Alchemy across the editions

As I did more and better quality research, I discovered that my old post on alchemy in the French version was full of numerous errors and inaccuracies. In this post, I will try my best to rectify that and provide a more accurate picture of alchemy in the French version.

In all editions of the game, alchemists had to specialize. They had several different paths available to them. Based on their choice, the alchemist constructed a tool that produced a substance. The alchemist cast formulas using that substance, applying it to the target, throwing it into the air, and so on.

In all editions except third, each Circle of Alchemy was rated as a single Technique.

Second edition (1996–2000)

The second edition was a direct refinement of first edition (1992–6), so I do not list the first edition separately. 

In this edition, there were three Constructs: the Athanor, Crucible and Alembic. Each produced a Substance governed by a Process mastered by a Figure of the Glorious Alloyage. This schema is given on the table below:

Table of the Adept (2nd ed.)
Path	Construct	Substance	Process	Work	Alloyage
Short	Athanor	Powder	Escarbuncle	Philosopher's Stone	Atalanta
Dry	Crucible	Metal	Chrysopoeia	Philosopher's Mercury	Green Lion
Dry	Crucible	Amber	Androgyne	Cosmic Egg	Rebis
Wet	Alembic	Liquor	Cinnabar	Elixir of Life	Esmeralda
Wet	Alembic	Vapor	Alkahest	Spiritus Mundi	Hermes

Alchemists specialized in one of three paths: the Short Way, the Dry Way, or the Wet Way. Each linked with an alchemical construct that produced one or two substances linked to specific processes. An alchemist's construct had its own set of five Ka-elements, rather than using the alchemist's own to cast formulas.

The construct produced substances without any other ingredients. Production was limited based on the construct's Ka and astrological modifiers. Each formula was cast via a substance using any element possessed by the construct, such as Powder of Moon, Powder of Water, Metal of Fire, Amber of Air, etc. The exact spell was chosen by the alchemist speaking Enochian at the moment when he brought the substance in contact with the target. If desperate, then the alchemist could spill his own blood to ensure the Ka roll succeeded; the spell still failed if the Alchemy roll failed.

Each Process had a different theme: Escarbuncle is Destruction, Chrysopoeia is Mastery, Androgyne is Creation, Cinnabar is Transformation, and Alkahest is Revelation. However, the actual lists of formulas didn't respect the themes of the processes at all.

Third edition (2001–2003)

In third edition, the Processes were removed in favor of linking each Substance to an Element. There were five Tools, linked to a Ka, linked to a State of Matter, mastered by a Figure of the Glorious Alloyage. This schema is given on the table below:

Table of alchemical correspondences (3rd ed.)
Ka	State of matter	Alchemical tool	Figure of the Glorious Alloyage
Fire	Metal	Forge	Green Lion
Air	Vapor	Bellows	Hermes Trismegistus
Earth	Amber	Crucible	Rebis
Moon	Powder	Athanor	Atalanta Fugiens
Water	Liquor	Alembic	Esmeralda

Each Circle had five Techniques corresponding to each row on the table above. These skills are given on the table below:

Alchemy Techniques (3rd ed.)
Circle	Alchemy	Occult Techniques
First Circle	Black Work	Elements
Second Circle	White Work	States of Matter
Third Circle	Great Work	Figures

An alchemist could only learn three Techniques at each Circle. Thus, he only constructed the three associated Tools and produced Substances of the associated States. Each of an alchemist's three tools had its own single Ka, corresponding to the associated element, rather than using the alchemist's own to cast formulas. 

Production was limited based on the construct's Ka and astrological modifiers. The formula was fixed when the Substance was created, so alchemists had far less flexibility than the prior edition and had to prepare formulas in advance based on what they thought would be needed. The alchemist required mundane ingredients called Catalysts, placed inside the Tool and transmuted into the desired Substance. The Catalysts varied according to the individual formulas, such as chestnut leaf, diamond, tears, etc. At the First and Second Circles the alchemist simply followed instructions he found in foci. To learn the third, he needed the tutoring of a Figure who would then teach him how to create his own formulas from scratch by mixing and matching Catalysts with the States.

If desperate, then the alchemist could spill his own blood upon applying the Substance to ensure the spellcasting roll succeeded. In this edition it was a combined Ka+Alchemy roll, so there was never any chance of the sacrifice being wasted.

However, any further material was intended for a dedicated supplement on the Occult Sciences. This would have included an Alchemy Quest in which the alchemist could work toward Agartha by mastering the Great Work, which probably would've provided more information on the Glorious Alloyage and Arkhémia. However, the publisher MultiSim went under in 2003 before further books could be published.

Fan-made material

This was a dramatic shift from the prior edition, which disappointed a number of returning fans. This prompted a couple attempts to recreate the two axes of processes and elements.

Fanclub Heritors of Babel included a short article in Vision-Ka #1 (2001) suggesting how to convert the free association of Substances and Ka from the prior edition. This made no direct change to the Alchemy Techniques, but added to the rulebook. At Black Work, the alchemist could construct any Tool to produce any Substance in combination with any Ka of the Techniques he chose. At White Work, the alchemist could produce any Substance of the Techniques he chose in combination with any Ka. However, he must master that Ka's Black Stone Technique to cast without penalty. Otherwise, he suffers a −4 penalty on the transmutation test.

Publisher Ubik promoted a rewrite, "Old School Alchemy" (2005), that reintroduced free association between Ka and Substances. This was more extensive than the article in VK#1, rewriting the formulas from the rulebook to fit the new format. The Techniques were not changed, but the restriction on learning only three Techniques per Circle was removed. At Black Work, the alchemist chose a single Substance. He constructed the associated Tool and only produced formulas of that Substance, but with the Ka of any Element Technique he knew. At White Work, he could construct the Tools of and produce any Substance whose Technique he knew. When casting a formula, he applied the modifiers from the Ka's associated Black Work Technique in addition to the associated White Work Technique.

Both of these approaches were fairly clunky.

The most extensive revision came in Vision-Ka #9 (2011) with its Alchemy Dossier feature. This rewrite not only reintroduced the free association between Elements and Substances, it replaced the previous Occult Techniques with an entirely new set based on other alchemic principles. Replacing the Techniques this way avoided the clunkiness that afflicted the preceding two attempts. The dossier introduced rules for spagyrics (alchemical artifacts), filling a hole in the official rules.

By contrast, author Hubert "Ouroboros" Terrieux wrote a revision where he opted to retain the link between Ka and Substances. His treatment expanded on the concepts of Tools and Substances, integrated it with other lore from the prior edition that had not been converted. The forms of the Tools and Substances could now vary wildly based on the Trade chosen by the alchemist, such as music, internal alchemy, animal husbandry and so on. One key change from the rulebook was that the Tools no longer had separate Ka-elements: instead the alchemist used his own by extending "alchemic developers" into the tools. His treatment is located at his website: alchemy rules, western formulae, and spagyrie artifacts (dated 2010?).

Fourth edition (2012)

In fourth edition, the link between Elements and Substances introduced in the preceding edition was removed and the free association between the two was reintroduced. The five tools were retained, though some were changed. This schema is given on the table below:

Laboratory (4th ed.)
	Process	Way	Tool (substances)	Glorious Alloyage
🜂	Chrysopoeia	Dry	Forge (metals)	The Green Lion
🜁	Alkahest	Wet	Retort (vapors)	Hermes Trismegistus
🜄	Cinnabar	Wet	Alembic (liquors)	Esmeralda
☾	Escarbuncle	Short	Athanor (powders)	Atalanta Fugiens
🜃	Androgyne	Dry	Crucible (ambers)	Rebis

Each Circle was rated as a single Technique rather than having multiple Techniques within it. Alchemists picked a limited number of "Domains" (combination of substance and element) at character creation or learned during play, based on the Circle. The first circle was similar to third edition, the second circle expanding similar to second edition. This schema is given on the table below:

Alchemy Paths and Domains (4th ed.)
Path	Dry	Dry	Wet	Wet	Short
Tool	Forge	Crucible	Alembic	Retort	Athanor
1st Circle	Metal of Fire	Amber of Earth	Liquor of Water	Vapor of Air	Powder of Moon
2nd Circle	Metal of Earth Metal of Water Metal of Air Metal of Moon	Amber of Fire Amber of Water Amber of Air Amber of Moon	Liquor of Fire Liquor of Earth Liquor of Air Liquor of Moon	Vapor of Fire Vapor of Earth Vapor of Water Vapor of Moon	Powder of Fire Powder of Earth Powder of Water Powder of Air
3rd Circle	Perfection, Sublimation and Transmutation

The Dry, Short and Wet Paths are mentioned but have no mechanical consequence. The alchemist could potentially learn all Domains through experience. The alchemist only constructed the tools he needed to produce the substances of the Domains he knew. Each of an alchemist's tools had its own single Ka, corresponding to no particular element, rather than using the alchemist's own to cast formulas.

Production was limited based on the construct's Ka and astrological modifiers. Catalysts don't exist in this edition.

At the third Circle, the alchemist would join a secret college lead by the Glorious Alloyage, progress through the three steps (Perfection, Sublimation and Transmutation), learn how to create one of the five original Prima Materia, and assist in the construction of Arkhémia. However, the details were left unexplained.

As of this writing I haven't fully transcribed and translated the fourth edition rulebook, but I'll post an addendum if that changes anything I wrote here.

Fifth edition (2019–)

In fifth edition, there were five Constructs that produced Substances linked to Processes mastered by Magisters of the Glorious Alloyage. This schema is given on the table below:

Alchemical Substances & Processes (5th ed.)
Construct (substances)	Alchemical Process	Magister
Athanor (powders)	Escarbuncle & Philosopher's Stone	Atalanta
Crucible (metals)	Chrysopoeia & Philosopher's Mercury	Green Lion
Retort (ambers)	Androgyne & Cosmic Egg	Rebis
Alembic (liquors)	Cinnabar & Elixir of Life	Esmeralda
Aludel (vapors)	Alkahest & Spiritus Mundi	Hermes

An alchemist now specialized in one of four paths: the Short Way, the Dry Way, the Wet Way, or the Royal Way. The choice of path determines the Constructs the alchemist uses, and thus the Substances he uses. He can delay this choice until the second circle, at which point he can no longer use any other constructs... but may donate his unusable tools to apprentices. This schema is given on the table below:

The Ways (5th ed.
Way	Construct(s)
Short	One of choice
Dry	Athanor and Crucible
Wet	Retort, Alembic and Aludel
Royal	All

Each Construct has its own set of five Ka-elements that are used to cast formulas instead of the alchemist's own. Thus, the more Constructs the alchemist has, the longer it takes to cultivate the Ka-elements within each. This is the trade-off for the increased flexibility.

Additionally, there was a fifth "hidden" path of Spagyrics. The alchemist who specialized in this rare path was interested in the construction of artificial beings, mechanical and/or biological.

Production was limited based on the construct's Ka and astrological modifiers. To produce substances, the alchemist had to collect Prima Materia (i.e. raw materials) and transmute it within the construct. These replaced the previous role of Catalysts and worked differently.

As of this writing I haven't fully transcribed and translated the relevant fifth edition books, particularly the book on the third circle, but I'll post an addendum if that changes anything I wrote here.

Hope you enjoyed!