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The Encyclopedia Arcane
On the Magical Elements

On the Magical Elements

From Introduction to Elemental Theory, published by The Grand College:

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Elements are the utter foundation of all magic, and are central to all spells and magical education, from the most basic casting classes to the most advanced archmage’s foremost research. They are most well-known as substances or individual concepts, fundamental aspects of the universe which magic taps into for much of its power, and are combined in different ways to create spells. There are some curiosities, such as what precisely the ‘Significance’ element is, but it is otherwise fairly straightforward.

As education advances, this rather simplistic view of elements is expanded into the more nuanced view that elements are the different axis upon which magic interacts with the world. Next, one learns of elemental aspects as the ‘directions’ an element may lean, and how an element may differentiate itself, giving itself meaning beyond its mere existence. Also taught are the ways in which a given form of elemental mana behaves, and can thus be manipulated in predictable ways.

I shall not pretend that at this stage you are truly prepared to leave behind all the lies of education, for you are not. Mana is more complex than anyone is capable of comprehending, its elements an unknown fragment of an infinitely intricate and fantastic Tapestry which permeates nearly every inch of an inordinately infinite cosmos.

The lie which you are currently suited for are Zolicar’s Five Forms of Elements, known as Contact, Behavior, Aspect, Associations, and Locality. These five characterizations of an element provide an even greater approximation in the manner which mana may act, with a single ‘element’ providing all the information required to know how that mana will perform within a ritual.

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Contact is the terminology given to the interactive axis of mana, the first ‘truth’ learned when studying elements.

It is defined as those attributes of reality which magic may directly act upon or through. That there exists a Sound element means that magical rituals look upon the sounds present within a spell directly. The words and sounds spoken during the casting of a spell (the invocation) are capable of directly influencing the outcome of said spell. Without the Sound element, the words spoken wouldn’t matter, just how they impacted the Air, if that element were involved in the casting, and any Significance they may have to the caster.

This example of Sound serves as an excellent practical example as to the tendency of mages to isolate themselves from the outside world, high in their towers for exceptionally complex or delicate rituals. While the motion of air that is caused by sound is miniscule, and thus functionally a non-factor in these rituals, the mere presence of external Sound can disrupt some magical procedures. Without Sound as an element, this would not be a concern.

A common example to demonstrate the manner in which Contacts can manifest is to utilize a hypothetical ‘Spoon’ element. Should the spoon element exist, it would mean that a ritual could utilize the presence of spoons specifically, and the variation that exists within that utensil, as an active component in the ritual, rather than indirectly utilizing the Significance of a spoon as a method of consuming food, or the Wood or Metal within that spoon. Similarly, spells would be able to directly interact with a Spoon as an output. Such Spoon-elemental spells could be capable of conjuring or controlling spoons directly and simply, instead of a spoon-shaped collection of force, metal, or other element.

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Many mages will be familiar with the concept of Behavior, though they may not be aware of such. Simply put, Behavior is the manner in which an element acts- Stone mana is solid and unmoving, Water mana is fluid and flexible, Light mana is fast and straightforward, Dark mana vanishes under scrutiny yet returns unchanged.

However, these Behaviors are not truly tied to any single Element. Stone mana may Behave as Water, fluidly sweeping around obstacles instead of crashing into them head-on. This is most commonly seen within a mage’s Visualization. When a mage settles their mana into a Visualization, they are in truth applying a unique Behavior onto their own magic, defining the manner in which it will act.

It is common for this Visualization, and thus for an element’s Behavior, to be tied to the element itself, yet two Water mages may possess two radically different Visualizations; one sees it as a gentle spring, a flowing thing that brings calm and serenity. The other views it as a massive and deep ocean, hazardous and unpredictable with grand storms appearing at a moment’s notice.

Neither of these Visualizations is more ‘true’ than the other, insofar as the Contact is concerned. Rather, they are two different Behaviors which may be relatively trivially applied to an element. That they are associated with the Contact grants them no more or less ‘legitimacy’ than a Behavior seemingly totally alien to said Contact. Dark mana which grows and flourish like a plant, or Fire mana which vanishes like the Darkness when confronted, only to return instantly when left alone once again. While these Behaviors are most commonly associated with a certain type of mana, they are not restricted to these, and some truly fascinating results may result from these unusual pairings.

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Aspect is usually introduced as an explanation for how a single element may have such grand variations within it, and many behaviors whose explanations truly lie within Behavior or Association are sometimes attributed to Aspect. It is how some fire magics only burn, others heal, and others are used to cook. This is due to Fire potentially being destruction-aspected, warmth-aspected, or cooking-aspected respectively. These aspects are not unique to a single element either, and it is equally possible for Water to be cooking-aspected, warmth-aspected, or indeed even destruction-aspected.

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However, it is important to keep in mind that while there are Aspects which share a name with a Contact, such as Light, Darkness, or Life, these are a fundamentally different phenomenon. An Aspect can never serve the role of a Contact, and a Contact can never serve the role of an Aspect. This is why ‘Sharpness’ is not a Contact/element despite the ability for supposedly ‘neutral’ mana (or in truth, mana possessing a mana Contact) to possess that Aspect.

The relationship between these is commonly described as a form of sculpture, with the element as the substance it is carved from, and the aspect as the shape the sculpture forms. In this way, it is possible for a cube or sphere to be composed of either ice or stone, but it is not possible for a cube to be composed of ‘sphere.’

In fact, Aspect is disconnected from Contact, as no Contact-Aspect pair has ever been proven to be impossible. Darkness-aspected Light, light-aspected Dark, burning-aspected Ice, all of these have not only been theorized but actually found, while some more unusual combinations (malignant-aspected Time, mundane-aspected Significance, and sight-aspected Friendship) have never been documented, it is believed that they could exist.

Such Aspects are the ‘meaning’ given to a manifestation of an element, ascribing the aspects of a given Contact which are being emphasized. Each Contact is infinite in detail and in breadth, and these Aspects serve as a way to translate the infinite into the finite world wherein we live. However, Aspect-less elemental manifestations are not somehow purer or closer to the ideal element, they are simply overtaken by a lack of direction and left to whatever Aspect that reality seeks to guide it along, inherently granting it the ‘mundane’ Aspect. In this way, it may be said that no mana is ever truly without an Aspect.

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Association is the position that the element has within a grander matrix of elements, which other elements it’s close to. It is generally thought to be static, and very, very rarely changes or manifests any differently between individuals. Associated types of mana are those which are near to the element in question, and are based on the cultural understanding of an element. This is similar to an Aspect, yet instead of determining how a given incarnation of an element behaves, it influences how that element interacts with other elements.

To utilize the hypothetical Spoon element once again, Metal or Wood might be Associations for the spoon, depending upon if the culture of the caster predominantly utilized metal or wood for their spoons. Both could also be Associations in the right situation, or neither might. However, it might enable in some cases the substitution of a wooden spoon where otherwise Metal may be required to undertake a ritual, should Metal be one of the Associations with the Spoon element.

A real-world example is the Sound element. In many locations, it has Association with the Mind element due to the role speaking partakes in the development of the mind. Thus, it is possible for casters to wholly substitute the actual speaking of a chant with merely enunciating it within their mind. Even in the absence of Sound, the Association between Mind and Sound is sufficient for the magic to still occur. This is not due to speaking somehow being a ‘redundant’ part of the magic, and the result of simply ‘being good enough at magic’ to ‘will their change into existence,’ but rather the result of stressing their Mind possessing the required Associations to functionally substitute itself for a spell incantation. Even once the mage no longer mentally performs the chant, this is due to their Mind bridging the gap between the mage and the Sound element, substituting itself for the proper invocation.

Even a novice is capable of such a feat, utilizing one element with the proper Associations in place of another element within a ritual. Significance serves as an apt example, wherein a mage who is well-associated with a particular spell or ritual will find themselves capable of casting that spell much easier than might otherwise be expected. Significance serves to smooth out any other missing elements, or to countermand some disturbances that might otherwise cause the spell to fail.

As an example of the reverse manner in which Association functions, it is this feature of an Element which allows many Water spells to function upon other Elements such as Blood or Ice. While distinct elements, the Association they possess with one another (or even only in one direction) enable many spells to be cross-elemental.

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Locality is the most unusual and least-understood of the Five Forms, and is in many ways the central tenet of the Five Forms. For you see, at this stage of your education you learn one more fundamental truth: Elements are not natural. Or at least, not all of them are. Elements are instead created, sometimes through debatably-natural processes or spoken into being by gods or archmages. From their creation, they spread out across space and time through means unknown. This may restrict the element to a certain geographical region, its use to a specific class of people or even to outright individuals.

If a sufficiently powerful being decided that they did indeed wish for a Spoon element, they would be capable of doing so through a complex and mysterious process, and after which Spoon would be a facet of everyone’s magic… in certain circumstances.

This is what Locality is, an unusual combination of the creation and creator of the element, coupled with proximity to that creator, and a number of other factors indelibly tied to the source, or originator of that element. It determines the accessibility of an element, whether or not it is existent for a given person.

Naturally, this explanation of Locality is its own lie, but this is the lie that will be further explored as you venture deeper into your understanding of elements.

Fundamentally, even the same Element may function completely differently or not at all in some portions of the cosmos. Purportedly, ‘Shadow’ is not an element in many parts of the Plane of Void, and what determines Significance can be determined wholly by the whims of particularly mighty entities deep within Faerie. This is not even accounting for those Elements which do not exist outside of certain planes or even smaller areas. The City-States of Cos possess the unique ‘Hero’ element, which bears many Associations with Fate and Significance, yet still obeys its own idiosyncrasies which contrast the local Associations and Aspects of those elements. In some cases, an Element may have its Locality restricted to its creator. What sort of element Elder Maximilian Alexander created is unknown, but it is known that he possesses it, and is commonly theorized to be his own variation upon the Hero element.