Sailing Era – Ultimate Characters Guide (Recruitment, Abilities, Bonuses and Languages)

Locations, specialties, and some other notes about every recruitable character in the game. All locations listed pertain to the recruitment of a character and not necessarily stuff related to the main quest, unless otherwise stated. Additionally, this guide is focused on outlining the generic recruitment paths for characters. If a character is part of your main quest, recruiting them is generally not covered here.

Asia

Character: Abdullah

• Recruitment: Muscat trade center after beating the game as him.

Specialties:

• Skilled Fighter – Increased exp gain from battles
• Ship Seizing Tactics – Ability to recruit ships that have surrendered
• Loot – Increases supply gained when plundering ships

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Stone Falcon Statue – +2 leadership +2 observation

Languages – Arabic

Character: Aji (Yun Mu Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Rose banner questline. Starts in Pattani, go to the shipwreck and then find the rose banner along the coast near Pattani. For specific character details, see the dedicated sections below.

Specialties:

• Southeast Asian Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the central south peninsula cultural sphere
• Together as One – Increases sailor max morale
• Hand-to-Hand Tactics – Inflicts enemy ships with water leakage after hand-to-hand combat

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Horn – +1 brawling +1 music

Languages: Khmer / Siamese

Character: Garaba (Yoshitaka Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Picked up in a stowaway event somewhere in Southeast Asia or East Asia, first event seems to be about a week at sea and second one seems to require more than 10 days (possibly simply low supply). If you really want to trigger it just sail around and wait.

Specialties:

• Java Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in Southeast Asian cultural sphere
• Pick the Lock – Chests can be opened immediately
• Hidden Cargos – Ship cabins can hold +10 items

Languages: Indonesia / Khmer / Chines

Character: Hiyar O’Worley (Abdullah Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Pick up in (random) plagued port, seemingly concentrated around the Indian Ocean and nearby.

Specialties:

• Arabic Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Arabic and East African cultural spheres
• Doctor’s Kindness – Restores sailor morale after battle
• Desert Traveler – Reduces supply consumption on Gobi terrain

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Glass Reagent Case – Medicine +1; Organization +1

Languages: Arabic

Character: Katelyn

• Recruitment: Requires Sassi Palmis. Look for a fleet called the Pirate Queen’s Fleet in the Red Sea and defeat it. After finding the five treasures, find her just north of Toamasina.

Specialties:

• Pirate Star – Reduces exp required for upgrades
• Rapid-Fire Cannon Expertise – Increased damage, accuracy, and penetration of Rapid-Fire Cannons

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Tricorne – +1 steering +1 leadership +1 firearms

Languages: Spanish

Character: Lu Liyuan (Yun Mu Main Quest)

• Recruitment – Must find event on entering an Indian port (seen both Diu and Calicut) Then, travel to Istanbul to see another event, and lastly find him in the Western Turkey expedition.

Specialties:

• Ming Empire Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Ming Empire and Korean cultural spheres
• Mountain Traveler – Reduce supply consumption on hills or swamp
• Stone Identification – Increases trade profit of gemstones

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Jigui – +1 geography +1 treasure

Languages – Chinese

Character: Nasser (Abdullah Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Starts in Pattani, go to the shipwreck and then find the rose banner along the coast near Pattani. For specific character details, see the dedicated sections below.

Specialties:

• Knowledgeable – Increase sailor max morale
• Confusion Tactics – Inflicts confusion after hand-to-hand combat
• Business Adept – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Persian cultural sphere

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Dice – +1 negotiation +2 firearm

Languages: Arabic

Character: Sassi Palmis

• Recruitment: Complete the Holi questline in Calicut and attend the festival after completing Kanam’s questline. The Holi questline is a bit different for each main character but generally starts by entering Calicut around February or March.

Specialties:

• Indian Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in Indian cultural sphere
• Dancing Grace – Increases sailor morale cap

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Buddha Amulet – +1 music +1 humanities

Languages: Hindustani / Sanskrit

Character: Shen Shi (Yun Mu Main Quest)

• Recruitment: After seeing event at the Haizhou Buddhist temple, pick up from the oceans around China in a random event.

Specialties:

• Scout – Reduce stamina loss during expeditions
• Bandit Slayer – Increases artillery damage when fighting pirates.

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Farewell Goblet Sword – +30 hp +2 brawling

Languages: Chinese

Character: Takigawa Amagai (Yoshitaka Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Meet in Nagasaki tavern and then learn about Moro-haku sake by translating the book The Trivia in Edo. Head back to Nagasaki and enter the trade center. Rescue from pirates.

Specialties:

• Japanese Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Japanese cultural sphere
• Ronin – When hp reaches 0 in duel, restore 1 hp and unleash an ultimate
• Provocation – If both sides have morale after hand-to-hand combat, challenge the enemy to a duel

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Delicate Katana – +2 brawling

Languages: Japanese

Character: Yoshitaka Shizuma

• Recruitment: Nagasaki after beating the game as them

Specialties:

• Prestigious Shipbuilder – Grant exp when shipbuilding
• Cats at Hand – protects fleet from rats
• Craftsmanship Knowledge – Increase trade profit of industrial goods
• Nature Surpassing – Can freely modify ship cabins (bypasses cabin modification technique)

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Shipwright’s Saw – +1 leadership +1 shipbuilding

Languages: Japanese

Character: Yun Mu

• Recruitment: Zhangzhou after beating the game as her. Purchase Moon Port Book of Facts to make her appear.

Specialties:

• Scholar – increased EXP gain from discoveries
• Analogist – Decreases requirements for interpreting books (When using Yun Mu in translation, skill requires for her are reduced by one. There isn’t an obvious visual indication of this but you can confirm that her skill level should be insufficient and still works.
• Picky Shopping – Increases profits of goods based on amount of knowledge accumulated for them

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Compass (The treasure from Hangzhou): +1 leadership +1 geography

Languages: Portuguese / Chinese

Africa

Character: Beluget

• Recruit: Learn about the Minos fleet from a teahouse somewhere in West Africa, then trigger an event in St. George involving a young boy fleeing from the Minos fleet after entering chapter 4 of your main quest. Then, find the Minos fleet along the coast of West Africa and defeat them. Hear about Beluget being in Cape Verde at Sao Tome, and go there to pick him up.

Specialties:

• Has one specialty that does nothing, has unique flavor to each main character.
• After completing Beluget’s Quests and completing the Greek Fire bounty:
• African Villain – Increases trade profit and contribution in West African cultural sphere
• Forced Breakthroughs – Increases rowing speed and the speed at which sailor morale decreases
• Special Tactics – increases the damage of auxiliary guns

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Eyeglass – +2 Selection

Languages: Swahili / Spanish

Character: Kornelly

• Recruitment: Event and expedition in Toamasina, afterwards recruited in the Toamasina tavern.

Specialties:

• Wilderness Resident – Reduce supply consumption in forest
• Way of Preservation – Increase fish gained from fishing and trade profit on fish

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Tribal Necklace – +1 organization +1 firearms

Languages: Hausa

Europe

Character: Anastasia

• Recruitment: Complete an event in the Western Turkey expedition landing and then recruit along with Mustafa Amir in Beirut. In Beirut, go to the trade center to see an event with the two and then recruit them at the Beirut pier.

Specialties:

• Eastern European Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Balkan cultural sphere
• Spinner – Increases profits of textile goods
• Neat Cargos – Ship cabins can hold +10 items

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Ring Broach – +1 selection +1 organization

Languages: Slavic

Character: Andrea

• Recruitment: Bring black pepper to Calais and recruit in the tavern

Specialties:

• French Climate: Increases trade profits and contribution in French cultural sphere
• Spice Expert – Increased profit from food and spice goods
• Cookery – Food can be used as a substitute for supplies when out of supplies

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Calabash – +2 culinary

Languages: French

Character: Andreas Heinrich

• Recruitment: See event in Pisa and then find event in Naples expedition. Pick up in the Naples tavern afterwards.

Specialties:

• Nordic Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Northern European cultural sphere
• March – Reduces supply consumption
• Strong Willed – Protects fleet from hallucination

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Knight’s Longsword – +50hp +1 brawling

Languages: German

Character: Andrew

• Recruitment: After beating the game as Andrew, recruit at the Lisbon pier.

Specialties:

• Adventurous Spirit – Increases EXP gained from sailing
• Innate Leader – Reduces EXP required to level up character who are below Andrew’s level
• Route Pathfinder – Discovering new ports grants +100 local contribution

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Compass – +2 leadership +1 geography

Languages: Portuguese

Character: Beatrice

• Recruitment: Tulip quest line in Amsterdam, start by going to Amsterdam in November.

Specialties:

• Craftmanship – Increases trade profit of artware
• Lowland Climate – Increases trade profit and contribution in Dutch cultural sphere

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Tulip brooch – +3 organization

Languages: Dutch

Character: Carlos Cortez

• Recruitment: In Seville after finishing the Flota de Indias part of the main quest, or Jaca’s questline for Yun Mu, and recruiting Costello.

Specialties:

• Spanish Nobility – Increases trade profit and contribution in Iberian cultural sphere
• Cannon Expertise – Increases damage, accuracy, and penetration of cannons
• Synergistic Tactics – Allied attacks are more likely to occur in naval battles

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Rapier – +2 leadership

Languages: Spanish

Character: Costello Hermann

• Recruitment: Monica (Seville Barmaid) questline

Specialties:

• Seasoned Pirate – Increased chance of inflicting abnormal status with cannons
• Troublemaker – Inflicts enemy ship with burning after hand-to-hand combat
• Master of Love – Unlocks sweet talk interaction with barmaids. Random chance for either +50 or -20 favorability.

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Velvet Coat – +1 negotiation +1 treasure

Languages: Spanish

Character: Daniel Crete

• Recruitment: See event in Trieste then travel a few times between Venice and Trieste. Eventually rescue from pirates.

Specialties:

• Surgery – Recovers a portion of dead sailors after battle
• Plague Doctor – Protects from plague while sailing
• Pharmacological Mastery – increases profits from trading medicine

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Plague Doctor Mask – +1 brawling +1 medicine

Languages: Italian

Character: Dietlind

• Recruitment: Starts with the quest in Benghazi from the merchant. You then meet her in the tavern at Hamburg. After that, find the deed to a ship from Lübeck and order a ship at the shipyard there. After a pirate encounter outside the port, she joins.

Specialties:

• German Climate: Increases trade profit and contribution in German cultural sphere
• Sniper – Increased damage in boarding attacks

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Daybreak – +30 hp +1 firearm

Languages: German / Slavic

Character: Esmeralda

• Recruitment: Find in Marseilles and then Palma after recruiting Daniel and hearing rumors of a witch in the Calais tavern.

Specialties:

• Thought Reader – Interpret news topic that barmaids are interested in
• Caravan – Increases expedition load (seems to double)
• Romani Traditions – Increases profit of trading hobby goods

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Tarot Cards – +1 negotiation +1 selection

Languages: French / Slavic / Greek

Character: Henry

• Recruitment – Recruit in London after finishing Flota de Indias part of the main quest or recruiting Jaca as Yun Mu.

Specialties:

• Remote Combat – Increases damage, accuracy, and penetration of long-barreled cannons
• Briber – Increases max sailor morale

Extra Bonus Equipment:

• Pottery Pipe – +2 leadership

Languages: English

Character: Joyce de Fritz (Andrew Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Recruit in Amsterdam

Specialties:

• Precise Routing – Increase Fleet auto-sail speed
• Mathematics – Increase fleet artillery accuracy
• Orange Addict – Protects the fleet from scurvy

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Sextant – +1 mapping +1 geography

Languages: Dutch / Portugeuese / German

Character: Loris Falaise

• Recruitment: Purchase his songbook in the London item shop and then recruit in the London tavern

Specialties:

• Italian Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in Italian cultural sphere
• Oenology – Increases alcohol trade profits
• Bard – Increases contribution gain

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Gone with the Wind – +1 music +1 treasure

Languages: Italian

Character: Maltim Almeida Blanca (Andrew Main Quest)

Recruitment: Travel to Genoa.

Specialties:

• Seasoned Officer – Increases negotiation success rate with NPCs
• Climate Conqueror – Drastically reduces hull damage in storms
• Supply Utilization – Reduces consumption of supplies while sailing

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Advanced Telescope – +1 observation +2 selection

Languages: Portuguese

Character: Mustafa Amir

• Recruitment: Complete an event in the Western Turkey expedition landing and then recruit along with Anastasia in Beirut.

Specialties:

• Turkish Nobility – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Turkish and North African cultural spheres
• Treasure Appraisal – Adds a chance to obtain precious items when trading
• Fire Cannon Expertise – Increases damage, accuracy, and penetration ability of fire cannons

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Saladin’s Scimitar – +2 negotiation

Languages: Turkish

Character: William Ansel (Andrew Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Pick up in London and take him to Ceuta to recruit (requires 100 contribution in London).

Specialties:

• British Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in British cultural sphere
• Sketch – Increases rewards and contribution from reporting discoveries
• Journey of Odysseus – No longer become out of control in storms

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Scholar Flat Cap – +1 geography +1 humanities +1 biology

Languages: English / Latin / Greek / Portuguese / Spanish

Character: Yuskin

• Recruitment: Tulip quest line in Amsterdam (go to Amsterdam in November to start). After recruiting Beatrice, go to Venice.

Specialties:

• Penny Pinching – Reduce fleet supply and sailor wage costs
• Merchant of Venice – increased experience and profits from trading specialties
• Business Craft – increased rewards from completing business contracts

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Tiny Golden Scale – +1 calculating +1 selection

Languages: Italian / Dutch

Americas

Character: Blackbeard

• Recruitment: Finish the Flota des Indias part of the main quest, or Jaca’s questline for Yun Mu, and then recruit in San Diego.

Specialties:

• Coercion – Adds chance to cause confusion when battles take place
• Reign of Terror – Provides protection from confusion
• Tyrannical – Can recruit surrendered small and medium ships
• Naval Mine Tactics – Increases range of naval mine explosions, which can also trigger chain explosions

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Carved Musket – +1 leadership +2 firearms +1 treasure

Languages: English

Character: Jaca

• Recruitment: Nassau tavern after recruiting Caribbean character from Flota des Indias part of the main quest. Recruited in Yun Mu’s abandoned gold mine quest, usually picked up while doing her main quest in the Caribbean.

Specialties:

• Caribbean Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Caribbean cultural sphere
• Boarding Tactics – Allows hand-to-hand combat immediately when a ram collides with an enemy ship
• Fearless Charge – Increases ram damage

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Eagle Warrior Armor – +1 leadership +1 brawling

Languages: Indian / Spanish

Character: Marma Cora (Abdullah Main Quest)

• Recruitment: Wolf child clue in Veracruz

Specialties:

• Inca Climate – Increases trade profits and contribution in the Central and South American and West Coast American cultural spheres
• Instincts – Increase Field of View in expeditions

Extra Equipment Bonus:

• Deer Whistle – +1 biology +1 brawling

Languages: Indian

Recruiting Aji & Nasser as Andrew

For Andrew, start doing the shipwreck in Gia Dinh and going back to Pattani and grabbing the Rose Banner. If you have not already, you will need to recruit Garaba. While I have not directly confirmed, recruiting them most likely also requires you to be in at least chapter 3 to trigger Garaba’s debt collection event. Find and defeat the Rasmus fleet on the seas just east of Malacca to unlock a commerce guild contract in Malacca. You will need to then complete the commerce guild contract for Nasser in Malacca, which will allow Garaba’s debt collection event to trigger. Following the debt collection event, you will receive a questline from the governor. Steps from here will be broken up into separate spoiler blocks.

1. It will tell you to first travel to Palembang where you need to translate a book in the library.
2. After talking to the librarian about the book, you will be sent to Makassar to meet the author.
3. The author will send you back to Gia Dinh to search for the Rose Garden in the post.
4. Recruiting Aji requires you to have picked up the key along the bank of the Mekong river. Take it to the Rose Garden. Here you will recruit Nasser and pick up Aji’s portrait from the chest.
5. Find Aji again in Lopburi.

If you get stuck at any point I would suggest finding the Rasmus fleet on the sea near Malacca and defeating it. I haven’t confirmed if this is strictly required for Andrew but if anything might progress something it would be that or main story progression.

Recruiting Aji & Nasser as Yoshitaka

For Yoshitaka, trigger Garaba’s debt collection event in Malacca after entering chapter 3. After this you get a pretty straightforward questline about resolving Garaba’s debt. Just make sure to pick up the key along the Mekong river and the stuff from the shipwreck and outskirts of Pattani, the questline will lead you through recruiting Nasser and Aji.

Recruiting Aji as Abdullah

For Abdullah, start with the Gia Dinh shipwreck and the Rose Banner outside Pattani. Following this, find and defeat the Rasmus fleet near Malacca. After entering chapter 3 and recruiting Garaba, you can trigger his debt collection event in Malacca.

1. Translate the book in the Palembang library. This will require someone who speaks Portuguese so you may be in for a journey.
2. Speak to Thom Cruz in Makassar to be pointer to the Rose Garden.
3. Make sure you’ve picked up the key along the bank of the Mekong river, then travel to the Rose Garden through the Gia Dinh Post.
4. Find and defeat the Rasmus fleet one last time to recruit Aji.

Recruiting Aji and Nasser as Yun Mu

Both Aji and Nasser are recruited as a part of Yun Mu’s chapter 2 main quest. This quest is straightforward up until the first time you fight Aji outside Malacca. At that point you may need to go back to get Garaba to advance the quest, as like all other characters you must see Garaba’s debt collection event in order to recruit Aji. Garaba is thus necessary to even advance the main quest as Yun Mu. After seeing this event, a side quest, Seashore Problem, will open up.

After travelling to Lopburi and speaking to Nasser:

1. Search the Gia Dinh shipwreck and find the treasure chest just north of Pattani.
2. After informing Nasser, defeat Aji one more time.
3. Travel to the Rose Garden in the Gia Dinh post, to the west of the starting area marked by a white exclamation mark.
4. Sail a little up the Mekong, the river directly to the west of Gia Dinh, to finish the quest and recruit Aji and Nasser.

Recruiting Belegut

Belegut is one of the trickier characters to recruit and his questline contains a softlock so be careful.

First Recruitment:

1. You must be in chapter 4 of the main quest to recruit Belegut
2. You must have the Minos hint. This is obtained by hearing about the Minos fleet in a teahouse somewhere in West Africa, and then seeing an event related to them in St. George.
3. If you’ve done the previous two steps, find and defeat the Minos fleet. They can usually be found along the coast of West Africa around Abidjan, but unless you get lucky this will probably take some patience. They are a random npc fleet that you must attack, there will be no event trigger starting combat.
4. After defeating the Minos fleet, travel to Sao Tome to hear about the whereabouts of Belegut. Travel to that port to recruit him.

Belegut’s Family Quest:

1. Level up Belegut to trigger an event at sea where you learn about his ties to Maracaibo. I am not sure of an exact level requirement, but I know that getting his first skill point is sufficient.
2. Travel to Maracaibo and visit the mansion Belegut used to live in through the post. I am unsure if you need to bring Belegut on the expedition but you might as well. You need to enter the mansion twice to finish up here, this can be done in the same expedition.

Barbary Pirates:

1. After learning about Belegut’s family, travel to ports around Marseilles or Genoa to learn about Barbary Pirates around Palma.
2. Sail near Palma to trigger the Barbary Pirates questline
3. Escort the priest to Pisa and then travel to Algiers. You must now wait until Belegut sends a messenger instructing you to ambush the Barbary Pirates near Syracuse.
4. After defeating the Pirates, return to Algiers.

Greek Fire (Softlock Warning):

1. After finishing the Barbary Pirates and seeing the event of a burning ship sailing into port in the Mediterranean, travel to Istanbul
2. You should trigger a questline that leads to you investigating an aqueduct. If you do not see this questline, something is wrong. Do not do the Greek Fire bounty until you have seen this questline or you will softlock out of recruiting Belegut.
3. Travel a bit north from Istanbul along the European side to reach the aqueduct.
4. Complete the Greek Fire bounty to really recruit Belegut and also unlock the Greek Fire blueprint