Are all of the Emperor/Empress alchemists born into their status due to inherent talents present at birth? Or is it something one can go to school for/train for to one day become one? If it's the latter, what drove Adrian and his sister to become alchemists?
Having status certainly helps, but Pracis relies on intelligence more than power or status. You can have all the fancy jewelry in the world, but if you have no brains or originality then you are useless to the Empire. There is a school for alchemy that turns out general alchemists, scientists, engineers, etc every day.
To become one of the Empress or Emperor’s Alchemists though one must attend a special training program for the Emperor and Empress Alchemists of Pracis. It’s a group where everyone knows everyone and what you make is measured every day by your colleagues. You don’t even have to be Pracian to join it! You just have to have the knowledge, the drive, and the pure moxy to stand up to some of the world’s best and brightest.
Adrian and Valerie always knew they would be alchemists one day. Their mother Olleria herself is an alchemist and a close friend to the Empress herself. They were raised as playmates to the Heir-in-Right to Pracis and therefore were given access to some of the best tutors of the land. Valerie’s skills were always intense and single focused, bent purely on big-brain ideas and her own fascinations. Adrian, always being Valerie’s shadow, at first tried to follow her path. But soon enough he realized his fascinations weren’t focused upon his own ideas, but the ideas of the world. He wanted to help people and become a doctor and surgeon with mind to improve surgery so it was no longer a death sentence. How they got to be where they are and the things they did to get there, is to be discovered in the story.
Thank you so much for the ask! - Nox