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> In the manga, alchemy is said to have been taught to Amestrians over 350
> years prior to the start of the series by a mysterious man known as The
> Philosopher from the East and is explained to harness the diastrophic energy
> that is released from the movement and collision of tectonic plates deep
> within the Earth's crust to power transmutation.

I am simply confused between the correlation of tectonic plates and alchemy's
power. How does the tectonic plates moving act as the fuel for any non-p.stone
transmutations??? Alkahestry's source of power being "chi", or the lifeforce
of the earth itself makes perfect sense; so why is alchemy powered by the
movement of tectonic plates? That's so random to me.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-20T06:21:03.240
50908
2019-02-20T19:56:57.510
45064
question
fullmetal-alchemist-series
Why is alchemy powered by tectonic plates?


Seriously, the most explanation we _ever_ get is this one panel in chapter 67:
[![Panel about earth energy as trasmutation energy
source.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WAHPD.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WAHPD.png)

If you're wondering how this manages to do transmutations other than earth
based ones, remember, the earth isn't the source of the transmutation itself,
just the _energy_ used in it. Just the necessary materials (the equivalent
exchange) aren't enough to perform a transmutation. You also need the knowlede
of how to rearrange the material to its new form (which is why alchemy isn't
more widely used) and the energy to actually _do_ the rearranging.

Amestris' alchemy uses the energy in the ground (previously caused by plate
tectonics, currently by... Well, let's not spoil it), while earter alkahestry
uses natural chi flows.

How?  
Never explaned beyond that one panel, since it's not really important to the
story.  
Cool action and existential philosophy are.


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2019-02-20T19:56:57.510
50912
2019-02-20T19:56:57.510
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answer