This touches on something I have long thought about and the recent post about magic enlightenment drugs brought it to mind once again. What does alchemy do? Creation has alchemy. It mentions mortals doing it and flat out calls them alchemists. It shows up in things like the White Elixer making vampires. It is one of the paths to sorcery. What is alchemy then? Is it just drugs? What about the transmutation of metals? If you use mystical mirrors to use sunlight on gold to get Orichalcum is that a kind of alchemy? The Yennin with their children made with 10 fathers talk about a formula so is that a kind of it? Is Craft: Alchemy a thing? What are its limits? Is it just fancy named chemistry or more in a setting like Exalted? Does it make the world too mystical and magical?
Plenty of games and fiction and stuff from our own wold that certainly could fit into Exalted it seems have their own stuff that works too. The Witcher books and games, Taoist Alchemy, Atelier series of video games, Weapons of the Gods game, numerous manga, and plenty more all take the idea to different degrees. Game of Thrones, one of the listed suggested materials for Exalted inspiration even uses alchemy to make its Wildfire.
I ask about all this not only because I am honestly curious what people think, but because the setting seems to include it without any definition. I also think the idea expands Creation to make it something more. If alchemy is a thing across Creation and not just these weird random pop ups it can become elements of stories. Merchants trade in strange reagents and we know why they would want them and why it is valuable. Artifact making gets more interesting because now you have more you can raise up to that level just like you have artifact swords as the step up from just a steel sword.
So yeah. What do you think alchemy is in Exalted? What can it do? What can't it do? What should or shouldn't it do?
Plenty of games and fiction and stuff from our own wold that certainly could fit into Exalted it seems have their own stuff that works too. The Witcher books and games, Taoist Alchemy, Atelier series of video games, Weapons of the Gods game, numerous manga, and plenty more all take the idea to different degrees. Game of Thrones, one of the listed suggested materials for Exalted inspiration even uses alchemy to make its Wildfire.
I ask about all this not only because I am honestly curious what people think, but because the setting seems to include it without any definition. I also think the idea expands Creation to make it something more. If alchemy is a thing across Creation and not just these weird random pop ups it can become elements of stories. Merchants trade in strange reagents and we know why they would want them and why it is valuable. Artifact making gets more interesting because now you have more you can raise up to that level just like you have artifact swords as the step up from just a steel sword.
So yeah. What do you think alchemy is in Exalted? What can it do? What can't it do? What should or shouldn't it do?
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