Definition
Alchemy is the use or inherit magical properties of objects, as well as the laws of physics, to accomplish various tasks. There are three sub-classes:
Animation and Biological Manipulation
Astronomy
Elemental Manipulation and Transmutation
Herbology
Uses
To illustrate what Alchemical Biomancers do, I will describe the process that The Alchemist went through to create the Dettra and Homun races, as well as Phantasms and the entity known as Lucret.
Homunculus Imp: The Alchemist's first creation. this imp was made by a simple concoction being placed in a jar and developing like a fetus. These Homun are common, as they are easy to make and the concept is straightforward.
Patchwork Animal: After making his first imp, he began to think deeper about the subject of life manipulation. He began taking small animals, butchering them, and stitching bits together whilst they were still alive. It was through this that he learned much of the inner workings of the body. He was soon ready to try it on a human.
Homunculus Igor: He would, however, have to wait. News came from the western lands that an alchemist had created a fully grown, man sized homun. Never wanting to be outdone, The Alchemist began crafting his own Homun servants. He met with little success, creating deformed and dumb creatures, which he named after his deformed child who had died earlier that year. More news later came that it was, in fact, a hoax. the alchemist had simply created a flesh golem and possessed it with his wife's soul. This did not soothe his feelings of failure, but it did encourage him to stop.
Patchwork Servant: Returning to his old pursuits, The Alchemist began kidnapping people from a nearby village and vivisecting them. He would the attach pieces of animals or other humanoids to them. He met with much success. It was during one such experiment with a pregnant woman that he had a Eureka moment.
Homunculus Servant: The Alchemist realized that the needs of a man are much different than the needs of a fetus. So he raised up a new homunculus from a jar. The hour it became viable, so as to prevent it from maturing to the point of an Igor, the homun was removed and stitched to a tube in a glass cylinder. Here, The Alchemist nourished and grew it into a full, human-sized homunculus. He grew seven of them, but only three survived through the whole process. He began producing more of them and silently selling them to royals across the East.
Mutant: One of his Homun developed sorcery and was killed. The Alchemist was fascinated that his creations could develop magical abilities. He thought of the many implications of this, and was then inspired to create what he believed would be his magnum opus. The Alchemist had decided to create a race. A fully independent and self-sustaining race. He began experimenting with various plants and other magical substances. These experiments resulted in mutants, horribly deformed creatures which normally had a single trait which was extenuated.
Abomination: The Alchemist began experimenting on flesh and tissue samples. From small samples of flesh, he was able to create vicious beasts with no thought or higher function, though a very few were different, being bound to him and doing what he told them. These abominations were released into the wild and plagued the countryside. From these experiments, The Alchemist perfected means of developing certain aspects in his creations. He was finally ready to finish his work.
Detrra: In the mud pits around his castle, The Alchemist began growing his army. he designed them to be fast, strong, intelligent, the perfect warriors. And it worked very well. He created an army of free-willed servants which he used to conquer mass amounts of lands. However, he eventually grew tired of conquering and sought out a new intellectual challenge. Brought on by the death of his wife, he began questioning the very essence of life.
Flesh Golem: The first of his experiments involved attempting to raise undead without the aid of magic. After failing to raise several bodies, he crafted body parts together, replacing the damaged pieces from his invasion. He was finally successful, or so he thought. He soon realized that it was not independent, but rather bound to his direction like a golem. He dubbed them flesh golems, and made and destroyed many of them to understand their nature. He eventually realized that his process was binding lightning elementals to bodies, animating them as servants. With this knowledge, he hypothesized about souls, and then began experimenting.
Phantasm: Using herbs which were known to strengthen magical prowess, poisons which caused paralysis, a fungus with enthrallment capabilities, and a magical flower which granted far-sight (other stuff too, but these were the main ingredients) he crafted a drink meant to capture a soul. He invited a neighboring king into his kingdom for diplomacy. He poisoned the king during a toast to peace and had his warriors capture the king’s guards. each of them was robbed of their soul, which The Alchemist called Phantasms. The Alchemist experimented on them and even killed some of them, but was unable to determine what made a soul into a soul. Until one day, he had a realization.
Flesh-Craft: The Homun, even the imps, had souls. He realized that a new soul could not, yet, be created, but that souls are born from souls. He theorized that since he had been alone in creating all of the Homun, that is why they were bound to him, unable to disobey even with their free will. Taking a flesh golem, and forcing a phantasm into its body, the soul merged with the elemental, creating a new soul this he dubbed the first Flesh-craft. It was wholly independent and free from him. The next he made by merging two Phantasms into one body. they were expelled, but a new soul remained. He had found a way to alter and to reproduce souls, and all that remained was to create one.
Laural: He was able to create a soul by scooping arcane power from between realms and blasting it with psychic energy (see:Brain in a Jar)
Lucret (Clay Golem): The only way to see if he could truly create life was to use inorganic substances. He crafted a being out of clay and used a channeling apparatus to put a soul into it. While it worked, Lucret was not very happy. But this was the climax of all of The Alchemist's work. he had placed a crafted soul into an in-organic body are created life.