Convictions and You: A Guide

What Convictions are, and how to find them.

Introduction

What this is:

A brief explanation on what each available conviction is, and where you can acquire them

What this is not:

A step-by-step walkthrough of how to get specific endings, or an itemized list of every single potential interaction you can use the convictions for

Are there spoilers?

Kind of? If you want to figure out all of this for yourself, or you do not want to know the names of the events associated with certain characters, then yes. I’ve tried to keep it as vague as possible and instead provide nudges in the right direction i.e. which events you should pay attention to for which characters.

A very special thank you to all of the lovely people in the official Discord who contributed information! <3

What are convictions?

Convictions are cards you can acquire that represent your ideals, or your paradigm of thought. There are several you can get and develop throughout the game; when the Sultan is away during “Headless Dragons,” you can combine 3 convictions of the same tier to get 1 conviction of the next. So 3 stone tier convictions->1 bronze tier conviction and so on. You need 27 stone convictions total to get a gold conviction.

The convictions available in the game are as follows:

Tier	Rebellion	Orthodoxy	Esoteric Cult
Stone	Fear of the Sultan	Pure Thoughts	Impure Thoughts
Bronze	Freedom from Fear	Divine Touch	Peering into Darkness
Silver	Intent to Rebel	Prayer of Atonement	The Ancient Faith
Gold	Regicide Plot	As Above, So Below	A New World

Other rebellion convictions include “Testament to Bygone Oaths” and “Blueprint for Revolution.” For these, pursue the Wandering Swordsman's and Nawfal's storylines, respectively.

Rebellion

Tier	Source	Event Details
Silver	Nawfal	Read the note in the book for “A Secret Meeting”
Silver	Shama	Requires 1 passion + 10 notoriety, choose to kill her father for “A Righteous Cause”
Bronze	Random Event - Story written about the Protagonist & the Sultan	Select “Let me see it”
Bronze	Observatory - Twinkle of an Evil Star	Put the observatory item into Methinks and select “spread dangerous speech”
Stone	Murtaz	After the Vizier’s request, choose “Spare Him”
Stone	Zaki	Begins with “A Boy’s Wish,” use conviction on “Admiration of the Young Noble”
Stone	Fatuna	Begins with “Riots Outside of the City,” use conviction on “A Widow’s Friendship”
Stone	Qais	Begins with “Hope for Exoneration,” use conviction on “Conquering Qais”
Stone (up to 4x)	Fardak	Carnality or Bloodshed card in “The Sultan’s Prank” “Fardak’s Friendship” after using Carnality or Extravagance in “The Sultan’s Prank” “Perform the Sacrificial Ritual”
Stone	Nayla	“I Can’t Wait” with Silver/Bronze conviction card
Stone (up to 2x)	Faraj	Putting Faraj into Methinks may spawn a “Young Nobles’ Gathering” where a conviction can be used. I think this spawns after praising his intellect/wisdom but I’m not sure
Stone	Fadia	After using a Stone Carnality card on “The Grand Game,” choosing not to indulge/kill Fadia and treating her kindly will present you with a chance to show her a conviction card. She can potentially produce several cards over time, but it is random.
Bronze or Stone	Nabhani	Bronze: Give Nabhani a Carnality card to spawn “The Most Popular Man,” then have Nabhani win with >10 charisma. Pass the stealth/wisdom check, choose not to warn Nabhani about the key, and do not participate in Shama/Junah’s game (must be these two, not Jalila) Stone: Give Nabhani an Extravagance card to spawn “Exhibition of Flesh” and purchase the talented slave. Have Nabhani participate in the fire event.
Silver	Hassan	Hassan writes a Satire Poem of Silver tier (RNG)
Silver	Ragged Man	“Kingslayer” spawns after accumulating 5 Infamy. Use a Gold Bloodshed card for 1 Intent to Rebel.

Orthodoxy/The Immaculate Piety

The Immaculate Piety conviction works a little differently than the others. You upgrade the Orthodoxy conviction through placing the conviction into Methinks. You can slot in yourself, one follower with Piety, and your conviction. If the total amount of Piety between these 3 cards is >=3, then your conviction will be upgraded to the next tier. Important!!!! Do not waste your Piety- having more than 3 when you do “Piety’s Examination” will just waste any extra points.

Your first conviction will be acquired from Iman in “Seek Help from the Church,” which does not have a timer expiration date.

Ways to acquire Piety include:

• “Confession” - send a follower and 3 gold to confess, and that follower will gain 1 piety. Don’t send Nabhani or the slaves as you will not receive any Piety.
  
• Qais will receive 2 piety from attending "Confession"
  
• Every so often recurring events from the Church will arise, usually involving 3 characters with >5 in a specific attribute being gone for 3 days, with one returning with +1 Piety at random.

Esoteric Cult

Like Rebellion, Esoteric Cult convictions can be upgraded through combining 3 of the same tier in “Headless Dragons.” Unlike Rebellion, you can farm these convictions through almost anybody (with a few exceptions) simply by dragging your conviction to Methinks. This will spawn an event where you can convert someone to your cult, and if you have a vacant mansion/room you can build a cult base.

Ways to acquire Dark Thoughts include:

• Having a cult base will allow you to host a “Dark Gathering” every 7 days that can potentially provide you with a conviction among other things.
  
• Hassan can write a Revelatory Verse of Gold Tier (titled “Roots of Darkness”) that gives a follower the Dark Arts tag
  
• Hassan can write a Revelatory Verse of Silver Tier that provides a Silver conviction
  
• Reading the book “An Immortal's Kiss” will provide you with a Stone conviction
  
• Putting the Gold Tier Observatory item "Portents of Madness" into Methinks will provide you with a Bronze conviction

[mira☆]

@ObsidianFire added it to the cult section! Sorry for the delay LOL, ty for the info

[0bsidianFire]

The Cult also has a Gold-Tier Astronomical observation from the Observatory that will give Bronze-teir Convictions when put into MeThinks and observed. It is called Portents of Madness.