Windrose: All Faction Trader Locations & How to Sell to Them

How Windrose trading actually works

The reason nobody will buy your loot is simple: Tortuga is a buy-only hub. All four factions keep representatives in the Tortuga Market, and every one of them is a shop. Selling happens somewhere else entirely — at each faction’s own remote base, where a dedicated Buyer NPC purchases that faction’s tagged goods. Until you unlock those bases, your hold just fills up.

The second thing to internalise is that Windrose generates a fresh map per save, so no guide can hand you coordinates. Faction bases sit in broadly consistent relationships to Tortuga, but island shapes and distances change every run. Quest markers and faction map icons are the navigation system; compass directions from a guide are not.

Patch status: verified against 0.10.0.8 (July 2026)

Windrose entered Early Access on 14 April 2026 and crossed two million copies sold by 14 May. Every build since launch has been technical rather than content: connectivity hotfixes in launch week, the 30 April stability and disk-usage patch, an 18 May performance pass, a late-June localisation and Linux dedicated-server update, and 0.10.0.8 on 8 July 2026 (long-range projectile hit registration, Japanese localisation).

The one patch that touched this system directly was the early-May hotfix 0.10.0.5.120, which fixed comfort-level calculation bugs and faction quest edge cases — worth knowing if you played in launch week and a faction quest stalled on you. Otherwise: no new factions, currencies or traders have been added since launch. The four factions below are still the complete list as of late July 2026. Kraken Express has said the Ashlands content update will “develop and update factions,” but Ashlands is not out; the studio’s own guidance puts the earliest window around late October 2026.

Quick reference: all four faction traders

Faction	Buy-only stall	Where the Buyer lives
Rogue Buccaneers	Tortuga Market	Buccaneers’ temporary island camp, unlocked by the Buccaneers side quest
People of Tortuga	Tortuga Market	Hidden hideout island revealed in the second half of the Buccaneers questline
Brethren of the Coast	Tortuga Market, dockside	Brethren outpost island, marked once Tortuga/Underground Network quests progress
Smugglers of Port Royal	Tortuga Market	Smuggler island in Smugglers Waters, found by following friendly green ships

Two currencies circulate: Piastres and Guineas. Higher-end stock and plans lean on one or the other depending on the vendor. Nobody has published a clean mapping of which faction prefers which currency, so treat that as unconfirmed and just carry both.

Unlocking faction trading after you reach Tortuga

The missing piece for most players is the early quest chain, not a hidden NPC.

1. Reach Tortuga through the main story. Our guide to finding Tortuga covers the fastest early route if you are still circling.
2. Walk the Market and note the banners. Every stall you see here is a shop. Do not waste time hunting for a buyer among them.
3. Pick up the early faction quests — the Glorious Hunters thread first, then Buccaneers.
4. Start Underground Network when it becomes available. This is the quest that starts dropping faction base icons onto your map.

From that point, navigate by gold quest markers and faction icons only.

Rogue Buccaneers – your first real trading base

The Buccaneers chain doubles as the tutorial for how every later faction works.

Their Tortuga stall sits in the central market area and sells combat weapons and armour, hunting supplies and basic provisions, plus a few early upgrade plans. It buys nothing. Use it to kit up for the island they are about to send you to.

Accept the Buccaneers side quest and you get pointed at their temporary island camp. The game always places that island somewhere a quest marker can reach, whatever your seed. Open the map, track the quest, sail straight at the icon. On arrival you get:

• A Buccaneers Buyer who takes every Buccaneer-tagged item you have been hoarding.
• A campfire that functions as a fast-travel point without you needing to build a Fast Travel Bell — which is what turns selling from an expedition into a round trip.

People of Tortuga – the buyer everyone loses

This is where most players get properly stuck. You have People of Tortuga items, you can see their stall, and their buyer is nowhere on the island — because he is not on Tortuga at all.

Their Market stall sells building plans, decorative pieces, early construction upgrades and occasional base utilities. Spend Piastres here on your base; do not expect to offload anything.

To reveal the actual Buyer:

1. Finish the initial Glorious Hunters step tied to Tortuga.
2. Push into the Buccaneers follow-up tasks.
3. Run the deliveries — gunpowder first, tanned hides later — to Charlie Sharpe.

The tanned-hides task is the one that finally drops a waypoint on the hideout island. Charlie Sharpe’s presence is your confirmation you landed in the right place. Alongside the Buyer you get traders stocking better building plans than the Tortuga stall carries.

Brethren of the Coast – dockside stall, distant outpost

The Brethren are the easiest to spot and still need sailing to fully unlock. Their representatives cluster toward the docks side of the Market, selling ship supplies, seafaring gear, voyage provisions and mid-game exploration tools.

Their full outpost usually surfaces on your map once the Tortuga questlines — especially Underground Network — are moving. Look for the Brethren faction icon, drop a custom marker, sail straight there, and light every campfire you find so you can fast-travel back with a full hold later.

Smugglers of Port Royal – follow the green sails

Same structure, different discovery method. Their Tortuga stall is small and easy to walk past; it deals in the odds and ends that do not clearly belong to the other three, plus utility items.

To find their base, watch for two things at sea: regions labelled Smugglers Waters, and green ship icons on your compass or map marking friendly vessels. Green ship in Smugglers Waters means sail toward it, not away. That reliably leads to their cove or to a clue pointing at it. Once discovered, the base marks like any other faction outpost.

Running an efficient trading loop

• Sort your hold by faction tag before you leave anywhere. Plan the next voyage around whichever tag is stacking highest.
• Light every campfire at every faction base. Fast travel, sell, fast travel back is the whole game once you have four of them lit.
• Spend Tortuga purchases immediately. Plans and upgrades bought in the Market should not be riding around in your hold for hours.
• Pair quests with cargo. If you have a Buccaneers objective and a hold of Buccaneer loot, that is one trip, not two.
• Carry inventory space. Trading loops live and die on how much you can haul in one run — see our backpack size guide.

FAQ

Why won’t the Tortuga vendors buy my loot?

They are shops by design, not a bug. Selling only happens at faction bases away from Tortuga.

Can I use a friend’s coordinates for a faction island?

No. Maps are procedurally generated per save, so island positions differ between worlds. Follow markers instead.

Have any new factions been added since launch?

No. As of version 0.10.0.8 (8 July 2026) the four factions above are the complete set. Faction changes are expected with the Ashlands update, which has not shipped.

Which currency should I hoard, Piastres or Guineas?

Both. There is no reliable public breakdown of which faction favours which, so keep a balance of each.

Related Windrose guides

• All our Windrose coverage
• How to find Tortuga: best early-game method
• How to fast travel with bells
• How to get a ship: Ketch to Frigate progression