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Lore Codex

A canonical record of the ships, factions, islands, and treasures of the TinyWind world. Names listed here are the in-universe truth — when copy or art conflicts, the codex wins.

The Setting

The year is 1713. The War of Spanish Succession has ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, and with it the British Crown's tolerance for the privateers it had quietly employed. Hundreds of legal sea raiders have been left without commissions or a home port. Many turn outlaw and join the loose confederation of free sailors known as the Brethren of the Coast.

The Crown does not forgive easily. A war fleet of patrol brigs and naval frigates fans out across the Caribbean to hunt the Brethren and protect the treasure routes still flowing back to London. The wind blows for whoever reads it best.

Factions

Brethren of the Coast

A loose confederation of ex-privateers, dispossessed sailors, and ideological pirates fighting against Crown rule. Their captains sail Brigantines and fly the Jolly Roger over every island they liberate. Friendly merchants in Brethren colors run supply between the freed isles.

Brethren palette: warm browns, dirty whites, gold accents. Black flag once an island has fallen.

The British Crown

Maintains a fleet of patrol brigs and the occasional frigate guarding strategic islands. Crown vessels sail Royal Navy white-and-grey or stark Navy red. Crown merchant captains run cargo between Crown-held ports.

Crown palette: clean greys, navy reds.

Ship Classification

Class is determined by the number of masts a vessel carries.

Masts Class Faction Role at sea
1 Bermuda Sloop Either Cargo trader. No combat fittings. The Brethren's allied wingman also sails one.
2 Brigantine Brethren The captain's starting vessel.
3 Brethren Frigate Brethren Commissioned after four islands liberated — double broadsides, more hull, less speed.
2 Royal Navy Brig Crown Standard island patrol guard.
3 Royal Navy Frigate Crown Boss-tier escort. Rare and feared.

Bermuda Sloop (1 mast)

The fastest small craft of the era. A single mast stacked with a pair of square sails — narrow hull, narrow profile, made for speed. Sloops haul cargo between adjacent islands of the same faction — never between rival ports. Royal merchants carry legendary plunder when sunk; Brethren merchants run friendly resupply across liberated waters.

Brigantine (2 masts, square-rigged with jib & spanker)

The captain's vessel and the iconic golden-age pirate ship. The mainmast carries a three-sail stack (course, topsail, topgallant); the foremast a two-sail stack (course, topsail). A jib triangle hangs forward off the bowsprit and a spanker triangle hangs off a thin aft mini-mast. Bartholomew Roberts ("Black Bart"), Edward Low, and the Royal Fortune all sailed brigantines or close cousins — fast enough to run, well-armed enough to fight. Standard loadout: a five-pellet bow burst for chase, plus two cannons per side (fore and aft) for the broadsides — each ball lands for half a full charge, so the two together hit as hard as a single heavy round.

Royal Navy Brig (2 masts, square-rigged with jib & spanker)

The standard Crown patrol vessel. Same two-mast rig as the Brethren brigantine; close to it in weight class. Two cannons per side (fore + aft) for the broadside; her gun crew is well-drilled but the ball-per-ball weight matches the Brethren brig. Brigs spawn as the island guard around any unclaimed Crown island and attack on sight. Each carries a small pile of loot, dropped when the hull goes under.

Brethren Frigate (3 masts, the captain's late-voyage flagship)

When the captain has liberated four islands, the dockyards at the most recently freed harbor refit the brigantine into a full Brethren Frigate. Three masts replace two. The hold doubles. Two more cannons are added on each side — four guns per broadside instead of two, so the volley walks the full length of the enemy hull in four beats. Per-ball damage stays the same as the brig's split-broadside; the count is the upgrade. The trade is in agility — the larger hull is meaningfully slower than the brig and slower to come about. The Code reckons this fair: a captain at the head of four liberated isles should fight from the stern of a ship that earned the seas it sails.

The frigate is permanent for the rest of the voyage. The next morning's run resets the captain to a brig — every voyage begins humbly.

Allied Wingman (Bermuda Sloop, Brethren colors)

Commissioned alongside the frigate. A volunteer crew sails a captured Royal sloop refitted with Brethren colors and joins the captain's flank — engaging any enemy that drifts within hailing distance of the flagship, but never straying far enough to be alone on the sea. Should the wingman go down, a replacement weighs anchor from the nearest liberated harbor and rejoins within a quarter-hour.

Royal Navy Frigate (3 masts, two outer jibs)

A heavy escort. Three masts — mizzen and main carry the full three-sail stack, foremast the two-sail stack. Two triangle jibs run forward off the bowsprit, an outer and an inner. Bigger hull, more cannons — four guns per side, double the patrol brig. Slower to turn, harder to sink, and a full broadside hits roughly twice as hard as a Royal Brig's. Frigates patrol Crown Cove at the heart of the map and the most fortified satellite island — they are the wall between the Brethren and total liberation.

The Seven Isles

Seven islands arc across the Caribbean. Crown Cove is the strategic heart — center of the map, frigate-guarded. The other six radiate outward.

The six satellite islands are rerolled at the start of every voyage — positions, lobe silhouettes, and harbor entrances all change with a fresh seed each run. Crown Cove stays pinned to the centre. No two voyages plot the same route to liberation.

  • Island 1 — Crown Cove
  • Island 2 — King's Anchor
  • Island 3 — Admiral's Bay
  • Island 4 — St. George's Cay
  • Island 5 — Whitehall Reach
  • Island 6 — Devonshire Bight
  • Island 7 — Albion Atoll

Resource Types

Every island holds one of two resources, set at the start of the voyage and stable across the run.

  • Mine — extracts ore. Liberating a Mine grants the captain a permanent +CANNONS upgrade for the voyage.
  • Farm — produces grain and supplies. Liberating a Farm grants +SAILS (more thrust).

Liberation

Three pieces of loot in the cargo hold are enough to liberate an island. Once claimed:

  • The Cross of St. George is replaced with the Brethren's Jolly Roger.
  • The island flips faction. Friendly merchants now run supply through it.
  • The captain receives the resource upgrade and a Treasure drawn from the common register.
  • The waters around the island become friendly territory. A captain who drops sails near a liberated isle is repaired by the harbor — the only reliable healing on the seas.

Treasures (38 entries)

Treasures are the world's central thread of history. Every entry links to a real Wikipedia article about the object or the event behind it. Tapping a recovered treasure in-game opens that page directly. Three tiers, each worth different Infamy on recovery.

Drop sources

Any treasure can come from any source — the odds are what differ. Every drop yields at most one treasure: a single weighted roll decides the tier. Royal merchants are the richest target; islands always pay out; Royal Navy ships occasionally turn over something valuable from their captain's quarters.

Source Common Rare Legendary Nothing
Island claim 89% 10% 1% — (always drops)
Royal merchant sunk 34.5% 15% 0.5% 50%
Royal Navy ship sunk 3.7% 1.25% 0.025% 95%

Royal Navy ships first roll a 5% combined chance to drop anything; if it fires, the tier is then weighted 74.5% common / 25% rare / 0.5% legendary. Legendaries are deliberately rare — the full eight-piece set is a multi-week chase, not a one-voyage windfall.

Common — Real historical artifacts (+10 Infamy each)

Rare — Iconic pirate hauls (+50 Infamy each)

The most iconic and pirate-significant artifacts of the era — world-famous gems and the canonical pirate hoards.

Legendary — Cursed cargo (+100 Infamy each + a voyage-long buff)

Pirate folklore items. Each carries a passive effect that lasts the whole voyage (see Cursed Cargo below) and a louder UI treatment — the find of the voyage.

Cursed Cargo — Legendary Treasure Effects

Common treasures are flavor — historical artifacts the Brethren take from Crown holds and ship back to their own ports. Legendaries are different. Each one carries a piece of the supernatural, and so long as it sits in the captain's hold the curse pays in iron, powder, and providence.

Treasure Effect
The Black Pearl Cannons reload one full second faster.
The Dead Man's Chest Loot chests yield double the plunder.
The Blessing of Ra Begin every voyage with 3 loot in the hold — enough to claim your first island the moment you reach it.
Davy Jones's Locker Royal Navy gunners' aim grows uncertain — they reload more slowly.
The Aztec Cursed Gold +25% cannon damage, at the cost of −25% hull.
The Kraken's Eye Out of combat for 30 seconds, the hull slowly mends itself.
The Trident of Poseidon +20% sail thrust — the wind always favors your sail.
Treasure Island's Map Floating barrels surface twice as often.

A voyage that gathers more than one legendary stacks their effects. There are no carrying limits — but the curses bite the carrier as readily as the prey.

The Loadout — Choosing What You Carry

Every Cursed Cargo a captain has ever recovered enters their permanent hold (persisted across voyages alongside Infamy). At the start of every voyage — first launch, refresh, or RESTART — the captain weighs anchor with one piece of Cursed Cargo equipped, chosen from their unlocked pool. The remaining seven still drop fresh during the voyage from the usual sources.

  • The picker appears on every voyage start. The previously-equipped piece is pre-selected.
  • Sail Light is always available — a vanilla brigantine, no cursed buff, no curse drawback. Useful for clean-run challenges or testing a build.
  • New captains start with the picker locked to Sail Light. The first legendary recovered unlocks it for next voyage.
  • Cursed Cargo locked in the picker is shown silhouetted with the prompt "Recover this Cursed Cargo to unlock."

This commitment-at-anchor moment turns each voyage into a different sail: aggressive (Black Pearl), wind-favored (Trident), high-risk (Aztec Cursed Gold). Find all eight, and every cargo in your hold is yours to pick from at every voyage thereafter.

The Code of Infamy

Among the Brethren, reputation is currency. Every island liberated, every trinket pulled from the holds of a Royal merchant, every navy ship sunk — each adds to a captain's Infamy, the ledger that follows them from voyage to voyage. Infamy persists between sailings. It is etched into the cabin door of whatever vessel the captain next commands, and read aloud at every Brethren port the captain weighs anchor.

How It's Earned

Action Infamy
Each island liberated +40
Each common treasure recovered +10
Each rare treasure recovered +50
Each legendary treasure recovered +100
Each ship sunk +10
Each enemy boarded (BOARD finisher) +75
Voyage completed (all seven isles) +500
New best time +500

A captain pays out at the end of every voyage — completed or otherwise. Even a captain who goes down with their ship earns the Infamy of the work they did before the end.

Ranks of the Brethren

Infamy Rank
0 Deckhand
800 Powder Monkey
2,000 Sea Dog
4,500 Buccaneer
9,000 Privateer
16,000 Pirate Captain
24,000 Dread Pirate
40,000 Brethren Lord

The titles are honorific within the Brethren — they unlock no statistical advantage in combat. What they unlock is recognition: each rank stands on its own, recorded in the ledger of the Coast.

Ship Embellishments by Rank

Climbing the Brethren ledger leaves visible marks on the vessel itself. The lower ranks add small earned details to the deck; the top three ranks unlock the prestige paint, sail stripes, and a glowing bow gem.

Rank What appears on the ship
Deckhand Standard Brigantine — no embellishments yet.
Powder Monkey A small powder keg lashed beside the mainmast (the rank's namesake).
Sea Dog A brass bow cleat fitted to the foredeck.
Buccaneer An extra crewmate posted on deck — a fuller complement.
Privateer A captain's wheel at the stern, brass-spoked.
Pirate Captain Cyan-blue hull wash + sail stripe down the main canvas + a pulsing blue bow gem.
Dread Pirate Purple hull wash + silver/purple sail stripe pair + violet bow gem.
Brethren Lord Forest-green hull wash + gold/green sail stripe pair + emerald bow gem.

Lower-rank details are cumulative — a Privateer's ship still carries the powder keg, the brass cleat, and the extra crewmate from the ranks they earned passing through. The upper-rank paint replaces these accents with the full prestige treatment.

Seals of the Brethren

Each rank carries its own wax cartouche, stamped on the captain's cabin door and on every dispatch they sign. The seal grows more ornate as a captain climbs — from a Deckhand's crude brown blob to the Brethren Lord's royal purple under brilliant gold.

DECKHAND0 Infamy
POWDER MONKEY800 Infamy
SEA DOG2,000 Infamy
BUCCANEER4,500 Infamy
PRIVATEER9,000 Infamy
PIRATE CAPTAIN16,000 Infamy
DREAD PIRATE24,000 Infamy
BRETHREN LORD40,000 Infamy

Pickups & Buffs

Loot

The currency for liberation. Drops from sunk Royal Navy ships. Maximum cargo hold is three pieces. The HUD shows the running stack.

Powder Barrel — cannons buff

A free-floating barrel branded with a silver rune. Picked up by sailing into it. Grants +CANNONS for 30 seconds — the same upgrade a Mine claim provides, but temporary.

Grog Barrel — sails buff

A free-floating barrel branded with a green rune. Grants +SAILS for 30 seconds.

Open-Water Encounters

The Caribbean is never quiet. Roughly once a minute, an encounter surfaces somewhere ahead of the bow — flagged on the radar with a faint pulse and on the water by an animated cue. Sail into the circle to trigger the event.

Mermaid Pod

Three siren silhouettes circling a still patch of sea. Sail into them and roll the coin:

  • Mermaid's Blessing — +30 HP, the song calms the crew
  • Mermaid's Curse — −15 HP, the hull scrapes hidden rocks

Half-and-half odds. The siren trade.

Drifting Wreck

A broken hull with drifting planks. Sail through to salvage:

  • 1 Loot chest ready to pull aboard
  • 1 random barrel (Powder or Grog, coin-flip)

No risk — only flotsam, given freely by the sea.

Castaway Raft

A lone sailor on a small raft, waving for rescue. Sail close enough:

  • +15 HP (crew morale boost)
  • +30 Infamy — the Brethren honor mercy at sea

Whirlpool

A churning eye of foam with three rotating spiral arms. Sailing through the centre tears at the hull but spits out a prize.

  • −20 HP as the current rakes the keel
  • Rare treasure roll (falls back to common if the rare pool is empty)
  • Heavy camera shake while you ride it out
  • 0.7% chance a Reef Crab gets flung out of the spiral and clings to the hull as a Reef Crab Companion — see Sea Companions below.

Dark Cloud Front

A low, churning storm cloud drifting on the wind, lit from within by intermittent lightning. Plough straight through and the bolts find the mast — but the front has its own gifts.

  • −12 HP as lightning singes the rigging
  • Common treasure roll
  • Sky flash + thunder camera-shake on the trigger frame
  • 1.0% chance a Stormling — a curl of the cloud given form — peels off and follows the captain home as a Stormling Companion — see Sea Companions below.

Sea Monster Shadow

A vast dark silhouette beneath the surface, lobes breathing in and out around two glowing eyes. The bravest captains sail straight over it.

  • −35 HP from the lashing tentacles
  • 8% legendary / 92% rare treasure roll (legendary falls back to rare if every legendary is already aboard)
  • The biggest camera shake the engine produces
  • 1.5% chance the kraken takes a liking to the captain and joins the voyage as a Kraken Companion — see Sea Companions below.

Sea Companions

A second prize that follows the captain between voyages, alongside Cursed Cargo. Companions are creatures befriended at sea. Each is rare to unlock, stays with you for life once acquired, and sails alongside any Cursed Cargo choice in the voyage-start picker. Three currently roam the seas; each is rarer than the last.

Kraken Companion (common — 1.5%)

A friendly green kraken that swims alongside your ship. When a Royal Navy ship comes within ~220 px of your hull, the kraken latches onto it and gnaws — chewing for damage every ~0.75 s while it stays in contact. If the target moves more than ~340 px away or you sail out of range, the kraken lets go and falls back into your wake.

  • Damage per tick: 6 HP at contact range (≤18 px)
  • Engage radius (from your hull): 220 px
  • Disengage radius: 340 px
  • Allies and merchants are never targeted

Unlocked from a 1.5% roll on each Sea Monster encounter.

Reef Crab Companion (rare — 0.7%)

A barnacled, gem-shelled crab the whirlpool spat into your wake. It scuttles between enemy hulls and lands claw-slaps that briefly stun — the target's rudder freezes for a beat so you can cross the T.

  • Slap damage: 3 HP per hit
  • Stun duration on hit: 0.6 s (target stops steering for the beat)
  • Slap cooldown: 2.0 s per enemy
  • Engage radius: 180 px; disengage 300 px

Unlocked from a 0.7% roll on each Whirlpool encounter.

Stormling Companion (legendary — 1.0% — newest)

A curl of dark cloud given form, floating just above the wake. Periodically a bolt arcs down onto the nearest enemy hull within range, with a smaller AoE splash that clips any other navy ships hugging the lead.

  • Bolt damage: 9 HP to the primary target, 4 HP to any other enemy within 40 px of the strike
  • Strike interval: 2.5 s
  • Engage radius (from your hull): 250 px
  • Brief sky flash + thunder-rumble shake on each strike

Unlocked from a 1.0% roll on each Dark Cloud Front encounter. The Stormling has a higher per-event chance than the Reef Crab, but Dark Clouds are rarer than Whirlpools at sea — so in practice the rarity ladder runs Kraken → Crab → Stormling.

Crown Bounty — Hunter Fleet

Sink enough Royal Navy ships in a single voyage and the Crown takes notice. At 15, 30, and 50 cumulative kills the Admiralty dispatches a Hunter Fleet — 2 frigates (3 at the 50+ wave) with no home island, no orbit, no surrender. They home in on the captain from off-screen and pursue until they sink.

  • Hunters never flee at low HP and never patrol — pure pursuit, until they sink or you do.
  • No respawns on a Hunter kill — the Admiralty only sends each fleet once.
  • Each Hunter sunk pays +40 Infamy (vs +10 for an ordinary patrol).
  • Successive waves trigger at 15 → 30 → 50, then +25 per wave (75, 100, …).

The bounty resets each voyage. Stop killing for a while and the next wave's threshold still ticks closer — but you control when it arrives.

Phantom Dutchman (once per voyage)

A spectral frigate fading in and out of existence, drifting on its own ghost-swell. Won't appear until you've sunk at least 5 Royal Navy ships, then has a 6% chance to take the next ocean-event slot. Sail through:

  • Guaranteed legendary treasure
  • +150 Infamy — the find of a captain's life
  • Brigade-wide whispers for weeks after

The Dutchman only haunts a captain once per voyage. Miss it and the next voyage rolls fresh.

Boarding — The Finisher

When an enemy ship's hull drops below 15% HP, her crew strikes the sails — she luffs and drifts to a halt on residual momentum like a broken-down hulk in the swell. Close to a few ship-lengths and a BOARD badge pulses above the FIRE button. Tap it (or press B at the helm) and the grappling lines fly.

  • Instant sink — the boarded hull goes to zero immediately, exploding with its normal loot chest.
  • Guaranteed rare treasure — with a 2% chance to upgrade to legendary. If every treasure of that tier has already been recovered this voyage, the roll falls back to the next tier down.
  • +30 Infamy — paid on top of the kill (so a Hunter boarded is +30 + +40).
  • BOARDED! flashes in the activity ticker; the deck shakes harder than a normal kill.

Boarding does not work on allies, friendly merchants, or anything already at zero HP. There is no cooldown — but the window is narrow: the target must already be wounded and alongside, which usually means you've laid into them with broadsides first.

Claim Variants

Roughly 30% of island claims roll a flavor event on top of the standard claim & treasure. Each variant pulls from an equal-weighted pool of four:

Variant Effect
Hidden Cache Two extra loot chests bob into the harbor
Mutinous Garrison An extra Royal Navy sloop boils out — fight it after the flag goes up
Marooned Crew Rescued pirates pledge their cut — +50 bonus Infamy
Friendly Smuggler Full hull refit + a free rare treasure on the house

Each is announced in the activity ticker (HIDDEN CACHE!, MUTINOUS GARRISON!, etc.) so a claim is never just a transaction.

Glossary

Terms that appear in the UI, the intro card, and treasure popups.

Term Meaning
Brethren of the Coast The pirate confederation the captain belongs to. Historically real.
The Crown The British government and its colonial agents.
Treaty of Utrecht The 1713 peace treaty that effectively ended legal privateering and forced many privateers into outlaw life.
Reclaim / Liberate Take an island for the Brethren.
Voyage One run, from setting sail to either total liberation or going to the bottom.
Plunder Treasure or loot, in general.