BoM/TWS Message Forum

It's possible - it just takes so long because they have to discover the principles on their own.

Without the Libra (which is as much an alchemical tome as it is a necromantic one), their only basis is through alchemy - specifically, how to extract the metaphysical components. The reason why they advance if they have the book and/or do activities in Cuthbert is because one teaches the sigil itself and the other, through study of the Still, allows devising an alternative.

With both, the process becomes extremely faster because you have a method you can refine and the theory behind it (from the book). Without them, you need to (as I mentioned) discover the principles and then create a method that works. They already have a method that works - the tattoos - and they can discover how to copy and eventually extract the other components through research.

That's also why it takes twice as long to develop a way to extract anima - because they must first understand how to extract and parse memories before understanding how the mental state influences them, and thus discover the "source" of anima. However, once done, it'll have the same definition (P1, P2 for memories IIRC, P3 for anima and P4 for essentia - this is from memory, of course) and a method akin to how the Still works, but better refined (i.e., essentia and anima in liquid form).

And of course, while they lack the research at first, they have money to throw at the research to make it work. What Seuzz is saying is that Fane will find it, and all it takes is a matter of time. When that happens depends greatly on circumstances, but even the best possibility means they'll discover it in about 25 years - the only way for that *not* to happen is to destroy Fane, or at least Project Diana, altogether.

As a final note: the Libra is a treatise that gathers that information, and von G simply compilated it. The research was already there. Even if Fane has no access to alchemists that discovered it before or their research, it's only a matter of time before someone aligned to that discovers it. The way to do it already exists - it just has to be found, and Fane has enough resources to make that possible at some point in time.