I found this MA thesis: https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3206&context=luc_theses The summary of it (for it is an MA paper written over fifty years ago and some reading): In 1398, The Teutonic Knights seized Gotland from privateers turned pirates (the Victual Brothers) who had basically taken it over, and were running piratical operations with Visby as their base. The merchant cities of the Hanseatic League had previously tried to counter this with protective convoys and privately funded security vessels, but to no real avail. Finally, the Teutonic Order turned their eyes west and ran them out, and took over the island. But in the ten years afterward the Teutonic Knights found that the trade routes had shifted elsewhere anyway, and Queen Margaret was after it, so they divested themselves of it in 1408. The Victual Brothers renamed themselves the Likedeelers (Equal Sharers), and continued their operations from other bases for another couple of decades. The Hanseatic League still had to deal with violence on the high seas. This is all fascinating grist for thought as relates to Star Citizen. The whole story is great and of great utility. It bespeaks the results of a setting with islands of security, swaths of insecurity, competing powers, and non-state actors wielding power capable of contending with states. There are backs and forths, mercenaries hired by one side against another who then have to resort to other powers to deal with the problem their solution caused. Then finally, the largest dynamic universe we know of (our own) adapted to the situation and the "Quanta" replaced Visby (whose importance was in decline anyway) with other trade routes that turned out to be more profitable anyway. Just wanted to share, hope you find it of interest! It definitely seems to echo the sort of setting that CR is aiming for. Here's a picture of a reconstruction built on a skull reputed to be that of a leader of the Victual Brothers, Klaus Störtebeker: