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RenDragonClaw β KAS Elementals Concept
Published: 2013-11-08 14:29:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 2759; Favourites: 49; Downloads: 5
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Hullo, So over a weekend spent at a tournament I drew these. They are some general ideas for Elementals found on the proposed Elemental Plane in Kaiju.All.Stars. They are based on the classic four nature spirits associated with the primary western elements of fire, earth, water and air.For fire we have the Salamander. In myth the Salamander was a creature much like the actual animal save for that it was said to be fireproof due to the oil on its skin. This myth was based on how salamanders liked to hide in logs that were made into fire wood, the heat driving them out as the log burned. In fantasy, Salamanders are often a type of primordial fire being like the Phoenix or a Dragon. Not as powerful as either of those but as far as alchemy is concerned the little buggers are the magical nature spirit of fire. In D&D they are a race of naga like creatures assoicated with blistering hot weapons and lava. For this incarnation and with the rest of them I was going off a sort of loose numerical theme. For the Salamander that number is three, corelating to the three points of its alchemical symbol (a standard triangle). KAS Salamanders would be 'generally' gator sized predators that are highly volatile carbon based lifeforms. They are extremely oily and are always on fire. Their appendages and extremities carry this formidable heat in order to clamber, scamper and slide through the molten and explosive regions of the Elemental Plane they inhabit, melting what they touch out of the way. Salamanders are nothing if not tenacious, relentlessly pursuing prey and consuming all in its path with its white hot mouth agape. Salamanders perfer areas with at least a modicum of air flow and semi fluid terrian. A common place would be something like a molten tar marsh. While they generally hate water, they can slide across its surface as their oil protects them. Being smothered, drowned or frozen are the most effective ways of subduing or slaying a Salamander. Any type of windstorm that isn't a blizzard fans the flames and makes them stronger and even more hyper aggressive.
Geomes are a fairly common and strong type of Earth Elemental. The classical nature spirit of Earth is the Gnome but I think that Gnomes are a type of Fey that just uses enigma to manipulate earth and nature to their own purposes. Geomes are not be confused with golems as golems are constructs created by magi and have no free will of their own. Geomes decidedly do and they are stubbornly passive creatures in the extreme. It takes a great deal of effort and persistance to even get a Geome's attention. When enraged however they can crash down and thunder through nearly anything in their path. Mostly around the size of a rhino or elephant, Geomes while not very agile at all are capable of moving at surprising speeds once motivated. For the most part, Geomes perfer to plod around and munch on crystals and ores they find. Some that live near more watery areas of the plane develope a layers of mud on them from erosion and other factors. They are capable climbers and burrowers, digging deep, rolling down steep slopes or smashing foot holds into solid granite while ascending sheer vertical drops. Geomes are surprisngly active but most of their efforts are simply done very slowly over long periods of time. When they are young they aren't heavy enough to avoid being carried off and so are prey for various Air elementals. Larger ones either ignore the efforts entirely or start smashing things. it's squarish, low slung body represents the alchemical square and the number four. Geomes can be found almost everywhere save for the utmost outer extremes of the plane. They do perfer mountainous and dry areas when not underground.
Nereids (I spelled this wrong), are in Greek Mythology the daughters of Posiedon and caretakers of his aquatic domains. Often the subject of many a heroic or godly trist. Nereids are generally amicable but shy and are an iconic type of water spirit. With this one I did away with the womanly figure entirely and instead focused on an entity that is fluid and sensual but not a mortal delight for the eyes. This type of Nereid is common type of Water Elemental and has glowing sections of their body they communicate with. It's body is always frothing, bubbling and flowing but the transistions are always smooth and deliberate. You could say that a Nereid is an elmental whose jimmies are never rustled, it simply adapts to whatever situation is presented to it. Nereids can thus appear to be quite deceptive, being tranquil and still one moment and churning and overwhelming the next. Nereids don't get angry, they get even. Nereids can adapt to various extremes in temperature but they don't like dry areas or places that force them into a state other than liquid. Thus they can fall prey to the whims of Air and Fire elementals while also ambushing them in kind. Nereids are especially dangerous to most Earth Elementals as they can flow into gaps in their bodies and pressurize them apart. Nereid's grow by absorbing matter, usually by liquidating quite literally. A Nereid has two primary appendages with two tendrils each that allow it to channel and manipulate water into a variety of shapes and purposes. It's associated with the number two and their looping, cyclical nature is in line with the circle. Circles having no point but a diameter from one side to the other, just how the Nereid can alternate which end of it your dealing with as its all the same to it.
Finally we have the Slyph. Slyphs are considered a type of wind spirit that often is depicted as a type of fairy in fantasy. They are said to be invisible entities that can manipulate the air and that's about as far as it goes for the most part. This type of Slyph is certainly a creature of the air and can disperse itself over a wide area to make itself invisible. Slyphs are always in motion, they never stay still for any length of time and refuse to be tied up in something for long. Slyphs are mercurial in temperment, flitting and floating from one stimulis to the next with only very strong stimuli forcing them to take a closer look. They can be 'playful' as they never take anything really seriously unless it's trying to contain, capture or destroy it. At that point Slyphs are berserk storms of mass destruction that go into a blind collateral damage causing panic. The winds they can generate can vaccum the heat and oxygen out of the area, snuffing flames and freezing water but such concentrated efforts are rare from them and usually just a deterent suffices before they make their escape. To say that Slyphs are flighty is an understatement. Slyphs 'feed' by dispersing matter into smaller particles that become part of the Slyph. The hardest type of elemental to do this to is an Earth Elemental that is larger than the the Slyph itself. A Slyph has to be several times larger than the Earth Elemental for it to be able to really do anything to it. Another thing to mention is that like most Air Elementals Slyphs are claustrophobic in the extreme. One of the few ways one can kill a Slyph is simply by completely containing and compressing it out of existance. Another is to consume all the particles that make up its existance, usually by burning it. Slyphs are somewhat bird like, having a pointed head, funnel like wings, a trailing wispy body and a singular glowing optic 'core'. This is generally the only thing that stays intact when the Slyph is attacking, forming an 'eye of the storm' so to speak. Slyphs dance through all layers of the atmosphere and skim across the surface looking for things to 'disperse' and interact with. The alchemical symbol of air is an upside down triangle and Slyphs tend to dive down like a rapidly spinning drill, invoking the shape. Slyphs are associated with the number one.
I may or may not do actual KAS entries for these things. But this should give some people a general idea of the kind of thought process I have concerning the Elemental Plane and its denizens.
-Ren
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Comments: 26
Oh, the Sylphs are hilarious in The Rape of the Lock.Β
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These are some wonderful motion-tastic sketches, Ren. Β The way the Nereid is bending and swaying alone is amazing looking. Β Some great entries into the Plane here.
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I had some fun with these 
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Damn, Ren blindsides us with a few nice elemental sketches! I can dig it.
The symbolism here is nice to learn, such as the alchemy symbol being a triangle. I like that, I my use the triangle now for something later in life. Don't know what yet...
but god do I love the Salamander. The Salamander(mythical) is something I have pretty much fallen in love with over the last year just because its the basis for the classic fire breathing dragon. And I love dragons. I do, and dragons are always going to hold my heart in a way.
I like Salamanders more though, as they are low slung, stumpy legged, flightless fire menaces. Or can be, anyway. A Salamander-type dragon may be my favorite mythical figure all of a sudden.
Gamera is kinda Salamander originally... fire eater. makes flames, then puts them out. Except he is a turtle..... Salamander Syndrome?
Geomes are nice, too. Earth is a stubborn, forward element of great power. May be the most forceful power there is. Tectonics, volcanoes and the like. Sometime I like a lot.
But where there is forceful, stubborn earth... there is the every changing water. Every flowing, ever shape shifting, and virtually indestructible.. in a sense. You can bust rock in half, extinguish fire and block wind. But water? Water says fuck that shit and it does whatever it feels like.... well, given the laws of nature, but this is enigmatic stuff so that don't count.
Wind elemental come of as shockingly powerful. I usually get the impression that wind normally moves around its obstacles and moves on. I forget how interconnected all four main elements are though and how their power more or less work off each other in a chaotic balance. Wind is created usually by temprature, thus fire comes in.. wind in turn usually causes the waves in water. And water usually effects earth, beating it down.
So easy to lose respect for the better understanding of our world, let alone a world where things like this exist. Fantasy or not, well done stuff is well done.
All this was grand to read about, Ren. Gives me a nice feel of the Elemental plane of KAS.
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Lots of possibilities in the Elemental Plane, these are just a standard few 
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Sure to spawn some ideas. I may even have one or two~ ..maybe.
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These are indeed some pretty awesome takes on elementals or near elementals in the case of the Gnome. The only thing that sounds a bit odd is that this makes it seem like elementals are divided up into species, closer akin to animals then the ever changing creatures they were originally designed to be. Still, a very interesting take on the idea and honestly if they weren't billed as Elementals but instead creatures or beings adapted to the realm, such as the Gnome being Fey, they would fit in almost perfectly.
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The Elemental Planes should have the ever changing and ultra malleable type of Elementals as well, these are just some more specialized types that are a call back to ancient alchemy and legend. Mostly I'd save the truly classical elementals for the something akin to a 'primordial'. Literal living natural disasters. The fun thing about Elemental creatures is that they can take on a lot of different forms but I'd say things like Salamanders and the like are a result of Planar Tides bringing stuff from the Material Plane on occasion, so some cross contaminating exchange is at work among some of the Elemental varieties.
Speaking of actual Gnomes, I imagine that they periodically visit the Elemental Plane and may even capture Geomes for their own reasons and thus the inner connection between the two.
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There are plenty of specialized types. The elements get mixed on occasion in ways that would take too long to explain here, some elementals either devote themselves to certain aspects of the main element or some are unable to work outside of it. Like an ice elemental for example, could be a water elemental who prefers it's icy aspect more than the others or a water elemental unable to do much outside of it and is forced to be an ice elemental. The earthen realms have the different kinds of metals and rock, even something akin to a sand elemental. Fire has a lot less flexibility when it comes to types but I imagine each may have a certain color or type of flame it might work well with and wind as well is too broad to have divisions in. Though you could make the argument that different types of funnel clouds could stand in for their aspects. But all of this largely depends on the power and temperament of the elemental, with their abilities to take just about any shape and limited by the amount of power they can draw on, elementals can be any shape and any size. This would be one of the reasons why a species of them doesn't make any sense, though as you suggested castoffs or echoes from other planes might find homes and adapt to the harsh extremes of the elemental plane. This would go a long ways into linking the planes, something that feels a lot more in character with the system that you have built and would make everything feel a lot more connected.
K, Crim and I have worked out a history of Elementals and Fey consorting. Or any magic user really as the magi have had their hands in it between bartering the more powerful elementals for the secrets of elemental magic or forcing the less powerful ones into summoned slaves or even familiars. Something like that is certainly possible, more than that it is perfectly in character for how the two planes and cultures interact.
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I like that analogy of different states of the various elements effecting what kind of elemental is created and the mixing and matching of such in between. The four classical elements also embody the states of matter, earth being solid, air a gas and water a liquid with fire kinda dancing on that line between gas and ionized energy. That kinda thing ties back into alchemy which often dealt with taking a substance and trying to transmute it from one state to another and into another substance entirely on occasion. I'm no chemistry major though so outside of how I've seen it played with in both fiction and media I couldn't tell you how things are supposed to interact with each other outside of the dynamic dualism of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors. Looking at astrology, the signs are divided into elemental quadrants and those quadrants (3 to an element) are divided again amongst which 'state' that element is in. Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable respectively. Cardinals being active instigators. Fixed being stubborn and powerful, and Mutables being adaptive communicators. If we apply this to Elementals it can sorta give us a base line for 'personality' even amongst divisions within the same element. So for example a Rain Elemental (a type of Fixed Air that borders water in line with Aquarius) would be more relentless and stable than something like a Storm Elemental (Mutable Air in line with Gemini) which would be more adaptive and prone to being more destructively whimiscal in how it approaches things.
Fire is a funny thing as it doesn't have clearly defined states. Instead it differs based on intensity, temperature and shape. Like comparing a candle flame, explosion and a blow torch to each other. Fire is the element of consumption and change so it's a bit more dependant on it's relationship with what serves as its fuel. Molten rock becomes lava, water becomes steam, air becomes more flames and anything more complex than that alters how it burns. The Salamanders being something like living, burning oil slicks. The intensity playing into things like light spectrum with it going from red to violet or white. A white fire elemental would be pretty damn horrifying, probably exists only near or at the core. Air can be figured out in regards to funnels but it also takes a lot of other forms based on whats in it and how fast its going. Mist, smoke and clouds are just as likely as a tornado or hurricane. Sand wouldn't be the only thing out in the desert as the temperature would create things like a Sirocco. It's opposite likely being Snow and the aforementioned Rain. So Ice isn't the only way Water and Air can interact. Ice is Water becoming solid and Snow is Air becoming solid in the same fashion that Sand or Dust is Earth becoming a 'gas' or collection of particles.
All else fails we can fall back on what D&D does with it elemental embodiments and cross ups. 'Elder' elementals simply being bigger and much more powerful lol. I should probably attend more of these chat conversations as a discussion on Elementals in general would be fun.
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It's much less an analogy when it comes to elementals and closer to biology...or whatever term would fit their version. That's not a bad way to look at things, you could indeed say there are a few base personalities that get molded with age or taught. It is important to understand how elementals come into being. Events such as storms, fires and such can spawn the most base and weak version of an element. They are little more than children like curiosity, with the temperaments of house cats. Wrap your brain around that nightmare for a second. In any case hundreds are created, most burn out, running out of enigma or are possibly prey to creatures like the salamanders who feed off the elements but are not technically part of them. There are terms for each of the youngest states, depending on what element they come from. Puddle Jumpers, Dust Devils, Fire Bugs and Pebble Poppers. All are little things, most fit in the palm of your hand. The elder elementals mostly ignore them, once in a long while an elemental will take a young one in and raise it, but in general the race doesn't have fine tuned parenting instincts of any kind. They are kinda like sea turtles in this regard, throw babies into the world and then not care. The young sorts are also the most likely to fall to magi and Fey, unable to defend themselves they are readily made into familiars, test subjects or even power sources depending on what is needed. Slightly older elementals around the size of humans can be summoned and used as slaves until they are destroyed and sent back to their plane or unsummoned.
This is largely how they are built at the moment. Most of the lesser elementals, any below a certain power mark that would be roughly equal to a Level 5 or 6 kaiju if that system is still in place, would be rather limited in how they can control the elements or their own bodies. That is not to say more powerful ones won't stay in such niches as specializing to such a degree is how they became such a force to begin with, like the white fire elementals for example or going so far as to have a plasma elemental, both of those would be extremely specialized and extremely powerful. The 'lords' the oldest, most powerful and possibly most unstable of all the elementals can shift between most aspects with comparable ease. The Elemental Lord of water for example would have no problem shifting between water, steam and ice at will while less powerful elementals would have trouble, but such things would not be impossible for them. Elementals that hold more than one element, like an Earth/Fire elemental, would also be considered of high class but no elemental would trust it at all. And yes there is a distinction between a fire/earth elemental and one made of magma. One made of magma would be fluid while a fire/earth would be patchwork like Frankenstein's monster. Most modern hybrid elementals are the descendants of those who went mad and destroyed themselves through taking the elements of others, the resulting explosions, practically everything explodes in this plane, creates smaller elementals that might inherit parts or abilities of their 'parent'. These second generation elementals are far more stable, able to control these abilities since they grew up with them from such a weak state that their minds can keep pace with the power. Such elementals are pretty rare, but are more prone to going insane because of sudden element shifts since they are tied to more than one element. As such they are treated like walking nukes and are one of the few things the average elemental will fear beyond the wrath of their respective 'lords'.
Currently that is pretty close to how it works. As they age Elementals gain more power, greater understanding and more control. This happens slowly enough that they don't go out of control or go mad from being able to bend tidal waves to their whim. There are however other ways for elementals to gain more power, they are either extremely dangerous or gain the eyes of the more powerful and older elementals, something you really don't want. The first is through natural change of the Earth itself, sudden changes there can grant boons to elementals of certain types. Wild fires for example would make a small boon while volcanoes erupting would be a massive power surge. The more powerful and older elementals absorb most of this or deflect it, more or less buffering the smaller ones from getting sudden boosts of power which can lead to madness in the minds who aren't used to it. The one and only 'villain' the Elemental Planes had was created in this fashion, he was such a specialized form of Earth elemental that the earth lord of that time didn't know how or why the surge would affect any of her kin, it however turned something with the power of a child into one of the most destructive beings known to the elements. Such surges do still affect lesser elementals, but mostly giving them small jumps in power, akin to a growth spurt one might see between teens and preteens if you were to compare it to humans. The second way is to destroy a fellow elemental's will power and then take it as your own. This however is extremely dangerous, if you take on an element orΒ aspect you have no idea how to control, you become a sort of hybrid monster of the two elements or aspects, this could result in retarding the ability to control the elements or even gain power. The sudden surges also can drive an elemental mad. Because they are just willpower bonded to the elements, they aren't stable at the best of times, things that affect them so deeply can also affect their mental wellbeing. For this reason any elemental that attempts to gain power in this way is routed by the most powerful around and either forced to give up their power, exiled to the Dark Ocean or destroyed. It's one of the very few rules any of the elementals agree on, everything else is pretty much war or fun depending on your outlook.
Would be a blast if you popped in more often. Sadly we rarely get a whole lot done, the few times the Elementals have been brought up it's mostly to fact-check their parts against Fey history or to work out the ideas above with everyone else. So far you and I seem to be the only ones working with them and the others tend to just nod along. It can be quite frustrating. However their relationship to the Fey and Magi has never been stronger or more intertwined, so it isn't all bad.
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I feel like I'm in the dark on a lot of things here lol. Do you by chance have a copy of some of the discussions you guys have had relating to them? K probably does but I thought I'd ask as this seems to have gotten a lot of developement without me knowing about it 
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Having a copy of anything on my computer would be like having a polyester filing cabinet sitting by a roaring fire. It's why over 90% of all my work is hosted in several sites all spread out around the web.
But the short answer is no, sorry. I have been working on the Plane for quite a long time, since I first brought it up years ago, so it has grown quite a bit beyond what it used to be. With you adding bits like these guys it has been inspiring me to in turn add to it and before you know it the Elemental Plane primer might end up as long as the plane primer itself.
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I'll leave you to it mostly then lol. I CAN do illustrations for some of them eventually if you get around to making some entries for the Elementals. It would be a nice little challenge.
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That is quite generous of you, Ren. If you feel up to it, are bored enough or just want to play with some elemental designs, I can provide you with descriptions, lore or anything else you might want. But before you commit to anything you should have a list first to see if you really want to get that involved.
List: The only entries I really need out of the Elemental branch is one for each standard element, possibly a 'baby' forms(which may or may not get renamed) and adult shape to cover both, at least one example of a hybrid elemental, the four lords and a picture of their plane.
Though I am unsure if the last one is needed when doing a full primer for a plane. Frankly I am ready to get it all down when I have the means and understanding of how the new framework of KAS-Neo is going to be set in place and if I had the format to create plane, new character formats if they are going to be updated and kaiju formats which also might change. If I had all that this conversation would be happening on those pages held on stash until KAS fully comes online or whenever is most convenient for them to be posted in DA proper.
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We'll get around to it I'm sure. Since there are a limited number of outer planes its not quite something we want to necessarily be available as a template. But if its template you need I think we can manage one at least as far as the necessary information of the Plane in question is concerned. I think at least most of the old templates are still good to use but there's still come catch up and editing to do overall.
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Good, good. Since there isn't really a standard application I can just modify one of those already in use. If you haven't noticed I have a nasty habit of just ranting out any one or three topics that pop into my head, I rather like templates as it helps me order my thoughts and keep everything in it's own section. It will take a bit of time to get everything together and test a few different template designs before getting down to a truly monstrous write up of the Elemental Plane. This is going to take me ages, but at least it means I won't have to repeat myself anymore.
Some time later I might suggest the different creators think up a common way to display the information so people don't have to hunt different spots in the Plane write up to get the same information. That and it will annoy my OCD needs for them all to fit together.
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No I do not, unfortunately.Β Raven is the brainchild here.
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So I noticed lol. I feel like I just stepped on someone's toes without meaning to
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I've talked and run quite a bit of this by you guys. But you just give me the net equal to blank stares.
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I know, but I was a schmuck and never took any of it down :V
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Ahh schmuck. I miss old world insults like that.
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