Notes on Alchemy

Alchemy
Alchemy is the process of separating Form from Substance in objects. Substance is the actual material an object is made of, and Form is the stuff that determines what a thing is and how it behaves.

Origins of the Alchemical Process
The process is an unlikely sequence of physical and chemical filters that, to anybody with a modern scientific mindset, should not "extract" or "enhance" anything, really. However, alchemy really does work. The reason it works the slightest bit, is because it is based on the fundamental cosmic principles of how objects function as a combination of form and substance. The reason the Process works to create powerful alchemical products is that people have been refining the Process for millenia with focused diligence and a fervent belief in its efficacy. The Auction House sees value in a working Process. The Ledger has long lists of successful extractions, and the Spinning Wheel has spun long fibers of alchemical process into strong thread, which the Loom weaves into the cosmic fabric, solidly affirming its place in the cosmos.

Ashcroft's Shimmer
So you can take a diamond, and its Substance is diamond, but its Form contains things like "clear", "hard", "wealth", and "shimmering". Extract the Forms into an Extract, combine it with other "shimmering" Extracts (from a bead of water, a pearl, and fine white sand?) into a Compound, then reduce the weaker Formlets in the Compound to create a pure "shimmering" Compound. That Compound can be mixed in with water for a potion, or stirred into a cream for a salve or tincture, or folded into metal for a shimmering alloy.

I guess if you were to drink a "shimmering" potion, you'd start to shimmer, and probably everything you'd see would be shimmering as well.

Apply it as a salve, and your skin would shimmer nicely.

The shimmering metal would be great for kitschy armor and ornamental swords for some holy order or something. Maybe it should shower sparks when it its?

Anyway, back to the drugs question. Drink a "shimmer" potion, and you'd get some amazing visuals, but not really any mental high.

What Forms would contain some highs? A squirrel's tail? A rubber ball? Make a Potion of "shimmering" and "euphoria"!

Risks are if you don't manage to purify the Compounds sufficiently. Maybe you'll become rubbery (from the rubber ball), twitch (from the squirrel tail), or cold (from the diamond), or worse! "My mates and I used to do Ashcroft's Shimmer when we had a bit over at the end of the week. It's alright for the price, but these days I prefer Gatsby's Bubbly. What makes Ashcroft's nice is that it lasts all weekend — take one pot and if you're not twitching too much to reach another, your fingers are too bendy to get the cork open. 'Course, some days, if we were celebrating, we'd open a couple at a time and pour them down. You've never had a  real  laugh if you've never seen a two-dose Shimmy twisting and tumbling about, legs and arms flopping like they 'ent got bones in 'em.""Can't do that with Gatsby's Bubbly, though. Nope, can't do that with Bubbly."