Shepherd your student through some research (Profound)

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ID: 239033, 252877

Spoiler warning! This page contains details about Fallen London Actions.

From: Work with your Profound Student

If he's here, he might as well do something.

Game Instructions: Your student is currently a novice and will do less well than you would by yourself – but your help may improve his skills.

Unlocked with Experimental Object, Equipment for Scientific Experimentation, Laboratory Services from a Profound Student 1-2

Challenge information

Broad, Watchful 210

• 144 - very chancy (41%)
• 179 - chancy (51%)
• 214 - modest (61%)
• 249 - very modest (71%)
• 284 - low-risk (81%)
• 319 - straightforward (91%)
• 350 - straightforward (100%)
  

Each point of Research Preparations reduces the base difficulty by 1 point.

Success

Aha!

Description summary:
The Profound Student's research success descriptions vary by Experiment and are shared across several actions on his card. Expand the table below to see the known variations.

Experiment	Research Description
Generic (10, 210 - 230, 260)	He thinks a long time before writing out his conclusions. They spell out meticulous reasoning. There are thirty pages of the stuff.
40	The Profound Student proves adept at fabricating metal parts, operating the machine tools with virtuosic precision. Though his tendency to stare at metal stock for what seems like hours infuriates. "I am envisioning its final geometry," […]
110 - 130	[…] There are thirty pages on the history of conflict and fifty pages on the problematic nature of violence in society. Then there are two and a half pages on the particular problem you are currently working on. Fortunately, the insights are usable.
140 - 160	[…] alterations to the Principle's bonds of obligation will produce a less warlike personality – in theory. "Freed from the chains that bind, surely the Principle will take up peaceful pursuits," he says[…] The Principle gives him a dubious look.
240	What he produces is less a map than an extended essay on the question of what mapping even means in a place like Parabola. Perhaps it will do for an introduction?
250	He contemplates the fronts and backs of the scrip, the weight and the writing. […] "The question is, who printed this? Who designed it? Who owns the Ministry of the Upper River?" In his laboratory notes, he presents a dozen theories as to the answer.
310 - 320	Most of his design ideas involve simplifying the design rather than adding to it. He returns to core questions about the purpose of what you are building, and strips away anything that does not evidently contribute to that goal. […]
330	The Profound Student is impatient when a device has too many parts and pieces. This one has no moving parts at all: it just fits itself against an egg surface and stays that way, doing... whatever it does. […] "More. It makes things More."
350 - 360	The Profound Student is good at improving the mechanics of the design, but bad at diagnosing faults in the underlying theory. There is quite a lot of calculation involved.
410	How did the Focused Albatross become focused? The Profound Student has a theory, involving a rapid extraction into Parabola by way of a curved mirror. There are many diagrams and calculations […]. The Albatross itself rests on its perch, disregarded.
420	[…] has received dozens of answers, some of them contradictory, some simultaneous. […] […] claims to have been birthed in the recurring nightmares of a distinguished barrister. […] the second head agrees […] but that he was far from notable in his profession. […]
430 - 470	He is very exercised by the question of origins and purposes. Why did this animal form in this particular way? What was its childhood? […] He has even attempted to interview the animal, though with minimal success.
480	[…] the Profound Student begins to compose a map of the egg appearances across London, and attempts to account for local variations and probable epicentres. It's difficult work, however, as nothing seems to have been left where it was originally laid.
485	[…] "The same creature lays all these eggs, every year. Every year, more variations, more attempts – more failures. […] these are not iterations. Every type […] is utterly different to the one before." […] "[…] it must be desperately sad, and desperately lonely."
490	He lines the Aged Egg next to a rock of similar size and stares at them until his eyes cross. He would very much like to believe that the Egg is merely a very large and unusual naturally occurring rock formation. The alternatives disturb him.
495	[…] He prefers to turn his mind to the philosophical question: what does it mean to be a city? Is it merely the transformation into streets and buildings and unusually vital substance, or are other aspects […] also implied? […] Its music, its cuisine? […]
510, 540	The Profound Student has created a speculative timeline, showing the body shapes of a range of animals ancient and modern, the better to contextualise the ribcage that faces you currently.
520 - 530	"Size," says the Profound Student, "is an illusion." Then he does something with lenses that recreates the ribcage, at twice its current size, inside Parabola. […] not quite what you were trying to achieve, but you can build on this step, all the same.
610	The Profound Student finds a single bone by itself upsetting, and would very much prefer to be able to study it in concert with the other accompanying bones and body parts.
810 - 830	The Profound Student has attempted to account for the geological activities that could have given rise to this rock. His speculative history of the Neath requires the existence of an ice volcano[…]The margins of his notes reference Storm […]
910 - 950	He writes more about the probable uses and consequences of this invention than he does about the possible invention itself. But he does produce what might be considered a bare minimum of useful input.
960	He writes more about the probable uses and consequences of this substance than he does about the substance itself. But he does produce what might be considered a bare minimum of useful input.
970	He's been sitting before the egg, staring at it for a long time. Is he trying to... communicate with it?
980	The Profound Student spends some time spinning out a theory about how infernal metals behave differently from other metallic materials, and how this substance might not have originated in Irem – or might result from devilish intervention there.
990	The Profound student dusts off a very intricate monograph on the quality of Neathy light and its effects on chemical reactions, which is very helpful in your examination of the samples.
1010, 1030, 1040	[…] clarifying questions about the nature of infinity, number of possible infinities, and the distinction between numbers that are merely imaginary and the Parabolan numbers that are incapable of having any meaning at all. […]
1020	The equations required for this project elude him, but he is good at taking the initial measurements. Indeed, it produces a meditative state he appears to find quite comforting.
1045	He contemplates the bulb […] for hours. Then he turns it off, sits back down, and continues his contemplation in the dark. This continues[…] for a few more cycles. "It's the possibilities," he says at last. "They narrow in its light."
1050	He studies the brickwork intently. […] At last, he says, "It expresses a mood of withdrawal. Whoever laid this brick was tired of the world and wanted to retreat from it. They felt overwhelmed. Too many obligations, too little time." […]
1210	[…] Things that grow slowly are dear to his heart. His notes show a tendency to anthropomorphise, but also an excellent comprehension of botanical principles. If only he'd stop writing of the plant's anguished desire to photosynthesise.
1320	The Profound Student locks himself in a room with a stack of artefacts. Five days later he emerges […] "The accepted chronology is entirely in error […] the pottery takes its date from the […] allusion to a verse that has been conclusively proven a forgery. […]" […]
1340	The Profound Student unearths every text that references ushabtiu and reads each one in intense detail. "You know, the social context for these things is fascinating," he says.
1350	The Profound Student measures the cuirass several times, and weighs it against the weight of various other materials. "This has been scaled down," he says. "The Betrayer of Measures. It used to be something much larger."
1610	The Profound Student considers acids, alkalines, sulphur and black glass. Each of these he tests your model against. Only when it can come through each test, and all at once, is he satisfied that you may proceed.

[Find the rest of the story at https://www.fallenlondon.com]

• Watchful is increasing…
•  You've gained (4 + Equipment Level) x Laboratory Research

Rare Success

He is getting better at this

He thinks a long time before writing out his conclusions. […]

[Find the rest of the story at https://www.fallenlondon.com]

• Watchful is increasing…
•  You've gained (4 + Equipment Level) x Laboratory Research
•  You've gained 1 x Laboratory Services from a Profound Student (up to 5)

Failure

Hmmm...

He can stare at the [Research Object] for hours at a time. Maybe this is leading him to some useful conclusion. Maybe he's able to sleep with his eyes open.

Description summary:
The Research Object varies by Experiment:

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

[Find the rest of the story at https://www.fallenlondon.com]

• Watchful is increasing…
•  You've gained ( Equipment Level ) x Laboratory Research