Photo by John McColgan
Fire
Fire is the light that brings warmth to a cool world, it is what lets mortals create such large cities and it is the heat that shapes their tools. Fire is thought to be what purges darkness, and it is the symbol of passion and rebirth.
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Fire isn’t something you can always find, but it is always within reach. Unlike the other elementals that are found in the world, fire is not a constant. It comes and goes, and it always leaves a mark unlike any other. Many fire elementals that form never grow past Fledgling, and even more are caused by mortal hands, the only natural causes of fire in the world are that of volcanoes, lightning and dry climate. Fire helps control the ecosystems of the world, and through its existence helps advance them.
But natural fire is not the only cause for a fire elemental to form, and even fires caused by mortal hands can get out of control. Fire elementals can form from as small of a fire as that of a bonfire, and with enough resources can expand faster than that of natural fire.
Commonly found in: Bonfires, Wildfires
P H Y S I O L O G Y
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Fire elementals have a singular domain, and that is of fire itself. While elementals from things like lava exist, it isn't the same as that of a fire elemental; a raging inferno. Those of fire are known not to live as long as other elementals, for fire is often controlled or put out before it can get out of hand. Even wildfires that spread over large parts of the continent will go out when it runs out of resources, and so fire elementals are often the youngest and most aggressive of all elementals.
The other elementals have a form that is made of something tangible, touchable and can create avatars from its domain. Although fire elementals can form avatars, it’ll never be quite the same as that of another. The form would not be something that could be touched, and the flames would still rage within it even if it could be perceived as the form it wished. Avatars of this type are often described with heat unlike that of a fire of that size, as if, unless controlled, the elemental’s entire domain had been thrust into this form.
There is no current way to track a fire itself’s size, and that struggle is only made harder by how fast a fire can grow from a small campfire to an entire tree. Elementals have the same struggle, making it hard to define what tier it truly is outside of what the fire is attached too. One can track the strength of an elemental based on how big it is compared to the next tier. In this mindset, the smallest a fledgling can grow from is the size of a bonfire, or a large bush set alight. Fledglings are considered to become Nobles when the fire encompasses that of an entire tree, and that can spread to becoming a Lordly in mere minutes. The next tier from noble is the size of a small thicket, or grove, of trees. From there, it is considered Princely if the majority of a forest has become its domain.
Unlike other elementals, fire normally lacks Kin. Others often make bonds with one other elementals to grow and less likely to fall, but fire is unlike that and prefers to fight for control of another’s domain. They are younger, and often lack the wisdom that the other types had gained by the time it reaches the higher tiers. Even if a fire elemental had taken on kin, it’d likely still falter without the resources to let them grow in size. At some point, it’d simply leave the world with a scar in its path. It is due to reasons such as that, that no Royal of fire has been seen, and scholars theorize that would never change in Altera.
B E H A V I O U R
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Fire elementals have a set of distinct behaviors and traits that define them from other elementals in personality, and most of those traits only grow in intensity the older they are. Best described as a raging fury, it's also passionate and carries an ever-growing hunger for power.
Fledglings are still new to the world, and are likely the best tier of fire elemental to be reasoned with. The fury of the unfairness of the world hasn’t hit them the same, and they are often simply hungry. It has a hunger for power, and a desire to grow and consume the options for expanding its domains.
Nobles have experienced what it’s like to have consumed more of the world around them, and having increased its domain. Its intensity skyrockets, and it sees nothing but the lust for power that has formed within them. It is at this tier that it becomes more aggressive, and its hunger grows to the highest it ever will.
By the time a fire elemental has become Lordly, it realizes the world it has been thrust upon with no choice. Unlike other elementals, it cannot live forever even if it does everything right. It is restricted, and its hunger often lowers as it realizes even if it had consumed every option for a domain, every space around them; it’d simply flicker and its light would go out. Anger takes them over, and it’ll look for any way to take that rage out on anything it can; even if that means lowering its possible lifespan by consuming the world around them.
Princely elementals are best described as Dissatisfied. It had consumed the world around them, and often can see the end of its world. Passionate and seeing only the most extreme out of all situations, angry with an unwillingness to do anything but harm the world around them. If it can see a way to spread, it does so. If there is any way it can continue to live, its hunger for a future would make them accept any desperate decision it must.
B O O N S & B A N E S
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Fire is an inferno that can harm anything it touches, the heat surrounding it alone enough to injure mortals. Elementals of this type are relentless with an offense like no other; and ability to be able to burn anything it touches. The closer you are to the core of an elemental, the hotter it is. That being said, fire elementals are glass cannons and are mostly an offensive powerhouse, lacking the defenses that other elementals would have.
Truly all offense with a lack of defense, even the youngest child knows how to put out a fire. Water, or smothering it with a lack of air, will put out most small fires. If it is cut off from resources, time also becomes a fire elemental’s enemy and over time it will fade away into a mere smolder.
Such things make them no less an adversary to be afraid of. A large fire elemental would require more and more resources to put out, and the offense is not something so easily countered. Even in the best case scenarios, time is sometimes your best ally against a fire elemental. Even when defeated with time, it will always leave a scar, having burnt down entire forests, homes or cities; always leaving its last angry mark against a cruel world.
A B I L I T I E S
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Elementals of Fire have control over its domain just like any other, a fire that could be summoned from the rest. It can focus its heat into it, or expand in many directions all at once. Fire also lacks true mass and could be sent flying with a lack of gravity, making the strongest offense also have range. The ways a fire elemental could control its domain is countless, and that is something to fear.
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As always, lore found within this thread is not to be used to metagame. Public knowledge on elementals is minimal, but it does exist. Roleplay to the correct level of your character.
As always, lore found within this thread is not to be used to metagame. Public knowledge on elementals is minimal, but it does exist. Roleplay to the correct level of your character.