Spouses (Guide)
This guide is about NPC marriages. For player marriages, see Weddings (Guide)
The primary purpose of this guide is FATE purchases related to Spouses. There are several ways to pay FATE for a Spouse or to upgrade an existing Spouse, but there is a lack of consistency in whether the character retains access to that FATE purchase after switching spouses.
In any case, players are advised to take character into consideration when selecting a Spouse. Just like in real life, packing a Spouse in Fallen London purely based on the mechanical benefit may lead to regret and the loss of real-life money.
New Spouse options are usually added to the game each year during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose. These additions are generally permanent, and the relation to the Festival is thematic rather than mechanical.
Universal Mechanics[edit]
The Spouse (or "Constant Companion") slot is exclusive. This means that a player may only have up to one Spouse at at time, similar to a Destiny. A player who wishes to acquire a new Spouse must first divorce their existing Spouse, which is why the investment of FATE into the Spouse slot is more fraught.
All Spouses give 
+1 Committed:[1], and having a Spouse is the only way to obtain that quality. It is the "Marker Quality" for having a Spouse, like 
An Explorer of the Unterzee - is for having a Ship. All spouses in this guide also add a Very Infrequent card to your opportunity deck, with a variety of effects. See the page for a given spouse to examine their card.
Spouses give a total bonus of up to +2 to Highway stats, most often allocated as +1 each to two different stats. Some Spouses give +1 to one of the Advanced Skills, with almost all such Spouses being FATE-locked except for a few HALLOWMAS companions. A handful of Spouses give +2 BDR (and one gives +3), with all such Spouses being FATE-locked.
Upgrades[edit]
Some Spouses are "upgradable," i.e. that one particular Spouse has an action that replaces the Spouse item with a different Spouse item which is narratively related and mechanically superior. Almost(?) all upgrades are directly or indirectly FATE-locked, several have multiple stages, and there is a multiplicity of mechanics for performing and retaining or losing the upgrade.
This guide primarily considers the FATE aspects of upgrades, and is less concerned with the narrative or mundane (non-FATE) costs, although those can be significant. Cases where marriage or upgrades are gated behind other requirements are annotated briefly. Spouses are grouped together by the requirements to obtain and upgrade them. Upgraded Spouses are listed under their base versions, with subheadings if upgrades require a separate FATE purchase.
Default Spouses[edit]
Celebrated Artist's Model and 
Master Jewel Thief
- Requirements
- Story progress
- Stats
+1 Watchful (Model) or 
+1 Persuasive (Thief)- Marriage
- Unrestricted
- Divorce
- Unrestricted (see below)
- Re-marriage
- 5 FATE
This pair of Spouses were the first two added to the game, and are still considered the "normal" spouses even though at this point they're actually harder to obtain than some others. They have a "Bitter Parting" mechanic, where after divorce it costs 5 FATE to re-marry the same Spouse (they may still marry a different Spouse without restriction). The player is offered to pay this fee on the initial divorce, but may choose to pay it later for no penalty[2].
Upgrades[edit]
- First upgrade
- 20 FATE
- Second upgrade
- Character progression
- Stats
- First upgrade
- Additional
+2 Dreaded (Model) or 
+2 Respectable (Thief) - Second upgrade
- Additional
+1 Artisan of the Red Science (both)
- Divorce
- Not Retained
- Remarriage
- 20 more FATE to upgrade again
The first upgrade for 20 FATE gives upgraded versions with 2 BDR. The second upgrade adds an additional point of Artisan of the Red Science and does not require additional FATE, merely game progression. Divorcing the upgraded Spouse will permanently lose all upgrades. You can freely remarry the base Spouse, but will need to pay FATE again to re-obtain the upgrade.
It is not currently documented whether the upgraded versions have the same Bitter Parting mechanic.
Freely-Available Spouses and Non-Spouses[edit]
Philosophically Perfect Partnership, 
A Clay Confidant, 
A Bewildering Procession of Companions, Lovers, Suitors, and Paramours, and 
A Mutually Pleasurable Entanglement
- Requirements
- POSI
- Stats
- +2 Watchful (Partnership and Confidant)
+1 Shadowy and +1 Persuasive (Procession)- +2 Persuasive (Entanglement)
- Marriage
- Unrestricted
- Divorce
- Unrestricted
- Remarriage
- Unrestricted
The Bewildering Processing can be married, divorced, and remarried with a click. The Philosophically Perfect Partnership has a more lengthy courtship but is not otherwise restricted. The Clay Confidant and Mutually Pleasurable Entanglement have not been tested yet.
Upgrades[edit]
- Upgrade
- 20 FATE
- Stats
- Additional +1 Artisan of the Red Science (Partnership) or
+1 Glasswork (Procession) - Divorce
- Not Retained
- Remarriage
- 20 more FATE to upgrade again
Divorcing the upgraded Spouse will permanently lose the upgrade. You can freely remarry the base Spouse, but will need to pay FATE again to re-obtain the upgrade. Mechanically, the upgraded version gives +1 to an advanced skill. The Clay Confidant and Mutually Pleasurable Entanglement do not appear to have upgrades yet.
Feast of the Rose Companions[edit]
The Secular Missionary, Happy, 
The Revolutionary Firebrand, Happy, 
Captain Amelia, Espoused and 
September, the Ninth Month
- Requirements
- FEAST OF THE ROSE Companion (40 to 70 FATE)
- Stats
- +2 Respectable (Missionary), upgrade adds
+1 Kataleptic Toxicology - +2 Dreaded (Firebrand), upgrade adds +1 Kataleptic Toxicology
+1 Zeefaring (Captain Amelia)
+1 Mithridacy (September)- Marriage
- Story progress or Unrestricted
- Divorce
- Unrestriced
- Remarriage
- Unrestricted
- Upgrade
- Unrestricted (if applicable)
Some FATE-locked companions from FEAST OF THE ROSE can be married, giving a Spouse version of the Companion. The original Companion is retained through marriage and divorce. Since the FATE purchase is tied to the Companion rather than the Spouse, it is possible to divorce and remarry without additional FATE. September and Captain Amelia both grant +1 to an advanced Skill, while the two Nadir spouses grant +2 BDR and can be upgraded in the Nadir to versions that grant an additional +1 to Kataleptic Toxicology.
Hallowmas Companions[edit]
Thus far, all Hallowmas Spouses fall into one of two categories: Either the base version of the Spouse grants +1 to an Advanced Skill (
A Player of Chess), or else the Spouse can be upgraded with FATE. It is not known if this pattern will remain in the future.
Skill Spouses[edit]
Blooming Wallflower, 
Flexible Intelligencer, 
Joyful Charter Clerk, 
Joyful Illuminator
- Requirements
- Corresponding HALLOWMAS Companion, which is free some years and costs 15 FATE in others
- Stats
- +1 A Player of Chess (all)
- Marriage
- Unrestricted
- Divorce
- Unrestricted
- Remarriage
- Unrestricted
These HALLOWMAS companions can be married, giving a Spouse version of the Companion. The original Companion is retained through marriage and divorce. Marriage, divorce, and re-marriage are all trivial.
Upgradable[edit]
Platonic Partner in Crime or 
Soothing Palaeontologist
- Requirements
- Corresponding HALLOWMAS Companion, which is free some years and costs 15 FATE in others
- Stats
- +1 Shadowy and +1 Persuasive (Partner), upgrade adds +1 A Player of Chess
- +1 Watchful and
+1 Dangerous (Palaeontologist), upgrade adds 
+1 Monstrous Anatomy - Marriage
- Unrestricted
- Divorce
- Unrestricted
- Remarriage
- Unrestricted
- Upgrade
- 20 FATE (Not retained on divorce)
These HALLOWMAS companions can be married, giving a Spouse version of the Companion. The original Companion is retained through marriage and divorce. Divorcing the upgraded Spouse will permanently lose the upgrade. You can freely remarry the base Spouse, but will need to pay FATE again to re-obtain the upgrade. Mechanically, the upgraded versions gives +1 to an advanced skill.
Fate Non-Spouses[edit]
An Unwavering Commitment to Your own Good Self and 
The Call of the Unterzee
- Requirements
- Parabolan Base-Camp (Your own Good Self) or a ship (the Zee)
- Stats
- +1 Mithridacy (Your own Good Self)
- +1 Zeefaring (the Zee)
- Committing
- Requires 20 FATE and either a
Direful Reflection and a 
Mortification of a Great Power (Your own Good Self) or 
25x Zee Legs and 
2x Relatively Safe Zee Lane (the Zee). - Separating
- ?
- Recommitting
- ?
Foreign Office Spouses[edit]
- Requirements
- Mysteries of the Foreign Office (Story) (20 FATE)
- Stats
- +1 Watchful and +1 Persuasive (Attachés)
- +1 Shadowy and +1 Dangerous (Intriguers)
- Marriage
- Restricted by final decision
- Divorce
- Unrestricted
- Re-marriage
- Unrestricted (but see below)
- Upgrade
- Requires character progress
- Adds +1 A Player of Chess (Attachés)
- Adds +1 Monstrous Anatomy (Conspirators)
At the conclusion of Mysteries of the Foreign Office (Story), the character must choose between the Face and the Teeth. Their final reward is a choice from a set of Spouses or a Home Comfort, with the two alignments having a different set of available options. The Spouse options are mechanically different between the alignments, but within an alignment the choices are mechanically-identical gender-swaps.
It only costs mundane items to divorce a Foreign Office Spouse, and there are no restrictions on marrying or remarrying a Spouse of the same alignment. Switching alignments costs 5 FATE. If you chose a Home Comfort reward, the only way to switch to a Spouse is by paying the 5 FATE to switch alignment.
The base Spouses are mechanically mundane. The upgraded Spouses grant +1 to an Advanced Skill. The upgrade costs no FATE and is trivial to acquire or re-acquire.
Flute Street[edit]
- Requirements
- Flute Street (10 FATE)
- Stats
+3 Bizarre- Marriage
- 100 FATE
- Divorce
- Unrestricted
- Re-marriage
- Limited Quantity (see below)
- Upgrade
- Story progress
- Adds
+1 Shapeling Arts
Spending 100 FATE will grant 10 points of 
In Possession of a Peculiar Personal Enhancement -. Obtaining a Spouse costs one change point. Divorcing a re-marrying will consume another change point, which will not cost any additional FATE until all change points have been depleted. There are other ways to use up the Enhancement, although none of comparable mechanical significance.
The 
Boneless Consort grants +3 BDR, more than any other Spouse. After building a railway, it can be upgraded to grant +1 Shapeling Arts as well.
- ↑ FBG has not commented on player requests that polyamorous marriages give correspondingly higher value of Committed.
- ↑ This is a change from prior mechanics. Originally a player had to pay the 5 FATE at the time of divorce or be permanently locked out of remarriage. Older guides may still refer to this restriction.
