Revision - faction reputation - Windrose Wiki

Faction reputation is one of Windrose's most important progression systems. It sits between you and many of the game's most useful plans, merchant contracts, armor pieces, and ship designs. Every major player-facing faction tracks reputation separately, and you raise that reputation by handing specific items to that faction's Bounty Agent.

How Reputation Works

You start at the base rank with each player-facing faction.
Reputation is not shared between factions. Progress with one faction does nothing for the others.
Each faction's Bounty Agents stand next to that faction's Provisioner, so you hand in reputation items and immediately see what new stock has opened.

The Four Main Factions

People of Tortuga
Brethren of the Coast
Rogue Buccaneers
Smugglers of Port Royal

What You Hand In

Two item families drive the system: insignias and Letters of Favor. Games.GG's launch-day reputation guide describes insignias as the normal combat-drop progression route and Letters of Favor as the cleaner quest-driven reputation spike.

Item Type	What It Does
Insignias	Dropped mainly by pirates and Blackbeard-aligned enemies. Higher-tier insignias are worth dramatically more than entry-level ones.
Letters of Favor	Rewarded by faction quests and handed to Bounty Agents for direct reputation gains

The clearest published value points so far are that a basic Newhand insignia is worth 1 point, an Old Salt insignia sits at the high end at 80 points, and each Letter of Favor is worth 10 points. That spread is why careless early spending hurts. One high-tier insignia dumped into the wrong faction can represent a lot of lost progress.

Where The Items Come From

Insignias mainly come from pirate camps, ship fights, boarding, and other Blackbeard-aligned combat encounters.
Letters of Favor come from faction quests rather than routine world loot.
If your group prefers sailing and questing to grinding camps, favor letters are the cleaner way to climb early.

What Reputation Unlocks

Provisioners gate their best stock behind reputation ranks. Exact shop contents vary by faction, but the broad pattern is consistent: low reputation gives you access to basic tools and opening plans, while higher ranks open the gear and utility pieces that define a faction's identity.

Brethren of the Coast are the headline ship-progression example. Prima Games' launch-day trader guide lists the Brig ship design at reputation level 2 and the Frigate at reputation level 4.
People of Tortuga are a strong utility and contract faction, especially if you care about merchant-style quality-of-life additions at base.
Rogue Buccaneers cover armor, tools, and multiple cannon-plan branches.
Smugglers of Port Royal support contraband-minded trade and naval utility progression.

How To Decide Where To Spend

The right answer is build-driven, not faction-loyalty-driven. Windrose does not punish you for working with several factions over time, but it does punish careless early dumping of your best insignias.

If you care most about ship progression, inspect Brethren stock first.
If you care most about base utility and merchant support, inspect People of Tortuga first.
If you want specific armor and cannon-plan branches, compare Rogue Buccaneers and Smugglers before you commit.
If you are not sure yet, spend low-value insignias first and hold the high-value drops until you have seen more of the merchant network.

A Common Early Mistake

Many launch-week players rushed reputation for a ship design and then discovered they still lacked the biome materials to build the ship. Unlocking a Brig before you have stabilized Foothills resources, or a Frigate before your later-biome pipeline is healthy, often feels worse than simply holding your points for a bit longer.

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