Is alchemy real? What is it? What does it do? What is it for? Is it like the alchemy from Fullmetal Alchemist?

It was the precursor to chemistry with the metaphysical focus of turning lead into gold and searching for everlasting life. I call it metaphysical because chemicals were believed to have certain properties (gold being of the sun, iron being masculine, etc). At it's base, it's real (chemistry). Sadly it's not like the alchemy in FMA, but they do have an interesting (and addicting) spin on it!