Marriage (Guide)

Early PoSI Content

'On the occasion of your marriage the Empress offers her sincere congratulations, and the following advice: Be sensible. Except when sense would admit defeat. Be kind. Except when kindness would come between you. Be faithful. Always. May your marriage bring you the happiness mine brought me. Eternally, Victoria R.'

- A Letter from the Empress

Marrying Another Player

Getting Started

To marry another player, you must first be Acquainted With them. Then you may admit your affection for them (at a cost of a Free Evening, 10 x Romantic Notion and 1 x Touching Love Story) in Attend to Matters of the Heart!; if they accept your affections, you will be Seen with each other.

Next, you can propose to them, either simply (at a cost of 100 x Piece of Rostygold, 1 x Moon-Pearl, 10 x Romantic Notion and a Free Evening) or grandly (at a cost of 100 x Romantic Notion, 1 x Magnificent Diamond, 1 x Personal Recommendation, 1 x Night on the Town and a Free Evening). Simple proposals can only be made to non- PoSIs. If they accept, you'll be Engaged to each other, and you will gain x 1 Organising a Wedding.

Organisation

Your first task is to secure the relevant paperwork, either through dubious means costing x 10 Stolen Correspondence and giving x 5 Organising a Wedding, or from the Bazaar costing a Bazaar Permit and giving x 13 Organising a Wedding - or, if you're looking to squeeze as much OaW out of this stage as possible, you can do both in that order.

To increase OaW further, the following options become available in Plan a Wedding as your levels of OaW increase - with the notable exceptions of Procure a handful of more costly bottles and Seek advice from those who have gone through this before, they don't become unavailable again once unlocked.

Levels	Action	Costs	Echo Value	Gains
5-100	Seek advice from those who have gone through this before	10 x	5	5 x
5+	Identify reliable witnesses	2 x	5	5 x
5+	Plan the guest list	20 x	10	10 x
10+	Locate a reliable vicar	1 x 2 x	17	20 x
10+	See if the Bishop of Southwark will officiate	3 x 1 x	42	75 x
20+	Source food from local street-vendors	500 x	5	10 x
20+	Poach an Improbably Accomplished Chef from a well-to-do house	1 x 2 x	17	10 x
30+	Procure vast quantities of cheap plonk	100 x	10	10 x
30-66	Procure a handful of more costly bottles	4 x	10	10 x
30+	Plunder the wine-cellar	1 x	12.5	13 x
30+	A gift for the guest of honour	1 x	62.5	63 x
50+	Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue.	1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x	10	10 x
60+	You will wear surface-silk!	100 x	10	10 x
60+	You'll look splendid in whisper-satin	20 x	10	10 x
60+	You'll wear bombazine or nothing!	4 x	10	10 x
60+	Incorporate puzzle-damask into your wedding attire	1 x	12.5	13 x
60+	Wear Parabola-linen	1 x	62.5	63 x
70+	Get proper authorisation for the celebrations	1 x	12.5	63 x
80+	Ensure the guests behave	1 x	12.5	13 x
100+	Remember why you're doing this	50 x	5	5 x
100+	Procure something exceptional for the toast	1 x	312.5	313 x
100+	Provide a particular piece of fabric for the veil	1 x	312.5	313 x
150+	Ensure your venue is available when you want it	1 x	12.5	63 x
200+	The last hurrah	1 x	2.5	13 x 1 x

If you wish to share the burden of organising with your soon-to-be spouse, then Foist the Organisation of your Wedding onto your partner will transfer over all your OaW and allow them to build it up further with the options in Plan a Wedding.

Analysis

Which options are best for grinding OaW will obviously depend on how easily you can obtain the items they require, or whether you have significant stockpiles you're willing to use up for this. That said, there are a few standout options worth considering: most options cost about 1 per point of OaW, but Locate a reliable vicar and Source food from local street-vendors are substantially cheaper (about 0.48 and 0.5 per point, respectively. As Rats on Strings are much easier to obtain than Favours: The Church, Source food from local street-vendors will often be a good option, especially in the beginning.

Ratness Grinding (Guide) lists a number of grinds for Rats on Strings; if you use the Unfinished Business option of Keep your hands quick, you'll average about 1.81 OaW per action.

For rather exquisite weddings, an alternative is sourcing Legal Documents from Hunting Bees in Old Newgate (Guide). If this is done at 1 document over 6 actions, this reaches 9 OaW per action.

The Venue

Once you feel you have enough OaW, you can move onto the ceremony itself. Depending on your levels of OaW, you can choose from a variety of different venues. Note that each venue will set your (and your spouse's) OaW to a particular value, which will determine what you can do after the ceremony.

Venue	Requires	Sets to	Other
Elope	5	0	Costs x 1 Notability x 20 Romantic Notion x 1 Secluded Address x 1 Stolen Kiss
A hurried riverside ceremony	5	10	Costs x 1 Notability x 50 Piece of Rostygold x 50 Shard of Glim x 4 Zee-Ztory
A tiny, shadowed room	5	10	Costs x 1 Notability x 5 Inkling of Identity x 1 Touching Love Story x 4 Phosphorescent Scarab
A crooked church and the Medusa's Head	100	10
The Flit	200	100
A marquee in Winewound Heath	300	150
The stage of Mahogany Hall	400	200
On a ship at zee	500	250	Gives x 1 Notability
The streets of Veilgarden	750	375	Gives x 1 Notability
St Dunstan's	1000	500	Gives x 1 Notability
St Fiacre's	10000	1000	Gives x 2 Notability
The Bazaar	10000	1000	Gives x 2 Notability

After choosing the venue, you are immediately redirected to The Ceremony, where you Don the Ring. Congratulations! Now all that's left is the reception.

The Guests

At this point, you may spend your OaW to encounter various guests for various benefits.

Guest	Costs	Benefit
The letter	600	x 1 Hard-Earned Lesson x 1 A Letter from the Empress +10CP Making Waves wipes Scandal
Mr Pages	100	+8CP Making Waves x 1 Confident Smile
Mr Wines	100	+8CP Making Waves x 1 Sudden Insight -5CP Wounds
Mr Iron	100	+8CP Making Waves x 1 Hastily Scrawled Warning Note -5CP Suspicion
The Tiger Keeper	50	+6CP Making Waves x 1 Confident Smile
The Bishop of Southwark	50	+6CP Making Waves x 1 Sudden Insight -2CP Suspicion
The Gracious Widow	50	+6CP Making Waves x 1 Hard-Earned Lesson
The Jovial Contrarian	50	+6CP Making Waves x 1 Confident Smile
Mrs Plenty	25	+6CP Making Waves
A pair of devils	25	x 1 Sudden Insight +4CP Making Waves x 1 Favours: Hell
The Amanuensis	25	-3CP Scandal +5CP Making Waves
A former lover: The Artists' Model	25	x 1 Confident Smile +4CP Making Waves
An acrimonious former lover: the Artist's Model	25	x 1 Hard-Earned Lesson +4CP Making Waves
A former lover: The Jewel Thief	25	x 1 Confident Smile +4CP Making Waves
An acrimonious former lover: the Jewel Thief	25	x 1 Hard-Earned Lesson +4CP Making Waves
The Melancholy Curate and his Enigmatic Sister	10	x 1 Hard-Earned Lesson +2CP Making Waves
The Repentant Forger	10	x 1 Confident Smile +2CP Making Waves
The Sardonic Music-Hall Singer	10	x 1 Sudden Insight +2CP Making Waves
A gaggle of urchins	5	x 1 Favours: Urchins x 1 Hastily Scrawled Warning Note
A group of zailors	5	x 1 Favours: The Docks x 1 Sudden Insight
A cluster of socialites	5	x 1 Favours: Society x 1 Confident Smile
A giggling coterie of Bohemians	5	x 1 Favours: Bohemians x 1 Confident Smile
A Rubbery man is putting amber in the punch	5	x 1 Favours: Rubbery Men x 1 Sudden Insight
You search for an acquaintance (humble)	1	Sends An Invitation to a Humble Wedding to an acquaintance of your choice
You search for an acquaintance (extravagant)	5	Sends An Invitation to an Extravagant Wedding to an acquaintance of your choice

An Invitation to a Humble Wedding lets the recipient gain x 50 Bottle of Greyfields 1879; x 1 Favours: Bohemians and x 1 Favours: The Docks; or a Free Evening. An Invitation to an Extravagant Wedding lets the recipient gain Bottle of Greyfields 1868 First Sporing; x 1 Favours: Society and x 1 Favours: The Church; or a Free Evening.

Once you have 5 or less OaW left, an option to bring the celebration to a close (and thus leave the storylet) will appear.

Seeking Divorce

If you no longer wish to be married to your player spouse, you have two options; either a Seek a mutually-agreed divorce, in which case your spouse's consent will begin the divorce process, or hiring a lawyer - the Ambitious Barrister if you aren't yet a Tier 2 PoSI, or Baseborn & Fowlingpiece if you are.

Although the latter route will immediately dissolve your marriage, the former will instead give both players Pursuing a divorce 5. This unlocks a storylet (Pursuing a Mutually-Agreed Divorce) in Your Lodgings, which has various options to increase Pursuing a divorce. Once both parties have Pursuing a divorce 100, you may both play End your marriage to end the marriage. Alternatively, at any point before one party leaves the marriage, either may reconsider the divorce, removing their Pursuing a divorce.

Note that ending the marriage, by either route, will result in both players losing their A Letter from the Empress, if they have one.

Marrying an NPC

Marrying an NPC is a great deal simpler. To marry an NPC, you need to have the relevant companion, and play the option in the relevant storylet in Your Social Engagements - for instance, to marry a Platonic Partner in Crime, you must have a Fabulous Accomplice and play Make your commitment to each other permanent in Cement your Relationship.

Several NPCs require a storyline before you can marry them.

• For the Celebrated Artist's Model you must first complete the Courting the Celebrated Artist's Model storyline.
• For the Master Jewel Thief you must first complete the Courting the Master Jewel Thief storyline.
• For the Philosophically Perfect Partnership you must first complete the A Philosophical Courtship storyline.

If you are a PoSI, you may also marry A Bewildering Procession of Companions, Lovers, Suitors, and Paramours with Formalise your Relationship; this costs x 1 Cellar of Wine.

Divorcing an NPC is also much simpler, merely requiring that you play the relevant storylet in your lodgings - for instance, Separate from your Platonic Partner in Crime to divorce a Platonic Partner in Crime.

A list of spouses can be found here.