A Scholar of the Correspondence (Guide)

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A Scholar of the Correspondence quality represents your knowledge in the otherworldly language of the Correspondence and the ability to call on this exotic power. Its levels reach a maximum at 21. The CP needed to raise a single level is the same as the level it's reaching, as with most qualities. In short, it is referred to as SotC.

Raising A Scholar of the Correspondence[edit]

Unlocking the first level - Guest Lecturer[edit]

Correspondencestone.png

To gain the first level the Expedition to the Tomb of Seven must be completed, in The Forgotten Quarter. This is naturally part of the progression of the Watchful Making Your Name story-line, A Name in Seven Secret Alphabets. This gains a Set of Correspondence Stones which, when researched a bit, rewards with the first level of SotC and progresses the Making your Name story. This is the only way to start gaining SotC, without the first level you cannot progress.

Onwards from level 1 - Smouldering Academic[edit]

The recommended way is to raise to level 7 using Look for more evidence of the Correspondence in the ruins and A present from the Solitary Glim-sculptor, then write Correspondence symphonies at The Empress' Court. (This requires exactly 27 symphonies! On the bright side it also gives 810 Echoes worth of Moon-Pearls.)

Alternatively asking other players with the Correspondent profession for help can speed the process up greatly, as the letters they can send can give more CP the less you have (it's a random range, you can still get only 1 at times), making reaching level 10 quite fast. When short on Academic friends, The Fallen London subreddit [1], and the official forums [2] are both great places to find helpful people.

You can also use the The University Method (detailed below) from level 5, but due to its expensiveness, the above options are recommended for reaching level 10.

Going beyond level 10 - The Searing Road[edit]

Scrawl2.png

The only reliable ways to push SotC further after level 10 are burning plaques at the University, acquiring it during research if you're a Correspondent yourself or by reading letters from other Correspondents. The University plaque option gives +1 CP at a time (with the option having a rare success to give +3 (the rare success chance is assumed around 2%)), the research is always +1 CP, while the letters give a random amount, between 1 CP and an upper limit which is determined by how much SotC you already have. They always provide at least 1 CP, and possible more, but the range deteriorates to only 1 at higher levels (around level 15).

The University plaque method and the letters require increasing amounts of Watchful, peaking at 300 (modified) for the University, and 200 (base) for the letters to reach the final, 21st level.

CP needed for Specific whole SotC levels
Current SotC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
CP to 21 216 210 203 195 186 176 165 153 140 126 111 95 78 60 41 21
CP to 20 195 189 182 174 165 155 144 132 119 105 90 74 57 39 20
CP to 19 175 169 162 154 145 135 124 112 99 85 70 54 37 19
CP to 18 156 150 143 135 126 116 105 93 80 66 51 35 18
CP to 17 138 132 125 117 108 98 87 75 62 48 33 17
CP to 16 121 115 108 100 91 81 70 58 45 31 16
CP to 15 105 99 92 84 75 65 54 42 29 15
CP to 14 90 84 77 69 60 50 39 27 14
CP to 13 76 70 63 55 46 36 25 13
CP to 12 63 57 50 42 33 23 12
CP to 11 51 45 38 30 21 11
CP to 10 40 34 27 19 10

(Remember that this table (and the ones below) work with whole levels. You could be at level 7 but have 3 CP already towards the next level. In that case, if you aim for 21, you only need 203-3=200 CP.)

Before continuing, take a look at what higher levels are actually used for and then make sure you have the determination needed and your goals set before attempting!

The Letter Method - Excellent Combination[edit]

Receiving a Flame-proof Missive from other players with the Correspondent profession is an easy and cheap way of raising SotC, and even allows you to slip out of getting 300 Watchful that the plaque method requires. They take a single action to read, but also gives 4 CP Wounds on average (1-7 CP). You can use them to get the last level or two, if you can't reach 300 Watchful. (Also, while not set in stone, it is considered polite to somehow repay the helping Correspondents if they require it.)

These letters are meant to have a chance of giving more CP the less you have, helping to reach level 10 quicker with help. You always gain CP on a range of 1 to an upper limit, said limit is determined only by your current sotC level. (Exact deterioration rate is currently unknown.) This upper limit is gradually reduced to 1 at around level 15, meaning you always gain only 1 CP/letter afterwards.

This method also require increasing amount of Watchful but here it's a base stat requirement. You need 200 base Watchful to reach 21 SotC. The formula is your current SotC level * 10 is the amount of Base Watchful needed to get any CP from a letter.

The SotC gain here doesn't suffer from Mired in Mail scaling, meaning no matter how many letters you've read this week, they will always give SotC CP if the base Watchful requirement is met. The accompanying Watchful and Dangerous gains do, sadly, scale down as normal.

When short on Academic friends, The Fallen London subreddit [3], and the official forums [4] are both great places to find helpful people.

A Flame-proof Missive requires from the sender:

Only the receiving end benefits from SotC gain. (But the sender gains a good amount of Corresponding... for their work and, possibly, your grateful gifts for their help!)

Since the bonus CP disappears around level 15, getting to 21 by only using these letter would require a lot of corresponding. For this reason, it is advised to use the The University Method until the final levels. Of course, if you have the means and friends necessary to receive an extraordinary amount of letters there's no one to stop you!

The Lab Research Method - Profession Pays[edit]

If you're a Correspondent by profession, you can pursue truths through the Red Science when doing research in the Laboratory, which has a decent chance of raising SotC by 1 CP, in both success and failure. (Exact chance is currently unknown). Specifically, it allows you to draw a specific card during your projects, which has the mentioned option. It does not cost anything, and even generates Laboratory Research!

-more comprehensive notes later-

The University Plaques Method - Reliable Grinding[edit]

Use Correspondence Plaques to expand your knowledge of the Correspondence at Shadowy Dealings at the University. Gives 1 CP/action, and 3 CP Wounds on average (1-5 CP), with a rare success giving +3 CP.

Requires both increasing Watchful and tons of resources, specifically Aeolian Screams, Extraordinary Implications and Correspondence Plaques.

Watchful needed at specific whole SotC levels for the University
SotC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Watchful 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300
Watchful (if Correspondent) 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250

(Needed to push beyond that level, for example to push beyond level 14 and reach level 15, you need 240)

This is only available after reaching level 5, but is unadvised to use before level 10 due to its expensiveness. The other options to reach 10 are cheaper, this is mainly for getting higher than 10.

Correspondence Plaques and the other goodies[edit]
This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.
What needs work: Someone should compare the Rat Market and the Maze-Garden in Polythreme as sources of Correspondence Plaques. More calculations needed on Correspondent discount.

The resources. Each single CP requires:

This means you need increasing amounts of Correspondence Plaques. You will need as much Screams and Implications as CP. As for plaques:

Note: None of the calculations below rely on the rare success. Numbers in parentheses are the cost for Correspondents.

Correspondence Plaque requirements for specific whole SotC levels
Current SotC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Plaques to 21 3040
(2116) 		3010
(2086) 		2968
(2044) 		2912
(1996) 		2840
(1933) 		2750
(1863) 		2640
(1775) 		2508
(1679) 		2352
(1562) 		2170
(1436) 		1960
(1286) 		1720
(1126) 		1448
(939) 		1142
(741) 		800
(513) 		420
(273)
Plaques to 20 2620
(1843) 		2590
(1813) 		2548
(1771) 		2492
(1723) 		2420
(1660) 		2330
(1590) 		2220
(1502) 		2088
(1406) 		1932
(1289) 		1750
(1163) 		1540
(1013) 		1300
(853) 		1028
(666) 		722
(468) 		380
(240)
Plaques to 19 2240
(1603) 		2210
(1573) 		2168
(1531) 		2112
(1483) 		2040
(1420) 		1950
(1350) 		1840
(1262) 		1708
(1166) 		1552
(1049) 		1370
(923) 		1160
(773) 		920
(613) 		648
(426) 		342
(228)
Plaques to 18 1898
(1375) 		1868
(1345) 		1826
(1303) 		1770
(1255) 		1698
(1192) 		1608
(1122) 		1498
(1034) 		1366
(938) 		1210
(821) 		1028
(695) 		818
(545) 		578
(385) 		306
(198)
Plaques to 17 1592
(1177) 		1562
(1147) 		1520
(1105) 		1464
(1057) 		1392
(994) 		1302
(924) 		1192
(836) 		1060
(740) 		904
(623) 		722
(497) 		512
(347) 		272
(187)
Plaques to 16 1320
(990) 		1290
(960) 		1248
(918) 		1192
(870) 		1120
(807) 		1030
(737) 		920
(649) 		788
(553) 		632
(436) 		450
(310) 		240
(160)
Plaques to 15 1080
(830) 		1050
(800) 		1008
(758) 		952
(710) 		880
(647) 		790
(577) 		680
(489) 		548
(393) 		392
(276) 		210
(150)
Plaques to 14 870
(680) 		840
(650) 		798
(608) 		742
(560) 		670
(497) 		580
(427) 		470
(339) 		338
(243) 		182
(126)
Plaques to 13 688
(554) 		658
(524) 		616
(482) 		560
(434) 		488
(371) 		398
(301) 		288
(213) 		156
(117)
Plaques to 12 532
(437) 		502
(407) 		460
(365) 		404
(317) 		332
(254) 		242
(184) 		132
(96)
Plaques to 11 400
(341) 		370
(311) 		328
(269) 		272
(221) 		200
(158) 		110
(88)
Plaques to 10 290
(253) 		260
(223) 		218
(181) 		162
(133) 		90
(70)

All of the 3 resources needed can be acquired from Journals of Infamy:

50 x Journal of Infamy + 5 CP Connected: Benthic ▸ 10 x Extraordinary Implication (1 Action)

50 x Journal of Infamy ▸ 51 x Correspondence Plaque (1 Action)

50 x Correspondence Plaque ▸ 10 x Aeolian Scream (2 Actions)

You can accrue large amounts of Maniac's Prayers, which can be upconverted to correspondence plaques, at the Rat Market. Simply selling anything will give you rat-shillings, which can be exchanged 1 to 1 with Maniac's Prayers (see Guide).

Publishing a Newspaper takes 18.5 actions (take a look at the respective guide), and if you can reach 217 (modified) Shadowy, with a High Outlandish Edition the payout is not just 118 x Journal of Infamy but also 4 x Extraordinary Implication, speeding up the process. Due to Newspaper mechanics, the required 104 x Outlandish Copy is only reachable if you opened a station at Jericho Locks (the second station). If you haven't, go with other types of copies, whichever one you can get most of, as the Journal gain scales with the amount of copies you gather. If you have high enough Shadowy, the lost extra Implications won't make too big a difference.

You don't strictly need 217 (modified) Shadowy for this to work. The Newspaper works in a way that the amount of Journals you get scales with the amount of copy you gathered. If you fail a few checks, you still get a good amount of Journals, and this process simply takes longer.

The approximate amount of publishes needed to acquire the needed materials can be seen here if you had none of the resources to being with (NoP stand for Number of Publishes), provided you have 217 Shadowy, and always publish the Most Outlandish Edition, taking into account the excess generation of Correspondence Plaques when up-converting and the extra Implications from the Newspaper:

Newspaper Publishes needed for required items by specific whole SotC level
Current SotC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
NoP to 21 38 37 37 36 34 33 32 30 28 25 23 20 17 13 10 6
NoP to 20 34 33 32 31 30 29 27 25 23 21 18 16 12 9 5
NoP to 19 29 28 28 27 26 24 23 21 19 17 14 11 8 5
NoP to 18 25 25 24 23 22 21 19 17 15 13 11 8 4
NoP to 17 22 22 21 20 19 17 16 14 12 10 7 4
NoP to 16 19 19 17 17 16 14 12 11 9 6 4
NoP to 15 16 15 15 14 13 12 10 8 6 4
NoP to 14 13 13 12 11 10 9 7 5 3
NoP to 13 12 10 10 9 8 6 5 3
NoP to 12 9 9 8 7 6 4 3
NoP to 11 8 7 6 5 4 3
NoP to 10 6 6 5 3 2

(This assumes having 217 Shadowy and that the resources are piled up to the limit and turned in all at once and you started with nothing. Otherwise, the actual act of using them provides 10 x Maniac's Prayer which could potentiality be turned into Correspondence Plaques or even Aeolian Screams, and this isn't taken into account.)

The combined action cost of publishing, converting, and cashing-in to reach a desired level from a specific whole starting point can be seen below (again, provided that the Shadowy requirements are met, and Outlandish Editions are being used):

Action costs of reaching specific whole SotC levels, using the Newspaper
Current SotC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Actions to 21 1030 1002.5 993.5 964 914 881.5 847 793 735 660.5 601.5 521 438.5 336.5 253 147
Actions to 20 921 894.5 868 837.5 807 773.5 721.5 667.5 609.5 553.5 474 413 313 229.5 124.5
Actions to 19 797.5 770 762 732.5 701 649 615.5 561.5 504.5 446.5 368 288.5 207 122.5
Actions to 18 693.5 684.5 658 628.5 597 564.5 511.5 457.5 399.5 343.5 283.5 204 103
Actions to 17 609 603 574.5 544 513.5 461.5 428 373 318 259 181.5 102
Actions to 16 529.5 520.5 473.5 462.5 432 382 327 291.5 235.5 160 99
Actions to 15 449 421.5 413.5 383 352.5 319 267 212 155 98
Actions to 14 369.5 363.5 334 304.5 273 240.5 188.5 133.5 78.5
Actions to 13 331 285 277 246.5 216 165 130.5 77.5
Actions to 12 257.5 248.5 219 191.5 160 109 74.5
Actions to 11 221 194.5 166 135.5 106 73.5
Actions to 10 167 160 131.5 83.5 52

(The .5 actions come from getting 2 x Whirring Contraptions from Wilmot's End in the Searching out a Missing Woman carousel for the newspaper. It takes 11 actions to get 2 Contraptions, so it takes 5.5 actions to get a single one (on paper). So the true action cost can be made by adding 5.5 to the numbers that end with .5)

(For comparison a full day in reality is 144 actions if you use all of them.)

While these numbers are accurate for the mentioned conditions, they don't take into account that you have to deal with Wounds occasionally. It is simply to give you an idea about the length of this process.

Converting Journal of Infamy into Extraordinary Implication also costs 5 CP Connected: Benthic, but those can be acquire en masse using Endowment of a University Fellowship. The cost of these few actions are not represented in the above table.

If you lack the Shadowy to reliably reach 104 copy, it will, obviously, take more publishes and thus, actions.

Maze-Garden[edit]

Another alternative to gain the required items is to do runs of the Maze-Garden. See The Maze-Garden (Guide) for a guide to the grind. Assuming 6.5 Awakening/action, you gain 168 Correspondence Plaque over 18 actions.

Using the tables above, that gives the following values (for correspondents in parenthesis):

Correspondence Plaque requirements for specific whole SotC levels
Current SotC 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Cycles to 21 19
(13) 		18
(13) 		18
(13) 		18
(12) 		17
(12) 		17
(12) 		16
(11) 		15
(10) 		14
(10) 		13
(9) 		12
(8) 		11
(7) 		9
(6) 		7
(5) 		5
(4) 		3
(2)
Cycles to 20 16
(11) 		16
(11) 		16
(11) 		15
(11) 		15
(10) 		14
(10) 		14
(9) 		13
(9) 		12
(8) 		11
(7) 		10
(7) 		8
(6) 		7
(4) 		5
(3) 		3
(2)
Cycles to 19 14
(10) 		14
(10) 		13
(10) 		13
(9) 		13
(9) 		12
(9) 		11
(8) 		11
(7) 		10
(7) 		9
(6) 		7
(5) 		6
(4) 		4
(3) 		3
(2)
Cycles to 18 12
(9) 		12
(9) 		11
(8) 		11
(8) 		11
(8) 		10
(7) 		9
(7) 		9
(6) 		8
(5) 		7
(5) 		5
(4) 		4
(3) 		2
(2)
Cycles to 17 10
(8) 		10
(7) 		10
(7) 		9
(7) 		9
(6) 		8
(6) 		8
(5) 		7
(5) 		6
(4) 		5
(3) 		4
(3) 		2
(2)
Cycles to 16 8
(6) 		8
(6) 		8
(6) 		8
(6) 		7
(5) 		7
(5) 		6
(4) 		5
(4) 		4
(3) 		3
(2) 		2
(1)
Cycles to 15 7
(5) 		7
(5) 		6
(5) 		6
(5) 		6
(4) 		5
(4) 		5
(3) 		4
(3) 		3
(2) 		2
(1)
Cycles to 14 6
(5) 		5
(4) 		5
(4) 		5
(4) 		4
(3) 		4
(3) 		3
(3) 		3
(2) 		2
(1)
Cycles to 13 5
(4) 		4
(4) 		4
(3) 		4
(3) 		3
(3) 		3
(2) 		2
(2) 		1
(1)
Cycles to 12 4
(3) 		3
(3) 		3
(3) 		3
(2) 		2
(2) 		2
(2) 		1
(1)
Cycles to 11 3
(3) 		3
(2) 		2
(2) 		2
(2) 		2
(1) 		1
(1)
Cycles to 10 2
(2) 		2
(2) 		2
(2) 		1
(1) 		1
(1)
300 Watchful[edit]
Pen iron.png
 The following section is outdated and no longer reflects the current state of Fallen London. It should be used with caution.

Please help improve it
Specifically outdated: The items listed here as weapons are now Tools of the Trade.

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.
What needs work: Watchful 300 not needed if one becomes a Correspondent, capping at 250 needed. Text should reflect this.

As mentioned, raising SotC this way requires more (modified) Watchful each time a new SotC level is reached, capping at a whopping 300 to reach the final, 21st level. This is quite the challenge in itself, likely requiring the use of more than one Mood card due to the sheer amount of actions. Take a look at Watchful Items and perhaps even Raising Attribute Caps (Guide) to figure out how you could achieve this, but some tips are shown below. Remember that the Mood counts as a hat! Good news is, this is simply the requirement and the challenge itself always stays the same, at Broad 150.

And if you're absolutely certain you cannot reach 300 Watchful even with a Mood, and lack the patience to either get the needed items or raise your Watchful cap, there is still a way. Take a look at The Letter Method.

It is possible to reach 300 without having the Overgoat, spending Fate, completing an Ambition, relying on Seasonal items or having a Watchful Destiny. However this requires:

Gaining 300 without the Mood is also possible with the right combination of Destinies, Seasonal items, and Fate locked goodies, all without specific completed Ambition items!

Requirements -Goat -Seasonal -Destiny -Ambition -Goat -Seasonal -Ambition -Mood -Ambition
Min base Watchful 218 212 200
Hat Preternaturally Intent (mood) Preternaturally Intent (mood) Fancy Glasses / Cream / Face / Toppest Hat
Clothing Smock'o Pockets Smock'o Pockets Smock'o Pockets
Gloves Insatiable Glove Insatiable Glove Insatiable Glove
Weapon Violant Ink / 'Poon Violant Ink / 'Poon Violant Ink / 'Poon
Boots Language of Laces Language of Laces Language of Laces
Companion The Minister of State Affairs The Minister of State Affairs Übergoat FATE
Destiny - Gleam / The Memory / The Revelation Gleam / The Memory / The Revelation
Affiliation Newspaper / Orphans Newspaper / Orphans The Great Game
Transport - - Weasel-Infested Velocipede FATE CHRISTMAS
Home Comfort Voluminous Library Voluminous Library Cloud-filled Sphere FATE ELECTION / Diatomist's Array CHRISTMAS
Spouse Brainy Duo / Player / Model / Bones Brainy Duo Brainy Duo
Sum +82/83 +88 +100

(Having the Brainy Duo Spouse negates the need to have either a Newspaper or an Orphanage in the first column.)

If you're sufficiently advanced into the game (finished the Railway) you can replace the Smock of Four Thousand Three Hundred and Eight Pockets with a Reliable Labcoat for a sweet +1 Watchful.

Efficient Moods[edit]

In the likely event that you can't reach 300 Watchful without a Mood there's another inconvenience encountered near the end. Wounds gain and action costs. Just going from 20 to 21 takes 21 actions while also hurting a lot (3 CP on average). This means that even when starting from perfect health, you'll likely be dead after only gaining 12 CP SotC. Mood cards are Rare and only last for an hour, so needing to wait for more is not exactly pleasant when being so close to greatness! You'll need to count your actions and effectively take care of your Wounds to maximize each Mood. Be sure to wait for all your actions to regenerate before activating the Mood, and you gain an additional 5-6 actions while the Mood itself lasts. Take a look at Wounds Loss to figure out your healing options, some of the best are picked out here, and also some tips for maxing actions:

Maximizing Wounds Loss[edit]
Maximizing Actions[edit]

Using A Scholar of the Correspondence[edit]

Correspondence paperweight.png

(Ambition uses are not included)

Most notable uses[edit]


All Uses[edit]

Specific levels required[edit]

(Naturally, higher levels permit the ones requiring lower than them.)

Challenges based on[edit]

Some challenges simply cannot be done with 100% success, as SotC 25 is unreachable. This is to be accepted!

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