Re-inventing the wheel? In a PostModern Fashion? Surely you jest.

While the present day obssession magick schools tend to delve into common aspects of life, some of the old ways still have power. Sort of. Not because they are confronted daily, but by the fact that millions of people still think of them, in a sortof non-localized Cliomantic approach. Or that’s the theory, anyway.

Most everyone is vaguely familiar with the four elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. They’ve been frequently used as basis for magical systems in games, especially electronic ones. It was probably inevitable that someone would find a way to turn it into an actual magick school with applicable results. It’s not as strong as most other post modern schools, but it does work.

The Man With a Plan

Meet Ben Bradley. He’s twenty four years old, works at his dad’s hardware store, collects rituals, and considers himself the re-inventor of Elemental Magick. He’s not, of course.

Ben was looking through occult records in search of whatever looked interesting (he’s a dabbler by nature), and stumbled upon tales of a modernist-era cabal called the Order of the Compass Rose, or something similar. They were originally an arabic group with alleged ties to the Hashishim, the middle eastern assassins known for their use of marijuana. Allegedly, the Compass Rose members could throw flames, spend hours underwater, shrug off wounds that would kill any normal man, and even fly.

Ben assumed, not without reason, that there was some powerful magickal prowess involved, and set about trying to recreate it. He didn’t exactly do it… in fact, he couldn’t have. But by sheer luck, he created something new that resembled the descriptions in the old rotting books he’d looked through.

Truth be told, the Order of the Compass Rose never had real magick, and that’s why Ben hasn’t really re-invented anything; there was nothing to re-invent to begin with. They were, however, very smart and very disciplined, with a remarkable grasp of the idea of biological adaptation for the time period. Each member of the Order selected a single element to follow, then sought to acclimatize themselves to it. The Fire Conjurers practiced walking on hot coals, handling hot rocks, staying remarkably close to hot flames for extended periods of time. The Water Conjurers practiced swimming and staying down beneath the surface of the water for longer and longer periods. The Air Conjurers practiced running and leaping non-stop, until they could send themselves through the air like arrows from a bow. And the Earth Conjurers dueled and jousted and fought until their bodies were hardened to the rigors of warfare. There was no magick, just lifelong dedication, rigorous discipline, and constantly applied principles of micro-evolution.

There were also secondary developments in respective fields. In the Earth field, plants were harvested and herbal remedies for most every possible ailment of the time were perfected. Air Conjurers took breaks from training to build the world’s first hot air balloons, centuries before the Montgolfier brothers in France. The Water Conjurers are said to have developed superior watercraft, and the Fire Conjurers perfected chemistry as a science. However, this was all a simple application of the forces of the world around them.

Eventually the Order died out from lack of new membership, and all that is left of their trickery and training is old stories and dust.

Of course, Ben didn’t know that.

Unknowingly Original

Ben’s work in the field has helped define the four sub-schools of Elemental Magick. Each has a different elemental symbolism and random magick domain, but all share the same taboos and charging styles, and the spell structure is similar.

Unlike some magick systems, which are centralized around a single organization (Pornomancers come only from the Naked Goddess Sect,and Oneiromancers only from “101”), Elemental Magick is a bit of a breakthrough. Best guess says there are about fourteen of them world-wide, most of whom have ever met Ben, or his friends who have joined in on the secret. About half of them are fire oriented though.

The magick is very demanding in both time and effort, and is often not particularly effective without backup from a mundane skill such as Struggle, General Athletics, or Dodge. Still, those who stick with it far enough can get a great deal of power from the more expensive significant spells; this combined with the magick skills’ mundane side effects makes the entire school similar to an Avatar Channel in many ways.

The Paradox of the school is that one person can only ever follow the path of one element, but no element can exist all by itself; it is through its interactions with the other three elements that it is defined. A lone elemental mage is a moderately easy target; four of the same with a different element each are a force to be reckoned with.

Elemental Blast Style

The blast style varies from element to element, but usually involves projecting a concentrated form of the element in question. A Fire Mage would fling a sphere of flame; a Water Mage, a pointy icicle; Air Mages shock their opponents with miniature lightning bolts, and Earth Mages cause stone and rocks nearby to hit the target, much like the Dipsomancy Blast. All blasts require significant charges but only do hand-to-hand damage, unless two mages using different elements both use a blast on the same person at once; the forces involved team up, so to speak, to create firearms-style damage. The two rolls are added together, then divided by two to get the average (rounded down), which becomes the damage. The two mages must be right next to each other as far as Inititive is concerned, in order to time the blasts correctly, and must announce an attempt to combine blasts at the beginning of that round.

Example: Ben the Fire Mage and his buddy Ralph the Earth Mage are fighting an Amoromancer who left Ralph’s kid sister in tears. They both hit the bastard with blasts; Ralph sends a cloud of gravel flying, and Ben’s fire superheats it. Instead of burning the clothes and skin surface, or causing bruises and cuts to the same, the hot rocks burn thorugh the clothing and outer layer of skin, reacting and searing the flesh inside. Ben rolled a 23 and Ralph came up with a 38, so the damage will be 30 (23 + 38 = 61 / 2 = 30). Had they fought seperately, the damage would only have been 16, 5 from Ben and 11 from Ralph.

Generate a Minor Charge: Spend at least six hours in a given day training to acclimatize yourself to the element of choice. This could take the form of firewalking, gymnastics, swimming, or sparring, or some similar activity that may potentially harm you in relation to the element. Some damage will probably occur in the process, roll one die and take the number as damage.

Generate a Significant Charge: Spend eight straight days, from dawn till dusk, training. It’s not an elemental adaptation exercise, so you gain no minor charges; rather, it’s usually an attempt to subjugate the element to your will. A Fire mage would set wooden targets on fire and literally beat the flames out. A Water mage would break blocks of ice. An Air mage would attack normal targets that were affixed to a hard to reach place; the ceiling sounds about right. An Earth mage would just break bricks and cement blocks.

Note that this training schedule can be reduced dramatically by having others with different elements fight along side you, that is to say, in the same sparring room/gymnasium area (same room works, different rooms in the same building does not). If a Fire and Water mage train together, the time needed for a significant charge is reduced to four days. If an Air Mage joins the mix, it takes only two days, and if an Earth Mage tags along, it takes only one day to get a sig. The moral of the story: If you don’t want to lose your job or have your grades suffer from constant days off used to power up, find some partners.

Generate a Major Charge: Given the school’s recent development, nobody has yet figured out how to snag a major charge. There are theories, though, usually involving very risky stunts in the general viscinity of Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions, Tornados and Tidal Waves. Most Elementalists are searching for a slightly less risky way; one theory is that the mage must save a person from a natural disaster aligned with their element, who would certainly have died otherwise.

Taboo: All elemental schools have one thing in common: They require a large amount of discipline and clarity. Acting out of fear, anger, or even sentiment clouds judgement and causes the internal balance gained to be lost. This doesn’t exactly mean suppressing emotions, but they can’t have free reign. In other terms, anyone who activates their passions for any reason will lose all charges.

Random Magick Domain: The domain for each element is, of course, limited to that element and some of its symbolic association. Earth, for example, covers health and vitality. Fire covers spirit and emotion. Water covers deception and illusion. Air covers knowledge and understanding. The common underlying tone is control, not only over the personal element, but of the self and the situation.

Starting Charges: Starting Elementalists have four minor charges.

Charging Tips: Training takes time and effort, and can take its toll on the body. A healthy, fit elementalist can usually get a minor charge every other day, or once every three days, depending on how fast he can heal and how good his medical skills are, as well as the availability of free time. Sig charges are going to be harder to acquire unless he can find another elementalist with a different element to work with, and even then they’ll need to find a point where four-day weekends coincide for both of them. Unless he’s unemployed or a dropout, an elementalist should try to team up with other elementalists. If a four element team can find the time and resources, they can get a significant charge each, every day they train together, and even a three-man team can grab a sig every weekend.

Note on Elemental Magick: The process by which Elementalists charge up has a side effect of making the body more resistant to the damaging influence of the element, at least in a direct way. As a result each magick skill has a secondary function in addition to its primary reality-warping function. If the Elementalist ever decides to give up magick (or is forced to, perhaps thanks to Cecilites or the House of Renunciation), the magick skill changes into a mundane skill under Body or Speed.

Fire Mages can roll under their skill when they come in contact with an open flame, or anything hot enough to cause a burn. This covers coals, hot rivets, and molten magma, but not things that would cause electrical, chemical, or freezer burns. For every successful check made, the Fire Mage can touch the object for about three seconds. As soon as they fail the check, they start burning.

Water Mages can hold their breath underwater for as many seconds as they have in their Magick: Elemental Water skill, in addition to the time allowed by the Body stat or any mundane skill like Hold My Breath.

Air Mages can jump to great heights thanks to extensive training. If they need to reach something high off the ground, they can roll this skill instead of General Athletics or an appropriate mundane skill like Jumping. The sum of the roll is the vertical height attained, in feet. Note that this skill does not help the mage STAY up there. If there’s no hand hold, then down he goes.

Earth Mages are tough and resilient, and their skill reflects that. When wounded and undergoing convalescence, this skill can be rolled. If it’s a success, the Mage recovers twice as many wound points as he would normally. In effect, a successful check every 24 hours means he can heal twice as fast.

Minor Elemental Effects

Most Elemental spells follow a similar format throughout the school, varying only according to element. The official name for each spell for a particular elemental type will be shown in parentheses.

Elemental Boost
Cost: 1 Minor Charge

An Elemental Boost allows the mage to take a +10% shift towards a particular stat, for the purposes of checks against that stat. For another two minor charges, it can be cast on anyone within the mage’s line of sight. More than one boost of a certain type are not cumulative, but different boosts can all be used at once. The boost lasts until the subject sleeps.

Earth: Body Stat (Moving Mountains)
Fire: Speed Stat (Wildfire)
Air: Mind Stat (Clear Head)
Water: Soul Stat (Still Waters Run Deep)

Elemental Sense
Cost: 3 Minor Charges

Elemental Sense allows the mage to improve their senses in various ways. This spell can only be used by the casting mage. The Notice skill gets a +10% shift in the appropriate context until the next time the mage sleeps.

Earth: Superior Hearing (The Hills Have Ears)
Fire: Infrared Vision (Burning Eyes)
Air: Telescopic Vision (Bird’s Eye View)
Water: Echolocation (Whale Song)

Elemental Prowess
Cost: 2 Minor Charges

Similar to Elemental Boost, except this spell improves a single skill by 10% under the related stat. It can only be used on the casting mage, and lasts until the mage sleeps.

Earth: Body Skills (Rock Hard)
Fire: Speed Skills (Trail Blazer)
Air: Mind Skills (Head in the Clouds)
Water: Soul Skills (Smooth Operator)

Elemental Hindrance
Cost: 3 Minor Charges

These spells are used on opponents to reduce stats or related skills until the next time the target sleeps.

Earth: Body Stat/Skills (Cracked Foundation)
Fire: Speed Stat/Skills (Burned Out)
Air: Mind Stat/Skills (Foggy Memory)
Water: Soul Stat/Skills (Cold as Ice)

Elemental Control
Cost: 5 Minor Charges

This allows control of the actual element, or spontaneous generation of the element in an environment where it is scarce. For example, a Fire Mage could cause wood to burst into flame. The effects are very low level; the flame would be enough to light a cigarette or possibly start a grill. Another casting would allow the flames to be fanned over a wider area. As a thumb rule, creating the element is restricted to influence over about an inch square, while controlling an existing part of it is more like a foot square. Air can create unexpected winds and small electrical shocks. Earth can influence rocks and stone, say through creating cracks, while water can usually make ice form. There’s considerable lee-way involved, and the GM has the final say.

This spell can be used to cause harm, if used creatively, but it’s not as likelyto do so as a blast spell. Circumstances, environment, and awareness all play a key role.

Significant Effects

Elemental Strike
Cost: 1 Significant Charge

This is the blast spell. As specified, two different elements working together can create a firearms-damage blast.

Earth: Rocks, bricks, and sometimes sand flies at target. (Rockslide)
Fire: A ball of fire flies toward the target. (Blowtorch)
Air: A miniature lightning bolt strikes the target. (Thunderbolt)
Water: An icicle forms and skewers the target. (Blizzard)

Every blast except the air blast can be dodged, since the lightning bolt strikes too fast to react to.

A Few combination have been listed for the sake of convenience:

Earth and Fire: Hot rocks burn through clothing and skin
Earth and Air: Rocks with high electrostatic charge cause severe static jolt when they hit, especially if they have quartz fragments or other substances that react well with electricity
Earth and Water: Hailstones hit harder and the ice crystals may be sharper than the rock itself
Fire and Air: Electrical resistance causes clothing to heat, making it easier to ignite
Fire and Water: Steam burns can harm tissues far beneath the surface
Air and Water: Icicle Lightning Rod makes it easier for the electricity to hit inside

Elemental Defense
Cost: 2 Significant Charges

For the next three rounds in combat, the caster is protected by an elemental barrier.

Earth: Skin is harder; all hand to hand attacks do only the damage on one die, whichever is higher.
Fire: Skin is hot to the touch, and may cause around 3 points of damage to anyone who strikes hand to hand.
Air: The skin carries a high electrical potential, so that any attacker may be struck by an electrical arc when any part of them comes within eight inches; as a result hand to hand attacks must be made at a -10% shift to keep from reflexively pulling back from the shock.
Water: The skin becomes coated with a film of water and topped with a small layer of ice crystals; the mage acquires a +10% shift to dodging hand to hand attacks and escaping holds due to being so slick and slippery.

Elemental Mindset
Cost: 3 Significant Charges

This spell allows the Elemental Mage to use the symbolic attributes of their element. Unless the effect is instant, it lasts for about a minute outside combat, or three rounds in combat.

Earth: Wound points are regained for a target of the mage’s choosing equal to the roll of the spell. (The Land is Alive)
Fire: Send a target into an emotional frenzy. Whatever emotion is being presently felt is amplified to an obssessive, psychotic level, be it rage, love, lust, depression, euphoria, fear, and so on. This cannot be used on other Elemental Mages to cause them to break taboo; the spell fails and the charges are not used up. (Heart Burn)
Air: Concentrating on a target will allow the air mage to determine information about him in the form of noise from rushing wind sources nearby. (Whispers on the Wind)
Water: An illusion can be created and maintained. It is a bit unsteady, like the reflection in a pool of water, but in poor lighting or tense situations, it can easily be mistaken for the real thing. (Folly of Narcissus)

Elemental Juggernaut
Cost: 5 Significant Charges

This spell allows the Elemental Mage to directly use their powers over the elements as both offensive and defensive tools. The effects always last for about five minutes outside of combat, and five rounds inside of it.

Earth: The skin is covered by a shell of stone which moves with the mage. Hand to hand damage is +6 for being both big and heavy, and firearms do hand to hand damage. Hand to hand damage is unaffected. (Stone Gaurdian)
Fire: Surrounds the mage with a sphere of flame. Firearms are not affected, but any attacker who does hand to hand damage receives an equal amount of damage from the flames, not unlike the Plutomancer spell Bargain of Phyrus. (Shield of Helios)
Air: Flight, pure and simple. An Air Mage can levitate in the air at a maximum height in feet determined by his magick skill. While airborne, he can attack with a +10% shift, since few opponents are experienced in fighting off an opponent from above. (Ride the Wind)
Water: The Water Mage can breath underwater, deriving all necessary oxygen from it as though equipped with gills. This works independently of the ability to go without air. (Fish in Water)

Elemental Mutation
Cost: 8 Significant Charges

This spell allows the Mage to assume the form of a mythological beast associated with their chosen element for a day.

Earth: The Mage can become a giant ant-lion, hiding under sand for prey, or a kind of golem with a mind of its own.
Fire: The Pheonix comes immediately to mind. In theory, if the Mage is severely injured, he could use this spell to become the Pheonix, then die and return from his own ashes, thereby cheating death. Of course, nobody is eager to test it. Other possabilities include the salamander and the Western Dragon ideal.
Air: The Gryphon is seen as a likely candidate, along with the Eastern Dragon ideal.
Water: The Kraken or sea serpent is a distinct possibility. Less violent mages may opt for a merman/mermaid route.

Elemental Major Effects

Nobody knows for sure, but everyone has a theory. Some say a major charge would allow the mage to create an elemental servant; a creature made out of the element itself that would obey its creator in all particulars. Others say it might be possible to completely control an element-related disaster, like a forest fire, a tornado, a tidal wave or an earthquake… or to cause one.

Slow Starter

Elemental Magick is a bit weaker than schools like Dipsomancy, Epideromancy, and Entropomancy, but is still better off than Cryptomancy is. Elementalism draws power from the common conceptions of the elements even in the days of atomic numbers and the periodic table. It’s apparent weakness is a matter of investment of power; it’s far easier to do something risky, cut yourself, or get drunk than it is to train for six straight hours, all while keeping your emotions from having total control. Ultimately, though, this is a personal bias on the behalf of outside adepts; what elementalists get out of their magick is equal to what they put into it. Another aspect that makes the school look weak is less of an emphasis on being the lone hero and more emphasis on teamwork. The present day, paranoid adept finds the idea of teaming up for the sake of power both laughable and frightening, in most cases, so Elemental Magick would naturally appear to be screwed up in comparison. Whether the school continues to spread, or dies out in favor of other, more individualist schools, remains to be seen.