The secrets of the civilization that made the Claydol have long been forgotten, and archaeology is only beginning to discover what has been lost for so long. Yet these pokemon warp the laws of the material world in countless fascinating ways, from disrupting the flow of time to make slow pokemon move first in battle, to rewriting the laws governing matter in a way in which alchemists could only dream.
Claydol must sacrifice items to perform this alchemical magic; sometimes two, if they have obtained undesired possessions, but most often a single item will suffice. The items they sacrifice and gain range from the standard berries to remarkable treasures which men spend fortunes searching for, or that pokemon believe to be the difference between victory and defeat in every match. Yet the Claydol's magic is highly situational; at times, they have been known to sacrifice treasures for berries instead of the other way around. Because of this many have suggested that, rather than being controlled by some combination of psychic powers and chemical laws, a Claydol's magic is governed strictly by random chance.
Yet Claydol do not use this magic to accumulate vast collections in the way humans dream of using alchemy, but gather only six items at most, and frequently use up whatever they summon within days of executing their cosmic power. This habit is alien to us, and indeed often appears to do more harm than good, when they are found searching ruins desperately for items to sacrifice to summon what they need. Yet perhaps the Claydol and their 808 brethren find the human habit of carrying no more than six pokemon, no matter how useful a seventh could be for handling obstacles even when League rules ban it from battle, to be every bit as bizarre.