Notorious Welsh pirates who once struck fear across the high seas are set to become familiar to a new generation of teenagers across the world.

Computer game fans across the world are eagerly awaiting the latest installment of one of the most popular computer games, Assassin’s Creed – and it’s entire story is build around a Welsh pirate.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is the latest edition of a computer game that has already sold 55 million copies around the world and been hailed a technological triumph of its genre.

Due for release in November this year, its lead character is a fictional pirate called Edwards Kenway who was born in Cardiff.

The game’s developers, Montreal-based Ubisoft, only decided to build their story around a Welsh pirate when they cast Swansea-born actor, Matt Ryan, as the voice and image of the pirate.

Darby McDevitt, lead script writer, said until then the ruthless pirate was meant to be from an English port town, such as Bristol or Portsmouth, or Manchester.

Yet Ryan’s powerful Welsh accent persuaded them to change tack.

“When I was creating the character of Edward Kenway, I left the background blank because I wanted to draw from whichever actor we picked,” said Darby.

“The original casting call was for a Mancunian actor, at the time I was watching a lot of Joy Division documentaries and liked the accent. Then we extended it to the places like Bristol or Portsmouth and then we had Matt come in, he had amazing charisma. But he was speaking in a Bristolian accent.

“We asked him to speak in his own accent – and we loved it and we loved his personality. Then we went back and wrote Edward Kenway’s biography.”

With famous Welsh pirates like Henry Morgan, from Llanrhymney, Black Bart (John Roberts) from Pembrokeshire and Hywel Davies, from Fishguard, the scriptwriters had plenty to work with.

And the role of Edward Kenway and his back story became far more influenced by Wales than Darby originally intended.

Darby added: “Matt and I talked about getting some Welsh into the game and we even called his dad to get some Welsh phrases in  – I don’t remember now what they were, and wouldn’t like to attempt the pronounciations though!”

Actor Matt Ryan in Hamlet
Actor Matt Ryan in Hamlet

The Assassin’s Creed series is an historical fiction action-adventure video game, inspired by the novel Alamut by Slovenien writer, Vladimir Bartol.

The game follows the adventures of the privateer-turned-pirate who joins the Assassin’s Order – an ancient secret society which carries out secret missions to save the world.

Edward Kenway’s story is marooned in the 18th century and features more Welsh-born buccaneers, but not the great Henry Morgan, who Darby said, is too early in pirating history to be included.

“There are other Welsh pirates in the game, but I don’t want to give too much away before it’s released,” added Darby.

“I was so excited working on this game, coming to the UK and getting actors with the proper accents to play the parts.

“Eighty percent of pirates were from all over the British Isles and the colonies, and I always knew there were Welsh pirates.

“It was great to talk through dialogue with Matt, I would always deferring back to him to change anything he thought wasn’t quite up to snuff.

“And it’s the first time I’ve created a character from scratch – you need them to be as fun and as charismatic as possible, and also he has to be as natural as possible.”

With Darby suggesting that the game could sell 10million copies around the world and the positive response the game teasers have had on fan forums, the story of Welsh pirates and their legacy could soon be known across the world.

“We’ve had kids in the US asking what is, or where is Wales, and then we’ve got the Welsh gamers excited that the hero is Welsh.

“Nobody was expecting him to be from Wales. And there’s a history lesson in there too.”