Marienburg: The Alchemists' Guild

By Aleksander Grocz

The Alchemists' Guild is placed on an island outside the city walls, for the same reasons as the Glassblowers' Guild: the frequent explosions threatened the city's safety, and after a rather big one in 2398 the Directorate decided that the Guild should be placed somewhere where experiments gone awry could do little to no harm. And so, the Guild moved to an island outside the eastern city wall, near Rijkspoort.

The Guild's many towers and chimneys make it look very impressing and awe-inspiring to fresh students. There is always smoke rising from the chimneys, but one is never sure whether it's a sign of an experiment being successfully completed, or an omen of yet another disaster. The docking area of the island has the form of the letter T. On the right, the guests dock their vessels, on the left the laborers who bring in fresh supplies.

The island has the shape of a small hill: the Guildhouse stands on top of it. From the docks two stairways lead to the Guild: the rather steep one leads to the official entrance, the more or less horizontal one takes you to the (guarded) entrance of the guild's basement, where supplies are stored. The way is kept horizontal so as to lessen the chance of laborers tripping, falling and breaking valuable goods.

The basement entrance is guarded by two bodyguards hired from Marquandt's Escorts on a permanent basis, Bonno van Dijk and Berend van Haard, rather big and muscled lads. They are well paid and thus hard to bribe (-20%). The basement's administration is run by Claudius Mestrom, a small balding man who wears his (false) spectacles just to add prestige to his persona: his sight is otherwise just fine. He always has writing equipment on him, and is always to be found somewhere around the basement.

The main entrance is a large (4 m. high, 3 m. wide) wooden gate decorated with ornate metal bars. There is a smaller, man-sized door in the gate used for day-to-day traffic. The main gate is only opened when the annual procession takes place, since rather large banners picturing the guild's emblems etc. are then carried out as the procession journeys through the city (after being brought there by large enough a barge).

In the smaller door is a peephole, which opens at the sound of a knock to reveal the gatekeeper's bloodshot eyes. The Gatekeeper is Thomas Urbanus, an ex-servant, who was promoted to the rank of Gatekeeper after becoming too old to move around a lot (and yes, servants do that). Few people leave the premises, and even less come to visit, so Thomas's job is a pretty dull one. To kill the time he's resorted to drinking, so he's usually drunk. But he's very alert nonetheless. He gets very excited whenever someone knocks at the door and he loves to play the 'hard gatekeeper' and give the guests a hard time, unless of course he has been warned by The Board that someone important is coming to visit.

The fact that the Guild is built on a large and not-too-rocky island allowed the architects to design very spacious rooms. When one enters the Guild, he finds himself in a large and long corridor (4,5 m. high and 4 m. broad). The lower (2 m) walls exist of pillars behind which runs a corridor (on both sides) with entrances to the apprentices common rooms. This also strengthens the feel of space. The higher walls (above 2 m.) are lined with portraits of the former Master Alchemists, together with ornate weapons to represent the important military role the guild plays (yes, manufacturing gunpowder -is- an important role).

The common rooms exist of simple beds, a few cupboards, chamberpots and a large oak table, at which the apprentices consume their breakfast and supper. The apprentices' comfort is kept to a minimum.

There aren't so many apprentices, so the rest of the space on the ground floor is occupied by the rooms where senior Alchemists conduct experiments, while they're assisted by their apprentices.

Each such room is equipped with all things necessary - fire places, tables filled with all sorts of glass (!) bottles and phials (each alchemist with his apprentices is assigned to a different table).

Trapdoors in both rooms lead to the basement, where fresh supplies can be obtained.

The corridor ends with a large, glass stained window which allows a distorted view of the small garden which is placed behind the guild house for relaxation purposes. An imperial gardener, Helmut Öl, takes care of it during the summer.

At the end of the corridor, there are beautiful ornate stairs on both sides that lead to the first floor.

The stairs to the left lead to the Senior Alchemists' quarters. The corridor that gives access to the Alchemist's chambers, ends in a dining room, where the Senior Alchemists and The Administrative Body feast, I mean eat.

Alchemists aren't the most social types, and some of them prefer total isolation. For such people the architects have designed the small towers, where they can conduct their experiments in peace.

If you follow the stairs to the right, you will find yourself in the space where the guild's Administrative Body and the Master Alchemist reside. The Administrators keep track of the outcomes and the incomes of the guild. The representative of the Administrators and the Senior Alchemists form together with the Master Alchemist Board. Besides the Guild's working room and the Master Alchemist's quarters, this part of the guild also contains the meeting room, where The Board meets and receives important guests.

The Board exists of: Robert Rinnoy-Kan, the head of the Administrators, Maximiliaan de Leeuw, the representative of the Senior Alchemists, and Robbert-Jan van Hooff, the Master Alchemist.

Rinnoy-Kan is a sharp, flexible man in his late thirties. An ambitious person indeed, he has a natural gift for mathematics but isn't a bad alchemist either. He's always willing to cut the Alchemist's privileges short if it would improve the guilds financial status, which hasn't earned him much sympathy from the other Alchemists, but he's not too worried about that.

He's a bit arrogant, and likes to command people around, but he does his job very well.

De Leeuw, a stout man in his fifties is always fighting for 'the rights' of the Alchemists. He wants longer brakes, more extensive meals, etc. etc. he usually ends up in an argument with Robert, and Robbert-Jan van Hooff, a 60 years old chubby alchemist is usually the one to end the dispute, giving his vote for one of the two. He tends to stick on Max's side, since the prospect of larger meals appeals to him very much. He's a weak-willed man who only got his position because he seemed harmless enough.

Of course, the Alchemists present in the guild aren't the only alchemists in Marienburg: the ones that reside here are the best who have decided to share their knowledge with young students.

Claycle's Comments The Alchemists' Guild is vital to the defense of Marienburg. One of the Guild's closest held secrets is the formula for Dragonfire, a highly explosive liquid mixture similar to, but much more powerful than, the Reman Fire used in ancient ship-to-ship warfare. The original formula was stolen by a band of Tilean alchemists-adventurers travelling in Cathay from the Thousand Red Lotus Eaters Cult of Yung Chiu Ji Shan. The Thousand Red Lotus Eaters did not give up their secret easily, and only one of the alchemist-adventurers survived, remembered today as Marco Marco. Cursed and hunted by the Cult's dreaded Shui Mu Guei Guai, spirit-assassins capable of travelling the oceans, Marco Marco headed for Marienburg, hoping to find safe refuge there. At first, the Guild greeted him with skepticism, but after he demonstrated and paid for his asylum with the secret recipe for Long-huo, dragon-fire, they agreed to take him in. Within a week, Marco Marco was dead, found with ten jellyfish stuffed down his gullet, but the Guild still had the secret of Long-huo. To this day, the Guild still fears retribution from the Thousand Red Lotus Eaters, although they have revealed this secret to no one outside the Guild. The Guild's paranoia about the Thousand Red Lotus Eaters is extreme. Guild members are suspicious of all Orientals as a result and are prone to blame the smallest accident on sabotage by the Lotus Eaters. The Guild funds a small, secret, elite force of alchemist-assassins who expend their efforts magically and physically guarding the Guild's secrets and members. The Guild is willing, but generally loathe, to manufacture Long-huo because of its expense and danger. The substance requires, unsurprisingly, esoteric components such as certain glands from dragons. It does not keep and grows more unstable over time. Nevertheless, the Guild could manufacture about 100 gallons of Long-huo in a little over a month's time. The Directorate of Marienburg is aware of this, as well as the astronomical cost. Long-huo, the Dragonfire: 1 pint Long-huo "Dragonfire" has the following properties: If placed in a container and lit, it will explode with a force of 4 + 10D6 Wounds, with a radius of 30 yards (subtract 1D6/3 yards from explosion). Everything with 15 yards of the explosion must make an I test or be soaked with flaming Long-huo. Anything covered Long-huo will become flammable and burn for at least 1 minute (6 rounds), taking 4 + 2D4 W per round of burning Neither dousing Long-huo in water or depriving the substance of oxygen has any effect on it while it is burning. As Long-huo grows older, it becomes more unstable. Each day, there is a 1% cumulative chance that the liquid with spontaneously combust. The liquid will automatically combust if it ever takes 1 W of damage. To handle Long-huo safely, the character must know the Specialist Weapon skill, Specialist Weapon - Long-huo; obviously, the two places in the world to learn this skill are from the Marienburg Alchemists' Guild and the Thousand Red Lotus Eaters Cult.

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