Alchemy

Alchemy is the search for the divine power that the Catharxis took away from the world. Alchemists believe the deities have left a little of their essence in every living thing in the world, and it is their job to combine those essences to shape the world like their deities used to do.
Alchemists have been around since the fall of the deities. They sprung up all over the world independently from one another, and began their studies in isolation. Thankfully, 2000 years later, alchemists are more connected to each other, and thus able to share their discoveries and pitfalls.
The most widely-known branch of alchemy is medicine (the creation of cures, remedies, and diagnostic tools). Other branches include chemistry (investigating and creating the basic elements and substances that act as 'building blocks' of the world) and arcane (the search for the supernatural qualities that gave deities their divine power). Most modern societies favour medicine and chemistry over the arcane arts due to their belief that, if in 2000 years nobody discovered anything significant, then there cannot be anything to be discovered anymore.

Access & Availability

The medicine and chemistry branches of alchemy are widely used all around the world and have become part of modern society. Alchemists usually specialise in one or the other, and doctors need to first learn alchemic medicine before being allowed to further their studies.
The arcane branch is less reputable, so it is not as common. Alchemists of the arcane are either treated as frauds or money-wasters, though a few families who have been in a business for centuries have a certain level of respectability due to having built a reputation before the arcane arts fell out of favour. The number of those families is dwindling fast, however, as the newer generations also regard arcane as useless knowledge and study something else.

Discovery

Alchemy was discovered independently in various parts of the world a few years after the Catharxis.