There is an old experiment, where a glass jar is filled with plants and small animals. If the initial conditions are set up right, our enclosure will stay alive and remain healthy indefinitely. The world is very similar to such an enclosure.

Philosophy

It is deliberation that distills wisdom from a cloud of nonsense. Philosophers have long pondered the fundamental principles of the world and compiled libraries’ worth of books on the matter. The world is thus established to be composed of subjects, which themselves are composed of smaller subjects—from the totality of our enclosure to the smallest elemental particulates. Each subject is a collection of qualities: flexible and brittle, subtle and gross, feminine and masculine—and myriads more.

Distinct particulates can be related on grounds of materiality: those with identical qualities share a material; others are merely related. It is a time-honored practice to chart known materials in the shape of an incestuous family tree. The root is the theoretical prima materia, the ancestor of all substance, and as we climb into higher tiers of exaltation, we see rarer elements like ichor and adamant.

Besides a shape, the world also has a nature. And, as totality is represented in the subject, so does the nature of the world orient everything. This means that a natural life is a virtuous and balanced one. Attention should be paid to one’s actions, intentions, motions and conditions. As the brief A Theriac for Ignorance notes on its first page, “One is the alchemist of one’s life.” This topic is the source of much disagreement between philosophers.

• Motionalists say: “If you are afloat in the river, do not move lest you be deposited. If you are in the silt, do not move lest you be pulled into the flow.”
• Intentionalists say: “This orchard calls for delicate hands. Cultivate responsibly and you shall enjoy a plentiful harvest and a fulfilling meal.”
• Substantialists say: “Beauty is ubiquitous. Stop to ponder a flower so that you can make sense of it. Sing of it so that others are delighted also.”

The subjects of the world exist between a tetrad of modes:

Symbol	Description
	Stasis is the conservation of qualities over time. Bodies resist disease, and cliffs shrug off erosion. It is the mode that gives the world a recognizable shape.
	Creation is the appearance of a new subject with a novel set of qualities. It is the fundamental mechanism behind childbirth and the spontaneous generation of metals underground.
	Change is the alteration of a subject’s qualities: growth, development, mutation. It is the world’s ability to reshape itself and adapt to a constantly evolving system of complex interactions.
	Destruction is when a subject’s qualities are decoupled from each other as the subject ceases to exist. It is the moment of death, it is digestion and dissolution.

A process describes an interplay of modes achieved in a specific manner—think trituration, assation, purgation or mortification. For the most comprehensive list, one should consult the original printing of the Divine Chemistry. There are many methods and catalysts that help the alchemist achieve their desired effect. Some are natural like thrashing storms, nourishing rains or rare celestial events. Others are man-made like mutagen baths, bimetallic talismans, rubedic stains or hermetic preservatives.

There are countless paths for material transmutation. Elements of like affinities can forge alliances as solutions and alloys, while the alchemical marriage of complementary materials begets others. Exalting a base element into a noble one would involve dozens of convoluted steps.

Chronology

Dice and cards are tools for gamblers and charlatans. Chronologists consult astrological charts and historical records to reconstruct the past. They use arithmetic formulas and calculator devices to forecast future events.

Current theories hold that time is finite, its borders being a pair of full conjunctions, when all the heavens align. As stated in the excellent Temporal Vivisection, scholars recognize three epochs between these projected events, each signifying a distinct state in the nature of the world:

1. It all began with the Juvenile Epoch. Like a proliferation of bubbles, the universal unity spontaneously divided into particulates. Then came the individuation of subjects and the congelation of the planets. This is where the simplest shapes dominated: bare plains, hardy lichens and cold-blooded worms. People were of cruder dispositions, and their societies were of the most base archetype.
2. In the Mature Epoch, the world acquired its current splendor and complexity. Nature grew in diversity, producing shapes from the pleasant to the monstrous: the vitrified sap of a wounded tree, the pulverizing avalanche or the flight of the short-lived alerions. This is also the age of true civilization and the age we reside in.
3. The Senile Epoch will be the final age, an age of decadence and decay. It will bring a degeneration of diversity and complexity before the universe collapses back into its homogenous state.

Looking up, one can discern the arrangement of the heavens. The five polyhedral planets are suspended between the two celestial layers. The planets orbit the World Axis, while the layers evolve in their own way. Planetary positions, especially their conjunctions, are important catalysts charged with meaning. Like with humoral imbalances in the body, calamities can come from misalignments in the celestial spheres.

Symbol	Description
	The Ventiment is the domain of the shifting winds. Early in the year, cold rushes in from the north, then comes the humid air of the east, the scalding winds of the south and finally the drought of the west. The airs of the four corners mix above the continents shaping their unique climes and environs. It is thought that the winds keep the planets from falling out of the sky.
	The Tetrahedron has the lowest orbit. It governs the elements; the building blocks and fundamental mechanisms of the world: the stone, the storm, the ocean waves. The four faces stand for the states of matter.
	The Hexahedron rules the sensitive and reactive properties of all living beings. It is the most obvious of living motions: the opening and closing of flowers, the fruiting of trees, the spread of mold. The faces represent the six vital humors.
	The Octahedron presides over desire and movement. It is animal instinct: the drive to hunt, mating cries, metamorphosis inside a cocoon. The eight faces represent the fundamental passions.
	The Dodecahedron, lords over reason and intellect. It is conscious thought: a world-changing innovation, a fierce debate, things going according to plan. Its faces are associated with the twelve areas of learning.
	The Icosahedron flies highest in the sky. It governs morals and ideals; lofty aspirations: a society’s moral character, a uniting purpose, a distinct way of life. Each of the twenty faces represents a universal virtue.
	The Firmament is the dome that encloses our world. A reversible reaction occurs on its inner surface. Each day, it displays the metallic shades of day and night. The hours go from silver dawn to golden noon and copper dusk, then a dark patina settles on the sky for the night.

Geography

Geographers collect the accounts of travelers or set out themselves and record peculiarities of land and sea. The well-traveled know very well that our world is flat and circular. The controversial Greater Book of Materials suggests that like a coin, it holds another surface on the obverse. Others envision worlds superior and inferior stacked like the pans of a distillation tower. Many places remain uncharted still, full of treasures waiting to be discovered: the Sunken City of Philosophers, the Well of Revivification or the fabulous Vapors of Exaltation.

The Atlas Ventimentis pictures the world as such:

Six seas divide the land into four continents. The peaceful waters of the Internal Sea sit around the World Axis; where the compass points. And encircling everything is the External Sea with its far side against the Firmament. Like the spokes of a wheel, four others stretch radially between these two. The surface of the Boreal Sea remains dead still throughout the year, always covered in a thin skin of ice. Above the unfathomable bed of the Oriental Sea, islands drift about on the backs of hulking aspidochelons. Warm waters blanket the coral reefs of the Austral Sea, its surface steaming in the summer. From the Occidental Sea, canals reach deep inland, while countless muddy islands uncover themselves at low tide.