User:Bluesidra/Spouses
Overview: All Spouses[edit]
General Mechanics and Prerequisites[edit]
To get married, you have to be at least a 
A Person of Some Importance. Some Spouses are available to you the moment you become a PoSI, others need you to play through their associated stories. Some options only appear during the FEAST OF THE ROSE, some require a companion from the FEAST OF THE ROSE or HALLOWMAS, so some planning might be advised.
There are free Spouses, however most options, or at least the Upgrade will cost FATE. Aside of some pricier Spouses, most of them will cost around 20 FATE. With the Spouses we have at the moment, you need to pay the FATE-price once to get this specific Spouse and all their upgrades (or the upgrade of a free Spouse and all upgrades thereafter). If you divorce the Spouse, however, your upgrade might not carry over if you marry them again — it depends on how FBG implemented the mechanic with that specific Spouse.
Mechanically, your Spouse has its own slot in your Equipment, where it sits in the Spouse/Constant Companion slot. Every spouse adds 
+1 Committed:, which the game uses to recognise whether you're married. Aside from that, they add minor boots to your Attributes, Skills and/or BDR, although that varies drastically from Spouse to Spouse.
You can only have one Spouse at the same time, in case that wasn't clear. If you're unhappy with them, however, you can divorce them easily (thank Henry VIII and the Church of England for that). Divorce cost you next to nothing, and is solidified from a storylet in your Lodgings within two actions at most. Afterwards, most Spouses are immediately down to marry you again – although with some, the breakup hurt more and you need to win their favour back first.
Most Spouses add a Very Infrequent Card to your Opportunity Deck, where you can spend some time with them. The payout is usually in the range of 2 CP menace reduction, gaining a faction-favour or around 3
worth of items.
Detailed Descriptions[edit]
Player Spouse[edit]
See this Guide: Weddings (Guide)
This lets you marry another player's character. The mechanics to marry them are a little different, but otherwise, they function mechanically much like an npc-Spouse.
Their opportunity card grants each character a boon to a random skill (either 
A Player of Chess, 
Glasswork or 
Mithridacy) whenever one of the characters plays it. The other one will get informed via a message. The boon lasts for one week, then the card appears again in both character's decks.
This card is not available with the standard version of this Spouse. One of the two characters need to pay 20 FATE, then it's unlocked for both.
Veilgarden Spouses[edit]
Remember the Artist's Model and that charismatic Thief you got to flirt with while you were making your name? Well, they've gone places as well, and they remember you.
How to acquire them: If you romanced them in the past[3], then as soon as you are a A Person of Some Importance, an Opportunity Card will show up in your Deck. You can give them the cold shoulder there, dismissing the card (don't worry, you can rekindle your romance from your Social Engagements.) If you show interest in them instead, you'll start a small quest where you court them — they know their worth and won't settle for cheap. Raise 
Courting the Celebrated Artist's Model or 
Courting the Master Jewel Thief to 7, and their heart is yours.
Upgrades: From there on, these Spouses have two upgrades, which adds two points of BDR and ultimately one point in 
Artisan of the Red Science. The first upgrade costs 20 FATE, the one after that is free.
Divorce and Remarriage: These two take divorce personally. They have a 'Bitter Parting' mechanic, which costs 5 FATE to remove. Only then can you remarry them. However, you can still marry any other Spouse without any negative repercussions. Any upgrades you might have bought will not be retained upon divorce.
Progression:
| Base Spouse: | Celebrated Artist's Model
|
Master Jewel Thief
|
|---|---|---|
| First Upgrade: |  Notorious Art Dealer
|
 Gentleman Smuggler
|
| Second Upgrade: |  Incendiary Tastemaker
|
 Promethean Rogue
|
Connected Qualities:
An Admirer of Beauty -: This is a prerequisite to start drawing the Model's card. The Thief does not have such a quality.- Remember the Artist's Model? and Remember the Honey-sipping Jewel Thief?: The cards where you can kick off the romance.
- Courting the Celebrated Artist's Model and Courting the Master Jewel Thief: raise these to 7 to marry them.
- Cold Shoulder: the Artist's Model and Cold Shoulder: the Master Jewel Thief: If you have dismissed their card in the past. Remove this via your Social Engagements.
- A Bitter Parting: the Artist's Model and
A Bitter Parting: the Master Jewel Thief: If you have divorced them, you'll get this. It costs 5 FATE to remove and allow you to remarry them.
Nadir Spouses[edit]
At the end of your journey into the Nadir, this couple broke up for good. But they're still open to you.
How to acquire them: At the end of their Nadir-storyline, you get to choose one of them as a Companion. To marry them, you first need to upgrade that Companion during the FEAST OF THE ROSE. You can reconnect with the other one in your Social Engagements. Acquiring the marriageable Companion will cost you at least 70 FATE[4], making them one of the most expensive Spouses. After that, you can marry them all year round in your Lodgings.
Upgrades: The upgrades are for free and adds one point of 
Kataleptic Toxicology. To upgrade them, follow their quests in your Lodgings.
Divorce and Remarriage: Since the upgrades are free and you retain the upgraded Companion after you marry them, a divorce doesn't mean you lose any FATE-investment you made.
Progression:
| Companion after the Nadir: |  Secular Missionary
|
 Revolutionary Firebrand
|
|---|---|---|
| Upgraded Companions from the FEAST OF THE ROSE: | The Secular Missionary, Renewed
|
The Revolutionary Firebrand, Reforged
|
| Spouse: | The Secular Missionary, Happy
|
The Revolutionary Firebrand, Happy
|
| Upgraded Spouse: |  The Secular Missionary, Ascendant
|
 The Revolutionary Firebrand, Liberated
|
Connected Qualities:
The Missionary and the Firebrand: a Memory of Regret: The storylet to gain the companion you didn't choose.
Foreign Office Spouses[edit]
During your time in the Foreign Office, you got to know two factions and the members who make them up. But maybe it went beyond just purely professional?
How to acquire them: To get any Foreign Office Spouse, you need to buy and play through the story 
Mysteries of the Foreign Office. This costs 20 FATE. Towards the end, you can choose between the Face and the Teeth. Choose the Face to get access to the Intruigers and Teeth for the Attachés.
Upgrades: All the Foreign Office Spouses can be upgraded once, adding a point of A Player of Chess. The upgrade is free and in your Lodgings.
Divorce and Remarriage: Divorcing and remarrying is as easy as it comes. Since the FATE was for the story, you don't loose access to it. Although resetting it (which you'll need to do to (re)marry any of them) costs 5 FATE.
Upgraded Faction Companions[edit]
During Hallowmas, your confessions have made a life-changing impact on some of your acquaintances. Maybe you want to spend that new life with them?
How to acquire them: All four of them require an upgraded Faction Companion from HALLOWMAS. These can be acquired by spending confessions. However, not all options are available every year. In years when they're not available through confessions, they can be acquired from 
Slivvy for 15 FATE for the Charter Clerk and Illuminator and 20 FATE for the Wallflower and Intelligencer, respectively. Once you have these Companions, you can marry them all year round in your Lodgings.
Upgrades: Those four don't have an upgrade.
Divorce and Remarriage: Divorce is easy, and since you hold on to the HALLOWMAS-Companion, you can remarry them any time.
Progression:
| Faction Companion: |  Ex-Privateer Charter Clerk
|
 The Chap on the Corner
| ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upgraded Companions from HALLOWMAS: |  Ex-Privateer Illuminator
|
 Only-Semi-Retired Privateer Charter Clerk
|
 Consummate Wallflower
|
 Nimble-fingered Intelligencer
|
| Spouse: |  Joyful Illuminator
|
 Joyful Charter Clerk
|
 Blooming Wallflower
|
 Flexible Intelligencer
|
Polyamory[edit]
Why only settle for one when you have two hands to hold?
The game provides two poly options. One is an established couple of academics that is willing to open their relationship to you, while the other is an ever-sprawling polycule that spans an unknown but not insubstantial part of the city.
How to acquire them: The 
Bewildering Procession of Companions, Lovers, Suitors, and Paramours can be married from your Social Engagements as soon as you become A Person of Some Importance.
The 
Philosophically Perfect Partnership must be courted first. For that, approach any of them on the card A Meeting at the Ball, which you'll start to draw in London once you are 
Restored to the Court of Her Enduring Majesty. From there, raise A Philosophical Courtship to 8 to cement your relationship.
Upgrade: While both Spouses are free, their upgrade costs 20 FATE. It adds one point of Glasswork for the sprawling polycule and Artisan of the Red Science for the academics. Note that to upgrade the polycule, you'll need 
Access to a Parabolan Base-Camp, while the academics can be upgraded right away. The upgraded polycule also has no associated Opportunity Card!
Divorce and Remarriage: Divorce is easy, and both options can be remarried immediately after (you'll need to court the academics all over again). Please note that the costs for the upgrade do not carry over for the Philosophically Perfect Partnership. If it carries over for the sprawling polycule has not been verified yet.
Spouses of mysterious and indistinct gender[edit]
Si-, er, Mad-, er, Love
How to acquire them: The 
Buccaneering Palaeontologist could previously be acquired by upgrading him during HALLOWMAS. For that, one needed the 
Debonair Palaeontologist, who can be befriended during the FEAST OF THE ROSE for relatively cheap 
3 x Masquing. Nowadays, the Buccaneering Palaeontologist can be acquired for 20 FATE during HALLOWMAS from Slivvy. Once you finally have them, you can marry them at your Social Engagements in order to get the Soothing Palaeontologist as your Spouse.
Meanwhile, the 
Boneless Consort can be acquired year round from the Rubbery faction card. However, for the storylet to show up, you need to be 
in Possession of a Peculiar Personal Enhancement. This quality costs 100 FATE, and can be acquired on an Opportunity Card in the Upper River, but only once you reached Moulin and accumulated 8 
An Alteration. However, if you want to marry your Rubbery lover before you're over halfway down the Railway, you'll have to fork over another 40 FATE for access to Flute Street. That makes this Spouse the most expensive and hard to acquire Spouse.
Upgrade: Upgrading the Soothing Palaeontologist to the 
Soothing Prehistoricist can be done immediately, for 20 FATE. Meanwhile the 
Companion in Amber can be acquired for free from the Spouse's Opportunity Card once you have some experience in the 
Shapeling Arts.
Divorce and Remarriage: The Palaenthologist can be divorced and remarried immediately, since you don't lose their Companion version. However, their upgrade, should you have it, does not carry over. The Rubbery Man can be divorced and remarried from the faction card. However, you still need to have your Peculiar Personal Enhancement, which will wear down over time. So by the time you want to remarry them, you might need to spend the 100 Fate again.
Progression:
| Companion from FEAST OF THE ROSE: | Debonair Palaeontologist
|
- |
|---|---|---|
| Upgraded Companions from HALLOWMAS: | Buccaneering Palaeontologist
|
- |
| Spouse: | Soothing Palaeontologist
|
Boneless Consort
|
| Upgraded Spouse: | Soothing Prehistoricist
|
Companion in Amber
|
Platonic Relationships[edit]
Not every lifelong commitment must be romantic.
The game offers two purely platonic partners (no romantic or sexual relationship). Of the two, the 
Platonic Partner in Crime has been around for much longer, with the 
Clay Confidant only having been introduced recently, so both behave rather differently.
How to acquire them: During HALLOWMAS, the Alluring Accomplice could be upgraded to a 
Fabulous Accomplice. With her, you can cement your partnership to acquire the Platonic Partner in Crime. When she's not on the roster for the confessions, the Fabulous Accomplice can be acquired from Slivvy for 20 FATE.
The Clay Confidant can be met in Spite, in Couriers, Coshes, and Clay. From there, raise Getting to Know the Clay Courier to 12, and eventually, you can formalise your relationship when he moves into your Spouse-slot. Acquiring him is free, and even available before you're A Person of Some Importance.
Upgrade: The Platonic Partner in Crime can be upgraded to the Platonic Eminence Grise as soon as you're married, for the price of 20 FATE.
The Clay Confidant does not have an upgrade yet.
Divorce and Remarriage: Both can be divorced and remarried easily. Since you don't lose access to your Fabulous Accomplice when you marry her, you can remarry her immediately. However, her upgrade is lost in the divorce.
Misc[edit]
The Good, the Bad and the Dirty.
While September and Amelia have clear romantic feelings for their partner, 
A Mutually Pleasurable Entanglement introduces the first aromantic allosexual Spouse-option in the game.
How to acquire them: To marry either September or Capt. Amelia, you first need to befriend their Companion-versions during the FEAST OF THE ROSE. Both do not have an associated Opportunity Card!
September requires 80 x Masquing, which, if you make use of all freely available Masquing, comes down to 50 FATE. You also need to have 
A Friend of September at 5, meaning he is not an option until well into the Railway. As soon as you have him as a Companion, an Opportunity Card will appear, allowing you to marry him. However, you may only marry September with the approval of the GHR Board. Nothing more romantic than a wedding during a Board Meeting.
Captain Amelia Whitlock will set you back a whopping 100 x Masquing – at least 70 FATE. With this Companion at your side, you can now set out to get Captain Amelia, Espoused.
Getting into A Mutually Pleasurable Entanglement is, in comparison, very easy and cheap. You can start the associated storyline at 
Communication and Attraction in your Lodgings. From there, you only need to raise 
An Attentive Friendship, and voila, you now have a friend with benefits. Note that this friend can come in three flavours of gender (male, female, nonbinary). You choose yours at the beginning of the the storyline.
Upgrades: So far, none of these Spouses can be upgraded.
Divorce and Remarriage: All three options can be divorced and remarried rather easily.
Overview: Costs and Requirements[edit]
- ↑ The base version of the Player Spouse does not have a card. The ability to draw this card is an upgrade, costing 20 FATE
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 These Spouses used to be free during some years' HALLOWMAS. They can still be acquired with FATE in years when they are not on the free roster.
- ↑ Applies only to the model. The Thief's card shows up regardless of your advances in the past.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 They require 100 Masquing, but you can get 30 Masquing for free during the Feast.
- ↑ To be paid by one of the two involved parties
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 The respective companion must be acquired at the festival, afterwards they can be married all year round
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 They used to be free during some HALLOWMAS. Although if you didn't get lucky, you can get them for FATE
- ↑ You don't need to spend FATE again to acquire them. But the upgrade is gone.
- ↑ He requires 80 Masquing, but you can get 30 for free during the Feast.
