Artistry in the Empress' Court (Guide)

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What needs work: Stats for using the Augmented Electrostatic Machine need updating in light of the 8 Mar 2024 patch. The link to the Google Sheet is missing.

Late MYN Content

Artistry in the Empress' Court Summary
Limited-Length Activity
Setup				Progress				End
1 A				5+/9+ A				1 A
Progress Details			Gain Inspired... to 17 (153 CP) or 24 (300 CP).
Items Inputs/Outputs Boosting Prismatic Squidling Renown: Bohemians 5 Favours: Bohemians Favours: Society Favours: Revolutionaries Favours: Hell Favours: The Church Jade Fragment Drop of Prisoner's Honey Outputs Moon-Pearl Nevercold Brass Sliver Foxfire Candle Stub Piece of Rostygold Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax Nodule of Deep Amber Jade Fragment Shard of Glim Copy of your Poem Copy of your Novel
Raw EPA						1.5

It will no doubt be magnificent. Let us hope the dour old thing will appreciate it.

This is a guide to creating great works of art at The Empress' Court, primarily needed for Making Your Name (early- to mid-game) and achieving the Poet-Laureate quality (mid- to late-game).

Note: The relevant quality used to be called Shaping a Masterpiece for the Empress.

A Name Signed with a Flourish

Upon entering The Empress' Court (and having completed any other creative works-in-progress, e.g. short stories), you can begin Carving out a Reputation at Court on the storylet A slow day.

This segment of the storyline is part of the Persuasive branch of Making Your Name. The object is to raise your Reputation at Court until you are called on to create a masterpiece for the Empress, which ultimately results in being Banished.

Start Carving out a Reputation

After playing A slow day, giving you Reputation 1, the storylet What's your next work? allows you to choose a work to complete. You can choose a minor or a major work. In either case, you will need to raise Inspired... to the target level in order to finish the piece.

• Minor works (plays, songs, symphonies, and ballets) require Inspired 17 (153 CP), and grant +1 CP of Reputation.
• Major works (epic poems and novels) require Inspired 24 (300 CP), and grant +2 CP of Reputation.

Once you are Working on... a piece, a variety of options for increasing Inspired are available at Court; these are discussed in more detail below. Most are Persuasive ~100 skill checks.

Upon reaching the target level of Inspired, a storylet will appear announcing that "Your [work] is complete". This grants a variety of rewards, depending on the work, and raises your Reputation at Court. You can then pick a new piece to work on, and start again.

Complete an opera

With Reputation 4, your options depend on whether you have finished your courtly romance, A Name Signed with a Flourish 6:

• If so, you will be Called to the Office, incressing your Reputation to 5;
• If not, you can have A Word with the Counsellor, which sets your Reputation back to 3, allowing you to continue creating works.

A weighty decision (choose Oblige him) raises Reputation to 6, and Why are you doing this? allows you to begin work on your masterpiece, an opera.

Note for Ambition: Heart's Desire! players: One of the options for completing the opera is to write Tristram Bagley's unfinished masterpiece. This requires you to have Hearts Desire: The Topsy King 22–23 (see Guide) and A Scholar of the Correspondence ≥1 (gained by completing an expedition to The Tomb of the Seven). This option can be used to bypass Tapping the Baton, {saving you a Night on the Town, a Bejewelled Lens, and a Comprehensive Bribe,} and sets Topsy King to 24.

Banished from the Court

Finishing the opera results in your being Banished from the Court and sent to (temporary) Disgraced exile in the Tomb-Colonies. It sets A Name Signed with a Flourish to 7, completing this branch of Making Your Name.

The banishment quality is necessary to proceed to The Foreign Office and Port Carnelian, once you are A Person of Some Importance. (It is also part of one of the options for proceeding towards PoSI status; see the PoSI Guide for more information).

Restored to the Court of Her Enduring Majesty

A player-created Guide is available for this content: Port Carnelian (Guide)

Once banished from the Court, you can start working on being let back in.

First you need to serve as governor of Port Carnelian. Once you complete one term, the Veteran Privy Counsellor tells you that you need to serve a few more so that you can host a state dinner for the Captivating Princess, who then restores you back to the Court.

Once restored, you'll be able to create all the old works of art, as well as new ones, including new types: an Opera and a Film (both major works, requiring Inspired 24) or an innovation of fashion (minor work, Inspired 17).

Unlike before your Banishment, you'll find that creating works no longer raises Carving out a Reputation at Court, but a new quality called A Fine Piece. Spend these on your (long) journey to become London's Poet-Laureate.

Inspired... Progress

All challenges are broad Persuasive challenges unless specified otherwise.

All quality gains and losses are in Change Points unless specified, and CP gains to Persuasive based on the challenge itself are not listed.

The common qualities have been compressed to just images in the tables:

• Persuasive, Inspired...
• Menaces: Scandal, Suspicion, Wounds
• Quirks: Melancholy, Hedonist, Austere
• Favours: Bohemians, the Church, Revolutionaries, Hell, Society
• Renown: Bohemians, Tomb-Colonies
  

Simple Skill Challenges

Straight up grinding here.

Option	Challenge	on Success	Failure	Notes
Nature in the Neath: Seek inspiration in nature	98	+10 CP (Rare: 20)	+1 CP
A quiet day at your lodgings	99	+10 CP (Rare: 20)	+1 CP
Composition: the low path	100	+10 CP (Rare: 15)	+1 CP	Req. working on a Song, Symphony, Ballet, Opera, or Film
The men from the Ministry	102	+10 CP	+1 CP
A gaggle of artistic temperaments	103	+10 CP	+1 CP	Req. working on a Play, Song, Symphony, Ballet, Opera, or Film
Business at the Court	105	+10 CP (Rare: 15)	+1 CP
Competition for the post of Imperial Artist-in-Residence	105	+10 CP	+1 CP

Complex Skill Challenges

These challenges also cost Favours or items, change Quirks, give additional Menaces, and/or provide additional rewards.

Option	Challenge	Success	Failure	Notes
A city of culture	97	+30 CP (Rare: 40)	+1 CP	Costs Favours x 1
You have rivals	100	+30 CP Rare: also 2 x Gossip	+2 CP	Costs Favours x 1
The people's art	100	+35 CP +1 CP	+1 CP +1 CP	Costs Favours x 1
Devils and art	100	+25 CP	+1 CP	Costs Favours x 1
The music of the tomb	100	+10 CP +1 CP (up to 5)	+1 CP +1 CP (up to 5)	Req. Renown 4, Working on... a Song, Symphony, Ballet, Opera, or Film
The lead	100	+15 CP +1 CP (up to 5) –5 CP Rare: also 2 x Flawed Diamond	–20 CP +1 CP	Req. Working on... a Play, Song, Symphony, Ballet, Opera, or Film
Religion and Art: Call on the help of the Church	100	+35 CP		Costs 1 x Favours
Religion and Art: Mortification of the flesh!	none	+5 CP –3 CP +3 CP (up to 10)
Religion and Art: An organ recital at All Christs	7	+20 CP –3 CP	–1 CP +1 CP	Costs 10 x Jade
Nature in the Neath: Seek inspiration from your Prismatic Squidling	100	+15 CP Rare: also 12 x Glim	–20 CP +1 CP	Req. Prismatic Squidling WHITSUN
The Bohemians	107	+15 CP +1 CP Rare: +20 CP x 2 Secret	–20 CP	Req. Renown 5
Composition: the high path	108	+20 CP Rare: also 1 x Sapphire	–20 CP +1 CP	Costs 25 x Honey; req. Working on... a Song, Symphony, Ballet, Opera, or Film

Luck Challenges

Option	Challenge	Success	Failure	Notes
The Decency Evaluator	30%	+15 CP +2 CP x 2	+15 CP +2 CP +1	Costs x 50
Yesterday's work	60%	+25 CP (Rare: 35) x 1	–20 CP +2	Req. 5
The pleasures of the Neath	50%	+20 CP +3 CP (up to 10) –3 CP	+10 CP +3 CP (up to 10) –3 CP	Costs 15 x Honey and 20 x Greyfields 1879

Minor Works

Minor works include plays, songs, symphonies, ballets and fashion.

These options require raising Inspired... to level 17, and provide materials worth 17. Note that there is no benefit from achieving more than the needed level of Inspired....

Level 17 requires 153 CP of Inspired... which, depending on your mix of +15CP and +20CP challenges, will take between 8 (153/20=7.65) and 11 (153/15=10.2) actions. Adding 2 actions for starting and stopping the carousel, that works out to between a 1.3 EPA ( 17/13) and a 1.7 EPA ( 17/10).

Note, though, that the usual +20CP action of The High Path costs 25 x Honey, so the profitability of the +20CP challenge is going to depend heavily on your source of Honey. The High Path saves 3 actions, so you'll need to acquire 200 x Honey in only 1 or 2 actions for it to be worthwhile. (Hint: the University Lab -- see this guide for details.)

Before being Banished from Court, these provide +1 CP Carving out a Reputation at Court.
After being Restored to Court, they provide instead 2 x A Fine Piece.

Plays

Opening Night!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
A Slapstick Farce	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl
A Wry Satirical Comedy	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl
A Heart-Wrenching Tragedy	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl
A Romance of Poverty	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Req. Restored
A History	+10 CP	1700 x Brass Scandal +10 CP	Req. Restored
A Celestial Spectacle	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Req. Restored and Celestials

Songs

Publish your song!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
A Rousing Hymn	+5 CP	1700 x Candle
A Newly Arranged Folk Song	+5 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl
A Patriotic Anthem	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl
A Drinking Song!	+10 CP	1700 x Rostygold	Req. Restored
A Renaissance Piece!	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Req. Restored
A Political Anthem!	+10 CP	1700 x Beeswax Scandal +10 CP	Req Restored and Renown 5

Symphonies

Your symphony is complete!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
Somewhat challenging music	+5 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl SoTC +1 CP (up to 10) Wounds +3 CP	Req. SoTC
An exuberant cannonade	+5 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl Scandal +3 CP
A choral requiem	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl
A Modern Fantasia	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Req. Restored
Something of your own genius	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Req. Restored, Your Own Genius
A Rubbery Tone Poem	+10 CP	1700 x Deep Amber Scandal +10 CP	Req. Restored, Renown 5

Ballet

Stage your ballet!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
A light work based around a Neathy folk tale	+8 CP	1700 x Jade
A work of romance and automata	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl Scandal +5 CP
A work of barely clad decadence	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl Scandal +10 CP Disgraced exile in the Tomb-Colonies
An infernal work	+10 CP	1700 x Brass Scandal +10 CP	Requires Restored and Renown 5
A Carnelian work	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl 1-2 x Tribute	Requires Restored, 5 x Successful Terms as Governor -, Academics 15 (to get Tribute as a reward)
A Blemmigan work	+10 CP	FATE 1700 x Moon-Pearl Scandal +10 CP	Requires Restored, Mycologenes
A work of burning dance	+10 CP	FATE 1700 x Moon-Pearl Scandal +4 CP Nightmares +4 CP	Requires Restored, Terpsichoreans

Fashion

A Fashionable Extravaganza!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
A sleek suit	+10 CP	1700 x Jade Fragment	Requires Restored
Practical improvements for undergarments!	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Requires Restored
A return to the styles of yore	+10 CP	1700 x Moon-Pearl	Requires Restored

Major Works

Major works include poems, novels, operas and films.

These options require raising Inspired... to level 24, and provide materials worth 30. Note that there is no benefit from achieving more than the needed level of Inspired....

Before being Banished from Court, these provide +2 CP Carving out a Reputation at Court.
After being Restored to Court, they provide instead 3 x A Fine Piece.

Poems

Your poem is complete!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
An Epic Cycle	+12 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl 1 x Epic Poetic Cycle
A Tragedy of Romance	+12 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl Fascinating... +25 CP Scandal +3 CP 1 x Tragedy of Romance
An Allegorical Satire	+15 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl Scandal +3 CP 1 x Allegorical Satire
A Zeefaring Epic	+15 CP	3000 x Piece of Rostygold 1 x Zeefaring Epic	Requires Restored, Renown 5, Zeefaring
An Ode to the Elder Continent	+15 CP	3000 x Lump of Lamplighter Beeswax 1 x Ode to the Elder Continent	Requires Restored, 5 x Successful Terms as Governor -
A Nocturnal Rhapsody	+15 CP	3000 x Foxfire Candle Stub 1 x Nocturnal Rhapsody	Requires Restored, Nocturnals

Novels

Your novel is complete!	Making Waves	Results
A Gothic Romance	+10 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl Fascinating... +25 CP 1 x Gothic Romance
A Tale of the Future!	+10 CP	3000 x Brass Connected: Benthic +10 CP Connected: Summerset +10 CP 1 x Tale of the Future
A Patriotic Adventure!	+15 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl 1 x Patriotic Adventure
A Tale of Espionage!	+15 CP	3000 x Jade Fragment 1 x Tale of Espionage	Requires Restored, Renown 5
A Tale for the People!	+15 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl 1 x Tale for the People	Requires Restored, Renown 5, Renown 5
A Bazaarine Tale!	+15 CP	3000 x Brass 1 x Bazaarine Tale	Requires Restored, Bazaarines

Operas

An Opera!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
A Thunderstorm of Morality	+10 CP	3000 x Shard of Glim	Requires Restored
A Heartwarming Farce	+10 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl	Requires Restored
An Epic of Far-Off Lands	+10 CP	3000 x Foxfire Candle Stub	Requires Restored

Films

Show your Film!	Making Waves	Results	Notes
An Innocent Fictional Scene	+10 CP	3000 x Shard of Glim	Requires Restored
A Brief Comedy	+10 CP	3000 x Moon-Pearl Nightmares +10 CP	Requires Restored
A Documentary	+10 CP	3000 x Silk Scrap	Requires Restored

Is it worth it?

Uses for your works

A Copy of your Tale of the Future can come in handy when Designing your Zubmarine if you don't have A Scholar of the Correspondence 3.

Any of the other eleven poems or novels saves you 2000 x Foxfire Candle Stub and two Favours when Making Friends Among God's Editors on the Making the Good Book Better golden opportunity card.

A  Copy of your Patriotic Adventure can be used for increasing  Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar on the 6th day of Mr Sacks, with Mr Sacks! Take this exalted hymn to patriotism!, but unlike the previously mentioned uses you lose your copy. It is possible to give this Sacks 10 touching love stories instead for the same reward.

You may Offer an Ode to the Elder Continent when you are Offering Tribute to the Court of the Wakeful Eye, donating your copy of the work for 5 Tribute. An alternative to directly grinding 1-2 tribute per A Carnelian work ballads, although grinding tribute through the ballads has no cap, whereas donating your Ode caps at the usual 260 Tribute limit. Stocking up on Odes (and other items) before heading to the Court of the Wakeful Eye for the first time is a possible strategy.

Keep in mind however that you cannot create Elder Continent Odes or Ballads unless you have completed at least 5 x Successful Terms as Governor -, so make sure that you do 5 terms before you leave Port Carnelian for the first time!

After completing a library in Jericho Locks, you can lend out several of your books, depending on Airs of Jericho Locks, none of which consumes the book in question. All of these grant 2–3 CP of Making Waves and cycle Airs. Additionally:

• Tale of the Future gets you Nevercold Brass (particularly useful, since it's used when Airs is less than 25, and can therefore help you cycle Airs to get a Deep-Zee Catch)
• Zeefaring Epic gets you Rostygold
• Tale for the People lets you trade Proscribed Material for Nightsoil of the Bazaar

Echoes per action

Whatever you create, it will basically give you a bit more than one Echo per action worth of the various 0.01 items. This is assuming you pass the challenges at 100%. Investing favours or items increases Inspired... but, well, you pay for it.

The optimal choice to get complete works the fastest while Persuasive is below 148 is The Decency Evaluator, which will complete a minor work in 11 actions, cost 550 x Foxfire Candle Stub, gain an average of 6.6 x Secluded Address, and gain an average of Suspicion +7.7 CP, which works out to (17 - 5.5 + 6.6 * 0.50) / (11 + 0.25 * 7.7 + 2) = 0.99 EPA.

Once you have Persuasive 148, The lead becomes the better option on works other than poems and novels. At Persuasive 167, there is no chance of failure and you can rack up the needed Inspired with 11 actions, netting a whopping 17 / (11 + 2) = 1.31 EPA.

A much more profitable, albeit much slower method involves using the Augmented Electrostatic Machine from Estival in combination with The pleasures of the Neath to generate large amounts of Hedonist, and then turn that into Ivory Femur via Fertilise the tree with the twin powers of electricity and hedonism and Convince her to produce an elaborate forgery. The EPA of this is more difficult to calculate (a full breakdown can be found in this Google Spreadsheet) but ranges between 3.48 and 4.11 depending on many variables.

A Poet-Laureate

A Poet-Laureate is an achievement in the court requiring being restored there. It uses substantial amounts of A Fine Piece you get from completing minor and major works. It's rather poor grind EPA-wise and it doesn't have much uses, but notably it's required for statue of yourself in Ealing Gardens.

In total you will need 290 x A Fine Piece to reach Poet-Laureate 20, requiring 145 minor works. (Major works cost almost twice as much Inspired CP, for only 50% more A Fine Piece.) It's increased with Submit your work for consideration, each level requiring (5 + A Poet-Laureate) x A Fine Piece.

Suggestions for grinding

Composition: the high path gives 1.46 EPA for minor works, if you have a University Laboratory and a Struggling Artist for Honey-grinding—but this is a lower EPA than simply grinding Honey alone. However, it is useful for pursuing A Poet-Laureate.

• Basic version: Spend 8 actions per 5 minor works to grind 200 x Honey per minor work, and 8 actions on Composition: the high path, to reach Inspired... 17. At 11.6 actions total per minor work (including starting and cashing out), this is 1.4 actions quicker than using The lead.
• More efficient: Sell 8 of the 17 earned from each work to buy the honey for the next at Merrigan's Exchange. This takes 10 actions per work (8 for Composition: the high path, plus 2 actions starting and cashing out). At this rate, it will take 1,450 actions to go from Poet-Laureate 0 to 20 (not counting any actions spent getting Honey for the first work). At 140 actions per day, this would take about 11 days. The reward profit is 1,305 (0.9 EPA, not counting rare successes).
  • If you do all Carnelian ballets and have Academics 15, you will also earn 145-290 x Tribute. Importantly, this option can overcap the 260 Tribute limit. So if you fill up tribute before grinding for Poet-Laureate, you get up to 290 Tribute (though this is very unlikely) without needing to pay for any additional ship voyages. On average, you get a (rounded up) 220 tribute. If you have The Minister of Culture, at 1 action to earn the Night-Whisper and the 3 actions to open the Rat Market, that adds 14 actions and 907,5 at full markup. That works out to 1.55 EPA.
  • If you have a Prismatic Squidling which gives 15 CP of Inspired... without consumables, the cycle can be optimized a bit further. Just use the squidling once and the rest with honey, as grinding only with the High Path gives a bit too much CP per work (yet consuming honey) which is wasted each time upon completion of the work. With this method, you require 25 less honey per minor work, totalling an echo gain of 145. This bumps the EPA to 1.66.
• Most Profitable, But Much Longer: The Augmented Electrostatic Machine method described above takes about twice as long, between 5000-5500 actions in total, or 34 days, but represents a significant increase in profitability at between 3.48 and 4.10 EPA. Thus, it's significantly more profitable but also represents a significant opportunity cost. As well, it requires a seasonal item and so may not be available to all players.

Other benefits

Should you fancy a trip to the Tomb-Colonies, a saucy ballet is the way to go.

Once you max out your Poet-Laureate, you can make a statue of yourself in Ealing Gardens. The statue allows you to trade 4 x Favours: Bohemians for 2 x Ivory Humerus and a little bonus. At a glance this seems very useful, but based on the analysis on the guide page, this may be inferior to calling them in in Jericho Locks.

Composing a few dozen somewhat-challenging symphonies is the cheapest non-Fate-locked way to reliably grind A Scholar of the Correspondence to 10 through solo play. However, reading flame-proof missives from other players can get one to SotC 10 in as few as four actions, so the social action route is strongly recommended over symphonies.