The Flavours of Creation

by CARFOLIN

The field of alchemistry has a depth far greater than the misconception it is merely the mixing of ingredients to form new concoctions. But to truly master this art, you must have an understanding of the elements of creation and how to utilize the properties they exhibit.

It is common knowledge the physical environment is made up of varying combinations of the four elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water. But an alchemist must also recognize that everything can be interpreted through a number of commonly found characteristics known as ‘flavours’.

Everything from the sky above to the land below can be represented by these flavours which the alchemist can recognize to understand the uses for that component.

The five primary flavours are:
1. Strength: this gives an object physical power. A Minotaur exhibits strength through its toughness and a rock through its hardness.
2. Knowledge: this comes in two forms: natural knowledge and learned knowledge. The former is the instinct of the warrior or the wisdom of a philosopher. The latter is the intelligence of a scholar learned through study rather than experience.
3. Health: all creatures have the natural ability to heal themselves when injured. Some plants and herbs have tendencies for accelerating the body’s natural healing processes.
4. Grace: this describes the ability of controlled and elegant movements. A creature with grace has superior coordination and agility.
5. Beauty: this is the good that can be seen in others as well as their exterior appearance. The creations of O’Ma often illustrate this flavour as do many plants through their flowers.

It is important to realize that these flavours all possess direct opposites which demonstrate the contradicting properties. For strength there is weakness, for knowledge there is ignorance, for health there is infirmity, for grace there is inelegance and for beauty repulsiveness. Yet they can still be induced to release the desirable qualities. For every poison there is an antidote yet only a skilled alchemist should attempt to extrapolate the good from the bad as carelessness can have dire consequences.

Aside from the five primary flavours, there are countless secondary properties which can only be assigned within subgroups. There are too many to list, but an experienced alchemist will learn each of these subconsciously and develop and even broader understanding of the elements of creation. It is only with this familiarity that an alchemist can learn the true nature of his or her work and it is then that the infinite possibilities of the field of alchemistry are truly open two the individual.