Alchemy and Enchantments

Table of Contents

Guild notice—Introduction to alchemy and enchantments

Written by Mistress Alina Lange for the rune guild.

Alchemy and enchantments are two of the three pillar technologies of artefact crafting alongside runic magic. They are anchorless magic, in contrast to runic magic which is physically anchored to an object, person, or location, with tracings affecting the magic flow inside the artefacts and conferring properties onto them. Instead, with alchemy and enchantments, the magic of the artefacts is directly imbued in its final form into their materials themselves.
The teachings of alchemy and enchantments is unified inside a country, with each country's most prestigious scholars setting the local educational programme. Once students reach a higher level of education, either in their latest years at university or in a guild, their masters introduce them to more elaborate techniques that are kept secret from outsiders.

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Alchemy vs Enchantments

Alchemy

What: Imbuying a material with magic before it is forged.
Where: Magic is most often applied on a material that has been temporarily melted or evaporated.
How: Magic is worked through specific instruments.
Aim: Gives a fundamental property to the material on which the rest of its magic can be built, more akin to raw magic.

Enchantments

What: Imbuying a material with magic after it is forged.
Where: Magic is applied on the forged artefact or on each of its elements as they are assembled.
How: Magic is channelled only through the hands by intent.
Aim: Attaches more elaborate magic to the material, with complex and/or multiple functions.

Branches of study:

The proper working of alchemical instruments and processes.

The casting of the enchantment spells themselves and the learning of how to properly set them and interweave them together.

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Applications

Artefacts

What: Artefacts are magical objects. This magic can be endowed through a mixture of techniques including alchemy, enchanting, and runic magic.
Aim: Give complex properties to the artefacts themselves and make these properties intrinsic to the material to make the artefacts more powerful.

Disadvantages of the lack of proper anchors in alchemy and enchantments:

The magic leaks out of the artefacts slowly over time until it runs completely out.

The magic is susceptible to external influences, and its properties and functions can shift away from what they were initially. In a hostile environment, the magic of the artefacts can even become outright dangerous for their holders.

Runic magic is added to alchemy and enchantments in order to compensate for these limitations.

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