Alchemy

Alchemy is the science of manipulating anomalous materials to produce other anomalous materials. The Union Council of Alchemist Houses regulates the schools of alchemy, of which there are five. The oldest house is considered black knowledge, so it will not be placed on the table here. The general practice of alchemy is only barely divorced from the sort of anomalies created by wizards, albeit used via a set of equipment instead of a set of mutations, though the alchemy houses do employ wizards who have lost one or more organs and buy undocumented wizards as slaves to help with their research.

The common theory as to how mankind figured out how to manipulate anomalous materials with relative safety is well-documented, having been assembled from notes and equations left by Zosimos of Panopolis, who was the first to devise preventative measures that would work consistently. Before the Egyptian Method was formulated in a manner that would allow for it to be performed anywhere, localized methods had to be used with varying levels of success. Many common effects of less effective methods of protection would include uncontrollable ritualistic behaviour, anomalous effects transfering from the initial host object to the handler, and uncontrollable diarrhea after the use of such methods.

The reason fully-documented, able-bodied wizards are not allowed to take part in alchemy is simple; they are still able to use their abilities as a mage relatively freely, there's no reason for their abilities to be outsourced. Working under a school of alchemy is essentially acceptance of an excommunication from primary wizard culture, as the Association sees them as imposters or frauds, and only provide funding and work because they similarly can't be made open to the public.

Due to their tendency to accept crippled mages, it is accepted that the Alchemists are more humanitarian than the Association, despite the fact that both still employ the use of slave labour for different purposes. It is important to at least note that emancipation through the Alchemists is possible if an undocumented mage proves themselves to be worthy of recognition as a citizen within secret society, though the acts required to earn that right are often ridiculous to expect just one person to accomplish. Additionally, assigned living spaces for these individuals are of somewhat higher quality, as the union frequently inspects each branch to make sure the constituents of each school of alchemy are kept in a state of good health and high spirits.

Currently, it is speculated that each house of alchemy has over 50,000 members each, though it has been [INFORMATION SCRUBBED FROM PUBLIC RECORD] years since the last census was held.