An extensive Basic Guide to Ascention Victory (Grail) Physician

**__[big][big]Ascention Victory (Grail) - Physician[/big][/big]__**

In this guide I want to give a basic overview on how the Ascencion Victory Grail speedrun with the Physician works.

 [section=General Information]

**[big]General Informations[/big]**

What makes this run so challenging and so hard to write a guide to it? Its the fact that you need to make some steps simultaneously which means that you make these steps while they come available. So you could first finish the Saliba/Renira step first or the Book one first or you get the Stag Door before watching STUMM or got all the books. So you can make it step by step to learn it but you need to work on multiple stuff if you want to get fast. This guide is for people who already have an basic understanding of the game. You should need to know how you perform the stuff I describe. If you need a closer look on how you perform it you can look on my runs. It's the method I'm currently using to run. So with that, good luck with learning to speedrun this and have fun!

**[big]What is the Goal?[/big]**

To say it short, we need to perform the Sunset Rite with a total of 27 Grail, cause we use an interested follower. We need lore, a follower, influence and the desire.  How you get them? I will take you on the journey in the following guide.

 [section=Saliba/Renira and Suluchana]

**[big] Finding Saliba/Renira and Suluchana[/big]**

**Saliba/Renira**

We can use two different followers in the final ritual which makes it a lot easier for us. These are Saliba and Renira. There is no difference between them in this run so if you hit one of them, just go with it. We need them later but need to upgrade them through the run so hitting them fast is kinda essential. 

**Suluchana**

While we need Saliba/Renira to finish the final ritual, we need Suluchana later in the run to work with the influences. So hitting her is essential but does not need to happen directly in the beginning of the game. But faster is everytime better.

**General Information about finding new people**

As far as my testing goes there is no difference between the lores as far as finding people goes. So you can just use one you have free right now. The Occult Scrap [Secret Knowledge 2] you get in the beginning should everytime be free so you can use that. Also between Saliba/Renira and Suluchana is a difference while you perform the Talk verb. While you recruit new people for your cult you'll use a passion to get them to talk with you. Saliba and Renira are part of this category. If it drags itself a reason in the slot then it will be a patron. Suluchana is a part of that category. So you can use this information to get a vage idea of whom you'll get to further optimize your focus.

 [section=Stag Door] 

**[big]Getting to the Stag Door[/big]**

**Why do we need the Stag Door?**

The Stag Door is the way, how we will get the Influences for the last ritual and for exalting later and to get our temptation all the way to the ascention. But we'll dive into that later in the guide.

**How do we get there?**

To get the Stag Door, we need to follow a line of cards we get in the "Dreamworld". These are **Way: The Wood**, **Way: The White Door** and finally the **Stag Door Riddle**. So to start we need to dream about our Passion and add one of three different lores in the upcoming slot. These are either A Watchman's Secret (Lantern 2) or A Locksmith's Secret (Knock 2) or A Barber's Warning (Moth 2). All of them work and these are just the minimum requirements. That means you could also use A Mansus-Glimpse (Lantern 4) instead of the A Watchman's Secret (Lantern 2). This will give you the Way: The Wood. I would advise you to use either the Lantern 2 or Knock 2 lore wich you've got in the beginning of the game. To reach Way: The White Door, you need to dream with A Mansus-Glimpse (Lantern 4) or An Iguvine Rite (Knock 4) or A White Ceremony (Winter 4) or higher. From there on you need to dream with Way: The White Door and your Temptation/Desire about it. After that we've got the Sag Door's Riddle. Now it is getting interesting, because we now have some RNG which can decide if you should reset or not. There are 5 different riddles you need to solve before you can enter Way: The Stag Door. These are:

• "What are the words who make sacrifice sweet?" A Delightful Sacrament (Grail 6)
• "What may be lost?" An Ecdysiast's Parable (Moth 6)
• "What must be open, before this way opens?" A Consent of Wounds (Knock 6)
• "Where is mercy found?" An Unmercyful Mantra (Lantern 6)
• "Where is the queen who was not born?" A Forgotten Chronicle (Secret Histories 6)

After dreaming about the riddle with the right solution you've unlocked Way: The Stag Door. 

**Some more Tips**

Some of these riddles are harder to hit than other ones. The Moth one is by far the easiest while the Grail one is very convenient. So in my opinion these two are by far the best ones you can hit. After that the Lantern and Knock one are also fairly good, cause you can hit the books for the Lantern one easy and you can subvert every other lore into the Knock lore. You can read about subvertion in the guide from Ebondawn. If you know that you can also see why the Secret History one is by far the hardest and unfortunate one to get. You can't subvert any lore into it and need to have the perfect books for that. In my WR run timed while I write this, wich is my 34:35 run, I've had the Secret History riddle but it worked out cause I've got the books I needed but normally this would be an intant reset on my end. I just thought why not go with it and it turned out to be the right decision. 

 [section=Books]

**[big]Finding the books we need[/big]**

**Which books do we need?**

Wich books we need depends on which riddle we've got in the part before. I will make 6 lists underneath here so you can differenciate between which scenario you've got in your run. The books in the general category though, you need every run.

**General Books/"What are the words who make sacrifice sweet?"**

 • "Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar"
 • "The Orchid Transfiguration Vol 1"
 • "The Orchid Transfiguration Vol 2"
 • "The Skeleton Songs"

You need the Latin Grammar to translate both of The Orchid Transfiguration so you can get A Megalesian Incanation (Grail 4) and A Red Secret (Grail 2) and you get the final A Red Secret (Grail 2) out of The Skeleton Songs to combine them all up to A Delightful Sacrament (Grail 6). If you have hit the Grail 6 riddle you have also with that all the Books you need to fulfil this riddle. 

**"What may be lost?"**

• "The Vienessa Coundra"

This is the reason why hitting this riddle is so convenient. You essentially only need one book to geth the Moth 6 instantly.

**"What must be open, before this way opens?"**

• "The Locksmith's Dream: Portions and Proportions"

So at first glance it looks like you only need this book, but as you may notice you only get one Knock 2 out of it, what means with the Knock 2 you have from the beginning you have a Knock 4 but not the Knock 6 you need. So for that comes now a List of books from which you only need to hit one group. I divide the books in groups by leaving a line empty before the next one is there.

• "Kidling ripe and the Moldywarp's Grave"

• "On what is contained by silver"
• "Kühner and Gerth"

• "De Bellis Murorum"
• "Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar"

• "A True and Complete Accounting of the Asclepian Mysteries of the Roots of the House"
• "Kühner and Gerth"

• "The Burning of the Unburnt God"

• "The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole"

• "The Humours of a Gentleman"

• "De Horis Book 2"
• "Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar"
• "The Victory of Crowns"

• "De Horis Book 1"
• "Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar"
• "Travelling at Night Vol 1"

• "On the White"
• "Travelling at Night Vol 2"

This list looks astonishing at first glance but remember that you only need to hit one of the combinations of the books. The advantage you will have is that you will have some of these books or even whole combinations lying around cause you still need to search the base books. This is why getting the Knock riddle is so convenient to get. 

**"Where is mercy found?"**

• "On what is contained by silver"
• "Humours of a Gentleman"
• "The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole"

This one is straight forward, giving you one Lantern 2 and one Lantern 4. You only need to hit either "Humours of a Gentleman" or "The Locksmith's Dream" cause both give you a Lantern 2.

**"Where is the queen who was not born?"**

• "The War of the Roads"
• "An Introduction to Histories"
• "The Queen of the Rivers"

This one is a has the same easy way like the Lantern 2 way because you only need to hit either "An Introduction to Histories" or "The Queen of the Rivers" and combine it with the Secret Histories 2 you've already got in the beginning.

These are all the Books you will ever need in this run. At least to have the list small. You can expand your need of books if you subvert lore. You can see how this works in the guide from Ebondawn. Covering this wouldn't make it a basic guide anymore and I also didn't used it in my current WR run. But if you want to advance your runs you can definetly get going crazy at the books.

**Where do we get these books from?**

Basically we have two places where we get our books from. One is the Morlands Library which we get at the beginning of the game and the other one is the Oriflammes Auction House. I included in the list above only the books we get in there cause every other book would include exploring or other ways to get them and this is too time consuming to use it in a speedrun. Oriflammes Auction House we can find by chance when we explore with a health card in it. But be aware that books need funds and you need also funds for other stuff. So try to get the books from Morlands while you have like 3 funds or 2 if you want to be greedy and take the downtime to explore the city to get the Auction House. As soon as you've got the Auction House you can use the downtimes to go to the Auction House. This has one key advantage. You see which book you get before buying it, so you dont need to waste your funds on getting books you don't need. But be aware that you also take a risk on buying there. It may happen that someone else is also bidding and you have to pay 3 funds on the book you want. 

 [section=STUMM!]

**Why do we need STUMM!?**

It has a fairly simple reason why we need to get STUMM!. It gives us by far the best ritual we can use for winning and it is guranteed to pop up at the Auction House. We'll get the Sunset Ritual from it wich is perfect for our needs.

**Where do we get it?**

As already mentioned it is guranteed to come at Oriflammes Auction House so we'll get it from there. But be aware that it is highly possible that someone else is bidding with you. So bring some funds when you want to get it.

 [section=Romance]

**Romancing Renira/Saliba**

So after we've got all the books and the ways sorted out, let's go back to our fellow followers (needed to do this joke, I'm sorry). The next step on our list is to romance Renira or Saliba. But why you may aks. Well it has a quite simple reason. We need 36 Grail in our final ritual, but using a follower who is interested in you brings that threshold down to 27 and adds an extra grail on our follower but for that to happen we need to do some stuff in advance. At first we need to found a cult. It is irrelevant which kind of cult as long you dont go with the Knock based cult. You can't Exalt your followers there and we need to do that later on. I like to found a Grail based one firstly to fit the theme and secondly to make upgrading my followers easier. I'll explain that later. After we've founded the cult we need to make Renira/Saliba our follower, either by putting them in as our first follower or as recruiting them afterwards. When you explore with health you can get The Ecdysis Club. Also you need to change the base Temptation: Enlightenment you get in the beginning to the Temptation: Sensation. You do that while dreaming about your Temptation and adding health to it. 

**How do we romance them?**

If you want to romance them it comes in handy that you can romance them both the same way. You need to talk with them about The Ecdysis Club and put your Temptation: Sensation in there. After that you have them romanced.

**General Tips**

You need to be careful to not get your Temptation pulled out of the conversation from the Season of Ambitions. This can really cost you some time while you wait to try it again. So to make it easier wait to a point where the Season just came around and you dont have to worry about itramdomly coming up.

 [section=Exalt]

**Exalting Renira/Saliba**

All we have done before was without ingame timepressure. Anw we need to do something a little bit more advanced because we are working with influences which have a decaytimer on them. But what exactly do we need to do? At the moment we have Renira/Saliba as a believer. So they will add 2 Grail to the final ritual. But we can get more out of them if we upgrade them. As a disiple we'll get 5 Grail and as a Cyprian we'll get 10 Grail out of them. To get them to a disiple we'll just need to talk with the cult card and add the according lore 6 in there and the follower. So it is convenient if you've made a Grail cult because you need the Grail 6 lore in the final ritual and you can use it in here aswell. 

Now it will get more complicated. To move up to a Cyprian you'll need the Grail 6 lore and the Grail Influence 10 in there. How do we get the influence? Well by dreaming with The Stag Door and a reason in it. Whenever a Secret History lore pops up, you can get an influence by clicking the top hidden card. But to upgrade them we'll need two of these cards and because they are on a 60 seconds timer we need to act fast. So how do we stop the decay? We talk with Suluchana and give her the influence. This will pause the timer and buys us enough time to get the second influence. As soon as we've hit both the influences, we can upgrading them just how we upgrade lore. In addition to that we need our Grail 6 to provide the missing Grail. We can use all of the resources above to upgrade our Disciple to a Cyprian. We need our cult, Renira/Saliva, the Grail 6 lore and the upgraded influence.

 [section=Ascend]

Now to the last of the four cards we need for the final ritual. Our Ascention. Currently we have a Temptation: Sensation lying around but this is not the final card we need. So we have two steps for that.

**Dedication: Sensation**

At first we need to dedicate ourself to the temptation. We just simply dream with the temptation and add a Grail lore of any kind in there. This will give us the Dedication: Sensation

**Ascention: Sensation**

But how do we go further from there on? For that we need to work with the dedication and add the Stag Door and a grail 6 lore. With that we have the Ascention: Sensation. But that is not all that we need. We also need to upgrade the marks on it. Currently we have three marks but for the final ritual we need six. For that we firstly have to recruit three more people to our cult. Most of the time you have more than enough from searching Renira/Saliba and Suluchana at the beginning. Now come a waiting game. We need to imprison one follower by talking with our office and the follower in there. Then we need to wait til the season of ascention comes. This is the one with the hook on it. This will consume the follower and gives us one more mark. We repeat the process until all three followers are gone. Now we have everything we need to make the final ritual.

 [section=The Finale]

So one last thing we need to get to finish the ritual. And this is another upgraded influence. We just need to repeat what we done to exalt Renira/Saliba for that. Now we have every card we need. So to perform the final ritual we need to work with the Sunset Rite and add Renira/Saliba, our Ascention with all of the six marks, the upgraded influence and the grail 6 lore. Now you can hit start and you did it! You finished this guide and the speedrun. Now have fun optimizing and beating our records! Thanks for reading!

Forge Ascension Speedrun Guide (Outdated)

Working on learning how to properly format this, it'll be improved in time.

Forge Ascension Speedrun Guide
(Secret Histories Stag Riddle Dependent)


Overview


This run relies on using the feature of the Bright Young Thing legacy which allows you retain any book from a previous run, which is given to you pre translated once you receive get your Study Verb.  This allows you to obtain the level 14 Forge Lore "Mysteries of Making" very early on in the run.  It also relies on getting a specific Stag Door Riddle, namely "Where is the queen who was not born?" (Secret Histories).  IF YOU DO NOT GET THIS RIDDLE, IT WILL END THE RUN, I want that to be very clear, because it is frustrating to have a really good run going only to get the wrong riddle and have to start again.  It happens, a lot, there is only about a 20% chance of getting the correct riddle, so just know that going in.  Forge Ascension requires the following:

Any Rite
A Total of 36 Forge Aspect split between 3 cards the Rite will accept
Ascension: Power with 6 Marks

In this particular run, we will be using the following to achieve the victory:

Sunset Rite
Forge Lore "Mysteries of Making" (14 Forge Aspect)
Forge Summoned Follower "King Crucible" (12 Forge Aspect)
Forge Influence "An Exalting Heat" (10 Forge Aspect)
Ascension: Power with 6 Marks

Importantly we will not be doing any vault runs, acquiring any followers, or even starting a cult.

I personally break this run down into the following sections:

1. Raiding Oriflamme's for Lantern, Secret Histories, and STUMM!, Get Dedication: Power
2. Obtaining "A Forgotten Chronicle" / Hiring a Fortune Teller
3. Solving The Stag Door's Riddle (Or ending the run if you get the wrong one) / Acquiring "Ascension: Power"
4. Summoning King Crucible and Obtaining "An Exalting Heat"
5. The Conflagration of the Heart

Also, because of the nature of this game, many of the steps I outline will be done in tandem with each other, the randomness that is pervasive in Cultist Simulator makes it very hard to do everything in the same order every time, so use your own discretion and react accordingly.  Semper Gumby.


Setup


The basis of this run is utilizing a mechanic with the Bright Young Thing legacy, in which you can retain any book from your previous legacy.  Basically, the last book that you received in the previous run will be included with your father's papers in the Bright Young Thing run.  If you want to do this, you can either edit the save file portion "lastbook."  If you want to do this without editing any files to ensure it's legitimate, do the following:

1. If it's a book you can obtain from Morland's or Oriflamme's, once you have purchased the book and put it on the tabletop, force yourself to die from hunger.  After this you need to end the run as quickly as possible without acquiring any more new books.  If you want to guarantee the Bright Young Thing legacy, you have to die from getting 3 dread.

2. If it's a book from a vault, run the vault as you normally would, but when you get the rewards, place them on your tabletop manually, ensuring you place the book you want to retain for the Bright Young Thing run last.  Then end the run by acquiring 3 dread to ensure the Bright Young Thing legacy.


Once you have done this, I highly recommend backing up the save file (Do this after the first run, but before the Bright Young Thing run to prevent save file corruption).  To get to the save file, simply open the options menu and click the "Go to Save File" button at the bottom.  Make a copy of the txt file named "save" and save it somewhere as a backup.

Note for this particular run, we will be retaining the book "The Manner in which the Alchemist was Spared"



Beginning the Run (Opening Phase)


At the opening, you have a 'This and That" card and 1 Health card.  Use "This and That" in your Work verb to begin "A Golden Day of Occasional Work," which will complete in 10 seconds (The first time you use it) and yields 3 funds, your "This and That" card back, and the Explore verb.

The Explore verb will unlock in 10 more seconds, and gives you "Oriflamme's Auction House" and "The Ecdysiast's Club."  Start Exploring Oriflamme's immediately, and place "The Ecdysiast's Club" somewhere out of your way, as it will not be used in this run.  (See the following section on "Raiding Oriflamme's for Lantern, Secret Histories, and STUMM!" for additional details)

While exploring Oriflamme's, continue using the "This and That" card in the Work verb for as long as it lasts, it will take 30 seconds to complete and either yield 2 funds and your "This and That" card back, or it will trigger the Ghastly News verb.

As far as I can tell, it's entirely random how many times you will be able to use the "This and That" card, sometimes it converts to Ghastly News the first time you use it, sometimes it takes 10 or more uses.  This might seem really nice, because you get a lot of money really quickly, but the downside is that you don't gain any new Verbs until "Ghastly News" has triggered, which means that you might get an Afflication or too much Dread and have no way to deal with it, since the Dream Verb isn't present.  It's rare, but i have had it happen.  Note that getting a Decrepitude in this run isn't really a big deal, as you will have 3 health without any upgrades.

Once "Ghastly News" has triggered, it will take 60 seconds to complete, yielding 20 funds, 2 Health cards (for a total of 3), and the Study Verb on a 30 second timer.  Once the Study Verb timer is complete, it will yield the Sleep Verb on a 30 second timer, "A Ciphered Diary" and the book you've retained from your previous run, in our case "The Manner in Which the Alchemist Was Spared."  Also, as a side note, the Ciphered Diary flavor text will contain the name of your previous run, so I recommend giving that person a name, or you'll end up like my 16:35 run, in which the diary contains "The details of a growing obsession with an individual by the name of Test."

Use the Ciphered Diary in your Study Verb immediately, this will take 10 seconds to complete, and will yield a Reason Card, the Lore "A Red Secret" (Grail 2), and the Talk Verb on a 60 seconds timer.  We can more "A Red Secret" somewhere far away, as it will not be used in this run.  I highly recommend using the Study verb with your reason twice to get erudition, then upgrading your reason so that you can easily work the Glover and Glover job when promoted beneath Mr. Alden.  You could go the painting route, and if you have the mental capacity to keep track of all of that, it's probably technically better, but I personally couldn't handle that many things happening at once.  This one is a matter of preference I think.  This run doesn't go long enough that we need a ton of money, but we do need enough to maintain our health and feed the Ascension: Power marks later.  Use your judgement  [Semper Gumby].

As soon as your Sleep Verb is available, it will give you a Passion Card and "A Chilly Atmosphere" (Level 2 Winter Influence), which decays into dread.  When you Talk Verb is available, it will give you the murder-happy patron Poppy Lascelles and Temptation: Sensation.  I recommend immediately dreaming on Temptation: Sensation with your Passion to convert it to Temptation: Power, unless you have another pressing need for the Dream verb (i.e. an affliction or you need some opium to deal with dread).

At this point all of your verbs are unlocked, which I consider to be the culmination of the Opening Phase.

Raiding Oriflamme's for Lantern, Secret Histories, and STUMM!, Get Dedication: Power


During the whole opening of the game, you will be exploring Oriflamme's constantly, with some very specific goals in mind.  We need to progress to the White Door, which either takes Knock or Lantern Lore level 4.  As far as I'm aware there is only a Knock level 2 book in Oriflamme's (The Locksmith's Dream: Portions and Proportions), so I opted for Lantern.

There are a total of 4 books which provide Lantern Lore from Oriflamme's, "The Humours of a Gentleman" (Lantern 2), "The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole" (Lantern 2 & Erudition), and "On What is Contained by Silver" (Lantern 4 & "A Watchman's Sorrow" Rite - Written in Greek).

So you can either get the two lower level books (The Humours of a Gentleman and The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole) and them combine them into Lantern 4, or get the higher level book and the greek translation book.  If you get the lower level books, reading "The Humours of a Gentleman" First is ideal, because you can use the Erudition from reading "The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole" to combine the two Lantern 2 into a Lantern 4 without having to waste a step using a reason in the Study verb to get an Erudition.

Additionally, we want to get Secret Histories books, especially "The War of the Roads, 1450-1580, CENSORED EDITION."  The reason for this is this run hinges on obtaining a specific Stag Door Riddle, namely the Secret Histories one ("Where is the queen who was not born?"), which required "A Forgotten Chronicle" (Secret Histories - 6 Lore).  This book yields "A Furtive Truth," a Secret Histories - 4 Lore, which can easily be combined with another "A Furtive Truth" with an Erudition.  You can also combine 2 "An Occult Scrap"s (Secret Histories - 2 Lore) into "A Furtive Truth” with an Erudition as well, but that's rather time consuming for the purposes of this run.  The absolutely ideal way to get "A Forgotten Chronicle" from either "The Orchard of Lights" or "The Lodge of the Sage Night" in the White Door, but I like to give myself an alternative in case that doesn't pan out. Also, if you're going that route, I think the odds are slightly better at "The Orchard of Lights" because it has fewer possible rewards, but I'm not positive on that.

Finally, you need to get the Nitrite Film Canister STUMM!, because this will give you the Sunset Rite.  (Also, you "read" STUMM! by using the Study Verb and 1 Funds to buy a projector, it took me way longer than it should have to figure that out lol, I kept looking for a projector in the auction house)  Note that this will also give you "An Operation of a Declining Sun" Winter Lore - 6 and a Dread.  [It's a shame there is no Winter Stag Door Riddle, might improve the odds on completing this run]

So in list form, you need the following:

"The Humours of a Gentleman" and "The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole"
    or
"Kühner and Gerth" and "On What is Contained by Silver"

"The War of the Roads, 1450-1580, CENSORED EDITION."

STUMM!

While you're working on this, when you find a good time the Study Verb is open, go ahead and read "The Manner in Which the Alchemist was Spared" for your "Mysteries of Making" Forge 14 Lore.  (Note this also gives you a Fascination).  When you have this, go ahead and Dream with your "Temptation: Power" card and 'Mysteries of Making" to get your "Dedication: Power" ready to go for when the Stag Door is unlocked.


[On a side note, I know that Knock influences subvert any other influence to Knock , so now that I'm thinking about it, you might be able to subvert any Lore into Knock lore, which might speed this run up a bit.  I will test this out as soon as I have time and possibly amend this guide, but for now, I'll stick with the Lantern option that i know works.]

[Another side note, you may also be able to get a level 2 Moth Lore from "Traveling at Night(Vol. 1)" and subvert it into Lantern (Moth 2 + Lantern 2 = Lantern 4).  Additionally, Travelling at Night(Vol. 1) provides an Erudition much like "The Locksmith's Dream: a Light through the Keyhole" does for Lantern, so it might be a viable alternative.  I believe you would need to provide a Glimmering and an Erudition to complete this subversion however, so it might take more time.  I'll do some research on it and update the guide accordingly.  (Also note Oriflamme's also provides "De Horis(Book 1)" which gives Moth Lore 2 and an Erudition, but it's written in Latin and would require translation, so I don't think it would save any time.)]


Obtaining "A Forgotten Chronicle" / Hiring a Fortune Teller






Once you've gotten everything you need from Oriflamme's, start using your health in the Explore verb to hire a Fortune Teller (Lantern 5, Moth3).  We need this later to provide the Lantern Aspect necessary to summon King Crucible.  If you get lucky and find one early, simply keep placing them in the Talk Verb in order to keep them around until they are needed.  Once we have found the Fortune Teller, I recommend continuing to Explore with health to keep a "Streets Strange by Moonlight" available, as we will need at least Knock level 6 influence in the near future, and this is one of the ways to get it (If you don't get lucky at the Stag Door upon initial entry, more on that later.)

While You're doing this, You should be reading / translating the Lantern lore books until you get a level 4 Lantern lore, then using that lore to get to the White Door.  If you aren't familiar with the mechanics, dreaming with Passion and any Lantern or Knock lore will open the path to The Wood, then dreaming with The Wood and a level 4 Lantern or Knock Lore will open the way to The White Door.

Once you have access to The White Door, I recommend using your health to explore the Mansus until you have either 2 "A Furtive Truth"s or 1 "A Forgotten Chronicle."  As soon as you have this, you should Dream with "Dedication: Power" to get the Stag Door Riddle (You can do this with "Temptation: Power" or even "Temptation: Sensation" if for some reason you haven't upgraded them yet, but you really should get them upgraded ASAP)

This is the make or break moment of this run.  If you did not get the Stag Door Riddle "Where is the queen who was not born?," Then that effectively ends the run.  You can theoretically cobble together the correct answer by finding some more books and combining lores, but in my mind it just isn't worth the amount of time lost here.  Note if your run is going well, you can be to this point earlier than 11 minutes or so, so it's a bit of a time investment, but not a backbreaking one.  You have a 1 in 5 chance of getting this riddle.

Assuming you got the riddle you need and didn’t have to cast this run into the abyss of infinite sadness, You can now immediately solve the riddle by dreaming with it and “A Forgotten Chronicle”  This will both unlock The Stag Door and have you Enter the Mansus through The Stag Door, which can be advantageous if you’re lucky.  Everything you want from the Mansus is in the “The Stag Door” slot, don't bother going to "The Painted River" or "The Ascent of Knives", even if you didn't get something you need from "The Stag Door."  This is because they have nothing good to give you for this run, but they can give you Fascination (At "The Painted River") or "A Bitter Atmosphere" (At "The Ascent of Knives") which will eventually decay into dread.  So just take whatever is at "The Stag Door."

So If you're lucky, the first time you enter you will get a "Subtle Rupture" Knock 10 Influence.  This is ideal for the following reasons.  Assuming you managed to get a Fortune Teller who is happily talking to herself in the Talk verb to halt her timer, You have 60 Seconds until the Subtle Rupture Decays into Subtle Fracture (Knock 6 Influence), and another 60 Seconds following that before it Changes into "Subtle Flaw" Knock 2 Influence, which is too low for our purposes.  So we have 120 Seconds without using any tricks like storing the influence in the Study verb.  So, The first thing we do upon returning from The Stag Door is Work with "Dedication: Power, "Way: The Stag Door", and "Mysteries of Making" to upgrade our "Dedication: Power" into "Ascension: Power."  The reason we want to do this as early as possible is because once you have Ascension: Power, every time a Season of Ambitions comes around (The Red Hook Verb), it will grab the "Ascension: Power" and one of your Funds, and increase it's mark.  The Ascension card starts with 3 marks, and it need 6 to be able to Ascend, so you need to have it available for 3 seperate Seasons of Ambitions.  This is entirely RNG dependent, you might get three in a row, they might be minutes apart, so the earlier you get this card out, the better.

The Dedication card upgrade takes 60 seconds in your Work verb, so if you didn't get a Subtle Rupture (Knock  10 Influence) in the Mansus, you should begin exploring Streets Strange By Moonlight now for a Subtle Fracture (Knock  6 Influence).

Once you have Your Ascension card upgraded, your Fortune Teller, and a Subtle Fracture or better, you can now move on to the second to last phase.

Summoning King Crucible and Obtaining "An Exalting Heat"





We’re very close to the endgame now, These next steps should be done simultaneously.

Place the Sunset Rite in the Work Verb using “Mysteries of Making”, Fortune Teller, and either “Subtle Fracture” or “Subtle Rupture” to summon King Crucible.  This should take 60 seconds, but it may take longer.  If he tries to break free, you can either opt for the safe route and use a reason to dismiss him, or use a passion to try to wrest control back.  It’s up to you, but hey, it’s a speedrun, so I say roll the dice on that passion 

While you’re summoning King Crucible, Dream with The Stag Door and Reason to get “A Trembling Heat” (Forge 6 Influence)  from the Mansus (At “The Stag Door” slot).  You need to get two of these.  Once you obtained one, you can easily stop it’s timer by using King Crucible in the Talk verb and placing the “A Trembling Heat” in the slot.  Once King Crucible has been summoned, we have no further need of the Fortune Teller, so just let them fade out.

Once you’ve obtained 2 “A Trembling Heat”s from the Mansus, Study with them both and “Mysteries of Making” to create “An Exalting Heat” (Forge 10 Influence).  Check your Ascension: Power.  If you have 6 Marks already, you’re ready to finish the run.  If not, have King Crucible talk about “An Exalting Heat” over and over like a psychopath until you get the marks you need.  Unfortunately there is now way I know of to control how fast you get the marks other than to obtain the Ascension: Power card as early as possible and hope for decent RNG.  Once you have 6 marks, we can move to the final phase.

The Conflagration of the Heart


At this point you should have:

Sunset Rite
Mysteries of Making
King Crucible
An Exalting Heat
Ascension: Power with 6 Marks

Place the Sunset Rite in the Work Verb and add all of these cards to it, resulting in the 36 Forge Aspect required for the Ascension Victory.  This begins "The Conflagration of the Heart" sequence, which will count down for 60 seconds.  When that timer is complete the run is done.  Congratulations on a successful Forge Ascension Speedrun

Other Notes / Ramblings


This is the first guide I've written, so I'm sure it's rather rambling and incoherent.  I will be updating to make it look better and be more user friendly.

If you want to see an example of the run check out my speedrun:

Cultist Simulator - Forge Ascension Speedrun Ebondawn 16:35 - World Record (Verified)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjWnNQpN8N4&feature=youtu.be

Glover% Route

Looking to run Glover%? Here's the basic route:

# Intro

Time begins when you start the first timer, on the verb Work. You will receive a bequest. You need to study the bequest, then study each of the two pieces of information that come out of it: one will give you the Explore verb, the other the Talk verb. You will want to do them in that order, as Explore needs to happen before Talk.

# Obtain job

The first thing you need to do after the intro bit of the game is obtain the job. This involves putting one reason into the Work verb. From there on you have to maintain your job every 60 seconds or so or else you'll lose it: https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Glover_%26_Glover#Junior_Work_at_Glover_.26_Glover 

You can get promoted by putting one Reason into your job. If you do this early, you get more money for more of a buffer. 

Next, you have to obtain a second Reason and obtain an assassin. Be working on these simultaneously.

# Obtain second Reason
The slow way to do this is to study Reason twice, then study the Eruditions obtained together to get the second Reason. The faster way is to study once and be lucky enough to obtain a free Erudition by using Reason in a verb. This is a low chance of occurring, however, so it can't be relied upon.

# Obtain assassin

To obtain an assassin, put a Health into the Explore verb and keep trying until you get a hireling. You want the Edge hireling "Professional Muscle", as 5 Edge has a pretty good chance of killing your boss, or the hireling "An Experienced Swindler", as 5 Moth has a 70% chance of driving him insane. The hireling "An entry consultant" has basically no chance of succeeding, and the rest are fair to middling. 

Once you have the assassin, you want to use Talk and put in the job card "Position at Glover & Glover". If it works, you can become eligible for a promotion by working once more, and then get promoted by putting in two reason.

# Win Game

Once you have the highest level job, you need to put a Reason into the first slot along with the job, then a Passion into the final slot, marked "Acceptance". Time ends when that timer completes.

Lantern Ascension - Casual Explanation Videos

This is a long series of videos I made awhile ago explaining how the basic mechanics of the game work, while just playing through the game casually.  I do make a few mistakes in my explanations (Upgrading Followers to their 2nd level takes 7 lore, not 8.)  But it might be useful for new players interested in this game.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpeuNCV8QMn2HiA5THMZqOq7VZDOww0VF

Lore Combination, Subversion, and Splitting Guide (Also Influences :) )

**__[big][big]﻿Combining, Subverting, and Splitting Lore[/big][/big]__**

This is a quick guide on how to combine and subvert various types of lore in the game.

[section=Combining Lore]

You can combine any 2 cards of the same type of lore into the next level of Lore by Placing them both in the Study Verb.(For Example You can combine 2 copies of "[A Wood-Whisperer](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/A_Wood-Whisper)" [Moth Aspect 4] into 1 copy of "[An Ecdysiasts Parable](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/An_Ecdysiast%27s_Parable)" [Moth Aspect 6]

When combining Lore, you will have to succeed at a series of challenges, which vary depending on the type and Aspect level of the Lore you are combining.  There are a total of Seven Challenges:

**Knowledge**

*	This challenge may be solved using either an [Erudition](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Erudition)﻿ Card, or a Headquarters Card with the "[Library](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Library)" Aspect ([Rooms Behind a Bookshop](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Rooms_Behind_a_Bookshop)).  Note, there was an additional HQ with this Aspect ([Opulent Townhouse](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Opulent_Townhouse)), but it is no longer in the game. *

**Intuition**

*	This challenge may be solved using either a [Glimmering](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Glimmering)﻿ Card, or a Headquarters Card with the "[Sanctuary](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Sanctuary)" Aspect ([Heterodox Church](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Heterodox_Church) and [Candle-lit Mithraeum](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Candle-lit_Mithraeum) *

**A Grim Lesson**

*	This challenge may be solved using a [Dread](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Dread)﻿ card (using this may create additional [Dread](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Dread)﻿), a Headquarters card with the "[Pit](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Pit)﻿" Aspect ([A Darkened Warehouse](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/A_Darkened_Warehouse) and [House Violet](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/House_Violet))), or a [Silent Intensity](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Scholarship#Skill:_Silent_Intensity) card.	*

**Obsessive Research**

*	This challenge may be solved using a [Reason](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Reason)﻿ card (There is a small chance of losing the card if you do this), a Headquarters Card with the "[Library](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Library)" Aspect ([Rooms Behind a Bookshop](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Rooms_Behind_a_Bookshop)), or a [Never-No](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Imagination#Skill:_Never-No) card.	*

**A Paradoxical Resolution**

*	This challenge may be solved using a [Passion](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Passion)﻿ card (There is a small chance of losing the card if you do this), a Headquarters Card with the "[Sanctuary](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Sanctuary)" Aspect ([Heterodox Church](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Heterodox_Church) and [Candle-lit Mithraeum](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Candle-lit_Mithraeum)), or an [Open-Soul](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Imagination#Skill:_Open_Soul) card.	*

**Illumination**
*	This challenge may be solved using a [Fascination](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Fascination)﻿ card (using this may create additional [Fascination](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Fascination)﻿), a Headquarters Card with the "[Library](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Library)" Aspect ([Rooms Behind a Bookshop](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Rooms_Behind_a_Bookshop)), or a [Rarefied Mind](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Scholarship#Skill:_Rarefied_Mind) card.	*

**Practical Experimentation**

*	This challenge may be solved using a [Health](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Health)﻿ card (Using this has a small chance of converting the [Health](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Health)﻿ card into a "[An Injury](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/An_Injury)﻿" card), or by using a [Prisoner](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/Prisoner)﻿ card.	*

Each Lore requires one challenge for upgrading from 2 -> 4, one challenge for upgrading from 4 -> 6, two challenges for 6 -> 8, two challenges for 8 -> 10, three challenges for 10 -> 12, and three challenges form 12 -> 14.  Level 14 is the highest level of Lore, and cannot be further upgraded.

So for example, combining 2 "A Mansus-Glimpse" cards [Lantern 4] into 1 "An Unmerciful Mantra" card [Lantern 6] requires passing a Knowledge Challenge.

Upgrading 2 "An Unmerciful Mantra" cards [Lantern 6] into 1 "Phanean Invocation" card requires passing both a Knowledge Challenge and an Illumination Challenge.

Here are all of the challenges required for combining Lore

Lantern
*Knowledge, Illumination, A Paradoxical Resolution *
Forge
*Knowledge, Practical Experimentation, Illumination *
Edge
*Practical Experimentation, A Grim Lesson, Knowledge *
Winter
*Knowledge, A Grim Lesson, Obsessive Research *
Heart
*Intuition, Practical Experimentation, Obsessive Research *
Grail
*Intuition, Practical Experimentation, A Paradoxical Resolution *
Moth
*Intuition, Illumination, Obsessive Research *
Knock
*Knowledge, A Grim Lesson, A Paradoxical Resolution *
Secret Histories
*Knowledge, Intuition, Illumination *

[section=Subverting Lore]

Subverting Lore is a little more tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't so bad.  There is order of subversion for Lore:

Lantern -> Forge -> Edge -> Winter -> Heart -> Grail -> Moth -> Lantern

Basically, the way this works is, if you study 1 Lore with another Lore of the next Aspect in line (at the same level), they will combine to that second aspect.

For example, if you Study "[A Thunderous Secret](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/A_Thunderous_Secret)" [Heart 2] with "[A Red Secret](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/A_Red_Secret)" [Grail 2], they will create a "[A Megalesian Incantation](https://cultistsimulator.gamepedia.com/A_Megalesian_Incantation)" [Grail 4].

Doing this still requires you to do challenges, and you must complete all challenges that would be present for both Lores (Challenges required by both need be completed only once).  I will double check and verify this.

Note that Knock and Secret Histories are not part of the cycle.  These two Aspects have special rules.

For Knock, any Lore studied with the same level of Knock Lore will result in the next higher level of Knock.
For Secret Histories, it cannot be subverted.

Below is an infographic made by [Soulbishop](https://www.reddit.com/user/Soulbishop/) (Used with his permission) showing how subversion works.  If you combine two adjacent aspects in the outer ring, you will get the aspect in between them. (Moth + Lantern = Lantern, Edge + Winter = Winter, etc.)  Combining anything with Knock results in Knock (Except Secret Histories), and Secret Histories stands alone and cannot be converted.

I will clean this guide up a bit in the future, but I think it's useful now, so I'll go ahead and post it, expect a few adjustments in the near future :)

https://i.redd.it/88n9oarxi4m21.jpg
[section=Splitting Lore]

Splitting Lore (Converting a higher level Lore fragment into two fragments of the next lower level) is much simpler.  Simply study the Lore with a Reason card.  Note you cannot split level 2 Lore, as it is the lowest level.

[section=Influences]

Influences can be combined and subverted in the same manner as Lore, without the challenge requirement.  The only difference is that you must also include a 6th level or higher influence of the Lore you are combining or subverting.

For example, Combining two "A Blaze of Radiance"  requires "An Unmerciful Mantra" or better.  Similarly, Subverting "A Blaze of Radiance" with "An Exalting Heat" requires "An Unmerciful Mantra" or better.

It's a little counter intuitive, Basically if you're combining two different influences, the Lore that is required is of the Aspect that is being subverted (i.e. not the one that you will end up with.)

Just to make it slightly more confusing, Knock has it's own set of rules.  Basically Knock Influence combined with any influence of the same level (including more knock) will result in the next level up of knock.  This always requires Knock Lore of level 6 or greater (and yes, that's the opposite of how the other ones work, ugh lol.)

A final (but very important and useful) note.  In addition to the standard Aspect Influences, there are few other's that can be used to upgrade.  I'll list them individually here.

Glimmering + "A Buzzing in the Brain" = "Glimmering: A Lesson Learnt"

Erudition + "A Consciousness of Radiance" = "Erudition: A Lesson Learnt"

Vitality + "Trembling Airs" = "Vitality: A Lesson Learnt"

Fleeting Reminiscence + A Consciousness of Radiance + Moth Lore 6 or Greater = An Intensity of Radiance

Fleeting Reminiscence + A Buzzing in the Brain + Moth Lore 6 or Greater = A Rattling in the Soul

Fascination + A Buzzing in the Brain + Moth Lore 6 or Greater = A Rattling in the Soul

Fascination + A Consciousness of Radiance + Moth Lore 6 or Greater = An Intensity of Radiance

Dread + A Thrilling Air + Edge Lore 6 or Greater = A Rousing Air

Dread + A Chilly Atmosphere + Edge Lore 6 or Greater = An Icy Atmosphere

Contentment + Trembling Airs + Heart Lore 6 or Greater = Pulsing Airs

Contentment + A Rising Heat + Heart Lore 6 or Greater = A Trembling Heat

Contentment + A Consciousness of Radiance + Heart Lore 6 or Greater = An Intensity of Radiance
	Note: The Tooltip says it will upgrade your Heart Influence.  Don't believe the lies.

Contentment + A Chilly Atmosphere + Heart Lore 6 or Greater = An Icy Atmosphere and Pulsing Airs
	Note: The Tooltip for this says it will upgrade you Lantern Influence.  It is full of lies!  I honestly think this one is broken, (Tooltip is wrong, and it's the only one that gives two influence, which can be further combined to create "Pounding Airs," a level 10 Heart Influence [Useful for negating most curses]) I'm going to be submitting  a bug report, because this seems unintentional and ridiculously powerful.

There are probably more, but this is what I've found so far.  Hope it helps :)

yamikuronue

Zylynor

Liveside

Cultist Simulator

gunch

Melichor

ClocQ

otori

Splarin

Aspirant

Bright Young Thing

Physician

Detective

Priest

Medium?

Dancer

Change: Scale (Moth)

Change: Feather (Heart)

Change: Balance (Moth and Heart)

Eternal Enmity - Colonel (Defiance)

Eternal Enmity - Lionsmith (Defiance)

Eternal Enmity - Wolf Divided (Defiance)

Kinship - Nameless Name Victory

A Quiet Life - (Escape)

Comfort and Safety - (Escape)

A Life of Rare Delight - (Escape)

Zurich, Christmas, 1926 - (Escape)

Rare Delight [Foe Slain] - (Escape)

Forge Ascencion

Lantern Ascencion

Grail Ascencion

Work Ending (Glover & Glover)

Change Victory

Exile Victory

I've added a collection of mods which I wrote so you dont need to reset anymore because of a wrong Stag Door riddle. Will maybe get it all in one mod in the future, but for now it is one folder with mods. Feel free to use them to make the grind a little bit easier!

Naam	Auteur
An extensive Basic Guide to Ascention Victory (Grail) Physician	Liveside 2 years ago
Forge Ascension Speedrun Guide (Outdated)	Zylynor 4 years ago
Glover% Route	yamikuronue 5 years ago
Lantern Ascension - Casual Explanation Videos	Zylynor 2 years ago
Lore Combination, Subversion, and Splitting Guide (Also Influences :) )	Zylynor 4 years ago