The year is 1768: the Industrial Revolution has begun, and the Alchemist Guild has felt their power wane in the face of increasingly advanced technology and science- secrets that they had hoarded for generations were becoming common knowledge, mysteries that they had cultivated for generations such as the healing of disease were being replicated through chemistry, and every year more and more of their patrons go elsewhere.
In time the guild will grow paranoid and desperate- and in turn unleash hell upon England using infernal crystals, sacrificing countless children cursed to harbor daemonic essence in a doomed bid to preserve their power.
But that day is not today. Today, while it's power is waning, the Guild is still strong, influential, and powerful. You have spent your entire life traveling, learning, and working- preparing for the day you could join it and begin studying the true secrets of the cosmos.
And now that day has arrived: soon you are to arrive to the Alchemy Guild's headquarters, located on the Isle of Weird, where you will be inducted into the order as a journeyman. It had taken years of study under your master- grueling days of study in private libraries, weeks of traveling to secure rare tomes, sleepless nights spent working in the Atelier well into daylight, but you had finally achieved the means to be considered a member of high standing in the organization instead of a lowly student.
During your apprenticeship, you showed a particular aptitude for…
Select your primary Aptitude, determining which branch of alchemical research you specialize in and providing a small bonus relating to that branch, such as formulas used to manufacture items or rituals to cast spells.
[ ] Healing Magic: One of the most difficult forms of Alchemy were rituals of rejuvenation- despite the Guilds centuries of research into such things, the most that had been achieved were simple potions and medical tonics. Your own apprenticehood had been spent learning how to manufacture these substances, and you had shown a knack for it- even developing a method to create a somewhat more effective tonic of restoration through your studies and a ritual that could be used to create an area of limited- but still accelerated compared to the natural healing of the body- mending.
Gain additional * in Restoration Alchemy, start with more potent medical formulas and a single Extremely Crude Arcane Aspected healing ritual.
[ ] Weapons Creation: Life was dangerous, even for an Alchemist- many saw the manufacture of weapons as vulgar and low, but throughout your apprenticeship, you had been forced to defend yourself more often than usual. It hadn't taken you long to start learning how to make your own gunpowder or experimenting with bullets- you had even developed a special design that, when paired with your own special formula, allowed your projectiles to explode on contact.
Gain additional * in Transmutation Alchemy, start with the formula for Refined Exploding Bullets and Patron: Military.
[ ] Summoning Rituals: One of the most advanced arts of the Guild, most summoning rituals descend from the Liber Logaeth, a tome containing the language of the angels, Enochian. While you had never read the tome itself, the guild had provided your master with a partial copy- enough to enable him to create a small handful of conjurations to call forth friendly- if weak- spirits to act as familiars, which he then taught you. Gain additional * in Conjuration Alchemy, start with one Crude Divine-Aspected Conjuring Ritual.
Of course, not all your work was in the realm of the mystic- quite frequently, you had been forced to support yourself through your apprenticeship through various means other than alchemy. You were lucky- your master hadn't just been an alchemist, they were also skilled in a particular art, one they had passed down to you.
Select your Vocation- it will provide you a utility skill that will affect the shape and nature of your mystic research, provide a means of making an income, and provide you a Patron- a faction you can provide services for in exchange for money, favors, and resources, both mundane and otherwise.
[ ] Painting: Your master had been a painter whose works were frequently hung up in galleries in Paris and London- he had taught you everything he had known, painstakingly, only for you to eventually surpass him in talent. It turned out that you had a knack for portraits- to the point there had been several times that your master had used your talents to fund his own studies, repaying you by helping you befriend several rich patrons among the nobility who might purchase your services, including at least a handful of european royals.
Start with *** in Painting, start with Patron: Nobility.
[ ] Carving: Your master had been shiftless, unreliable: luckily, your father, an artist himself, had taught you stone carving. Your uncle, a french bishop, had commissioned you several times over the years, having you create various works for the church, such as statues of saints, sculptures depicting sacred relics- your real talent, however, was grotesques- specifically Gargoyles, which sold rather alarmingly well after an incident where one (supposedly) cured a possession by scaring the demon inhabiting the body out, a story that you had never verified but helped ensure that your creations had buyers more often than not.
Start with *** in Stonecarving, start with Patron: Church.
[ ] Storytelling: You had been trained by a woman with a deep and abiding fascination for fiction: your master had purchased novels from across the globe, frequently wasting money you didn't have to do so, resulting in many evenings during your apprenticeship where you had went to bed hungry. In desperation, you had eventually drafted a novel of your own using the knowledge of literature you had absorbed, attempting to sell the work to a publishing house in France- and in the process learning you were a frightfully skilled writer of horror fiction. In the years since, you've made a fairly steady income from your writings.
Start with *** in Composition, start with Patron: Academia.
[ ] Cooking: As you had traveled with your master, you had been forced to work with a variety of ingredients, in a variety of kitchens, with a variety of cooks, chefs, trailmasters, and other culinary specialists: your master was incredibly gluttonous, and while he had made sure you ate just as well, he had expected food of a certain quality. The skills you had developed left you one of the best in Europe at the art of cooking- and provided you an opportunity to make a decent amount of money off the rest of the guild, as apparently their headquarters lacked a chef to prepare them meals.
Start with *** in Cooking, start with Patron: Alchemist Guild.
Of course, neither of these had been enough to secure you a place in the guild as a journeyman- that had required you performing a rather monumental task, one that, as you journey to the guild, you find yourself pondering more and more. Was it worth it, in the end? What you paid, what you are paying, what you will pay? Time will tell- but the Guild at least thinks so.
Select your source of renown in the Guild. These provide unique abilities and opportunities: note that by default you will possess access to the Liber Logaeth ** Mystery, * Alchemists Grimoire, and a one star mono-aspect treasure determined by your sum total choices.
[ ] The Necronomicon: A series of infamous texts created by multiple generations of foreign sorcerers building upon each others knowledge, each of the seven volumes of the necronomicon was said to include more and more fel magic: the first volume was supposedly created by egyptian priests containing their holy spells to ensure safe passage into the afterlife and abjuring evil spirits. You had acquired a first edition of the third volume, the Necronomicon Ex Ryleth, written by a persian scholar and occultist who had used the knowledge of the first two volumes and his own mathematical insights to invoke strange and eldritch- though not neccesarily malevolent- gods foreign to earth and call upon long dead cthonic deities. This had been your price to enter the guild.
Start with Necronomicon Ex Ryleth, an Eldritch and Death aspected *** Mystery- Mysteries provide the means to develop extremely powerful rituals and formulas at great effort.
[ ] Unseelie Grimoire: You had quested throughout europe, traveling to the darkest of forests and the most enchanted of groves and the strangest of caves, learning all you could about the fair folk- and how to find them. It had been risky- but in the wilderness of Ireland, you had found what you were looking for: a dark fairy hailing from the kingdom of night, who you had bribed into teaching you their lunar magics and rituals in exchange for a personal sacrifice on your part. The cost had been steep, and some of it had yet to be paid, but what you had learned had allowed you to create your own grimoire and gain admittance to the guild. Start with Unseelie Grimoire, a Fairy and Moon aspected *** Generalists Grimoire- Grimoires provide multiple rituals and formulas of a given aspect immediately.
[ ] Black Chalice: Once, the devil was passing through germany, taking the guise of a man. When night fell, a peasant happened on them and invited the devil into their home, offering the devil hospitality, sharing his meager food and dwellings with what he thought was a lost traveler. As a reward, the devil gave the peasant his own drinking cup- a black chalice that would give the peasant- and all his descendants- a portion of the devils own power and authority. You had came into the chalice late into your apprenticeship, part of your inheritance after your father had finally died and you journeyed to your ancestral home, barely surviving the demons that now called it home. When the guild had learned of this and what you now possessed they had been eager to promote you to a journeyman. Start with Black Chalice, an Infernal and Arcane aspected *** Treasure- Treasures are extremely powerful and rare artifacts whose effects cannot be replicated that can be used to change a rituals aspect or strengthen rituals that they share aspects with when performing it.
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Welcome to Scholars of the Inferno, a (mostly narrative- don't expect many numbers here) quest set in the Bloodstained universe about knowledge, greed, magic, terror, heaven and hell, and the inevitability of human evil and the capacity for human virtue. In SotI, you play as the Journeyman Alchemist, newly joined to the guild, unknowing of their plan.
Year by year, you will guide them: research the mysteries, read and catalogue grimoires, and obtain what treasures you can in order to advance your art, create your magnum opus, and attempt to seize your dreams. But beware: the Great Work is already in motion, and now that it has begun,you can attempt to reduce the harm it births, but it is beyond the Journeymans ability to stop.
The Inferno is coming. Will the Journeyman survive the rising fires, or will they descend into hell with the rest of the guild?
