s ship is called The Prince James. The name is both a reference to Bartholomew Robert’s ship The Royal James and Jimmy Novak. Prior to naming the ship, Castiel was going to be named James but took the name Castiel (a protective spirit of wanderers in his culture) after splitting with his family. Early ideas would have had Jimmy as Castiel’s brother, and Jimmy’s death being a driving force for Castiel to leave home but that idea was quickly scrapped.
Castiel, Balthazar, and Marv are all monotheists while Dean, Sam, and their lot are polytheists. Dean’s people are more apt towards land-based practices, like hunting, farming, and forestry. Castiel’s people are more seafaring, as Angles is cold and kinda small.
Balthazar was originally supposed to die, but I didn’t have the heart to do that. Additionally, Dean was supposed to lose a hand in battle and Castiel was going to lose an eye. I settled, instead, for giving Dean a nasty slice out of his right arm and Castiel got shot and lost a few feet of intestines.
In real life, those injuries probably would have killed both Castiel and Dean but screw reality.
The inspiration for King Michael’s castle was Neuschwanstein. Michael and the nobles are addressed in a way typical of British royalty, however.
Dean turns 21 during the events of the fic. Castiel, on the other hand is approaching 29 by the time the fic closes. Sam turns 18 shortly before the close of the fic.
The whole thing takes place over the course of about five months.
I made Dean the cabin boy for two reasons 1) cockles jokes 2) cabin boys were typically younger and assisted the captain and other crew members by doing things only small boys could (like getting into small spaces and untying tight knots with the skinny little fingers). Dean’s the youngest on the ship and is also the most slender at the start of the fic.
The contract Castiel makes Dean agree to was actually something that happened on a lot of pirate ships. Captains had rules about gambling, fighting, and curfew, though they did vary ship to ship.
The entire kingdom of Alexandria was a last minute addition. I had always planned for Sam to have gone through some shit after Dean was nearly killed and for Samuel to basically torture him. Sam was also supposed to show up on the ship on his own, stowing away to find a way to save Dean. BUT the whole addition of Mick, Ketch, and Alexandria was totally last minute and a case of canon providing me with something I could use in a sequel. (Yes, I do plan on writing a sequel.) It all came about when I remembered that “to dance with Jack Ketch” was a figure of speech meaning that a person was to be hanged. I had already written Dean’s near execution and wanted to kick myself, but I was able to recover a bit and plant a few seeds for the sequel, which would deal with Sam’s life as heir to the throne and King of Winchester and how he’s going to deal with the alliances Samuel made.
The kingdoms are pretty much named after their rules, save for Gehenna, Lusus Naturae, Angles, and Alexandria. Gehenna is Hell (almost literally), Lusus Naturae is Purgatory (it means “monstrous nature” or something) and Alexandria is named for the Library of Alexandria and is the BMoL’s kingdom. Angles is both me being incredibly lazy and trying to make a point about Cas’s kingdom being similar to England during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Additionally, if we’re gonna talk Golden Age of Piracy, Gehenna operates similarly to the way that Madagascar did for a brief period in the 19th century when it was a pirate anarchy state.
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