Wake Chemist
Wake Chemists are rogue alchemists, neuropharmacologists, and spiritual provocateurs who work within the ranks of the Solstice Syndicate. Most are known for the creation and refinement of two infamous substances:
- Dreamtide – a volatile vapor that induces vivid, often prophetic hallucinations drawn from subconscious and mnemonic residue.
- Wake-Serum – a neural stimulant that strips away inhibition and ego, often used for interrogation or spiritual rebirth.
To the Church of Hope and Town Watch, Wake Chemists are dangerous criminals trafficking in instability and heresy.
To the Syndicate—and to their clients—they are shamans, poets, rebels, and philosophers, distilling meaning from madness.
Career
Qualifications
There are no formal institutions that license a Wake Chemist. Instead, the path requires:
- Informal Apprenticeship under a senior Chemist (called a Torchbearer)
- Prior experience in chemical formulation, neurobiology, or field chemistry (often former Engineers or Doctors)
- Awakened Affinity, whether real or feigned—a demonstrated sensitivity to the numinous or neural chaos
- Completion of the “First Stirring”, a rite of self-experimentation wherein the apprentice ingests their own unrefined serum and survives the ensuing vision
Most Wake Chemists are autodidacts, cult scholars, failed Doctors, or chemically curious Others. Some are disillusioned ex-Scribes.
- Wake-Serum and Dreamtide are both illegal under Camp Hope law, classified as Class-1 Neural Hazards.
- Chemists producing non-neural pharmaceuticals may be tolerated under the radar.
- Church doctrine labels both compounds as “Soul-rot Liquids”, forbidden under Hope’s Purpose.
Possession or production can result in:
- Public branding
- Imprisonment
- Expulsion from Camp Hope
- Confiscation and memory assessment
Payment & Reimbursement
Payment is exceptionally high—one vial of refined Dreamtide or Wake-Serum can fetch:- 500 to 1,200 credits, depending on purity, personalization, and risk.
- Barter value includes forged IDs, Old World relics, clean blood, and rare memory cores.
Other Benefits
- Spiritual Credibility: Seen by many Others and Syndicate members as philosophers or visionaries.
- Reputation: Stories about master Chemists circulate in whispers and inked skin.
- Autonomy: Absolute freedom from official doctrine—Church, Doctors, and Watch alike.
- Occult Status: Those who survive a Chemist-guided Dreamtide experience often become lifelong devotees.
Perception
Purpose
Wake Chemists fulfill multiple cultural and spiritual roles:- Providers of illicit liberation in a tightly controlled society.
- Memory guides for Others and traumatized individuals.
- Makers of ritual substances used in Syndicate ceremonies, sexual rites, or memory hunts.
- Philosophical rebels who challenge the doctrine of purity by revealing alternate truths.
We do not sell poison—we distill revelation. In a world that burned its truth to ash, we give the people back their memories, their madness, their meaning.
Social Status
- Among the Syndicate: Respected, sometimes revered. Considered sacred guides.
- Among the general population: Feared but secretly sought after.
- Among the Church & Town Watch: Vilified criminals. Seen as corrupters of youth, agitators, and danger to the social fabric.
Publicly denounced. Privately visited.
Wake-Serum doesn't force the truth—it burns away the lies people tell themselves. What’s left behind isn’t always pretty, but it’s always real.
No one chooses to become a Wake Chemist—we are chosen by what we cannot forget. The broken, the haunted, the seekers—we follow the fog because the silence left us nothing else.
Demographics
With a population of 5,000, Camp Hope hosts:- 5–10 active Wake Chemists at any given time.
- 0.1–0.2% of the population formally involved, though the number of users and suppliers is far higher.
Anyone can swallow the dream, but only a handful can survive brewing it. To become a Wake Chemist is to drown in the tide and come back with something worth whispering.
History
- Originated in the early decades after the Fall, when the first Others emerged and experienced dissonant memories.
- Early Chemists were failed Doctors and Scribes-turned-heretics, experimenting with posthuman neuroflora and old biotech.
- Dreamtide was discovered accidentally in 31 SE, during a failed attempt to stabilize Thresher Mist.
- Over time, Chemists became entwined with the Solstice Syndicate, offering visions and weaponized memory.
- The Church has declared them “Woundbearers of Eden,” a title intended as insult but reclaimed as honor.
Operations
Tools
- Portable stills & vapor chambers
- Memory titration sets (relic glass, neural current readers)
- Bio-reactive ink
- Old World EEG visors
- Tongue wands for administering sublingual doses
- Bone-glass vials etched with protective glyphs
- A mask or scent veil (to avoid premature exposure)
Our tools are relics, not instruments—each one a question carved in glass, wire, and bone. They don’t just measure or mix. They listen. They remember. They judge.
Materials
- Thresher Mist, raw or filtered
- Crushed widow bark
- Synthflower petals
- Blood or marrow samples (self or volunteer)
- Electrum dust (to bond dreams to substrate)
- Pigment ash (for vision ink)
We work with the castoffs of a dying world—ashes of gods, blood of broken men, mist that dreams. Every ingredient we touch once belonged to something sacred, or something damned.
To be a Wake Chemist is not to make drugs, but to midwife revelation. We do not worship gods—we distill them, inhale them, and let them tear us open so others might see.
Workplace
Wake Chemists work in dens, shrines, or hidden labs, often disguised as:- Botanical gardens
- Tattoo parlors
- Bathhouses
- Collapsed subway chambers
Provided Services
- Personalized Dreamtide crafting
- Vision-guided therapy or prophecy
- Wake-Serum dosing for ego shattering or truth extraction
- Memory cleansing
- Philosophical consultations
- Neural ink-tattooing to preserve hallucinated revelations
Dangers & Hazards
- Chemical volatility: Wake-Serum overdoses can cause seizures, psychotic breaks, or irreversible derealization.
- Legal retribution: Capture by Town Watch often means exile or execution.
- Spiritual collapse: Many Chemists lose themselves in the visions, unable to distinguish dream from reality.
- Memory leeching
Yes, it’s dangerous. Yes, it could tear your mind open and leave nothing but ash. But if even one soul sees the world as it truly is—just once—then every risk, every exile, every drop of spilled blood is worth it.
Rank and Renown
The path of the Wake Chemist is not climbed like a ladder—it is survived, like a storm. Progression through the Chemists’ ranks is marked not by wealth or obedience, but by what one has endured, understood, and returned from. Each rank grants increased influence over the Syndicate’s spiritual black market and deeper access to the dream-saturated knowledge guarded by the Chemist elite.
Rank 1: Ember
- Prerequisite: Renown 1 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate
At the beginning of your induction, you are called Ember—a spark with potential, yet unproven. You are an apprentice, a shadow under a Torchbearer, and your job is to watch, learn, and survive your first vision.
To gain the trust of the Wake Chemists, you must complete the First Stirring, a rite in which you ingest your own unstable serum and endure the hallucination without permanent mental fracture.
- You gain access to the use of a hidden lab.
- You are given a Solsitce Insignia.
Rank 2: Fumerant
- Prerequisite: Rank 1 and Renown 3 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate
As a Fumerant, you begin crafting your own Dreamtide blends and Wake-Serum under observation. You can now offer controlled experiences to clients deemed spiritually “ready” by your mentor.
- You gain proficiency in one of the following tools: Alchemist's Supplies, Drug Kit, Herbalism Kit or Poisoner's Kit.
- You gain access to your own hidden lab.
- You are now able to craft Wake-Serum and Dreamtide as per the Crafting Dark Gear rules.
- Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.
Rank 3: Torchbearer
- Prerequisite: Rank 2 and Renown 10 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate
Torchbearers are the acknowledged masters of their art. You have survived deep dives into the Dreamtide, guided others through their collapse, and returned with insight worth repeating.
- You may take on an Ember as an apprentice. They start as a Common Person and can be taken as a side kick. They can gain renown and ranks within the Wake Chemists along side you, gaining the appropriate benefits. They must be present for the mission in order to gain the renown reward.
- You are given a Neural Ink Stylus
- You are now able to earn a living selling your services. You earn 100$ credits a month.
- Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.
Rank 4: Revenant
- Prerequisite: Rank 3 and Renown 25 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate
You have seen the inside of death—not literal, but ego-death, memory collapse, truth so unbearable it split your mind. And you returned. Your name is spoken with awe or dread. Clients pay fortunes. Rivals whisper prayers.
- You are now able to earn a better living selling your services. You earn 200$ credits a month.
- You gain proficiency in one of the following tools: Alchemist's Supplies, Drug Kit, Herbalism Kit or Poisoner's Kit.
- You gain +2 to your Sanity.
- Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.
Rank 5: Dreamwright
- Prerequisite: Rank 4 and Renown 40 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate
You are a Dreamwright, a chemist-philosopher whose name appears in vision-ink tattoos across Camp Hope. You no longer merely dose clients—you shape their dreams, their myths, and their transformations.
- You are now able to earn a better living selling your services. You earn 400$ credits a month.
- You gain proficiency in one of the following tools: Alchemist's Supplies, Drug Kit, Herbalism Kit or Poisoner's Kit.
- You gain +2 to your Sanity.
- Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.
Rank 6: The Forgotten
- Prerequisite: Rank 5 and Renown 50 or higher in the Solstice Syndicate
The Forgotten are not quite leaders—they are legends. Rumored to be alive, vanished into dreams, or reborn in mist, these rare chemists act with total independence. The Syndicate protects them as one might guard a sacred text
- You are now able to earn a better living selling your services. You earn 800$ credits a month.
- You gain proficiency in one of the following tools: Alchemist's Supplies, Drug Kit, Herbalism Kit or Poisoner's Kit.
- You gain +2 to your Sanity.
- Gain a contact from the contact table under the background section. You can choose if this contact is an ally or rival.
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