Revision 5

The Tortuga People are the civilian and military population of Tortuga, the last major settlement in Windrose still resisting Blackbeard's undead forces. They are a mixed population of former pirates, merchants, soldiers from the destroyed British Navy, and civilians who have gathered behind Tortuga's walls. The faction serves as the primary buyer of trade goods and the central hub for faction questlines.

Population and Composition

Tortuga shelters survivors from across the Caribbean. Unlike the historical Tortuga (a freewheeling pirate haven), the game's Tortuga is a besieged outpost where the living make their last stand against the dead. NPCs in Tortuga offer quests, sell goods, and provide information about the wider world. The population includes vendors, quest-givers, recruitment NPCs (for the Farming Contractor and similar settlement workers), and defenders who maintain the town's walls and harbor cannons.

Gameplay Role

The Tortuga People faction serves as the central hub for the following in-game functions:

• Primary buyer of trade goods (Naval Supplies, Medical Crates, Contraband, Piastres)

• Recruitment Vendor hires NPC workers for 10 gold coins (Farming Contractor, other specialist NPCs)

• Faction questlines unlocked at higher reputation tiers (~500 rep threshold per community reports)

• Crafting recipes unlocked via faction reputation

• Quest-givers for the main story's later chapters

• Access to faction-specific equipment not available from player base merchants

Relationship With Other Factions

Tortuga's Defenses

The settlement maintains fortifications against both land and sea attacks. Walls, cannon emplacements, and a small defensive fleet protect the harbor. The Tortuga People are described as "a besieged outpost, where the living hold defense against the dead," indicating active military resistance against Blackbeard's undead forces. The state of these defenses likely changes as the story progresses, with the player's actions potentially strengthening or failing to prevent incursions.

Pre-Tortuga Storage

Because Tortuga is gated behind main-story progression, players should stockpile trade goods (Naval Supplies, Medical Crates, Contraband) at their base storage in the early game rather than selling at lower prices to base merchants. When Tortuga unlocks, the full stockpile converts into a large Piastre payout. A dedicated chest for trade goods is a common community recommendation.

See Also

• Tortuga - location article

• Factions - faction overview

• Trading and Merchants - trading system

• NPC Crew - recruitable NPCs

Finding the Faction Camp

The People of Tortuga faction hub is a separate island rather than a stall inside Tortuga itself, and the map marker only appears once a quest points you to it. For most new players, the fastest way to unlock that marker is through the Buccaneers (Quest), the faction-chain entry quest for the Rogue Buccaneers.

Step 2 of that quest asks you to deliver a Bale of Tanned Hides to Charlie Sharpe, who stands on the balcony-palisade above the Buyer at the People of Tortuga Main Base. Accepting that step pins a waypoint on your map that leads directly to the faction camp; sailing to the waypoint and speaking to Charlie reveals the camp as a permanent fast-travel destination.

Because the camp is gated behind the Buccaneers chain rather than the Tortuga main story beats, it is common for players who focus on the Brethren faction first to reach Tortuga long before they ever set foot at the People of Tortuga Main Base. If you plan to hire Black Axel as a cooking recruit, or if you need the Catastrophe's Aftermath reputation quest that Charlie offers, picking up the Buccaneers quest early is the most direct unlock path.

Quick Checklist

• Pick up the Buccaneers quest after the tutorial chain, typically triggered by a letter found at a Buccaneer camp directing you to Henri Boucher.

• Deliver 50 bags of Gunpowder to Henri Boucher to clear step 1.

• Bring the Bale of Tanned Hides to Charlie Sharpe on the balcony of the People of Tortuga Main Base. The waypoint from this step is what reveals the camp.

• Drop a Fast Travel Bell after your first visit so later hand-ins and faction shopping do not require re-sailing the route.

Provisioner Focus

On the selling side of the economy, the People of Tortuga Provisioner is the faction to prioritize for two specific build goals: a ranged or critical-hit Armor Sets loadout (the Privateer coat and the Marksman doublet and their matching pants), and the luxury tier of home-base blueprints (marble plaster and tile sets, stained glass doors and windows, mahogany staircases and cabinets, and elegant curtains). Every other faction Provisioner leans into either agility armor and cannons (Rogue Buccaneers) or consumables and ship cosmetics (Brethren of the Coast).

The full price schedule is listed on the Trade Goods article under Faction Provisioner Inventory. Both Merchant Contracts sold here, Food and Natural Resources, run at 100 Piastre each and are the fastest way to automate a specific Base Building material chain once the rank gate opens them.

Level Gap on the Tortuga Approach

The quest that hands the player the Tortuga waypoint is tagged as a level 1 main-story objective, but the water and coastline around the Tortuga Market sit at roughly level 6 to 10. The practical effect is that a character who sails straight for the market as soon as the waypoint appears will meet pirate skiffs and shore patrols five or more levels above them, and a single bad broadside can sink a freshly built Ketch.

The approach is still survivable when the player plans around it. Avoid engaging patrolling pirate vessels unless the Ketch is fully repaired and the hold carries Combat Repair Kits. Two stacked food buffs before the sail cover most ambient damage. Under-leveled characters can still dock at Tortuga safely as long as the approach route keeps clear of the encounter markers; the market itself is a non-combat zone.

• Top up repair kits before leaving your home base. The Tortuga approach is the first route where a single encounter can burn through a full stack.

• Sail around hostile markers rather than through them. The market access quest does not require sinking the patrols, only reaching the harbor.

• Bring a Fast Travel Bell to drop on the Tortuga coast once you arrive, so later hand-ins and faction shopping skip the long under-leveled sail.