On Affairs Alchemical

CHAPTER I. Of the Dyfinitions of Alchemie.

In the lore of olden times, many explanations hath been given for our Art, and yet we must for our own purposes come to understand what is meant when the word Alchemie is used. It is first and foremost a discipline of changing things by means of mixing and brewing materials in order to achieve certain predictable effects.

In the broadest view, he who mixeth mortar to join stones together doth be an alchemist as also is he who mixeth herbs and spices and meats and vegetables into a soup pot.

As the various Guilds that regulate and perform these tasks would consider such a dyfinition an intrusion upon their area of concern, we should concede to them what is rightfully theirs.

To some extent, our dyfinition depends on circular reasoning. We determine what shall be known as Alchemie by what is already known as Alchemie. Once the vagaries of this dyfinition are mapped, we shall endeavor to hastily detayle what lies within that defynition and strenythen it's boundaries.

Alchemie is more roughly defyn'd as extending into fields of the Khemic Arts, indeed Khemic studies and Alchemie stem from each other, those of the Apothecary, with whom much of our teknique is shared or owed, those of the mineral cataloguer, the botanical catalouger, the animal cataloguer, the tanner, the dyer, the Smythee and the logician, but most importantlee, the Magician.

Ingredients possess some measure of magic or the components for making magic, or to cause existing magic to react in specific ways when properly utilized. Some wizards work magic from their will, from some other consciousness in ways we cannot dyfine. Perhaps some day such magicks may be comprehended by our methods and join our lore, but for now at least, this sort of magic is not ours.

As crafters we make potions and amulets and other magical substances for our sustenance. Beyond that though we seek to discover other potions and amulets and substances magical or otherwise that provyde function of worth.

As practioners of the Art however, we seek more. We sniff out the WHYS and reasons that lie behind the effects. This is our highest calling.

Alchemie is a substantive science, that is one dealing with the material things within and beyond the Wyrld. It is in practice the process of joining or separating materials and through nature or the influence of heat or other stimuli, make a new and ideally better material. The lost art of the ancients turning base metal into precious ones still eludes us, but what was once done can be done again.

It was said by Obrinius long ago that the alchemist makes medicine that cure corrupted material into purer form. But we must also study the corruptive process.

CHAPTER 2. Of the natural principles, and procreation of the Material

Of the Nature of Minerals

Secondly, I shall list the principles of Minerals. All Minerals are comprised of Essence and Corruption, often refereed to in the texts of the ancients as Gold and Sulfur, the first as pure as the other is corrupt. Yet neither gold nor sulfur are truly pure essence or corruption, as traces of the other true element are found in the purest gold or finest sulfur.

To prevent confusion by using the same name for these material states and the substances, I will use Sulfur and Gold only in relation to the substances known by those names and refer to the true elemental forms as Essence and Corruption.

Nonsubstantive forces and phenomena exist, and have effects upon the material realm. These include Magicks great and small, Spirit, Will and for lack of a better term, the power of the Gods. It is the conjoining of Essence and Corruption that primarily concerns the Khemic, mineral, vegetative, animalistic, apothecarical and other aspects of our Art that do not deal with magic.

It is the infusion of these other phenomena into the mix of Essence and Corruption that produce mystical effects.

CHAPTER 3. Of the nature of Metals.

Most metals are in a purer state of existence than the minerals they were smelted from. This does not make them less Corrupt. The mix of Essence to Corruption remains constant for each metal, and some baser metals are more corrupt than essential.

Other material contaminants are removed by the process of smelting.

Of the nature of Gold.

While Gold is the purest of materials, it is corrupted, being brittle and soft. Removed of these corruptions it's beauty and lack of tarnishing would be joined by a strength akin to that of steel and the lightness of tin.

Of the nature of silver.

Silver is near as pure as Gold, but more clearly corrupted as it tarnishes. It is interesting that it's Corruption component affects the material differently than it does in gold, as the more corrupt silver retains its essential strength and lightness to a much greater degree than gold does.

Of the nature of Iron

Iron is well corrupted, and rust is the product of that Corruption. It retains much more of the essence of strength than do the noble metals, trading durability against the air and water for a cohesiveness against direct force.

Of the nature of Steel

Steel is Iron strengthened by Khemic means of varying natures. In ways we have yet to determine, the Essence and Corruptions of coal and fluorite shift to the iron providing it with greater strength. Brass, bronze and other alloys behave most similarly, compared to their component metals, though such alloys are more Corrupt than Steel..

Of the nature of Lead.

Lead is Corrupted far more than it is Essential, and as my Master Audin discovered, subject to dissolving somewhat in wines and beers. He favored such flavorings in his drink for many years, though he came to suspect the added corruption it brought to his meals contributed to the many ailments afflicting his later life. I experimented, and believe he is correct. Mice I have fed with grains soaked in wine kept in lead cups showed many of the symptoms Master Audin did.

Lead is a poison, but not a very strong or immediate one. It is still a metal and possesseth Essential traits. I suspect most of the Essence it possesses works to nullify it's poisonous aspect.

Of the nature of Copper.

Copper is a lesser Gold, more corrupt than silver. It is soft and malleble, not as brittle as gold, and lighter. It's corruption runs deeper. It tarnishses like silver, but like iron it can also have it's corrosion grow over it in the form of a green mold like substance, whereas rust has a barnacle like appearance.

Interestingly enough, the corrupted copper has many useful properties and can help purify other substances.

Of the Nature of Sulfer

‘Sulfer be as corrupted as Gold be Noble’ an old saying but no less a truth for it’s being long said, though many old sayings do not stand up to being tested. Sulfur corrupts many Khemic processes, and even spent sulfur, in it’s various new forms often proves an active substance with many uses. The ability of it’s corruption to renew itself may indicate the path that leads to the philosopher’s stone. Even burtn sulfur is active. Mixed with water within lead boxes it becomes more than corrupt, but a corruptive substance. Oil of Vitriol, concentrated and heated is a substance of much danger and fury. Somehow the sulfur smoke doth steal a bit of the corruption found in lead and in this new state is akin to a swarm of ants attacking a corpse.

Yet sulfur, for all of the unworthy aspects it contains, appears to be useful in healing wounds, drawiing off evils and disesase that follow wounds. Is it absorbing corruption from the body?

CHAPTER 4. Of the nature of the Non-substantiate.

Of the Nature of Fire

Fire is wrongly labeled an element in the olde texts. I am not so sure this is accurate. Fire is transition. It is the changing of substance in it’s most manifest form. It, as noted above, is a key in turning sulfur into oil of vitriol and through fire, I believe will be found the secret of transmutation of substances.

Of the Nature of Life

Life is a mixture of Essence and Corruption, that is to say, the material. It is infused with Spirit and Will and if the priests do know of the gods, infused with the spark of the Gods as well, though this is of necessity beyond our ability to establish.

Mortal life's corruption takes many aspects, but ultimately brings death. The Gods may exist as living without that corruptive aspect, or may be something more than living.

Certainly life can be imitated, from Golems to animated dead to elementals. It is a very complex mixture of known and unknown phenomena. It is one of our tasks to come to identify this nature, and those phenomena.

On the nature of Understanding.

One of the paradoxes of our craft is the certainty of uncertainty. Where the priest prays and the sorcerer intuits, we examiine and catalog and measure. And we are confounded and frustrated by the limits inherent to examining, cataloging and measuring.

Where the priest can say his god spoke and told him the answer is X, and the logician and geometrist can give proofs with exact answers, we can only say 'to the best of our measures, we can conclude X is the most likely answer', and occasionally: 'The evidence is so overwhelmingly strong it would be pervese to conclude X is not the answer.'

NEVER I say to you, forget we exist under this restriction. That which is eliminated through experiment and testing is only most probably eliminated. Newer data, better measurements may yet reverse the conclusions you can draw.

That which has not been eliminated through experimenting and testing cannot be in any honest work be discarded, though it may be difficult to put to the test or clearly less likely. It is proper for an alchemist to proceed on the premise that a less likely answer isn't the truth, but never discard that premise entirely until and unless you can eliminate it.

Look upon your results from a different angle always. Test those alternate explanations against your latest data and be prepared to shift your allegience from one theory or hypothesis to it's rival.

The Wyrld is full of surprises and we are particularly vulnerable to be the surprised.

as written by the Philospher Iames MacHavish

Real world apologies to Roger Bacon, whose "The Mirror of Alchemy" is the model for this work, and a tip of the hat to Stephen Jay Gould for the 'perverse' line.

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