Orichalcum Chemistry or alchemistry refers to the logical problem of how fantastical substances can exist atomically speaking or, more generally, is the study of all fantasical substances and their (macro)properties. What would mithril look like if put under a microscope? What would a chemist or material scientist see? It would have to either look no different from another particular metal or it would be something completely unknown and confounding—but there would have to be something there.