What is the maddest anyone has ever been?

I’m speaking in regards to the Mirror Marches.

It’s clear that in the Marches your Nightmares equate to your location to a pretty strong degree. Cards can often be restricted to a certain &quotzone&quot, occurring only in a band of Nightmare values. So, in a solid sense the madder you are, the farther you have traveled into the Mirror Marches.

The echobazaar stuff implies that many years ago, 2010, someone went up as high as 21. I myself have only ever reached 12, but I’ve only ever really looked once, and didn’t think to properly prepare for the expedition at the time.
So I’m curious. How far has the community explored the Marches? How mad has anyone ever been? How deep is the deepest we’ve walked?

Know anyone whose beaten 21?

Is there anything beyond?

[quote=absimiliard]I’m speaking in regards to the Mirror Marches.

It’s clear that in the Marches your Nightmares equate to your location to a pretty strong degree. Cards can often be restricted to a certain &quotzone&quot, occurring only in a band of Nightmare values. So, in a solid sense the madder you are, the farther you have traveled into the Mirror Marches.

The echobazaar stuff implies that many years ago, 2010, someone went up as high as 21. I myself have only ever reached 12, but I’ve only ever really looked once, and didn’t think to properly prepare for the expedition at the time.
So I’m curious. How far has the community explored the Marches? How mad has anyone ever been? How deep is the deepest we’ve walked?

Know anyone whose beaten 21?

Is there anything beyond?[/quote]
I know people have beaten 21 in nightmares, but none who did this while in the marshes.

It’s possible to have at least Nightmares 43 thanks to the Nadir card that doubles them, but you can’t go to the Marches from there and leaving the Nadir nukes Nightmares.

http://community.failbettergames.com/topic21873-gone-mad-from-the-revelation-nightmares-.aspx

I’ve only ever made it to 41, and I’m not entirely sure if it actually is possible to go to 43 (I tried and couldn’t due to restrictions on the Nightmares cap if you have over 20 while the card is active, but that could be due simply to a mistake on my part), nor do I know if anyone else has reached it that far or higher.

Mechanically speaking, it’s not any different than Nightmares 8, although it lowers it back to 10 or so once you exit. You could theoretically go to the Mirror Marches from there and continue with certain actions to push the limits of insanity after days of grinding options to boost it further and further, though my guess is that nothing happens. Don’t let my pessimism ruin your ravenous adventure, though! As for story-wise and headcanon, I’d like to think that the borders between Parabola and the Neath wear thin by the smoldering wreckage of truth and revelation that is your mind. Shades of irrigo and viric fill your dreams and the Correspondence burns just out of direct sight. Were you to simply blink for too long, your restless mind would be as potent a gate to Parabola as any mirror. Should one dwell too deep in such abstract horrors in the land of Is-Not, the mind may be washed away in rivers of snakes and spiced honey until it one day rests again on the shores of waking thought. Or, you know, something like that.

Try it for yourself, see what happens!
edited by Sir Joseph Marlen on 4/15/2016

Well, I’m gonna try it. I’m going to go into the Mirror Marches and see if there is any content down below 25 Nightmares.

In fact I’ll probably see if I can get a new record for Nightmares. It’ll be grindy as all git out, but unless there’s a hard cap on them I should be able to go up to almost any arbitrarily high level. (and if there is a cap that would be an awesome thing to discover as well, though not as cool as if there were content for high-nightmares in the Mirror Marches.)

Anyhow, I’m off. Wish me luck. I’ll stick my Nightmares in my profile so folks can see where I’m at. (and I think I’m going to novelize the journey in Mr. Page’s Fabularities as well)

Wait… is it possible to get further than 8 in nightmares? Oh my, I have a lot to learn, it seems.

[quote=absimiliard]Well, I’m gonna try it. I’m going to go into the Mirror Marches and see if there is any content down below 25 Nightmares.

In fact I’ll probably see if I can get a new record for Nightmares. It’ll be grindy as all git out, but unless there’s a hard cap on them I should be able to go up to almost any arbitrarily high level. (and if there is a cap that would be an awesome thing to discover as well, though not as cool as if there were content for high-nightmares in the Mirror Marches.)

Anyhow, I’m off. Wish me luck. I’ll stick my Nightmares in my profile so folks can see where I’m at. (and I think I’m going to novelize the journey in Mr. Page’s Fabularities as well)[/quote]

Should we all try and dump our nightmares using social actions on you while you’re at it?

There are ways of forcing your nightmares to be really high. Like, say raising them while at zee (possibly by looping the iron republic) where you cant go to a menace state. That way you could raise the nightmares as high as you want, and then go to the marches as soon as you land back on london’s shores. I’m fairly certain you can raise your nightmares infinitely high using this method if you really wanted to do so. Other special areas like shroom hopping also work if you have fate but no boat and still want to try this idea.
edited by NiteBrite on 4/18/2016

Thanks for the offer Vavakx, but I’m afraid I’m already in the Mirror Marches, so no more social actions are available. For what it’s worth, the mirror in the House of Mirrors that I used to enter the Marches sets your Nightmares to 8 when you enter if they’re below it. So one doesn’t need to buff nightmares if you’re just going to grind them in the Mirror Marches. (unlike w. the Nadir method Sir Joseph Marlen used to achieve the current record)

Nitebrite: That’s fascinating. I haven’t gone to the Iron Republic yet, in FL that is – in SS of course I have – so I didn’t think about that. I did know some spots let you go above eight in menaces without invoking the trip to the penalty-zone, but I wasn’t sure if they would be faster than grinding nightmares in the Marches. (some opp. cards give more than 1 CP of nightmares, and there’s always avoiding the Temple for +1 CP per action)

Eh, no matter, slow and steady for me.

[quote=NiteBrite]There are ways of forcing your nightmares to be really high. Like, say raising them while at zee (possibly by looping the iron republic) where you cant go to a menace state. [/quote]I’m not sure you can raise Nightmares infinitely high in the Iron Republic; Scandal, definitely, but I think you have to set your Nightmares to 6 at the loop point.

In addition to silly grinding, there are a couple items that reduce nightmares by 1 when equipped, so with a Cheerful Goldfish for example you’d need Nightmares 9 for the menace state trigger to occur.[li]

The fact that there is something named a Cheerful Goldfish makes me happy. Ah yes. The menace state is hell to get out of, hence the confusion as to how some people manage to get over 8.

Debuff watchful and fail a lot at expedition islands.

Don’t go to Hunter’s Keep though, as they’ve a reset for Nightmares > 8

Nope, not necessary as far as I can tell.

Oh, right, I had my loop marked at 34 to reset Wounds, but you could indeed loop at 40 to not reset Nightmares (or Wounds for that matter). Thanks.