Alchemy

Never seen an ailment a little brew can't fix!

— Eager Alchemist

Alchemy is the practice of crafting brews and potions, crafting catalysts, forcing transformations, and many other creative uses of resources both magical and mundane.

Bridging the Gap Between Magic and Science

Many practices fall under the broad label of alchemy in Ayun Sovos. The crafting of medicines, the brewing of potions, the infusion of tinctures and more... all alchemy! Alchemy can be seen in scientific labs and in bubbling cauldrons in the deep woods; the practice remains true, no matter the setting or method.

Whether you fancy yourself a scientist or a witch, if you're brewing something with all of your ingredients and equipment, you're practicing alchemy!

It's all Magic, Technically

Ayun Sovos is a magical world, and you'll be hard-pressed to find ingredients of any sort that lack any form of magical influence. In fact, the mundane resources can sometimes pack the greatest punch in a potion! Throw some rosemary into a pot, for example, and you'll find your brew has gained some protective properties — and this can change depending on strains and types from around the world.

When a resource is labeled "mundane," it simply means that the resource isn't infused or connected to any greater source of power beyond the world's baseline level of whimsy. Magical reagents can include spell residues, parts from magical creatures, enchanted herbs, and more.

Wenry Koasten by Strixxline

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Alchemical Approaches

With its inherent magical nature of drawing out the innate magical qualities of ingredients, alchemy is a practice influenced by Sovosian Magic and its applications. The two primary forms of magic utilized by denizens of the world, Law and Passion, have their own ways of approaching the alchemical process. Neither option is stronger than the other, but each approach has its benefits and quirks.

Scientific Method: Lawful Brewing

When brewing with lawful magic, one is approaching the craft with the scientific method. Ingredients and reagents are researched, studied, and can be laid out in diagrams of acceptable uses, volatile combinations, strengths, and weaknesses. Deviations from the recipe don't typically fare well, as imbalances in magical qualities quickly tip scales in the wrong direction, resulting in a potion you simply weren't expecting. This isn't much of a danger in a lab or classroom, but it can put you in a bad spot when brewing out on an adventure!

Lawful brewing tends to fill classrooms, laboratories, medical facilities, and any setting where consistency and certainty are most important. In skilled hands, this form of brewing scarcely deviates in its process and end results, meaning outcomes are predictable and, in many cases, guaranteed.

Each ingredient has its purpose, every combination a delicate balance. Get to know the simple brews first, then start tackling the complicated methods.

— Lab assistant's advice

Ritual and Intuition: Passionate Brewing

Sometimes the recipe just needs a little something, and you know just what that something is. Trial and error is the lifestyle of the Passionate brewer, and faith in the process is what turns a trial concept into a success. Potions and other consumables crafted by Passionate brewers aren't necessarily more powerful than those from Lawful cauldrons, but their deviation from the standard can provide some niche effects that the standard recipes on record may not cover without great effort or cost.

Passionate brewing is most often found in homes and cottages, in places of faith, and any setting where the process tends to be more important than the outcome. When the stakes are lower, there is more room for experimentation and personalization, which Passionate magic thrives on.

It's a lot like cooking, really. You'll always know your tastes better than the person who wrote the original recipe.

— Hedgewitch musings

Melding of the Minds

Law and Passion don't have to exist in isolation; most brewers of Passion will still follow Lawful recipes when brewing, and most brewers of Law dabble in experimental brewing from time to time. You don't simply choose one, and swear off the other for good!

Many great medical marvels spawned from Lawful brewers taking a Passionate approach, and many Passionate brewers came to rewrite the world's understanding of Lawful magic by finding consistency in unconventional experiments few dared to attempt. Recipes written into the codices of Lawful brewing form the framework of Passionate brewing, from which creative minds begin to wander and deviate.

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Catalysts for Transformation

Potion-brewing is a favorite for alchemists worldwide, but it is only one piece of the great alchemical puzzle. Transformation and transmogrification is an advanced subject in alchemy, only practiced by alchemists who have studied the craft for a long time.

The most common use case for this school of alchemy is transforming and combining materials needed for other crafts and potions. Certain materials are tough to come by, but some elusive reagents can be crafted through the manipulation of magic within and around them! Material combiners and reagent crafters are advanced alchemists many adventurers seek out to round out their stash of crafting materials. Many materials found in abundance in the world can be repurposed into more valuable or hard to find reagents if you bring them the right combinations!

While many common reagents can be combined to form other common reagents, the alchemical process tends to be too costly to justify using the service rather than hiring a gatherer to find them in the wild, or to simply purchase them from a shop.

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