Akhu: Alchemy

[Phsycodelic]

Akhu: Alchemy ( Rasayana )

Assamites, Followers Of Set, Tremere

Akhu, the most widely practiced school of Setite Sorcery, resembles ancient Egyptian religion. The god Set to the ancient Egyptians was, among other things, the God of Storms. A practitioner of Akhu therefore erects a symbolic lightning rod through which she can attract a bolt of Set's lightning to power her subsequent rites. However, in order to attract Set's favor, she must make an offering to the Dark God that will please him greatly. The accepted way to achieve this among practitioners of Akhu (known as Lector Priests) is by following the instructions laid down by Set himself in The Book of Going Forth by Night.

A Lector Priest obtains the body of someone who has been buried in accordance with traditional ancient Egyptian practice (which is increasingly difficult in the modern nights) and desecrates the corpse, thus plunging the deceased's soul into eternal torment while it resides in Osiris's dominion of the Western Lands. This serves a multitude of purposes. The soul in eternal torment disrupts the hold of Osiris on his afterlife dominion by showing the power Set commands in his followers. This blow against his ancient enemy pleases Set, and he channels his power to the Lector Priest. This show of Set's power, furthermore, exposes the lie that is Osiris's promise of eternal life in the Western Lands a little more; these dead shall not find paradise; they find only an eternity of torment.

The Book of Going Forth by Night is an inversion of The Book of Coming Forth by Day, commonly known as the Book of the Dead. Just as the shackles that bind the unbelievers will be corrupted and ultimately destroyed, revealing to them the truth of Set, the structure of Setite rituals are corruptions (or perversions) of ancient Egyptian practices. These rituals make their targets more susceptible to the corruption and manipulation that is ultimately for their own good.

Thaumaturgy has some of its roots in the early practices of Hermetic alchemy, which concerned itself with changing the properties of given ideals. Indeed, much of Thaumaturgy's codified structure and basic principles are very similar to those of alchemy.

In the near-millennium that has passed since the Tremere's earliest efforts with blood magic, alchemy has fallen by the wayside, however. Modern technology makes possible almost anything this path can do and far more - it is easier and more reliable to mine for gold, for example, than it is to create it by transmuting other materials. Still, old habits die hard among vampires, and the Tremere are no exception. A few elders still practice this path, and of these, some still teach it to their childer to illustrate the basic tenets of modern blood magic.

Setite Sorcery botches, regardless of school, cause the sorcerer to acquire an intense photophobia. When exposed to extremely bright lights, the sorcerer must roll for Rötschreck against a difficulty of (4 + the sorcerer's Path rating). Setite lector-priests do not suffer this effect. [Rites Of The Blood - Page 132]

[ 1 - 5 ] Alchemy Levels 1 - 5 ( Blood Magic: Secrets Of Thaumaturgy - Page 68 )

System: The number of successes on the activation roll determines how radically a thaumaturge may alter a given compound's form. He need not use all his successes - a thaumaturge wishing to effect only a simple change of form need not turn lead into gold if he accumulates five successes. The thaumaturge must, however, acquire at least the minimum number of successes suggested by the table below to generate the effect he seeks.

Changing one element into another requires familiarity with both elements. One cannot suddenly decide he wants to change a balloon's worth of helium into a sphere of solid titanium if he has never dealt with either of those elements before. Simply knowing an atomic number is not enough to warp the laws of nature so radically. It is worthwhile to note, however, that Alchemy makes no distinction between naturally occurring and man-made elements - it affects Einsteinium as readily as it affects carbon.

Note also that this path has fallen out of practice because it is less useful in modem nights than it was in the past. Transmutations create Hermetic "ideals" rather than perfect real-world resources which cannot be broken down into lesser constructs. A hunk of gold is a hunk of gold - an attempt to cast coins with it will reduce the hunk to a pile of inert sludge. Before you ask - yes, this means your Tremere anarch will not be able to create nuclear bombs by turning the prince's shoes into uranium. There's nothing wrong with converting lead into gold and selling that hunk of gold to someone else, however - caveat emptor!

Note: Storytellers are encouraged to apply this principle to the use of the Path of Conjuring as well. Characters who try to conjure "antimatter" or create weapons of mass destruction magically should be subtly but reasonably discouraged.

Also, use of this path assumes the thaumaturge works with the elements in a laboratory-style (or at least controlled) environment. No vampire will be able to walk down the street and turn the iron in people's blood to helium with a simple touch.

A vampire's knowledge of Alchemy determines how greatly she may change a given element.

Note: Consider the level of the ability the same for the amount of successes required to do that particular ability as well (a level 5 ability requires 5 successes).

Level	Effect
1	Simple changes in form: Solid to liquid, liquid to gas, etc.
2	Complex changes to form: Liquid to a specific shape of solid, water to separate hydrogen and oxygen gas clouds, etc.
3	Complicated changes to form: Water to breathable oxygen and loose hydrogen, compounds into separate rate elements, etc.
4	Minor shifts in composition: Such as adjusting an element's atomic number up to five greater or less than its original designation.
5	Miraculous shifts in composition: Such as turning lead into gold or nitrogen into radium.