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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.

Two Crowns hold the Caribbean. The British, retrenched after the war, push out from Jamaica with patrol brigs and the occasional naval frigate. The Spanish, holding a string of harbors from the Mexican silver coast to the Greater Antilles, defend with armed brigs, fast cutters, and a handful of capital galleons flying the Bandera de España. The Brethren sail against either.

Regions

The Brethren ride two simultaneous campaigns. From the Main Menu the captain chooses where the morning's voyage sails.

Region Islands Defenders per island Player progression
British Waters 7 (Crown Cove + 6 satellites) 2× Royal Brig; armada islands (Crown Cove + the most fortified satellite — 2 of 7) add 1× Royal Frigate Brig → Frigate at 4 claims + sloop wingman
Spanish Waters 10 (1 stronghold + 3 clusters of 3 satellites) 2× Spanish Brig + 1× Cutter; armada islands (stronghold + 3 elite satellites — 4 of 10) field 1× Galleon + 1× Spanish Brig + 2× Cutter Brig + pet cutter from t=0 → Galleon at 6 claims + brig wingman → +2nd cutter at 8 claims (four-hull convoy)

British is the home water and available from your first voyage. Spanish unlocks the first time you finish a complete British voyage.

Both regions share the same Infamy ledger, the same Cursed Cargo hold, the same companions, and feed a single Brethren ranks board — but the TIME leaderboard splits per region (British best vs Spanish best), since the routes differ.

British Waters — Around Jamaica

Seven islands arc around the Brethren's home water. Crown Cove is pinned to the centre of the map; the other six satellites are rerolled at the start of every voyage — positions, lobe silhouettes, harbor entrances all change with a fresh seed each run. No two British voyages plot the same route to liberation.

Spanish Waters — The Southern Crossing

Ten islands grouped into three coastal clusters of three satellites each, set at 120° intervals around a central Spanish stronghold. The stronghold is pinned to the centre of the map; the clusters anchor on a ~1800 px ring with each satellite jittered up to ~720 px inside its cluster — a mid orbit that fans the clusters across the rectangle while keeping every isle off the world edge. The same archipelago shape rerolls into a different specific layout every voyage. The clustering reads as a navigable archipelago rather than the British rejection-sampled scatter — you sweep one cluster at a time.

The 4 armada islands — the stronghold plus one entire cluster of three satellites — field the full defender roster including a Galleon flagship. The remaining 6 standard islands (the other two clusters) field a brig pair plus a cutter. Once the galleon is sunk her wingmen scatter; until then the armada moves as a fleet, the cutters and brig orbiting their flagship in loose formation.

Tortuga & Île à Vache — The Brethren's Home Waters

Two pre-liberated Brethren islands, 1,200 px apart in the centre of the world, flying the Jolly Roger from t=0. This is the Invasion voyage type — wave-based survival rather than liberation. Both Crowns send mixed fleets in escalating waves; the islands are immortal vendors that never fall, so the only death condition is the captain's own ship sinking. There is no win state. Your score is the highest wave you cleared.

  • Tortuga (left of centre) — the historical Brethren capital and the fortress island. Hosts the Powder & Steel skill tree: cannon damage, hull HP, boarding rewards, and the Crucible Refit apex (Brig → Galleon, 5 cannons per side).
  • Île à Vache (right of centre) — the sister island and a calmer harbour. Hosts the Wind & Sail skill tree: sails, thrust, pickup radius, ocean-event reads, and the Hispaniola Cutter apex (Brig → Frigate, 4 cannons per side).

Wave cadence. First wave fires at t = 30 s, then every 60 s thereafter regardless of whether the previous wave is fully cleared. Each wave spawns off-screen from a random bearing, fans across a 60° arc, and targets the closer of the two islands at spawn time. Roster scales: waves 1-2 are pure cutters, 3-6 add brigs, 7+ mix in frigates / galleons. Per-hull HP and damage scale gently above wave 5 (+4 % / +2.5 % per wave, capped at 2.0 × / 1.6 ×). Faction mix alternates Royal Navy ↔ Spanish wave to wave with a ~30 % per-ship defector roll, so even a "Spanish wave" carries 1-2 Royal hulls. The world's navies have allied against you.

Gold economy. Every sunk enemy drops gold straight into the run's pool — 5 / cutter, 15 / brig, 40 / frigate or galleon. Dock at either island (drop sails inside the harbour) and the skill-tree modal auto-opens. Each node has a tier (1-4) and a cost; later tiers gate on earlier-tier nodes in the same tree. No respec — every buy is permanent for the run. Two full trees clear at 2,550 gold, roughly 15+ focused waves of income; only a hot run lands both apex hulls.

Open-water cadence is bumped for survival: barrels surface ~2 × more often, ocean events ~1.5 × more often. Castaways layer a +sails or +cannons buff on top of their normal heal + treasure — 15 / 20 / 30 s by colour tier, doubled by the Île à Vache T3 Salt Pork Rations node.

Run-end + scoring. The run ends the instant your ship goes under. The INVASION RECORD modal posts: highest wave cleared, total kills, gold earned, run time. Per-wave-cleared Infamy fires as each wave ends (+30 × wave, visible in the activity ticker as WAVE 7 CLEARED +210). Per-run floor: +250 Infamy. New best wave: +750 Infamy (vs +500 for a liberation new-best). Invasion runs feed the same Brethren ledger as Liberation — your rank climbs in either mode. The TIME leaderboard adds a third INVASION sub-tab, ranked by max wave desc with run time as the tie-break. Wave-0 sinks don't earn a leaderboard slot.

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, in both regions.

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 across British Waters. 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.

The Spanish Crown

Holds the southern archipelago with a layered defense: fast cutters for picket, brigs for the standing patrol, and galleons anchored at the armada islands. Spanish ships paint in warmer brown/red hull tones (against the British greys) and any three-mast Spanish vessel flies the Bandera de España — broad red/yellow/red bands on her highest sail. Spanish merchants run cargo between Spanish-held ports the same way Crown merchants do in British Waters.

Spanish palette: warm browns, rusted reds, ochre. Bandera ensign on capital ships.

Ship Classification

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

Masts Class Faction Role at sea
1 Bermuda Sloop Brethren / British Cargo trader. No combat fittings. The Brethren's first allied wingman also sails one.
1 Spanish Cutter Spanish Armed picket. The smallest combat ship in Spanish Waters — joins every Spanish garrison and rides the player's convoy as the starting pet + the 8-claim wingman.
2 Brigantine Brethren The captain's starting vessel on every voyage.
2 Royal Navy Brig British Standard British island patrol guard.
2 Spanish Brig Spanish Standard Spanish island patrol guard. Same hull as the Royal brig, repainted in warm Spanish tones.
3 Brethren Frigate Brethren British-region flagship. Commissioned after four islands liberated — double broadsides, more hull, less speed.
3 Royal Navy Frigate British Boss-tier escort. Rare and feared.
3 Galleon Brethren (player) / Spanish (AI) Spanish-region flagship. Commissioned for the player after six islands liberated; spawns on armada islands as the Spanish AI flagship. Half-height lateen mizzen, bisected spanker triangle, two-sail-per-mast rig.

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)

After four islands liberated, 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; the count is the upgrade. The trade is agility — the larger hull is slower to come about.

The frigate lasts the rest of the voyage. The next run resets you to a brig.

Allied Wingman (Bermuda Sloop, Brethren colors)

Commissioned alongside the British 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 — in the same hull class they went down in, so a sunken brig comes back as a brig, not a sloop.

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 British Waters and the most fortified satellite island — they are the wall between the Brethren and total liberation.

Spanish Brig (2 masts, warm hull tones)

The standing patrol of Spanish Waters. Same two-mast rig as the Royal Brig; in the engine she's the same hull, dressed in warmer brown / red tones to read as Spanish rather than British. Two cannons per side, well-drilled gun crew, identical broadside weight. Every Spanish garrison fields at least two; the armada islands swap one for a Galleon flagship. Spanish brigs also sail the player's convoy as the post-galleon wingman.

Spanish Cutter (1 mast)

The smallest combat ship in either region. Same hull and rig as the Bermuda Sloop, painted in Spanish colors. Fast and light — single-mast, single broadside, no chest drops on sink (only a 5 % random treasure roll). Cutters fill the picket role in every Spanish garrison and form the bulk of the player's eventual four-ship convoy: a pet cutter from t=0, joined by a second cutter at 8 islands claimed.

Galleon (3 masts, half-height lateen mizzen)

The Spanish-region flagship and the captain's reward for liberating six Spanish isles. Built off the same three-mast hull as the Brethren Frigate, but cut in the historical galleon's pattern:

  • Half-height mizzen rear mast — a short lateen pole, no big square sails up top
  • Bisected spanker triangle on the mizzen, the tall edge running along the mast and a hard diagonal cut across the cloth
  • Two stacked square sails per mast instead of three (topgallant dropped on main + mizzen)
  • Mizzen shifted aft so the pole lines up against the spanker's tall edge
  • Bow jibs reduced to a single triangle
  • Sail-angle clamp — the yardarms read as braced near-perpendicular to the hull even when the slider is hard over (visual only; she sails by the same wind rules as any ship)

She is slower than any other capital hull — roughly half a brig's top speed for the Spanish AI flagship, and ~36 % slower than the brig (70 vs 110 px/s) for the player's Spanish upgrade. Turn rate matches the Brethren frigate (heavy, deliberate handling — both flagships steer alike). The trade is presence and firepower: five cannons per side — the biggest broadside in the game, 25 % more than the Brethren frigate's four-per-side volley. A galleon committed broadside-on is the heaviest punch the captain can land; positioning that broadside is the whole skill.

A sunken galleon scatters her armada's brigs and cutters (the Spanish swarm orbits the live galleon position as a fleet — once the flagship goes down the orbit anchor drops back to the island), and her silhouette is the visible mile-marker for liberating a Spanish armada island.

The Galleon paints white sails for the player (Brethren palette, no Spanish flag). The AI flies the Bandera de España — three broad bands (red / yellow / red) painted across the highest sail — to mark her as Crown loyalist. Same silhouette either way; only the canvas differs.

Islands

The Seven British Isles

Seven islands arc across the Caribbean. Crown Cove is the strategic heart — center of the map, frigate-guarded. The other six radiate outward, rerolled each voyage with a fresh seed (positions, lobe silhouettes, harbor entrances).

  • Island 1 — Crown Cove (stronghold)
  • 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 (elite — guarded by a Royal Navy Frigate)

The Ten Spanish Isles

Ten islands grouped into three coastal clusters around a central stronghold. The exact positions reroll each voyage, but the archipelago shape — stronghold plus three clusters of three — stays constant. Island names always carry the same garrison weight: the stronghold and the three armada satellites below are always the Galleon-guarded isles.

  • Stronghold (armada island)
    • Cádiz Hold — central fortress, the Spanish admiralty's anchor
  • The armada cluster (Galleon-guarded — one whole cluster carries the heavy roster)
    • Cartagena Cay (armada)
    • Habana Bight (armada)
    • Veracruz Reach (armada)
  • Standard cluster I
    • Trinidad Spit
    • Santo Domingo
    • Maracaibo Bar
  • Standard cluster II
    • Portobelo Cove
    • Hispaniola Ledge
    • San Juan Shoal

The four armada islands (stronghold + the armada cluster's three satellites) field the Galleon-led roster. The remaining six — the other two clusters — are standard Spanish garrisons.

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 Crown's flag (St. George in British Waters, Bandera de España in Spanish Waters) 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.

Voyage Progression

British

Milestone What changes
t = 0 Brig + 1 cargo slot
4 islands liberated Brig → Brethren Frigate, sloop wingman joins
7 islands liberated Voyage complete — Britain liberated

Spanish

Milestone What changes
t = 0 Brig + pet cutter in convoy + 2 cargo slots
6 islands liberated Brig → Galleon, Spanish-brig wingman joins (3-ship convoy)
8 islands liberated Second cutter joins (4-ship convoy for the boss assault)
10 islands liberated Voyage complete — Spanish Main liberated

Treasures (38 per region)

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/Spanish merchants are the richest target; islands always pay out; sunk enemy warships occasionally turn over something valuable from their captain's quarters.

Source Common Rare Legendary Nothing
Island claim 89% 10% 1% — (always drops)
Crown merchant sunk 34.5% 15% 0.5% 50%
Enemy warship sunk (brig or frigate / galleon) 3.7% 1.25% 0.025% 95%
Enemy sloop / cutter sunk 3.7% 1.25% 0.025% 95%

Enemy warships 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. The same 5% roll applies to sloops and cutters — but they don't drop a guaranteed chest on sink (only the brig/frigate/galleon classes do), so the random treasure is the only thing a small-hull kill ever pays. This is what keeps the Spanish armada islands (two cutters per garrison) from becoming chest farms.

Legendaries are deliberately rare across every source — the full eight-piece set is a multi-week chase, not a one-voyage windfall.

Common — Real historical artifacts (+10 Infamy each)

Each region sees 18 commons: 12 shared + 6 region-specific. The region-specific six give each map its own character — British-Empire spoils in British Waters, Spanish-colonial plunder in Spanish Waters — without changing drop rates or counts.

Shared — drop in both regions:

British Waters only — British-Empire spoils:

Spanish Waters only — Spanish-colonial plunder:

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 Cursed Cargo equipped, chosen from their unlocked pool. How many slots the picker offers depends on the region: British Waters gives one, Spanish Waters gives two. The rest of the set still drops fresh during the voyage from the usual sources.

  • The picker appears on every voyage start. It pre-selects the lowest cargos on your list — the bottom of your unlocked roster — up to the region's slot count (one on British, two on Spanish).
  • Captains with only the Black Pearl starter unlocked sail with one slot filled (the Pearl) and any second slot empty. Every new captain begins with the Pearl unlocked.
  • A captain may always sail light (0 cargo) or fill fewer slots than the region allows. In Spanish Waters the two-slot loadout stacks effects: pair the Pearl's one-second cannon reload with the Aztec Cursed Gold's +25 % damage / −25 % hull for a glass-cannon build, or the Trident's tailwind with Treasure Island's Map's double-barrels for a race build. British Waters carries a single curse per voyage. Curses bite the carrier as readily as the prey — and twice as hard with two aboard.
  • 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. Find all eight, and every cargo in your hold is yours to slot at every voyage thereafter.

The chosen loadout is logged with every completed voyage to the Brethren ledger — the TIME leaderboard surfaces the cargo icons next to each captain's best time so you can read what build set the pace.

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 isles of the chosen region) +500
New best time (per-region) +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. Best-time records are kept per region (a British best-time and a Spanish best-time, side by side), so a Spanish-Main first run won't overwrite your British PB.

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
BRETHREN KING100,000 Infamy
NEPTUNE'S CHOSEN200,000 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

A lone survivor floating in the open water, waving for rescue. Sail close enough and the cloth on their back tells you what kind of voyage they had — the colour decides what they hand over for the rescue.

  • Red (60 % — common, the wounded survivor): +50 HP as the ship's surgeon patches the hull.
  • Green (30 % — uncommon, the storyteller): +75 HP and a guaranteed common treasure from their pack.
  • Purple (10 % — rare, the lucky drifter): +100 HP and a guaranteed rare treasure — with a 5 % chance to upgrade to a legendary.

Colours are rolled at spawn; the rescue popup above the ship shows the same colour cloth so you can read what you pulled aboard at a glance.

Coastal bias. Castaways are twice as likely to surface when you're sailing within ~900 px of any island — lifeboats drift in from the shore, so a captain hugging a coastline rescues more drifters than one in open ocean. The first event of every voyage is a guaranteed castaway regardless of position, so the encounter teaches itself in the opening minute.

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 enemy ships, then has a 1.5% 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.

The Brethren Ladder — Ranked PvP

A separate, MMR-driven ladder for captain-vs-captain duels at the DUEL ARENA under PVP COVE. Independent of your Infamy rank — you can be a Brethren Lord and still wear a Bronze duel badge if you've never weighed anchor against a peer.

The Eight Tiers

MMR Tier Notes
0 — 899 Bronze Below where new captains start — the truly green or the truly out-of-form
900 — 1,199 Silver Starting tier — 1,050 MMR on first signup
1,200 — 1,499 Gold The honest grinder's home
1,500 — 1,799 Platinum Reads the wind, picks angles
1,800 — 2,099 Emerald Top ~10% — bow-strafe artisan
2,100 — 2,399 Ruby Top ~5% — half a season of consistent play
2,400 — 2,699 Kraken Top ~1% — mythic
2,700+ Tempest One-in-two-thousand. The captain who broke the sea

How MMR Moves

Standard chess ELO with a few captain-friendly tweaks built to reward play over mathematical purity.

  • Placement (first 5 matches) — your rating moves at a higher K-factor (K=60) so the ladder settles you near your true skill quickly. After placement, K drops to 30 for stable laddered play (about 10 wins against equal-MMR opponents to climb a tier).

  • Win streaks — three wins in a row earns a +5% bonus on each subsequent win. Four wins +10%. Five or more +15% (capped). Lose once and the streak resets.

  • Dunks — the broadside equivalent of a clean knockout:

    • Quick dunk: match ended in under 60 seconds → +10%
    • Clean dunk: winner finished with more than 75% hull → +10%
    • Perfect dunk: both at once → +20% (capped, not stacked)

    Dunks only apply to the winner — your losses are never made worse no matter how badly you got dunked.

  • Upset bonus — beating a higher-ranked captain earns more than beating an equal; losing to a lower-ranked captain costs more than losing to an equal. The same expected-result math that's governed chess for a century, applied to broadsides.

The Ledger Rules

  • MMR floor: 0. You cannot go negative. A Bronze at zero who loses to a Tempest simply gains no MMR — the ladder won't compound failure into the basement.

  • Repeat-pairing cap. If you've already played the same captain three times in 24 hours, the next match between you stops counting for MMR. The fight still happens, the match still records, but neither rating budges. Built to keep dummy-account farming from inflating placements.

  • Anonymous matches. Direct-URL'd duels against anonymous browsers (dev / testing) don't write to the ladder. Only signed-in captain-vs-captain matches affect MMR.

Where You See Your Rank

The same badge + colour appears on every surface where rank matters: GAME FOUND overlay before a duel, the briefing rank card, the post-match MMR delta bar, /duels page, the home profile chip, the /wiki/ranks profile chip, and even on the opponent's nametag in-game. One canonical look, everywhere.

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.