Alchemy

Alchemy is the art of extracting essences from mundane and exotic materials and turning them into potent, almost magical, potions, elixirs and salves. Alchemical produce is not to be confused with normal medicine, due to the expensive and intricate nature of the field, using alchemy in place of mundane medicine is something that only the richest of the rich can afford and only the best alchemists can supply in a timely manner.

Due to the time-wasting, expensive and complex nature of alchemy, it is either impossible or impractical to turn it into an industry like medicine or brewing. It has been, and forever might be, the field that only select scholars and hermits delve into.

## Essences

To create any alchemical concoction one must mix a number of essences in specific ratios and order, the closer these are to the perfect recipe, the more potent the product. Most any item has an essence that could be extracted out of it, however the process of extracting the essence is different for every item. For example extracting green essence from wheat is as simple as boiling it in a cauldron and then separating the essence from the broth, while extracting white essence from steel would be a very long, extraneous and expensive process that might not even be worth it in the end. Therefore alchemists tend to use ingredients of a biological nature, as they're much better for essence extraction.

Essences have specializations in certain types of alchemical products, but specific recipes might use essences from seemingly unrelated fields.

### Green Essence - Mundus

Mundus is the essence of the earth and plants, it is usually extracted from anything green and flourishing: moss, leaves, grass, algae, etc.. However the most potent mundus ingredients are "lower" harvest plants, like wheat and cabbages. Mundus concoctions are normally beneficial and are used to create elixirs that could, for example, grant a person more energy for work.

### Red Essence - Vitale

Vitale is the essence of life, it is usually extracted from meat, eggs and fleshy plants (like mushrooms). Vitale is generally used for healing elixirs and salves, that can quickly and painlessly heal even the deepest of wounds. Surprisingly however, vitale is also used to brew alchemical poisons.

### Blue Essence - Imber

Imber is the essence of the waters, it is usually extracted from fish, but sea salt is a very common ingredient too. Imber is normally used for elixirs that grant luck, or that allow a person to breathe under water.

### Yellow Essence - Stella

Stella is the essence of the stars and the sun, it is usually extracted from "higher" flowers, such as mandragora, lilies and balsams. However "high" harvest plants are also used - pumpkins, strawberries, rhubarb. Stella concoctions are very popular amongst scholars, as they are normally beneficial to the mind of the user.

### Purple Essence - Regium

Regium is the essence of royalty, it is a very expensive essence that is extracted from very rare ingredients - dragon's teeth, lion mane, minotaur horns. Regium concoctions are very potent and are normally used as enhancers of a potion, rather than as base.

### White Essence - Mixtura

Mixtura is the essence of metal, it is an expensive essence to attain not due to the nature of the ingredients, but due to the difficult process of extraction. Mixtura is attained from various metals - iron, copper, bronze, etc.. Mixtura concoctions are used in craftsmanship and smithing, as they are used as finishing touches upon a craft. There are many consumable concoctions that are made with mixtura too, these are normally used by legendary artisans to grant them an edge when making masterpiece items.

### Black Essence - Incursio

Incursio is the essence of death and aggression, it is extracted from decayed materials and deadly plants. Incursio is normally used for aggressive alchemical concoctions - bombs and alchemical poisons.

### Pink Essence - Ardor

Ardor is the essence of affection, ironically however it is frowned upon, almost banned in fact, due to how it is gathered - by either breaking down a person who is madly in love inside of a cauldron, or by using babies. Ardor concoctions are the classical "love potions" one would use to trick someone into loving them, you might see a little bit of a connection between the use and gathering of the essence here however.

### Brown Essence - Pestis

Pestis is the essence of disease, it is gathered from rats, insects, parasites and various sickly bodily fluids. Its not a very fun essence to extract, but it is very sought-after due to it being an ingredient in almost every alchemical cure ever made.

### Other Essences

There are myths, legends and anecdotes about essences that aren't commonly known or accepted. These exotic essences are said to have very special properties, but have been either lost over time or were forced to be forgotten as they are far to dangerous to use. Occasionally an adventurer will discover some potion in a ruin that cannot be explained by current alchemical knowledge, the explanation is usually that it was created with one of the "exotic" essences in a bygone time.

## Alchemical Spices

Spices, unlike essences, cannot be used to create alchemical concoctions by themselves as bases, they are instead enhancers that grant a potion specific and unique properties. This can be anything from granting it a specific taste to be more appealing, to making it glow in the dark, to making it more potent.

## Material Alchemy

The origins of alchemy began when scholars tried to turn led into gold, even though they were unsuccessful in their goal - they did create the basis for the science of essences that we know today. Ever since those days however, even though the field as a whole has moved to a different goal, there are select alchemists who continue to search for ways to turn one material into another. There has been much success - for example turning marble into granite, or wood into bronze is possible, even if it is far too expensive to be profitable. These breakthroughs do give alchemists hope however, that they might make their own gold some day, but many also fear that the process of doing so might be far too expensive to gain any real value from it.