Alkahest Mine

Alkahest Mine

Introduction

Alkahest Mines are Duties which cost an additional Minor Merit to establish. The type of Alkahest produced will be determined by the Plane the mine is built upon or next to, with Aetherite being everywhere. On Antarok where most play takes place, one can only find Aetherite, Geomenite, and Fabulite; they might also find Imberite upon islands or within wetlands. To find Miasmite, however, they would need to establish a mine within Avernus.

A mine is a catch-all term for various operations yielding Alkahest. There are quarries, dredging operations that pull silt from rivers, and volcanic sieves that sift magma for Luxiite Dust. One might also establish non-mining operations like forests within Ælphyne where flora form Saolite Dust in their sap, and fauna grow organs with Saolite which may be processed out of their remains; these 'exceptions' would use a different set of skills for their labor, which may be applied for in the Support Forum if not covered here.

• Alkahest Mines must be owned by a Player Character in order to obtain a benefit from them via this system.
• Alkahest Mines are limited to one per Player Character, but you may split the efforts across multiple ventures narratively.

Note: Players can establish an enterprise surrounding their an Alkahest mine to narratively unify them; just bear in mind that a business and its Merited Alkahest Mine are two different things in terms of their costs and benefits.

Labor

Labor is the sum of Deepcraft Skill belonging to the workers at a claim. Each tier of Deepcraft Skill is worth 1 Labor, meaning 3,333 Journeyman workers would equate to 3 Labor each, or 9,999 Labor. Owned NPCs may contribute their Deepcraft skill as labor, and every NPC has at least Novice Deepcraft. Hired Hands or Formations are often used for these, but Artificers can manufacture servants wielding the Deepcraft skill just as well.

Necromancy aided by Malediction is by far the easiest way to attain cheap labor.

Labor Bonuses

Note: Please incorporate Labor and any bonuses into the write-ups of minions and creations on your Character Sheet. Authors must at least reference creating these bonuses in-character for them to apply. "Viktor spent the last two weeks using Malediction to alter ten of his Ghouls with a heightened muscle mass" would suffice as the bare minimum.

Terra Bonus

Terra or its Exalts are worth 1 Labor at Novice, 5 Labor at Apprentice, 15 Labor at Journeyman, 50 at Expert, 150 at Master, and 500 at Ascended per Spell Reserve at that tier.

Animism Bonus

• Animists may add Labor for CR4 or greater Animal Familiars, provided they are used as beasts of burden.
  • CR4 = 10 Labor, CR5 = 50 Labor, CR6 = 150 Labor for a total of up to 390 Labor per Grandmaster Animist.
  • Animal Familiar labor may not be multiplied, only added to; the Ownership Multiplier may still be applied.

Flesh Shaping Bonus

• When altered severely with Malediction or Devorare for the purpose of Deepcraft:
  • Any worker (including Animal Familiars (CR 4+)) may add 1 Labor per skill tier of the Malediction/Devorare and Sculpting skills used to create them.
  • Tethered beings without free will add 0.20 of their Tether amount per Malediction/Devorare skill tier used as Labor.
    • Death Knights only contribute whatever else they are, meaning a Goliath Death Knight will only be worth 500 Tethers for this purpose.
    • Minions Tethered by a Death Knight may contribute their Tether bonus.
    • In place of Malediction as a Vitæ, use Draoidh for the Tether multiplier and additional Labor per tier; Carpentry may also be used for Labor per tier.

Automata Bonus

• Aligned Tools or Automata made from at least 1 gram of Geomenite Dust will double the Deepcraft labor of their wielder.
• Automata add 1 additional Labor per tier of Artifice and Engineering skill used in their make.
• Automata add 1 additional Labor per tier of one skill between Smithing, Sculpting, or Carpentry if they are used in their make.
• Automata designed for Deepcraft add additional Labor depending on the size of their Nexus.
  • Dust = 1 Labor, Sliver = 5 Labor, Shard = 15 Labor, Crystal = 50 Labor, Sphere = 150 Labor, Globe = 500 Labor
    • This is further multiplied by the Aligned Tool bonus.

Example: Viktor the Lich is designing a Tethered Draugr Goliath with Apprentice Deepcraft (2), further altered with Expert Malediction (5 + (0.80 * 100) + (0.80 * 500)) and Journeyman Sculpting (3) for a total of 490 Labor. He makes them an Aligned Drill crafted from a Shard of Geomenite using Expert Artifice (4), Apprentice Engineering (2), and Master Smithing (5) while the Automata itself possesses Journeyman Deepcraft (3) for a total of 14 additional Labor. Adding these together and then doubling the amount due to the Geomenite drill being Geomenite Aligned (504 x 2), Viktor's Goliath contributes 1,008 Labor.

Ownership Multiplier

The total sum of Labor may be multiplied additively by an additional .1 per tier skill beginning with Journeyman in Deepcraft, Mysticism, Alchemistry, Architecture, Business, Economics, Acting, Tactics, Security, and Espionage, from among the skills of the Player Character or one of their CNPCs, whichever is highest. Journeyman is .1, Expert is .2, Master is .3, while Grandmaster is .4.

Labor Rewards

Labor converts to grams of Dust, and additional SP multiplier according to the chart below. Fractional amounts of Labor towards the next tier do not award Alkahest; you must reach that level of labor.

• 1 Labor: 1 Gram / Season; 10 SP Multiplier
• 3 Labor: 3 Grams / Season; 20 SP Multiplier
• 10 Labor: 9 Grams / Season; 30 SP Multiplier
• 100 Labor: 27 Grams / Season; 40 SP Multiplier
• 1,000 Labor: 81 Grams / Season; 50 SP Multiplier
• 10,000 Labor: 243 Grams / Season; 60 SP Multiplier
• 100,000 Labor: 829 Grams / Season; 70 SP Multiplier

Warning: Reaching 100,000 Labor is intended to be difficult. Consult a Storyteller if you are attempting this. An economy might not support the availability of claims, manpower, or resources necessary, so you may need to split your operations across multiple mines, sometimes across multiple nations and even Planes.

Alchemistry

If the Player Character or one of their CNPCs possesses Alchemistry, they condense their awarded Alkahest into Slivers, Shards, and so on based on equivalent-tier skill. By Journeyman, they may also convert their Alkahest to any other variant.

Exceptions

Exceptions exist for specific and unique operations.

• One who farms flora for Saolite would use Ranching in place of Deepcraft, and Draoidh in place of Terra.
• One who farms fauna for Saolite would use Ranching in place of Deepcraft, and Nimhea in place of Terra.
• Exceptions may be perverted by being a Null in order to manufacture Absentite, usually within a Tumbledown.

These other methods are rarely as labor efficient as Aligned Tools will not apply. However, there is nothing stopping a character from splitting their efforts between exceptions and their main operation to attain a higher total Labor Reward.