FOA: FTBAOOWTEMTSTA By: Alijham (Fundamentals of Alchemy)

Fundamentals of Alchemy: For the Budding, Aspiring, or Other Word That Essentially Means the Same Thing, Alchemist. Also Known As FOA: FTBAOOWTEMTSTA
By: Alijham

Alchemy is the art of combining ingredients, that otherwise may not be very useful by themselves, to create potions and substances that have magical effects when mixed and handled in a particular fashion. Why does it work? I don’t have the slightest idea! Lucky for us, it just does. How it works, though? I know plenty about that. Here, I’ll be showing you exactly how to get the hang of it.






First off, to make a potion, you will need a few things: a mortar and pestle; the ingredients for the potion you are trying to create (there are a couple simple recipes just at the bottom of this passage); water; access to a fire and cauldron; glass bottles with corresponding corks (I’ll get into why glass is ideal later on); and of course, a spoon to stir. Wooden is best, because you could accidentally burn yourself on a metal spoon.

The first thing that should be done, to create the most basic potions, is to wash all of your ingredients and make sure they are all fresh. A dried ingredient can be just as useful, but we’ll get into why later. For now, only fresh ones should be used. You also must have the cleanest water you can get your hands on. Dirty water can not only make the magical effects of ingredients less potent, but it can also reverse the effects completely, and in turn, a healing potion can make you quite sick.

Next, fill your cauldron with water: you’re going to want your potion ratio to be about one part water, one part ingredients. Put the cauldron over a fire, just like you’re about to make some soup. Leave the water over the fire while you do the next step. Do not cover it.

While your water is over the fire, get your mortar and pestle and grind your ingredients—do this one-by-one. Put them onto separate plates, or into separate bowls, until the water is boiling. Most plants will end up as a pulpy, slimy paste.

Scoop your ingredients out of their bowls, or off of their plates, and into the water once it begins to boil. Again, do this one by one, and make sure the first ingredient is stirred in before you add another. You will likely see the water change color or have an interesting visual effect. This is normal.

Stir your ingredients in thoroughly. Even after you think they are all the way dissolved, keep stirring periodically for about five minutes. With more advanced potions, they will have to be over the fire longer, and some covered with a cauldron lid—but for your basic potions, don’t worry about that. Five minutes will do just fine, give or take. You don’t have to be exact.

After those five minutes have passed, take the cauldron off the fire, or extinguish it completely. Let it sit until the potion is still hot, but doesn’t burn to the touch. Ladle, funnel, or pour it into your glass bottles and cork them quickly. Leave an inch or so of air in the bottle. It’s important that the potion still be hot when bottled, because the heat will properly encapsulate the effects of your ingredients, when sealed inside of a component until it cools. Do not open any bottles until they have cooled completely, to ensure that all of the good magic you want in there stays in. Glass bottles work the very best for potion making, because ceramics are porous, and the effects of a potion can seep through the walls while it is still hot, making your potions less potent. A lot of new potionmakers don’t realize this—thus, misunderstand why their potions don’t come out as planned.

Here are some recipes you can try:

Basic regenerative potion, or otherwise known as “healing” potion: blisterwort, juniper berry, garlic

Many non-alchemists refer to a regenerative potion as a “healing” potion. Technically, this is incorrect, because no potion will immediately heal like restoration magic can. The purpose of the most basic of regenerative potions is to, well, you guessed it: aid in the body’s regeneration. Unless stated otherwise, most potions labeled as regenerative are meant to regenerate lost blood.

Magica regeneration potion: grass pod, mora topinella, garlic

A magica regeneration potion is exactly like a ‘normal’ regenerative potion, or one created to help the body restore lost blood, except made to restore lost magica. This potion can not and will not extend the consumer’s existing magica pool, but it will help the body to restore lost magica.

Stamina regeneration potion: bee abdomen, lavender, garlic

A stamina regeneration potion is the same as the magica regeneration potion, except that it is made to restore lost stamina, and decrease fatigue.






Use of glassware in potion making is for the experienced alchemist. Albeit, lightly experienced counts, but you should be comfortable with the the most basic alchemical process before moving on to more the more complicated process. If you are any bit confused with the previous lesson, do not move on to this one until you are confident in your skills.

Before you begin using glassware, you of course need to know what everything is, and what it’s for. Here are the most widely-used pieces, and their uses:

Calcinator: A small, stove-like apparatus that can be used to reduce substances to ash, which removes all the moisture from an ingredient, making it more potent. This is where dried ingredients come in. With a calcinator, dried ingredients can be made to have the potency of fresh ones. Fresh ingredients used in the calcinator become extra potent. Use of a calcinator should occur prior to creating a potion.

Retort: A vessel with a beaked-cap used to purify ingredients. To use a retort, place a fresh ingredient into the glassware and let it sit over a fire. Vapors will form inside, and the heat will cause the ingredient simmer in its own juices. The longer you let it do this, the more potent the ingredient will become. Over-purifying with a retort can hail deadly results. Do not overdo it! Potions that are too strong can kill! Use of a retort can also occur after the creation of a potion, by following the same steps, except with a potion instead of an ingredient. This will reduce, or eliminate negative or strange effects in a potion caused by use of not completely compatible ingredients. The same rules of overuse apply.


Alembic: A two-chambered piece of glassware, similar to a retort in use. When an alembic is put over a fire, it separates the powerful juices from the rest of the ingredient. The pure ingredient will be inside of the smaller chamber when it is finished separating. Unlike a retort, the alembic cannot be put over a fire for too much or too little time. It is finished when vapors inside of the chambers dissipate. The time it takes for this to happen varies on the ingredient. Using an alembic distills, condenses, and separates ingredients, unlike the retort which lumps it all together.

Each of these pieces have very similar uses, albeit slightly different. It is easiest to make large batches of potions with a calcinator, because turning your ingredients into powders will reduce the space needed to create said potions. But, they will not be as powerful as when a retort is used. A calcinator will make your potion stronger, but only to a certain extent.

An alembic will purify your potion as much as possible, making it have only the effects you intend. Using one will destroy any possible negativities a potion could have. Use one only when you are creating a potion with two to three ingredients. Purifying too many ingredients can lead to too many strong effects in your potion, and can quickly become disastrous rather than life-saving. Less is more.

The effects of a retort are a mixture of that of an alembic and a calcinator. Using one will make your potions more potent, and purify the effects, but this is the piece you should be most careful with. Although being able to achieve both effects with one piece of glassware is remarkable, as I said before, less is definitely more. If you do not use a retort in moderation it can be a very dangerous tool. A retort should not be used by an inexperienced alchemist, until they deeply understand the fundamentals and have had quite a bit of potion making experience.





Ointments and salves are, essentially, topical potions. The difference is that a salve is a liquid, and an ointment is a paste or cream, made up of ingredients in their absolute purest form.

Ointments: Making an ointment is just as simple, if not simpler than creating a traditional potion over a fire. Dried ingredients cannot be used to create an ointment, and neither can plants that do not crush into a paste. The only powdered ingredients than can successfully be put into an ointment are salts. An ointment does not need to be heated like a potion does. To make one, the only thing you have to do is crush an ingredient, or a few, with a mortar and pestle, and mix it with a touch of cornstarch and water. The cornstarch and water will smooth the mixture and thicken it up so it won’t run when put onto the skin. The ratio of ingredients to water and cornstarch should be about 5:1. Glassware can be, and in most cases, always should be used when creating ointments.

Salves: A salve is the exact same thing as a potion. It is brewed like one, glassware-optional like one, and bottled in glass like one. The only difference is that it is not ingested, it is put onto the skin to heal from the outside in. Thus, ingredients that are known as deadly or huge no-no’s in potions, can indeed be used in salves to have different effects.

Here are some recipes you can try:

Disinfecting salve: goldenseal

Only one ingredient is required for a basic disinfecting salve, used to clean out wounds, or clean equipment. Thus, it is extremely easy to make. Be sure to run your goldenseal through an alembic or retort before turning it into a paste.

Numbing and soothing ointment: aloe vera gel, frost salts, frost mirriam

This ointment has mostly cooling ingredients, used to soothe burns and cuts. It can also be put on nostrils to remedy an irritated nasal passage, or lips if they are chapped.






Poisonmaking is not for the faint of heart, or the inexperienced alchemist. It can be very dangerous, so you have to be quite careful! Always wear protective equipment, such as some kind of glasses or goggles, and gloves so you don’t accidentally ingest anything. If you understand potionmaking, though, poisonmaking should not be difficult for you. Glassware is used the same way, and poisons are brewed the same way as potions. The only stand-out difference, besides the fact that poisons are meant to harm and potions are meant to heal, is that a poison can be made with a solvent other than water, such as bile and grease, and can also be made with dirty water.





Alchemy seems quite a complicated craft on the surface, but I find once you get the hang of it, the possibilities are endless. Is that a cliche thing for me to say? Yes, absolutely. But it’s the truth, and I tend to get lazy when I’m trying write creatively for several hours at a time. I hope that my tips and instruction helped you hone your newfound craft with ease, and good luck in your future alchemical endeavors.

Sincerely,

Alijham