> I had a question that's been bugging me lately regarding alchemy.
In
> Storm Tribe, mention is made of Torvald's Alchemical Record and the
> eleven formulae it contains, and of the other Great Scrolls. Does
> anyone have any ideas on what they contain? In this regard, the
> older source material is of little use, since the understanding of
> the nature of the Alchemists has changed; I'd really appreciate any
> suggestions. Thanks!
>
> Roland Volz
The Great Scrolls mentioned in Tovald's Alchemical Record are the same ones found in "Plunder" - a little bit of homage to days gone by. They contain knowlege of sorcery, though the surviving scrolls are more concerned with alchemical processes.
The intent was that the alchemist would be able to use their spells to transform and alter materials into the kind of materials found in RQ 2 - healing salves, poisons, acids and so forth. The version that appears in Storm Tribe is considerably abreviated from the original -- justly so for they are an obscure subcult.
A few of the scrolls are less esoteric and contain spells - each is basically its own grimoire though the definition of that has changed since Hero Wars. Under HeroQuest, I might consider them to be a source of Common Magic Spells that are usuable by theists (kinda, sorta). I suspect the scrolls read like the Jonstown compendium at its worst as sorcery knowlege was transferred willy-nilly onto the Great Scrolls. Too many of them have been destroyed, damaged or lost for any coherrence to remain in the collection. There's no 'destroy leader and transfer loyalty of the populace to the caster' spells in there, that much I know.
I suspect there's no love lost between the Esluvari scholars of Saint Ankorny and the Torvaldi.
Jeff
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