ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Elementals are the spirits of the physical world. Many people, including some mages, believe there are only four types of elementals, corresponding to the four classical elements. That is not true. All kinds of elements have their own elementals. This includes natural processes and places and some mages even regard plants and animals as special kind of elementals. The type of spirits Dreamspeakers and Verbena call nature spirits are, according to Hermetic theory, the elementals of places. Elementals are everywhere but most people rarely see them and even more rarely realize what they have seen.

Elementals are the spiritual manifestations of their elements, the power that gives the elements power to change and act. Normally they reside in their element. They lack any individuality and just exist as a potential inside the element. However, when their element is disturbed or some kind of magick summons them, they split off their element and become individual beings, able to interact with their surroundings and in some cases even act on their own.

Elementals are more common than most mages expect. They hide in the drifting sheets of rain. They play around in the shapes of clouds. They appear as dust or snow devils, whirpools in a stream or as movement in the grass. Most such "natural" elementals are very short lived and appear as independent entities just for a short time before returning to their element, having done their work. To become actually independent and individual, they need a mage (or suitable sleeper) to summon them, to regard them as a being and give them form by their belief. Such summoned elementals can in time become more and more advanced and may become very independent of their element. Some have even permanently left it and become independent umbrood.

Another type of elemental is the elemental templates. By long tradition, many mages summon elementals in the same way, expecting the same form. This has created certain standard elementals which will appear again and again. They are really not an individual, they are just normal summoned elementals required to take on a certain form and characteristics. A typical example is the Elemental Kings which the hermetic mages often summon or at least invoke in their magick and the classical Salamanders, Undines, Sylphs and Gnomes.

As said before, not all elementals belong to the four elements. There are trash elementals, forest elementals, cloud elementals, electricity elementals and paper elementals. Every piece of matter, force or life is inhabited by its elementals. Even the human body has its own elementals, protecting it, healing it or trying to create well-being. The Progenitors try to control them and call them Immune Cells, Organs or Reflexes but they are really manifestations of the spiritual side of the body. They protect the body from the harmful spirits of disease and other spiritual threats. Sometimes their activity is manifested by a twitching of a muscle, weird sensations or a sudden feeling that a part of the body is doing something on its own.

Not all elementals are benign. Most elementals act like their element, often damaging or interefering with other things. The elementals of the rain don't care what they wet, and the elementals of fire happily burn anything combustible they can reach. In fact, many of the more dynamic elementals are actively trying to spread their element in any way they can. This can range from the paper clippings the paper elementals spread everywhere to the great fires and volcanic eruptions the fire elementals celebrate.

One important thing about elementals is that they are already inside the Gauntlet. They are parts of the physical world and cannot leave it (and seldom have any wish to do so, either). This makes them easier to summon than most umbrood, since they are already here. But in areas where the Gauntlet is strong, the spiritual side of nature is suppressed. In such areas elementals have a much harder time forming and tend to remain inside their elements. Natural processes become much more reliable, living beings become more standardized and materials behave according to theory. However, not all types of elementals are affected the same and it would be unwise to rely on such generalities. Certain elementals, like radioactivity elementals or information elementals actually thrive in areas of a high Gauntlet. Summoning normal elementals forth here however, requires a great deal of expertice and patience.

Elemental summonings are done differently by different traditions. Order of Hermes summon elementals using their circles and incantations, Celestial Chorus call them forth by the power of the One, Dreamspeakers arouse them from their sleep by drumming and Verbena attract them by the blood in the cauldron. However, the methods all have the same basis. The mage arouses the elementals inside an element by some means and then communicates with them or fuel their individual existences enough to let them manifest physically.