I recently read SenLinYu’s Alchemised, and after providing an in-depth analysis of the magic system, I’m ready to tackle the politics.
Honestly, I didn’t fully understand what was happening politically in this book until I finished all 1,000-plus pages of it. Alchemised is dense to say the least, and the author throws a lot at you, so it can be hard to follow along at times.
Before I get into that, though, let me first provide a brief overview of what Alchemised is about.
Alchemised is a dark fantasy novel following Helena Marino, the sole survivor of a failed resistance called the Eternal Flame. In the aftermath of a brutal war between the Eternal Flame and an extremist group of necromancers called the Undying, Helena is captured and held prisoner by her former classmate, Kaine Ferron.
Ferron, the Undying’s “High Reeve,” is tasked with recovering her memories after she’s found to have no memory of her wartime involvement before her capture. The book follows the two characters as they navigate a war-torn world full of horror, political corruption, and tragedy.
In this article, I’ll be explaining the political landscape so that you can better understand the tensions that led to the dystopia before diving into the book. I’ll be referencing elements of the magic system throughout this article, so if you haven’t versed yourself on that, you can read my last article breaking that down.
The Holdfast Dynasty
The political tensions that led to the war were largely the result of friction between the Guilds, who we’ll be discussing later, and the Holdfast Dynasty.
The Holdfasts are the ruling family of Paladia. Their claim to power is heavily rooted in religion, anchored by their ancestor Orion Holdfast, who was said to have been divinely appointed to rule Paladia by Sol, the venerated sun god, hundreds of years before the book takes place.
After becoming the first Principate of Paladia, Orion Holdfast founded modern alchemy and erected the Alchemy Institute, Paladia’s center of alchemical study, where both Helena Marino and Kaine Ferron attended before the war.
Suffice it to say, Orion’s legacy secured the Holdfast line’s authority for centuries following his death, situating them as the uncontested, divinely sanctioned religious figureheads of Paladia.
With their power, the Holdfasts were able to define society’s rules according to their own values. For example, they denounced all forms of vivimancy, holding that it was a threat to the natural order of life and death; an impurity of resonance, and a disgrace to Sol. Religious dogma is a pervasive theme within the Holdfast Dynasty.
This ideology bled into the Institute, which only taught the transmutation (or manipulation) of metals and forbade the use of vivimancy.
It also really peeved the Guilds.
The Guilds
The Guilds are Paladia’s high society. They’re each alchemically suited for a different metal, like iron, copper, and steel, and rose to power during the industrialization of Paladia, when their metals and, therefore, their resonance were an essential part of developing the infrastructure.
The most notable example of a Guild family is the Ferron line, the family to which Kaine Ferron belongs. The Ferrons are the most prominent family in the Iron Guild. They accumulated their wealth and social standing by using their resonance to monopolize the steel industry and forge the industrial framework of Paladia.
Most Guild families, like the Ferrons, resent the Holdfasts, questioning their supposed divine right to rule Paladia and rejecting superstition altogether. The Holdfasts also promote the belief that those who resonate with noble metals, such as gold (the Holdfast metal), are more divinely legitimate than those who resonate with ignoble metals, as the Guilds do.
They’re especially bitter about the Holdfasts’ sovereignty over who is allowed to study at the Institute, as the foremost priority of every Guild family is advancing their social standing.
This tension explains why the Guild students were so cruel to Helena during her time at the Institute: they resented the fact that the Holdfasts sponsored a student of no social standing from a foreign country. The Guilds believed that her spot should have been reserved for students of more “superior” birth.
The High Necromancer
Enter the High Necromancer, Morrough.
Morrough positioned himself at the center of this tension, offering the Guilds what the Holdfasts had been depriving them of since Orion became the first principate: unrestricted power.
In exchange for their loyalty, he offered them immortality, rank in his army, and the ability to practice vicimancy, animancy, and necromancy freely, which the Holdfasts had long forbidden.
They agreed, launching Paladia into a long and gruesome war between the Eternal Flame (the Holdfasts and their allies) and the Undying (Morrough and the Guilds).
The big picture
Overall, the political landscape is fascinating and goes much deeper than this once you actually learn how each character in the book is involved. Alchemised offers insight into how religion, a thirst for power, and corruption can interact to destabilize entire societies and catapult the world into darkness.
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