This game is based around the Skull & Shackles AP, and you can download a PDF of the Players Guide (For free) from Paizo.
Overview
The Shackles, a group of islands off of the coast of Garund, which is a continent representing Africa in Paizo’s game world. The parts of gerund close to the game setting, is heavy jungle and has all the stereotypical African adventure memes running through it. There are tribes of savages including jungle variants of traditional ‘fantasy’ humanoids, humid jungles, swampy areas and just about anything else you might find in the tradition fantasy version of Africa.
The Shackles sit on a trade route, between the lands in the south of Garond and the Northern continent of Avistan, with a constant flow of goods, including slaves, between the two. The trade route is made more difficult by The Eye of Abendego, a permanent storm and whirlwind hundreds of miles in diameter, north of The Shackles. The merchant vessels using this trade route are rich, and sometime easy, picking for pirates. While the Shackles is the main pirate ‘state’ there are two other Pirate settlements in the region – Ilizmagorti on Mediogalti Island, north of The Eye of Abendego, which is reputed to be the home base of The Red mantis assassins and Blood Cove, on the mainland south of The Shackles. Further south the city of Sengahor is pirate friendly, so long as you don’t raid in their waters, but has no truck with slavers of any sort.
The Shackles is a chaotic area ruled over by The Hurricane King, from the mainland city of Port Peril. Towns and cities on the islands are ruled by individual Pirate Lords, who form the Pirate Council and act as advisors to the Hurricane King. Pirate Lords are as diverse as you might imagine, and come from a variety of races, classes and cultures. They also, surprisingly perhaps, have a range of different alignments that cover the whole spectrum. Free Captains are the aristocracy of The Shackles, pirate captains who have proven themselves successful are awarded a Letter of Marque and Free Captain status – after passing several ‘pirate tests’ or on the recommendation of a Pirate Lord. Everyone else is just part of the general population – even if they are successful pirates in their own right.
This Page has a more detailed description of The Shackles – BUT beware, it isn’t completely accurate. For example, it lists Tessa Fairwind as the Hurricane Queen – that is not correct, Kerdak Bonefist is the Hurricane King and rules both The Shackles and Port Peril. The same is true for any other pages you might find on that wiki – be prepared for the information to be wrong in some respects.
Remember, also, that no two versions of a game work out the same way, and this version of the AP will differ, in some respects, from any other version that you have played.