Immortal Lore: Alchemy

Alchemy

    Alchemy within Immortal is a very wide subject, like talking about the military and not just the air force. But it’s also not what you might think it is, but it also is.

Alchemy in the World

“Though the world alchemy evokes images of potions in many commoners' heads, potion creation is actually its own type of magic. Alchemy within Immortal is divided among spellcasting, rituals, and essentia. Spellcasting involves using vocalization and a catalyst to mold the physical world around them to create spells. An alternative and more primitive version of spellcasting is using tools to create alchemical circles to perform a ritual, which is then powered by the alchemist to create a spell effect. Essentia is taking physical material and using tools to break it down into its fundamental material, a slurry or liquid. Essentia is the method used to create potions, but not just potions, solid matter is another manufactured material used in the creation of advanced alchemy.

Unlike the other two power castes (psychic and theurgy), alchemy has the unique property of being the only caste that can directly influence the physical world, but lacks the ability to directly affect a mind or influence the soul of others. While an alchemist can create a spell that casts a sleepy fog, the alchemist can't reach into the mind of others. It is impossible for an alchemist to influence or interfere with souls and fate.


Some spellcasters may know many spells and be trained poorly with them, compared to someone who knows a few spells that excel in them.”

- An excerpt from one of my own documents.

Ritual Circles

    Alchemy is the process of transmuting the world by drawing on its material to make new things. It’s like pulling apart atoms to make new elements. Rituals take the same form you see in Full Metal Alchemist - you need the full material to create the effect you need. The ritual circle defines the area which you are transmuting, along with everything inside. Rituals are slow, requiring the alchemist to spend time using a marker to define the spell, then find the material. However you can perform as many rituals as you can in a single day at no cost to yourself. A normally skilled alchemist can average 6 rituals back to back in a single hour, while an experienced ritualist can quickly perform about 3 or 4 extra rituals within the same time before needing to take a break.

Spell Scrolls

    People who are good at this are called Ritualists, and can perform rituals with incredible speed. This is where spell scrolls come in. It’s the next and final technological evolution of ritual circles. Spell scrolls work very similarly to spellcasting where it doesn’t have a fully defined circle to draw from, you just need to be sure to define exactly what you want and what you don’t want it to pull from (like matter/energy from your body). Spell scrolls are extremely difficult to make and time consuming. A modern world would be better in mass producing these, but the further away from a modern age the more exponential it's rarity is.

Spellcasting

 

    Spellcasting completely bypasses this. A catalyst is tied to the energy around it, then a spellcaster attunes to the catalyst so they in turn are connected as well. However a spellcaster's connection to the energy is through the filter of the catalyst, which also doubles as a safety ward against the raw nature of magic. Without a catalyst it would be no different than shoving a fork into an outlet while you are holding onto it, trying to power a light bulb held in another hand.


    By creating the right tones to create a chain reaction that makes a spell. Words aren’t needed, but sound is. A tuning fork is perfectly serviceable, if limited. You then need to animate your body to direct the spell - like throwing a ball. Spell slots represent a connection to the soul’s power from which is used to power the vibration that creates the spell. Your catalyst is plugged into the energy, your soul, it needs to power the lightbulb, and your words are what colors the light.


    And yes… you can be connected to this energy without a catalyst. Naturally born people who do this are called sorcerers. I forgot what the name for an artificially created connection is (can’t seem to find those notes), but that sort of connection is far more dangerous to the person and no more dangerous to those around them.

Essentia

    Essentia is the act of manually taking material and breaking it down into liquid elements, which is then contained (usually within glass). This requires no catalyst, but does require a ritual circle. However you only ever need one ritual circle to break down any material. The only concern you have is to contain the essentia, due to the fact some of it is more or less stable without breaking it down even further (thus wasting energy). There are multiple “complexity layers” and the higher you go up the less stable it is in raw essentia form. The lowest form is something you’re quite familiar with: Earth, fire, water, air. There is a 5th element however: ether.


    Unlike most fantasies, the base elements aren’t literal. You don’t have a literal bottle of water or dirt. A base element defines how it acts. (I won’t get too deep into this because that’s a very long post by itself, but I’ll leave you with this: ether is mandatory for things to be glued together and is the legitimate true essence of magic.) As you go further up the chain it uses a combination of any element of a lower layer. Spellcasting does all this which is why it's so taxing on your spell slots.

 

Deeper Lore

Let’s go a bit deeper. Here’s another snippet.

Alchemy in Society

“Alchemists are in common demand from the lowest to highest parts of society. From maneuvering ships by directing water to healing the sick, the demand for their services is extremely common. Not all alchemists are trained equally - spells demand a high level of skill to optimize their power. A healer could never compete with an illusionist and vice versa as spells which are useful for those types of magicians demand very different skills. However a spellcaster may learn spells outside their specialization but shouldn't be expected to perform well with it.”

Spells within Immortal are not all equal. Unlike most games like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder where you only need a single spellcasting modifier, spellcasting in Immortal demands two things: Your Spellcasting ability and spellcasting skill.


    Just because you know the knock spell doesn’t mean you can open a lock with it. You need to invest in the proper skill to do so (Deft would be the correct skill in this case). If you want to be good at healing you need to have a high medicine skill. For the last example: If you want to be more effective at controlling plants or water you need to invest in your knowledge of nature (plants and geology both fall under this umbrella).


    Thankfully you only need one spellcasting modifier: Memory. It’s an extremely important aspect that also defines how many extra spells you know. Having a good memory means you can recall the exact tone your voice needs to be and remember the optimal movement to make with your body. It’s a very involved process and combat makes it even harder, especially if a warlord is burning a hole into your forehead standing 5 feet away. And no, there is no spell failure. (There would be, but I removed it to assist game-feel)