Though it wasn't exactly common in the skies above Rossbera, piracy was fairly well known. Targets of piracy were usually specific ships, rather than simply any old airship flying through a certain area. Furthermore, sky pirates frequently acted as mercenaries, seizing a specific item or person from a target vessel, which could be an airship, a surface ship, or even a building. Such quick attacks necessitated a means of closing the distance as quickly as possible, and the pirates themselves would usually leap from their vessels, aided by flying steam-packs.
This sky pirate is armed with a broom-handle pistol and a hook. It's too bad that Hero Forge doesn't have more short axes, because I have a tool hanging on the wall of my shop that would be a perfect melee weapon for a sky pirate: a crate hatchet, which is a hatchet, hammer, and pry bar in one, the perfect tool for both opening and sealing wooden crates.
The folding wings are a bit crude, but again, I'm limited to what Hero Forge has until I start making these things from scratch. I actually got this idea from something I saw in a steampunk museum video on YouTube a long time ago, which was a pair of flapping wings attached to a steam engine with a pressure tank, supposedly able to flap long enough to facilitate jumps between airships. How well something like that would actually work is debatable, but it's a cool idea.
In order to make the steam-pack, I used one of the jetpacks and slapped a "pneumatic sabre" onto it. If I ever print this model, I'll probably remove the blade portion and just leave the hilt with the valve and tubes. Still, it would be nice to see some more steampunk items in Hero Forge - I'd love to be able to make steampunk power armour!
One of my POV characters in The Nine Empires is a sky pirate, and another is a former sky pirate, so that forms part of the intrigue plot. I'll probably end up sharing those in the future. In the mean time, I got grey resin for my 3D printer, so tomorrow's post will probably feature another "everyday object" made with 3D printing. I also have painting supplies on the way, so maybe you'll see some painted models - assuming that the results aren't utterly abysmal, seeing as I'm years out of practise, and I was never that good to begin with.