Experimental Object
A player-created Guide is available for this content: University Laboratory (Guide) |
Object of study and investigation.
Wiki note: This quality reflects the current research project you are running. It is set to one of various levels when you Begin a Scientific Investigation (or Dream Up A New Experiment), and determines the options available when you Assess your Progress. It is reset after you complete your project.
See here for a list of all pages which use or require this quality, or click to show them.
Levels
10: Plans for the Chorister's Bomb
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Plans for the Chorister's Bomb. Acquired with: Hire others to do the transportation or Move the Chorister's Bomb in your Landau |
50 | Part of Ambition: Bag a Legend! | Take the Next Step |
20-30: Setting Up the Lab
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
20 | Disambiguation of an Eolith | 5 | Disambiguate the Eolith | ||
30 | Identification of a Seven-Sided Coin | 5 | 10 Numismatic Research | Extra options when you Rely on the Numismatrix | Render a report on the coin |
40: Building a Locomotive
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
40 | Building a Locomotive of Unusual Design | 550 | Mr Spices Relies on You is available | Assemble the experimental locomotive |
101-200: Weapon Projects
Extra options when you Rely on April or Rely on your Esurient Smith (alone or with Lettice, the Mercy), and with the Reformed Protester (FATE)
201-300: Cartographic Projects
Extra options when you Rely on Hephaesta (alone or with the Visionary Student)
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
210 | Route to Parabola |
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Widening the Mirror (with Access to a Parabolan Base-Camp) | 50 |
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Widen the door | ||
220 | Location of a Forgotten Quarter Dig Site | 50 | Part of Ambition: Bag a Legend! | Mark the spot | |
230 | Cartographer's Hoard | 2700 | Nautical Focus[1] | Complete your Hoard | |
240 | Glass Gazettes (5) | 60 | 10 PR | Required research reduced by PR | How much research and how much dream? |
Glass Gazettes (125) | 2500 | 65 PR | |||
250 | Hinterland Scrip | 125 | Extra options when you Rely on the Numismatrix | Conclude your study of Hinterland Scrip | |
260 | Roof-Charts | 550 | Collate your findings |
301-400: Engineering Projects
Extra options when you Rely on your Esurient Smith (alone or with the Profound Student)
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
310 | Infernal Machine | 500 | Finish your Machine of Industry | ||
320 | Devilish Probability Distributor | 450 | Complete and test the Devilish Probability Distributor | ||
330 | Augmentation Device | 100 | Red Science Focus [2] | Finish the study of your Highly Illegal Device | |
350 | Betrayer of Measures | 300 | 300 PR | Red Science Focus [2] | Complete and test the Betrayer of Measures |
360 | Device for the Duplication of Bones | 500 | Red Science Focus [2] | Complete and test the Device for the Duplication of Bones |
401-500: Biological Projects
Extra option when you Rely on Lettice, the Mercy together with a gifted student, and with the Silk-clad Expert (FATE) (alone or when you Work with your Gifted Student)
501-700: Osteology and Palaeontology Projects
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
510 | Truth about a Thorned Ribcage | 350 | 15 PR | Finish your study of the Thorned Ribcage | |
520 | Exploration of the Treachery of Measures on a Human Ribcage | 425 | Red Science Focus [2] | Finish your work resizing a human ribcage using the Red Science | |
530 | Use of the Treachery of Measures on a Warbler Skeleton | 425 | Red Science Focus [2] | Finish your work resizing a warbler skeleton using the Red Science | |
540 | Elastic Limits of Flesh and Bone | 550 | Shapeling Focus | Complete your research in the shaping of bones | |
610 |
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25 | Experimental Stage 1 (currently unused) | Determine the true nature of this bone | |
75 | 25 PR | Invent a false nature for this bone |
801-900: Geology Projects
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
810 | Disambiguation of an Eolith | 10 | Disambiguate the Eolith | ||
820 | Survey of Neathy Geology (25) | 100 | Extra options when you Rely on Hephaesta (alone or with the Visionary Student) | Assemble your conclusions | |
Survey of Neathy Geology (625) | 2700 | ||||
830 | Geochemical Study of Roof Drippings | 100 | Prepare a report on the contents of London's 'rain' |
901-1000: Chemistry Projects
Extra options when you Rely on F.F. Gebrandt (alone or with the Profound Student)
1001-1200: Mathematical Projects
An extra option on Review the Prior Literature, and Rely on Cora Bagley (alone or with the Visionary Student)
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1010 | Impossible Theorem | 13000 | 300 PR | Reach a realisation. Drag the knowledge kicking and screaming out of Parabola | |
1020 | Statistical Observations | 100 | No PR allowed | Finish assembling your statistical tables | |
100 | Any PR | Pass off your corrupted tables to an unsuspecting colleague | |||
1030 | Paradoxical Inversion of Inside and Out | 2500 | 200 PR | Red Science Focus [2] | Finish your Paradoxical Inversion of Inside and Out |
1040 | Inquiry into the Filtration of Light | 2700 | 300 PR | Finish your Inquiry into the Filtration of Light | |
1045 | Investigate the properties of the Xanthous Bulb | 450 | 15 PR | Red Science Focus [2] | Conclude your investigations in the Xanthous Bulb |
1050 | Translation of a Pattern in the Bricks | 450 | 15 PR | Conclude your study of the mysterious brickwork |
1201-1300: Botanical Projects
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1210 | Understanding of Toxins in an Orange-Apple | 300 | 50 PR | Toxicological Focus[4] | Poison yourself as a practical test |
1301-1500: History Projects
Extra options when you Rely on the Numismatrix and with the Stoic Classicist (FATE)
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1320 | Prelapsarian Evidence of the Red Science | 2700 | depends | several | |
1340 | Captured Ushabti | 550 | Toxicological Focus[4] | Perform the final dissection | |
1350 | Sun-Blazoned Cuirass | 550 | Monstrous Focus[3] | Complete your research into the Sun-Blazoned Cuirass |
1601-1700: ??? Projects
Level | Project Name | Laboratory Research | Other Research | Special Project Properties | Result |
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1610 | Miniature Crafts That Can Weather the Waters of Hell | 550 | Nautical Focus[1] | Conclude your investigations into the waterways of the Hinterlands |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 allows you to Draw on your nautical knowledge if you also have Zeefaring, and an extra option when you Rely on Hephaesta
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 extra options when you Rely on April (alone or with the Profound Student), and lets you Draw on your Knowledge of the Red Science
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 allows you to Draw on your Knowledge of Monsters if you also have Monstrous Studies
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 allows you to Draw on your Knowledge of Poisons if you also have Kataleptic Toxicology Studies, and extra options with The Eldest Daughter (FATE)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 extra options with the Percipient Cricketer (FATE)
Research Questions
These are questions posed by the player character in actions such as Review the possibilities and Give them a line of inquiry to follow up on.
Experiment | Description |
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40 | What kind of engine design would it employ? What is the most efficient type of coal tender? |
130 | What materials are most suitable? How thick must the barrel be to contain the pressure of firing? |
140 - 160 | What materials are most suitable? What blade shape ensures maximum effectiveness? |
230, 240, 260 | How reliable are the maps and charts you have gathered? What can we truly infer about the territory from reading them? |
310, 320, 350, 360 | What materials will you need? What are the manufacturing tolerances? |
410 - 470, 495 | How can its anatomy be classified? How would one go about physical examination? How to best keep it contained? |
510, 520, 530 | How old is it? What kind of animal did it belong to? |
540 | How long can it be stretched? Will it shatter, or simply melt? |
820 | What geological strata does it come from? What is its chemical composition? |
920, 930, 950, 990 | What are the practical considerations of manufacture? Will the process work economically with larger batches? |
1010, 1030, 1040, 1045, 1050 | What are the boundaries of the possible? Which Laws must be observed? Which can be split apart? |
1210 | Where does it come from? How does it grow? How does it survive in the absence of sunlight? |
1320, 1340 | Who made it? Out of what? For what purpose? |
1350 | What if the cuirass had the power to make the wearer obedient to the Sun? |
1610 | What can survive the ruddy waters of Hell? What can get to the zee with speed, and survive the trip unscathed? |
Research Descriptions
These are the remarks made by the player character when the Look closely at your current project option is taken. Watchful options for the Meticulous Student's card also has a passage taken from the table below.
Experiment | Description |
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10 | The Correspondence Sigils that specify the function of the Bomb are written in mirror-writing. |
20 | There are telltale chips in the surface. Scratches. Significant marks. Or has it just not been cleaned well enough? |
30 | The letters are unfamiliar, and so is the pattern of scales. |
40 | Some details of the blueprints that hadn't made sense until now. |
110 | The blade you are working looks old even though you are making it now. Hold it to the mirror, and the reflection looks brand new. Time is treacherous. |
120, 130 | This could be made more lethal to the victim, and less dangerous to the person wielding it. |
140 - 160 | The Principle's debts are binding upon the gifts bestowed upon the body of the Principle, which in Parabola is congruent with its personhood. But should those gifts be themselves altered, would the debts not be paid? |
210 | If a mirror frame is deformed just so, but not broken, in the presence of a live cat, while all light is excluded, then... yes. This is suggestive. Insufficient, but suggestive. |
220 - 250 | Under magnification, this drawing looks much less like furious cross-hatching and much more like a street map. |
260 | Here's a note in your logs about a brighter-than-usual alignment of false-stars. Here's a sketch of an odd rock formation dangling from the ceiling. |
310 | The principles behind the design of a Whirring Contraption can be scaled up to good purpose. |
320, 330, 350, 360 | Besides the Brass, the machine uses joy-sensitive alloys in several places. |
410 | Aim a beam of light straight into the middle of the animal, the twisted centre where a body should be and isn't. The bit you can't really look at. And then measure how that light fractures and scatters away. |
420 - 440, 460, 465 | Note behaviour. Chart food consumption. Track apparent mood. |
450 | You don't understand how the ligneous bones form a viable skeleton, but you will. |
470 | Some test subjects barely react to the drug. Others are very responsive. You will discover why. |
480, 490 | Measure diameter. Test shell thickness. Submerge in a barrel and observe how bubbles form on the surface. |
485 | Measure diameter. Test membrane flexibility. Submerge in a barrel and observe how it makes the water look somehow deeper. |
495 | Track pulse rate and blood loss. Note the light dispersion from the diamond. |
510 | You measure the length and sharpness of the thorns, and note their composition. Not only ordinary bone; this is resilient and very sharp even after ageing. |
520, 530 | If you place the Betrayer incorrectly, the wrong parts of the torso grow; or they shrink instead of expanding; or the resizing is inconsistent. Time of day and duration of exposure matter more than one might think. |
540, 610 | Is it still entirely bone, or is it bone that has been replaced by rock? What is this scoring at one end? The correct chemicals are very informative. |
810 | There are telltale chips in the surface. Scratches. Significant marks. Or has it just not been cleaned well enough? |
820 | With the right reagents, you can make a guess at the mineral composition of the stone, and make an educated estimate at where in the Neath it might have come from. |
830 | The liquid catches the light in particular ways; it is very faintly iridescent. |
910 | With the right reagents, you can make a guess at the effects […] It becomes rapidly apparent that the selection of perfume has effects beyond the aesthetic. You will, hopefully, regrow your eyebrows. But in the meantime, your forehead smells delightful. |
920, 930 | This reagent fizzes; that one glows an outraged shade of apocyan before going dark. |
940 | Carefully sifting distinguishes the different components, as the scintillack grinds finer than any other ingredient. |
950 | With the right lenses and the aid of a furnace, you sear away the scarlet attar into its component dusts. Vapours rise from the attar, heady as perfume and thick as strangling death. |
970 | You scrape samples off the shell, fill test tubes with some of the fine hairs to examine their chemical composition. Is it toxic? Reactive? Flammable? |
980 | The material is quite hard, and difficult to take samples of with a scribing tool. The engraved words keep staring at you: "ONE DAY YOU WILL FORGIVE." |
990 | The tears are unusually reactive – not in the chemical sense, but in the sense that they squirm in their vials, trying to escape or responding to the quality of the light. |
1010 - 1045 | Two pages of notes, and when you get to the bottom it's all pure swearing. |
1050 | If you interpret the redder bricks as significant and the paler bricks as gaps, does it look like a sign? |
1210 | Fill flask after flask with reagents. Heat them, cool them, feed them to small animals. Take copious notes. You are getting somewhere, slowly. |
1320 | Sketch all the artefacts at your disposal, and arrange them according to their size and style, material and degree of wear, their find locations... |
1340 | Take full account of its dimensions and motility. Document every mark upon its surface, be that incidental chip or fragmentation, or the intentional designs of ornament or writing. |
1350 | Scrub any incidental dirt off [...] Study the signs of damage as well as [...] intentional markings. Identify the materials used in the straps, the padding, the stitching. Note the way the sun-blazon flares under your touch; how it wakens a furious indignation. |
1610 | You've searched any number of books, but new terms to look up continue to occur. |