The Foreign Office

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The Foreign Office

The Foreign Office occupies two of the larger minarets and a copper pagoda in Wilmot's End. Wipe your feet.

Access to The Foreign Office is gained through the A Diplomat in the Making story.

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Entering the Office

The Foreign Office is located in Wilmot's End. The following storylet must be played every time you enter the Office (thus it must be replayed if you leave and return):

Enter the Foreign Office

Here, somewhere amid the onion-domed minarets and great copper pagodas…

Which statue?

Stony faces without number, motionless in the fog. An exchange of secrets with a sly gardener.
Unlocked with A Diplomat in the Making 1, Compromising Document 3

Reward spoiler

A baroque mode of entrance

Two sharp knocks on the angel's cheek. A hum of machinery. The plinth, the statue and you descend beneath the earth together. Warm gaslight, dust and the smell of floor polish. Portraits of governors and ministers gaze down as you traverse the tunnel. The Foreign Office awaits.
You've moved to a new area: The Foreign Office.
Lose: 3 x Compromising Document

Business in the Office

The Report Courier

The courier emerges from the bronze and jade doors of the archive department. He's carrying a thick report.
Unlocked with A Diplomat in the Making 1

Strike up a conversation at the tea urn?

Perhaps you can steal a glance at that bulging folder. Unfortunately, you'll have to accept a cup of the thick, coppery tea they drink around here.

Reward spoiler

The spider issue

The courier takes a gulp of his heavy brew. 'Marvellous, isn't it? Our own blend. It grows all the way up in the Flit, you see. It gives me such lovely dreams.' His smile would shame a hyena.

While he waxes poetical on the subject of tea, you sneak a look at the report summary. It is entitled: Sorrow Spiders: Made of Cheese? The work examines, apparently seriously, the likelihood that London's arachnid predators are composed entirely of well-aged Caerphilly. You can only hope that this is an elaborate code.
Persuasive increase
A twist in your tale! You are now Working toward a Foreign Posting.

Failure spoiler

Such lovely tea

The courier takes a gulp of his heavy brew. 'Marvellous, isn't it? Our own blend. It grows all the way up in the Flit, you see. It gives me such lovely dreams.' His smile would shame a hyena.
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Nightmare increase.

An elegant distraction

While chatting with the courier, you notice a slip of paper poking out from his report. If you can distract him for long enough, you could snag it.
Unlocked with Mysteries of the Foreign Office 1

Rewards unknown

The Agents of the Teeth

A hollow-eyed woman is deep in conversation with two university students by the bust of Queen Elizabeth. She keeps glancing at you.
Unlocked with A Diplomat in the Making 1

Introduce yourself

As you approach, the woman nods curtly and the students scurry back to their lectures.

Reward spoiler

A word before chapel

The woman runs her fingers slowly over your cheeks. What a liberty! She seems pleased, though. 'Ah yes, we heard that you might be paying us a visit. It is our business to hear. You seem a capable sort. We may have business in the future. Just stay away from those heathens in the Face. They lack all morals, and their table habits are disgusting.'

'Now, you'll have to excuse me. I must attend chapel.'
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

Perhaps you don't look the pious sort

'Excuse me, but I must attend chapel. Perhaps we can speak later.'
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Scandal increase

The diplomats of the Face

The department known as the Face deals with diplomacy, and other overt services.
Unlocked with A Diplomat in the Making 1

Can you make a good impression?

A civil servant regards you over a sheaf of manilla folders. He has the air of man trying to recall a popular tune.

Reward spoiler

Well, he seems friendly enough

The Cultured Attaché shakes your hand enthusiastically. 'Good Lord, It's you! You wrote that opera, didn't you? A splendid work I thought, although you didn't really work the tenors as hard as you might have. It's splendid that you're here. Just watch out for those scoundrels in the Teeth. Valuable work, I know, but terrible people. Don't go anywhere alone with them.' He rubs his chin, a gesture that seems to carry some significance.

'I'm sure I will see you later. I'm going to lunch. I would invite you, but… let's just say it's for the best that I don't. Cheerio!'
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

Peculiar people

The junior diplomat looks you up and down. 'I'm sorry,' he murmurs, 'I'm about to go to lunch.' His gaze borders on the lascivious.
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Scandal increase

The lobby

The vaulted foyer thrums with whispers. Here, beneath the ruins of Wilmot's End, you have stumbled upon the quiet clockspring of the Empire. Nimble spies duck between clerks weighed down with piles of parchment. Diplomats chat in little cliques.
Unlocked with A Diplomat in the Making 1

A particularly foreign office

The core of the building is a copper pagoda. But neo-classical wings give way to hollow marble arches, rainbow glass towers and basalt tombs. It's a warren. Perhaps someone will be good enough to show you around.

Reward spoiler

The wisdom of Mr Huffam

Why, it's Mr Huffam, the noted newspaper editor! He has a young and wide-eyed reporter in tow. A little eavesdropping is in order.

'…two major departments within the Foreign Office. They both have grand titles, but down here, they're known as the Face and the Teeth. The Face furnishes diplomats, mediates foreign travel and looks after dignitaries from overseas. The Teeth concern themselves with matters of intelligence and the resolution of diplomatic incidents. Most of the people you see here are from the Face. The Teeth tend to be dispersed abroad, or larking about in Wilmot's End, or in chapel. Let's go upstairs. If you hear a strange noise up there, don't look.'
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

'Excuse me…'

The Foreign Office has no use for receptionists and maps. Anyone with business here already knows where to go. Well, anyone but you. A pink-faced diplomat watches you with narrow eyes.
Persuasive increase
Scandal increase

Leaving the Foreign Office

Enough of these intrigues. The Foreign Office can wait. Back to London.

Back down the tunnel

Stride past the portraits. A quick nod to the engineer who keeps the lifting machinery running.

Reward spoiler

Away you go

A sardonic fellow from the Face waves you off as the lift huffs and puffs. 'Are you leaving us so soon, delicious friend? We shall surely miss you at dinner.'
You've moved to a new area: Wilmot's End
Connected: Society decrease.

Storylets which are unlocked at Working toward a Foreign Posting 5

Attend a state dinner

A Teutonic relative of the Empress has made the arduous journey down from the Surface. The government is throwing a state dinner in his honour.
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 5

Wrangle an invitation

As state dinners go, this is a fairly informal family affair. Black tie, no need for medals or tiaras. Invitations are scarce.

Reward spoiler

No, that's for crab, you fool!

The press crowds around the palace gates. You garner as much of their attention as any minister or baron. That's probably helpful, even if many of their questions are dashed impertinent.

The dinner gives you chance to observe the Face at work. You're surprised to see several of them fumble basic points of dining etiquette, but their charm and wit brings them back into the game every time. Where did they learn their table manners?
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

All dressed up and nowhere to go

The state dinner is starting. The press throngs to the palace gates to see the carriages arrive. You, alas, are at home, with only a suspicious kidney pie for company.
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Scandal increase

Hunting spies

The spy's identity is unknown, even to the Foreign Office. Is it possible? Could it even be… the Civet?
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 5

Working fast

Whoever it may be, the Devout Intriguer wants this particular spy investigated, seduced and compromised before lamp-lighting.

Reward spoiler

The Game spins on

An intriguing message in a Flit drop-box. The careful camaraderie of Great Game veterans. An evening's flirtatious circling. A night of passion and secrets.

Alas, you're fairly sure this spy isn't really the notorious Civet. But you have some useful pillow-talk for the Devout Intriguer. She's sure to be impressed. Perhaps there is at least one fox in this city.
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

How dare they!

Your cigar burns down to nothing as you wait on the draughty, swaying bridge in the Flit, but the cold is far from your mind. You have been stood up.
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Scandal increase

Getting into the Archives

The archives aren't closely watched. But the clerks know each other and they know the staff, too.
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 5

It's all about the attitude

Can you affect the harried, absent-minded expression of a junior diplomat? Perhaps you could quote something in Latin or talk about the cricket.

Reward spoiler

Something to report

You stroll about the archives. Clerks type and scurry and file, not sparing you a glance. Ruddy gaslight flickers over a battalion of cabinets. You sidle over to one, grab an armful of reports, and leave. Later, in an empty office, you examine your findings.

You have Shroom-hopping Results Measured Against Unterzee Vulcanism, The Belgians are Coming!, The Tsar's Mechanical Ferret Army and On the Wisdom of not Inviting the Bishop of Southwark to State Dinners. All - apart from the last one - are complete nonsense. Detailed, highly consistent nonsense, but nonsense nonetheless.
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

Did you get the cricket scores wrong?

'You're not supposed to be here. Now hop it, or I'll have you assigned to Venderbight.'

Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Scandal increase

Recruiting at the University

The Devout Intriguer from the Teeth would like a little favour. She tilts your chin with gloved fingers, to better examine you as she explains.
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 5

Making friends with students

'Go to the University and note the names of any promising students. I'm looking for wit, resourcefulness and a certain lack of moral scruples. Soft, unblemished skin also goes a long way.'
Unlocked with Route: the University 1

Reward spoiler

'So, what would you do if…'

Perhaps we should leave aside the skin requirement for now. It's hard to tell in the fog-muffled quadrangles anyway.

You chat to the passing students about politics, ambition and principle. You pose sharp quandaries and fiendish dilemmas. A little knot becomes a sizeable crowd as more students join in with the debate. You note down some likely names. Something occurs, however: why is the university haunted by recruiters from the Teeth, but never the Face.
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.

Failure spoiler

Fearing for the future

You spend some time in the misty quadrangles and cramped junior common rooms. This student is wealthy and witless. That one has revolutionary zeal but no substance. The other is unshakably principled and suffers from terrible psoriasis. Eventually, a suspicious porter moves you on.
Persuasive increase
Working toward a Foreign Posting increase.
Scandal increase

The man in the fez

He stands as straight as a lamp post, with no gown or books. 'I have a message for someone. That someone might be you.'
Unlocked with Mysteries of the Foreign Office 1

Rewards unknown

Storylets which are unlocked at Working toward a Foreign Posting 7

Replacement Diplomats

The Face Recruitment Committee is sitting today. You know the department doesn't use University candidates, so where does it find recruits?
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 7

Charm your way into the committee room

If you can understand how the Face recruits, you might be a step closer to a good posting.

Reward spoiler

An unusual method of recruitment

A winning smile and and a spot of deft wordplay see you inside. The committee meets in a cosy study, and you occupy an armchair by the fire. It's all very informal and friendly here. More like a cricket club than an arm of government.

'And we'll set the examinations on the first of next month. Now, I believe Mr Druthers has some good news about the choir fund…'

You take in the proceedings. Over the next few hours, a picture emerges from the cigar smoke. The Face selects its candidates very young, and from usually poor homes. Many are street urchins, or the children of the working folk of Spite and Wolfstack. Curiously, one of the most important criteria is a good singing voice. There's an event in each child's selection process called a 'performance' - although they talk artfully around the details. If the performance is successful, the child is educated and shaped for service.
This has been going on for years. It's beyond queer that London's diplomats, to a man, came from the city's gutters. And what does that say about your chances of a posting?
Persuasive increase
Your 'Working toward a Foreign Posting' Quality has gone!
Gain: 7 x Extraordinary Implication

The Devout Intriguer's Itinerary

Every Wednesday afternoon, the Devout Intriguer leaves the Foreign Office for several hours. Where does she go?
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 7

Another way

The Devout Intriguer is an exceptional agent. It would not be wise to follow her personally. Perhaps you can piece together her route from passers-by and shopkeepers.

Reward spoiler

Unusual appetites

It takes a month of Wednesday afternoons, and too many question and hints to recount, but eventually you have enough information to put the pieces together.
The Devout Intriguer takes tea with the Bishop of St. Fiacres each Wednesday, in the Bishop's private chapel. After the meeting, she goes shopping. Your quarry favours the most expensive of candle shops, suppliers to the apiary trade and dealers in exotic birds.
She also meets a scar-faced man in gaoler's hessian. They rendezvous near the dirigible docks and she takes a package from him. Your dossier on her is growing stout.
Persuasive increase
Your 'Working toward a Foreign Posting' Quality has gone!
Gain: 36 x Compromising Document

The Ministry Run

Early in the day, and sweating clerks load their reports into a quartet of steel chests large enough to hold a corpse. Out on the street, black-clad Special Constables guard official carriages.
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 7

Escort duty

A senior diplomat and a veteran spy collar you beside the bust of Lord Palmerston. 'Would you mind accompanying this month's reports to the archives at Decency?'

Reward spoiler

On the infernous with it

You leave via the secret gate onto Burly Street. The Special Constables are silent as you rattle through the empty, fog-shrouded streets. Enormous spiked iron gates open for your little convoy, and you come to a halt inside the endlessly-scrubbed yard of the Ministry of Public Decency. As you dismount, an acid-spewing wagon rattles past to deal with a dangerous graffito. The wheels barely miss your feet.
The Special Constables escort you to see Mr Pages, the Master of the Bazaar who runs the Ministry. A sergeant warns you of the terrible fate waiting anybody not on their best behaviour.
The office of Mr Pages is up six flights of stairs. You can hear music from within. You knock and enter. It's not a flautist - Mr Pages has a clockwork contraption that plays music! It switches the thing off as you approach, swaying a little. It seems flustered.
'Ah, the reports from the Foreign Office. Most alacritudinous. Stack them on the woodsider, if you would. I shall read every last verbode in person, of course. It is nothing less that my duty. Is it gelid in here? Perhaps I shall have an infernous lit. A big, blazing infernous. But there is no coal? Oh, what to do? What to do? Off you go, now. Tell the F.O. to keep up the good labourations.' You pocket a few small texts on your way out.
Persuasive increase
Your 'Working toward a Foreign Posting' Quality has gone!
Gain: 450 x Proscribed Material

Failure spoiler

The winds of fortune

You leave via the secret gate onto Burly Street. The Special Constables are silent as you rattle through the empty, fog-shrouded streets. A Scowling Sergeant shakes his head as you approach the iron railings surrounding the Ministry. The carriage pulls up and you are forced to dismount. The Ministry swallows the carriages, horses and all, as the Sergeant escorts you away. But what's this? A laundry ticket for that place the Special Constables use…
Persuasive increase
You've gained 3 x Black Felt Garments
Your 'Working toward a Foreign Posting' Quality has gone!

The Press and the Dutch

The Devout Intriguer is having a screaming argument with a diplomat from the Face. You hear '…or I'll feed you to the Saint on the roof!' before she turns to you.
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 7

Off to see a gentleman of the press

'Fearful little unbred oik! I shouldn't have to deal with people like that. Anyway, I have a little something for you. See what Huffam knows about the Dutch. His sources are, alas, often better than ours…'

Reward spoiler

A chat with the old goat

You present your Foreign Office credentials and a Doodling Sub-Editor shows you into a meeting room. Oak panels, thick velvet curtains and wine from the Surface: Mr Huffam certainly isn't short of a few Echoes.

Everyone is busy. You stand to one side and enjoy a breathless half-hour in the newspaper business. Mr Huffam endlessly alters tomorrow's front page. Editors grapple with the eternal balance between infuriating readers and upsetting the status quo. Somebody quietly questions the the truth of an article. It's fascinating stuff.

Once he's put the edition to bed, Mr Huffam finds a few minutes to speak to you. 'The Dutch, you say? They're further ahead in Correspondent matters than most of the other Surface powers. I couldn't say that they have a notable scholar yet, but certainly several promising students. And they know their ways around skin and ink, if you catch my meaning.'
Persuasive increase
Your 'Working toward a Foreign Posting' Quality has gone!
1 x Blackmail Material
2 x Extraordinary Implication

Failure spoiler

You're a little too late

Mr Huffam is not available. The Doodling Sub-Editor tells you that he's discussing recent events with a person of stature. The fellow won't tell you who that person is, although he describes the meeting as 'tempestuent'. You get a good look at tomorrow's news on your way out.
Persuasive increase
Your 'Working toward a Foreign Posting' Quality has gone!
You've gained 3 x An Identity Uncovered!
You've gained 2 x Incendiary Gossip

The Deeper Secrets

The intrigues and politics of the Foreign Office are outlandish, even by London's standards. Is there something untoward in the pagoda?
Unlocked with Working toward a Foreign Posting 7

Spies and diplomats and secrets

Does the Foreign Office have secrets? Well, how could it not? [This will allow you to uncover the truth about the struggle between Face and Teeth. Certain unusual rewards may also be available.]

Requires 20 Fate

Fate-locked content must not be placed on the wiki, per the developers.

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