Elements guide

Q: What elements are there?
A: You may find the list of elements here.

Q: What are elements?
A: They are the types of magic in our world. They can combine with each other and form new elements, and most living things have an elemental affinity. Most everything, actually.

Q: What are the non-bold elemental affinities listed in the chart?
A: They are the product of two elements combining in such a way as to create a new, secondary elemental affinity. Think of the bold elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Spirit) as primary colors, and the non-bold elements as secondary colors.

Q: Can you combine Primary Elements with Secondary Elements, and can you combine two Secondary Elements?
A: It depends on the situation, but the short answer would be yes. Think of these as tertiary colors, or rather, tertiary elements.

Q: Can you give an example of a Tertiary Element?
A: Sure. I'll give you two examples.

Ice + Cloud could combine to create Hail, and Acid + Cloud could combine to create Acid Rain.

Q: Why don't you have those Tertiary elements listed?
A: There would be way too many to list. Use your imagination!

Q: Are the elements always capitalized?
A: We'd like them to be! That way, it makes it easier to tell if someone is referring to the affinity or the physical element, such as water (lakes, rivers, etc) and Water (affinity).

Q:  Do all things have an elemental affinity?
A: Most everything does, yes. You may think of them as Pokemon types. Every Pokemon has at least one typing. In our world, everything, not just animals, can have an affinity.

Q: Is there anything that has no elemental affinity?
A: The short answer is yes, there can be things with no elemental affinities. However, this is rather rare. Our world is fantastical, and filled with magic for the most part.

Q: Do you have any examples of plants or animals with an affinity?
A: Many kinds of sea life would have the Water affinity, many kinds of birds would have the Air affinity, and many kinds of trees and land animals would have the Earth affinity.

Q: What does affinity actually mean?
A: If your Water-affinity Fish were to have a chance at learning magic, it would most likely be able to learn Water-affinity magic more easily than any other type of elemental magic.

Q: Are all things with affinities magical?
A: Absolutely not! Affinity merely means that one is apt to get along with or be familiar with a certain element.

For example: Your Water-affinity Fish is not necessarily magical. It just means that if it were to be magical, it would most likely be comfortable with Water-affinity magic.

Q: How is affinity chosen or determined?
A: Imagine our world exists within a field of magical essence. This magical essence is constantly passing through everything that exists.

Now imagine that everything that exists within this world has an aptitude, or knack, for absorbing certain wavelengths of that magical essence. A filter or net of sorts. Different things gather and absorb different wavelengths of that always-present magical field and let other wavelengths pass through.

Q: Do you have a specific example of something non-living that absorbs a wavelength of this magical field?
A: Sure.

Water is excellent at absorbing the wavelength of magic that would be considered Water-element, and doesn't really absorb any other kind of wavelength.

The smaller the quantity of water, the less magic there is, due to less water present to absorb the water wavelength.

Q: Do you have a specific example of something living that absorbs a wavelength of this magical field?
A: Sure.

An example of a something living would be a bird. A bird would most likely absorb the Air-essence wavelength, and have an Air-affinity. This poses a couple of questions:

Can the bird fly simply because it absorbs the Air-affinity?
or
Did the bird gain the ability to absorb the Air-affinity because it flies so much?

The answer is: Either one can be correct. It depends on the bird, the situation, the environment, and many other things. There are no hard and fast rules governing this.

Q: Is this magical essence required for life?
A: No. Magical essence is just abundant, spread everywhere throughout our world, and is constantly influencing our world.

Q: Can you have water that doesn't have a Water-affinity?
A: The short answer would be yes, but it would be rare. Your magically-challenged lake would be perfectly fine. It would not be functionally different from any other filled-with-magic lake. You may have less magical creatures in it, such as water sprites or whatever, but it would be a lake like any other. Magical creatures could take up residence in that lake, but they probably wouldn't. Personal preference.

Q: Can something with, say, a Water-affinity learn Fire-affinity magic?
A: It depends on the thing, but the short answer would be yes. Having an elemental affinity does not exclude you from being able to work with or understand different elements. You are merely naturally inclined to lean towards your elemental affinity.

Q: Can things like plants and animals have more than one affinity?
A: It depends on the thing and the circumstances, but the short answer would be yes.

Pretend for a moment that your Water-affinity Fish was born in and grew up in a volcanic hot spring. Usually this would not be the case in real life, but this is our fantasy world, and things like that can happen. In such a case, your Water-affinity Fish may be a Water/Fire-affinity Fish, or even an Acid-Fish. (Water + Fire on our chart creates acid).

Q: You said Water + Fire on your chart makes acid. Is that always the case?
A: Absolutely not! Think of the elements on the chart as fantasy elemental magic, not their actual real-world counterparts. Fire element is not an actual fire, although it would certainly have the Fire-element affinity.

Q: How does Water + Fire make acid in your world, then?
A: You can think of acid as "water that burns". It's an overly simplified explanation, but that's what we're going with.

Q: Is each kind of animal destined to always have a certain affinity?
A: Not at all.

For example, we have a species called Aurorian Foxes and a species called Commons Foxes. They're both foxes, yes, and they can mingle and start families between each other, but one has the Ice-element affinity and one has the Water-element affinity. Maybe there's a species of desert fox that has the Earth or Sand-element affinity?

Q: Could the Aurorian Foxes lose their Ice-element affinity if they lived in the desert?
A: Over numerous generations, yes. They would most likely lose their Ice-element affinity and slowly gain the Earth or Sand-element affinity. It is not a change that would happen within one lifespan.

Q: Does affinity type influence physical traits or personalities?
A: The short answer is yes, but only sometimes. Like I said earlier, there are no hard and fast rules governing this.

It is possible for the elemental affinity to not affect the creature at all, physically or mentally!

It is very possible that a creature's mindset and physical nature makes it more likely to become a certain affinity, rather than the affinity changing the creature.

Q: Do you have any obvious examples of an affinity physically or mentally influencing a creature?
A: Sure. Say you have two kinds of foxes, one without an elemental affinity (rare, I know, but bear with me), and one with an Earth-affinity.

For physical traits, the Earth-affinity fox could have a chance to be larger and stronger than the non-elemental fox.

For personalities, the Earth-affinity fox could have a chance to be more stubborn and more resolute than the non-elemental fox.

Try not to think about just the physical properties of earth. Think of the idea of earth as well. What it means to you, what it does, and what it's used for. Use your imagination.

Q: Do you have any not-so-obvious examples of an affinity influencing a creature?
A: Sure. I have a cat named Bruno in this world, and he has a Clay-affinity.

He's able to learn any highly specialized skill with ease, but tends to forget any previously-learned specialized skill.

What does this have to do with clay? Well...

Clay is easy to fashion into various forms and can hold very intricate details, but can ultimately only hold one shape at a time. Bruno's mind is like this.

Does this mean he was influenced by his Clay affinity and is able to do that, or does it mean he's naturally able to do that, and the Clay affinity came about afterwards because of it?

Either option could be correct, but in Bruno's case, it's his Clay affinity which grants him that ability.

Q: The Spirit element looks pretty weird. It combines with other elements to make some odd things, what's with that?
A: The Spirit element is weird. You may think of it as an element that introduces abnormalities and pushes boundaries. What boundaries, exactly? It could be any! Physical, mental, spiritual, it doesn't matter.

Q: I'm not sure, I still don't think I "get" Spirit.
A: That's completely understandable, as it is our most complicated element! Hopefully, as you follow our group and participate in it, you start to form a more coherent grasp on its properties.