#alchemists

[dtstat]

horrible ancient war machine used by the alchemists of old

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Arthur Edward Waite - Alchemists Through The Ages - Rudolf Steiner - 1970 (cover design by Susan J. Cobin)

[ruesttt]

Back on my immortal x alchemist bullshit again

[mymindimpaired]

Ed and Al

Ep.3

[withlovelunette]

THE ALCHEMISTS (WIP title)

— A Medieval Historical Fantasy

Genre: Historical dark fantasy, adult fiction, dark academia.

Setting: A fictional city inspired by early 15th century medieval Europe, with a hard magic system fuelled by alchemy and humorism.

Summary: A young and recently orphaned girl, Wendelin is taken under the wing of an eccentric alchemist named Hamlin after he hears whispers of Wendelin's accidental and temporary revival of her parents shortly after they succumbed to a plague that has spread from the outer regions. While Hamlin seeks to teach her everything he knows to unlock all of her potential as an alchemist, Wendelin seeks to learn all that she can to perform a proper revival of her parents. Together the pair embark on a quest to create the elixir of eternal life and defy death.

Themes: The power of knowledge, scholarly madness and obsessions, defying the laws of reality, processing grief, found family.

Introduction & Context

I've been working on this project on and off during my hiatus, particularly during the non-winter seasons, where working on my main project has always felt a little bit awkward given its wintery atmosphere. I'm also not immune to the dark academia craze, but I felt very compelled to explore the themes of the genre in a historically older setting, even if this is a historical fantasy. I also really wanted to draw from medieval theoretical and philosophical frameworks as the underpinning for the magic system within this story, and I've been having a blast researching all of it! The WIP title is very much a WIP title, as there is already a very famous novel that shares the same name in singular form :,)

Inspirations & Vibes

Old scrolls and and ink stained parchment papers, brewing bubbling potions, ancient and forbidden texts, stargazing, bells tolling in the distance, melting metals and pulverising herbs, gothic architecture, festivals, folk medicine, smell of smoke and blood, dried herbs hung along the walls, worn and torn playing cards, the sunlight peering through stained glass windows, ceremonial magic, hearty warm stew, chalk and blackboards, birth charts, imposing stone walls, performing magical rituals, occult knowledge, divine madness, cobblestone roads, esoteric and archaic text, haunting melodies on the lute, bustling town squares.

Main Characters

Wendelin (18) she/her

A former herbalist and an aspiring alchemist under Hamlin's mentorship. Overly curious and too nosy for her own good, but also deeply empathetic. She's eager to learn, but not so eager to confront the whole dead parents thing.

Nicholaus Hamlin (53) he/him

An eccentric alchemist on a journey to create the elixir of eternal life. Hamlin is a bumbling man with far too many ideas for potions and elixirs he wants to make and too little hours in the day to make them. He's not very forthcoming with his own motivations for doing things.

Though I think it's unlikely that I'll be putting many excerpts of it here, please be warned that this story will involve body and medical horror, dabs of cosmic horror, and depictions of mental strife!

✦ If you’d like to be added to a tag list for future writing updates/excerpts, please let me know! 

Story Tag; #alchemists

[fauxmoonhare]

Played chants of Sennaar recently

[malky-tea]

All the Forbidden Arcanoi together! The series is officially over now—yay!

Which Forbidden Arcanoi is your favorite?