Brazen Coalition

Brazen Coalition
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Admiral's Order.jpg}}|150px]]
History
Founded on	Ixalan
Active	Mending Era and Omenpath Era
Status	Active
Membership
Leader	Beckett Brass
Notable members	Brandis Thorn, Breeches, Lannery Storm, Malcolm Lee, Ripley Vance, Wallis Parrish
Races	Goblins, Humans, Orcs, Sirens
Associated Colors

The Brazen Coalition is a society of pirates that answers to no one and lives on the Stormwreck Sea of Ixalan.

Description

They are a diverse bunch, including humans from a wide variety of backgrounds as well as members of three nonhuman races: goblins, orcs, and sirens. With no more than a handful of small archipelagos under their control, the coalition proudly marked the ocean as their domain. Across deep blue waters, shallow coastal stretches, and the deep river mouths that spill into the sea, members of the coalition are masters of the waves.

The invasion upended this old order, devastating Atzocan and depopulating much of the coast. In the year since its conclusion, Imperials scouting their old territory have discovered that the Brazen Coalition has moved in en masse, settling many frontier towns, establishing trade ports, and opening large cosmium mining operations.

History

Origin

When the Legion of Dusk completed their conquest of Torrezon around 98 BD, the survivors of the Free Cities on its western coast fled to the sea. They found no respite on the continent of Ixalan, as the Sun Empire turned them away. Spurned by the Sun Empire and unable to return home, the refugee flotilla scattered across the Stormwreck Sea.

Desperate, with no land to call home and consequently no way to peacefully exist on the ocean, this refugee flotilla turned to piracy. They began raiding Ixalan's coast, preferring to face down other humans rather than the vampires that garrisoned their once free cities on Torrezon's western coast. In time, though, as they developed homegrown industries that allowed them to train, outfit, and manage more fearsome vessels and crews, they began to aim their raids at Torrezon as well.

Beckett Brass, as captain of the Scourge, earned a formidable reputation because of both her skills as a sword fighter and her mastery of enchantment magic. Jareth Wake, navigator of a ship called Squid Eyes, was obsessed with finding Brass. After the Scourge rammed Squid Eyes, the two ships became impossibly entangled and, through some quirk of fate, stayed afloat. Eventually, the two captains agreed to a parley, realizing that victory was impossible for either side. They eventually declared themselves the first citizens of High and Dry — a neutral ground where pirates could meet and trade goods, tools, treasures, and stories. Over time, other derelict vessels limped to High and Dry — or were towed there by more seaworthy vessels — and expanded the dimensions of what soon became a thriving town. The existence of High and Dry allowed for the creation of an unusual currency among the pirate captains: favors and obligations. Insofar as a lasting connection exists among the pirates, they refer to themselves as the Brazen Coalition, in honor of Captain Brass.

Over the coalition's first century, great legends cobbled together collections of ships and planted their flags on the few islands that dot the Stormwreck Sea. These captains styled their ranks in many ways but in effect were the same as kings — they ruled over fiefdoms they called fleets, struggling against and with each other for de facto rule over the coalition. Some were plain in their desire to be sovereign above all others, though most rejected the old words of the law that lorded over them and their ancestors on the land. Law was written by the last captain standing and enforced first with the edge of a cutlass.

The Immortal Sun

At one time, the Brazen Coalition sought the Immortal Sun, an ancient prize rumored to be more valuable and powerful than any other in existence. One that could be the key to returning to Torrezon and driving out the Legion of Dusk to reclaim their ancestral lands. They reached the Golden City Orazca, but failed to secure the Immortal Sun.

The Phyrexian invasion

During the Phyrexian invasion, High and Dry swelled with refugees from both Ixalan and Torrezon. The coalition's dream of boundless freedom vanished. Refugees by the thousands staggered out of ragged ships onto High and Dry's docks sick, scared, and hungry. They begged for protection from the Phyrexian invaders. The myriad fleets of the coalition first responded to this discontent by leaving High and Dry. But they discovered this to be a poor choice: without High and Dry's vast supply stores, a total collapse of oceangoing trade, and with Phyrexians raging across both Ixalan and Torrezon, a free ship could only be free on the high seas for so long. Hungry and low on supplies, the fleets returned to High and Dry to find it besieged, locked in a struggle between Coalition defenders and the turned.

Admiral Brass survived the Phyrexian invasion. Her fleet, however, and her original idealistic dream of the Brazen Coalition did not. At the invasion's outset, Brass and the main element of her fleet were sailing in a grand expedition bound for the rumored southern continents; she turned back when she saw Realmbreaker's branches arcing over the ocean sky. This journey would result in a long, island-hopping campaign of brutal jungle combat and fearsome, Phyrexianized sea monsters. Brass and her ships returned to High and Dry and retook the city, liberating its population and driving out the Phyrexian invaders there. Her reinforcement of the city's defenders was lauded as a heroic feat, and she took command of High and Dry as the city's sole leader.

After the invasion

In the post-invasion era, members of the Coalition began moving away from the hazardous work of piracy, with many taking up mining. The discovery of cosmium on Ixalan has kicked off a rush to extract the mineral, prompting an industrial and trade boom.

Once run off of favors, promises, debts, and stolen coin, High and Dry now thrives off of a proper maritime economy, debt, and cosmium trade. Reaving and pillaging made one a parasite, Brass declared, no better than the Phyrexians that corrupted and turned so many once-free people of the Brazen Coalition. When the angry crowds gathered outside of her flagship at the docks of High and Dry, she did not sail away. Instead, she walked out atop the main deck, threw her arms wide, and declared the age of piracy to be over. The Brazen Coalition would become a nation whose chief purpose was to ensure what Brass saw as true freedom: freedom from fear. Seizing on this newfound legitimacy, Brass crashed a meeting between a faction of the Sun Empire represented by Caztaca Huicintli and Saheeli Rai, and a faction of the Legion of Dusk represented by Elenda of Garrano. Brass forced the others to support the creation of a free pirate nation between Torrezon and Ixalan, declaring herself Governor.

Land-based growth is the basis for much of newly appointed governor Brass's effort to legitimize the coalition as a state: by issuing cosmium prospecting deeds and parceling out land along Ixalan's coast. Enforcing these deeds are the Bluecoats, the Coalition's national navy. Skeptical at first, independent cosmium prospectors soon realized the value of holding a deed guaranteed by the Brazen Coalition: an official contract signed and stamped by the offices on High and Dry meant the Bluecoats wouldn't come and break tools, destroy camps, and confiscate hauls if they caught others mining. Instead, they would protect claims against those who held none with the coalition.

Bases

• The floating city of High and Dry is neutral ground for the pirates to meet and trade goods, tools, treasures, and stories. Founded when two ships crashed together, it now consists of rafts, barges, ship hulls, and floating platforms lashed together into one large mass. Taverns and shops catering to pirates stand on top. Violence here is commonplace and often goes unpunished.
• The Spitfire Bastion, former fortress of Ripley Vance.
• Sunray Bay, on Ixalan's northern coast, is the Brazen Coalition's primary port on Ixalan and the largest land-based population center. Controlled by Ripley Vance, Sunray Bay was never dull and always dangerous, overflowing with gold, cosmium, and all manner of trade goods — illicit and otherwise. Owing to its wild wealth, Sunray Bay was heavily patrolled by Bluecoats, garrisoned by coalition fighters, and its bay waters protected by both Vance's private ships and the coalition's nascent navy. Nevertheless, Sunray Bay was a rough-and-tumble frontier town, a place where all manner of folk first arrive on Ixalan to chase their fortunes. Sunray Bay was left deserted after its population was taken over by the Mycotyrant in 5 Dawn Era.
  • Downtown, the largest and most productive mine in the Brazen Coalition, and responsible for a significant part of the Coalition's economy. Originally an ancient, miles-deep dry cenote, it was named as a joke, but the name stuck. The town is split between an outpost on the surface and the main village underground in a huge cavern. Hundreds of mining tunnels extend into the rock around the cenote and wooden buildings are scattered around the lip seemingly at random. Pulley-operated elevators are supported by cranes and catwalks, while hydraulic lifts and switchbacks hug the walls. Additional pulleys haul buckets of ore from the mines to carts at the surface. Refineries handle chemical and magical conversions, other processing areas manage the manual cleaning, and silos are filled with products ready for delivery to the surface. Within the mine, everything is usually lit by giant daylight lamps, both magical and mechanical, as well as personal torches, candles, and lanterns. Its mining has caused earthquakes and runoff in the surrounding area, leading to raids by the River Heralds. After delving deep in search of cosmium, the miners stumbled upon the mycoids. The entire town was quickly taken over by mycoid infection in 5 Dawn Era.

Fleets

According to Governor Beckett Brass, in 5 Dawn Era the Coalition included some six hundred ships stocked and crewed, with reserves scattered across the sea.

• The Bluecoats, formerly known as the Deadeye Fleet led by Captain Wallis Parrish. Descendants of Torrezon's military crews, they now serve as a national navy.
• The Dire Keel Fleet or simply Dire Fleet, led by Captain Brandis Thorn. Largely opposed to Governor Beckett Brass's rule.
• The Fathom Fleet, led by Admiral Beckett Brass (now destroyed).
• The Storm Fleet, led by Captain Lannery Storm.

In-game references

Associated cards:

• Brazen Blademaster
• Brazen Boarding
• Brazen Buccaneers
• Brazen Freebooter
• Forerunner of the Coalition

Referred to:

• Compass Gnome
• Daring Buccaneer
• Dauntless Dismantler
• Dire Fleet Hoarder
• Dread Osseosaur
• Fanatical Firebrand
• Fist of Suns
• Mephitic Draught
• Pirate's Landing
• Promising Vein
• Relic's Roar
• Sailor of Means
• Squirming Emergence
• Swashbuckling
• Synapse Necromage
• Tectonic Hazard
• Unfriendly Fire

^† Scryfall does not record flavor text for digital cards. See Alchemy: Ixalan/Flavor text