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The neko shaman Rosalak invoking a huge lightning elemental. Picture by wenart commissioned by Timing2 and used with artist's permission. For larger version visit wenart's gallery.

Elementals in Felarya can be roughly defined as spirits inhabiting non-living matter. They are much more complex than that though, and a water elemental isn't just moving water with a mind of its own. Once the matter is possessed by the elemental, it really becomes the body of the creature and starts forming complex organs just like in a regular organic body. This process usually takes days or weeks when the elemental take possession of its first body, but become much faster afterwards, should the spirit inhabit another body. On most worlds, Elementals are only able to inhabit primordial matter such as fire or water, but on worlds charged with magic like Felarya, their range are greatly increased to regular matter. On some worlds, there has even been recorded instance of elementals inhabiting an idea ! For example, in the Malorjaa battlefield, so infamous for the terrible massacres that took place here, the anguish of fallen soldiers has created a gigantic elemental of hate that rampaged the world. Those instances are extremely rare, though, and remain one of a kind.

on Felarya, no such instance were ever recorded, but the magical saturation of the world allows elementals to animate significant large quantities of matter. This means that on average, the size of Felaryan elementals is comparable to that of giant predators. Elementals use partly the rich ambient magic of Felarya to maintain their form, although most of them need to eat as well. They hunt pretty much anything that is living and that they can consume, and many elementals see humans as a little more than a suitable way to fuel their bodies. Their body is often malleable, which means that their throat, mouth and stomach can stretch quite a bit, allowing them to swallow large preys. Elementals are dangerous and extremely hard to kill. If you fight one in its own element, the task can become all but impossible because the elemental will use the surroundings to sustain itself. Even if you manage to severely damage its body, the elemental will just leave it and search for another chunk of matter to animate in a quieter place. However, once an elemental spirit has chosen a type of matter to inhabit, it will never be able to use another type. A fire elemental will never become an ice elemental, for example. Moreover, leaving its body for another is an unpleasant, sometimes traumatic experience for the elemental, especially if they got used to it for a long time. The only sure ways to get rid of an elemental is to either devour its spirit (but creatures able to perform that trick are rare) or to use a banish spell once the spirit is separated from the body, to take the spirit away. Using opposite elemental magic is also a good way to damage them (water vs fire for example). There is no existing spellcaster strong enough to harm an elemental using its own element (aside from the coldfire used by some very rare beings, among them the succubus Arale).

Elementals have a curious way of aging. Past a point, the elemental becomes so accustomed to its body, that destroying the body will either banish or destroy the spirit as well, effectively rendering the elemental as mortal as any other creature.

The Awakening

Many elementals shape their body like a human's, but others have a very animalistic appearance. How intelligent and conscious an elemental is varies enormously from one specimen to another. There are some spirits that are barely aware of themselves, and some with a mind closer to a god's than a human. When asked what it's like to be a body-less spirit and how she came to inhabit her body, a sentient elemental described the process as being "awakened". She was a wandering spirits, barely conscious of the world, and one day she became deeply aware of it, triggering the urge to possess a body. According to her, the humanoid form she assumed just came out as the most natural thing in the world. While an elemental's form should be virtually limitless, there is definitely some recurring shapes that can almost be considered as species, although they can vary widely in size. The reason for it is unknown but some mages speculate that elementals are somehow memorizing certain forms and pass them over to other spirits through some mysterious means.

Elementals are deeply individualistic creatures, and never formed anything like a culture or a civilization. The case of King Trazix and his small community of Lava elementals in Mount Vylkren is more of an exception. They don't see themselves as a race at all, just individual and unique entities. It's interesting to note that many sentient elementals find themselves attracted to fairies and often mate with them.

List of elements

Nature Elementals

Air Elementals

These elementals have chosen to inhabit and shape the ambient air of Felarya. They typically are fast, can fly or float, but are rather weak physically.

Darkness Elementals

Darkness elementals create their bodies out of pure darkness. They mostly live in dark caves or bottomless abysses where very little or no light can be found. This type of elemental is typically very powerful in its element, but also terribly weak against light as any light attacks its very body. It's important to note that, contrary to popular belief, a darkness elemental is not necessarily evil.

Water Elementals

Water elementals are, as their name suggests, elementals inhabiting water under different forms. Their bodies are usually very malleable and able to take different forms. Clouds and Fog Elementals choose to inhabit the multiple tiny droplets of water in suspension in the air, that create fog and clouds. They tend to be rather lazy, drifting quietly in the air, and are generally not very dangerous. Vapor elementals are often confused for air elementals, due to their blurry appearance. They can be described as superheated water elementals who, unlike most of their cousins, love areas that are hotter, though still with adequate moisture.

Earth Elementals

They are spirits who built their bodies out of the soil or minerals of Felarya. Thus, they literally take in to themselves the healing property of Felarya, granting them amazing regenerative abilities, and very powerful healing magic.

Magic Elementals

The rarest of elementals, magic elementals are only born when already powerful spirits use the essence of magic itself itself to create their body. They are immensely powerful entities, although they suffer from the same drawback as other elementals. Since the larger an elemental is, the closer it must remain to its element, magic elementals are typically unable to leave extremely magic-rich places such as the fairy kingdom, and most forms of anti-magic are absolutely crippling to them. They may subsist on magic of the environment, or take the form of something fit for hunting. Because their body is defined by their whims, their behavior can become erratic and unpredictable. Unluckily for magic users, magic elementals have the most heightened awareness for the predator sense, and can likely pinpoint them miles away, just as if the spell caster was next to them. However, since they are such an immense focus of magical energy, they in turn can be sensed by anything capable of the sense from great distances. If you've sensed it first, it's smartest to activate something with anti-magic capabilities as self-protection or, better yet, leave the area. Magic elementals are the natural predator of genies, seeing the extremely magic-rich beings as 'candies in a jar'.

Fire Elementals

Fire Elementals are, as the name suggests, an elemental spirit inhabiting a source of flame or fire. While fires normally spread further or burn out, fire elementals are able to keep a regulated body. Like all elementals, they range in intelligence. Fire elementals tend to be passionate, easily roused to anger, love or other emotions. Fire elementals can be found across Felarya, but are very rare in wet environments. They are most common in open areas, with little vegetation or water.

Lava Elementals

Lava Elementals are created from superheated rock. They live mostly in volcanic environments, near to the stuff of their creation. Lava elementals are particularly powerful as they have the immense power of a fire elemental combined with the regenerative powers of an earth elemental. The more intelligent spirits often take on humanoid forms, the most famous being Lava Lords like King Trazix. Lava elementals tend to have wide ranges of demeanor, from a grounded cheerfulness to a fiery temper when angered.

Lightning Elementals

Lightning Elementals are made from pure electricity, constantly flowing and thus shaped into a form. Lightning Elementals are never still, constantly shifting as they pulse over and over. Lightning Elementals are usually ariel creatures and are most common in areas like the Great rocky fields. Lightning Elementals' power increase greatly during lightning storms, when they can augment with extra electricity. The most powerful Lightning elementals only appear during storms (or create storms wherever they go!) They tend to be chaotic, or at least in many ways very alien, living and thinking in a very different way to those static beings on the ground.

• Credits goes to Silent-eric for the self-conscious cloud, to Jaette-troll for the Vapyres and many ideas for the fire, lava and lighting elementals, to Malnorm for Naiads, and to Fish and Silent-eric for the description of magic elementals.