Seeking Information about the Theosophistical Society
Investigations (Seeking…) into the the Theosophistical Society become available when you become sufficiently Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion and enter Mahogany Hall.
(You must be in Mahogany Hall to play these cards.)
A Theosophistical Enquiry
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10
A craze for Theosophistical Spiritualism is sweeping Fallen London. What is the attraction of Madame Petrovsky's Secret Dogma? You could attend a meeting and find out.
Get involved with the Theosophistical Society
Wonderful! At last, something of substance after all these tarot cards and rabbits in hats.
An evening of wonders
Madame Petrovsky's talk is erudite and entertaining. Theosophistry, it turns out, is based on the teachings of Imanuel Lundberg, a Nordic natural scientist who turned to mysticism. Petrovsky describes in lurid detail his experiments with precognition and telepathy, and his 'Grand Theory of Correspondence'. She outlines her own theories about the seven ages of the world, and… hang on. Correspondence? But Lundberg's been dead for a hundred years. Maybe there is something to be discovered here.
Your
Seeking… Quality is now 1!
Gain: 20 x Cryptic Clue
Anything but that
Religion and science? Are they quite serious? You would rather pass the evening watching mould spread across your drawing-room wall.
Defiantly uninvolved
You spend a most entertaining evening in the audience at Mahogany Hall, laughing at the topical comedians and enjoying the popular songs. Well, all except that last one, which is now repeating itself over and over in your mind.
Plagued by a Popular Song increase
A Theosophistical Discussion
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 1
You've begun an acquaintance with the the noted spiritualist Madame Petrovsky. Now you're invited to join a discussion at Beatrice's Tea Parlour.
Listen with an open mind
Reserve judgement. You never know who else is listening, for one thing.
The science of spiritualism
Madame Petrovsky is not the only spiritualist in town, but she's got the most complicated ideas. Her Secret Dogma is a treatise on comparative approaches to religion and the evolution of human society. The Fall of London is grist to her mill.
'This is the Fifth Age,' she says. 'Four civilisations have gone before. There will be two more, and the seventh will attain perfect society.
'Should you wish to learn more about Lundberg's theories of the Correspondence, please sign my register and leave your donation with my assistant.' Donation? Is that what this is all about?
Seeking… increase
20 x Cryptic Clue
Remain sceptical
Who cares what manner of nonsense Madame may spout? At least there's free wine.
Esotericism at its most impenetrable
Madame Petrovsky reads some extracts from her Secret Dogma. A lot of long-winded stuff about religion, the 'Fifth Age of Civilisation' and the evolution of human society.
But the evening is not a complete loss. 'Should you wish to learn more about Lundberg's theories of the Correspondence, please sign my register and leave your donation with my assistant,' says Petrovsky. Donation? So that's what this is all about.
Seeking… increase
10 x Cryptic Clue
A Theosophistical Debate
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 3
Madame Petrovsky's salon is debating the separation of religion and science. The rich and curious will attend in droves.
Attend the salon
There's something rotten here, beneath the fine words and the elegant couture. Can you discover the truth?
'But theologically speaking, evolution makes monkeys of us…'
A gentleman with a fine moustache decries the new theory of 'evolution'; a lady in a blue hat defends it with enthusiasm. A fine and rigorous debate ensues. But Madame Petrovsky is doing the real business tonight, speaking to each person privately. 'My course teaches the true meaning of the Correspondence,' she tells them. 'Participants learn how to live according to its teachings. A profoundly spiritual existence. For a small fee…' She names a sum that would shock the Empress herself. But all around you, people are signing up. At the end of the evening, Helena Petrovsky approaches you. 'I know who you are,' she says. 'I'd like to offer you opportunities to assist me, if I may?'
Seeking… increase
Gain: 10 x Cryptic Clue
Reject the invitation
You've heard more than enough of what they have to say.
A Theosophistical Development
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 5
Madame Petrovsky claims to teach spiritual happiness with her Theories of the Correspondence. For an exorbitant sum. You're helping at a class when a fight erupts over an epistemological question.
Break up the fight
It's not conducive to proper spirituality, is it?
An appropriate diversion
You step between the combatants. It turns out they're fighting over the true nature of the Bazaar, and whether or not it wears the Correspondence to teach London about faith. A subject worthy of raised fists and recklessly brandished chairs, apparently. You make a witty comment about Lundberg's deconstruction of combat in the seminal Of A Pale Horse, to roars of laughter. The evening is saved!
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Gain: 52 x Cryptic Clue
Subtle increase
Encourage the fight
Raised voices are a sign of lively and healthy debate.
A thorny issue
Two gentlemen are fighting about the Bazaar - its true nature, and what the Correspondence symbols on its walls might tell the faithful. You drop comments around the class, encouraging others to join in, and soon the room is in chaos. If the reports of this don't attract more people next time, nothing will.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Gain: 53 x Cryptic Clue
Forceful increase
A Geological Expedition
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 5
Madame Petrovsky asks you to lead a group of Theosophistical ladies to the Prickfinger Wastes, to see what you can find.
Is that a fossil?
Reach for it. It might shed some light on the very nature of the Neath!
That's a big one
The scientifically-minded ladies have come equipped with baskets and little hammers. You arm yourself with a pick and scramble up a stalagmite until you can see the fossil more clearly. It's definitely fungoid. And huge. You chip away at the rock and eventually you have it.
The ladies gather round. 'It's like a jellyfish,' says one. 'Look at the filaments surrounding the fruiting body. Astounding.' What's that, nestled within the tangle? A clutch of tiny stone horses? Those were made by human hands! This must be an important find. You promise to deliver it to the University's palaeomycologists forthwith.
Dangerous increase
Gain: 20 x Relic of the Fourth City
Seeking… increase
Come prepared
It's dangerous out there. Better to smuggle along a fossil you 'found' earlier.
Impressive foresight
Before setting out, you liberate a gigantic fossil specimen from the Department of Palaeomycology. Now to stage a convincing discovery out on the Wastes. Your group are keen-eyed and knowledgeable, with their little baskets and hammers and protective hats. But you point out a shape that could be a fossil and insist on being the one to retrieve it. You make quite a show of chipping it out of the rock.
'But this is wonderful!' cries one. 'Such detail in the filaments! Such a gigantic perithecium! We must take this to the experts immediately!' You promise to do so. They tip you extremely well.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Gain: 107 x Glim
A Philosophical Commission
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 5
The Gazette has commissioned you to write a fierce attack on the latest developments in natural philosophy. A good opportunity to improve your reputation with the Theosophistical crowd, who mistrust 'rational' thought.
Draw a satirical cartoon
There's plenty of scope for mockery in this new-fangled idea that man 'descended from apes'.
(Persuasive challenge; straightforward at 109)
Biting satire
Your cartoon is simple but vicious. It shows a lady visiting Alfred the gorilla, who lives in the Labyrinth of Tigers, and puzzling over whether he's her grandfather on her mother or her father's side. Not your best work perhaps, but the Gazette pays well for it.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Connected: Benthic decrease
Gain: 104 x Jade
Write an opinion piece
It's less conspicuous than a cartoon, but it's more respectable.
(Persuasive challenge; straightforward at 112)
Nicely put
The main thrust of your article is concern for the population's spiritual health. The teachings of the Correspondence, you claim, are vital now that London has Fallen, far more so than mere 'science'. The article causes outbreaks of table-thumping in public houses across London, and the editor of the Gazette is well pleased.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Gain: 108 x Glim
Connected: Benthic decrease
Intellectual indignation
Scientific arguments must be met and defeated in kind. You won't be party to this base fraud! Write a balanced article
(Persuasive challenge; straightforward at 115)
A difficult read
You produce a careful summary of the arguments and counter-arguments on the subject of evolution. It's dry stuff, but your prose is marvellously lucid and you inject a few good monkey jokes. The editor grudgingly lets it run for a slightly reduced fee, beneath a substantial etching of an adorable monkey in a dress. The Theosophisticals aren't impressed.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… decrease
Gain: 50 x Glim
Connected: Benthic increase
A Philosophical Excursion
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 5
The Theosophistical Society lecture series is proving popular. Now Madame Petrovsky's asked you to help escort the initiates on a field trip to the Observatory.
Take the class to Watchmaker's Hill
Try to keep the group together, and watch out for the marsh-wolves on the way.
An eye-opening expedition
You lead the class across Bugsby's Marshes successfully. Only one gentleman falls into the bog, and a second sustains bites that are inconvenient rather than fatal. When you reach the Observatory, robed figures step forward to open the gates. They remain silent as they show you into the courtyard, which is festooned with sorrow-spiders' webs. They indicate the gossamer clots above your heads. Are those symbols woven in the tangled silk? Glyphs of some sort? The patterns dance and sway as you stare at them. Moments, or possibly hours, later, you come to, already halfway back across the marshes.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Gain: 54 x Cryptic Clue
A Philosophical Decision
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 9
The Theosophistical Society is charging a lot of money for lectures on the Correspondence. How do you feel about it now you've heard what it has to say?
There's definitely something in it
There are too many coincidences for it not to be a valuable field of study.
Written on the Bazaar
Lundberg's theories of Correspondence, written down a hundred years ago. His dreams of transportation. The Five Cities and the Fifth Age of Man. The secrets shared by the Observatory. The theory of evolution, concerning the Descent of Man, and the Fall of London! Why, how could anyone doubt the truth of this! Madame Petrovsky is delighted with you, and offers you the opportunity to address the next class.
Seeking… increase
It's nothing but a confidence trick
People fall for it because they need answers, but they're being taken for fools.
(Persuasive challenge)
A Philosophical Profit
Unlocks: Embroiled in the Wars of Illusion 10, Seeking 10
It's evident that Madame Petrovsky's running an elaborate confidence trick. What will you do about it?
Get in on the scam
Tell Petrovsky you know what she's up to, and demand a cut.
(Persuasive challenge)
'My. Aren't you insightful.'
After class, you corner Madame Petrovsky. You inform her that it's clear she's cashing in on people's spiritual uncertainty and selling them a lot of claptrap based on a hundred-years-dead Swede's diary of his dreams. And should she be amenable, you'd love to help her continue.
Helena Petrovsky regards you levelly. 'Fine,' she says. 'I'll pay you. If you can recruit enough new donors to pay printing costs for my new novel.' And there's an advance.
Persuasive increase
Seeking… increase
Gain: 50 x Silk Scrap
Gain: 54 x Deep Amber
Expose the scam
The people deserve to know the truth!
(Persuasive challenge)
