Jabirean Alchemist
The Alchemists are the battlefield mystics and artificers of the Great Sultanate of the Iron Wall, schooled in the hidden knowledge of the legendary Smaragdine Tablet within the House of Wisdom. Admission is open to any with will and intellect deemed sufficient, be they man or woman.
To become an Alchemist is no easy task: they undergo many trials on their path to mastery. First are the countless lessons of the newly initiated – studying the Jabirean Corpus, translating the Keys of Solomon and learning all the Fundamental Disciplines of their primaeval science. Only after seven years of study, under the watchful and exacting eyes of the High Alchemagi, is an aspirant allowed to attempt the Three Trials required for full membership in the Order.
The first trial is to create a suit of Alchemist’s armour which protects against harm. This is an essential tool of their craft, festooned with the Seals of Solomon which enables them to bend the elements of Creation to their will and shields them even from the devices of Hell.
Next, they must create a takwin servant, a Homunculus creature of artificial life and intellect. If the candidate manages to follow the complex formula, as well as the intricate timing and temperature requirements, the creature will emerge after forty days of toil. It will act as the Alchemist’s living tool of creation, for their hands have fine motor skills well beyond even the nimblest craftsman. Vaguely shaped like a small human, it can change the consistency of its body to an almost liquid-like slime to squeeze into alchemical chambers to do their master’s bidding in extreme temperatures and in the fog of poisonous chemical fumes. Many aspirants fail here and their creation emerges from its golden celestial sphere a deformed monstrosity, filled with hatred towards its creator. It burrows itself into the Alchemist’s body to consume it from within, wearing its would-be master as a skin.
The third and final test is opening their Third Eye, the key to cosmic illumination which allows them to see the building blocks of Creation and thus be able to ensure that the elements they use are in perfect balance. Those that fail their final test are horribly changed. Their Third Eye swells to nightmare proportions and melds with their original pair, driving the aspirant mad during the process of their deformation. They spend the rest of their pitiful lives screaming of the unseen horrors all around now revealed to them. Out of mercy, alchemists that fail in this way are often put down, but there are rumours of cabals of these living failures kept alive for reasons unknown.
An Alchemist that has passed all three trials is formidable indeed: a master of esoteric powers, able to control fire and ice, metal and liquid; capable of creating intricate mechanical devices and artificial life as well as weapons of calamitous potency. In exchange for the freedom to practise their arts, the Alchemists supply the Sultanate with the peerless Jabirean battle lions, and serve on the front lines where their devastating alchemical compounds melt the flesh from the bones of enemies of the Believers, dissolving through even the toughest armour.