After finishing a battle against an npc trader, all the french ships suddenly showed up in red letters, as well as the ports.
I was still in french nation chat, and they started reporting me as a Pirate. At that point I tagged a swedish ship, together with some french, and we all sailed under the pirate flag. When I relogged, it actually said Pirates as nation, and i joined the Pirates chat as well. I guess im a pirate now....
If anyone can help me becoming french again, I would appreciate it.
I haven't tried using forged papers yet since i'm not sure how they work. I can still see my outposts and ships though from a free port.