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'''Elemental magic''' is a school of [[magic]] involving the ability to manipulate classes of concepts which are, by themselves, fantastical and difficult to pinpoint the precise nature of, most typically the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element classical elements]; commonly iterated as earth, water, air and fire; from which the school of magic gets its name. Despite the prevalence of these four, however, elemental magic is not limited to them.

Elemental magic is most often an acquired practice by human mages, though it is occasionally innate to some [[Demi-human|demi-human]] species, including [[Elemental|elementals]], the term for whom is derived from elemental magic. Most demi-human species with innate, species-associated elemental magic are typically classified as [[Spirit|spirits]], though there are some exceptions. Affinities exist in any discipline of elemental magic predicated on the existence of a corresponding [[deity]], born through the [[Will of the People]].

'''Pan-elemental magic''' is the practice of elemental magic of multiple affinities under a single discipline, generally a coveted practice among human mages and impossible for [[Elemental|elemental spirits]]. While all elemental magic is considered crucial to [[alchemy]], pan-elemental magic is considered especially valuable.

== Practice ==

Fantastical properties of the natural world are traditionally revered and deified by human populations, and subsequently reified by the [[Will of the People]], a process which may generate [[Deity|deities]] that embody the element in question. This reverence is typically not mutually exclusive to a lack of understanding of the property in question in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus scientific consensus]; for instance, despite many of the open questions in science that initially led to the bespoke classification and deification of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire fire] having been answered, fire magic is still one of the most prominent affinities in Offetstine.

When a deity exists for a concept, affinity or element, it may be further reified as a magical affinity practiced by mages and demi-humans. Most often, [[Elemental|elementals]] are the first living beings to embody the affinity (from whence the term "elemental" comes), and much like their patron deity, tend to demonstrate traits commonly associated with the element both physically and in their demeanor and predilection. For instance, where [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_water_deities water and the sea] are typically viewed by humans as mercurial, both facilitating agriculture and the fundamental sustenance of life, and storms and floods that facilitate the loss of human life; spirits of water, and especially of the sea, much like their corresponding deities are imagined, are frequently gentle and caring with a tempestuous side.

As the concept of a deity itself is not rigid, practitioners of an elemental magic do not typically know their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutelary_deity patron deity] personally; though the form and nature of the deity is frequently most directly influenced by practitioners of the magic. Practitioners of elemental magic frequently feel an innate connection between themselves and their deity, or between other practitioners of the same magic; though this is not a guarantee.

[[Demi-human|Demi-humans]] are frequently born innately with elemental magic, though human mages also frequently practice elemental magic. Generally, elemental magic is considered the easiest to learn when one does not have a preexisting magical predilection, though sometimes a preexisting magical predilection can prevent the acquisition of an elemental magic of a certain affinity. For instance, a fire spirit may find it difficult or impossible to learn any form of water magic, due to the traditional opposition of the elements in the minds of people. The process of learning affinities of elemental magic is sometimes analogized by scholars to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition language acquisition].

== Affinities ==

The most common affinities are enumerated as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element classical elements]; earth, water, air and fire; for which elemental magic is named. However, affinities may exist anywhere a concept is considered difficult to grasp, and revered and deified by a human population, through religious or cultural [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth#Mythology mythology] or through [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition superstition].

Elemental magic centers around the idea that any sufficiently fantastic property about the natural world may be deified and embraced by the [[Will of the People]], which may thereby create [[Deity|deities]] and practitioners of the respective elemental magic. To this extent, common affinities outside the four classical elements include:

* Electricity (frequently including in its scope [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics electronics] and computing)

* Machinery and/or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives#Clockpunk clockwork]

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_physics Molecular] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_physics subatomic physics]

Magic that pertains to the notion of [[Afterlife|ether]] itself or to the [[soul]] is sometimes classified as elemental magic, although this classification has been contested. [[Psychic magic]] is traditionally reserved its own category, and healing magic is considered a subfield of [[alchemy]]. However, this classification is not unheard of. While not traditionally part of the [[Species taxonomy#Émile_Standard|Émile Standard]] for species taxonomy, common affinities that are innate to certain species of demi-humans are given names as affixes in the standard.

== Real life ==

Elemental magic is not related to the real-world concept of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_element chemical elements], a theoretically finite set of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_periodic_table unknown size] that currently recognizes 118 known entries with arbitrarily many hypothesized.

While other fields of magic in Offetstine, especially those pertinent to [[magical epistemology]], do concern the chemical elements as they otherwise manipulate mundane properties of physical matter, elemental magic specifically refers to practices of magic that manipulate fantastical properties of the natural world, that are or were difficult to grasp and are as such treated as indivisible or unique existences.

[[Category:Schools of magic]]

Elemental magic - Revision history

Twonakria: initial, needs to be proofread