Alchemy

Alchemy is the study of changing matter from one form into another. It requires an understanding of the elements and knot theory. Many common magical objects employ or are directly a result of alchemy. The casting of Nitor and all other flame magic, and the famous color displays in Crowpart known as the Color Strife are the most well known.

Alchemy in the Iylanomicon
Alchemy is mentioned very passingly in the Iylanomicon, this is mainly the result of it being more of a catalog or sorts on the natural world and not instructional passages or items. The mentions of alchemy are more oddities and basics than things as advanced or in depth as the other areas the Iylanomicon mentions such as Animal Husbandry or Rock Classification, leading many to believe that alchemy is either an eternally imperfect science or that pages are missing/still need to be written.

Knot Theory
The Iylanomiconis written in Dilunian so the texts offered bellow explaining knot theory are more general translations that actual quotes from the manuscripts.

Basics & Notation
All matter is composed of quantinum which exist only in closed loops. There are 6 distinct quantina which make up all matter, Aer, Ordo, Aqua, Terra, Ignis, and Perdito. These are known as the Primal Aspects. Pictured on the right is an example of one of the simplest knots. This is called a O311Knot. Knot naming notation follows the naming scheme of

(Primal Aspect Abbrevation)(Number of Cross overs*)(number of quantinum)(number in series)

The abbreviations for the Primal Aspects are (respectively) A, O, Q, T, I, P

The drawing of knots has rules as well. The primal aspects each have an associated color, they are (again respectively) Yellow, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Black. In the knot pictured, remember that it is a closed loop. The apparent breaks in the quantinum represent where it passes underneath itself.

Higher Order Knots
Here is a simple chart showing many types of knots.

As knots gain more and more twists, they store more and more Potentia. Potentia is the same as energy in that it is the ability to do work, but it is important to note that the two are not the same. Potentia is strictly in changing knots. A boiling pot will have both energy and potentia.

As quantinum gain more twists, they can appear to change into different forms. For example, the different classifications of stone are simply different knots of Terra.

Taking Terra as an example, out of the 4 major classifications of stone, 3 of them are directly linked to knots. (Sedimentary rock is made up of a multitude of rocks and thus does not have one type of knot, working with it requires an understanding of Average Twist Number or ATN)

There are Igneous Intrusive rocks are Terra ranging from 011to 512. The next batch of rock, Igneous Extrusive, occupies the next bunch, with Metamorphic occupying the last. It is now worth mentioning the difference between knots with the same number of twists but different shapes. These such knots, such as 511and 512 are called Serial Sets. They contain the same potentia as each other but have it stored in different forms.

Not all primal aspects react in a similar way to having an increase in knots. Aqua for example is very good at remaining the same with many twists. The difference between Q11and Q1001is almost nothing. This is what makes Aqua so good at harboring life. It is incredibly resiliant to potentia and thus can act as a regulator, holding otherwise unstable Multiknots together. For example, Nitor (which is actually a series of multiknots) is a sustained flame, its series is made up of 3 Ignis and 1 Aqua, written 3I1Q. The constant light it emits are due to it being unstable, millions of times a second, the twists in the ignis knots undo themselves, forcing the changes onto their neighbor which then becomes unstable, and the cycle repeats. This is incredibly prone to decay however, the three will unlink within seconds of being bonded. This is because the time it takes for one of the Ignis to correct it's shape is on average smaller than the time it takes for the potentia to make its way back. With the addition of Aqua, the occasional quick potentia is slowed, regulating the tying and untying.

Tying Quantinum
More than 1 quantinum can exist in one knot as a time. These are called Multiknots. The 6 Primal Aspects can combine to produce and additional 42 aspects which make up everything in the world. The tying and untying of quantinum and how different knots and multiknots behaveis the study of alchemy. Skill is needed to understand and picture complex knots as well as how to quickly and effectively alter them to make new matter.