S. P. E. C. T. R. E. and S. H. A. D. O. W. Conference (storyline)/2024-10-05 - Lecture 3 - Alchemy (log)

Summary

Lecture #3 of 6 from the S. P. E. C. T. R. E. and S. H. A. D. O. W. Conference. Speaker Giedrius Ravencroft presented about Alchemy, specifically his personal area of expertise on the intersection of alchemy, soul magic, and extraplanar realms. Log is taken from Phanna's point of view and has been edited to focus on the lecture itself.

Log

Issuing from the lobby, a chime suddenly echoes through the hotel, announcing that the next lecture of S. P. E. C. T. R. E and S. H. A. D. O. W. Conference is about to begin in the library.

You see Master Giedrius Ravencroft the Soul Alchemist.
Due to the inked vellum mask he wears, it is difficult to determine his race...or even whether he is living or dead.
He is very tall.  His features are hidden beneath a inked vellum mask, though his ebon-lashed glacial blue eyes shine through.  He has short, silver-shot grey hair combed straight back to the nape of his neck.  Little else about his appearance is easy to distinguish.
He has an ebon-inked inverted triangle on his neck.
He is in good shape.
He is holding a crimson leather-bound tome in his right hand.
He is wearing a flare-collared myrtle green overrobe scrollworked down the open front, a wide ashen leather belt with suede-looped glass vials over a belladonna purple nacre velvet robe spangled by silver foil alchemical symbols with a lustrously sheened underrobe of argent crushed silk underneath, some cauldron-incised silver cuffs draping webs of finger-looped chains, and a pair of slouchy suede ankle boots dyed arsenic green.

Speaking to Caedenmon, Giedrius says, "In truth, there's little interest to me in bodies, anyway."

Giedrius asks, "Oh, is that me?"

Speaking to Giedrius, Erienne says, "I prefer creating them."

Rovvigen snickers at Giedrius.

You gaze with interest at Giedrius.

Giedrius says, "I suppose it is."

Speaking quietly to Thalita, Zethes says, "I can sense your judgement, Thalita.  But it has been trying."

Thalita says, "If you insist."

Giedrius moves to the front of the library, standing before the audience.  His fingers drum on the spine of the tome in his hand.

Alicea turns to face Giedrius.

Rovvigen turns an inquisitive ear toward Giedrius.

Giedrius says, "I do ask that you try to keep awake."

Alicea turns an inquisitive ear toward Giedrius.

Speaking to Giedrius, Liras exclaims, "Of course!"

Giedrius says, "I may not have visuals and flashing lights, but I do come prepared with information."

Giedrius gives a sidelong glance at Ermias.

Ermias grins at Giedrius.

Saleigh grins at Giedrius.

Rovvigen smiles at Giedrius.

Caedenmon mutters something about theatrics.

Zethes makes an effort to sit up, her arm flopping into her lap, though she quickly stills and listens.

Caedenmon glances at Ermias.

Missoni gazes with interest at Giedrius.

Faiyth says, "Dangerous.."

Speaking to Giedrius, Fleurs says, "I have been looking forward to your lecture."

Ermias softly asks, "Give the people what they want, eh, Howler?"

Ermias nods at Caedenmon.

Giedrius greets, "Good afternoon. I am Giedrius Ravenscroft, noted alchemist with a particular focus in the intersection of alchemy, soul magic, and extraplanar realms."

Giedrius bends slightly at the waist in a cursory bow.

Caedenmon nods respectfully at Giedrius.

Giedrius begins, "Simply put, alchemy is the art of transformation."

Giedrius continues, "What, pray tell, does this mean? Ice turns to water, water evaporates. It may condense once more or become frozen."

Giedrius paces before the audience as he talks, speaking animatedly with his hands, though one clutches a tome.

Giedrius says, "While that is a sort of transformation, it is not equivalent to that of alchemical transformation.  There is nothing particularly magical about ice melting."

Giedrius quips, "Unless, perhaps, you are weary of the winter."

Giedrius pointedly stresses, "Alchemy is a magical art."

Giedrius says, "In the ancient years of elven civilization, when the practice of alchemy began, there were notions of higher and lower states of existence."

Giedrius holds his free hand low, and then moves it up high above his head.

Giedrius says, "Alchemists would purify substances or raise them into higher kinds of matter."

Giedrius amusedly says, "You may be most familiar with that of the transformation of the lower state of lead into the higher state of gold."

Raelee nods at Giedrius.

Giedrius adds, "There were metaphysical aspects to this conception, of course."

Giedrius says, "The soul could be thought of as a higher state once ascended from its physical form."

Giedrius gives a sidelong glance at Caedenmon.

Raelee quietly remarks, "Novice work, these days... lead to gold."

Giedrius clasps his tome to his chest as he pauses, gesturing with his free hand.

Giedrius says, "Let us consider then souls and their relation to animate matter."

Giedrius neutrally says, "When the Lady of Winter reincarnates the souls of the dead, they return from a purgatory of 'oblivion,' with the soul becoming the substance of the incarnation."

Giedrius says, "In fact, this 'oblivion' state of near unconsciousness is conditional--worldly memories rush back as the body is reformed."

Fulmen says, "If you hit it with a forging hammer at just the right moment, it comes back stronger."

Giedrius continues, "This reconstitution of form and memory is simultaneous with Lorminstra returning the soul to our plane of existence."

Giedrius resumes his casual pacing, his steps leisurely.

Giedrius says, "However... I would argue that there is a more general principle in this than the narrow concept of life and death."

Opalina gazes fondly at Giedrius.

Rovvigen turns an inquisitive ear toward Giedrius.

Giedrius says, "Souls are the substance of incarnations, which take bodily forms, according to the planes in which they manifest."

Meliyara looks thoughtfully at Giedrius.

Giedrius evenly explains, "The Ithzir have their own form of this, for example... but perhaps I should speak in less exotic terms..."

Giedrius lets out a thoughtful hum as he trails off for a beat.

Giedrius suggests, "Consider 'life' in the case of Elanthia."

Fulmen says, "If you hit them hard enough, it echoes through all the planes of existence. The Law of the Hammer."

Raelee nods slowly at Giedrius.

Giedrius says, "When the soul is merely displaced from the body, most of the time it enters a deep coma, and the soul begins losing its sense of identity and consciousness."

Giedrius says, "There is a tether linking the soul to its physical vessel."

Giedrius demonstrates this with a mimed pull of his fist from around his chest area, tugging unsuccessfully on an invisible rope.

Giedrius reminds, "Necromancers usually call this tether 'the animus,' as you heard from Mr. Howler earlier."
Caedenmon nods in agreement.

Grinning arrogantly, Caedenmon laces his fingers together and squares his shoulders in righteous indignation.

Giedrius thoughtfully says, "However... More common than displacement is when someone is dying, whether naturally or from some violent shock..."

Giedrius continues, "As the animus deteriorates they have experiences such as floating outside their body."

Giedrius says, "You have heard this before, I'm certain."

Rovvigen nods at Giedrius.

Giedrius animatedly expresses, "Tunnels of white light. Reliving a flood of memories--seeing your life flash before your eyes..."

Rovvigen softly says, "Of course."

Giedrius holds up an index finger.

Giedrius expounds, "Now, if the tether remains, the dying person may be revived by mundane clerical magic, channeling the power of most any deity."

Giedrius says, "It may be fortified and rejuvenated with spiritual magics of restoration."

Giedrius solemnly notes, "If the soul is departed, and they are truly dead, this will not work. Only Lorminstra has the power to reunite the soul and body into a state of living."

Giedrius says, "Most of the time Death will refuse to intervene against Fate in this fashion."

Giedrius mildly remarks, "Whether it is her choice or she is unable--who is to say?"

You ponder the meaning of Giedrius's existence.

Giedrius evenly says, "Interestingly, there are some few daring adventurers favored by Death and Fate that may be reincarnated, but not before bodily vanishing from the world."

Giedrius says, "Though, that is likely a topic for another discussion..."

Giedrius ponders.

Missoni looks thoughtfully at Giedrius.

Rovvigen softly asks, "Favored?"

Giedrius says, "There is an esoteric correspondence between the soul and body such that it dissolves in one plane and forms in the other."

Giedrius holds out one hand palm up, and then the other, the tome currently tucked under his arm.

Rovvigen peers quizzically at Giedrius.

Giedrius animatedly says, "Now that we are on the topic of other planes, let us consider Naidem. Itself a limbo, a between place, but built of memories. A place both transient and permanent... Souls manifest into new bodily forms, unrecognizable from the vessels in which they once resided. The property laws we have come to understand in Elanthia do not apply here."

Rovvigen softly says, "Great example."

Fleurs says, "Ah yes, the Unliving."

Giedrius explains, "As such, one may have thought that in a place such as Naidem, removing the soul would make its incarnation vanish, as the tenuous tether in this impermanent place is severed..."

Giedrius admits, "In fact, that was my theory until a dive into the library..."

Giedrius pats the leather-bound tome in his hand.

Meliyara gazes at Giedrius with an inscrutable expression, save for a solitary arched eyebrow.

Raelee takes a moment to observe Giedrius.

Faiyth raises an eyebrow in Giedrius's direction.

Giedrius reveals, "But this is not the case."

Giedrius opens his leather-bound tome to a page marked by a rectangle of vellum.

Giedrius reads, "The unliving of this place are a strange analog of the living."

Giedrius uses his finger to trace along the page in his tome.

Giedrius reads, "The body ends up in a coma, and the soul remains, haunting the surroundings."

Giedrius abruptly snaps the book shut.

Opalina looks thoughtfully at Giedrius.

Giedrius distractedly says, "It seems no one is quite positive on exactly what happens here in Naidem, or if the concept of death here is even equivocal to what we understand the word to mean in our home. However, this may give some perspective on what has happened to that unfortunate bride and her sister."

Opalina nods understandingly.

Giedrius surreptitiously glances at Opalina.

Meliyara glances sharply at Opalina.

Rovvigen softly says, "Like an invisible realm to most that is on top of the tangible one."

Giedrius says, "But I once again digress... The question is whether we may transubstantiate the soul fully. Transmogrifying it into some other physical form according to other realities."

Opalina's cheeks flush with a soft pale rose shade, darkening her freckles even more.

Raelee nods at Giedrius.

Giedrius requests, "First consider that the form a soul possesses is potentially arbitrary."

Giedrius adds, "For possession is a less peculiar condition than incarnation."

Giedrius says, "When some undead horror is mindlessly lurking about, the tainted soul within need not be in its original host."

Giedrius says, "As we learned with the first lecture, when the soul is shoved into a golem, the result is usually a nearly mindless automaton."

Giedrius glances at a sinuous glaes soul golem.

You surreptitiously glance at a sinuous glaes soul golem.

A fiercely sculptured reptilian head curves sinuously into a formed glaes body.  A mixture of ophidian grace and volcanic glass, the golem stands about eight feet tall.  Within a glyph-etched orb mounted in the golem's chest, a pure white mist pulsates with a sickly glow.  The golem's soulstone eyes scintillate with a brilliant viridian light.

Rovvigen nods at Giedrius.

Giedrius says, "Soulstones are remarkable in this way. Consider the Luukosian so-called 'soul golem," which are glaes golems with soulstone eyes--again, as you have seen."

Giedrius says, "An excellent example right here."

Meliyara glances between Giedrius and a sinuous glaes soul golem.

Giedrius explains, "These statues are possessed by wind wraiths entering through the soulstones which then animates the golem."

Caedenmon removes a viridian soulstone from in his black pouch.

Erienne gazes in amusement at a sinuous glaes soul golem.

Giedrius passes the tome from his left hand to his right as he paces back and forth.

Caedenmon offers Giedrius a viridian soulstone.

Giedrius expounds, "Soulstones are siphons. The Aelotoi alchemist Alusius fashioned a variety of soulstone that absorbs the 'spirit' of elemental entities."

Caedenmon darkly says, "Here you are.  If you would like a sample."

Giedrius accepts Caedenmon's viridian soulstone.

Missoni gazes with interest at Caedenmon.

Giedrius evenly notes, "Interestingly, these will siphon the coldness of otherworldly entities of elemental darkness, for lack of better term for it."

Raelee raises an eyebrow in Giedrius's direction.

Giedrius adds, "These 'dark vorteces' were studied by the famous alchemist Sage Uthex Kathiasas some... six thousand years ago or so."

Giedrius amiably says, "His research is particularly salient to this discussion."

Manager Blodeuyn just loped in.

Meliyara gazes with interest at Giedrius.

Rovvigen turns an inquisitive ear toward Giedrius.

Giedrius stops before the audience, a momentary break in his constant movement and fidgeting.

Liras glances at Blodeuyn.

You gaze with interest at Giedrius.

Blodeuyn nods at Giedrius.

Giedrius says, "Uthex discovered a powerful siphoning crystal in a nightmarish dark mirror world and was studying how to fashion entities from power itself."

Giedrius interestedly says, "This is a plane of existence where the body vanishes, discorporates from Elanthia, and reincarnates in the other world."

Lissaya gazes with interest at Giedrius.

Giedrius notes, "This plane is in some respects similar to Naidem, notably in regards to the changing of form."

Rovvigen softly says, "Talk about out of body experience."

Giedrius dramatically says, "Big cats with fiery claws in one world are weirdly correspondent, for example, to lizard-like creatures with cold flaring claws in the mirror realm."

Speaking to Rovvigen, Fleurs says, "Sounds extraplanar."

Giedrius wiggles his fingers around the soulstone in his hand.

Giedrius notes, "But this backwardness belies the underlying essential unity through transformation."

Riend looks thoughtfully at Giedrius.

Giedrius considers, "These may well be simultaneous instances of the same thing in other forms."

Giedrius simply explains, "The essence of his work was this: The soul is archetypal consciousness with a plurality of forms in different realities."

Giedrius says, "The soul is an immense power and its instance in any given world is only a narrow slice of its totality."

Giedrius holds up two fingers and slowly pinches them together until they are almost touching.

Giedrius suggests, "When freed of its particularity from any given world there is potential to use this immensity."

Giedrius says, "Much as the animus of a sacrificed creature can rejuvenate the body, the soul has great potential for physical incarnation in a diversity of forms."

Giedrius adds, "Uthex's work with rejuvenating the 'animus', rediscovered almost twenty years ago, is the origin of the contemporary clerical self-revival magic."

Caedenmon nods in agreement.

Giedrius says, "Unfortunately, his fellow Sages of the Order of Lorekeepers destroyed most of his work, leaving our knowledge in a poor condition."

Giedrius frowns.

Rovvigen softly says, "Devastating."

Giedrius adds, "His workshop was rediscovered only three decades ago. It was seized by Draezir and remains controlled by the Sheruvian Order."

Giedrius admits, "As such this is not the most practical avenue for research."

Giedrius asks, "Am I off topic again?"

Giedrius ponders.

Raelee looks over at Giedrius and shakes her head.

Giedrius says, "Anyway, my study of soulstones suggests it may yet be possible to dissolve the given incarnation of a soul."

Giedrius tilts his viridian soulstone side to side, making the light play off it.

Meliyara looks thoughtfully at Giedrius.

Giedrius suggests, "Bringing it through a device may allow dissolution of form through a transplanar conduit."

Giedrius succinctly explains, "It is much like the inverse of phasing non-corporeal undead into material reality."

Rovvigen softly says, "Now that would be neat."

Giedrius excitedly explains, "This could be the key to eternal life, as there would be power to reincarnate, or perhaps bring bodily restoration to other states of being."

Giedrius concludes, "Alchemy has the potential to transform the very self in the most fundamental way. This is its most ancient and modern promise. Thank you."

You raise your hand.

Giedrius nods to you.

Liras applauds Giedrius.

Meliyara applauds Giedrius.

Giedrius put a viridian soulstone in his myrtle green overrobe.

Maylan says, "Huzzah."

Raelee takes a moment to observe Giedrius.

Rovvigen turns to Giedrius and cheers!

You say, "You mentioned the idea of, for lack of a better term, a multiverse where a soul exists in many planes at once."

You ask, "What would this dissolution do to the other 'versions' of the soul?"

Missoni applauds Giedrius warmly.

Alicea applauds Giedrius.

Erienne applauds Giedrius.

Speaking quietly to you, Raelee remarks, "Valid question."

Missoni turns an inquisitive ear toward Giedrius.

Faelynth applauds Giedrius.

Riend applauds Giedrius politely.

Zethes applauds Giedrius.

Speaking to you, Giedrius says, "My theory is that the soul would be impacted across all planes, for I suspect they would be linked together, given the unique nature of souls. But, I may be wrong. I have not considered it much at this point."

You nod slightly at Giedrius.

Speaking quietly to Giedrius, Opalina asks, "Do you know of any such soulstones existing today?"

Speaking to Opalina, Giedrius says, "Rumors, only."

Speaking to Giedrius, you say, "I look forward to learning  more of your theory as you continue to explore it."

Giedrius says, "In the interest of time, I will be willing to talk about this more at length later."

Meliyara ventures, "One would need to have compatriots in other planes identify and observe the soul in question in order to test what impact, if any, neh?"

Missoni muses, "I wonder if a soul could be fractured, or fragmented, and perhaps that is why some here seem to ill recall their identities."

Giedrius nods at Meliyara.

Caedenmon nods respectfully.

Speaking to Missoni, Giedrius says, "An interesting question."

Giedrius just went over and threw himself down on the couch.

Meliyara says, "Else we are left only with speculation."

Liras smiles at Giedrius.

Giedrius pats the leather-bound tome in his hand.

Speaking to Giedrius, Raelee says, "... perhaps later we can discuss the temporal implications, and if the soul is also shared across multiple versions of time as well as planes."

Speaking to Giedrius, Missoni says, "Fascinating research, thank you."

Giedrius leans over the couch and tucks the tome between two books on the closest bookcase.

Giedrius nods in agreement at Raelee.

Speaking to Giedrius, Fleurs says, "There is always more to learn."

Speaking to Raelee, you say, "I would be interested in that, too."