Magic and Alchemy
An Overview of Magic
In the world of Mythania, magic is quite prevalent and pervasive. While only a small fraction of a percent of people are able to wield magic (estimated between 0.2% to 0.5%), this still amounts to well over a million persons. Of those, less than 5% are able to display any degree of significant potential--most are limited to a few basic abilities or a smattering of simple spells and folk charms. Nevertheless, practically every city has numerable magic shops, apothecaries, and potion vendors, to say nothing of magic-related services such as fortune-tellers, healers, scryers, enchanters, illusionists, and wizards-for-hire.
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An Overview of Alchemy
The art of alchemy (from Ars Kemao in the Relican language) is concerned with the creation of substances, the transmutation of elements, and the quest for immortality. It is a process by which the magical essence inherent in all things is tapped to release energy, or to mix and transmute the base elements of substances, recombining them into new substances. Alchemy has become the cornerstone of the modern world, giving rise to such wondrous substances as whitepowder, ichor fuel, lifting gasses, extraordinary alloys, and miraculous medicines.
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Alchemical Substances
The most important materials to alchemy are the nine base elements, the Philospher's Stone, and the Prima Materia. All forms of matter on the earth are composed of varying proportions of the nine base elements, the quintessence of which is the purist form of each measurable substance. The greatest quintessence is the Philosopher's Stone, the quintessence of gold, which is the only material to contain a perfect balance of equal proportions of all base elements.
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