Enemies
Cutlass Keys is pirate country, and its enemy population reflects the territory’s long association with plunder, shipwrecks, magical treasure, and greed. Lost pirates dominate much of the region, but Ancient Guardians still defend older ruins beneath the pirate occupation, while dangerous wildlife waits beyond the settlements and camps.
The modern version of Cutlass Keys expands this theme further. The territory’s pirates include new groups inspired by the corsairs of the Barbary Coast, while the Golden Greed curse gives the region’s obsession with treasure a supernatural edge.
Enemy Families
| Enemy Family | Presence in Cutlass Keys |
|---|---|
| Lost | The dominant hostile population, especially Lost Pirates occupying ports, camps, caves, and coastal settlements. |
| Ancient Guardians | Remain active around older ruins such as Malocchio, Yafda Steps, and the Jagged Cliffs. |
| Beasts | Predators and other wildlife create additional danger away from pirate-held locations. |
| Corrupted | Smaller pockets and historical positions exist, but Corruption is not the defining enemy force of the territory. |
Lost Pirates
The Lost Pirates are the enemies most closely associated with Cutlass Keys. They are sailors, raiders, officers, and treasure hunters who continued their violent routines long after the lives they once knew should have ended.
Their strongholds are scattered across nearly every part of the territory. River’s Crossing, Sable Port, Castaway’s Colony, Unbound Island, Rothoard Hollow, and many smaller camps and caves contain Lost Pirate forces. This makes piracy part of the landscape rather than an isolated threat.
The Aeternum-era rework of Cutlass Keys also introduced additional pirate varieties inspired by historical Ottoman and Barbary Coast corsairs. That broadened the visual and cultural identity of the Lost in the territory while preserving the same central idea: generations of pirates have reached Aeternum, and many never truly left.
Golden Greed
Not every danger in Cutlass Keys can be reduced to an enemy family. The Golden Greed curse associated with the Cursed Mists and La Esperanza’s treasure turns the desire for wealth into a supernatural hazard of its own.
Treasure hunters exposed to the curse become increasingly willing to betray, murder, and sacrifice others for the promise of riches. In a territory already filled with Lost pirates, the curse provides an explanation for why greed repeatedly survives the deaths of the people who pursue it.
Ancient Guardians
Pirates are only the most recent occupants of Cutlass Keys. Ancient Guardians continue to defend ruins at Malocchio, Yafda Steps, and the Jagged Cliffs.
These enemies remind travelers that the territory had a history long before ships began wrecking along its coast. Pirate camps may dominate the surface, but Ancient architecture and its tireless defenders reveal an older layer of Aeternum underneath them.
Notable Threats and Strongholds
- Admiral Blackpowder — A major pirate antagonist associated with the Barnacles & Black Powder expedition and the Lost crews operating from the Cutlass Keys region.
- River’s Crossing — Lost Pirate-held territory.
- Sable Port — Another major concentration of Lost Pirates.
- Castaway’s Colony, Unbound Island, and Rothoard Hollow — Additional pirate strongholds spread through the zone.
- Malocchio, Yafda Steps, and Jagged Cliffs — Ancient sites still protected by Ancient Guardians.
- The Cursed Mists — A region where treasure hunting and the Golden Greed curse turn other adventurers into dangers as serious as the monsters.
The Enemy Landscape
Cutlass Keys is built around the idea that greed can outlive the people who feel it. Pirates become Lost but continue to fight over treasure, new treasure hunters repeat the same mistakes, and supernatural curses magnify the obsession until wealth itself becomes dangerous.
Ancient Guardians provide a second layer beneath that story, standing watch over ruins that prove the pirates are only temporary occupants of a territory with a much older past.