Part 21: Alchemy Journal

Now that our journey has completed, our alchemical journal is also complete. Here is all the data that we can get out of the Alchemy Journal Window.

The Alchemical Journal of Ensign J. Forsyth

MAP

Click here for the full 1000x960 image

RITUALS

• Basic tarnish removal (brass): "FOR THE CLEANSING OF BRASS TARNISH: Prepare an atmosphere of fiery principles. Place a brass token within the bound, and seal it. Speak a word of essential nature, so that the properties of brass may be evoked. Compound the atmosphere with a resinous note. Then intone the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation to complete the token's investment. Place token directly on tarnished item."
  
• Basic rust removal (steel): As per brass, but use a steel token instead of a brass one.
  
• Redoubled tarnish removal: "REDOUBLED TARNISH CLEANSING: Deeply corroded metal may not yield to the basic tarnish removal ritual. In such cases, one must locate a more potent resinous element. Rather than the common rosemary or lavender twig, try a branch or cone from an evergreen tree. It may be necessary to crush the element to release its full effect."
  
• Redoubled rust removal: As per brass, but, again, use a steel token instead of a brass one.
  
• Universal tarnish removal: "UNIVERSAL TARNISH CLEANSING: The basic tarnish rituals employ the law of similarity; a steel token removes rust from steel. To prepare a token that will work on any corroded metal, one must prepare a catalytic environment, rather than a fiery one. Place a token of brass or steel in the bound and begin with a simple sealing. Recite the categorical imperative; pour a drop of Java spirit upon the token; conclude with the Lesser Phlogistical Saturation."
  
• Fungicide synthesis: "A BANE for MUSHROOMS, LICHEN, and OTHER FUNGI: Prepare your chymic retort with mustard seed and a sample of fungus, in a saline bath. Seal; turn on burner, and heat to a gentle simmer. Invoke the Binding of Antipathy, thus attuning the mustard's toxic qualities to your sample. Decant."
  
• Resonant Oculus Creation: "TO CREATE A RESONANT OCULUS (an exceptional tool for observing unseen influences): Prepare an environment with lunar influences. This will require a bound with a gestalt shelf; place any lunar symbol on the shelf, but take care to exclude contaminating aromas. Then place a glass loop within the bound and begin with a simple sealing. Vocalize a resonant tone to tune the loop in the Celtic mode, followed by a syllable of counterbalance to fixate it."
  
• Fire-Resistance Synthesis: "A POTION to RESIST ALL INJURY BY HEAT OR FIRE: This compound protects the drinker by balancing heat against cool—these symbolized by opposing aromas. Place a measure of saline into a bound. Employ the simple sealing with no aroma present. Release a fiery aroma; invoke counterbalance; change the atmosphere to chill; invoke an elementary word of binding."
  
• Lodestone of Purity Creation: "TO CREATE LAVELLE’S LODESTONE (to locate elementally pure substances): Prepare a lunar environment, but with a contaminating aroma. (This may require additional lunar symbology to outweigh the contamination.) Place a silver thread within the bound, and apply a simple sealing. Speak a word of essential nature; remove the aroma from the atmosphere; invoke a Minor Animus. When held and swung, this invaluable lodestone will direct itself towards a nearby source of pure elemental substance."
  
• Aura Imitation Inscription (jade): "RIESENZWEIG'S INSCRIPTION, to MIMIC THE AURA OF ANOTHER: This is Riesenzweig's translation of a Chinese poem (attributed to Yang Wan-Li). The effect is similar to Oehlke's Inscription. Construct a meditative environment based on the Book of Changes. (One should use the central ritual bound of the house, as the symbolism of this tradition always places the five elements in perfect balance.) Place beads of iron and jade within the bound, and speak a simple sealing. Place burning wood upon the gestalt shelf. Invoke the Name of the Tortoise. Discharge elemental air upon the bound. Close with the Chi Binding."
  
• Breath-Holding Synthesis: "A POTION to HOLD ONE'S BREATH: By properly balancing the phlogiston of the lungs and blood, one may retain breath for several minutes without discomfort. Prepare an exhilarant environment; aroma is particularly important for this working. One will also need a paten of exhilarant symbolism, prepared on the gestalt shelf. Place a measure of saline into the bound. Begin with the simple sealing, followed by the Anodyne Evocation. Place a bit of elemental wood upon the paten and ignite it. Conclude with an elementary binding."
  
• Planetary Lens Creation: "TO CREATE A PLANETARY LENS (which reveals symbolic associations of the celestial sphere): This will require two glass lenses of matching curvature. Prepare an environment with lunar influences, ensuring that the atmosphere is free of aromas. Place one lens within the bound, and invoke a simple sealing, followed by a word of essential nature. Let one drop of Java spirit upon the lens, and place the other lens atop it. The Binding of the Celestial Sphere will fuse the lenses and empower them."
  
• Gold Ignition: "IGNITING ELEMENTAL FIRE: Fire is the only pure element (of the European tradition) which cannot be refined from mundane matter. It must be ignited, and only phlogisticated gold can support its combustion. If one has a source of elemental fire, igniting a new wick is simple; but if not, the procedure is arduous. One must place the phlogisticated metal in a vapor crock with a bit of camphrost and burning blackwood—the only flame hot enough to begin the reaction. Seal the crock. Once the camphrost's vapor pressure has built to the flash point, the metal will be ignited."
  
• Aura Impermeability Inscription: "BRODZIK'S INSCRIPTION, to RENDER ONE'S AURA IMPERMEABLE TO HARM: Invoke an environment of spiritual peace. Begin with a quartz token in the bound; this represents the ka soul. Invoke the Ka Sealing. Place a bit of orichalcum into the bound, representing the ba soul. Speak a word of anaphylaxis. At this point, but no sooner, add a strengthening element to the atmosphere. Close with the Binding of Antipathy, to repel harmful influences. Touch the token to a subject, and his aura will be nearly invulnerable for a few moments."
  
• Electrum Phlogistication: "THE PHLOGISTICATION OF ELECTRUM REGIUM: Phlogisticated gold is well-known, but it is not the only metal which may be alchemically charged. Electrum regium (an alloy of platinum and moon-metal) is by far the easiest; unlike gold, it may be phlogisticated with a simple laboratory procedure. Place a rod of electrum into a catalytic environment, and seal with a simple sealing. Pour yang oil over the metal and invoke an elementary binding."
  
• Viridigris Synthesis: "THE SYNTHESIS of VIRIDIGRIS (the lower oxide of orichalcum): This process is quite simple. Place orichalcum and vinegar into a retort; apply the Hermetic sealing. Heat until the vinegar just begins to boil, and then invoke the Phlogistical Catalysis."
  
• Sublime Spirit Synthesis: "THE SYNTHESIS of SUBLIME SPIRIT (the eighth distilled essence of mineral oil): Place mineral oil and nickel into a retort. (Thin pieces of nickel are best, as the surface area must be large.) Invoke the sealing, followed by a word of entension (to prevent the oil from igniting). Introduce elemental fire into the retort to begin the distillation. You may then easily extract the desired fractions."
  
• Dispersal Brush Creation: "DISPERSAL BRUSH: Conjured alchemical symbols generally fade after use. However, it is sometimes necessary to erase such a symbol directly. Touching the item with a dispersal brush accomplishes this. To create such a tool, place a feather quill within a bound in a neutral environment. Begin with a simple sealing; sprinkle alcohol spirits upon the quill; conclude with a word of culmination."
  
• Perfect Mud Synthesis: "THE SYNTHESIS of JACKSON-MUD (a perfect balance of elemental earth and water): Begin with a medium of simple sand, and the Hermetic sealing. Invoke the Crystalline Tempering. Add one of the pure elements to the retort, and speak the word of entension; then add the other, and speak the word of emulgence."
  
• Bamuriatic Acid Synthesis: "THE SYNTHESIS of BAMURIATIC ACID: This substance is similar to muriatic acid, but even more corrosive and toxic. Exercise caution! Prepare your retort with the mineral fluorspar in a bath of vitriol. Invoke the sealing; heat until the crystal has entirely dissolved. Discontinue the heat. Add saline solution, but be sure to first use a word of entension (to prevent a premature reaction.) Once combined, a word of culmination will allow the reaction to complete in a controlled manner."
  
• Aura Invisibility Inscription: "ROYCE'S INSCRIPTION, to RENDER ONE'S AURA INVISIBLE: Invoke an environment of spiritual peace. Begin with a quartz token in the bound; this represents the ka soul. Invoke the Ka Sealing. Sprinkle copper percalcinate over the token, representing the ba soul. Invoke an idempotent structure. Pour sublime spirit over the token; this represents the evanescence of the soul's name. Close with an elementary word of binding. This inscription will render the subject's aura indetectable to malign forces, though only briefly."
  
• Lodestone of Centrality: "TO CREATE MISUBA'S LODESTONE (to locate the center of a labyrinth): Prepare an environment of earthy influences. Place a silk thread within the bound, and a labyrinth symbol upon the gestalt shelf. Begin with the Mithraic Sealing. Pour a sample of viridigris over the silk, and then lay a shard of elemental earth onto it. Strike a chime in the mode of recension. Now lay elemental fire upon the labyrinth symbol (not into the bound!) Finally, the Minor Animus will bind the lodestone to potential motion."
  
• Aura Imitation Inscription (quartz): "OEHLKE'S INSCRIPTION, to MIMIC THE AURA OF ANOTHER: Invoke an environment of spiritual peace. Begin with a quartz token in the bound; this represents the ka soul. Invoke the Ka Sealing. Sprinkle copper percalcinate over the token, representing the ba soul. Invoke an isomorphic structure. Pour elemental water over the token; this represents the mutability of the soul's name. Close with an elementary word of binding. Touch the token to the donor, then to the recipient. NOTE: Imitating the aura of a superior officer is malfeasance under Naval law."
  
• Prophylactic Scalpel Inscription: "MUSANTE'S INSCRIPTION, or THE PROPHYLACTIC SCALPEL: This token serves to neutralize malevolent auras and other dangerous psychic manifestations. Begin by placing a knife within the arc; the environment should be confused by a strong aroma. Invoke the Ka Sealing. Speak a word of essential nature; remove the contaminating aroma; conclude with the Binding of Antipathy. To use the inscription, wave the blade within a field of cleansing vibration."
  
• Lead Weight Increase Inscription: "TROUTMAN'S INSCRIPTION, to INCREASE THE WEIGHT OF LEAD: (This unusual ritual derives from the Subcontinent, but we translate it into European terms.) Create an anchored (Saturnine) environment. Place any common bit of stone into the bound, and invoke a simple sealing. Add a resinous note to the atmosphere; speak a word of essential nature; add a measure of Gaian precipitate. Conclude with the Binding of the Celestial Sphere, to align the alchemical axis (Earth-Saturn, low-high) with the mundane axis of gravitation."
  
• Glass Permeability Inscription: "TO RENDER GLASS PERMEABLE TO MATTER: Select a chime in the key of F sharp. Invoke a Helian environment (the aspect of the Sun). Place the chime into the bound; speak a simple sealing. Sprinkle pure sand onto the chime; vocalize a resonant tone; strike the chime, and conclude with a Relative Anima. Once the chime is invested, one need merely strike it again and embed it into a pane of glass. The chime's vibrations will permit it entry, and the entire pane will then be semi-fluid for as long as the chime resonates. But only attempt this with simple, flat sheets of glass—curved glass has irregular vibrational modes, and the tuning will fail."
  
• Metal Attractor Transcription: "A TALISMAN TO ATTRACT METALS: A common lodestone will attract iron, but to exert influence on other metals requires alchemical preparation. Begin with a Saturnine environment, and a bound containing a chime tuned to the desired metal. (Metal chimes are preferred, as glass may be insufficient to the strain.) Use a simple sealing. Surround the chime with zafranum, and immediately ignite this. Vocalize a resonant tone to prime the metal, and then strike it (without removing it from the bound!) Use the Mediate Anima to set the vibration. Once the ritual is complete, striking the chime will attract all nearby objects of the given substance."
  
• Clock Tincture Synthesis: "WINFIELD'S CLOCK TINCTURE (to repair or realign clockwork): This ritual requires an environment of precision and order. Place a measure of alum into the bound, and perform the Sealing of Shamash. Add perfect mud; speak a syllable of counterbalance; add sublime spirit, then a token of brass. Conclude with the Major Animus. The resulting potion embodies perfection in brass, and will induce perfection in any brass mechanism it touches."
  
• Copper Percalcinate Synthesis: Perform the steps in "Copper Calcination Demonstration" followed by the steps in "Percalcination Procedure", both listed in the "Facts" section.
  
• The Great Marriage: "THE GREAT MARRIAGE must be performed at the Heart of the House, in an Orderly Environment." (...scribbled with an arrow: "?NAVE!") "...Employ the Marcher's Invocation to seal an empty Bound. Add a Signifier of the Marcher's Location to the Gestalt; waft a Resinous Note. Now add the Four Elements to the Bound, and invoke the Dragon."
  
• Coralicide Synthesis: As per the fungicide synthesis, but swap coral for the mushroom.
  
• Gaian Precipitate Synthesis: "THE SYNTHESIS of GAIAN PRECIPITATE: This reagent is of great value in rituals pertaining to the Earth. Prepare your retort with a measure of vitriolic acid; place orichalcum therein. Invoke the sealing and raise the heat. When the metal dissolves, recite a symmetric sequence (the symmetry induces a positive connection to the Earth). Measure in alum until the solution turns violet; then add pure elemental earth and reduce to a powder."
  
• Vacuum-Protection Synthesis: "MULDOON'S POTION, for SURVIVAL in VACUUM: This potion is a staple of marcher work, for it permits one to walk freely in Hadean lands for up to six hours. Fortunately the procedure is simple. Prepare an exhilarant environment and a measure of saline. Begin with a sealing word of passivity. Add highlime to the beaker; follow with the Anodyne Evocation and the Greater Phlogistical Saturation."
  
• Counter-Gaian Precipitate Synthesis: Like ordinary Gaian Precipitate, but use an antisymmetric sequence.
  
• Lead Weight Decrease Inscription: Use Counter-Gaian Precipitate or Anti-Tellurian Distillate instead of Gaian Precipitate.
  
• Granite Solvent Synthesis: "TUCKER'S SOLVENT, which will DISSOLVE ONLY GRANITE: Begin with the Hermetic sealing, and a mixture of muriatic and bamuriatic acids. Add some elemental earth; use a word of anaphylaxis. Add a bit of slate—this being the symbolic opposite of granite—and conclude with the Binding of Antipathy."
  
• Fire-Devourer Synthesis: "THE FIRE-DEVOURER (a potion to extinguish even the greatest conflagration): Prepare a strong fiery environment—several influences should be combined for this ritual. Place a measure of alcohol into the bound. Begin with a sealing word of passivity to oppose the alcohol's fiery nature. Ignite the beaker with elemental fire; this will provoke combustion despite the passivation. Conclude with the Greater Phlogistical Saturation. The resulting potion is of great strength; one vial, flung into a burning building, often suffices to end the danger."
  
• Perfect Diamond Creation: "A DIAMOND PURGED of EVERY FLAW: This ritual requires an environment influenced only by living stone; the deeper and purer, the better. Place a diamond within the bound and employ a phlegmatic (passive) sealing word. Sound a note in the mode of ostension. Place elemental earth upon the gestalt shelf, to serve as a template. Speak the Crystalline Tempering. This will bring the structure of the diamond as close to perfection as mortal substance can sustain."
  
• Marble Solvent Synthesis: Use an obsidian chip in the granite solvent instead.
  
• Obsidian Solvent Synthesis: Use a marble chip in the granite solvent instead.
  
• Yang Oil Synthesis: "THE SYNTHESIS of SCHEPLER'S OIL, or YANG OIL: Place a measure of mineral oil into a catalytic environment. Seal with a passive (phlegmatic) sealing. Compound the atmosphere with a sweet floral element; speak a word of essential nature. Then add a bit of reed pith to the bound, and ignite it. While it yet burns, recite the Phlogistical Catalysis. The resulting oil will ease the flow of phlogiston through certain metals."
  
• Dragon Fulcrum Inscription: "THE DRAGON FULCRUM: This ritual requires a bound of metallic quicksilver, or a quicksilver amalgam. Place a stone token within, and speak Grendel's Sealing. Pour vitriol onto the stone (for sulphur and quicksilver are the polar principles of alchemy). Invoke the dragon's name, and conclude with the Relative Anima." But the words "dragon's name" have been scratched out. Below them is a smudged knot or tangle of lines—as if someone had tried to copy a multidimensional structure onto the paper, without much success.
  
• Aither-Resistance Synthesis: "A POTION to RESIST FOREIGN AITHER: The most hostile lands are those where the very processes of life alter. This potion allows your body to adapt to these conditions -- for a time. Like many life-sustaining concoctions, this begins with an exhilarant environment and a beaker of saline. Use the Hermetic sealing. Add a measure of zafranum to the arc. Ensure that the atmosphere is filled with an exhilarant aroma; tinct it by igniting the zafranum. Speak the Anodyne Evocation; place a sample of salt on the gestalt shelf; close with the Chi Binding."
  
• Intensional Ballast Inscription: "An intensional ballast may serve to support a failing alchemical construct, though only in the direst emergency, for the results are uncertain and of limited duration. The ritual is simply a refinement of the universal tarnish cleansing. Add zafranum after the lubanja spirit, and conclude with the Greater Phlogistical Saturation instead of the Lesser. The brass token will then be able to infuse phlogiston, at need, directly into the nearest construct."
  

FORMULAE

• The unsealing mantra isn't an alchemical formula. It's just a way to divert your mind from a ritual in progress, breaking open the bound and dissipating any energies.
  
• The simple sealing word creates a boundary circle around a ritual space. Most alchemical procedures begin with a sealing word.
  
• The word of essential nature is used in rituals to invoke the principle of sympathy.
  
• The elementary word of binding is frequently used to make simple chymical compounds.
  
• The Lesser Phlogistical Saturation is a knot of breathy syllables. It has to do with reversing processes of tarnish and rust.
  
• The categorical imperative is a phonological argument for generalizing a transformation.
  
• The Binding of Antipathy can hold contradictory elements in accord, or amplify an element's opposition to external influences.
  
• The Hermetic Sealing word creates a boundary circle. It is always used for chymical transformations in the retort, although it has other uses as well.
  
• The word of entension delays a reaction, which can later be resolved by a word of culmination.
  
• The word of culmination resolves a reaction which has been delayed by a word of entension.
  
• The Anodyne Evocation aids the health and growth of the body.
  
• The Resonant Tone is a particular pitch that resonates with the structure of matter. It allows substances to be tuned for various vibrational effects.
  
• The Syllable of Counterbalance is a precise phoneme cluster which permits opposing forces to be brought into stasis.
  
• The Minor Animus is a rhythmic glottal intonation. It can impart small changes in kinetic energy, slightly altering the movement of an object.
  
• The Chi Binding is an elemental binding used in certain Chinese ritual traditions, particularly the syntheses of the Song Dynasty.
  
• The word of anaphylaxis inflames the sensitivity of contrary elements.
  
• The idempotent group is a mathematical structure which maps many things to one thing.
  
• The isomorphic group is a mathematical structure which maps things to equivalent things.
  
• The Binding of the Celestial Sphere is appropriate for astrological constructs and compounds of aither.
  
• The Phlogistical Catalysis is a tedious sequence of murmuring. It’s used to stabilize some of the more complex chymical reagents.
  
• The Word of Emulgence allows immiscible elements to blend into a homogenous composition.
  
• The Crystalline Tempering is a rhythmic chain of sounds, which tends to pull mineral substances into more regular order.
  
• The phlegmatic sealing word creates a boundary circle. It has a stable, passive pattern—Yin in the Oriental traditions, cool and moist in the Greek.
  
• The symmetric sequence is a mathematical structure which is the same back-to-front.
  
• The antisymmetric sequence is a mathematical structure which is upside-down back-to-front.
  
• The Ka Sealing word creates a boundary circle. It is derived from the Classical Egyptian analytical model of the human mind, or spirit.
  
• The Mithraic Sealing word creates a boundary circle. The Mithraic tradition is a mystery cult, associated with labyrinths and secrets.
  
• The Major Animus is a complex, polyrhythmic glottal intonation. It can impart significant changes in kinetic energy, under controlled circumstances.
  
• The Mediate Anima is a complex ululation of vowels. It can modulate the forces between moving objects.
  
• The Relative Anima is a complex ululation of vowels. It can serve as an eye of stability among moving objects.
  
• The Sealing of Shamash creates a boundary circle. It comes from a Babylonian ritual tradition, where it is associated with order, the calendar, and clockwork. You didn't know the Babylonians had clockwork, but that's what the textbook said.
  
• The Marcher's Sealing creates a boundary circle. You recall it from the great rituals that launch the Retort and bring it home.
  
• The Greater Phlogistical Saturation is a tonal chain of bitten-off sounds and exhalations. It has to do with reversing processes of tarnish and rust.
  
• The Name of the Tortoise is an elemental invocation of water, in the fivefold Oriental symbology.
  
• The Dracon Invocation has something to do with dragons, clearly.
  
• Grendel's Sealing creates a boundary circle. It is used in dragon-ordering rituals. (The marcher-construct sort of dragon, that is.) It derives from an Old English narrative tradition of dragon-hunting. (The scaly mythical sort.)
  
• The first alien glyph is a multidimensional structure—a surface which is curved back on itself, but with no edges.
  
• The second alien glyph is a multidimensional knot of curves and gaps.
  
• The third alien glyph is a multidimensional helix which bends back on itself without end.
  
• The fourth alien glyph is a multidimensional flower of petals which curve into each other, surrounding an edgeless space.
  
• The radix access pattern (the passage of the root) is a sequence of outward geometric relations, forming a pattern which you can barely hold in your mind's eye.
  
• The caudex access pattern (the passage of the spine) is a sequence of inward geometric relations, forming a pattern which you can barely hold in your mind's eye.
  
• The calyx access pattern (the flowering of knowledge) is a sequence of semantic relations, forming a pattern which you can barely hold in your mind's eye. The pattern has the scent of dragon about it.
  

FACTS

• The work assignment: "Ensign Forsyth: When you're finished scrubbing, get these calipers freshened up. You should be able to handle the ritual. See me afterwards."
  
• The resinous note: The Sergeant left you a scrawled note along with the tarnish recipe: "Resinous note—wave the rosemary, swabbie."
  
• A lecture on aromas: You dimly recall taking notes on the uses of aroma in alchemy. Perfumes influence a ritual by adding elemental principles of the atmosphere. You might open an impet of ginger essence for a fiery ritual, or mint essence for a cooling effect. Citronelle is strengthening, seaweed has... something to do with breath... it was a tedious lecture.
  
• The catalytic environment: The adjustable bound is by the Mechanica Lab. "Platinum wire will create a catalytic environment—if other elements (aromas) do not contaminate the area!"
  
• The crawlway access combination: "I've sealed off the chymic lab access so that nobody stumbles into anything. If you need in: Mars, Luna, Jupiter. --JA".
  
• The calcination demonstration: "Lab demonstration #5: Calcinate of copper. Place muriatic acid and quickcopper (orichalcum) in the retort. Heat to dissolve, and continue heating until the green salt crystallizes. Note: product is unstable! Flush retort directly after demonstration; do not extract calcinate."
  
• A Lecture on Gestalt Shelves: Aromas are one way to set the environmental influences for a ritual. For more precise control, you can use a gestalt shelf—if the ritual bound has one. (Not all do.) By placing specific items on the shelf before the ritual begins, you can apply precise symbolic markers to the environment.
  
• Elemental Earth Loan: "Permission granted to use elemental earth for optickal mirror calibration—one day only. If you damage or lose the earth-shard, you will be on report until the Sun turns green. The Retort only has the one in stock!"
  
• Percalcination Procedure: "Percalcination: to repeat the calcination procedure. (Typically produces a more stable and potent reagent.) First, calcine a metal. Then seal the retort (Hermetic) and invoke the Crystalline Tempering to clarify the salt’s structure. Add more acid to redissolve, and continue heating until a second crystallization occurs."
  
• A Lecture on Potions: You have never practiced potion synthesis yourself. (They don’t let you poison people without a little more experience.) But you remember a lecturer mentioning that potions intended for human consumption are never made in the chymic retort; they’re not compatible with the Hermetic Sealing. Instead, you typically start by placing saline solution into a ritual bound, in any sort of container.
  
• Nature of Aura Clouds: An aura cloud is an uncontained psychic outbreak, a sucking vortex of vital energies. It’s not a ghost, or a demon, but a less scientific age would certainly have viewed it as such. Any living aura that falls into resonance with the cloud will be drained black in moments. You’ll have to protect or disguise your psychic signature, somehow, to pass the medical wing door.
  
• Birdhouse Defensive Stricture: The Birdhouse, like a few other high-security areas of the marcher, is protected by a defensive stricture. The door reacts to your psychic signature—an ensign can't just walk in, so when you approach, the door gets defensive.
  
• Blinovna Limitation Effect: You distinctly recall a voice: "No alchemical synthesis can create two of the same product on the same marcher at the same time." That's nonsense, of course. You've spent hours in the lab, working with the other apprentices, producing vial after vial of some tedious reagent. There's no such rule. But now you remember it.
  
• Periodic Table of Stone: "We are familiar with earth as a pure element in the Greek system. However, minerals need not be considered as imperfect approximations of a Platonic ideal; each has an alchemical structure, and we may discern relations between them. Thus, marble and obsidian are opposites—white versus black, crystalline versus glassy, pelagic versus volcanic. Soapstone and basalt are another light-dark pair. Other opposing pairs rely on different relations. Chalk and flint are found together, but with different qualities. Granite and slate are formed by opposing geologic processes; so too sandstone and malachite. Porphyry and quartz are an interesting case..."
  
• Recursive Metaphor Technique: "...that the form or structure of a thing may be joined to the spirit or essence, thus replicating the thing itself, is the foundation of modern practice. Indeed, historians argue that the 'marriage' metaphor of ancient alchemy prefigures this principle. But to apply it recursively, parsing the structure and spirit of the spirit itself, requires the utmost care..."
  
• Exhilarant Environment: Exhilarant symbolism has to do with wind, air, and breath. Also, for some reason, seaweed.
  
• White-Fuse Challenge: "Today's friendly challenge for the juniors: open your locker! The cord is white-fuse, a material which burns quickly and cleanly—but only when ignited with elemental fire. I've left tomorrow's assignment in the locker, so don't dawdle."
  
• Spiritual Environment: "Spiritual environment: meditative symbols on shelf. (Rainbow!)"
  
• Electrum Substitution: "While phlogisticated gold is commonly used to support elemental fire, recent research indicates possible substitutes. Electrum regium is the most promising. While it does not survive the usual camphrost procedure, phlogisticated electrum regium can be ignited directly from an existing source of elemental fire."
  
• Store Safe Combination: The combination to the Main Store safe is Libra, Ophiuchus, Taurus, Scorpio.
  
• Musical Theory: "Music is the most complex of ritual elements; one might well call it 'obfuscated.' We begin with the nursery-school lessons: the pitch A is associated with iron, the color red, the liver; B with bronze, orange, the stomach; C with brass... yes, you can all chant along. But this is simplified to uselessness. What of non-classical metals? We now associate C-sharp with rutilum, F-sharp with aluminum, G-sharp with nickel. Researchers have invented entirely new scales to deal with the spectrum of aither-metals. Then the Eastern Empire uses the well-tempered scale; thus while F-sharp is the mode of extension, G-flat is the mode of ostension, G-natural is intension, G-sharp is paratension, and H—yes, there's an H—is the mode of recension..."
  
• Cold Crucible Gossip: "Well, you hear stories, right? Things folk see at the moment we rig out. Flashes, no more. The ghost of the Cold Crucible, lost and drowned in a Thalassan sea... Well, aye, I know the Crucible arrived safe home, and never reported any trouble on Titan. Mayhap the ghost is what didn't happen. Or what will... Still want to gripe you were posted here 'stead of to the Crucy?"
  
• Ephemeris Billet Combination: If the clock tincture is to be trusted, the combination to create the ephemeris billet is zeta, rho, pi, omicron, iota, pi, beta, mu.
  
• A Lecture on the Theory of Dragons: A marcher is built around four incredibly complex alchemical constructs, called dragons. ("Because they'll bite you on the arse if you're careless," runs the joke, but in fact nobody knows the origin of the name.) Pneuma regulates light and air; Baros regulates stability and gravity; Aistheta manages navigation; Syndesis binds the rooms of the marcher together and to its destinations. The dragons are the Retort's vital organs. Constructing each one took months of work by a crew of trained rectors. The idea that they've gone wrong is deeply disturbing.
  
• Vibration Technique Fragment: "...to combine an aitheric vibration—the transitory structure—with a spark of animation. This is a well-understood technique to create a self-sustaining aitheric form, e.g. memory daimons. But if the supra-aither or soul-aither exists, suggests Gopinathan, then the same technique may be applied..."
  
• Echo Vibration Fragment: "...Chuang argues that the soul exists in an as-yet-undetected medium, a soul-aither as it might be. The echo is then a transitory vibration of this substance. Lacking volition or identity, the vibration is not self-sustaining. Chuang's computation of the characteristic decay time accords with observation..."
  
• Soul Mirroring Fragment: "...as alchemy's domain now encompasses the human body, the aura, and even the mind, we are left with the question of the soul. Could the human soul be can be created, destroyed, or duplicated by alchemical means? The religious answer is of course an adamant negative. Nonetheless, Nassib's investigation of the echo phenomenon is provocative, if not yet conclusive evidence of soul mirroring..."
  
• Transition Echo Fragment: "...in the three centuries since Newton and Malamed's first march, the experience of spheric transition has become commonplace. But our theory of the phenomenon remains maddeningly incomplete. The 'echo' is the most familiar mystery: the traces left behind, howsoever briefly, when any entity enters the Higher Spheres..."
  
• Homunculus Definition: "A homunculus is not a daimon or a servant. It is a seed of animation without volition, a quickening spark. It cannot act or move on its own; but in combination with other works, it may become something greater."
  
• Perfect Diamond Substitution: A perfectly flawless diamond may sometimes substitute for elemental earth, particularly when synthesizing caustic reagents.
  
• Dragon Reanimation Attempt: "It is now clear that the ritual must be performed in the Chancel. I had hoped—foolishly—that the Nave bound was sufficient; but my attempts there have provoked no reaction from the Retort at all. I suppose that, in attempting to reanimate the dragons, I am in a sense re-enacting the marcher's original investment. I must therefore maximize the sympathy with the Chancel rituals. I am not sure whether I can break through the security strictures, but I will have to try. If I fail, then—whoever finds this—you will have to try harder..."
  
• Emergency Dragon Subsumption: "If one of a marcher's dragons becomes disorganized, the vessel is in serious danger. As an emergency measure, the faulty dragon may be subsumed into an active one, transferring its functions. The composite will be unstable, but may suffice to rig the marcher to a safe berth. Place a fulcrum in the active dragon's lair." (A footnote here: "Any lair will suffice, in fact; the fulcrum merely provides leverage.") "Prepare an orderly environment and use the Marcher's Invocation. Follow with a symmetric sequence to indicate a forward transition (active dragon consuming damaged one). Conclude with the Dracon Invocation. This will summon the active dragon; one can then translate it to the presence of the other. Warning: do not allow the dragon's presence to cross the fulcrum node!"
  
• Chancel Defensive Stricture: The Chancel is protected by a defensive stricture. The gate can only be opened by someone with a recognized psychic signature.
  
• A Lecture on Aither Poisoning: "Newton presumed that the aither, as a medium, must be everywhere uniform, because physical and alchemical processes were everywhere the same. We now know the contrary: the 'laws' of natural science are properties of the aither, and currents of alien aither flow between certain stars. Marchers rarely venture through these foreign belts, for the slightest shift of chymic law poisons human life..."
  
• Alien Fluid Resonator Switch: The alien technology is controlled by liquid metal contained within a circular arc, activated by invoking or visualizing the appropriate geometric sequence.
  
• Maze Column Indicator: The polar oil will react if poured over an indigo stone column—the column in the maze of cracks.
  
• Crawlway Debris Item: Something is buried in the debris in the crawlway under the Nave. You're pretty sure you know where to search.
  
• Shadow Comment: "...and when she looked into their shadows..." That's all you overheard.
  
• Wreck Debris Indicator: The polar oil will react if poured over the ceramic debris outside the wreck.
  
• Extended Status Report: "The pylons in the Birdhouse exhibit traces of oxidation. Marcher transit in this state is risky. Recommendation: inscribe an intensional ballast and place it below the Birdhouse."