You know, I’m surprised Bethnic and Summerset haven’t been converted from Connected to Favors/Renown (with the appropriate item and Faction Card) yet.
Please note I’m only saying this because the idea of selling the location of the Cave of the Nadir to them for a free Impossible Theorem got stuck in me brain.
Admittedly I was thinking that you could take one track of Favors for the University and convert it into either Renown at Bethnic or Renown at Summerset, with each track of Renown getting it’s own trio of of Items that are each slightly worse then everything else…but mostly it was the thing with the impossible Theorem
edited by Deathjack999 on 1/29/2018
They’re one of the special cases of Factions that aren’t really used as much/the same way. Outside of the University itself those two have only like 2 or so uses of note. Their entire presence in game would need expanding to align with other factions for favors/items.
Similarly are the Duchess and Gracious Widow, the latter is even more self-contained than the University people, and the Duchess has some more use but still not too present outside the palace. And, of course, The Masters, who have such a host of issues with adapting, ones that’ve been debated back and forth for a while now, that they are almost guaranteed to never get adapted.
Cthonius is right, and we’ve got no reason at this moment to expect that Summerset and Benthic will be moved over to the Renown system. They’ve never come down on any of the secondary factions that I know of, except to say that Shroud and Glass are basically plot trackers that will probably never be changed. While increasing their profile (via, for example, a faction card and renown items) isn’t necessary to making the switch, it is probable, and that means a lot of work for someone.
That said, there is some outstanding text about, for example, Closest To: The University, which (like Closest To: Rubbery Men) is mentioned on multiple cards but not actually implemented. That could be taken as evidence of an intention, albeit a latent one, to expand the University factionally. If they did so, your suggestion of University Favours spent to increase either Benthic or Summerset Renown is likely to be the cleanest implementation, with the corollary that the item conversions that depend on University connections would require a University favour and the appropriate renown (in keeping with the other factions). It’s weird, but it’s certainly doable, and I’m sure long before now someone has bandied it about in the hallowed halls of Failbetter–to what end, uncertain.
In short, anything is possible, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.