Experimental Object/Text Variations
From Fallen London Wiki
This sub-page catalogues textual variations which depend on 
Experimental Object and are shared by more than one card in the 
University Laboratory.
Too much text depends on Experimental Object to list all of it here. Variations used for only one action are recorded on its page, while those used for multiple actions on the same card are recorded on an associated subpage. See Category:Experimental Object Text Uses for the full list of variant text to check when a new experiment is released.
Research Description[edit]
These pieces of text can be complete Success Descriptions (or Failure Descriptions) in their own right, although they sometimes have additional text before or after. Examples:
- Look closely at your current project (from Work with your Equipment)
- Perform a comparatively simple experiment (from Engage in some Empirical Research)
- Several options from Work with your Shifty Student and Work with your Meticulous Student
| Experiment | Description |
|---|---|
| 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. |
Research Questions[edit]
These text variations show up when the character is coming up with research ideas for the project at hand. Examples:
- Review the possibilities (from Form New Hypotheses)
- Give them a line of inquiry to follow up on (from Directing your Team)
Currently, all of these options are only available on experiments requiring at least 200 Research.
| Experiment | Description |
|---|---|
| 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? |
Object of Study[edit]
A short phrase for an object which is the focus of attention in the lab. Used in:
- Use your nightmares as inspiration
- failures on any of the Work with your Profound Student options, except the hunch
| Experiment | Research Object |
|---|---|
| 10 | leftmost Correspondence symbol |
| 20 | chemical composition chart |
| 30 | worn printing on the reverse |
| 40 | engine check valve |
| 110, 120, 130 | carved handle |
| 140 - 160 | Parabolan debts |
| 210 | mirror frames |
| 220 | street plans |
| 230 - 250 | contour drawings |
| 310 - 330, 350 360 | technical designs |
| 410 - 470, 485 - 495 | feeding plans |
| 510 - 520, 540 | charts of bone densities |
| 810 - 830 | charts of rock types |
| 910 - 950, 970 - 990 | notes on chemical composition |
| 1010 - 1050 | mathematical notes |
| 1210 | botanical notes |
| 1320 | site drawings |
| 1340 | animate statuary |
| 1350 | notes on historic arms and armour |
| 1610 | notes on boats |
Supplies[edit]
A word or phrase for common materials used in the process of experimentation. Often used in the context of obtaining more materials.
| Experiment | Item |
|---|---|
| 10 | screams |
| 40 | bessemer steel |
| 110, 120, 130 | blades |
| 140 - 160 | invisible and almost insoluble bonds of debt, obligation and favours |
| 210 | mirrors of glass and polished metal |
| 220 | dig site diagrams |
| 230 - 260 | fragmentary maps and surveying equipment |
| 310, 320, 350, 360 | cogs and pinions |
| 410, 430 | raw goldfish |
| 420 | scarabs and legal briefs |
| 440 | chilled fish |
| 470 - 495 | fresh meat |
| 510, 540 | calipers |
| 520, 530, 610 | bone saws |
| 810, 820 | chisels |
| 910 - 990 | beakers |
| 1010 - 1050 | parchment sheets |
| 1210 | botanical drawings |
| 1320, 1340, 1350 | cleaning fluid |
| 1610 | models of dear little boats |
Books[edit]
The title of a book on the subject of your current experiment. Examples:
- Leave your student to their own devices (From Work with your Visionary Student)
- Look for a novel angle (From Preparing for a brief Experiment)
| Experiment | Title |
|---|---|
| 10, 20, 30, 40 | Lefacheux' Complete Manual of Laboratory Procedure. |
| 110 - 160 | The Admiralty Standard's Complete Guide to Naval & Infantry Weapons Present and Historical |
| 210, 220, 230, 240, 250 | F.G. ____'s Theory on Subchthonic Surveying & Cartography, Revised Edition |
| 260 | G.F. _____'s Chronographic Analysis of the Motions of the False-Stars, 1899 Edition. |
| 310, 320, 330, 350, 360 | Brass Machinist's Handbook & Hymnal |
| 410 - 470, 480, 485, 490 495 | Theory on the Origins of Monsters & Their Shapes |
| 510, 520, 530, 540, 610 | Complete Natural History of the Neath, Revised 5th Edition |
| 810, 820, 830 | Practical Geologist's Rock Identification Manual, Unabridged 4th Edition |
| 910, 920, 930, 940, 950, 960, 970, 980, 990 | Theory & Practice of Polymer Formation |
| 1010 - 1050 | Debates in Modern Physics, Year XVII |
| 1210 | L. Moore's Practical Guide to the Raising of Uncooperative Plants |
| 1320, 1340 | Illustrated Encyclopedia of Prelapsarian Architecture, Unabridged 1st Edition |
| 1350 | Encyclopaedia of Protective Fashions Through the Ages (specifically, the Codpiece-Greave volume) |
| 1610 | Voyages Best Not Undertaken |
