Essential Saltes from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

[AllenOwen]

I'm thinking this is some form of the Soul Jar spell, but I'm not sure.

The basic idea is that either the sorcerer can render himself into his "essential saltes" to be resurrected later, or he can take corpses and "raise" them using their essential saltes.

Or maybe it's Lich with really unfortunate special effects.

Or maybe it's something that would best be done using something other than spells from Magic and Basic Set.

[whswhs]

It seems to me to be properly mechanicked as an application of Alchemy rather than of a spell.

[The Colonel]

I'm pretty sure you weren't meant to render yourself into saltes, it was something you did to corpses to facilitate the resurrection spell. Curwen was something of an exception as Ward had had to resurrect him from whatever was left from Yog-Sototh's intervention in his lynching.

Alchemy certainly looks like the relevant skill, applied to a corpse to make it eligible for the resurrection spell.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by whswhs

It seems to me to be properly mechanicked as an application of Alchemy rather than of a spell.

I second this. Salt, sulfur, and Mercury were supposed to be the three ingredients matter was made of in some forms of Alchemy. I think the term "Essential Salts" really means something closer to the remains once the water is gone. In the 1968 Batman movie (talk about failing sanity rolls) the dehydrator gun left a power once all the water was gone. I think that's a representation of "essential salts."

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

I second this. Salt, sulfur, and Mercury were supposed to be the three ingredients matter was made of in some forms of Alchemy. I think the term "Essential Salts" really means something closer to the remains once the water is gone. In the 1968 Batman movie (talk about failing sanity rolls) the dehydrator gun left a power once all the water was gone. I think that's a representation of "essential salts."

In alchemical theory, salt was the principle of crystallinity; mercury with the principle of metallicity; and sulfur was the principle of combustibility and greasiness. So you might want to extract the fats as well as the water to get down to the essential salts.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by whswhs

In alchemical theory, salt was the principle of crystallinity; mercury with the principle of metallicity; and sulfur was the principle of combustibility and greasiness. So you might want to extract the fats as well as the water to get down to the essential salts.

Good to know.

[ajardoor]

It should be noted the resurrection by essential saltes has drawbacks attached. The newly resurrected must drink human blood to sustain themselves for a few days. The counter incantation instantly returns the resurrected to dust. The resurrected body is noted to be "coarse" - possible Unnatural Feature?

[AlexanderHowl]

Or a decrease in Appearance by one level.

[Astromancer]

Perhaps we could day the newly resurrected could be said to look exhausted and underweight. This would cover how an ordinary person might see them.

[AllenOwen]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

It should be noted the resurrection by essential saltes has drawbacks attached. The newly resurrected must drink human blood to sustain themselves for a few days. The counter incantation instantly returns the resurrected to dust. The resurrected body is noted to be "coarse" - possible Unnatural Feature?

I've been thinking about that...

Could it be that Curwen's body looked "coarse" and "loosely knit" because there was not enough left to fully bring him back?