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this is old news, moved here from the old Forum so the information is on record)
Because of debates regarding shamanic abilities and elements and other such things, I decided to put together an official set of guidelines concerning the Elements, for Lismore.
Ash has been teaching a few people about elemental magic IC, so, so that I don't have to say the same thing over and over and over, this also serves as my IC introduction to elemental concepts.
Let's make a few things clear first: This here explains magical concepts in a Fantasy setting. I tried my best to conciliate them with what we know of the world with physics and chemestry, to make them more believable and not so much of a macguffin, but in the end this is still
magic.
Also, A LOT! of research went into this. I researched the classical four elements concepts from ancient civilizations and the Asian cultures take on the elements. I didn't just make stuff up from nowhere, because I wanted this to have a firm root in what was actually believed on many centuries ago (and some people still believe in it today).
While I'd like to think this chart is as good as it gets, and it amalgamates and conciliates pretty much everything that is out there about the elements that wasn't just put together by some fantasy author who wanted a cool name and familiar concept for his stories, I'm open to suggestions. So if you think something needs to be changed, just post here on this thread and we'll discuss it.
This thread is temporary. Once all debating is done, I will make a permanent version of it to point out as reference for anyone wanting to know about the elements.
The info from here below can be considered IC information you could acquire at the library or from someone with in-depth knowledge on this.
To begin with, Elements have gender polarity: Some are more relatable to the masculine gender, others are more relatale to the feminine gender. It's not entirely clear how that affects those who tap into elemental power, but usually there's no conscious choice for masculine or feminine elements.
In the chart above, the four primary elements are displayed on each quarter of the circle.
The typical places associated with each element are expresed on the ring by the element's name.
The biggest ring contains the foremost characteristics of each element, and in some cases, some characteristics are strong enough to be considered sub-elements themselves. Some cultures see sub-elements as main elements. The order of the characteristics is not random. The closest a characteristic is to the center of the ring under its corresponding element, the stronger the association with that element. Characteristics that are close to the border of another element are said to have a strong influence from that other element, and in some cases they can actually overlap.
On the inner rings, first we have properties of the elements (for example, Earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold); then, the time of the day the element is associated with, with the season of the year the element is associated with. Similar properties can be found on the ring with the name of the elements, where they meet with another element, expressing the effect the conjunction produces.
The innermost quarters of the circle have the cardinal directions the elements are associated with.
At the very center, the element of aether encompasses the things that are not of this world, such as spirits, gods, and other possible types of magic not related to any elemental force listed here.
