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Background[]
The Pirates of Pestulon are a pesky group of poaching parasites, perverse perpetrators of petty mischief and putrid software.
They were a group of software pirates and accountants made up of members of ScumSoft and led by Elmo V. Pug, with ties to Sludge Vohaul. Operating out of a secret base on the moon Pestulon, the pirates used a cloaking generator on the planet Ortega to hide themselves from view. They also operated a fleet of short-range Skull Fighters (DeathSkull fighters) and used them in their nefarious defense of the ScumSoft HQ.
The real truth is that originally there actually wasn't any actually any true space pirates on Pestulon, and that Roger Wilco had been the only jolly Roger to visit the ScumSoft HQ. But rather they were just software pirates, accountants and the ScumSoft security forces. The name "The Pirates of Pestulon" was actually coined by Two Guys as the name to describe the villains who kidnapped them, to use in their next game about Roger Wilco tentatively titled 'Roger Wilco vs. The Pirates of Pestulon'. While the name may not have been fully accurate, they felt it was a lot sexier a title than "Accountants of Pestulon", or "Roger Wilco vs. Elmo V. Pug". That it would sell a lot more games with that title.[1] That being said the name stuck, they started calling themselves that (in time the Pirates of Pestulon became infamous). Of course, its a bit of a chicken or the egg paradox as to what came first or when they started to be known as the Pirates of Pestulon due to time travel back to Earth's past at end of SQ3, they would come to be known as pirates long before the Two Guys were rescued, and Roger himself had heard of them before he reached Pestulon in some of the timelines that originated from that travel. Also news networks acknowledged that they "software pirates" if not literal 'space pirates' had kidnapped the Two Guys, and that the pirates were under contract to the disreputable software publisher ScumSoft.[2]
Some say that at least some of the apeoids that worked for Sludge Vohaul were Pestulon space pirates wearing monkey suits.[3] (so their connection to the Vohauls may go back many years).
The greatest of their crimes was running a software company using slave labor to write software and games. Among those captured and subjected to this were the famous Two Guys From Andromeda.
The Pirates of Pestulon were exposed through the actions of Roger Wilco, who also destroyed much of the pirate fleet. The fighter belonging to one group of pirates was captured when they tried to escape the confines of Space Quest III.[4] It is said that those that still remained were plotting to get even with Roger Wilco for a long time.[5]They hated him ever since his rescue of the Two Guys from the lime jello.[6]
They continued to hold a grudge towards Roger Wilco and in one timeline they apparently took part during the Xenon invasion by Sariens in an attempt to steal the second Star Generator, and between them and Sludge Vohaul were able to trap Roger briefly within the Hoyle program. Roger would escape and the plans thwarted again. Though it is unknown if this was their final demise, it is likely that the Pirates were dissolved soon after, and Elmo Vohaul Pug went into bankruptcy.
Game Involvement[]
Roger Wilco unwittingly became the vehicle for the demise of the Pirates of Pestulon when he discovered a secret message from the Two Guys From Andromeda hidden within the arcade game Astro Chicken. Roger sought out the Two Guys, and in the process, destroyed the Pirates' cloaking generator, infiltrated their base, freed the Two Guys from being encased in Jello, was captured, forced to fight Nukem Dukem robots against Elmo Pug, escaped, and single-handedly destroyed the pirate fleet in his handy ship, the Aluminum Mallard.
Behind the scenes[]
Pirates are also known as 'guards', 'carbon-based', flunky in the files.
It is possible that the title of Space Quest 3: "Pirates of Pestulon" is a spoof of the title of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan musical, "The Pirates of Penzance".
References[]
- ↑ SQC2E, pg 181
- ↑ SQ3 Manual, pg 5
- ↑ Space Quest 3 box
- ↑ Narrator (SQ5):""
- ↑ Roger Wilco (Hoyle I):"Now that I think about it, I'm certain that the Pirates of Pestulon are behind this. They've wanted to get even with me for a long time."
- ↑ Roger (Hoyle I):"Those Software Pirates have hated me ever since I rescued the Two_Guys_from_Andromeda Two Guys from Andromeda from the lime jello. They're probably behind this."