Philosophers Stone

Does this mean anything to you?" Reyna inquired, noticing the brief glow in Cai's eyes. The boy's eyes darted over the image of the tree, examining the intricacies and characters.
"This is an alchemical symbol, the tree Vyaldrasyl," Cai continued, pointing to the top half of the trunk, which showed an ordinary tree with five main branches. Each of the branches was titled with some writing, the Fae language of which the boy could not translate.
"Above are the various practices of alchemy. Transmutation of metal, transmutation of nature, transmutation of bodies, transmutation of dead matter, and the transmutation of life. And below," his hand wandered to the lower half of the image, a tree mirrored on its head, which also bore five branches and designations, "And below is the inner alchemy, the spiritual development of an alchemist, but its designations are different from the ones I know."
"And this is not fae," added the faerie next to him, who was looking curiously at the diagram, "What's that?"
Cai followed her finger pointing towards the center of the picture, where both tree trunks joined and created a kind of crystalline structure. Thoughtfully, he looked at the structure, barely larger than the palm of his hand.
"If my master's notes are to be believed, this is the philosopher's stone, the ultimate goal of alchemy."

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The Philosopher's Stone is an object of legends, myths, and tales. Allegedly, all efforts within alchemy work towards the creation of this legendary object. By using its power, it is said that the boundaries between the different branches of alchemy can be abolished and the controller gains the power to transmute matter at will.

Table of contents

1. legend
2. abilities
3. alchemical theory
4. current events

by CSor96 (Wonder-App)

Item type

Unique Artifact

legend

The original legend of the Philosopher's Stone dates back to a vanished civilization of the first age. Supposedly, at that time a king succeeded in making the Philosopher's Stone. With it he led his culture into a bright future, but the godbeings envied his achievements. With their power, they burned down everything the stone had created. However, the king managed to guard the stone and so it and its legacy survived the destruction.

To this day, the stone is said to lie dormant somewhere in the ruins of this civilization, and only those who can decipher the mystery of its creation far enough shall find their way to it. Over the centuries, this story has been told in countless ways, and more than a few groups are emulating the efforts to take possession of the stone or even create a philosopher's stone themselves. Unfortunately, the legend reveals very little about the recipe for creating the stone. However, it is quite clear that only this king was able to create the stone.

abilities

The Philosopher's Stone is said to have a number of abilities, one more powerful than the next. Its main property is probably to override the basic laws of alchemy. Thus, transmutation of matter outside of its own branch becomes possible. Flesh can be transformed into stone or steel at will, and lower metals can be easily transmuted into higher metals. Furthermore, the stone grants its wearer a nearly endless life guarded from disease and decay. One touch of the crystal is said to be able to cure any disease and end any physical and mental suffering. Of course, these abilities are only the tales from legends.

Nowadays, the theoretical powers of the stone have been conceived a little differently. The stone is understood in modern alchemy to be an image of the original quintessence that makes up the entire astraverse, a kind of original energy from which all others emerged. Through the stone, a return to this primordial state is possible, and thus the recomposition of the universe itself, but theoretically the power of a carrier would be necessary, which limits the power of the object considerably.

Alchemical theory

Long before modern alchemy was practiced, possibly even before humans ever walked on Terria, the possibility of changing the structure of life energy already existed, which is now known as alchemy. According to some theories, even the entire powers of the Yal'Sekai were based on the manipulation of energies. Since the beginning of these manipulations, various rules limit the applications of these forces. Within alchemy, that is, the use of life energy to transmute the associated matter into another form, the distinction into five strands of alchemy forms its most important regularity.

Flesh may be changed in form, but flesh cannot be changed into metal. The oldest theories concerning the stone are based on this very distinction between five types of alchemy. Early predecessors of the alchemists, such as Ostanes studied the abilities of the primordial dragons and already recognized the laws of life energy. They supposed, a combination of the quintessences of these different strands could be able to create the stone. This theory has developed some offshoots and variations until today.

Some variations of this theory assume that the quintessences need not be created at all, but already exist and only need to be discovered. Thus, pure water, the essence of water freed from other properties, is often considered

For the individual branches of the alchemical worldview, the animistic principle applies, that is, the existence of an original substance from which all other substances are formed and can arise. However, the laws of alchemy allow the idea that five animistic original substances exist, which embody the individual branches of the alchemical doctrine. Their combination, however, could produce the Philosopher's Stone, a tool to bring forth a truly primordial matter, a materia primes.

— Magna Alchemica

the quintessence of natural transmutations. Recent findings of modern biology have furthermore discovered material cells which are transformed into various other cells in infants and could possibly form the quintessence of living transmutations.

An alternative or at least extended theory forms the four-element theory or five-element theory. Here the recipe for the philosopher's stone is assumed exclusively within the transmutations of nature, i.e. the transformation of elements into each other. Alchemists of this mental orientation assume that four or five essential elements exist within nature, which all have their own animistic original states. The combination of these primordial states is assumed within this alignment to be the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone. Classically, fire, water, earth, and air are considered the four elements, with the five-element doctrine considering something called fatum as another element, a kind of substance that establishes order among the other substances.

by CSor96 (Wonder-App)

Another variation of the theories on the creation of the stone comes from the theorems on internal and external alchemy. According to this principle, the practice of alchemy holds considerable influence on one's being. Alchemy functions here as a transcending experience, especially with regard to the individual being. Just as in outer alchemy five distinctions are made, inner alchemy is also premised on five processes that are separate from each other. This premise is embodied in the tree Vyaldrasyl, which shows two mirrored trees, each with five branches labeled. If an alchemist masters all the disciplines of internal and external alchemy, he should be able to produce the stone from themselves.

current events

Over the centuries, the Philosopher's Stone has become for most alchemists rather a kind of old wives' tale or an idealized but impossible construct. Nevertheless, to this day there are not a few who aspire the creation of the stone. The Orders of Varies, which exist outside of ordinary society and hide deep in extreme regions, have been researching the creation of the stone since their founding. Likewise, the Scholars of Terbetia are considered avid followers of this belief. Their founder Hermes Trismegistos is said to be having once deciphered the formula of the stone, however he failed to complete it and immortalized the formula on a massive emerald tablet.

More recently, the subject of the Stone has become a major concern of the Survivors and the Arcane Brigade. Caipos Dhuren came across the research of his master Simura Masdijek some time ago. She had studied the tree Vyaldrasyl and probably deciphered one of the quintessences, the one for the transmutations of life. However, in doing so, she came into contact with the Nameless Yogna and disappeared into his realm.

A little later, Caipos and Reyna Golby, guided by Arteros, stumbled upon the traces of a small settlement in the state of Asorat, in which fairies and humans had probably tried to produce the stone together. The records seemed to point to the span between the years 110 to 200 atnA. Here the records indicated the production of a gas, which was probably attempted to be pressed into a solid form. This crystalline result, according to the records, was supposed to have the ability to subdue something called "the white rose."

The same records described both the practice of Agua and a forgotten variation of the Faerie, the Siapa. However, the mysteries of this settlement have not yet been further unraveled.