The Ships of Fortune update released Alliance Emissary Flags that offer a variety of new benefits for the pirate life. Earn large sums of gold, and unlock hidden quests. While raised, the Emissary Flags reward more experience for turning in loot (especially beneficial for reaching Pirate Legend quickly).
When an Emissary flag is raised, activities contribute to leveling up the flag itself. Everything you do will contribute to the level of the flag. Flags start at level 1 and max at level 5. The higher-level flags reward more gold for turning in. In addition to gold and quests, time sailed with any Emissary Alliance flag counts toward a global ranking for all pirates to compete.
Once a flag is raised (voted up) it has to be lowered (voted down) in order to receive any gold earned for experience gained while repping an alliance. This leaves the opportunity for your flag to be stolen by pirates. When a ship sinks, the Emissary flag will float to the top with the rest of the loot. It is a long wooden stick, wrapped in fabric. This object is slim and potentially difficult to find in a loot piñata. Stolen flags need to be turned into Reapers Hideout to receive rewards.
The Scoop: A level 5 flag is worth a great deal of gold for turning in (and stealing), but more importantly, reaching grade 5 while representing an Emissary Alliance flag will unlock a secret quest.
How to Unlock Secret Quests in Sea of Thieves
The Order of Souls, Gold Hoarders, Athena’s Fortune, and Merchant Alliance will all reward a secret sequence of quests for reaching Emissary Grade 5. These quests offer greater rewards than regularly purchased quests. The flag does not need to be raised to complete the quest once it has been unlocked. However, when a flag is raised more experience is rewarded, so more often than not, you will want to keep your flag raised for that extra experience.
The secret quest unlocked will reflect the flag you are representing. Gold Hoarders will unlock more chests to dig up, Order of Souls will unlock new captains to murder, and so forth. The Athena’s Fortune is the best loot haul of the bunch, but it can only be unlocked by reaching Pirate Legend. All secret quests can be earned an infinite amount of times.
The Reapers Bones Alliance (the pirate alliance) is a little different. Instead of earning a grade 5 quest, Reapers Emissary Alliance Flags grade 5 will make all other Emissary ships visible on the map. A perfect reward for pirates. The trade-off, all Reaper’s Bones Emissary flags are visible on the map for all players to see. Keep one eye on the horizon my friends (and that map), see you on the seas.
