Consortium

The original members of the Consortium.

"It is with great pleasure that we shall now commence our inaugural meeting of the Guthrie-Frazier-Naft-Lawrence Shipping Consortium for the Purposes of Trade in the West Indies, Excelsior........Reginald, add to the agenda discussion of a shorter name."

―Naft

The Consortium is a group of pirates and merchants involved in the trade, smuggling, and distribution of goods in Nassau.

History

Season One

The founding meeting of the Consortium.

Prior to the Consortium's creation, all trade was managed by Richard Guthrie. He would purchase the stolen goods, then smuggle them out using his own ships. After his involvement in this illicit trade is uncovered, Richard decides that in order to protect his daughter, the pirate trade must be crippled. He swiftly cuts ties and business on the island, informing the crews of the island he is no longer conducting business and that all monies owed are lost. Instead of paying debts and leaving as her father has hoped, Eleanor decides to recreate her father's business without her father. To do this, she calls on Frasier to assist in trades off the island, Captains Naft and Geoffrey Lawrence to transport the cargo, and Captain Benjamin Hornigold to operate as the face to gain the trust of the local pirates. While Fraiser and the two captains consent to the idea, Hornigold tells her that he would only get involved if she lifted her ban on Charles Vane. He tells her that until that ban is lifted, everybody they do business with would be at risk as long as people did not trust Eleanor. Eleanor refuses initially, and Hornigold gives her until dark to decide.

Eleanor holes up in her office for two hours while the prospective members of the Consortium wait in the common room. Lawrence and Frasier are worried that she will refuse, after which Hornigold will withdraw his men, and Lilywhite and his men will riot. However, Naft believes that she is merely taking the matter seriously and mulling it over. While Eleanor despises the idea, she goes along with it and lifts the ban, officially founding the Consortium.

The second meeting of the consortium.

After founding the Consortium, they soon encounter small setbacks, the largest being that as he predicted, much of Lawrence's crew refused to accept their new job and a large number deserted. At the same time, James Flint returned from its hunt of the Andromache and brought with them a large number of slaves found it the hold of their prize. Eleanor is able to solve Flint's problem on how to handle the slaves by buying the men and giving them to Lawrence, resolving his issues of an undermanned ship.

However, new problems soon arose was the Consortium was preparing for their maiden voyage. As Captain Lawrence and the Black Hind were preparing to depart, Charles Vane returned to the island with the new crew and took control of Fort Nassau, slaughtering Hornigold's garrison and using the fort's cannons to sink his ship, the Royal Lion. As the Consortium tries to plan a counterattack and figure out who took the fort, Vane arrives and requests a parley with Eleanor. In her office, he threatens to sink every ship in the bay if he does not get Hornigold's place in the Consortium, even threatening to sink Flint's ship if he returns with the Spanish gold. Eleanor reluctantly accepts Vane, even telling him about the tunnels beneath the fort that Hornigold planned on using to retake the fort. Meanwhile, a furious Hornigold is expelled from the Consortium. After Vane's induction into the Consortium, Captain Lawrence was able to depart with his ship on the maiden voyage of the Consortium. 

Season Two

The crew of the Fancy arrives to Nassau with a haul from a prize, the Good Fortune. However, the Warehouse Cashier refuses to to pay full price for it due to the barrels being covered in blood. Meeks, the crew's quartermaster, argues with the Cashier until Eleanor arrives, and explains that the costs in repackaging the cargo comes out of the pirates' end. She promises to pass along any savings in the repackaging of the cargo. Eleanor later visits Charles Vane in the fort and scolds him for not showing up to the meetings. She tells him that if he wants Hornigold's spot in the Consortium that means taking up Hornigold's responsibilities, which included providing security. She goes on to say that the night before, someone killed two watchmen and stole £500 worth of cargo from the warehouse. Vane argues that she needs stronger partners, and he doesn't want to play the role of constable for Captains Naft and Lawrence. Eleanor retorts that she had stronger partners, referring to Vane's pushing out of Hornigold. They continue to argue about what Vane will do when Flint returns with the Spanish gold, and Eleanor threatens to remove Vane if he tries to extort the gold from Flint. 

The third meeting of the Consortium.

When Captain Lawrence returns from his voyage, the Consortium meets in the parlor of the Tavern. Eleanor is disappointed to learn he got a far smaller amount of money for his goods than he should have. Eleanor says that all the documents and payoffs were in good order, but Lawrence replies that Eleanor's family's name is not. Lawrence explains that he considers it a miracle that he even made it back to Nassau. He explains that because of it, he was meant with great skepticism every step of the way. And when the customs man learned he was an agent of Eleanor's, he was questioned for nearly three hours. Lawrence convinced him that there would be reprisals against the man personally if he wasn't allowed to leave. Vane then asks by whose hand did he promise reprisals, and sarcastically asks if it was Naft's, for it is obvious that Lawrence used Vane's name to cow the customs man. 

After the meeting concludes, Vane tries to warn Eleanor that the Consortium is on shaky footing and she needs to get out while she still can before another mob is at her door. Eleanor asks Vane when did he become concerned with her operation, and Vane replies that he is concerned about her. Eleanor says she believes that he has no concern for her but in fact resents her and is angry with her. Vane replies that he cannot protect her, and if she can't protect herself she needs to stop acting like she can. They are then interrupted from screams downstairs and rush to see Ned Low beheading Meeks. Eleanor orders Low out of the bar and off the island, and O'Malley puts a sword to Low's throat to convince him to leave. Low then kills O'Malley and refuses to adhere to Eleanor's wishes, promising to remain in Nassau. 

Eleanor travels to the interior and asks Miranda Barlow to try and arrange a meeting between her and Underhill, a plantation owner in the interior. Due to the vulnerability of the Consortium, Eleanor wants a partnership with a large plantation to bolster commerce on her side of the island. Miranda is reluctant, but promises to try.

When Flint returns and begins planning to oust Vane from the fort by bombarding it and then invading with his men and Benjamin Hornigold's, Eleanor leads the Consortium in backing Vane. She has Frasier pay four criers to spread Vane's message to the rest of Nassau. Frasier asks why they are supporting Vane, and Eleanor says they are not supporting his position, they are merely relaying it. Eleanor then says that the only person who can stop this is Flint, and she is going to find the one person who can dissuade him from this course: Miranda.

At Eleanor's bar, she and her father Richard Guthrie are discussing her future. Guthrie tells Eleanor that Underhill is not completely against working with her and her consortium, but that they must ship goods that are legally obtained. . She is then informed by a Runner that a stray shot from Flint's ship hit a set of stores, setting it ablaze. Furthermore, the conflagration is near the Intrepid's storehouse, which has been freshly stocked with gunpowder. Eleanor orders the runner to have Captain Lawrence move the powder to the Guthrie Warehouse and have Virgil take some men and put out the fire. After he leaves, Richard explains that he can broker a partnership between her and the landowners on New Providence, giving her legitimacy and them greater profits. However, she would need to divest herself from the crews on the Account. She vows that she will not work with her father again until she can totally trust him .

Eleanor stops Flint and Vane from fighting in the tavern by threatening to shoot them, and they sit down for a parley with her, her father and Miranda. After Flint discovers that Abigail Ashe is in Vane's possession, and with Mrs. Barlow's persuasion, he decides to offer her back to her father with no request for ransom. Flint and Miranda hope to use their former friendship with Lord Peter Ashe to convince him to help bring Nassau back into the fold of the British Empire, with pardons for all the pirates as well as a say in electing their governor. Flint promises not to continue his attack in exchange for the girl. Eleanor, and by extension the Consortium, support this position. However, Vane demands the Spanish Man O' War in exchange for Abigail's release, which Flint refuses, prompting Vane to storm out of the meeting. However, Eleanor promises to deliver the Abigail to Flint.

Eleanor seduces Vane and then steals his keys while he sleeps. She then frees Abigail from her cell and the two escape through the fort's tunnels. She brings Abigail to the Tavern, where she is greeted by Flint and Mrs. Barlow. Richard then leaves to return to the Underhill Estate to finish negotiating a partnership. However, on the road to the estate, he and his men are waylaid by Vane and his men. 

Mrs. Mapleton, who has been hired by Eleanor to keep an eye on the Inn, informs Eleanor that Charlotte has disappeared, allegedly fleeing with Logan away from Nassau. Mapleton knows this cannot be true, as Charlotte entrusted Mapleton with her savings, which she still possesses. She tells Eleanor that she believes Max and Rackham are conspiring to send the Colonial Dawn to retrieve the gold whilst Flint is taking Abigail back to Charles Town. Later, Frasier approaches Eleanor and tells her that the Colonial Dawn is most certainly emptying her hold, giving further credence to the theory Mrs. Mapleton had proposed. Frasier tells Eleanor about the damage that could be done were the gold ever to reach the shores of Nassau. He states that pirates with that much gold will only be more empowered than ever and that it would surely kill any hopes of reconciliation with England. Eleanor tells him that the only way to actually stop the plan is to have everyone killed, including Max and Rackham. She declares that is something that she absolutely will not do. When Jack Rackham discovers Richard dead and crucified in Fort Nassau, he sends word of this. Eleanor arrives after Frasier, who gives her the note pinned to her father's body. The note reads that Vane killed Richard because he was part of a plot that wished to return the yoke of the Crown to Nassau and thus betrayed the pirates and suffered a traitor's death. 

After Richard's death is discovered, many citizens of Nassau, including Mr. Rawls and Max, pay their respects to Eleanor. Afterwards, Frasier brings two men, who she orders to move at sundown. That night, the two men begin killing the officers of the Colonial Dawn Crew who may know the location of the gold. They successfully kill Stayton and Atz, but are killed by Anne Bonny before they can murder Rackham and Featherstone. The crew then departs for Florida. Meanwhile, Richard Guthrie's funeral takes place in the interior. Afterwards, Eleanor talks privately with Underhill, and the two go to the Barlow Estate to conclude negotiations. She explains that she will be the end of piracy on the island. She then tells Underhill about the plan that is already underway to take out Rackham's crew before they are able to set sail and secure the Urca gold. Underhill agrees to partner with Eleanor. However, she is arrested afterwards by Benjamin Hornigold, Dufresne and their men. They take her to Harbour Island, and hand her over to the custody of the Royal Navy in exchange for pardons for the ten of them.

After the news spreads of Eleanor's arrest, Captains Naft and Lawrence's crews scatter, and the remaining members of the Consortium meet in the Tavern to discuss what to do, however Frasier and Mapleton simply bicker until they are interrupted by Eme, who is unaware of the news. Max buys up many of the businesses that Eleanor used to have a stake in, with the last holdout being her Tavern, which has now under Frasier's control. Frasier asks if Max's goal is to take over the Guthrie's former operation, having heard about how she is buying up all the merchants' interests. Max answers that she has no interest in fencing cargo or making the same mistakes Eleanor did, such as lording over Nassau. She tells him that for people like them, power is most effective when least perceived. She then hands him her offer to buy his interest in the place, which is far more generous than the ones his colleagues got. As she leaves, Frasier asks why she is paying more for the Tavern, but she declines to answer. With Eleanor arrested, the crews scattered, and all of the business interests bought up by Max, the Consortium officially disbands.

Members

Leaders

• Eleanor Guthrie, the head of the Consortium (deceased)
• Frasier, an appraiser and the Consortium's corporate seal
• Charles Vane, Steward of Fort Nassau  (deceased)
• Naft, Captain of the Intrepid
• Geoffrey Lawrence, Captain of the Black Hind
• Benjamin Hornigold, Steward of Fort Nassau (kicked out; deceased)

Other Members

• Reginald Walker, quartermaster of the Intrepid.
• Jacob Garrett, carpenter's mate aboard the Intrepid.
• Harrison, quartermaster of the Black Hind.
• Mr. Scott, quartermaster of the Royal Lion. 
• Virgil, an employee of Eleanor Guthrie.
• The Warehouse Cashier
• O'Malley, bodyguard to Eleanor Guthrie (deceased)
• Babatunde, bodyguard to Eleanor Guthrie (deceased)
• A Runner.

Affiliates

• Mrs. Mapleton
• A Butcher
• Richard Guthrie (deceased)

Gallery