System Design: Eastern Alchemy

1702728 - Jordan Cordina (Submissions 4 & 5)

Submitted under the **Hong Kong Hub.**

> *“Wanderers of all creeds have passed by this place, but none so curiously as alchemists. Their eyes, mirrors to the soul, wander like moths to a flame over my wares, betraying a spark of intellect and fascination as they pass through the crowds. I remember their faces, for indeed almost all return.”*
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> -Xing Shi, ingredients merchant of Changsha, China.
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### **Eastern Alchemy**

Eastern Alchemy is one of the three specialisations available for the Alchemy skill, alongside Western Alchemy and Sub-Saharan Alchemy. After gaining access to the "Alchemical Basics" ability, players are able to purchase specialisations that they meet the prerequisites for.

As with the other specialisations, Eastern Alchemy can only be acquired after having completed an "Eastern Alchemy Basics" quest-line, which is exclusive to certain quest-givers in the Asian continent. Upon unlocking this specialisation, the player gains access to a limited list of recipes, which can be expanded through discovering new recipes in the form of quest rewards and alchemical recipes that can be dropped by killing specific enemies or found as randomly assigned items found throughout the Asian continent.

#### **Elixirs**

Functionally, possessing the Eastern Alchemy specialisation allows the player to produce "*Elixirs*" - special brews that last longer than usual *Potions*, with the trade-off that their effects are less potent. However, the player may have a total of three Elixir effects active concurrently, unlike Potions which allow only one active effect at a time. At higher levels of the alchemy skill, Players with a high fortitude level can gain the benefits of a fourth effect if the "Alchemical Tolerance" skill is purchased from the Standard Alchemy skill list.

#### **Creating Elixirs**

Creating Elixirs differs from that of regular Potions in both the ingredients used and how they're prepared as each recipe requires ingredients exclusive to certain areas of the Asian continent, or items acquired from the hunting or capture of specific magical beasts*.* In addition they can only be made using different crafting stations and equipment.

Creating an Elixir is a two-step process, requiring the use of a Herb Station and a Cooking Station, or their portable equivalents after acquiring the “Equipment Specialist” ability. After collecting a recipe’s three ingredients, the player may interact with a Herb Station where the ingredients are prepared and combined with a single *Binding Syrup* item (which is then expended) to produce the *Herbal Pill* item. This can be made into a single portion of its corresponding Elixir by boiling it at a Cooking Station, and can be claimed if the player has a *Glass Vial* item which is expended and replaced with the specific Elixir item.

Selected through the Herb Station menu, the player may select the type of Elixir they wish to produce. Each Elixir’s Herbal Pill has a specific crafting time ranging from 15 to 90 seconds, varying depending on factors such as the Elixir’s rarity and effect. During the crafting time, ingredients are powdered, fused and dried automatically, producing a Herbal Pill at the end.

#### **Potency**

As with Potions, each Elixir has a Potency value out of 100 attributed to it at collection from a Cooking Station, directly determining the strength of the Elixir’s effect. This value is conceived partly randomly, but is mostly determined by the player’s progress in the Alchemy skill and the quality of the ingredients being used to create it. Those with a higher skill will more reliably create desirable Elixirs with a potency between 60 and 70 - however, even at the highest levels, Elixirs with a potency of 71 or above are still significantly uncommon, with those of 80 or above very rare to obtain.

**This system is designed to drive demand for higher-potency Potions and Elixirs, making those with high Alchemy skills sought after members of player-made groups during end-game content. This would in turn drive up the price of potent alchemical products on the community markets and help build the in-game economy.**

#### **Expiration**

Whilst the vast majority of lower to mid-range alchemical products last indefinitely, certain high-tiered Potions and Elixirs only hold their powers for a limited time. For Elixirs, this expiration time would start counting down from the moment an Elixir is collected from its Cooking Station. Potions and Elixirs with the capacity to expire would retain their original potency until their expiration time ran out, after which the alchemical product would be replaced with the *Expired Potion* or *Expired Elixir* items. Expiration time would only be paused when alchemical products are stored at specific refrigeration facilities located only at central hubs, or whilst they are put up for offer on the community markets.

**This system is designed to evoke a sense of urgency to both exploration and combat scenarios throughout the game's lifespan, providing players with a choice: to rely on lower to mid-tier Potions and Elixirs as a safe bet, or to risk creating higher-tiered potions just before combat, with the hope that the final product will be of a high potency. It would also prevent the stockpiling of the most powerful potions, which would result in zones containing the most potent ingredients to be hotly contested. These ingredient nodes could be strategically placed to allow for both pre-planned and emergent narratives through quest-line, player-versus-player (PVP) and clan-oriented content.**

#### **Ingredients**

The baseline ingredients for Eastern Alchemy mirrors the standard alchemy system in requiring a base, a stabiliser and an enhancer, though due to its roots in traditional medicines these ingredients are all natural. All Elixirs require one Herb, Root and Mythical ingredient each, with *Binding Syrup* universally used in the creation of each Herbal Pill.

    The Herb and Root ingredients can be harvested from specific Herb and Root nodes, located in scattered locations around the map, or can be purchased from specific vendors. These Herbs and Roots can be mundane, though enchanted variants from higher-leveled zones are usable after acquiring the "Advanced Alchemy" ability.

Mythical ingredients are most often obtained from Mythical beasts from the Asian continent, but can also be harvested from mythical plants, dropped by Asian mythical creatures upon their death and collected from enchanted resource nodes. Access to the "Mythical Harvest" ability enables the player to access ingredients for Eastern Alchemy when playing in zones outside of the Asian Continent.

**Limiting the acquisition of Eastern Alchemy ingredients when outside of Asia serves two goals. The first is to stay faithful to Traditional Chinese Medicine by using ingredients naturally occurring or historically imported into East-Asian countries, while the second relates to PVP content. Players specialising in Eastern Alchemy would be at an advantage engaging in combat within their own territories as the ingredients would be readily available to them, and due to the expiration time on higher-powered Potions and Elixirs, these concoctions would mostly have to be brewed and distributed moments before combat takes place.**

#### **Specialisation Abilities**

* (Rank 1) Eastern Alchemy - Can create Elixirs and gains access to basic Elixir Recipes. Mythical ingredients can now be harvested from mythical plants, creatures and other sources.
	+ Prerequisites: Player must have the Alchemical Basics ability equipped and the "Eastern Alchemy Basics" quest-line complete, accessible only in Asia.

* (Rank 2) Mythical Harvest - The drop-rate of Mythical ingredients and number of items from Herb and Root nodes significantly increases while in Asian territories. Outside of Asia, Mythical creatures, plants and resource nodes gain a significant chance to drop Mythical ingredients.
* (Rank 3) Rejuvenate Meridians - The player's health and magic traits rejuvenate faster when under the effect of one or more Elixirs to increasing degrees depending on the player's Alchemy skill progress. If Rejuvenate Meridians is chosen, Qi Transmission becomes unavailable to the player.
* (Rank 3) Qi Transmission - Surrounding allies gain a slight percentage of the boosts bestowed by the player's ingested Elixirs to increasing degrees depending on the player's Alchemy skill progress. If Qi Transmission is chosen, Rejuvenate Meridians becomes unavailable to the player.

## **Lore of Eastern Alchemy**

> *"Practitioners of Western Alchemy struggle to understand the fundamentals of its eastern counterpart. Whilst the west adheres to strict formulae and emphasise the physical effects of such imbibements, they fail to address the conflicting essence which lies at centre of man - the imbalances of the vital force, their Qi. Through mindful application, Eastern Elixirs weave in knowledge from ancient medicine into their concoctions and enhance their effects through the replenishment and reinvigoration of stagnant Qi - balancing its presence throughout the body, and as a result bestow longer-lasting effects."*
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> -Excerpt from *Post-Re-Enchantment Elixirs: A New World Revolution*, Author Unknown
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As with traditional Chinese medicine, Eastern Alchemy builds upon the philosophy that the physical body and spiritual essence of a person are intertwined, manifesting itself as Qi, the vital force within all humans. As such its Elixirs target the body's meridians - the pathways of Qi that flow through the body - and are developed to promote its flow in specific areas.

With the introduction of mythical ingredients, it was realised that Eastern Alchemy had the potential to do more than just invigorate stagnant Qi, as it could also actively introduce the presence of Supernatural Qi into an Elixir drinker's system. This temporarily enables drinkers to inherit certain traits of the mythical beasts used in the Elixir's production. Whilst Eastern Alchemy can be used to manifest powerful abilities such as water-breathing and enhancing the drinker's killer instinct, its applications can also be medically focused, with the most respected practitioners rumoured to be able to regrow lost limbs and extend life. As such, Eastern Alchemy is steadily being accepted as the natural successor of Traditional Chinese Medicine in a growing number of East-Asian provinces.

### **The History of Eastern Alchemy**

#### **Post Re-Enchantment**

Upon the re-enchantment of the world, magical essences returned alongside the many fantastical creatures of myth and legend once thought lost. Countless historical texts around the world once thought false were now revealed to be true, and as such, those knowledgeable studied and documented their contents through the chaos, founding the first rediscovered steps of Alchemy and its regional specialities.

Despite the crumbling internet access across Asia, the wide dissemination of cultural texts in China and its surrounding territories allowed many to explore Eastern Alchemy's ancient, well-documented applications. As such, the reinvention of modern Eastern Alchemy cannot be attributed to any one person or group, rather the many street-alchemists and other opportunists seeking profit shortly after the re-enchantment.

    In the wake of global chaos many of the Asian governments still left intact struggled to regulate the street marketplace. This, coupled with the massive uptake in the craft resulted in the streets being flooded with alchemical brews – many of which were dangerous and unstable. Even today practitioners of any kind of alchemy are widely regarded as unscrupulous, but with the rise of notable practitioners and Eastern Alchemy’s similarities with traditional Chinese medicine, the practice has slowly become more accepted across most of the continent.

#### **The Modern Day (South China Sea Coast)**

Since the rise of the Divine Bureaucracy across Asia's south-eastern coast, a sense of order has finally begun to set in across the Chinese territories of the flooded Asian continent. The Great Holy City of Hong Kong is ruled by a strict doctrine, enforced by the Divines' forces such as The Drowned One and his emissaries, as well as figures like The Arbiter. Shortly after the Divines' reclamation of the South China Sea coast in 2058, a prominent Alchemist organisation operating within Divine territory, headed by Sherry Ngai, requested a hearing with the Divine Bureaucracy. Invited to their meeting place atop the reclaimed Central Government Complex, Sherry headed tense negotiations on implementing restrictions to Mythical Ingredient farming. However, during the negotiations Sherry made a misstep, addressing one of the Divines with an honorific that placed them above their contemporaries. A number of the Divines took this offence personally, demanding Sherry's immediate execution and the dissolution of her organisation. Despite other Divines rising to her aid, the hearing concluded with Sherry's death at the hands of The Arbiter, with the remaining members of the Alchemy group ordered to leave the city indefinitely. Further resistance from the organisation upon news of their leader's death prompted a group of Divines to declare the issuing of the Ngai Mandate, damning many Alchemists within the province.

After this declaration, only officially sanctioned practitioners of Alchemy could legally carry out their trade. Harsh consequences often befall those who fall foul of the Holy State and its Divine mandates, with many punishments seemingly decided on a whim based on the Divine that enforces them; Previous offenders have been charged with punishments such as instant execution, banishment to a penal colony and surrendering full servitude to the Deity that discovers them.

In spite of the Divine Bureaucracy's tight grasp on this coast-spanning mega-city, many of the Divines cling to acclaimed practitioners in a further attempt to exert power over their domains. Many of these Alchemists are capable of the "true healing" of ailments with their near-miraculous concoctions, and by controlling the creation and distribution of such Elixirs, the Divines seek to control the people. Whilst some Divines are rumoured to hoard their collections, others notably bestow them to their hierarchy of followers to various ends. This controlled distribution of Elixirs in many parts of the city has lead to a growing black-market trade in the city's underground circles, leading to an increasingly notable presence of Western Alchemy practitioners using this secretive market to their advantage.

As a result of the Ngai Mandate's declaration by the Divine Bureaucracy, many Street-Alchemists were faced the choice of abandoning their craft, risking divine wrath through continued study, or taking their pursuits elsewhere. This split shattered the once-thriving alchemy community of the Great Holy City, with many fleeing the territory and renouncing the practice altogether. Those who continued made efforts appealing to specific divines, with some granted protection whilst others were refused and sentenced to death beneath the waves. Some desperate alchemists even turned to piracy, merging with some of the same crews harvesting the mythical ingredients they use - a factor that heavily contributed to the now-bustling piracy scene off the South-East Asian coast, with many crews making use of the supernatural enhancements Elixirs bestow.

Demand from both the Divines and the black-market lead to the mythical ingredient trade booming, with dedicated groups of hunters forming raiding parties that venture into the wilds and the submerged parts of the city. The Lantau Archipelago and the ruins of the old city are famed for the Water Monkeys (Shui Gui) that have inhabited the skyscrapers' sunken floors, and as such are often scoured through by such groups. The oils in their fur allow for the production of water-breathing Elixirs, which are invaluable in maintenance efforts which keep the many skyscrapers at the heart of the city standing.

In recent times however, conflicts have been growing between hunter factions operating around the Great Holy City. The Bìléizhēn (Lightning spear) and the Xùn fēng (Swift wind) factions have accused the Hǎiyáng de Qìxí (Ocean's Breath) of needlessly depleting the Water Monkey population in their habitats by flaying the demons of their hide and fur and throwing the bodies overboard, or killing the demons outright. This pair of factions claim that this practice was a recent revelation, as for a decade prior ingredient hunters would limit the amount of fur they collect and release the Water Monkeys unharmed. Fearing a repeat of the Ngai Mandate, these hunters have taken matters into their own hands, actively opposing any Hǎiyáng de Qìxí presence in their waters.

These conflicts are further complicated as the Hǎiyáng de Qìxí faction is mostly comprised of local fishers and anglers displaced by the Divines' followers, who with the gift of water breathing through their Elixir supply chain now command the majority of the fishing efforts. Unable to keep-up with professional hunters and desperately struggling to support themselves and their families, these people now resort to flaying to maximise their limited output. Consequently, the Water Monkey population has started to decline, leaving the hunting spots more competitive than ever, and due to the Water Monkey bodies left to drift out to sea, even deadlier supernatural creatures have started emerging from the deep to capitalise on the new food source.