My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

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 sche...

In  a prior post  I mentioned relict athanors from third edition. I wanted to give an update on that, as since I wrote that I translated  The Gamemaster's Book  that provided more details. Basically, the athanor develops sapience as the alchemist progresses through the circles. It remains benign, and a master alchemist can transfer the athanor's Ka into a golem to create a familiar, or even into a living human body! If the alchemist disobeys certain limits, the spirit may become malignant and attempt to possess the alchemist's simulacrum. It cannot actually kill the alchemist, as this would kill it too, but it can become quite troublesome.  I read a French fanbook on alchemy collating and expanding the various canonical alchemy traditions in an unofficial revision/fork of third edition. (For reference, the fanbook was written by a Hubert "Ouroboros" Terrieux. It is divided into three files:  alchemy rules ,  western formulae ,  spagyrie artifacts ...

The French and US versions of alchemy developed in very different directions. The French version was further developed across multiple editions and included brief rules for different cultural variants used by Chinese, Aztec and Amerindian Immortals. The US version reprinted only the first edition French rules and didn't benefit from any of the subsequent French revisions, so Chaosium ordered a rewrite of the alchemy rules to be printed in the canceled Slaying the Dragon supplement (although the author shared his draft on the mailing list). However, these rules were later adapted to generic BRP and reprinted in Enlightened Magic . If you're a fan of the US version then you should already be familiar with those. I found a fan-made French netbook that described the Old World traditions of Alchemy side-by-side and revised them for third edition (here: alchemy rules , western formulae , spagyrie artifacts ). I found this a very useful overview of the French cosmology and it got me ...

While transcribing and translating the alchemy rules from Nephilim: Revelation 's The Players' Book , which condenses a decade of mechanics and fluff innovations, I came across a description of the Athanor as sharing a bond with its creator. By building the lab and investing it with Ka from his Stasis item, the alchemist creates an alchemical being composed of his Pentacle, his Stasis item, and his lab. To destroy any part of the lab is to amputate this being. When a tool is destroyed, all substances produced by it instantly lose effectiveness and the alchemist is shocked into a depression for days. Certain laboratories are even said to develop sentience, seek to possess their creator, and defend themselves with alchemy! In other words, alchemical relics (see  Gamemaster's Companion  p33 for details). The meditations Miracle of Creation (see the unpublished alchemy rules) and Ultimate Purification of Gold (see Enlightened Magic p95-6) may be used to imbue objects with so...

In the French version , athanors were revised over the editions.  First Edition In the first edition, the Athanor was an egg-shaped oven that produced alchemical Powders for all five elements.  US version This was retained by the US version. Although a revised system was planned and drafted, the line was canceled before it could be released. These rules were later genericized and incorporated into the BRP supplement  Enlightened Magic . In those rules, the Circles were reorganized like so: Black Stone involved manipulation of physical substances via the laboratory, athanor and alchemical materials. It affected the physical. White Stone involved the creation of works of art that induced a specific effect in the minds of the audience. It affected the mental. Philosopher's Stone involved meditations that would affect the very souls of the alchemist's targets. It affected the spiritual. In other words, much of the first and second circles of the French were consigned to...