Steamwheedle Cartel

The Steamwheedle Cartel is the goblin trading company that runs the neutral ports of Azeroth. In Classic it appears in the reputation window as a heading over four separate factions, one for each of its towns: Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, Everlook and Ratchet. Their guards protect Alliance and Horde visitors alike, and their auction houses, ships and flight paths make them some of the busiest places in the game.

Who they are

The goblins of Undermine are organized into rival trading cartels, and Steamwheedle is among the largest. Its business is staying neutral. During the Second War its Trade Prince sold machines and ships to the Horde, but by the time of World of Warcraft the Cartel trades with everyone and lets no war into its towns. Its guards, the bruisers, attack anyone who starts a fight there, whichever side they are on.

The Cartel's rule over its towns is practical rather than noble. Its leaders want order because order is good for business, and many of their quests are about protecting shipments, fighting pirates and bandits who prey on trade, or making a profit from some odd invention.

The four towns

• Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale is built into the cliffs of a cove and entered through a tunnel shaped like a giant shark's jaws. Baron Revilgaz runs it from the top of the inn, and it is the home of the Blackwater Raiders, the pirate crew who guard it. Its ship sails to Ratchet.
• Gadgetzan in Tanaris is the capital, ruled by Marin Noggenfogger. It is the nearest town to Zul'Farrak and the gateway to Un'Goro Crater and Silithus.
• Ratchet on the coast of The Barrens is run by Gazlowe, the goblin engineer who helped Thrall build Orgrimmar.
• Everlook in Winterspring is a snowbound trading post for adventurers in the high-level north of Kalimdor.

Earning reputation

All four towns start at Neutral. Most reputation comes from the quests in each town: Booty Bay has the most, around 70, Ratchet about 50, Gadgetzan about 30 and Everlook about 20.

Some quests are worth singling out:

• Southsea Freebooters from Gazlowe in Ratchet, against the pirates on the Barrens coast.
• Water Pouch Bounty from Spigot Operator Luglunket in Gadgetzan, a repeatable turn-in of [Wastewander Water Pouch] from the Wastewander bandits of the Tanaris desert. It was the standard way to raise Gadgetzan reputation.
• The Booty Bay quest lines against the Bloodsail Buccaneers, starting with The Bloodsail Buccaneers and The Bloodsail Buccaneers.
• The OOX quests, ending with An OOX of Your Own, which rewards a [Mechanical Chicken] pet.

A handful of quests credit the Cartel as a whole rather than one town, such as Zapped Giants in Feralas, Egg Collection in the Burning Steppes and Free Knot! in Dire Maul.

When a character gains or loses reputation with one of the four towns, the other three gain or lose half as much. Killing the Bloodsail pirates around Stranglethorn is a slow but steady way to raise all four at once.

Rewards

In Classic the goblin towns have no quartermaster and no special items for high standing. Reputation with them matters in other ways:

• Safety. At Hostile or below, the bruisers of that town attack on sight, which shuts a character out of its flight path, bank, auction house and ships.
• The Bloodsail. Players who want the [Bloodsail Admiral's Hat] must first become Hated with Booty Bay by killing its citizens, then spend weeks winning the goblins back. See Bloodsail Buccaneers.
• Pride. Exalted with all four towns became an achievement goal in later expansions, combined with Bloodsail standing for the title "the Insane".

History and trivia

• The goblins claimed Booty Bay before the First War, after driving out trolls who had overrun a small human port there.
• The Cartel's leader in Classic is Marin Noggenfogger of Gadgetzan, maker of the Noggenfogger Elixir that turns drinkers into skeletons or shrinks them.
• In Cataclysm, Booty Bay was battered by the Bloodsail and the Cartel itself was overshadowed by the Bilgewater Cartel, whose goblins joined the Horde.

Sources

• Steamwheedle Cartel (Warcraft Wiki)
• Bloodsail Buccaneers (Warcraft Wiki)