Alchemy

vvv Format this nicely when you have more braincells available     Aldrum, endrum, kidrum, and I presume phoenix alloy can have their properties extracted (which is temporary) and/or copied for purposes of alchemical infusion and transmutation. Alchemical rituals can drain magic out of aldrum. The type of magic doesn't matter for rituals, just the quantity. Once magic is 'used up' for an alchemical ritual, it probably gets dispersed back into background magic radiation or wherever magic derives from   All of these processes are done by a kind of ritual (with sigils and circles and whatnot), rather than by chemistry, tho I may cause mortals to conflate the two by occasionally revealing advanced chemical knowledge of the world instead of an alchemical ritual/insight. Each process listed here uses a different ritual; each ritual may be slightly modified (in scope, power, duration, precision, ingredients, etc) depending on what one wants to do. Rituals require fuel, either in the form of the alchemist's own magic (which will eventually regenerate, with recuperation period proportionate to how much was taken), severed/stored magic, magic off of an enchantment, or with qualities/essences/vitalae. Rituals will 'feed' off of the alchemist(s) if no other source of raw magic is provided. Many useful rituals take more magic than one alchemist can give at once, so it is useful to sunder and store their own magic at different times to stock up (or another's magic or essences, if they're really unethical).   At the moment, the basic 'unit' of magic fuel is going to be a level-one spell slot.   Lower-level spell slots get 'eaten' up before higher-level spell slots. A second-level slot is 'equal' to two one-level spell slots for fuel purposes, a third-level slot is 'equal' to three one-level spell slots, etc. Higher-level spell slots may be 'converted' to lower-level spell slots as magic is consumed by the ritual.   A person may regenerate the equivalent of two one-level spell slots every day.   If all spell slots are exhausted for a ritual, the alchemist next loses the ability to use cantrips. Then, they lose the ability to utilize any magical powers innate to their species. Then, they start to sap their own liveliness, and if they go too far they might die.   With the proper knowledge, the progress of a ritual can be slowed down enough that one person could safely and feasibly power even a strong process. But this knowledge is rarely handed down and is difficult to master/apply.   Magical enchantments placed upon an object by another magic user are more difficult to sever than innate/regular magic. But hypothetically someone could sever an enchantment from one thing and transfer it to another. Magic object surgery! ...if they can acquire all the pieces of knowledge needed to make it happen.   The Fairy Queen usually only gives out the simplest form of a ritual, or a single piece of knowledge that by itself cannot do much, at a time. But over time, with enough dedicated alchemists asking directly or experimenting, new things can be understood and put together.   Processes ranked from least to most magic-consuming:   Sundering: Removing raw, unaffiliated magic from a person or enchanted thing, which can be contained and used to fuel a ritual without drawing on the alchemist's own magic. The amount of magic that can be sundered is equal to the amount of magic needed to fuel it in the first place; so, an alchemist who sunders their own magic (to store up for later) would be able to sunder & save one spell slot's worth of magical potential, by using another spell slot, essentially 'losing' two one-level spell slots in the process of sundering one.   Containment: The process of making a vessel capable of holding a raw quality or essence.   Extraction: Disconnecting and distilling the properties of an object. These may be physical properties (brittleness, tensile strength, conductivity, fracture, hardness, reactivity, inertness, etc), or intangible properties (stability, fortitude, bravery, fearsomeness, etc). The resulting raw, magical product looks like a glowing, dazzling orb for a moment before becoming misty, and must be contained in a specially-prepared vessel lest it dissipate and mildly & briefly affect every surface in its vicinity.   Quality - The distillation of physical properties into raw magical form. These are the easiest products of extraction to, well, produce.   Essence - The intangible, magical distilled properties of a substance. Or a person. You could, for instance, extract and distill the essence of iron's supreme stability, or the essence of a person's curiosity. These could then be used in alchemical transferral, or used as the basis of an enchantment, or perhaps used by a red panda artificer in a potion. The properties extracted into an essence will regenerate. It is impossible to fully exhaust an object of essence, but a person may willingly surrender the entirely of the essence of one of their own intangible properties.   Vitalis- The distillation of either life or sapience. It is not an individual's soul, which departs the world at death, but it is the essence of being alive. Vitalae are much more potent than qualities or essences, and require the most precision and effort to make. Draining all of the liveliness or sapience from a person will cause the orchestrator of the ritual to be stricken and obliterated by a bolt of powerful blue lightning from the sky, no matter how deep below the earth they may go.   *Divine essence extracted from something linked to a deity in this way will never exactly match the source. So if you extract the essence of fairy-ness from a fairy, anything or anyone which is imbued with that essence will function more or less as a fairy would, but will still register as slightly off to other fairies and those who can detect such things. It is, in a sense, a forgery. Extracting divine-related essence tends to endow the weaknesses more than the strengths, to prevent “theft” you might say. These essences also cannot be duplicated.   Transferral: The transfer the qualities (distilled physical properties) of one substance- the “source”- to an object made of another substance- the “receiver”. The duration of the transfer depends on the potency of the extracted quality. The receiver's shape and texture is maintained unless the transferred property pertains to shape or texture.   Imbuement: Infusing an essence (distilled intangible property) into something.   Transmutation: Permanently and entirely transforming one object (say, a lump of lead) into another substance (like gold) at a molecular level. This is more difficult/precise/time-consuming/etc than transferring qualities. The shape and texture of the receiver is maintained (at least at first- if you transmutate something into ice in the desert, it's gonna start melting and lose its shape and texture real quick). To do this, you must have a deep understanding of what you want the end product to be.   Duplication: Making a copy of a quality/essence/vitalis. Copies are less potent than the original, copies of copies even moreso, etc.   Adherence: Fusing two unlike solid or semi-solid substances together. This includes fusing organic matter to inorganic matter.   Quickening: Infusing vitalae into something, making it lively. If the quickened thing is fused to a living thing, it will be able to convey limited sensory information and move as much as its physical properties will allow.   Quickening something with a vitalis of sapience won't make it sapient, just a bit more aware of its surroundings/able to process sensory info & perceive things. You'd have to infuse something with a TON of vitalis of sapience to make it truly self-aware, and by that point you've probably brought a torches-and-pitchforks down on your head.   If you try to quicken something already alive (in the 'biologically functional' sense) or sapient, nothing's going to happen. No immortality here! You can however infuse more vitalae into quickened constructs (if they aren't biologically viable), and pack enough sapience vitalae into something that it becomes genuinely sapient.   Trying to quicken a dead body will not bring back the dead's soul. You just get a zombie basically. Congrats. I guess.   Quickened things do not remain lively/alive forever. Unless the quickened thing is physiologically viable, can produce its own ATP, divide its cells, digest food, and all that biological function jazz (in which case it cannot be quickened any further), it will eventually become inert once more. Most quickened things remain quickened for half a year unless they are viable. Quickened constructs with inorganic components fused via adherence will be immune to whatever dangerous side-effects there would normally be on flesh (so, if it's adhered to asbestos, asbestos isn't gonna hurt it)   Between fusion, quickening, and imbuing other essences & qualities… homunculi! And/or mindless monsters or good solvents or medicines or whatever it is alchemists want, I dunno