Searing Enigma

 is considered a Knowledge Curiosity item.

Item description
"Mysteries are fire. Truth burns."

Obtaining
 can be obtained in the following ways. Please note, this is far from a comprehensive list. Please check the full interactions below to see a complete list (there really are a LOT).

Farming tips

 * A captain may quickly trade for 's by buying Dread Surmise for 9 x ' at House of Pleasures in the Iron Republic and selling it for 10 x  at Wind-Come-Calling in Irem. Needless to say one would need to have 9 Searing Enigmas beforehand.
 * It is possible to 'buy' 's at Wind-Come-Calling in for, by buying  at  each and then trading them for a '. This is likely the most expedient way to gain Searing Enigmas and the most expensive.
 * The previous trade can also be done with only, by buying from  at  each or Anthe at 30 x Echo each and then trading them for a  in SS chapeloflights portsmall.png Chapel of Lights. Note that this requires Something Awaits You at the Chapel of Lights each time you trade 3 Ambiguous Elioths for an Extraordinary Implication, so it would be a very time-consuming way to earn a Searing Engima.
 * With a Judgement's Egg and at least 50 Mirrors, one can brave the The Corridors of Frostfound, at the end of the journey, one can hatch The Egg for an Searing Enigma. Since Frostfound is extremely risky and detrimental to the character (one point in each stats, at least, needs to be sacrificed to gain passage to the ultimate chamber), it is hardly a good way to farm Enigmas.
 * Well-armed captains could buy Mountain-Sherds in Adam's Way for  each, and then summon, defeat, and loot Mt. Nomad. Each victory will grant a Captivating Treasure (worth  by itself, and useful for making Heirlooms), a Mt Nomad's Heart, and +1 to Iron. One could then trade the Mt Nomads' Hearts in for a Searing Enigma each in Chelonate, resulting in an arguably decent trade of (roughly) +1 Iron and Enigma for 1000 Echoes + repair costs (take note that repair costs is more than just 100 gold. Depending on how far you are from your planned stop in London, needing repairs may mean having to skip other encounters). For comparison, you could kill a lorn fluke, sell its core covering 500 out of 1665 echo from  price, and gain 3 secrets in the process. This way you need extra 165 echo but get two extra secrets and take much less damage in the process.
 * A somewhat similar, but even less reasonable idea would be using an Element of Dawn (bought for 50 supplies, 7 crew members, and a single piece of vital intelligence), to summon a Tree of Ages. After uprooting and examining the vessel, one is rewarded with a Searing Enigma and an Extraordinary Implication (worth 1/5 of the Enigma in Irem by itself). This, however, is neither easy nor cost efficient, but most importantly, it is not reasonably repeatable. Just the "cost to self" of an Element of Dawn is over 1.5k echo (Vital intelligence is worth 600, supplies 1000, crew around another 100, see the link for details), then there's all the hassle associated with purchasing it (lugging around 50 crates for the transaction), and there's dealing with the ugly itself. But the toughest nail in this method's coffin is !!!WARNING SPOILERS!!! going to surprise you in London after you do this enough times.
 * DO note however than actually killing either of those two bosses the normal way IS a decent method of obtaining Searing Enigmas.
 * For those with the access to the zubmarine though, the best method is probably killing dawn flukes. It requires a pages check (100 for 100% chance) and the creature WILL deal some damage before it goes down (decent ranged attack, about 30 HP per hit IIRC, has 500 HP and a ram attack for 80HP - engage with caution on corvette, don't engage on anything weaker than that), but it's by no means a boss and with good enough stats on a good enough ship doesn't pose any serious threat.

Usage
 has the following uses:
 * One is needed near the end of the SS irrepressiblecannonneersmall.png Irrepressible Cannoneer storyline to obtain  SS mementomorismall.png Memento Mori.
 * One is needed to dine with the SS pianistsmall.png Carnelian Exile and open her storyline.


 * Any amount can be sold to the Alarming Scholar at SS alarmingscholarsmall.png The University in London, for
 * Note: Searing Enigma is one of the rarer items in the Neath, and many mid- to late-game stories specifically calls for one or even many of these; it's much better to sell off other items, or to just go SS shopfancysmall.png hauling cargo if you're in dire need of cash.
 * Can be traded in for SS sidebardreadedsmall.png Dread Surmise (in stock amounts for 9 SE in  SS ironrepublicsmall.png Iron Republic,  SS maggotsmall.png House of Pleasures, or one-shot at 7 SE at  SS alarmingscholarsmall.png The Alarming Scholar in London, killing him/her); Searing Enigmas are the only way to obtain said item. Since it can be sold for 10 SE in Irem, it can be considered a good late-game trade route (both don't take cargo hold) - it's still a trip across the entire Zee, though.
 * Can be traded for a SS goldenapplesmall.png Hesperidean Apple in  SS irem_portsmall.png Irem (1 x  SS coffeesmall.png Sack of Darkdrop Coffee Beans is also required).
 * Can be traded 1:1 for a SS lurkersilhouettesmall.png Doomed Monster-Hunter in  SS generic_portsmall.png Codex (very pricey).

Interactions in Brief
Click Expand on the right for more.

Interactions in Detail
Click Expand on the right for more.