12F/13R/SOLFAX Headcanon
Membership in Merkur's Principal Chymists' Guild looks like stodgy and stolid affair -- a massive stack of holofoil paperwork on the proctor's desk. Unwary or inattentive students will take the stack and begin to work. These, to a one, will fail. Those who complete more than half the exam will not be given a second examination for at least seven years or one good cranial trauma have passed.
12F/13R/SOLFAX Headcanon
Students who ask the proctor for the final will instead receive a flask and be told to proceed to one of the primary labs at a nearby academy and present it. Students who follow directions will receive instructions on how to dissolve the flask's seal without damaging its contents.
The flask is always empty aside from a single holofoil leaf, on which are the words, "DESCRIBE THE CONTENTS."
12F/13R/SOLFAX Headcanon
The student of barest licensure will write a simple paper on the properties of the holofoil, the air sample within the flask, or perhaps the lining of the flask itself. These will receive probationary accreditation but must be assigned a mentor to monitor their growth within the organization.
The student that refutes that there is anything in the flask to describe will be referred to the philosophy department.
12F/13R/SOLFAX Headcanon
The student destined for full membership in the Guild is the one that, presented an empty flask and instructions to describe its contents, fills the flask first, the more esoteric the reagent the better. Top honors to the student who finds a different container, or refits the flask to accommodate some other substance entirely. The more accurate and thorough the analysis, the better; an encyclopedic breakdown of water beats a cursory inspection of orichalcum.