Alchemist Profession in Valathrion | World Anvil
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Alchemist

Alchemy is the oldest known magical practice and has been an integral part of all ancient societies. Ancient alchemists were usually tribe shamans, elders and seers, who would use their magical concoctions from seemingly random materials and herbs for a wide variety of effects, from healing to communion with the dead.   Alchemists, however, wouldn't enjoy popularity in every age - after the veil of ignorance in ancient times dissipated, the practice of alchemy began to be seen by a more civilized lens. Alchemical experiments would come to be known as cruel and inhumane and the power they gave a single person regardless of their societal status made alchemists feared. The most important reason behind this fear of alchemy, however, lied in the widespread use of human blood by its practitioners, as it was one of the most potent alchemical substances to use, especially considering its abundance.   Many would start limiting alchemy or forbidding it outright, forcing alchemists to adopt increasingly severe methods to continue their craft. A small, yet the publicly most striking and visible number of alchemists would become complicit in criminal organizations, cults and other illegal circles where they would have ample access to fresh blood in exchange for the utility they provided to their patrons, whilst others would become notorious for kidnapping children and killing isolated or weak people in order to supply themselves with this most important of substances.   This would lead to widespread persecution and witch hunts across the continent for centuries to come, murdering thousands, most of them innocent, for supposed crimes against society and law.   It would take centuries for alchemy, now close to extinction as a practice, to rediscover its roots and reclaim its positive reputation again. With the alchemist menace being largely considered over, many lords would carefully start reintroducing the ancient art to their courts. In this slow but steady renaissance for the practice, a group of alchemists would decide to create an organization that would spread goodness using the power of alchemy and would allow alchemists to fully come out of the shadows once again.   Thus the Worldhealer's guild was founded, grouping together alchemists that would serve to heal the sick during maladies, heal the wounded during wars, help with fertilization, purify water and similar noble pursuits. The sudden utility that the Worldhealers brought to the world that has largely forgotten what alchemy can do caused a giant explosion in the art, with most legislation against it being lifted and allowing new alchemy schools and guilds to appear across the continent, all of them approved and bound by the Worldhealer's guild and its rules of conduct, ushering in the Age of Novelty together with the cultivation of Silverwheat.
Type
Arcane

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