Assembling a Skeleton (Guide)/Recipes

World Qualities:	Preferred Quality: Preferred Type: Insects Occasional Buyer: A Dreary Midnighter Diplomat's Fascination: Amphibian Skeletons
Reference Tables:	Buyers Bones Bone Sources Skeleton Types Recipes

Recipes with particular historical value, as well as recipes for Home Comforts, such as can be found here.

The guide assumes at least level 5 in advanced skills as a baseline. Requirements beyond this will be listed at the top of the recipe.

Unless specifically stated, the following recipes do not have the skeletons declared as a Chimera. Declaring it as a Chimera leads to a spike in Self-Evident Implausibility that can be troublesome and expensive to deal with.

Amalgamy

For these skeletons you will typically need s, or alternatively s. The first two will require a challenge, and all of the supplies take some time to gather.

Knock-Kneed Newt

• 9, 2, and 2, sold to a Zailor with Particular Interests or A Rubbery Collector.
• Reptile or Amphibian. High

Attaching Helical Thighbones is not automatic until you have 10. If you fail one of the first three thighbones, there are ways to recover the recipe to target 6, and either 3, or 3, which will produce the same pay-out of 18. Failing the last roll will result in a pay-out of only 16, and failing two rolls is difficult to recover from.

• 
• when targeting Antiquity, or when targeting Menace
• 
• If all thighbones were successfully attached:
  • 
  • when targeting Antiquity, or decide your Tailless Animal needs no tail when targeting Menace
  • Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Reptile or Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Amphibian
• If one thighbone failed and targeting Antiquity:
  • 
  • 
  • Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Reptile
• If one thighbone failed and targeting Menace:
  • (reduce Menace to prevent overshooting)
  • 
  • Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Reptile

Coral-Coiled Cockatrice

• 6, 3
• Zoomania: Bird, Sell to the Zailor

• 
• 
• : Install this early to chance the roll, if it is not 100%. Maybe you could abort or alter the build if you fail, but this must succeed for the recipe to be viable.
• (s): Install these next. If you successfully install one, then this is all you need. If you fail the first leg, try to install another; if you fail both, this recipe won't be optimal.
  • If you succeed at the first leg, the other leg can be a .
• (s): At least one, or both wings if both legs have to be Helical. This/These should bring Antiquity to 3.
  • : The other wing, if you prefer to raise the value of the skeleton to as high as possible. One of the legs must be a Jurassic Femur if you take this option.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

Lopsided Lizard

• 7, Zoomania: Reptile (1 exhaustion), Tentacled Entrepreneur.

• : This ribcage is relatively easy to get compared to the more expensive ones.
• : Since the above ribcage is used, the Shapeling Arts roll for this should be trivial for characters that have maxed out their base skill.
• s: You may have to begin with these, if your character cannot accumulate up to 10 . What you use next depends on the outcome of these rolls.
  • Both failures: and then, or a tentacle, thus leading to a lower Amalgamy rating.
  • Both successes:
  • Give a tail, and declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Reptile.

Caducean Raptor

• 6 6 - Rubbery Collector
• Zoomania: Bird/ Reptile, 1 exhaustion, high

• 
• 
• 

The limbs to be used depend on the outcomes of the installation of the skull and tail. If both are successes:

• : This should bring to 6.
• 
• s
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

If both are failures, i.e. you have only 4 levels of Menace, then:

• s: You have no other choices, really; thus far, these are the limbs that can give up to 2 points of the pertinent qualities. This will bring the multiple of the secondary qualities to at least 20, if you have been having really awful luck with the rolls.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Reptile

If either is a failure, i.e. you have 5 levels of Menace, then go for 7 levels of Amalgamy with these:

• s
• s
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

Amorphous Arthropod

• 11
• Zoomania: Insect (4 exhaustion)

This is a skeleton made with the intention of having maximised , without having to resort to a , in order to sell to the Tentacled Entrepreneur. This will require challenges, so train this skill first.

• 
• : -2 challenge
• To occupy the second neck without adding a skull, which would prevent you from declaring the skeleton an Insect.
• : Unless you failed the challenge for the Skull, you should try to fail exactly one of these rolls. If you failed the skull, try to fail none of them.
• : If you have failed 2 rolls so far and your Amalgamy is 9, then replace one of these with another .
• Decide your Tailless Animal needs no tail
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Insect

This recipe should reach Amalgamy 11, which will maximise the pay-out while keeping your at 4 levels, which will be cleared by Time, the Healer.

Warped Warbler

• 14 + Value
• Zoomania: Bird (7 exhaustion)

• 
• 5 x  Skulls in Coral: These involve a lot of Shapeling Arts challenges. which is the main hurdle for this recipe. Fortunately, each skull that is installed reduces the difficulty further.
• : You are wasting the (and ), of course, but the value is what you want.
• : This would be good for increasing value while not increasing Implausibility too much that a high-level player character could not reliably handle it.
• s
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

That should give you up to 14 for selling to the Tentacled Entrepreneur. This will give seven levels of Exhaustion.

Amalgamy Bomb

This recipe uses the least number of actions to use up as efficiently as possible.

• 
  • Exchange and for in 9 actions, see Moonlit Woods (Guide).
  • Exchange , , and for , see Helicon House (Guide).
• 
  • Exchange and for , see Canal Cruising in Jericho Locks (Guide).
• 
  • Collate a great number of palaeontological reports to grind lots of .
  • Dig near Station VIII and choose An amalgamous interment
  • 10 the best
• 
  • Exchange and for , see Duplicate the wings of a Focused Albatross.
• No tail
  • Or any tail is fine, is the best but hard to grind.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird and Sell to the Tentacled Entrepreneur (Skeleton) on Amalgamy and bird week
  • required
  • 13 required, 15 the best.
  • Gives , and

Roughly speaking, this recipe gives around 70 Echoes for every point of . Very efficient.

Menace

There are no legs that give menace, so most of these are birds with many skulls.

Ancient Armoured Avian

• Goal: 13, 3 (1 exhaustion)
• Zoomania: Bird

• 
• s: Stack these until lands on 8 to 9.
• : What to do next depends on the outcome of the roll to install this.
  • If the roll to install the above succeeds, should be 10 or 11.
    • If it is 10, install another . If it is 11, continue to the next step.
• : Plug any remaining necks with these.
  • Or perhaps swap one ball for a to increase the Value of the skeleton.
• s: This should bring to 3.
  • Alternatively, you can substitute 2 Plated Skulls for 2 Horned or 2 Sabre-Toothed ones, and install s instead. This is less predictable though.
• Make your skeleton less dreadful: You really shouldn't have to do this if you have been closely managing the increments of Menace.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

This skeleton is to be sold to the Author of Gothic Tales, thus giving a return of for 1 level of .

You can also replace the or with a for more manageable increases of Menace. Of course, if you do this, the wings must be composed of a and an .

Savage Sunfish

You also want to sell this to the Rubbery Collector. The target is 5 and 7.

• Zoomania: Fish

• : Again, of course you should start with this.
• 
• s
• Decide your Tailless Animal needs no tail: (Author's note: Sunfish have next to no tails.)
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Fish

Heuvelmans' Nightmare

• Zoomania: Fish
• Rubbery Collector.

• 
• or a copy of the Vake's Head; the latter is more expensive.
• : The fish that you are going to declare can have only one head.
• s
• 
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Fish

If you succeed in all of the rolls, you should have around 10-11 and 8. You would be having a lot of Rubbery Pies, but keep in mind that there will be Exhaustion.

Chaos Monkey

Low cost (common component) per point of menace to easily take advantage of Exhaustion. Sell this to A Teller of Terrors for 3 levels of .

• 
• 
• s
• 
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Monkey

Antiquity

These recipes typically use , Femurs of a Jurassic Beast and tomb lion tails.

Sauropsid on Shale

• 7, Ambassador.
• Zoomania: Reptile/ Bird, 1 exhaustion

• 
• : Might as well maximise the returns of Memories of Light.
• 4 x  Femurs of a Jurassic Beast 2 of these may be replaced with in order to make a bird.
• Add a
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Reptile / Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

Terrifying Pterodactyl

• Goal: 6 * 6 to the Author of Gothic Tales.
• Zoomania: Bird, 1 exhaustion

• 
• : You can also substitute this with a , if you are confident that the Monstrous Anatomy roll would turn out right.
• 
• 2 x  Femurs of a Jurassic Beast: If you succeeded with the Horned Skull's roll, replace one of these with an .
• 2 x  Wings of a Young Terror Bird: These wings are very much the best limbs for skeletons to be sold to this particular buyer.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

Sainted skeletons

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

What needs work: Reevaluate the sell value and overall usefulness of this recipe to account for the recent relic nerf.

These skeletons are based on both and value and should be sold to the Bohemian Sculptress. A variant of this is the exhibition recipe, which shouldn't be sold at all, but is used in order to work the opportunity deck of the Upper River.

Sainted Spider

• Spider

This recipe is meant for maximising the value of . It uses , currently only available from WHITSUN and . It should be sold to the Bohemian Sculptress during spider week.

• 
• 
• 
• Optional: or other valueable tails that do not increase

1. Start with a segmented ribcage
2. Use another segment as its skull.
3. Add another segment as a tail.
4. Add 8 saint legs. A high is an advantage.
5. Add a tail that gives value but not Antiquity or Decide your (Skeleton Type) needs no tail
6. Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Spider

A high mithridacy will help both reducing as well as increasing . You will end up at between 80 and 88 Support as well as 0-16 Implausibility. An estimate at 10 give 84 support and 8 implausibility, giving a 400 challenge on the sale. ~10.5 Support and 14.37 skeleton value (incl. Zoomania) equals 40.625 value per relic. The resulting rumours can be spent on s for further skeletons.

Khaganian Exports

These skeletons are made for sale to in . Though you can sell to him as soon as you're able to zail to the Khanate, you will need access to proper in order to spend the he pays you. This means these skeletons should only be used late in the railway, after building out the Cabinet Noir at . You'll profit most from him by buying s to sell when they are in-season at the Rat Market.

The Diplomat gives and does not pay out for it especially well. You're best off selling him skeletons with a high Value; Chimeras are ideal, as he ignores . On weeks where he has an interest in , , or , avoiding is as simple as keeping the relevant quality at 9 or below. On other weeks he uses a sum of all three qualities, which must be 24 or less to avoid . Spiders, Insects, and skeletons with numerous legs are best sold to the Bone Market proper; the Trifling Diplomat will not be nearly as profitable.

Because it's such a long journey, anything you do in the Khanate should be combined with as many other profitable related actions as possible: Piracy, crates from Peaceable & Godly, and weekly s from Khaganian Intrigue all help raise the profit gained through Khanate trips.

Diplomatic Bird

• 
• 
• 
• 

This can be sold during weeks where is birds or skeletons with many skulls. It is incredibly easy to source, requiring only a single trip into the Moonlit Woods and the echoes/brass for the skulls.

Prismatic Hydra

• 
• 
• 
• Any limbs preferably ones that add , , or .
• 
• 
• Sold when is skeletons with many skulls.

Pre-Railway Skeletons

Midgame Rubbery Saint

This skeleton is designed to let pre-Railway players save time and echoes when obtaining the from the Tentacled Servant required for the Laboratory equipment upgrade, while minimising reliance on opportunity cards: a single skeleton sells for 205-213 Nightsoil (slightly more than the amount needed) and only requires a single opportunity card.

• either from (costs s), from (costs ), or from Brawling with Dockers.
• from the Bazaar or from completing an expedition to the Sanctuary of the Crimson Petals.
• obtained either from the opportunity card drawn only in Wolfstack Docks, or from the Test the elastic limits of flesh and bone experiment in the Laboratory. This piece is vital, as it provides the single point of Amalgamy required to sell to the Tentacled Servant.
• either from (3 arms cost s), or from Call in favours in the Flit (3 arms cost ), or from Brawling with Dockers. While almost worthless it allows you to declare your skeleton a humanoid rather than a chimera, making it easier to sell.
• from in Doubt Street. You only need these to maximise the value of your skeleton so you could theoretically replace it with some other, less valuable legs, as long as you don't mind sourcing more Humeri, ribcages and arms.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Humanoid.

Attaching the Bright Brass Skull and the Knotted Humerus are both Mithridacy challenges so you will have an easier time selling this if you have already gained some from the Waswood in Parabola; additionally the challenge on the Humerus will be easier if you take care to attach it before all the other limbs.

Brass Lollipop

This skeleton allows you to easily transfer Echoes to or . This could be useful to get s for s in order to make high value skeletons with other skeleton recipes, or in order to get scrip to exchange for a , which adds the same value as a brass skull, but doesn't add implausibility. This could be useful when making skeletons with high implausibility like the sculpture above. It can also be done for building the station in .

You need:

• from opportunity cards or from the Bone Market.
• from the Bazaar
• Declare your finished skeleton a humanoid
• Sell a complete skeleton to the Bone Hoarder for . This gives a bonus of 2 fossils.
• Sell to a Constable (Skeleton) for . This gives a bonus of 20 scrip.

Stupendous Statues

These skeletons are meant for the Colourful Phantasist, and should be possible with no access to Parabola. You will want to focus on Implausibility and either Antiquity or Amalgamy. This is one of few ways for pre-Railway players to benefit from exhaustion.

Start with the following parts:

• 
• 

Antiquity:

• 

(Provides and )

Amalgamy:

• 

(Provides and )

Menace:

• - from Zailing by

(Provides and )

And end with Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Chimera.

This should give you at least 5 Implausibility and 4 of the other quality for 21 bonus items, but may give a lot more, especially if your advanced stats are low.

Special skeletons

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

What needs work: Sections about generator skeletons and Khaganian coinage grind need restoring

Crackpot Export

The surface-dwellers who purchase bird skeletons through the Dumbwaiter of Balmoral are the only ones who are foolish enough to buy the following recipes. Due to the high implausibility, few other buyers would want these.

Septa-Cranial String-Along

• 
• s: The Implausibility would be so high that even the most naive of Neath buyers would be a difficult customer. But Surfacers who presume that anything outlandish is Neathy? Oh yes.
• s: Just to maximise the value; there may be more valuable wings in the future.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

That takes 13 Actions, not counting the trip between Balmoral and London.

Extravagant Eight-Headed Hoax

• 
• s
• s
• s: You would think that this would have been too much even for the Surfacers - but it is not.
• 1 x  Plaster Tail Bone: Ditto.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

That takes 16 Actions, not counting the trip between Balmoral and London.

Leviathan Frame Fuel

The Carpenter's Granddaughter will trade you a for a completed skeleton if its value is at least 30,000 pennies, including zoological bonus. Therefore, if you want to do this your goal is to hit 30,000 as close as possible.

Sufficient Archaeopteryx

On a bird week:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

This produces a skeleton with 0 Implausibility (important because, as a real palaeontologist, the Carpenter's Granddaughter is more perceptive than most buyers) and a value of 30,800 including zoological mania. Exceptionally Shadowy characters may substitute a for the Sabre-toothed, swap in one for one Albatross Wing, and add a , for a value of 30,030 including mania, with a 200 Shadowy check; Ambition: Bag a Legend! players may use a Vake skull instead, for 0 Implausibility with the same value.

Fragment Farming

Incomplete Skeleton

This deliberately-incomplete skeleton is meant to convert Echoes into by intentionally failing the Dangerous check during disassembly. Additional parts are optional and Implausibility is not a concern since we're not selling. The base skeleton, the only part that can't be bought directly, is not consumed upon disassembly, so you can always do this so long as you have the Echoes to afford skulls.

• (or if you lack access to Helicon House)
• 

You can ensure failure on the dissassembly check by having only a equipped. The mere presence of this wretched little creature is enough to reduce overcapped Dangerous to negative double digits. You'll also want it equipped for the checks to add the Brass Skulls. Each failure reduces the skull's value by 2.50 but saves you 2 worth of Nevercold Brass.

If you cannot afford the Woesel, you can approximate its effect with a and other Dangerous-reducing gear. Success on the check can actually be useful, once: it will gain you Whispered Hints instead of bone fragments, which should be sold to the Bazaar, so you can buy the Woesel, so you don't accidentally succeed again.

In this way, you can gain up to in 10 actions at the cost of 500 . If your normal EPA is 6, you can gain ${\frac {48000}{10+500/6}}=514.3$ Fragments per action.

Seven Heads Bird

• Build on the Skeleton with Seven Necks
  • (estimation) gain in 2 actions
  • (estimation) gain in 4.8 actions
  • required
  • Compel the Ghillie to extend your visit*2, Enter the woods, Keep to the fringes, Lay a trail, Wander the woods*2, Track down the Capercaillie and Report a sighting of Grouse. 9 actions in all, see Moonlit Woods (Guide).
  • Actions are 16.8.
• Affix a Bright Brass Skull to your (Skeleton Type)*7
  • sourcing from Seek out spy-holes
  • Actions are $7+7*200/380=10.68$
• Add the Wing of a Young Terror Bird to your (Skeleton Type)*2
  • Other wings are fine.
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird
• Sell a complete skeleton to the Bone Hoarder on a bird week and use 1 each time
  • (estimation) gain in 0.25 actions.
  • (estimation) Actions are 2.5.

In this way, you can gain . If your normal EPA is 6, actions are $16.8+10.68+2+1+2.5+{\frac {62.5*7-2.5-5}{6}}=104.6$, which means you can gain $57680/104.6=551.2$ Fragments per action.

Warm Amber Farming

Similar to Seven Heads Bird.

• Build on the Skeleton with Seven Necks
  • Actions are 16.8
• Affix a Bright Brass Skull to your (Skeleton Type)*2
  • Actions are $2+2*200/380=3.05$
• Affix a Sabre-toothed Skull to your (Skeleton Type)*5
  • Sourcing from Buy a Sabre-toothed Skull off him
  • Actions are 10
• Add the Wing of a Young Terror Bird to your (Skeleton Type)
• Put an Albatross Wing on your (Skeleton Type)
  • Sourcing from Duplicate the wings of a Focused Albatross
  • (estimation) Actions are $(2000/550+2.5/5+1)/2+1=3.57$
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird
• Sell your skeleton to a Zailor on a bird and Antiquity week

In this way, you can gain . If your normal EPA is 6, actions are $16.8+3.05+10+1+3.57+2+{\frac {120.51*0.508*5+62.5*2-2.5*2-2-3.5*6*5*0.508}{6}}=98.21$, which means you can gain $5745/98.21=58.5$ Warm Amber per action.

Recipes with historical value

Primordial Ape

Wiki note: As of 11 August 2022 Fossil Apes are no longer a viable grind, due to a increase in cost

This recipe requires 15 to guarantee success on all checks, but for those who can attain that level it is was a quick and comparatively simple way to generate a chunk of without accruing . It produces a skeleton with 9 x  Antiquity and 2 x  Menace, for which will pay 18 secondary rewards ( Carved Balls of Stygian Ivory), just below the Exhaustion threshhold. When Bone Market Fluctuations is Antiquity, the payout increases to 22 without generating additional Exhaustion.

Four s can be purchased from in The Upper River Exchange for 220 340 Scrip. Because the Author pays out in Scrip, that investment will be recouped immediately, along with a profit of 55 Scrip results in a net loss of 65 Scrip. Stygian Ivory will also sell to the Upper River Exchange for 5 Scrip apiece, if you are so inclined. Rinse and repeat!

• 
• 
• 
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Ape

The Frog of Faith and the Reverent Reptile

This skeleton has been superseded by the arrival of s

You make this skeleton to sell to the Bohemian Sculptress. Keep in mind that the skeleton must not have any Antiquity.

• : This is the default choice of ribcage. The others give the Antiquity quality, do not qualify or is otherwise just too much hassle to deal with.
  • can be more rewarding, but you have to do a relatively long lab experiment or use the Balmoral woods to get it.
• Copy John's skull
• 4 x  Holy Thigh Bones: If you are using the , you get more rewards, but the Mithridacy rolls will be tougher - and you still have to remove the Antiquity.
• Add a tail and declare it a Reptile, or don't and declare it an Amphibian. Both ribcages have a tail socket that you need to deal with anyway.

Such a calcified congregation would bless you with at least 5 Counter-church Theology points, more if you use the other ribcage. This should net you a lot of Rumours of the Upper River. And flowers, of course.

Beatific Bird

If you still insist on using skeletons to get the Rumours, but you don't want to risk failed Mithridacy rolls or go through the tedium of getting the holy thigh bones, then use this build:

• 
• Copy John's skull, 7 times: If you don't have high , expect Nightmare build-ups. Failure is just an inconvenience though; it won't set your skeleton back.
• Any two wings (at this time of writing)
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Bird

Ancient Asymmetric Alliterative Arachnid

Wiki note: In case spiders ever get good

Use this when antique spiders are in vogue. Your targets are 9 x  Antiquity and 4 x  Amalgamy, which can be tricky to pull off due to the number of legs this skeleton will have. You'll want to to get the most out of your qualities.

• 
• : Since spiders aren't supposed to have skulls, this is the only option. Fortunately you only need to pass the check once, unlike multi-necked skeletons.
• 
• x7
• x1: Any more than one will exceed our Amalgamy limit.
  • Note: If you want an exhaustion-free version of this skeleton with only 2 , replace this with an or another and apply a as a tail to negate the extra .
• (Optional)
• Declare your (Skeleton Type) a completed Spider