A Paramount Presence (Guide)

Late PoSI Content

Your influence is felt across London and beyond. Are you destined for greatness?

A Paramount Presence! is the highest level of A Person of Some Importance (PoSI). It is an immense undertaking to reach this level, and of the many people who play this game, only a few have ever reached it.

This guide assumes you're already a PoSI. For an in-depth guide to getting this, please consult A Person of Some Importance (Guide).

Note on pre-2020 Paramount Presence

Failbetter has overhauled the requirements for A Paramount Presence. [1] For players who achieved A Paramount Presence before the overhaul, there was a unique option available in Unfinished Business in Veilgarden until 3rd June 2020, which granted the Paramount Presence of the Ancient Regime quality, to recognise that they achieved Paramount Presence the old way. This quality was automatically given to all eligible players who hadn't claimed it by the time the storylet disappeared.

To become A Paramount Presence! in the old way, you first needed to overcap all your Attributes to 215. This involved choosing a specialization (for 5 Notability), overcapping the Attribute to 215 (for 15 Notability), and then un-specializing (for 12 Notability). You had to do this 4 times! Once you overcapped an Attribute to 215, a new option would appear under Unfinished Business in each associated location to obtain a new quality, which then required endgame-level achievements.

The new system removes the need to use Notability in Raising Attribute Caps; instead, this is done by playing through particular end-game storylines. Notability is still used in the quest for Paramount Presence when choosing a Tier 2 specialisation, or clearing this specialisation.

Becoming A Paramount Presence!

To be a Paramount Presence, you must have all four of the London's Innards accomplishments, which correspond to the four main attributes. Each of these accomplishments requires that you first specialise in the associated attribute as a PoSI.

Attribute	PoSI Tier 2 Specialisation	London's Innards
Dangerous	A Shattering Force	London's Sinew
Persuasive	A Legendary Charisma	London's Blood
Shadowy	An Invisible Eminence	London's Marrow
Watchful	An Extraordinary Mind	London's Nerves

In general, this is the process to qualify for Paramount Presence:

1. Reach 200 in one of your main attributes.
2. Get the PoSI Tier 2 specialisation associated with that attribute. Specialising costs 5 Notability and requires a particular item for each specialisation.
3. Meet one of the choices of requirements for the associated London's Innards accomplishment.
4. Raise the relevant attribute cap and level it up to 212, if you haven't already.
5. Get the associated London's Innards accomplishment, requiring 12 Notability (sets Notability to 1).
6. Clear your PoSI Tier 2 specialisation, costing 12 Notability.
7. Repeat for each attribute-specialisation-Innards set.

Note: Claiming an Innards accomplishment (step 5) requires 12 Notability, but you will be left with 1 Notability. This is not true for specialising (step 2) or clearing your specialisation (step 6)—for those, the full required amount of Notability will be consumed. If you have 0 Notability, you won't be able to summon Slowcake's Amanuensis until you get a point of Notability back. Either you'll have to wait for the card to come around again, or another PoSI will have to give you a point of their Notability. You may therefore consider grinding an extra level of notability. In all likelihood it will be easier to get recommended by another player or drawing the card, however.

There is also a Fate option for switching your Tier 2 specialisation without spending Notability (saving you the Notability cost of both steps 6 and 2; you will still need the item required at step 2).

Strategy

You can collect the London's Innards accomplishments in any order you wish. That said, it may be worth planning how to approach them, as each accomplishment has three different options for meeting its requirements, and some of these may be more achievable than others depending on your character. For instance, Correspondents may find the SotC 21 requirement for London's Nerves easier to attain because they have more options for raising SotC, and characters with high Monstrous Anatomy and Glasswork may be attracted to the Memento of Violence approach to London's Sinew because they have better success rates at Parabolan Hunts. Additionally, the Notability cost of clearing your PoSI specialisation and picking a new one means you'll want to be sure of which Innards you want to work towards next, to avoid having to switch partway through and build up that Notability again.

London's Innards

Quality	Location	Storylet
London's Sinew	Watchmaker's Hill	Gamble with the Ambitious Barrister
London's Blood	Veilgarden	Drink with the Ambitious Barrister
London's Marrow	Spite	Observe the Ambitious Barrister
London's Nerves	Ladybones Road	Approach the Ambitious Barrister

London's Sinew (Dangerous)

This accomplishment reflects your experience defeating monsters and assassins, your contributions toward the Liberation of Night, or your efforts to advance others' reputations.

The advancement of my friends is the easiest to achieve, at least in terms of actions. You can get a point of Influence by making a new Acquaintance, and 7 points for taking on a Protégé. (It's important to note that anybody can become a Protégé, even if their stats are too high, they just don't get any benefit.) Simply ask around on either the official Forums, the Fallen London subreddit, or the Discord and you'll have 90 Influence in no time.

The ultimate thrill requires more actions, but is a fairly straightforward grind. You can obtain the Mementos of Violence by defeating certain assassins (currently, all but the Polite Poisoner), or by hunting Pinewood Sharks in Parabola. The latter method is particularly efficient if you are also working toward Defender of the Public Safety, as each hunt yields 6 x An Estimable Trophy.

A desire for freedom requires Liberation of Night 40, which can take some time but has a wide range of potential sources, particularly in the Upper River. It is also increased via upconverting Luminosity items, many of which can be obtained through simple grinds. Fund revolutionary research at The Temple Club increases LoN at 3 CP per action, costing 300 x Foxfire Candle Stub in exchange of a Carved Ball of Stygian Ivory. Additionally there are 2 grinds that are a good source:

• Khaganian Opportunity Cycles: 0.64 CP/Action
• Write a Monograph and give it to the The Charismatic Tracklayer

Option	Required	London's Sinew
The ultimate thrill	50 x Memento of Violence	1 - Delight in Death!
A desire for freedom	Advancing the Liberation of Night: 40	2 - The Deadly force of Freedom
The advancement of my friends	Influence 90	3 - A true companion!

London's Blood (Persuasive)

For this accomplishment, you need either three 5-card lodgings, a spouse, or very advanced dreams.

You cherish your spouse is by far the easiest, particularly if you don't feel the need to grind a high level of Organising a Wedding. You can pursue one of the many potential partners available in-game, or simply marry another player.

You cherish your luxuries most requires upgraded 5-card Lodgings at the Bazaar, the Brass Embassy, and the Royal Beth, which are expensive and time-consuming to acquire. If you are a Tier 2 PoSI, you can upgrade the 4-card version to the 5-card any time of year, at a cost of various rare items and some Notability. Otherwise, you can purchase the upgrade for Lacre and Notability during Christmas at A Sundered Sea.

Your dreams can take a long time to reach the necessary levels, but the benefit is that you mostly increase them on opportunity cards, so you can steadily raise these qualities while doing other things without much extra effort.

Note: It is possible to reset the following dreams to revisit them in a different light:

• What the Thunder Said: Stormy-Eyed, obtained on the card Who is the third that walks always beside you?
• The Fire Sermon: Seeing in Apocyan, obtained on the card A dream of a dark, dark room
• The Burial of the Dead: Haunted by Stairs, obtained on the card A dream of a mouldering library

Do not play these cards if you're planning on taking this branch. If you do, you'll have to wait for the dream quality to increment back up to the requisite levels, and there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Option	Required	London's Blood
You cherish your luxuries most	1 x An Infernally Diplomatic Privilege 1 x A Novel Birth-Mark 1 x A Wink from the Manager of the Royal Bethlehem	1 - Supreme in luxury!
You cherish your spouse / You cherish your spouses	Committed (The difference between the options is whether you have an individual spouse, or either A Bewildering Procession or Philosophically Perfect Partnership)	2 - Happy in love!
Your dreams	Death by Water 10 What the Thunder Said 15 The Fire Sermon 15 The Burial of the Dead 15 Is Someone There? 15 A Game of Chess 15	3 - Living in dreams!

London's Marrow (Shadowy)

This achievement requires either considerable wealth, a collection of very rare items, or a significant reputation among both Constables and Criminals.

Wealth is likely the easiest of the bunch. Refer to the excellent Money-Making guide for details on ways to obtain 10,000.

Treasures requires four rare items worth 1560 each. The most straightforward way to obtain them is by trading Certifiable Scraps with the various Relickers; each costs 3200 x Scraps, however, which you can only obtain a few at a time. (See Certifiable Scraps (Guide) for more information.) Other means of acquiring the treasures have been added to late-game content:

• Rumourmonger's Network: Sell a very advanced identity to Spies (requires a fully upgraded Cabinet Noir at Balmoral)
• Reported Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell: Sell a very advanced identity to Devils (ditto) or can be bought in The Rat Market (Guide) when Soft Rat-Moon aligns with West Rat-Wind
• Breath of the Void: Purchase the wax-sealed box on the counter in Moulin, for various 312 items
• Veils-Velvet Scrap: see Discordant Studies - Costs and Rewards (Guide)

Recognition is straightforward, and like Dreams, it requires qualities you will have been able to raise from early in the game. Consult Raising Favours (Guide) for tips. Most sources of Favours come from opportunity cards, so meeting the requirements for more of those to appear will help you raise Favours (and therefore Renown) faster.

• Favours: Criminals sources include being an Enforcer, Murderer, or Licentiate; cards unlocked if you have a Ruthless Henchman, Gang of Hoodlums, or Alluring Accomplice; dropping by to chat with the Repentant Forger on the A Visit opportunity card; and providing an alibi on the Criminals card.
• Favours: Constables sources include being a Rat-Catcher, Stalker, Monster-Hunter, Watcher, or Agent; visiting the Regretful Soldier on the A Visit opportunity card; Train with the Constabulary (Velocipede card); and making a small donation on the Constables card.

Option	Required	London's Marrow
Wealth	1,000,000 x Penny ( 10,000)	1 - Money, Money, Money
Treasures	1 x Breath of the Void 1 x Veils-Velvet Scrap 1 x Rumourmonger's Network 1 x Reported Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell	2 - Jewels in your crown
Recognition	Renown: Criminals 50 Renown: Constables 50	3 - Known to None and All

London's Nerves (Watchful)

To obtain this, you need either extensive knowledge of the Correspondence, a very rare companion, or especially advanced chess skills.

The mysteries of the heavens requires Scholar of the Correspondence 21, which can be a bit punishing to raise past level 10. For a thorough guide to raising this quality, see A Scholar of the Correspondence (Guide).

• Correspondents can reach higher levels of SotC by Pursuing truths through the Red Science during Laboratory experiments, though the SotC is an alternative success (of as-yet undetermined probability). It is a Watchful and Artisan of the Red Science challenge.
• Other players can either (Carefully) read a flame-proof missive from a contact who is a Correspondent, or Use Correspondence Plaques to expand your knowledge of the Correspondence. At lower levels, the former option may give more than 1 CP SotC at a time. The latter gives 1 CP with a rare (~2%) success of 3 CP, but requires increasing levels of modified Watchful (up to 300 for the final SotC level).

Your unusual companion is the most straightforward of the three tedious grinds on offer, requiring an Übergoat. This coveted creature companion is obtained by playing a branch on All fear the Overgoat!, requiring two Overgoats and 1 FATE.

• The Overgoat is one of the most expensive items at the Bazaar, and two cost a whopping 23,425.60 from Nassos Zoologicals. If you've already gathered the 10,000 needed for Wealth under London's Marrow, you only need to do it all again a second time, and then 1/3 of a third time. Simple! Not easy, but simple. The Money-Making guide is your friend here.
• Most players can gain a small amount of FATE without real-money expense. Notably, the Big Rat, Cheesemonger, and Empress' Court storylines give a couple points of FATE at their conclusion. Players with Ambition: Nemesis can gain up to 6 FATE with lucky card draws in The Chambers of the Heart, and are guaranteed 1 more during the subsequent visit to Venderbight.

Your intellectual superiority requires getting 50 Mementos of Silence and grinding The Boatman's Opponent to 40, making it more difficult (or at the very least more tedious) than the other non-Fate option.

• Mementos of Silence can be accumulated at the Chessboard in Parabola, and by sending certain kinds of letters in Epistolary Matters. If you previously obtained Chess: Mastery of the Game from playing the now-retired chess social actions, you can trade these in for Mementos of Silence.
• The Boatman's Opponent can be raised by Playing chess with the Boatman, an increasingly difficult Watchful challenge, while on a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river, and therefore requires quite a bit of dying.

Option	Required	London's Nerves
The mysteries of the heavens	A Scholar of the Correspondence 21	1 - Starry wisdom
Your unusual companion	1 x Übergoat	2 - Caprine understanding
Your intellectual superiority	The Boatman's Opponent 40 Memento of Silence 50	3 - Strategies beyond comprehension!

Known to All

You are known by all London. To some you are notorious, to others famous. You are feared and envied and hated and adored. You are not universally liked, but every soul is in awe of you. Are you, perhaps, the greatest of Londoners?

Once you've obtained all four qualities mentioned above, a new universal storylet will appear called Known to All. Simply clicking on Accept the recognition that is your due will set your A Person of Some Importance to A Paramount Presence! Congratulations, you did it!

A Paramount Presence!

Congratulations on your achievement!

Your name will be remembered, long after London is forgotten beneath the Sixth City. Perhaps it will even be whispered in the Seventh. Beyond then - well, it hardly matters, does it?

By becoming A Paramount Presence, you've unlocked the ability to Teach London, which has two benefits:

• You can tutor a Protégé in two stats at once (either Watchful and Persuasive, or Dangerous and Shadowy); and
• You can invite any other player who's a patron to a private hansom ride, gaining a large amount of Making Waves at the cost of only a single action and Free Evening from both of you.

Apart from that, A Paramount Presence! doesn't do that much. Of course, the real reward is the fact that you made an immense achievement most people haven't. You have completed something that some people would think impossible. Once again, my congratulations on reaching this level! I raise my glass of fungal wine in a toast to your Paramount Presence!

_{(don't forget to add your name to the list [2] and post on Reddit [3] so we can congratulate you!)}