The Elements of Xephixir

The elemental magics are a key part of anyone's repertoire, whether it be their alignment, their weakness, or what they happen to use. Enscripted on this page is a reference list of the elemental magics, and the subtypes of magic that fall under them.

Elemental Theory
The idea of the elements and their sub elements comes from careful observation over many years, in most cases. It has been observed that each and every sub element has a set of weaknesses and resistances, and as such, many diagrams have formed to chart out the exact details of those statistics. For fun, we'll call it a 'type chart', not unlike certain Venturenian RPGs about monster taming and training.

How are elements and sub elements different?
An element is the general type of magic being used, while a sub-element is a specific distinct subset of magic within the element.

Why do we not consider the sub-elements to be the real elements?
A person is born with a specific elemental charge out of one of the eight nine types. From that, the sub-elements are the two types of magic that come absolutely most naturally to them, and though they may learn to use others, their capabilities with them will never be nearly as strong as those their birth element provide. An individual can choose to specialize in one sub-element, or they can use both to great effect.

So how does the elemental type chart work, then?
The 'attacking element' is the type of spell or magical charge used on the offensive, and the 'defending element' is the spell or magical charge on the shield or weapon used to block it. This applies a little more literally to the likes of elemental constructs or elementals, where magic of one type may be far more effective on them than magic of another type.

Balance
Balance is as its name suggests, a very balanced, neutral element. True to its nature, it does not lend itself as an elemental slant to any particular population, instead being some of the most basic magic a person can learn, easily accessible to everyone. It is the element of impartiality and justice.

Space
The first sub-element to Balance is Space magic, the patron magic of Ranthael himself. It concerns itself with the size, location and velocity of objects, with teleportation and manipulation of matter. It is a rather defensive magic, as opposed to an offensive one.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Lightning, Stone, Eruption
 * Resisted by: Space, Void, Chaos, Water
 * Ineffective against: Alteration, Distortion

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Aura, Chaos, Nature
 * Resists: Space, Void, Lightning, Wind, Water
 * Unaffected by: Alteration, Distortion

Known Techniques:

 * Teleportation: The user teleports themselves to a different location. This can be short range, as in the case of beginning mages, or long range, as Teleporter Crystals do. Most people need Teleporter Crystals to go beyond a few miles from their original location.
 * Acceleration/Deceleration: The user hastens the movement speed of an object such as a projectile or vehicle, or slows it. This is not to be considered the same as Distortion's time manipulation - In Space's case, all the physical forces behind the moving object are altered as they would be as the object sped up naturally, while in Distortion's case they are not.
 * Resizing: The user sizes up or sizes down an object or person.

Sound
The second sub-element under Balance is Sound, the manipulation of the vibrations that make up everything we hear. Their roars alone can tear asunder, their words can shatter glass.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Aura, Psionics, Ice, Stone
 * Resisted by: Sound, Water, Alteration
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Void, Water, Eruption, Alteration, Distortion
 * Resists: Sound, Aura, Psionics, Chaos, Stone
 * Unaffected by: None

Light
Light is the element of knowledge, fortune and the soul. Its users bend the light from the sun or other such sources around them into a manipulable form, or draw energy from their own souls for uses of defense, healing or combat. It is considered a very matriarchal element, as the ruling royal families of its kingdoms are led by women, who often marry women, and have mostly girls for children.

Optic Light
Light's first sub-element is Optic Light, the use of the visual light around us, condensed into very shiny tangible magic form. Most often this takes the form of energy which sears an opponent, but can also manifest as such things as lightning, or solid objects.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Void, Chaos, Lightning, Frost
 * Resisted by: Optic Light, Shadow, Nature, Immolation
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Void, Wind, Nature, Stone
 * Resists: Optic Light, Lightning, Distortion
 * Unaffected by: Immolation

Aura
Aura is the second sub-element of Light. It is the power of the soul, drawn to the surface. Its users often must train for years to get a handle for it, and wizened elders seem to find themselves with a knack for its use. The most powerful healers are master Aura users. Some notable users of Aura magic are the Lumentian royal family, and the tribe of the Shryien, who use it in combination with the shadow-walking powers of Void to great effect. It is powerful against many more specific allegiances, however, its drawback is its difficulty to use offensively.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Space, Shadow, Psionics, Frost, Stone, Distortion
 * Resisted by: Sound, Aura, Nature
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Sound, Shadow, Psionics, Lightning
 * Resists: Aura, Stone, Alteration, Distortion
 * Unaffected by: None

Darkness
Darkness is the element of secrets, carnal sins and the flesh and blood, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's evil. despite its nature, Dark-element users tend toward being kind folk, looking out for the best interests of others. That doesn't mean the element doesn't have its bad seeds, however, as any of them do. The users of Dark magic are simply the best there are at all kinds of trickery and fickle play.

Shadow
Shadow, the first sub element of Darkness, is for the most part literal, as its users draw shade from the dark corners hidden from the light and shape it into tangibility. When taken shape, Shadow tends to be a bit more physical a form, rather than raw energy, shaped into objects and tangible with a smooth, silky form when solidified. Shadow magic also concerns itself with the body, the physical form, as certain users are able to manipulate blood for their own purposes, be it their own or that of others.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Aura, Mind, Nature
 * Resisted by: Shadow, Void, Chaos, Frost, Immolation
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Aura, Psionics, Frost, Immolation
 * Resists: Optic Light, Shadow, Nature
 * Unaffected by: None

Void
The second sub-element, Void, by its very nature deals with hiding and tricks and deception, and otherwise circumventing those such things, but also reality, particularly that which isn't. Most illusion magic falls under the veil of Void, as well as the perhaps inaccurately named Shadow Walk. Things like blindsight and invisibility are the most basic things a proper Void magician learns, and the most powerful can call certain things into existence from nothing... or banish things back to the gap between dimensions.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Sound, Optic Light, Wind, Eruption, Alteration, Distortion
 * Resisted by: Space, Void, Lightning
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Optic Light, Lightning, Stone, Alteration, Distortion
 * Resists: Space, Shadow, Void, Chaos, Wind, Eruption
 * Unaffected by: Psionics

Lunar
Luna represents unpredictability, the mind and chaos theory. It is a strange combination of harmony and discord - while Psionics requre harmony with the mind and a level head, Chaos is erratic and harsh, its moods changing as often as its tastes. Luna users learn to harmonize both in their attacks as well as in their daily lives, as one must with such creatures as Draconequui living amongst us.

Chaos
Chaos is the sub-element that such things as Berserkers and reality warping fall under. Both are unpredictable and wild due to the whims of the user. A powerful Chaos mage could turn a vegetable garden into a swimming pool if they so desired.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Space, Psionics, Lightning, Stone, Alteration
 * Resisted by: Sound, Void, Chaos, Water
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Optic Light, Wind, Immolation, Distortion
 * Resists: Space, Shadow, Chaos, Eruption, Alteration
 * Unaffected by: None

Psionics
Psionics manipulate the mind, projecting users' thoughts and bending others' to their ideal. These are the mind readers we all worry are in the room when we're having our more... special, trains of thought. An extraordinary psion can wrench control of a subject utterly, bringing their mind in line with the user's every wish. Its drawback, in its ability to control others and bring them to ruin from within, is its lack of resistances to other elements, and numerous elemental weaknesses.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Aura, Shadow, Water
 * Resisted by: Sound, Psionics, Frost, Stone
 * ineffective against: Void

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Sound, Aura, Shadow, Chaos, Frost, Stone, Alteration
 * Resists: Psionics
 * Unaffected by: None

Fire
Fire is the element of passion, hope and fury. Its users' emotions run hot as a blazing inferno, and this helps fuel their powers over heat and combustion. But for as powerful as Fire is, it is also explosive and dangerous, as proven by the many who've had their limbs blown off by an errant explosion, or been scarred by the magma they wish to bend. Learn this element with caution.

Immolation
The first sub-element of Fire bears command over flames and heat in the air, controlling and manipulating it in deadly bursts and powerful blazes. It is this element where explosive magic comes from and where performance artists like fire-eaters and coal-walkers get their safety.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Shadow, Chaos, Ice, Nature
 * Resisted by: Lightning, Water, Stone, Immolation, Eruption
 * Ineffective against: Optic Light

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Lightning, Water, Stone
 * Resists: Optic Light, Shadow, Frost, Immolation
 * Unaffected by: Nature

Eruption
Eruption, the second sub-element, gets its power from molten stone and metal, and the magma far beneath the ground. Users can superheat items until they melt and bend the resulting product, form already existing lava into objects, or call forth the molten mantle from beneath the earth in explosive displays of force. The most powerful Eruption mages have caused volcanoes to spontaneously form.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Sound, Ice, Water, Nature, Stone, Distortion
 * Resisted by: Void, Chaos, Wind, Eruption, Alteration
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Space, Void, Frost, Distortion
 * Resists: Lightning, Nature, immolation, Eruption
 * Unaffected by: None

Storm
Storm represents freedom, the fickleness of the wind and the true strike of lightning. Its users are fast and hit hard, like hurricanes and tornadoes. They tend to be excellent shots in the art of archery and sniping, as their ammunition flies straight even in hurricane force gales. The weather control exhibited by an accomplished Storm mage can be devastating.

Wind
Wind as a sub-element can be fickle and hard to control absolutely, due to its speed and inherently free nature. Its users are best suited to focusing it into blades and razor winds, though a particularly powerful person can manage to shape it into temporary weightless weapons. Though one must be careful with this, as without the weight a normal elemental weapon provides, your sense of location is lost, and those untrained can end with serious injury. Wind is also the sub element in which the power of wingless flight resides, though it is difficult.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Optic Light, Chaos, Nature
 * Resisted by: Space, Void, Wind, Stone
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Void, Lightning, Frost, Water, Alteration, Distortion
 * Resists: Wind, Nature, Eruption
 * Unaffected by: Stone

Lightning
Lightning is a sub-element that is dangerous if handled lightly. There is a reason they say never to stand under a tree in a thunderstorm. But as dangerous as Lightning is, it is also what we rely on to power our devices in this modern world. Every device you hold, your laptop, your cell phone, your music player, all are powered by Battery Crystals, which are powered by Lightning magic. That said, Lightning is a very directly offensive sort of magic, with little in the way of defense. A combination of this and Wind will call forth terrible storms.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Aura, Void, Wind, Water, Immolation, Alteration, Distortion
 * Resisted by: Space, Optic Light, Lightning, Eruption
 * Ineffective against: Stone

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Space, Optic Light, Chaos, Stone
 * Resists: Void, Lightning, Immolation, Distortion
 * Unaffected by: None

Frost
Frost is the element of both flexibility and rigidness, divided in its ways perhaps the most out of the elements. In order to accomplish yourself as a Frost mage, you must both be as unbending and solid as an ice sheet a foot thick and as swift and fluid as a coursing river. Frost is an overall fantastic element for mobile utility, enabling users to both survive the harshest winter and breathe in the deepest ocean.

Ice
Ice is rigid and unforgiving, sharp as a tack and blunt as a hammer. It is cold and bitter, and it is unrelenting in defense. To take on an Ice wielder at full power is to drive a truck Shenomire into a concrete wall and say you're trying to tunnel your way through, unless you are particularly talented at the Elemental Rock Paper Scissors game.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Shadow, Psionics, Wind, Water, Nature, Eruption
 * Resisted by: Frost, Immolation, Alteration
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Sound, Optic Light, Aura, Immolation, Eruption
 * Resists: Shadow, Psionics, Frost, Distortion
 * Unaffected by: None

Water
Water flows, it bends, it's flexible and maneuverable, but it also erodes and wears away. It hosts life just the same as it takes it away, and so too do Water wielders. Their ability to pull moisture from the ground and air can save lives in dry, hot environments, but so too can they pull you down and hold you there with currents in a more moist locale.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Sound, Wind, Stone, Immolation
 * Resisted by: Space, Water, Nature, Alteration, Distortion
 * Ineffective against: None

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Lightning, Frost, Nature, Eruption
 * Resists: Space, Sound, Chaos, Water, Stone, Immolation, Alteration
 * Unaffected by: None

Earth
Earth represents solidarity, the unbending nature of the stone and dirt below us and the vigor, the will to live of plants and trees. Those born under the Earth element have a wealth of life and vigor to them, and tend to live longer lives because of it, much like the centuries old trees in which they tend to live. Earthquakes and living forests are the domain of strong Earth mages.

Nature
Nature is life, it is the plants we cultivate (and those we don't) and it is the essence of both planets alike. A nature user can bend plants that are already there, and cause new ones to spring forth from the ground. They are bringers of fertility, and very notably excellent gardeners. A highly talented Nature mage, it's said, can make things grow anywhere.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Space, Aura, Water
 * Resisted by: Shadow, Wind, Nature, Eruption
 * Ineffective against: Immolation

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Shadow, Wind, Frost, Immolation, Eruption, Alteration
 * Resists: Optic Light, Aura, Water, Nature, Distortion
 * Unaffected by: None

Stone
Stone is the ground below us, it's the rocks and dirt upon which we tread, perhaps unappreciatively until it splits forth with its great, hidden power. Earth users are frequently underestimated, similarly, and despite their overall tendency toward great physical strength, their magical talents are often overlooked, and it is assumed they are born with minimal until they cause their first earthquake.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Optic Light, Void, Psionics, Lightning, Immolation
 * Resisted by: Sound, Aura, Water, Stone, Distortion
 * Ineffective against: Wind

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Space, Sound, Aura, Chaos, Water, Eruption
 * Resists: Psionics, Wind, Stone, Immolation, Alteration
 * Unaffected by: None

Time
Thought lost to the ages for ten thousand years, Time represents flow and change, in life, in the world, in everything. The arrival of the Sorceress to our plane brought many changes to the ebb and flow of the elements and the people born within them. New children born with the ability to freeze, reverse and speed up time were reported shortly after her arrival, children who haven't so much as spoken their first words yet. Dragons the likes of which resemble none of the other breeds hatch from their eggs, according to the daring tamers that venture to Dragonkeep.

Alteration
The sub-elements of Time tend to be complex, blurring together and combining but at the same time divided clearly. Alteration in particular, deals with particularly changes to the order of events or the timeline. Time travel especially falls under this. Little is known yet about either sub-element, but we can say from what little we've seen that someone strong in Alteration can summon to themselves several, dozens, even hundreds of versions of themselves from alternate timelines, or flash back in time to create alternate timelines or make corrections... or 'corrections'. However, be warned, every instance of time travel creates a new, branching timeline, not affecting the one you left.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Sound, Void, Psionics, Wind, Nature
 * Resisted by: Aura, Chaos, Water, Stone, Alteration
 * Ineffective against: Space

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Void, Chaos, Lightning
 * Resists: Sound, Frost, Water, Eruption, Alteration
 * Unaffected by: Space

Distortion
Distortion is all about changes to the ebb and flow of time. It is reversal, it is fast forwarding, it is even outright stopping time in an area. Used offensively, Distortion appears to be able to do things along the lines of reverting an enemy into a harmless state, rendering them a useless, harmless statue with a well-timed freeze, or aging them rapidly into dust.

Offensive Type Matchups:

 * Effective against: Sound, Void, Chaos, Wind, Eruption
 * Resisted by: Optic Light, Aura, Lightning, Frost, Nature, Distortion
 * Ineffective against: Space

Defensive Type Matchups:

 * Weak to: Aura, Void, Lightning, Eruption
 * Resists: Optic Light, Water, Stone, Distortion
 * Unaffected by: Space

Elemental Attachments
True masters of the elements have the ability to solidify magic into objects, and create magical attachments to their own body. The most popular form of this are Elemental Wings, which grant the user flight. (Though, if you see a Storm magic user doing this, they're really just showing off.)

Other forms of this type of magic are forging elemental weapons and extending your reach with elemental arms. The rarest and most difficult form of this magic are called Elemental Golems, which completely encase the user in a shell of magic, and can take the shape of whatever the user desires.