wanted468 on Jan 23, 2020 wrote:

If there's one thing you know is bound to come up in this game, it's Easter Eggs and references to all sorts of stuff. Pop culture, literature, historical figures, they're all over the place! I'm making this post showing some of the many hidden gems Pirate101 has (some more obvious than others, of course), and I'd like to hear what you guys have found or noticed in the game. I don't really have a specific order to go by the references I've found, so it'll kind of be all over the place.

Gortez - Hernan Cortes, Spanish Conquistador best known for leading the expedition that destroyed the Aztec Empire and conquered central Mexico for Spain.

Napoleguin - Napoleon I of France, self-declared Emperor of France in the early 19th Century, and known for being an excellent military strategist, whose military campaigns help shape the power structure between the European power through much of the 19th Century.

Grand Admiral Prawn - Grand Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars, who originally appeared in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire book trilogy, and many more appearances in Star Wars content ever since.

The quest for Privateers "The Things They Parried" - Reference to "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, a collection of small stories he came up with based around a small group of American troops who served together in the Vietnam War. Tim himself served in the war, and while certainly not a book for kids, is very interesting.

Ratbeard - Inspired by Blackbeard, famous English-born pirate who, in his relatively short pirate career, captured more than 30 ships and struck fear in the northern Caribbean and southeastern US coastline.

Bonnie Anne - Reference to Anne Bonny, a female, Irish-born pirate who was an associate of the pirate John Rackham, known as "Calico Jack."

Rapa Nui - Rapa Nui in Pirate101 is where the companion Mormo is from, and appears very early in the game's quest line. In the real world, it's the name Polynesians gave to Easter Island, where the famous stone tiki heads are located.

Minos/Minos's Palace/Knossos/Mount Thera - All directly linked the real world from ancient Greece. The city of Knossos was the capital city to an early civilization referred to as the Minoans, after the real King Minos, since we don't know what they actually called themselves. The Minoans lived on the island of Crete, the largest of the Aegean Islands. It is believed that a volcanic eruption from the real Mount Thera, whose explosion created the caldera amongst islands of Santorini, brought about the end of their golden age, where they were then conquered by the mainland Greeks, known as the Myceneans. I actually visited Knossos, Crete, and Santorini last summer, and it was cool to see how KI was able to draw inspiration from them to make it in their own game without it being a cold cut copy from the real world.

Trafalgar Vortex in Marleybone - Reference to Cape Trafalgar, in Spain. Best known for the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where Britain scored a decisive victory against the French and Spanish navies in the Napoleonic Wars.

Monquisition - Reference to the Spanish Inquisition, who for centuries enforced harsh punishments on religious minorities in Spain.

Leader of the Frogerales, Santa Rana - Based off of Santa Anna, who was President of Mexico a few times and a prominent Mexican politician in the 1830s-1850s.

Jonahtown - A twist on the Biblical story, The Tale of Jonah and the Whale, where Jonah is saved from drowning by being swallowed by a whale, who he spends three days and three nights in before getting back to land.

Avery's dream of a "Skull Island Republic" - In age of Piracy in the Caribbean, there were several "Pirate Republics," colonies that were so far from the laws of their European rulers that Pirates essentially took control of them, and enforced their own sets of rules called "Pirate Codes." None of these Pirate Republics ever tried to declare formal independence, gained an sort of political recognition, or lasted very long for that matter. They're fairly interesting to read about f you're interested.

That's all the ones I could think of for right now, and I'll try to add more later. In the mean time, feel free to add references you've discovered yourself, whether it be one or one-hundred!

Quentin Davenport, level 70

Marcus Davenport, level 54

wanted468 on Jan 23, 2020 wrote:

If there's one thing you know is bound to come up in this game, it's Easter Eggs and references to all sorts of stuff. Pop culture, literature, historical figures, they're all over the place! I'm making this post showing some of the many hidden gems Pirate101 has (some more obvious than others, of course), and I'd like to hear what you guys have found or noticed in the game. I don't really have a specific order to go by the references I've found, so it'll kind of be all over the place.

Gortez - Hernan Cortes, Spanish Conquistador best known for leading the expedition that destroyed the Aztec Empire and conquered central Mexico for Spain.

Napoleguin - Napoleon I of France, self-declared Emperor of France in the early 19th Century, and known for being an excellent military strategist, whose military campaigns help shape the power structure between the European power through much of the 19th Century.

Grand Admiral Prawn - Grand Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars, who originally appeared in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire book trilogy, and many more appearances in Star Wars content ever since.

The quest for Privateers "The Things They Parried" - Reference to "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, a collection of small stories he came up with based around a small group of American troops who served together in the Vietnam War. Tim himself served in the war, and while certainly not a book for kids, is very interesting.

Ratbeard - Inspired by Blackbeard, famous English-born pirate who, in his relatively short pirate career, captured more than 30 ships and struck fear in the northern Caribbean and southeastern US coastline.

Bonnie Anne - Reference to Anne Bonny, a female, Irish-born pirate who was an associate of the pirate John Rackham, known as "Calico Jack."

Rapa Nui - Rapa Nui in Pirate101 is where the companion Mormo is from, and appears very early in the game's quest line. In the real world, it's the name Polynesians gave to Easter Island, where the famous stone tiki heads are located.

Minos/Minos's Palace/Knossos/Mount Thera - All directly linked the real world from ancient Greece. The city of Knossos was the capital city to an early civilization referred to as the Minoans, after the real King Minos, since we don't know what they actually called themselves. The Minoans lived on the island of Crete, the largest of the Aegean Islands. It is believed that a volcanic eruption from the real Mount Thera, whose explosion created the caldera amongst islands of Santorini, brought about the end of their golden age, where they were then conquered by the mainland Greeks, known as the Myceneans. I actually visited Knossos, Crete, and Santorini last summer, and it was cool to see how KI was able to draw inspiration from them to make it in their own game without it being a cold cut copy from the real world.

Trafalgar Vortex in Marleybone - Reference to Cape Trafalgar, in Spain. Best known for the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where Britain scored a decisive victory against the French and Spanish navies in the Napoleonic Wars.

Monquisition - Reference to the Spanish Inquisition, who for centuries enforced harsh punishments on religious minorities in Spain.

Leader of the Frogerales, Santa Rana - Based off of Santa Anna, who was President of Mexico a few times and a prominent Mexican politician in the 1830s-1850s.

Jonahtown - A twist on the Biblical story, The Tale of Jonah and the Whale, where Jonah is saved from drowning by being swallowed by a whale, who he spends three days and three nights in before getting back to land.

Avery's dream of a "Skull Island Republic" - In age of Piracy in the Caribbean, there were several "Pirate Republics," colonies that were so far from the laws of their European rulers that Pirates essentially took control of them, and enforced their own sets of rules called "Pirate Codes." None of these Pirate Republics ever tried to declare formal independence, gained an sort of political recognition, or lasted very long for that matter. They're fairly interesting to read about f you're interested.

That's all the ones I could think of for right now, and I'll try to add more later. In the mean time, feel free to add references you've discovered yourself, whether it be one or one-hundred!

Quentin Davenport, level 70

Marcus Davenport, level 54

wanted468 on Jan 26, 2020 wrote:

Ahoy, everyone! I'm back with some more references and easter eggs I've found. I'd also like to thank Bat Masterson for pinning my post, I know not everyone gets the privilege of having their post pinned, and I really appreciate it! Anyways, on with what I have:

Moo Manchu - Based off the fictional criminal mastermind, Fu Manchu, created by Sax Rohmer. Fu appears as a character in a number of books, comics, tv shows, and movies.

Kow Cheng & the Terra Cotta Army - Kow Cheng was the first Emperor of Mooshu, and is inspired by the first Emperor to unite China, Qin Shi Huang. It's believed that Qin Shi Huang, in the search of finding how to become immortal, drank liquid Mercury after being told it would help extend his life. Mercury is actually very poisonous, and likely have been what killed him.

In the MooShu side quest "Emperor Moo," Moo Manchu is attempting to animate the terracotta army that is buried with Kow Cheng in Kow Cheng's tomb. This is based off of the real Terracotta Army buried with Qin Shi Huang. Qin wanted to have an army defend his tomb at all times, so his government hired hundreds of artisans and craftsmen to build an army of men made form terracotta. I actually saw a few of them several years ago in 2013 when a museum in the city I live near managed to have the Chinese government send a few of the terracotta soldiers over for a temporary exhibit, which was fun to see.

Caoism - For the final part of the Mooshu storyline, the Pirate works to be able to meet Cao Tzu, who Shunzang calls the father of Caoism. Caoism is a reference to the religion/philosophy of Taoism, which originates from China, many readers may be familiar the symbol and idea of the concept "Yin and Yang," which originates from Taoism.

The Marleybone Lighthouses - across Westminster Skyway, there three small islands which the player cannot dock on, and have a lighthouse on them. The player will visit these islands as part of a small side quest "Running Air-Rands," During the quest, it is shown that the islands are named Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. These are actually real islands located in the English Channel in Western Europe. While geographically closer to France, they belong to the United Kingdom. This next part here is more of a theory of mine; at the start of the quest, Emily Wills, who gives the player the mission, mentions that the lighthouses are used to help track the movements of Armada ships, this could be a reference to the arrays of short and long-range radars deployed by the British in the Second World War, to track the movement of German airplanes. These radars helped Britain intercept incoming air attacks, and, save many lives.

Isle of Dogs - Twist on the Isle of Man, a, island of the United Kingdom in the Irish Sea, in-between the UK and Ireland.

Albion - Albion is one of the worlds of the Spiral we have yet to visit, though it is referenced a number of times in the Marleybone storyline. It is also where Bonnie Anne is from. Albion is an old word used based on context either for England or the island of Great Britain.

Port Regal - Based off of the town of Port Royale, which was an English colonial city in modern-day Jamaica. It was a hub of piracy in the Caribbean, where famous pirates like Henry Morgan operated out of. The city was mostly destroyed by an earthquake that caused most of the city to sink beneath the water. Some believed that because of the amount of pirates that hid there after their voyages, that it was a divine act to destroy all of the pirates. Port Royale still exists today, but it's only a small town now. The part of the city that sank underwater is being excavated for historical and cultural information today.

Puerto Mico - Based off the island of Puerto Rico, which today is part to the United States as a Commonwealth. It was a Spanish colony for centuries, until the US took it after a brief war with Spain in 1898, where they took most of Spain's remining colonies, along with Puerto Rico.

That's all I got for now. I've enjoyed seeing what others of you have found thus far, and I hope to see more soon!

Quentin Davenport, lvl 70

Marcus Davenport, lvl 59

wanted468 on Jan 26, 2020 wrote:

Ahoy, everyone! I'm back with some more references and easter eggs I've found. I'd also like to thank Bat Masterson for pinning my post, I know not everyone gets the privilege of having their post pinned, and I really appreciate it! Anyways, on with what I have:

Moo Manchu - Based off the fictional criminal mastermind, Fu Manchu, created by Sax Rohmer. Fu appears as a character in a number of books, comics, tv shows, and movies.

Kow Cheng & the Terra Cotta Army - Kow Cheng was the first Emperor of Mooshu, and is inspired by the first Emperor to unite China, Qin Shi Huang. It's believed that Qin Shi Huang, in the search of finding how to become immortal, drank liquid Mercury after being told it would help extend his life. Mercury is actually very poisonous, and likely have been what killed him.

In the MooShu side quest "Emperor Moo," Moo Manchu is attempting to animate the terracotta army that is buried with Kow Cheng in Kow Cheng's tomb. This is based off of the real Terracotta Army buried with Qin Shi Huang. Qin wanted to have an army defend his tomb at all times, so his government hired hundreds of artisans and craftsmen to build an army of men made form terracotta. I actually saw a few of them several years ago in 2013 when a museum in the city I live near managed to have the Chinese government send a few of the terracotta soldiers over for a temporary exhibit, which was fun to see.

Caoism - For the final part of the Mooshu storyline, the Pirate works to be able to meet Cao Tzu, who Shunzang calls the father of Caoism. Caoism is a reference to the religion/philosophy of Taoism, which originates from China, many readers may be familiar the symbol and idea of the concept "Yin and Yang," which originates from Taoism.

The Marleybone Lighthouses - across Westminster Skyway, there three small islands which the player cannot dock on, and have a lighthouse on them. The player will visit these islands as part of a small side quest "Running Air-Rands," During the quest, it is shown that the islands are named Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. These are actually real islands located in the English Channel in Western Europe. While geographically closer to France, they belong to the United Kingdom. This next part here is more of a theory of mine; at the start of the quest, Emily Wills, who gives the player the mission, mentions that the lighthouses are used to help track the movements of Armada ships, this could be a reference to the arrays of short and long-range radars deployed by the British in the Second World War, to track the movement of German airplanes. These radars helped Britain intercept incoming air attacks, and, save many lives.

Isle of Dogs - Twist on the Isle of Man, a, island of the United Kingdom in the Irish Sea, in-between the UK and Ireland.

Albion - Albion is one of the worlds of the Spiral we have yet to visit, though it is referenced a number of times in the Marleybone storyline. It is also where Bonnie Anne is from. Albion is an old word used based on context either for England or the island of Great Britain.

Port Regal - Based off of the town of Port Royale, which was an English colonial city in modern-day Jamaica. It was a hub of piracy in the Caribbean, where famous pirates like Henry Morgan operated out of. The city was mostly destroyed by an earthquake that caused most of the city to sink beneath the water. Some believed that because of the amount of pirates that hid there after their voyages, that it was a divine act to destroy all of the pirates. Port Royale still exists today, but it's only a small town now. The part of the city that sank underwater is being excavated for historical and cultural information today.

Puerto Mico - Based off the island of Puerto Rico, which today is part to the United States as a Commonwealth. It was a Spanish colony for centuries, until the US took it after a brief war with Spain in 1898, where they took most of Spain's remining colonies, along with Puerto Rico.

That's all I got for now. I've enjoyed seeing what others of you have found thus far, and I hope to see more soon!

Quentin Davenport, lvl 70

Marcus Davenport, lvl 59

Bat Masterson on Jan 27, 2020 wrote:

Would it be alright if we include some of these in our monthly newsletters?

Duck de Death on Jan 30, 2020 wrote:

I’m not confident on my history skills, but I’ll give it a shot.

In the quest “The Guns of Marleybone”, when approaching Beachhead, Bonnie Anne mentions that the top of Beachhead looks like a giant salad spoon. Your starter companion will say, “That’s no spoon... it’s a sky station.” This is a famous Star Wars quote.

The Manchu part in Moo Manchu’s name comes from the Chinese empire, known as the Qing/Manchu empire, that ruled until 1911. The Manchu are also a type of nomadic people that lives north of the Great Wall before coming down and taking over China. Something I find really fascinating is the prevalence of the iconic Manchu braid, which is worn by the Inoshishi and Moo himself in the game.

Monquista comes from “conquista,” which is Spanish for “conquest.” As you know, the Spanish were the first European explorers to land on America. That’s where they got their name Conquistadors.

I think all of Rooster Cogburn’s quests that require you to have to defeat a boss are based off of real people. Two that I know for sure are Butch Chickadee (Butch Cassidy) and the Sundance Kid.

Froggo Villa is named after the famous “Pancho” Villa.

In Subata Skyway, you’ll see ships called “Amber Horde” ships. This is named after the Mongolian settlement(?) in Russia called the Golden Horde. Also the fact that the Amber Horde are horses are brilliant. The Mongols were excellent horsemen and were ruthless barbarians. They’re famous for specializing in the crossbow. There’s a horse barbarian enemy in MooShu that uses crossbows...

The Aztecas (dinosaurs) are based off of the Aztecs, indigenous people in South America, who were wiped out by the Spanish because of disease and inferior technology to the Spanish when going up against them.

Marco Pollo = Marco Polo, famous 13th(?) century explorer who traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, Chia, and North/West Africa.

Captain Ahab from Jonah Town is based off of Captain Ahab from Moby Dick, the captain who went into a fray to kill the whale Moby Dick.

That’s it for now. I love reading through this post, it’s so entertaining! Feel free to correct any of my mistakes.

anecorbie on Feb 7, 2020 wrote:

All of the game's "Magnificent Seven" were real people.