Firmament (Guide)

Early Railway Content and Onwards

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

What needs work: Part 1 and 2 needs to be fleshed out

Firmament is a story concerned with Roof exploration and alternative histories. Progress in the storyline is tracked with the Firmament quality.

To start Firmament, you need Involved in a Railway Venture 50 (See Railway Beginning (Guide)). Do not feel obliged to start it immediately - despite the urgency of the description, the rain "emergency" has no in-game effects.

Part 1 of Firmament is a coda to The London Horticultural Show (historical). If you were not present for that Estival (Guide), you may wish to play through Relive the Starved War in The Sacroboscan Calendar (Guide) before commencing. Doing this does not have any mechanical effects but may help with comprehending events - Firmament is written in a highly obscure and difficult to follow style, even by Fallen London standards.

Qualities

• Firmament: This is the main tracker quality in the story, and the different sections will be based on your progress with this quality.
• Vulgatis: Tracks the fate of the Vulgate you met in the Gullet.
• The Hopes of a Shepherd, The Regard of the Dawnseeker, The Admiration of a Duchess, The Quality of Service, A Dream of Summer: Qualities that track certain crew members favourability and if they're willing to listen to you.
• Immanence: Tracks the fate of the Immanent.

The Story

The guide has been split up in several sections based on when the section was released, however you may complete the whole story in one go, should you wish to.

Prologue - The Rain

When Involved in a Railway Venture reaches 50, you will immediately draw the card The Fire in the Looking Glass. Play it and dream of fire, books and woods.

Upon waking up, you discover that it's raining. All over the city, the rain is causing flooding: Ladybones, Spite, Watchmaker's Hill, Veilgarden, and your Lodgings. Perform any action on those storylets and raise Rising Damp to at least 3.

Once that condition is met, A Drip Becomes A Drop will become available in Your Lodgings. You will be summoned to a meeting with the Admiralty and the Masters and be recruited to explore the Roof to find a way to stop the rain from drowning everything.

When the meeting is done, you'll be redirected to Station IX.II to decide on what type of airship you'll be using:

Aerial Prowess and Aerial Armament are used for challenges on Travelling through the Air, which cost an action and reward a few minor items on success. The mechanical differences between the 3 airships are little, so feel free to choose the one that fits your aesthetic.

Once you've decided what your airship will be, you can Give the order for your airship to be built, which activates a living story with a countdown of 1 week and sets Firmament to 35.

Part 1 - Hallow's Throat

After 1 real-time week has passed, a message in your Message Tab will set Firmament to 40 and inform you of the airship's completion. Return to Station IX in Watchmaker's Hill to claim the airship.

Open the Map and select Hallow's Throat as your destination.

No-one at Hallows Throat actually knows anything about the rain, but there are things to do nevertheless, including making a movie, reshaping yourself, and drinking Starved liquids at the pub. Exploring the Throat will allow you to hire the Forlorn Shephard and eventually enter the Gullet to continue the story. Choices you make in the Gullet may affect your relationship with the crew but will not affect the outcome. What happens may make more sense once you play through Firmament Part 3.

After your visit to the Gullet you will be informed that the rain is actually coming from the Midnight Moon. To unlock this destination you need to bribe the roof-smugglers.

Required items to open the next destination:

• 5 x Favour in High Places
• 5 x Blackmail Material
• 25 x Sworn Statement
• 10 x Bottle of Broken Giant 1844

Ecdysis

Unlocked by exploring Hallow's Throat and the local bar, Ecdysis is an activity that provides monetary rewards that can be sold for echos and stuivers, or (on repeat visits) boons to main attributes or Shapeling Arts. For more information, see Ecdysis (Guide).

In addition, after completing the story at the Gullet and at least one round of Ecdysis, you can receive a one-time boost to Chthonosophy.

The Kinetoculus

If you have been Restored to the Court, you can speak to A Starved Man with a Moving Camera about making movies on the Roof. You can make a film at each major Roof location, and the results depend on whether your choice of lens and film emulsion.

The two lenses can be swapped for only the cost of an action. The wide-angle lens will create a film of the Roof location itself, while the telescopic lens will create a film of a location below, on the Unterzee.

The three emulsions each cost 200 Stuiver, and must be purchased again after each use. Peligin film emphasizes the dark and monstrous aspects of the subject. Violant film emphasizes the close and personal, and connections between people. Cosmogone film emphasizes warmth and beauty.

Taking a new film at a given Roof location replaces the old one, and film for each location can be developed and viewed back at Hallow's Throat. The Cinematographer promises this will lead to profit in the future, but no use for films has been found beyond viewing, presumably this will come in a future update.

Part 2 - Midnight Moon

Required items and hard challenges:

• Monstrous Anatomy 7 or Artisan of the Red Science 7 or A Player of Chess 7 challenge (requires 12 to 100%)
• 5 x Ascended Ambergris
• 3 x Memory of a Much Lesser Self
• 5 x Strong-Backed Labour

To unlock Part 3 after the end of Part 2, you will need:

• 100 x Mourning Candle
• 10 x Anticandle
• 5 x Memory of Light
• 200 x Phosphorescent Scarab

Anticandles can be sourced in the Stacks.

The Stacks

See The Stacks (Guide)

Lost Naples

Choose the option which will raise Via Madonna on each turn of Time Passing in Naples. Once it reaches 3, you can Visit the Madonna of Naples. You can only ask her a few questions at this point. Return to Naples and increase On the trail of Ambergris.

It's only possible to raise On the trail of Ambergris on Time Passing in Naples 4, so you must loop through the day at least 3 times. Once it reaches 3, Make contact with the ambergris miners. Greet the lost miners of the Midnight Moon, which will set On the trail of Ambergris to 4.

Return to Summer and Tell her that you've found her crew, which will set Via Madonna to 4. Next, go back to the miners and Reveal you've found their captain, which sets Via Madonna to 5.

You can then Visit the Esoteric Econium to get the book that Summer requested:

• Convince him to give you the book as a gift: Mithridacy 7 challenge. Sets Via Madonna to 15 on success and you can try again with no penalty on failure.
• Commission a replica: Costs 100 x Penny and sets Via Madonna to 20.
• Pay for the book up front: Costs 1000 x Stuiver and sets Via Madonna to 10. Later, this will cause the miners to refuse to leave Lost Naples.

Make a final return to Summer and give her the book.

You will now have to determine the fate of the Midnight Whale. Your crew, the miners and Summer all have opinions. Your choice does not appear to have any ongoing effects. Whatever you choose, it causes the rain to stop. Hooray! (Why does it stop the rain? Don't ask silly questions.)

After the whale's fate is decided, Summer will join your crew. You don't have any choice in the matter.

Part 3 - Zenith

Open the Map and select Zenith as your destination. After arriving, you will be greeted by the Rightous Drover.

The Ritual

The next step involves two activities:

• Miser-Bonding, which involves bonding with your Miser over a 7 action cycle. Most action on the storylet will raise Moon-Miser Readiness by 1 and cap at 7.
• Help the Shepherd figure out how he stands in regard to Zenith.
  • Investigate the Pools:
    • Watch proceedings: + 1 The Shepherd's Rejections
    • Intervene : + 1 The Shepherd's Revelations
  • Ask the Historiated Herder and the Righteous Drover about the Rites and the Hollowed. Each time you ask them a question, Moon-Miser Readiness will lower by 1.
  • After getting their opinion, you can tell the Shepherd:
    • Tell him that the Hollowed One is a heroic figure: + 1 The Shepherd's Revelations
    • Tell him that the Hollowed One is a victim: + 1 The Shepherd's Rejections
    • Tell him you do not know the fate of the Misers: + 1 The Shepherd's Revelations
    • Tell him you know the fate of the Misers: + 1 The Shepherd's Rejections
  • If you have The Hopes of a Shepherd at least 5 and one of Shepherd's qualities at least 2, then you can convince him to favour one quality and abandon the other.
    • Convince him otherwise: Raises The Shepherd's Revelations to 3 and removes The Shepherd's Rejections.
    • Convince him to abandon his doubts: Raises The Shepherd's Rejections to 3 and removes The Shepherd's Revelations.
  • Hear the Forlorn Shepherd's decision (Rejection): If The Shepherd's Rejections > The Shepherd's Revelations then The Lost Shepherd will be 20 and "The Shepherd is against the teachings of the Illuminated."
  • Hear the Forlorn Shepherd's decision (Revelation): If The Shepherd's Revelations > The Shepherd's Rejections then The Lost Shepherd will be 25 and "The Shepherd believes there is more to the Hollowing than he has been told."

At Moon-Miser Readiness 7 and The Lost Shepherd at least 20, you can Present your Moon-Miser and set Moon-Miser Readiness to 8. At which point, you can tell the Drover to start the Ritual:

• Tell her it is time (No Counterfeit): This option will get you Marked by Zenith, and later the Violant Moon-Miser Companion. We currently don't know what effect Marked by Zenith will have.
• Tell her it is time (Counterfeit): This option cost 1 x Oil of Companionship and 1 x Vindication of Faith, won't get you Marked by Zenith, and later the Alchemical Moon-Miser Companion.

In The Pools of Breaking and Mending, you Immerse yourself in its waters and discover the fate of the Shepherd's Miser. After emerging, you can either:

• Reveal what you have seen, which will set Hollowed to 1.
• Keep your peace, which sets Hollowed to 2 and ensure the Shepherd will act against the teachings of the Illuminated for future decisions.

The High Sancta

See The High Sancta (Guide).

You will meet The Red Miser when Towards a Violant Sky reaches above 5:

• If Hollowed is 1, playing it will show a heartwarming reunion between the Shepherd and his Miser ( The Lost Shepherd is unchanged).
• If Hollowed is 2, the Shepherd will be angry at you for not telling him and turn against Zenith (Sets The Lost Shepherd to 20).

When Towards a Violant Sky reaches 12, you will reach the Highest Sancta and meet the Pastor.

You will be lead into the Highest Sanctum, where the Vulgate keep their most interesting Apocrypha. The Apocrypha you need to view are: Peer into a niche on the first level, Approach the sound of whirring cogs and Enter a silent gallery on the second level, Approach the nadir of Zenith on the third level. When you've seen all the necessary Apocrypha, Descend to the Highest of the High Sancta.

The Pastor reveals himself as The Prisoner of Zenith, aka the Immanent. You can ask him questions for as long as you want; the Vulgate won't be returning at this moment. Breach the Mortsafe Galleries when you're done.

Memories Removal

The Rule of Piranesi is: None will leave but by being changed. The Immanent must change to escape his prison, and in doing so destroy some of his memories. There are three paths you can take here:

• Remove two of his memories as requested: The Immanent escapes (as himself or as the Illuminated Shepherd, keeping only one memory:
  • If the Shepherd is uncertain about his faith ( The Lost Shepherd 25) and knows the truth of the Ritual ( Hollowed 1), then he will merge with the Immanent and later the Illuminated Shepherd will replace the Forlorn Shepherd as navigator.
  • Otherwise, the Shepherd will be sassy with the Immanent, they won't merge, the Immanent escapes Zenith as himself and you'll keep the Forlorn Shepherd as navigator.

• Remove all three of the memories: The Immanent becomes a willing prisoner of Zenith and you also keep the Forlorn Shepherd as Navigator.

• Remove only one of his memories: The Immanent escapes in the form of the Illuminated Shepherd, retaining the memories of Love and Death:
  • Choose Let him be changed, which redirects you to The Changing of the Prisoner. Destroy the memory of the Stars and only the memory of the Stars.
    • If the Shepherd is uncertain about his faith ( The Lost Shepherd 25) and knows the truth of the Ritual ( Hollowed 1), then he will merge with the Immanent and later the Illuminated Shepherd will replace the Forlorn Shepherd as navigator.
    • Otherwise, the Shepherd will reject the Immanent and you'll be redirected to Escaping Oneself to continue removing memories.

Endings

Depending on the disposition of the Forlorn Shepherd and what you decided to do with the Immanent, there are 4 endings to this chapter:

Immanence	Description	How to Reach
1	The Immanent joins with the Shepherd, retaining the memories of Love and Death, and the navigator is now the Illuminated Shepherd.	Keep The Shepherd's Revelations > The Shepherd's Rejections. Reveal what you have seen in The Pools of Breaking and Mending. Choose Let him be changed. Destroy the memory of the Stars and only the memory of the Stars.
2	The Immanent loses all of his memories to the irrigo, remains prisoner to Zenith, and the navigator is still the Forlorn Shepherd.	Destroy all three of the Immanent's memories.
3	The Immanent changes enough to escape Zenith, losing two of his memories, and the navigator is still the Forlorn Shepherd.	Keep The Shepherd's Rejections > The Shepherd's Revelations. Destroy any two memories.
4	The Immanent joins with the Shepherd, lost two of his memories, and the navigator is now the Illuminated Shepherd.	Keep The Shepherd's Revelations > The Shepherd's Rejections. Reveal what you have seen in The Pools of Breaking and Mending. Destroy any two memories.

After talking to your crew about what went down, the Last Duchess will reveal the name of her city — Ghent, and also the next destination in your journey. To get there, you will need to Plot a course to Burgundy, which requires:

• 5 x Ratwork Mechanism
• 100 x Starved Expression
• 1 x Crackling Device
• 1 x Direful Reflection
• 15 x Extraordinary Implication

You can also reunite with your new friend on Firmament: A Shadow in the Gate:

• Violant Moon-Miser if you didn't counterfeit emotions.
• Alchemical Moon-Miser if you did counterfeit emotions.