The Pursuit of True Alchemy

[VengefulSeraphim]

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People have always asked me what it is I do in my spare time. What I do is, simply put, is work that is blessed by the gods. The Lord of Spells champions those who put work into their practice of the Art, and ensures they and their friends always receive the just reward they deserve for all the time they have put into research of the arcane and the study of dweomers.

Everyone knows that. Little is it known, however, that the Lord of Spells also serves as the Patron of Alchemists, as all who participate in the most sacred study of the elements and the transmutation of one into another endeavor to make the unknown known, and construct order from chaos, peaceful stasis from that which ultimately typifies change...

There are three items that all alchemists worthy of the name try to create through their study of the craft. These are the philosopher's stone, the azoth, and the alkahest.

The philosopher's stone is, of course, the most well known of the three 'magnum opuses', or 'great works', in alchemy. The stone is capable of granting everlasting life to its possessor, and allows for a substance or element to be changed into another with little effort or energy involved. To craft the philosopher's stone, it is rumored that four steps are required.

The first among these is "nigredo", "the blackening" - without first studying how men and women age during life itself... and the nature of decomposition and the breaking down of life by nature after death's knell, how can immortality be achieved? It simply cannot be done.

The second step is "albedo", "the whitening" - after nigredo takes its toll, the stench of death must be cleansed from the firmament, and absolution and purification must take place. Often involved is the separation of the soul into light and dark spheres. What is left is something that gleams brightly in the moonlit sky of Selûne - silver...

The third step is known as "citrinitas"... what is white takes on a yellowish hue, and the yellowness turns the silver slowly into what will soon be gold. But we are not finished yet.

The fourth step involves blood, which is compulsory in all transmutation at one point or another. "Rubedo", represents the fusion of spirit and body, and what appears to be gold truly BECOMES gold.

Of course, few have managed to make the philosopher's stone a reality. More often than not, many alchemists who desire to achieve immortality for themselves through use of the philosopher's stone give up and lose patience, instead accepting an easier path towards 'immortality', even if it is not true immortality - lichdom.

Some alchemists do not seek immortality for themselves, however, but instead seek to better the health of all within a society. These selfless individuals pursue not the philosopher's stone, but instead chase after the azoth (not to be confused with the most holy name of the Lord of Spells). The azoth is a cure for all magical maladies, the universal cure to all of Talona's worst, the mender of wounds long past hope of tending to. The azoth I seek to hopefully heal the bedridden boy-king with, should the Wyrm Watchers (who I have yet to join) allow me to.

I also seek it as a means by which to lift the Withering curse upon those affected by H'Bala's madness. But that is not the ultimate weapon in the fight against the Maiden. Rather, that is the alkahest - the universal solvent. The ultimate solution to a realm consumed by filth, a means by which to clean the soil and return the lands to normalcy... the negative energy affecting the lands would be themselves negated and the taint in the land would be dissolved as balance is restored...

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