Alchemy
Alchemists have long attempted to divine two things:
- Their control over the physical realms
- What it means to live at the center of the universe
Alchemy is as natural as the life around us. In Primordia, alchemy explains the eternal persistence of the elements; in Ars Materia, alchemy explains the transition of life and energy from one form into another—from potential to kinetic to potential again. These are each the natural orders which feed into a cosmic balance of push and pull—The Primordial Geometries, and the foundation of Magic.
An alchemist, then, is defined by their ability to comprehend the Primordial Geometries. To seek to understand the primordial geometry is to search for the substance of a thing which remains constant regardless of any transition—its basic essence, here known as materia substratum. From this point, the shapes of the universe reveal themselves, and an alchemist can then begin to deconstruct their pattern and reconstruct them to suit their whims. This is the basis of alchemy: comprehension, deconstruction, reconstruction. To master the primordial geometries requires the respect of the Rule of Three:
- What is, is what must be. The materia substratum—a thing’s modality and predominant elemental aspect—cannot be mortally created nor can it even be divinely destroyed.
- One is all, all is one. When reconstructing, deconstructing, or even summoning, an equivalent exchange (or sacrifice) of essence is required.
- There is more than meets the eye. There exists pure forces of life—Frithlings, that which exists outside sense and perception. While such forces can be summoned, they cannot be controlled. Thus, life as it was before cannot be recreated or manifested after it passes.
Father of Alchemy
An eccentric man, Bratavich obsessed over the potential of theoretical planes of existence. After the discovery of The Stream—the plane of dreams and a resurgence in a desire to study magic, it became clear to Bratavich that other such universes could theoretically exist as proven by preliminary research that had been into the Law of Transplanar Auto-Apportation; using the Theorem of Sympathy, He concluded that if the theoretical planes existed, they interacted in some way, and were thereby connected. With this in mind, he sought to prove the existence of other planes by finding the points of connection between them. This, coincidently, became the basis of alchemy and the laws of materiaOriginally, this had not meant traveling to the other planes, but this changed after a mistake made within his preliminary experiments; Bratavich had intended to transport a solid metal cube between two points in space, but made a miscalculation, and upon the objects recall, found the object had begun to melt. This was as much a breakthrough as it was wholly unintended; later accounts of this situation showed that Bratavich often confused numbers and had issues with basic arithmetic, but fortunately enough for Alchemy, no one checked his work that day.
With his initial experiments, and eventual maiden voyage, he solidified the existance of Primordia, the plane of elements, and Tsurz the elemental plane of fire. Bratavich died before he could have seen his experiments become the foundation of Alchemy—due to injuries sustained during interplanar travel—the facts remained; there were planes of existance far beyond Ars Materia, realms of gods and the elements, and they self-perpetuated into infinity. Such was the foundation upon which the center of the universe grew.
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