A Person of Some Importance (Guide)
Early PoSI Content and Onwards |
Your influence is felt across London and beyond. Are you destined for greatness?
Intro[edit]
A Person of Some Importance (PoSI) is a measure of your importance in London. It has the following levels:
- A Person of Some Little Consequence
- A Person of Some Importance
- A Person of Some Importance - [Tier 2 specialisation]
- A Paramount Presence
Higher tiers unlock new and exciting professions, locations, equipment, and much more.
A Person of Some Little Consequence[edit]
Meeting the Ambitious Barrister[edit]
To begin becoming a A Person of Some Importance, at least one of your Main Attributes needs to be higher than 100. However, the game checks your modified level, so boosts from equipment do count. As soon as you've reached 100 in one Attribute, a new card can start appearing.
Attribute | Card |
---|---|
Persuasive 100 | A possible coincidence |
Dangerous 100 | A curious coincidence |
Watchful 100 | Almost certainly not a coincidence |
Shadowy 100 | Probably not a coincidence |
This card will give you a new quality A Person of Some Little Consequence.
You will be redirected to Your Lodgings and introduced to the Ambitious Barrister, who believes you have what it takes to become a PoSI. After a nice cup of tea (probably fungal, but it tastes delicious), she will take you for a walk around London.
Are you well known?[edit]
You will need to visit 4 key locations around London and prove you're known there. These locations are, in order:
To proceed with each storylet, you must have a level of at least 100 in the associated Attribute. As before, this check takes equipment modifiers into account.
Are you ready?[edit]
Once you've proven your reputation across London, four new cards can appear, each of them evaluating your readiness for PoSI status in a different way. You can play any one of these cards, choosing any of the options they offer, to advance. There is also an option on some of the cards to spend Fate to bypass the requirements.
A matter of the wardrobe[edit]
The total purchase cost for each set of items on this card is 388.80 ( 202.40 for the Fate option), though it should be noted that the items are not consumed; you can keep them or sell them afterward. This is a more expensive option than some others, but if the items would be useful to you at this stage, they might be worth the expense.
Option | Requirements | Cost |
---|---|---|
Suited and slippered | 1 x Night-Trimmed Frock Coat | 180 |
1 x Exceptional Hat | 115.20 | |
1 x Pair of Dancemaster's Dabs | 28.80 | |
1 x Pair of Masterwork Dancing Slippers | 64.80 | |
Satin by the yard | 1 x Magnificent Midnight-Blue Evening Gown | 180 |
1 x Pair of Lady's Lace Gloves | 28.80 | |
1 x Pair of Masterwork Dancing Slippers | 64.80 | |
1 x Beguiling Mask | 115.20 | |
Elegantly and entirely appointed | 1 x Pair of Masterwork Dancing Slippers | 64.80 |
1 x Avid Glove | 28.80 | |
1 x Ratskin Suit | 115.20 | |
1 x Beguiling Mask | 115.20 | |
1 x Amber-Topped Walking-Stick | 64.80 | |
Fashionable attire (5 FATE) | 1 x Pair of Luminous Neathglass Goggles | 28.80 |
1 x Ratskin Suit | 115.20 | |
1 x Avid Glove | 28.80 | |
1 x Pair of Savage Hob-Nailed Boots | 28.80 | |
1 x Ridiculous Hat | 0.80 |
A respectable address[edit]
The only option on this card, A little place in the city, is the 1 x Key to a Handsome Townhouse: a 3-card Lodgings costing 500 x Romantic Notion. The sell price of the Notions (which are not purchaseable from the Bazaar) is 50; you would actually have to spend 100 on 2500 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey to upconvert.
The Handsome Townhouse also allows you to eventually set up a Salon or an Orphanage, which are useful for Making Waves when you're a PoSI, so this option is likely to continue being useful even into late-game.
A little hideaway[edit]
Three of the options on this card are 4-card Lodgings that can be upgraded later on to 5-card Lodgings. The fourth option is a full set of the three-card Lodgings.
The Bazaar, Royal Bethlehem, and Brass Embassy Lodgings are expensive to acquire before becoming a PoSI (with the lowest purchase prices listed below). While these are all desirable Lodgings that you will want at some point, this may not be the best time to go for them unless you're particularly flush with cash.
Friends and acquaintances[edit]
These options are difficult to put a price on. All the Renown qualities (not including Masters) can be raised from 0 to 5 at Mrs Plenty's Carnival, though raising Renown past that point requires purchasing the Factions' items for cashing in Favours. The Acquaintances can be acquired for free, if not reliably—the Forger can be met if you're sent to prison again, the Soldier by an Opportunity Card, the Functionary by rare successes on certain actions, and the Singer after playing through her storyline. It's possible you will have completed one of these sets by this stage of the game, but if not, you might be waiting a while for the right opportunities to come around.
After you've proven your worth, you need to return to Your Lodgings.
Sufficient Importance[edit]
While you've proven that you have power, the Ambitious Barrister still questions what you've done yourself. For evidence of your accomplishments, you'll need to satisfy one of these sets of requirements:
- A Bringer of Death 1, from certain duels to the death and other such actions
- A Fearsome Duellist 1, from defeating any of the Black Ribbon duellists
- A Procurer of Savage Beasts 1, from obtaining an exhibit for Mr Inch
Because you watch from the shadows
- Master Thief 1, from burglaries
- A Fine Piece in the Game 1, from the Cheesemonger storyline
- The Darling of the Ambassador's Ball, from getting access to the Shuttered Palace
- 1 x Memento of Passion, from affairs at Court
- Banished from the Court, from finishing the Empress's Court storyline
- A Scholar of the Correspondence 1, from finding the Tomb of the Seven
- 20 x Appalling Secret
- Nightmares 5
- Featuring in the Tales of the University 25, from finishing the University storyline
Having proven one last time that you're indeed important, she gives you a Shaper's Pass which allows you to enter the Bazaar Side-streets.
A Morning for Business[edit]
Once you have time in your (no doubt) busy schedule to visit the side-streets, she gives you some explanation about what it means to be a PoSI and helps you acquire a Velocipede. This requires 1 x Bazaar Permit and 1 x Strong-Backed Labour, which you can get in the Bazaar Side-streets if you don't have them already.
Once you've acquired this transport, a new storylet will appear called Are we Done? Clicking Wait – one moment – reruns the tutorial. However, the option you want is You understand; this will remove A Person of Some Little Consequence and give you A Person of Some Importance.
A Person of Some Importance[edit]
You're A Person of Some Importance now, but what does that actually mean? Well, the short answer is: a lot. The long answer is...
Unfinished Business[edit]
Reaching PoSI status will unlock most of ( but not all of) the actions in a storylet in all locations you visited with the Ambitious Barrister. These storylets are:
- Unfinished Business in Watchmaker's Hill
- Unfinished Business in Veilgarden
- Unfinished Business in Spite
- Unfinished Business in Ladybones Road
All of these have options which require multiple Actions and will give you large amounts of raw resources.
Expanded Inventory[edit]
As a PoSI, you now have additional inventory slots: Affiliation, Transport, Home Comfort, Ship, Spouse, and Club. Many of the items for these slots can be obtained through gold-bordered cards and storylets in the Bazaar Side-streets.
For more information on what these items do and how to obtain them, consult the PoSI Item Crafting guide.
Zailing[edit]
One of the most important PoSI items you can acquire is a Ship. This allows you to zail the Unterzee and reach locations outside of London, such as Polythreme, the Iron Republic, and Port Carnelian. There are also occasionally events in which Londoners take to zee for hunting expeditions.
You have a choice of different types of ship, which each have their own advantages (and requirements). Consult the relevant portion of the Zailing guide for advice on choosing a ship, and the PoSI Item Crafting guide for a rundown of what you'll need.
Advanced Professions[edit]
You now have the means to advance beyond Tier 1 Professions, giving you access to better profession-exclusive equipment and better rewards. This is done via the card An Unsigned Message, which can now appear in your deck, and costs Notability. (For exact costs, consult the professions guide.)
The Tier 3 professions (requiring 5 Notability) have associated professional activities, for which maintaining 5 Notability will unlock additional options.
Notability[edit]
While A Person of Some Importance measures if you are someone important in Fallen London, Notability measures just how important. Basically, how big is your Entry in Slowcake's Exceptionals?
The two primary uses for Notability are to unlock advanced Professions and to become a Tier 2 PoSI.
Raising Notability[edit]
Notability is advanced by spending Making Waves on the card A visit from Slowcake's Amanuensis. The amount of Making Waves you need increases with each level of Notability, but can be reduced with higher levels of the qualities Bizarre, Dreaded and Respectable, or BDR (see Guide). The formula for the cost to raise your Notability is: [20 - (B+D+R) + 4 * N].
Making Waves is the impression you have made upon London. Impressions are fleeting, however, and Time, the Healer will halve it every week. See Making Waves (Guide) for information on how to raise Making Waves.
Spending or Losing Notability[edit]
There are several ways to lose Notability:
- If your Making Waves is lower than your Notability when Time, the Healer comes, your Notability will be reduced by 1
- Throwing the Amanuensis out of your Lodgings
- Being arrested when your Criminal Record is 5 or higher
- Using your Entry to help Dr F____ or Fund the production of a notorious new ballet
- Closing an Orphanage or Salon
- Eloping, holding A hasty wedding or A hurried riverside ceremony
Notability can also be spent intentionally in certain advanced transactions.
- Upgrading from a 4-card to 5-card Lodgings in A Sundered Sea at Christmas
- Obtaining a Vial of Tears of the Bazaar or Vial of Masters' Blood from the Portly Sommelier
- Insisting on Favourable Circumstances
- Recommending an unknown acquaintance to give them their first point of Notability
- Advancing to a Tier 2 or Tier 3 Profession on the card An Unsigned Message
- Choosing (or clearing) a Tier 2 PoSI specialization
Tier 2 Person of Importance[edit]
Once you have a level of 200 (unmodified) in one of your Main Attributes ( Persuasive, Watchful, Dangerous, or Shadowy), you can become a Tier 2 Person of Some Importance. There are 4 different types of Tier 2 PoSI, depending on the Attribute in which you have a level of 200. Advancement to this level of importance happens in the starting location associated with that Attribute, and requires a specific piece of equipment and 5 Notability.
Once you're a Tier 2 PoSI, you'll still be able to do everything you already could, with the addition of several new things:
- Advancing your Lodgings: As a Tier 2 PoSI, you can upgrade a 4-card lodging to a 5-card lodging (at a rather immense cost) on the card associated with the lodging at any time of year, rather than waiting for Christmas.
- Building the Great Hellbound Railway, which gives access to locations in Upper River and provides tons of new content. The Railway storyline also enables raising the Watchful, Dangerous, and Persuasive caps up to 230.
- Engaging in Hearts' Game.
- Giving Masterclasses: You are now capable of giving a Masterclass in your specialized Attribute to a player who has less than 100 in that Attribute. This will give them a large boost in that Attribute and grant you some Making Waves.
- Working towards the London's Innards qualities that unlock the ultimate achievement, Paramount Presence. When you're ready to pursue this, see Paramount Presence (Guide).
Which Specialization should I pursue first?[edit]
Whichever one whose stat you get to 200 first, or the one for the stat you like the most.
Aside from that obvious statement, there is one consideration you should heed. The item required for A Legendary Charisma; Parabola-Linen Frock or Parabola-Linen Suit; is not a top-tier item unlike the items required for the other specializations, and furthermore, can be transmuted into an actually quite worthwhile item that is shared-BIS for Glasswork through the Cave of the Nadir. However this transformed item is not usable for the Persuasive Specialization, and the Cave of the Nadir should generally be acessible to you once you hit your first 200; thus the most efficient usage of your time would be to become a Legendary Charisma first before attempting to tackle the others.
All that aside, if you don't intend to pursue becoming a Paramount Presence (and why wouldn't you if you're already this far in and obviously deeply invested in the game?), you can ignore this good advice.