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Alchemy
Feb 19, 2013 20:29:52 GMT -5
Post by Raven Onyx Armstrong on Feb 19, 2013 20:29:52 GMT -5
An Alchemist (錬金術師, Renkinjutsushi) is one of the many remarkable individuals capable of studying and practicing alchemy. As the craft of alchemy requires a full understanding of chemistry, physics and ancient alchemical theory, alchemists are closer to scientists than magicians, but the ability to perform alchemy is also tied to an inherent talent for manipulating matter and energy, so not all people can become competent alchemists merely by studying.
Though essentially scientists, alchemists' abilities are incredibly practical and can be applied to the simple enhancement of normal life in the form of quick, relatively effortless repair of objects that ordinarily take a good deal of time and energy to fix. As such, alchemists are revered as productive members of society and hold the concept of Be Thou For The People as their unofficial credo. This creed dictates that alchemists use their abilities for the good of the public rather than for personal gain or political reasons, a creed generally rejected by alchemists who opt for government licenses and funding as State Alchemists.
Despite their obligation to the people, alchemists are also careful to keep the secrets of their research out of the hands of the general public so as to prevent abuse of that knowledge and power by those with less-than-noble intentions. As such, alchemists generally keep their research notes coded so that only they, or other like-minded alchemical geniuses, may understand them.
When creating an Alchemist Character, please be original. I don't want to see 50 flame alchemists taking after Roy Mustang and following his footsteps. I also don't want to see each and every Original Character to be somehow tied into the Canon plot. It's allowed but not too often.
Not all Alchemists need to be elemental either. You can be just about any type of Alchemist.
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Alchemy
Feb 21, 2013 16:33:36 GMT -5
Post by Raven Onyx Armstrong on Feb 21, 2013 16:33:36 GMT -5
State AlchemistsThe State Military is the name given to the armed forces of Amestris. The Commander in Chief of the State Military is the Führer. A State Alchemist (国家錬金術師, Kokka Renkinjutsushi) is an alchemist employed by the Amestrian State Military as part of an elite government mandated program. As members of the military, State Alchemists are privy to the most advanced alchemical resources, including exclusive access to the best research materials as well as state-of-the-art government laboratories, and are given a sizable research grant each year which can be put to any purpose a State Alchemist so chooses. Also on the list of perks is an automatic military officer rank equivalent to that of Major and all the considerable military authority and government influence that comes with it.
In exchange for these privileges, State Alchemists are commanded to obey three basic restrictions:
- Obey the Military - As part of the military system, State Alchemists are subject to the government hierarchy and must obey the orders of their superiors as well as devote themselves entirely to the protection, advancement and well-being of the nation of Amestris as a whole. Their skills are to be wielded as an extension of the government's power as opposed to means toward individual or popular gain. This particular rule is the root behind the harshest drawback of being a State Alchemist - although alchemists in general are revered by the populace, State Alchemists are treated with a great deal of animosity by those not completely satisfied with the dealings of the current government. As alchemists who have turned their backs on the concept of Be Thou For The People in exchange for government influence, they are often called "Dogs of the Military". Additionally, ever since their successes on the front lines of the Ishval Civil War, State Alchemists with practical skills applicable to combat situations are ordered into battle as "Human Weapons", adding to their relative unpopularity.
- Do Not Create Gold - Though all alchemists in the nation of Amestris are held to this law so as to keep the national economy from falling into chaos, State Alchemists are more heavily leaned upon to uphold this standard, due to their position under government surveillance, and are subject to military charges upon its transgression.
- Do Not Create Humans - The nationwide prohibition of Human Transmutation, though also enforced in the case of all Amestrian alchemists, is particularly forbidden to State Alchemists due to the fact that their access to advanced research notes and materials makes it more likely that anyone making a realistic attempt at the forbidden craft would be in the government's employ. Though it is widely assumed that this law is in place because of the moral and ethical ramifications of attempting to toy with human life as well as the considerable danger involved with dealing in Human Transmutation, it is revealed that the true motive behind the government prohibition is to prevent individuals from alchemically manufacturing their own personal armies of homunculi.
In order to be selected as a State Alchemist, candidates must undergo an extensive examination process involving a written test proving a high level of aptitude in the field, a psychological evaluation to determine whether the candidate is of sound enough mind to serve in such a specialized branch of the military and a practical examination in which the candidate proves to a military board whether or not his or her skills can be used in real world situations.
Additionally, each State Alchemist is given a silver pocketwatch to hold as identification. This watch is engraved with the symbol of the State Alchemist program - the Amestrian Dragon circumscribed in a hexagram
Though State Alchemists are more or less given free license to act as they please within their rank, they must each submit an annual assessment report, detailing the results of their research over the past year so as to prove that they are using their grant money and resources adequately enough to warrant continued membership in the program. It would seem that State Alchemists who fail to hand in an adequate report are put on probation for the next year and that a second failure results in the revocation of their government license.
fma.wikia.com/wiki/State_Alchemist
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Alchemy
Feb 21, 2013 16:41:05 GMT -5
Post by Raven Onyx Armstrong on Feb 21, 2013 16:41:05 GMT -5
Human Transmutation
Unfortunately, these experiments have given birth to a dark and sinister side of alchemy. Whether out of despair, malice or inquisitive hubris, several alchemists have been known to attempt the application of transmutation to human bodies and souls, in essence, playing god with human lives. But, just as the Law of Equivalent Exchange applies to the transmutation of non-living matter, devastating rebounds can occur in Human Transmutation because human lives and souls are priceless according to the flow of the world.
Performing Human Transmutation: It is possible for characters to perform Resurrection-based Human Transmutation on this site.
A dice roll has been added to the forum. Anyone attempting Human Transmutation must use the dice roll to determine the outcome. Human Transmutation Roll: 1 -- Survive 2 -- Survive 3 -- Survive 4 -- Lose Alchemy, but survive 5 -- Lose Alchemy, but survive 6 -- Lose Alchemy, but survive 7 -- Lose Alchemy, but survive 8 -- Die 9 -- Die 10 -- Die
Resurrection Attempts to bring deceased human beings back to life are the most common practice to be called Human Transmutation. Using various experimental theories and methods, multiple alchemists have endeavored to resurrect dead loved ones, but such pursuits are always failures, forbidden by the flow of the universe and alchemy itself.
It is determined that resurrective Human Transmutation is impossible because a soul that has left the mortal coil has passed on into the afterlife and can never be called back by human means. The attempt will cause a rebound due to both the inherent lack of any particular substance able to match a human soul in value and the fact that the initiated transmutation is reaching for an unattainable goal. Of the known attempted Human Transmutations, the rebound has been the "taking" of parts of the initiator's body out of the living world and into the void of the flow.
In addition, for having trespassed in 'God's domain' with Human Transmutation, the initiating alchemists are essentially called into The Gate of Truth to face 'God' itself (AKA 'Truth'). Being pulled through the gate grants alchemists great alchemical and universal knowledge - in exchange for paying a physical toll which usually takes the shape of the body parts "taken" by the rebound - and the ability to perform transmutations without a circle.
Soul Binding Another terrible form of Human Transmutation is the manipulation of human souls. Though appearing on no official records, there have been experiments with Human Transmutation involving the extraction of souls from human bodies and the alchemical binding of said souls to inanimate objects usually by way of a rune drawn in blood on the object itself. Though not all the specifics of soul binding have been made clear, it has been explained that the iron in the blood bonds alchemically with the iron in the object (as most instances of soul binding has used metal armor as a vessel) and the blood itself remains bound to the soul of the person from which it was taken. The Blood Runes themselves differ based on the theories and style of whatever alchemist performed the binding, but the three different Blood Runes that have been revealed depict a spark or flame (presumably signifying a soul) hemmed in by other symbols in a blood-drawn Transmutation Circle that suggests a soul trapped within a container. In essence, these souls exist in the mortal plane without their bodies, are able to manipulate the objects to which they are bound and communicate verbally with beings around them but, of course, there are caveats.
Despite the fact that these souls cannot feel pain or die by conventional means since the "bodies" they now inhabit are not mortal, the act of binding two such different things together is only temporary, as the soul and vessel will eventually reject each other and separate.
Though the manipulated soul is independent of its original body, the issues regarding the storage of knowledge and memory suggest that, for a soul binding to remain intact, the original body must remain alive somewhere. This creates another issue, as the soul and its original body will be inexorably drawn to one another.
The Amestrian government has experimented with soul manipulation and binding under the command of Father, but the case of Alphonse Elric's soul binding is remarkably unique as the only known instance of a particular human soul being purposely called back to the mortal plane from the Gate of Truth. Edward Elric, for performing this brand of Human Transmutation, let his right arm be taken as the toll and drew a rune using his own blood. It has been posited that this was only possible because the two brothers had been pulled into the Gate together and may have had their spirits crossed in the process. Additionally, the body of the soul-binding victim Barry the Chopper was infused with the soul of a lab animal and remains as the only known instance of a soul being bound to a living vessel. It is also unknown whether the act of transmuting the souls of Barry the Chopper and the Slicer Brothers resulted in a rebound or appearance of the Gate of Truth.
Human Chimera Chimeric Alchemy is a branch of bio-alchemy that seeks to alchemically "marry" two dissimilar life forms into a new creature, but even though this science skirts the line of playing God, the prohibition of Human Transmutation forbids alchemists from incorporating human beings into the practice of chimera production. However, there are alchemists who flout this decree and step across the threshold into monstrous experimentation. Shou Tucker, the Sewing-Life Alchemist, was the first recorded alchemist to successfully create a Human Chimera, passing his crime off as a full-animal chimera capable of human speech until his second attempt was exposed to the military, but (as with Soul Binding) the Amestrian government has also been experimenting with this, having created several human-animal hybrids of increasing versatility.
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Alchemy
Feb 21, 2013 16:43:25 GMT -5
Post by Raven Onyx Armstrong on Feb 21, 2013 16:43:25 GMT -5
Transmutation Circles
Though no machines or equipment is needed to produce the energy necessary for transmutation, merely understanding the sequence of transmutation and the limitations of Equivalent Exchange is not enough. Just as the processes of "Comprehension, Deconstruction, Reconstruction" and "In order to gain, something of equal value must be lost in return" are cyclical concepts, the circle itself is the foundation of alchemy.
In order to begin an alchemical transmutation, a symbol called a Transmutation Circle is necessary. A Transmutation Circle can either be drawn on the spot when a transmutation is necessary (in chalk, pencil, ink, paint, blood or even traced in dirt; anything can be used to make it) or permanently etched or inscribed beforehand, but without it, transmutation is generally impossible and all Transmutation Circles are made up of two parts:
The circle itself is a conduit which focuses and dictates the flow of power, tapping into the energies that already exist within the earth and matter. It represents the cyclical flow of the world's energies and phenomena and turns that power to manipulable ends.
Inside the circle are specific alchemical runes. These runes vary widely based on ancient alchemical studies, texts and experimentation, but correspond to a different form of energy, allowing the energy that is focused within the circle to be released in the way most conducive to the alchemist's desired effect. In basic alchemy, these runes will often take the form of triangles (which, when positioned differently, can represent the elements of either water, earth, fire or air), but will often be composed of varying polygons built from different triangles. For example: the hexagram is a commonly used base rune in Transmutation Circles because it creates eight multi-directional triangles when inscribed and can therefore represent all four classical elements at once. Other, more esoteric runes (including astrological symbols, symbolic images and varying lines of text) are prevalent and represent a multitude of other, specific functions for the alchemical energy that is released. Over the nearly 500 year history of alchemy in Amestris, great strides in alchemical research have been made by mixing these runes together to augment their power, converge their results and create entirely new pathways of utilization.
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