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<span class="mu-i">Lore post for tonight because I downloaded WoW again for Season of Discovery and it hit my nostalgia button hard.</span>
(You'll be utterly shocked to discover that I'm playing a Human Female Paladin, I'm sure)
<span class="mu-s">On Khemistry</span>
<span class="mu-i">-Jacques Molay, published 1394</span>
There are three fundamental questions regarding chemistry that I expect those of you who have picked up this tome are seeking answers to. First and foremost, "What is khemistry?" The second question will most certainly be, "How can I apply its principles to my trade and craft?" Finally, the goodly wyfs and weirs who have paid attention to men of means and power may ask, "What is this I've heard about the sublime mystery of High Khemistry?"
The answer to each of these questions deserves a tome of itself to answer. A scant few pages are not enough to detail the truth secrets hidden within these mysteries. However, this prologue will endeavor to give the layman sufficient information, that he or she may satisfy their curiosity without getting lost in technical matters.
<span class="mu-s">What is khemistry?</span>
You see khemistry around you every day, my good wyfs and weirs. It is khemical principles that govern the magics of artifice that lights our streets at night. It is khemical principles that heat the waters of the public baths and the showers you take before entering them - you do wash up before bathing, right? Khemical principles drive nearly every process mundane and arcane, from the cantrips you mother taught you to the gonnes folk use to hunt deer and chase pigeons from their fields.
Khemistry is the framework through which these principles are understood, and the process by which they are put to work. You will hear words by learned khemists that may have a familiar sound, but an unfamiliar meaning; these are how the process and framework is described.
There are four stages that create four materials. Melanosis creates Coal. Leucosis creates Chalk. Xanthosis creates Gold. Iosis creates Truth.
Melanosis is the decomposition of materials into their component parts. The "coal" that is created is thus the basic building blocks of the material that has undergone melanosis.
Leucosis is the purification of the components, the elimination of impurities introduced from the world and the creation of a pure substance. The "chalk" is that pure substance, now made useful for khemical processes.
Xanthosis is the mixing of pure substances into the desired compound, blending what is known of their effects and properties into the intermediary that shall become the final product. The "gold" is the compound, and many things can be finished here.
The Iosis is the application of time and energy to the intermediary compound created by Xanthosis. Following this final stage, the ends created are the "truth", the final product of your work of khemistry.
