From reading about it to playing in it

When I first read about the peregrinations in the Selva Lugana of the cursed pirates guided by 'la Baronessa', I immediately knew I wanted to play a game in that world, which - coincidentally - was also an opportunity for me to play a game in my world, my home.

Fascinated by the sense of wonder that I experienced from getting to know the story of la Baronessa, I wanted to ensure that my character, Bastiano, could also feel it.

Any playing character in Selva Lugana, therefore, starts by being familiar with one of the countless bedtime stories, child poems, little songs, sayings and proverbs that tell the story of the cursed sailing spirits and their chief.

 

– ∞ –

Time seems to stretch endlessly since we entered the Selva Lugana, and the memories of joyous evenings spent sipping wine at the Osteria now linger as a distant and muted echo. Little did we know that the tipsy tales we shared held a deeper truth, far beyond our comprehension.

– ∞ –

Between Venezia and Brixia, on the shores of the lake,
A band of rogues and pirates did their plundering partake.

Led by a woman of beauty rare, fierce as the tempest's might
Master of weapons, merciless, a true rare sight. 

They hailed her ‘Baronessa’, a title she had earned
born of noble blood or jest, a truth yet to be discerned.

Enemy of Brixia and of Venice too,
She rivaled two captains, who were rivals too

For once they allied and trapped the crew,
With the help of Peschiera, the traitors, who knew?

But the rebel pirate queen refused to be ensnared,
In the face of certain death, struck a pact that few had dared.

Her soul went to the wind in a plea for aid,
And from the lake a dense fog rose, by the wind laid.

Sent by the wind, the mist veiled the pirates' sight,
Allowing them to escape, to vanish into night.

Sailed down to Lugana, their ship they set ablaze,
Disappearing into the forest, forever lost in haze.

But the Suér demands its due, a price that must be paid,
Condemned the soulless crew to crawl the Selva Lugana, or so it is said.

In the reed bed of the lake, their presence still remains,
The tale of Baronessa and crew, bound in spectral chains.
– ∞ –

In my game, I have taken some liberties with the narrative: I replaced the notion of the devil cursing the pirates with one of the winds being responsible for their curse.