Alchemy

There have been many discussions and debates to decide whether alchemical studies are related to magic or are a completely different realm of world manipulation altogether. In the history of the world, there have been times when the two were used seemingly as one, and other times where conflating both in any way has been considered heretical. In any case, the uses and users of alchemy are to this day quite different from those of general magic.
The great alchemist Hibou of Biblion once said: “If mortal sciences aim to change the world by creating natural tools that use natural means, and magic disciplines aim to change the world by creating unnatural tools that use unnatural means, alchemy seeks to change the world by creating natural tools that use unnatural means. Those who want to achieve true knowledge of the world need to look beyond the limitations of the material and immaterial realm, and study the invisible seams that compose the thread of existence”. His works have been studied and debated for centuries, but the consensus is that his legacy forms the basis for modern alchemy. His alchemical beliefs include a mix of earthly science, philosophy, history, meditation and esoteric knowledge, which are taught and learnt throughout the world to this day.
The origins of alchemy are not well known. Unlike magic, whose modern origins can be tracked to the ancient Khenomeri, alchemy has cropped up in many different places in the world, at very different times, and discovered by different races. And as such, it doesn’t have a clear line of study. Nor it ever had an unified body to manage its study, like the Khenomeri Schools of Magic or the Ancient Order of Most Practical Wizards in the Island of Wizards. As such, there are hundreds of alchemical schools of study spread throughout the step. However, most of them share one of the three aspirations written by Hibou of Biblion: “The goals of alchemy are the changing of the world within us and around us. As such, all alchemy can be abridged into three needs: the need to change the physical world, the need to change life and the need to change oneself”.The path of gold is the branch of alchemy is the one that deals with the transformation and transmutation of non-organic elements. It is commonly known as the path of gold due to the interest of early alchemists into creating gold and other higher metals from materials like copper or and other, much less valuable elements. However, nowadays, the path of gold includes a wide array of knowledge and techniques to create many elements, many of them are seldom seen in nature. 
The path of flesh is the branch of alchemy that deals with the transformation and transmutation of organic elements. This not only includes working with organic materials and ingredients, but also the reconfiguration and creation of new lifeforms. The creation and improvement of livestock and crops is one of the more respected uses for modern alchemy, but it has also received a lot of backlash, since fleshcrafting is an incredibly risky and time consuming discipline. The need to observe many specimens throughout their lifespan to check and contrast for any abnormalities means that their results are often centuries after the experiments began. It’s not uncommon for alchemists to get attached to their faulty creations and just abandon them in the wild, causing severe problems for the local populations. In rare cases, such as the Strange Meadows, the escaped/freed species actually survive in the wild, radically altering the ecosystem.
Lastly, the path of self is the branch of alchemy that deals with the transformation and transmutation of the body of the different sapient species in the step. It focuses mostly in the development of medicines and cures for the many sapient races of the world, but there are also many examples of production of elements that heighten the body’s state of body and mind. This branch is highly controversial within alchemical circles, since many criminal syndicates and organizations have used it to create elaborate and addicting drugs, like the infamous “white death”, bringing a lot of criticism and scorn to the alchemical community. The main goals of the path of self are the creation of the panacea, the universal cure for all ills, and the philosopher’s stone, an item that would grant eternal life. 
Most of the alchemical schools teach strict limits of what the alchemists should and should not strive for. This was already mentioned in Hibou of Biblion’s works, who talked about the risks of greed and ambition when dealing with forces that we don’t and/or can’t comprehend.“The search for knowledge that alchemy seeks to provide is only limited to that within the realms of the mortal races. We are mortal individuals, with mortal goals and mortal means. To go beyond it is the purview of the most arrogant of magics, and an alchemist that pursues the task of gods will only find ruin”. This also relates to Hibou’s disdain for necromancy, that he saw as the last irredeemable sin a mortal could commit. “It is natural for mortals to preserve life, as it is life’s nature to mantain itself. It is unnatural for mortals to reverse life from death, as it breaks with the natural order of things, and it is the purview of the gods. A man who takes the first step into undeath will not see his hubris stop, since he will see himself as an equal to the gods, and they will remind him of his place sooner or later”.Most scholars are of the opinion that modern alchemy was born in Ouroboria, in the Kingdom of Tarot, although their claims of being the original creators of the arts is wildly disputed. The tarotian city of Ouroboria is home of some of the most important alchemists in the world’s history, and even to this day alchemy is regarded as a religion. It was in Ouroboria where the alchemist Eliphas Ensatti would set the basis for the organization and classification of the alchemical branches and houses. 
Eliphas Ensatti was born in Ouroboria as the 8th son of a noble family. Since he had no chance of inheriting the family’s estate, he dedicated his time and efforts travelling the world studying different fields of knowledge. In particular, Eliphas developed a great interest in alchemy, at the time a field mostly considered as another branch of magic, despite the theories against it by alchemists such as Hibou of Biblion and Melinda Conda of Khenomeri. After he got back from his travels, Eliphas began took all of the works of the previous master alchemists and tried to find the basis for alchemical studies, streamlining most of the techniques, processes and principles currently used by alchemists around the world. He also took the principle of the “three aspirations” of Hibou of Biblion and expanded upon it, not only taking into account the goals of the alchemist, but also the methods and materials used to try to reach it. According to Eliphas Ensatti:“The nature of alchemy goes far beyond the simple accomplishment of goals. We cannot just divide all the wide arrange of knowledge used and understood by our predecessors and just limit it to the purposes and end results. If two men are hungry, and each one follows a different path to food, the end result is the same, but the knowledge, methods, practices and effects in the world are vastly different. A hunter and a shepherd both want to obtain food for their families, but you would not say they are the same just because they fill their bellies with meat at the end of the day.”Eliphas took the different schools of thought and organized them into four major branches: the branch of air, the branch of water, the branch of earth and the branch of fire. Each of these elements are considered the most basic of existing substances, and cannot be divided and simplified further, being only capable of increasing in complexity.  
After this classification, each of the branches has to be combined with each other, and taking into account the methods and goals of the alchemist, he was able to discern dozens of different alchemical schools of thought, many of them exist to this day, from the scatomancers to the bookimists. 
He also discussed heavily about astromancy being part of alchemy, though modern experts still debate whether astromancy is its own branch of knowledge, separated from magic and alchemy, or not. According to Elighas Ensatti:“The working with quintessence, most commonly known in the eastern kingdoms as aether, has so many differences from the other four elements to not be easily linked to the established laws of alchemy. If air, water, earth and fire are all natural elements that compose the world as we know it, then quintessence is an otherworldly substance, an alien material that does not follow the laws of reality. It would not be unreasonable to then ascribe it to the unnatural realm of magic, but most wizards feel it is an element too stable and unchanging to befit the ever shifting realms of magics.”Eliphas was also the first alchemist to conclude that the pursuit of the philosopher’s stone was impossible, and that alchemists ought to obtain the desired effects individually. At the time, this opinion was nearly heretical for the alchemists at the time, but more and more this opinion is gaining ground, though the groups attempting to reach the philosopher’s stone’s effects individually are still a minority. Many are of the opinion that this admission of defeat from Eliphas contradicts his entire life’s work, since if an alchemist is skilled enough to create the fable stone, then they are surely wise enough to achieve anything else they wished. 
=== Path of Gold ===
The “Path of Gold” is one of the three aspirations of alchemy defined by Hibou of Biblion. The path of gold is one of the oldest and better understood branches of alchemy, as the search of a way to produce rarer materials from common ones has been on the minds of many even before the search of the philosopher’s stone. The production of gold from other materials drove many alchemists, either due to scientific or monetary reasons, started searching ways to produce more gold. The search paid off, but the early alchemists’ techniques realized that the sheer cost of actually producing gold like that (due to time, materials, research and tools) would outweigh the actual value of said gold, as it can only be obtained in small enough quantities to not be viable. Still, the knowledge of material transmutation has been one of the great breakthroughs of the Path of Gold, giving much credit to alchemists all around. There are formulas to produce many elements from simpler items, most of which are metallic elements such as copper, iron, silver, gold… While the cost of them is considerably higher than obtaining them naturally (and a transmutated material is often of poorer quality, preserving part of the nature of the element that once was), it is a valuable skill in cases when you cannot physically access the materials through mining or trading. Still, some elements like aether and arcanium, have been unable to be synthesized. Alchemists have also endeavored to develop other materials which shine for their rarity, and even never before seen elements, though the latter is a relatively young field of research, and only the most advanced alchemists have gained some success with it.
=== Path of Flesh ===
The “Path of Flesh” is one of the three aspirations of alchemy defined by Hibou of Biblion. The path of flesh was initially developed by expanding upon the path of gold, only instead of inert matter, alchemists would try to generate organic, living matter, initially for the purposes of creating medicines and remedies. It quickly dawned on early alchemists that the best way to obtaining organic materials was not through transmutation, but in a process of slow alteration and selective breeding. This eventually evolved into hundreds of different processes of reconfiguring living flesh. The changes to which the specimens are exposed need to be small enough for the creature to survive, as the process is often painful, especially if the alterations are radically different to the specimen’s own nature. The process is slow and needs to be monitored carefully, as throwing all caution to the wind often results in horrific undesired mutations that kill the specimen without obtaining the desired results. It surprised many that, even after the techniques and principles were discover, the creation of entire new species actually took until 15th century ABE to be discussed and actually attempted. These attempts appeared in areas of Eastern Giantstep, and slowly spread through the west and the south, but with a great taboo around it, as many doubted whether the resulting creatures could be controlled. Events such as the alchemical disaster in Sidarí at the end of the 17th century proved these concerns right, and has made many nations put stringent limitations to these kinds of experimentations.
The most common kind of creature made by alchemy are what are known as “chimeras”, beings mixing two or more species into one. These seem to be by far the most stable creatures born out of alchemy, as mixing two organisms that are proven to be able to survive on their own is much safer than adding never before seen features. The more closely-related the beings mixer are, the higher the chances of survival (per example, mixing two mammals has more chances of success than mixing a mammal and a reptile, and much more success than mixing a mammal with an insect). And by the same logic, the more species added into the mix, the bigger the chances of failure, which is why a being such as the Sacred Qilin are considered so abnormal, not only due to the sheer amount of animals mixed, but also in the time they managed to produce enough individuals to maintain stable populations, being considered one of the highest achievements of the “path of flesh”. While many practitioners will euthanize their creations after they obtained the desired results, due to the sheer amount of punishment illegal or uncontrolled alchemy of this kind can carry, it’s not uncommon for alchemists to get attached to their faulty creations and just abandon them in the wild, causing severe problems for the local populations. Creating alchemical chimeras out of sentient beings is considered beyond taboo, and an alchemist discovered even studying that matter can expect nothing but painful execution.
=== Path of Self ===
The “Path of Self” is one of the three aspirations of alchemy defined by Hibou of Biblion. It is a branch developed from the path of gold and the path of flesh, and combines many of their principles and techniques to seek for the transmutation and transformation of the body. Unlike the path of flesh, though, the changes brought forth occur in already developed organisms, often with temporary effects. The path of self comes from the search for alchemical medicines and treatments but leads it further, creating concoctions and substances that not only can heal, but also increase the body’s abilities for a time. It did not take long for the path of self to also work in poisons and venoms, often as a result of putting defective products to good use, but perfected over time. The effects of these products varied wildly depending on the person’s age, sex, weight, physical and mental strength, exposure to other alchemical elements… but a talented alchemist can more or less stabilize the substances enough so that the effects are predictable most of the time. Most of these products are created by adding rare elements brought forth by alchemy, like organic matter created from chimeras or other alchemically-altered beings, something important as the mere mixing of natural herbs found in the wild does not make one an alchemist of the “path of self”. The path of self is highly respected within medical circles (as its stated goal is the creation of the panacea), but outside of them, the general population distrust the results of these alchemical concoctions. It is especially reviled by authorities who have to fight the spread of multiple poisonous drugs, made extremely addictive due to alchemical refinement. Events such as the creation of the “white death” by rogue alchemists has severely damaged the reputation of these alchemists, though that does not stop many royal courts to have one follower of the path of self on their payroll.
Category:Alchemy
Category:Mystical