Alchemy

[Tristan Venora]

Hello! I'm pondering a future alt, and the alchemy skill has caught my interest.

There is very little information about what alchemy in Idalos entails though. Does it involve turning one substance into another, brewing magical potions, making gold or ...?

Is alchemy a profession that is generally accepted or would people treat alchemists with suspicion?

And how dangerous is alchemy?

Furthermore, in which way does it differ from Transmutation?

[Maltruism]

Hey big guy,

Okay, Alchemy...

It has undergone a few changes in approach, but it should be noted right off that it is not a magic discipline.
It is more a chemistry-based science geared toward altering solid and semi-solid materials with reagents and processes.
It could serve to achieve the classic "turn-lead-to-gold " thing, if you can come up with suitably inventive ways of making it sound convincing...lol

The addition of non-reagent catalysts like heat, magnetism and electricity would be part of Alchemy as well.

Perhaps some floral chemical could be combined with an exotic acid to bring microscopic honeycomb-like surface effects to a sheet of some metal. Then, maybe there's some mineral that only forms from burning and filtering the mutated tumors of some Immortal spawn monster, and when melted with a sustained, potent electric shock, fills in and catalyzes the cells to bring an increased flexibility to the original metal.
Alchemy at work...Nothing is "magic", but many of the material are exotic or even supernatural in origin.

Now it could be that someone wearing armor made from this metal would start to develop horrific side effects.
Therein would lie the danger of that particular alchemical result. Other processes would have different hazards.
There would not be the initial cultural apprehension towards Alchemy that there is toward magic.
But if some hazard like the one above were to become known, this might change.

We separated this from chemistry-based alteration disciplines that are themselves applied primarily to chemicals, like Poison and Medicine.

I'm not up enough on Transmutation to answer your last question in-depth. But the very fact that Transmutation IS a magic discipline suggest a major difference right off. I suppose that at high levels, Transmutation MAY be a method that could be incorporated into an alchemical process, but don't quote me on that; it's complete speculation.

[Plague]

Hey!

Lemme jump in on the Transmutation thing.

Transmutation is the process of using raw, toxic mana to break down a substance and then remake it. As this process develops, encouraging certain 'mutations' based around memorized qualities to manifest in the new substance become possible.

Alchemy is careful measuring and different substances whereas Transmutation is simply the deconstruction and reconstruction of things using magic with an emphasis on observed 'qualities' experienced by the Transmuter.

Makes sense?

If not, lemme know what's confusing and I shall try to remedy