The Primordial Elements
The Elements
In our world, the fires of creation have long since cooled into set forms. In Seln, those forces still rage.
The elements are embers of creation, still fresh. These energies can both create and destroy matter: a spark of Fire can burst into an inferno without wood or oxygen and an eruption of Water might create a flood in a dry land!
Each element encompasses both physical and metaphysical aspects. Think of the elements as the platonic ideals behind material expression. A campfire is not Fire, but a skilled cultivator may be able to draw Fire from the campfire.
In their platonic capacity, the elements are capitalized. “Water” refers to the concept; “water” might refer to a simple lake or drink. Like blood, the elements race beneath the surface of Seln as ley lines, invisible rivers of power. These ley lines determine the character of the land; where ley lines meet and elements mingle, crystals bud and grow.
A balance of elements is crucial for life. For example, Water is required both in the sense of the liquid that keeps one’s blood pumping and the interconnection of all living things. Fire refers to both the physical heat to avoid frostbite and to the metaphysical drive to push forward in life.
Creatures that suffer a dearth of one element suffer; complete absence or overwhelming abundance of a single element cause both body and spirit to break down until the creature perishes.
Material Elements
There are four material elements: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire.
In theory, each element is infinite, containing every expression of the others. However, Kingdom cultivators were only able to grasp fragments of the elements, and these Arts can only represent a sliver of the total.
Thus, the Kingdom Arts bind each element to a particular metaphysical expression:
- Air – The Mind and intellect, keen as a sharp wind
- Water – Communal connection and interpersonal relationships, flowing together to form a great river
- Earth – The flesh, enduring and mastering its world
- Fire – The votive spirit, creative and expansive
While Arts are limited to these known expressions, the grand Paths directly link a cultivator’s spirit to a particular element. Path cultivators learn powerful and novel expressions of their chosen elements at the cost of gaining a Bane for one or more other elements. Similarly, the newly founded Graces are in the process of redefining cultivation of these elements. Secrets once held only by secret craftsmen now percolate into Kingdom society!
Ethereal Elements
One warm day in Spring of 5047 (27 years before start of play), the Crown announced a discovery: an entirely new type of element! Unlike the concrete elements, these ethereal elements tilt heavily towards metaphysical expression.
- Light, element of dawn, birth, beginning and hope
- Resonates strongly with the Spirits
- Dark, element of dusk, death, fulfillment and peace
- Resonates strongly with the Shades
These ethereal elements are much less common than their concrete siblings and much more diametrically opposed. Most expressions of either Light or Dark blend with one of the concrete elements, and there is only one LightDark crystal in the entire Kingdom (conveniently located in the Queen’s garden!)
Light does not represent Good nor Dark Evil, and these elements must also be balanced.
Since the elements are primarily metaphysical, their ailments are also metaphysical. A person imbalanced towards Light might spiral from project to project, lost in the joy of creation without ever producing a meaningful result. A person imbalanced towards Dark might freeze in a rut, unable to respond healthily to changes. Taken to their extremes, the elements consume a person’s thoughts entirely.
Other elements?
Imagine that one day the news announces a new fundamental force of the universe. If you are a layman in physics, your reaction might be, “Neat!”
If, however, you are a student of physics, you are likely to have a mass of questions. How does this new force work? How does it interact? How was it discovered? How did we miss it until now?
This describes the situation of Light and Dark. Shortly after the Crown announced discovery of Light and Dark, travelers began to find signs of both elements: new ley lines, new crystals, new Arts.
It is as though Light and Dark simply appeared one day, sewn into the weave of creation by a deft hand! Afterwards, scholars have gone wild trying to find yet more elements. Popular suggestions include Wood, Metal, Blood, and Lightning. None can be proven with certainty yet, though there are arguments for each.
The elemental cycle
From Light, life. Life begins with breath. Breath becomes blood. Blood builds enduring bones. Bones gird the flesh against its duty. The flesh toils to create and inevitably dims. It reaches its end, and we begin again.
Sages have organized the flow of creation through the elements.
- Light > Air > Water > Earth > Fire > Dark > back to Light
When the elements combine (such as with crystals), the elements are written in the order of the cycle.
Examples:
- Light + Air => LightAir, not AirLight
- Dark + Water => WaterDark, not DarkWater
Each set is matched against its opposite:
- Light against Dark
- Air against Earth
- Water against Fire
Art, not science
The Academies of Alora have discovered thousands of practical applications for the elements known as Arts. This name is well-chosen, for there is no scientific method yet rigorous enough to predict the elements in their totality.
The six known elements represent neither the sum total of existence nor a precise system for categorization. In fact, the Academies waste a great deal of effort arguing about exactly this! Let us consider fire. Fire is considered the element of crafting where the folk turn the “heat” of their creativity on raw materials. By another eye, however, Fire is the element of destruction, burning the hapless forest. By yet another, Fire is the element of life, keeping the body warm.
These arguments have raged for hundreds of years. When we inspect the Paths, we will see that the same element can be turned to far different effect depending on how the adherent interprets that energy. Treat the elements as an art, not a science.
Elemental storms
The elements rage through the skies with ease, creating the elemental storms that shape Seln.
These storms are closer to hurricanes than rain showers. Even the weakest can cause flash floods, fires, or other sparks of elemental energy. The most powerful of these storms scrub and rebuild the land beneath them, devastating anything in their path.
The storms commonly emerge from the interactions of ley lines, fluctuations in the Poles, and crystal eruptions. However, storms have been seen to emerge as the result of large-scale battles and rituals gone awry as well.
Crystals
As there is fury, there is peace
Where ley lines meet, if conditions are ripe, the elements merge and coalesce into physical form: a crystal.
Where a single exposed element is deadly like electricity or radiation, the balanced elements complement each other.
Smaller ley lines create small crystals, often little more than a handful of gems growing from the ground. Large ley lines can grow crystals taller than great oak trees.
These crystals form the very basis of civilization, anchoring and powering the ward network that protects the Kingdom.
Inside the inner wards, most crystals are tamed as part of the Crown’s vast geomancy. Uncaptured crystals are known as crystal dens, but these dens are rarely unoccupied!
Because crystals act as the centerpiece of the Kingdom’s elemental grid, most settlements cluster around a crystal and leverage its protective influence to strengthen local wards. The nature of the crystal informs the settlement, and the settlement in turn shapes the crystal, in a virtuous cycle.
As in all things, balance is key; overexploitation can destabilize the crystal and result in a crystal eruption.
Crystal eruptions
When sleeping dragons wake
Though resilient to disruption, crystals can be provoked to explode with the same fury as an elemental storm. These crystal eruptions are the most destructive events in Seln.
The power of such an eruption increases with the size and age of the crystal. A tiny, new crystal erupts like a firecracker. Larger, older crystals spawn intense elemental storms. The largest and eldest crystals erupt like nuclear blasts, quite literally erasing everything in their path.
In the wake of the eruption, the landscape is rewritten, though some fragments and ruins might remain.
Crystal eruptions are a natural part of the Seln ecosystem. Like volcanic activity, they infuse the world with fresh materials, renew the ley line rivers, and provide new ground (literally!) for the creatures of Seln.
Thankfully, crystal eruptions are rare within the Inner Wards. The ward system anchors the crystals as much as the crystals anchor the wards, and specialized professions in the Kingdom bleed tiny amounts of energy from the crystal to manage its growth.
Those settlements that cannot afford professional care must instead watch their crystal carefully and evacuate if fate turns against them.
Beyond the wards, crystal eruptions are like wildfires, sweeping through with little warning.