How to find Astrolabe and Antiquarian cards in Nightingale

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Major Arcana cards in Nightingale are made at the Simple Enchanter's Focus

Nightingale antiquarian and astrolabe cards
(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

The Nightingale Astrolabe Card and Antiquarian Card can be found by completing Sites of Power and then crafting them at your own base with ink, paper and essence. These single-use major arcana are used to set the difficulty and decide the occupants of the realms you access via portals. Both cards are essential for progressing through the plot, so if you need to work out how to get the Astrolabe or Antiquarian Card in Nightingale, we'll cover the details below.

How to get the Astrolabe Card and Antiquarian Card in Nightingale

Nightingale antiquarian and astrolabe cards

(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

In Nightingale the Antiquarian Card and Astrolabe Card can both be found by unlocking the recipes at Sites of Power, then crafting your own at a Simple Enchanter's Focus, built at your camp with the following materials:

  • Lumber x1: Place Wood Bundles in a Simple Saw Table.
  • Ingot x2: Place Ore of any sort into a Simple Smelter (Bound enemies also tend to drop them)
  • Glass x5: Place any sort of Gem into a Simple Smelter.

Once you have the Simple Enchanter's Focus built, you'll be able to create Realmcards, Infusions, Enchantments and more besides. More card recipes will be made available to you as you progress through the story and earn rewards. However, you need to complete two Sites of Power, one to unlock each card's recipe.

The Antiquarian Card is at the Antiquarian Site of Power marked on your map, and is locked off for anybody with a Nightingale Gear Score below 20 (you'll have to get through a small gauntlet of enemies and kill the Fabled Automaton Knight at the bottom). The Astrolabe Site of Power is the same way - marked on the map - but this time you'll need a Gear Score of 30 or higher, with a tougher Fabled Automaton Bishop to kill.

Fortunately, both cards are built with the same easy recipe at the Simple Enchanter's Focus.

Nightingale antiquarian and astrolabe cards

(Image credit: Inflexion Games)
  • Paper x1: Place 2 Wood Bundles in a Simple Saw Table.
  • Ink x1: You can use Bound Ichor, obtained from killing Bound enemies, to fulfil this quality
  • Essence Dust x25: Simple essence found through gameplay.

Like all major arcana Realmcards, both are single-use once you put them in a portal, but you can craft more at your Focus whenever you feel so inclined.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.