| Beckett Brass | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Race | Human |
| Birthplace | Ixalan |
| Lifetime | Mending Era |
Governor Beckett Brass is a leader of the Brazen Coalition on Ixalan.[1][2]
Description[ | ]
Brass is a broad woman with pale, golden hair.[3] Older, wrinkled, and sunburnt, she carries herself with an oaken strength. She wears sailor's clothing — a heavy wool coat, a bicorn hat, and sturdy, salt-stained boots.
History[ | ]
The Scourge[ | ]
Beckett Brass, as captain of the Scourge, earned a formidable reputation because of both her skills as a sword fighter (wielding her cutlass, Ripper) and her mastery of enchantment magic. A well-known legend claimed that those who sailed on the Scourge were luckier, faster, and stronger than they were before joining her crew. This was credited to the brass figurehead that graced the bow of her ship, which was said to be infused with the captain's magic to give a boon to any loyal crew member aboard. Thanks to this magic, Captain Brass's crew always found the biggest treasures and raided the most rival ships. Many pirates coveted a position on her crew, and some of them deserted their captains in hopes of finding the Scourge and winning a post aboard. But if any deserters ever found a place in Captain Brass's crew, or if they ever found the Scourge at all, the word never got out. This fact only added to the air of mystery surrounding the captain, her ship, and its magic brass figurehead.
High and Dry[ | ]
Jareth Wake, navigator of a ship called Squid Eyes, was obsessed with discovering the truth. Turning all his expertise to the task of finding her, he designed enchanted compasses, maps, sextants, and calipers, all tuned to a single point: the location of Captain Beckett Brass. He convinced his captain to enable his search by promising that they could plunder Captain Brass's figurehead and perhaps glean some of her magical secrets. But Captain Brass knew when she was being tracked, and she turned to her trusted navigator and first mate, Lex Briggs. Lex specialized in magically augmenting, and undermining navigational equipment. Her augmentations could create compasses that would point toward great quantities of gold, maps that would reveal the locations of buried treasure, charts that would show the movement of other vessels at sea, and calipers capable of shortening the distance her crew had to travel to reach their desired location. But her magic could also obfuscate her ship's location, obscure maps, and send compass needles spinning off their axes. At Captain Brass's orders, Lex crafted no fewer than six charms to confound Jareth Wake's magic, and the Scourge would probably have evaded him forever if it hadn't been for Swab, the Scourge's goblin prankster. Swab's trickery disrupted Lex's charms just long enough for Jareth to set his course and discover the Scourge at last. the literal collision of the Scourge and Squid Eyes led to the creation of the floating city of High and Dry and, ultimately, the formation of the Brazen Coalition.
The Fathom Fleet[ | ]
Since then, Captain Brass became Admiral Brass, in command of a disciplined, fearsome collection of ships known as the Fathom Fleet. Ships such as the Hangman's Noose (captained by Sedden Dray), the Witch's Windlass (captained by Farrien Goss), the Windbinder (with its helmsmage-captain Kalishah Abban), and Admiral Brass's own Second Scourge extended her fearsome reputation. Many captains proved willing to give up some of their freedom in exchange for the measure of security that comes from sailing under her flag. Pirates of the Fathom Fleet could be recognized by the rope motifs woven into their clothing, celebrating the metaphorical lines that tie the ships of the fleet, and indeed, the whole Brazen Coalition, together.[4]
The Phyrexian invasion[ | ]
Brass survived the Phyrexian invasion. Her fleet, however, and her original idealistic dream of the Brazen Coalition did not. At the invasion's outset, Admiral 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.[5]
Governor[ | ]
Brass's honeymoon period lasted through the end of the invasion, but as with Torrezon and the Sun Empire, the demand for change grew overwhelming. Thankfully for the people of High and Dry, Brass's concept of freedom had evolved as well. Freedom, the great admiral realized, was only guaranteed so long as your ship could keep sailing. To keep sea-worthy, a vessel needed all hands to pitch in: a sailing ship began as a forest, and those who built ships rarely sailed them. 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.[5]
Not long after, she 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.[3]
The Indomitable is Brass’ new ship, built from the scavenged parts of her previously destroyed fleet.[6] The ship was destroyed by a salamander wurm in Ixalan's Core, but she was able to escape with her crew and enough of her ship left to rebuild it.[7]
Gallery[ | ]
Admiral Beckett Brass Magic: The Gathering Arena avatar.
Story appearances[ | ]
| Title | Author | Publishing date | Set | Setting (plane) | Featuring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lost Caverns of Ixalan: Pawns | Miguel Lopez | 2023-10-20 | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan | Ixalan | Saheeli Rai, Huatli, Pantlaza, Apatzec Intli IV, Atlacan Huicintli, Caztaca Huicintli, Chitlati, Elenda of Garrano, Beckett Brass |
Trivia[ | ]
- The appearance of Beckett Brass was modeled after Valerie Rainville, the mother of artist Jason Rainville.[8]
In-game references[ | ]
- Represented in:
- Associated cards:
- Depicted in:
- Quoted or referred to:
References[ | ]
- ↑ Explore the Planes: Ixalan
- ↑ R&D Narrative Team (November 8, 2017). "Planeswalker's Guide to Ixalan, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Miguel Lopez (October 20, 2023). "The Lost Caverns of Ixalan - Pawns". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ James Wyatt (2018). "The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Ixalan". VIZ Media.
- ↑ a b Miguel Lopez (November 10, 2023). "Planeswalker's Guide to the Lost Caverns of Ixalan". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Chris Mooney (November 3, 2023). "The Indomitable is Brass’ new ship, built from the scavenged parts of her previously destroyed fleet.". Twitter.
- ↑ Miguel Lopez (November 12, 2023). "The Indomitable is meant to be Brass’s ship". Twitter.
- ↑ Jason Rainville (October 23, 2023). "Admiral Brass, Unsinkable". Jasonrainville.com.
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