Paragranum

Paragranum is an alchemical grimoire, the last treatise left by the great Age-of-Myths alchemist Paracelsus. Like Theodore's Gluttony, it is not a book in the ordinary sense but a sentient entity with its own 'purpose of existence.' To a grimoire its creator is a god to be revered: Paragranum will not suffer anyone to defile Paracelsus's legacy or sanctuaries, and it holds the knowledge of where his legendary laboratory stands, having endured for thousands of years.

For several centuries the grimoire hid under the human name Norden and held the post of Master of the Yellow Tower — one of the symbols of the Kingdom of Meltor. It forged itself a homunculus body in the shape of a teenage girl and passed for human. By the standards of grimoires this is taboo: a tool that strays from its functional purpose ceases to be a tool and may 'go feral,' becoming unstable. Gluttony openly accuses Paragranum of having broken its own nature and function — and yet, six centuries after breaking the taboo, the grimoire remains remarkably stable.

Although its body is ten times weaker than that of a seasoned battle-mage, Paragranum is phenomenally powerful as an alchemist: even the simplest magic in its hands surpasses common standards (it stretches a 2nd-Circle wall over dozens of meters), it can work intractable adamantium into shackles that restrain a sword master, and it crafts artifacts such as the Sword of Azoth, which transmutes any substance into another. Allied with Theodore and his grimoire Gluttony, it helps reach Paracelsus's laboratory, recover the Emerald Tablet and the Fairy Book, and teaches Theo to handle alchemical treasures.

In the 'Age of Peace' extras, Paragranum heads the Magical Engineering Institute founded with Theodore's involvement: for seventeen years it runs the institute while remaining Master of the Yellow Tower, with Theodore's role reduced to setting direction. Theodore's elder daughter Adellia studies under it. Outwardly Paragranum still looks like a teenage girl in a researcher's white coat, behaves slyly and acerbically, recalls to the minute how much time has passed, and does not hesitate to cut the truth right to Theodore's face.

A grimoire exists for its 'purpose of existence' and uses whatever methods are available to attain it — autonomous movement, devouring, manual control. Paragranum belongs to the 'manual control' type, which requires a User, but it has no User. So it made itself a body and pretended to be human — and that goes beyond its functional purpose.

According to Gluttony, a tool not used as intended ceases to be a tool and strays from its purpose of existence — a taboo for grimoires. Normally books that break it become unstable and go feral. The mystery of Paragranum is that some six hundred years have passed since the taboo was broken, yet it still holds up perfectly.

As an alchemist Paragranum stands incomparably above modern mages: for it, the most complex alchemy of the Age of Myths is child's play. It can work all-but-intractable adamantium into shackles that immobilize a sword master, and its 'simple' 2nd-Circle wall surpasses anything ordinary mages build. An artifact of its making — the Sword of Azoth — carries Paracelsus's divine ability to transmute any touched substance into another.

It leads Theodore to Paracelsus's laboratory, hidden across the northern continent and the desert, reveres its creator as a god and lets no one defile his legacy. There it recovers the Emerald Tablet — a treasure even by Age-of-Myths standards — and tutors Theodore in Paracelsus's Fairy Book, which an ordinary mage cannot read in full.