Advanced Alchemical Equipment

The greatest alchemical operations need two specialized pieces of apparatus, and because alchemy is such a personal craft, each alchemist must build his or her own. An aludel or athanor that is bought or otherwise acquired cannot be used for high-level work, so they are rarely traded. Building either needs a fully equipped laboratory and succeeds 99% of the time.

The aludel is the alchemist's philosophical vase. The maker spends two weeks isolating a large quantity of Rare Earths, works in 12 carats of powdered quartz and 7 fluid ounces of clear water to form a clay-like paste, shapes a sealable urn about a foot tall, and fires it for two weeks. The athanor, the philosophical furnace, is made the same way but uses 100 carats of quartz and a month of isolating Rare Earths, and it must then be kept fired for a full month to cure before use.