fits under Honor Among Thieves (33)
- The Pirates of Penzance: Parodied. The pirates' code entails that they will never hurt an orphan, so all anyone has to do to foil their attacks is claim to be one. Similarly, they never attack anybody weaker than themselves, and when they attack a stronger party, they invariably get thrashed.
- The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa: Ringo and the other school gangs have one, with rules about how official challenges, alliances, and territorial claims should function. Ringo takes it more seriously than most. His eventual failure to adhere to it drives the conflict of the endgame.
- Subverse: Killi insists that all Space Pirates operate under a strict code... but DEMI is quick to point out that there are 46 different variants of "the pirate code" among the 46 major pirate fleets of the Dragon Nebula.
- Rise of the Third Power: The pirate's code forbids certain things, such as dishonorable use of explosives or starting relationships between captains and crew members.
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts' famous code
with 11 articles factors into the game. It's pure Schmuck Bait, as it places all power in Roberts' hands, but as he himself notes, he never said anything about loyalty in them. - Ashes 2063: Despite their undeniable militarism and raiding, the Roamers have a code of honor that they actually adhere to, even towards outsiders.
- Crimson Skies: Most gangs of pirates have one. The Fortune Hunters' is very clear about never attacking civilians.
- Discworld Roleplaying Game: Parodied in the Brown Islands material, where the pirates' formal democratic principles are complicated enough that they've been known to press-gang contract lawyers, and sometimes start arguing about a point of order in the middle of a fight.
- GURPS: The game offers a Pirate's Code of Honor in addition to the more standard types. It is, needless to say, less restrictive.
- Murder, She Wrote: Dennis Stanton is a Gentleman Thief who, after going straight, became a recurring character. During his burgling years, he maintained his own strict code of conduct: never steal anything his victims couldn't afford to lose, never steal anything of sentimental value to the victim, and only steal items insured by a specific insurance company. The last one is for personal revenge, as the company in question refused to pay for a treatment that could have saved his wife's life.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, which range from harsh ("A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.") to pragmatic ("You can't make a deal if you're dead.") to Pet the Dog ("Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.")
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2015) S 3 E 11 "Gotta Get Outta This Place": Rocket refuses to rat out Howard because of “the outlaw code”. However, there is nothing in the code that says he can’t get payback.
- Anthologies of Ullord: Pramod's followers are mostly thieves. For the god of deception, this is understandable. And thieves operate under a set of acceptable behaviors. They have a Thieves Cant, Thief's Code and they do not harm children.
- Gentleman Bastard: The Secret Peace, which is an agreement Capa Barsavi made with the ruling powers in Camorr. The criminals receive a measure of protection and autonomy in exchange for not directly targeting the nobility or the city watch.
- The Unknown Soldier: As the men grow more and more demoralized, they become increasingly accepting of things like thieving even from your own dead. But one last rule stands till the end: food must be shared. They all know hunger so well they don't have the heart to deny their own small supplies from those who ask to get to share them.
- The Villainous Daughter's Butler, I'll Crush the Destruction Flags: Nameless’ Dark Guild has a number of rules and codes of conduct despite its illegal nature.
- Star Wars Legends:
- Han Solo's mentor Roa has Roa's Rules: Never ignore a call from help, steal only from those richer than you, never play cards unless you're prepared to lose, don't pilot under the influence, and always be prepared to make a quick getaway.
- Bounty Hunters in that universe also have an accepted code of conduct. No Bounty Is Worth Dying For; People Don't Have Bounties, Only Acquisitions Have Bounties (meaning that anyone you are being paid to shoot is just a target, not a sentient being); Capture By Design, Kill By Necessity; No Hunter Shall Slay Another Hunter; No Hunter Shall Refuse Aid to Another Hunter; No Hunter Shall Interfere With Another's Hunt (the rules of not sabotaging/killing other Hunters rule are not in play with the Great Hunt, where the goal is to compete with other hunters, however); and In the Hunt One Captures or Kills, Never Both (meaning you don't kill an unarmed target who has surrendered unless they try to escape).
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Pirates' Code (Or Pirata Codex) is one that governs the relations of pirates. For instance, if someone says "parley" you have to take them to your captain alive. However, there are a number of caveats to this code.
- You have to be a pirate in order for the code to apply to you.
- "The code's more like guidelines, than actual rules."
- Is Captain Teague within hearing distance? If he is, then obey the code or he will shoot you without hesitation and neither your captain or mates will complain about it.
- Final Fantasy XIV: Limsa Lominsa was founded by pirates to be their safe haven after raids. To keep the different crews from tearing their budding city-state apart, three core rules were set. Breaking any of these rules will get you marked by the Rogues' Guild and milled.
- Rule 1: Never steal from a fellow Lominsan.
- Rule 2: Never rob another pirate crew of their hard-earned spoils.
- Rule 3: Never treat other people as goods.
- Casino: Ace Rothstein talks about his soon-to-be wife Ginger following "the Hustlers' Code", which boils down to making sure that she pays off everyone who is in a position to help her carry out her profession as a high-class prostitute, so they have an incentive to do so.
- King Cat: Bai Yu-tang and his brothers may all be thieves and scoundrels, but they only steal from the rich and corrupt. And there are lines they will not cross, such as murder or rape. They also maintain a strict level of Honor Among Thieves.
- A Game of Masques: Yugi has his own rules that he abides by, including that he will never break up an established couple (unless they are already on the rocks or established on false pretenses) and he doesn't use his actual powers for seduction, because that would be "cheating".
- Ambition of the Red Princess: There's an unwritten rule that no two bandit groups occupy the same general area, seemingly to avoid competition with each other.
- Supernova (One Piece): While a downplayed example as this is the Straw Hats we're talking about here, but at the same time Nami tells Vivi as the former's seducing the latter that as pirates, they laugh at right and proper.
- Watashitachi Wa Roger Kaizoku Desu We Still Stand Proud: The pirate code, which is mostly only followed by members of the older generation or those trained by them. New pirates such as Ace don't follow the code out of ignorance. Some examples of the code include:
- A child of the sea (pirate) is to be buried at sea so they can be returned to Davy Jones.
- Claiming someone's life before Davy Jones means dedicating yourself to killing them. Only one person may claim someone's life and one must fulfill their claim before making a new one.
- One must always ask permission before boarding another pirate vessel, preferably from the captain. Boarding without getting official permission is seen as an attack.
- While not shown, there's official ways to welcome a new crewmember to the ship.
- Anyone who learns of an allied pirate's death is obligated to inform said pirate's crew with a formal ceremony known as "the rumor on the waves".
- A ship sailing a black triangle flag at half mast is one in mourning and any child of the sea is obligated to let them pass.
- Sinister Dexter: Both played straight and averted over the course of the series. Finny and Ray (as well as many other gunsharks) have a pretty rigid code that defines how they operate: they don't kill innocents (unless attacked) or cops, they don't get in the way of others' contracts, and they honor their agreements, regardless of who they make them with. Of course, that doesn't mean that everyone in Downlode is quite so honorable, leading to more than one occasion where the duo has had to deal with someone willing to break the rules.
- Panther Soul: Lia's gang, the Bastarian Softpads, operate on three rules:
- "The best pickings come from those who who have no clue how much they can lose."
- "If a mark looks like they know where they're next meal is coming from, let them be."
- "If you ever, ever see one cat be cruel to another, watch that mean one carefully from a safe place, bide your time, and make sure they pay for it."
- Imposters: Ezra and Richie begin grifting in the process of trying to track Maddie down. However, they don't want to be dicks about it, so they create a code. The document is entitled "The Code" and added to as they go.Ezra: You know what? We need some ground rules. We need, like, a code of conduct for how far we're willing to go. Like you said, we can't just steal from... normal people, right?Richie: You know what else? Bushido, the samurai code: the true warrior must hold that loyalty, courage, and honor are important above all else.
- Persona 5: Early on they lay down a few rules that govern how they conduct their heists.
- A target must be unanimously agreed upon before they act.
- They don't kill their targets.
- Riverdale: Despite being a gang of thieves and thugs, the Serpents all follow a very strict set of rules, such as never snitching upon each other even when facing serious jail time and supporting the families of arrested gang members until they get out of prison.
- The New Order Last Days Of Europe: When the USSR collapsed, a group of criminals in the Vorkuta gulag refused to break the thieves' code to work with the prison guards to survive. After some brief but bloody skirmishes, they fled to Yugra, far away from their jailers. When Jaba Ioseliani started working with the arms dealers of Zlatoust, many within the prison hierarchy view this as a betrayal of the Vory code.
- The Witcher: Deconstructed. Although the Rats do operate by a set a rules, all this really means is that they've found a way to justify their actions while deluding themselves into believing they have the moral high ground when compared to other gangs.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Some vampirates are known to (un)live by a code of conduct, fighting with chivalry and sparing the crew of a ship they plunder, but others might leave nothing but corpses and wreckage floating in the void.
Not enough context to tell (15)
Ok so these aren't zero context, but they're still... not enough context for me to tell.
- Distant Shores: Robert had broken the Code before Peyton had come onto the Poseidon's Revenge, making him having to follow Edward's orders. On Peyton's side though, since they're considered a stowaway, they're on trial.
- What's "the code"?
- Dexter: The "Code of Harry" which allows him to uphold a measure of control over his Serial Killer tendencies.
- Who's Harry and what does his code entail?
- Hustle: Often referred to as the 'Grifter's Code' — though there's a lot of hints Mickey, Albert and Ash are making it up as they go along, especially to shut Danny up.
- What does the code entail?
- Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area: While this Professor doesn’t enforce as many rules as the original, he is aware that he is trying to get a group of near-strangers with criminal inclinations together, and so tries to give them one.
- What does the code entail?
- A New World, A New Way: “Fox never steals from the needy. Fox always returns what was stolen if it was for practice. Fox always announces their attempts first. And Fox always helps to bring down the bad guys.”
- What/who is "Fox" and what's their scoundrel status?
- Gambit: Jess gave Renée 30 rules for both how to act on the work and life lessons. She was never sure what rule 10 has to do with anything though...note
- What's Jess's scoundrel status?
- Movie Night At Freddy's: Foxy and his crew sing an entire song about one.
- no context at all
- The Killer Rarityverse: Rarity promises to never hurt Sweetie Belle, the other five members of the Mane Six or foals.
- What's Rarity's scoundrel status?
- Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion: Lelouch tells Kallen that rules and orders are more like guidelines for C.C.; one such is that she will not flirt with a true heterosexual female, or anybody who's already taken. If they're bi-curious and single, on the other hand...
- What's their scoundrel status?
- Natamin's Big Adventure: Rose is forced the wear the 'Pirate Symbol Of Shame'. In her case it's a pirate themed ballgag.
- The Villainous Daughter's Butler, I'll Crush the Destruction Flags: Nameless and his organization clearly have their own codes of conduct. It’s suggested that he’s tough but fair to his employees.
- Cable: Blockade's one of those villains who considers himself a "professional" and sneers when told that Spider-Man villain the Beetle (Abner, not Louise) has gone straight.
- Fire Emblem: Thracia 776: Steals for the poor people.
- Harry and the Shipgirls: Jackie very much falls on the romantic/rogue spectrum of piracy and has a code of ethics buried deep down.
- Schlock Mercenary: The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.
