dragon elements
Dragons (Elements)
Elements
Dragons are magic incarnate. Their elements are breathed not with complex biological processes but plain magic. Every dragon has an element - it is determined on conception, a part of their spirit. Elements are hereditary, and a drop of fire 'genes' in a sea of ice dragons can, with very low odds, produce a fire dragon.
The current known elements are; Fire, Electricity, Ice, Earth, Water, Wind, Shadow, Poison, and Fear.
Fire, Electricity, Ice, and Earth are considered the primordial elements, ones that were present in the very beginning.
Water and wind are derivative elements, with water originating from ice and fire, and wind from earth and electricity. It is speculated that further mixing of different elemental magic will produce even more elements in the future.
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Over history, time and/or the cross-breeding of the elements have produced variants of the elements - different colors and attributes of the individual elements, such as yellow fire, green electricity, or purple ice.
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Shadow, Poison, and Fear are regarded as artificial elements. They were created with magic as opposed to a natural occurrence. This process is known as the Corruption. At present, most dark dragons are born naturally, as descendants of corrupted dragons.
In the Corruption, a spell is cast on a dragon of natural element and they are twisted into one of the three artificial elements, changing the dragon's appearance and element permanently. This corruption is said to be dangerous, even life-threatening. Due to this, and the nature of the artificial elements, they are called the dark elements.
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Elemental Mastery
Not every element is equal. While every dragon starts in the same place in terms of power and ability, there are very significant variations in power and mastery levels, with the most powerful dragons being the fewest.
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Dragons have documented these different levels and created a mastery scale to represent these levels of power, control, and ability. When a dragon reaches a new level, there is no spike in their power - rather the different levels are most often tied to the ability to perform certain abilities.
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Class Zero (0) | Undiscovered
15%
Dragon has yet to breathe their element for the first time. Every dragon is born with an Undiscovered element.
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Class One (1) | Discovered
15%
Element is discovered, but weak and not under control.
Average age for element discovery is 7.5, but can, in very special cases, be as early as 1 years old or late as 20 years old.
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Class Two (2) | Controlled
40%
Element has been trained and is under control. Most dragons are expected to reach this far, and rarely go farther.
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Class Three (3) | Learner
15%
The dragon can manipulate their element.
Manipulation is the ability to summon the element around one's body instead of just from the mouth, or concentrating their element into something like fire-balls, or affecting the natural occurrence of their element.
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Class Four (4) | Skilled
10%
Dragon masters their breath ability.
A mastered ability means the dragon can do everything possible within the ability and their current mastery. Certain abilities may require a stronger element.
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Class Five (5) | Experienced
5%
Dragon masters their element manipulation.
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Class Six (6) | Adept
0.5% (~10.000 individuals)
Adepts can harness their element and unleash it in a powerful elemental Fury, a massive, uncontrolled blast of their element around them.
This takes a significant amount of energy and often leads to fatigue or loss of consciousness, thus a fury is mainly a last resort.
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Class Seven (7) | Potent
0,05% (~1.000 individuals)
Element is stronger and the dragon is capable of more complex/powerful abilities.
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Class Eight (8) | Savant
0,005% (~100 individuals)
Fury is mastered and can be performed without consequence. Element is even stronger.
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Class Nine (9) | Master
0,0015% (~30 individuals)
Elemental mastery is achieved. The dragon has learned everything about their element and is capable of performing any ability possible with their element.
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Class Ten (10) | Elemental
0,00025% (~5 individuals)
The dragon's element is as powerful as it can possibly be.
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Class X | Abnormal
1% (~20.000 individuals)
The dragon's element negatively deviates from the normal mastery scale.
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The average dragon does not go beyond Controlled elemental mastery. While older dragons that have actively used their element for survival or as part of their occupation may reach Learner or even Skilled, most dragons in modern society have only the mastery they really need, which is Controlled.
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Ascending in elemental mastery is never a guarantee. It's not solely about time and training - there is a heavy psychological aspect, a driving force which is needed.
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It's not enough to just want something. It's not enough for a dragon to want to be the best, or to move up in society, or just want a specific rank just because. To achieve mastery and power in one's element, a dragon's motivation needs to be deeply emotional, and for higher mastery, life-consuming.
A loving mother whose children were slaughtered and is seeking revenge, a child beaten all their life and driven to power out of constant fear, a man consumed and radicalized by hate... A burning motivation, the strength of personality to achieve it, and years. The more dramatic their motivation, the higher their mastery may reach.
Even then, it can still be a question of luck, or fate.
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If a dragon fulfills their goal, their mastery ascension stops - they no longer have the emotional drive to raise it further.
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Motivation and mastery can be put into perspective like this;
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A dragon wanting to protect their children may reach Learner (level 3) mastery but not higher. The want is not motivated by an experience.
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A dragon wanting to protect their children after almost losing a child might reach Skilled (level 4) mastery.
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A dragon wanting to protect their children after actually losing a child may reach Experienced (level 5).
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A dragon who has lost all their children may reach Adept or even higher in an obsessive quest for revenge.
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Reaching any level of mastery still takes years, but the goal puts it in reach.
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While a traumatic experience, or constant traumatic experiences such as domestic abuse or war, can motivate a dragon to reach further, trauma does not equal power. The dragon needs to have a certain mental fortitude to not buckle under the stress and pain. A dragon who has been assaulted may wish to get stronger to avoid being hurt again, but the fear stagnates their progress if they can't keep a clear head. Likewise, the dragon in the example who loses their children is far more likely to succumb to sorrow and emptiness, or attempt immediate retribution at the cost of their life - the dragon that would reach such high mastery for revenge is a rarity.
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Dragons that reach high mastery fast dedicate all their time to it. Rarely will they have any time, or desire, to do anything but focus on their goal. No social life, no hobbies, only a tunnel vision towards their goal. This is especially true for young dragons - you won't find a Skilled teenage dragon with a loving family and many of their emotional and physical needs met.
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Master and Elemental
Very, very few dragons reach Adept. Even fewer fully master their element. High mastery is expected of Guardians, though most are elected with Experienced or Adept elemental mastery, and are expected to aim for Master through their lifetime.
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Savants looking to attain the level of Master need to be taught by another Master, one that knows the secrets of complete elemental mastery. Trying to learn these secrets by themselves would take decades, if not a century.
Elementals exist in single digits. They are considered the avatars of their elements, thought to be blessed by the Ancestors to achieve a grand purpose. Elemental-bound dragons are in the incomprehensibly small goldilocks zone for mastery progression - their motivation, bloodline, personality and psychology are all in the perfect place for a very rapid mastery progression. Unfortunately, due to this, Elementals are rarely (entirely) sound of mind.
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The Elder Guardians, who are regarded as the strongest Guardians in all of Warfang, has only one Elemental.
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While there is a belief of divine choice when it comes to Elementals, most Elemental-bound dragons die before getting close to this level of mastery.
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Abnormal
Deviation from the mastery scale is not unheard of. One percent of dragons do not fall on the normal progression scale, usually to their own detriment. This cannot be fixed. An Abnormal element can come in different forms;
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an element that is permanently weak (never leaving Discovered mastery)
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an element that uncontrollably ascends in power but cannot be controlled (to the detriment of the dragon's health. Usually this power reaches Skilled or Experienced level, with the dragon having no control over this. The dragon is actively harmed by their element)
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an element that cannot be breathed normally, nor manipulated, and can never be breathed normally
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an element that swaps standard breath ability with manipulation. At discovery, the dragon cannot breathe their element, but can loosely summon it around them akin to manipulation. If the dragon reaches Experienced, they are then no longer considered Abnormal as their continued progress will follow the normal mastery scale.
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There are no 'beneficial' forms of Abnormal elements.
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Element Staining
Very frequent element use has a 'discoloring' effect in the user's mouth, called element staining. A dragon breathing their element enough to attain Adept element mastery will have their mouth completely and permanently stained with their element's colors. Leading up to this, the discoloration is gradual, often starting at the tip of the tongue by Skilled mastery. This only affects the inner mouth.
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Dragons who mainly manipulate their element, or breathe their element from the nose, will not have as much element staining if any.
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If a dragon breathes their element from the back of their throat instead of the front of the mouth, the staining will start from the throat instead of the tongue.
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Element Eye Glow
Powerful or emotional usage of element will cause a dragon's eyes to glow, to variable intensities based on mastery level.
The Elements
Fire
Fire is the element of burning emotion - most fire dragons discover their flame in a bout of intense feelings, often anger. In pre-Unification times, the other elements viewed fire dragons negatively for one notable reason; an inept fire dragon could burn entire lands to ashes. Fire is one element that, if left alone, can become a natural fire and keep burning. The original lands of fire dragons, the Agni Flats, is largely evolved to be fire-proof as a result.
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Due to the potential independent destructiveness of the fire element, fire dragons have an unique pressure to control their element. While intense emotion encourages the strength of fire, it discourages control. As part of their element training, fire dragons must learn to control their own emotions and impulsivity.
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Standard fire breath is exhaled as a flame. At higher masteries, this flame is strong enough to push objects or enemies like a harsh wind. Fire can be manipulated into concentrated bursts that explode on impact, or can be used to super-heat horns, teeth, claws, or spines. A fire dragon capable of element manipulation can surround themselves in fire as protection (though this does not protect them against projectiles, as a shield of fire will never be solid), or to increase the damage of melee attacks.
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Fire dragons above Controlled mastery are able to affect natural fires, such as a Learner extinguishing a candle through will, or a Master bringing a devastating forest fire to a halt. They could also make any given fire grow larger, or keep it from going out, depending on their level of mastery.
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Fire comes in many hues. While the exact color of a fire dragon's flame can be as diverse as the scales of dragons, they can be classified into six variants.
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Orange: The standard, original and most common color of fire.
Red: Red fire is the coldest fire, but it will burn longer than standard fire. This classification includes distinctly pink fire. Red fire is neither common nor uncommon. Comes from fire crossing with ice or water, causing colder flames.
Yellow: Yellow flame includes every flame not sufficiently orange to near-white flames. Less common than red fire. Burns hotter than standard fire, sparks wildly and is erratic. Comes from fire crossing with electricity.
Blue: Blue fire, everything from teal to sky blue to ocean blue flames, is the second hottest flame variant. Not excessively rare, but said to come from pure and/or powerful fire lineages.
Green: Green fire is colder than blue, but hotter than its redder counterparts. Associated with dark magic, this fire variant has been recorded to occur when a fire dragon crosses with a dark dragon. Dragons with green fire are only known in single digits, not so much due to the variant's low probability of occurring, but because eggs of green fire are most often smashed - either by its own family, or their outraged communities (a green fire egg is proof of one of the parents having dark dragon blood, something few are eager to admit to).
Purple: Purple fire has historically been observed, and is said to be the hottest flame. However, no one alive as of 3016 possesses this flame, and little is known about it and how it occurs. Believed to come from the purest and most powerful fire lineages, or dragons chosen by the Ancestors for an important duty.
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No elemental fire will have more than a single color. While a fire's glow and brighter center may often have a slight hue shift, this is very minor.
A fire dragon's elemental color does not change as they become more powerful, nor does the temperature of their fire change.
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Electricity
Electricity is quite similar to fire. Electric dragons are fast on both feet and wing, and often quick-witted, sometimes hyperactive. They are not known for their patience. Electric dragons often discover their element when surprised or startled (leading to largely unsuccessful attempts to 'jumpscare' a hatchling's element out of them), through an adrenaline hit, emotional shock, or unexpectedly without any real provocation.
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The high-temperature aspects of electricity is a source of confusion for scholars. After the emergence of the derivative elements, wind and water, the possibility of fire or electricity having derived from the other was discussed, but ultimately dropped as pure lineages of either do not produce the supposed root element like wind and water does.
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Despite the high temperatures of electricity, using it to light things on fire is surprisingly difficult.
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While electricity can cause damage and destruction through its temperature, its main aspect is its shock. Electricity can stop organic enemies in their tracks by causing muscles to seize up. This has the trade-off of slower kill-times compared to other elements, depending on variant and mastery.
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Some variants of electricity trade shock for higher temperatures, and vice versa. Blue electricity is less likely to paralyze an enemy, but more likely to kill through burn damage. On the other end, red electricity leaves little burns, but is very paralyzing and moves more easily through organic matter. This leaves red electricity more dangerous than the other variants in some situations - a newly discovered red electric is more likely to accidentally stop the hearts of small critters, or in rare occurrences, that of (other) hatchlings. Though more likely to paralyze an enemy, red electricity takes longer to kill than its counterparts when it comes to larger creatures.
In higher mastery, an electric dragon is more in control of where their electricity goes in the body, and can steer it directly into the heart - or away from it, if killing is not an objective. This demands focus and being up-close and personal however.
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Standard electricity breath is exhaled in single bolts. For a newly discovered, this bolt easily snaps to unintended targets, and part of learning control is ensuring it travels where intended. With higher mastery, electricity reaches further and can branch into more and more simultaneous bolts, although at the cost of dividing power between each branch. With higher mastery, standard electric breath hits harder and harder, and is known to shatter stone. As such, electric dragons of high mastery often kill in part through impact, hitting targets like arrows.
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Electricity can be manipulated in several ways; through electric projectiles that leave the mouth and strike a target at range, or manipulated into a solid electric 'ball' that can be interacted with, or a shield that protects against projectiles (to certain degrees depending on mastery - very fast and powerful projectiles like dragonkiller bolts (shot by a ballista) will breach the shields of almost any electric dragon) . These solid shields, however, are static and cannot be moved along with the user - so while fire cannot protect against projectiles, they have mobility, while for electricity this is reversed. Electricity can, however, be used to surround oneself with similar to fire, although these will cover significantly less surface, but will snap to a nearby target.
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Electric dragons have the most opportunity to encounter their element's natural occurrence in Concurrent Skies, where the near-constant lightning storms imbue the titan-sized electric crystals with electricity, which electric dragons can manipulate and use to enhance their own attacks. At masteries above Adept, an electric dragon can summon flashes of lightning from the clouds above them, though this is mostly done unintentionally as a result of anger or fear. At the highest masteries, these storms can be quite dangerous.
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Like fire, electricity has six known variants.
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Yellow: Standard and original, includes more orange-tinted electricity.
White: White, or pale (as it includes bright yellow electricity), is a hotter variant of electricity thought to come from fire mixing.
Purple: Purple electricity, unlike purple fire, isn't too rare, neither is it very hot. It makes up for this with by being more shocking.
Blue: Blue electricity is the inverse of its purple counterpart - hotter than it is shocking. It has the same rarity as purple electricity.
Green: Rarer than blue and purple but not unheard of, green electricity shares some of the bad reputation green fire has. It is, however, not a result of dark dragon mixing, but a mixing with earth. This is as shocking and hot as standard electricity, but moves more easily through inorganic targets than organic targets.
Red: Red electricity is the rarest. Though the coldest electric variant, it is the most shocking. Red is as such considered the 'purest' form of electricity, much like fire's purple variant.
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Ice
Ice is considered the element opposite of fire. Ice dragons are often perceived 'cold' and 'calculating', but in reality possess no calmer emotions nor higher intellect than that of the other elements, simply an inclination to hide their feelings better. Ice dragons have a tendency to be proud or stubborn individuals, and often discover their element in moments of grief or inner turmoil.
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The standard breath of ice comes in the form of a dense, snowy breath. This sub-zero breath freezes the surfaces it touches, and can at higher power cause a 'push' much like fire, as well as reach further and cover more area.
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Ice manipulation comes mainly in the form of 'compressing' the standard breath into solid ice. From the mouth, icicles can be launched at targets and even bounce off surfaces at higher mastery. A common manipulation of ice is growing 'ice blades' at ones claws or tails, or even to create temporary horns and spurs for combat. Ice is also manipulated into make-shift armor - which, while easily destroyed and penetrated by non-elemental projectiles and weapons, offers quite effective protection against one or two strikes of other elements. With higher mastery, ice projectiles increase in size and speed, and armor increases in effective surface.
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The frosty, snow-like state of ice can also be used as a surrounding ability, obscuring the user and freezing nearby targets, slowing them down.
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Like the other elements, ice dragons can manipulate the natural occurrences of ice and snow. This gives ice dragons a combative edge in winter or their far north islands of origin, as they can manipulate natural ice without having to summon it themselves, saving much of their magic in doing so.
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Magical ice does not persist for long after a dragon stops channeling magic into it. It will not melt into water, simply dissipating entirely.
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Ice has six recognized variants.
Blue: The original, standard variant of ice.
White: White ice is a natural 'derivative' of blue ice and does not originate from element impurity. Solid white ice can seem almost like cloudy glass. It is slightly more sturdy than that of the standard variant, but slightly less cold.
Aqua: Thought to originate from elemental impurity, aqua ice is even less cold than white ice, but is sharper and cuts more easily.
Purple: Purple ice is revered as the purest ice variant, and is the coldest of all the variants, albeit at the cost of fragile solid ice.
Deep blue: A variant that comes from the mixing of water or fire, deep blue ice is the warmest variant of ice, often described as 'slushy', and tends to fall apart when manipulated into solid ice. This does not make it the weakest variant, however, as deep blue ice sticks onto targets like cold water, causing frostbite and temperature drops for much longer than any other variant when left alone. Targets are frozen with far more ease, and for far longer than other variants.
Black: Like its green fire counterpart, black ice stems from dark element impurity. While this variant has rarely ever been observed properly (due to the destruction of black ice eggs, or the culling of black ice hatchlings) it is known to present as the sharpest ice, capable of cutting and piercing far deeper than the other variants.
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Earth
The earth element encompasses aspects of nature. It is an element associated with both peacefulness and power. Earth dragons are rarely associated with anger or aggression, but are easily thought of as stubborn, dumb brutes, or having hearts of stone that builds them into unfeeling warriors. Earth dragons often discover their elements in the midst of fights, or notably in the defense of others.
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The earth element comes in the form of raw nature energy. The standard breath can take the shape of either an energy blast, or a constant flow of energy used as a wrecking ball.
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Manipulation of Earth sees the energy condensed into ranged balls that explode into shockwaves of energy, or which becomes a twister of energy, like a tornado. Earth dragons can also use their limbs to strike surfaces or enemies to create ripples of energy that hit their targets with incredible force - in higher masteries, enough to shatter bones at point-blank.
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Further manipulation is not energy based, but summons aspects of the earth itself, such as vines or branches to restrain a target, or armor of stone. A Learner and above may also influence the natural earth in similar fashion and use them in attacks to save magic.
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When an earth dragons summons a vine, it will appear somewhat natural with a magical glow to it, and it will reduce into nothing soon after the dragon stops channeling magic into it. Visually, they seem to reverse the process of growth until they vanish, rather than withering away.
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An earth dragon may affect foliage, the soil and wood, or rocks and minerals. While any earth dragon can affect all these aspects of earth to some degree, earth dragons are heavily inclined to one (or two) of these, depending on variant, of which there are four.
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Green: The original, standard and most common form of earth, ranging from near-yellows, to solid greens and teal. Earth dragons with this variant have the highest control of natural flora, and their energy breaths produce magical leaves and petals.
Grey: Grey earth is a natural derivative of green earth, but is thought to have first occurred from ice impurity. It shows an affinity towards the control of hard stone and minerals, even sand to some degree. Grey earth dragons will have accents of rocks and pebbles with their energy. Contrary to the name, grey Earth, and grey Earth dragons are never fully grey, but desaturated greens and browns.
Brown: Another natural derivative of green earth, this variant shows an inclination towards the rich soil and hard flora like wood and roots. This earth breath displays accents of dirt speckles and twigs.
Multicolor: The rarer variant of earth stems from the crossing of other earth variants, causing a variant inclined to two of the three aspects of earth. A dragon of this variant possesses an earth breath that is mainly colored like one of the other three variants, with a colorful center containing colors different from the other variants (red, pink, purple, or blue). Both of these colors will be present on the dragon. The dragon's main affinity will be given away by their breath's main color, but the secondary color acts as a 'wild card' of sorts, and can imply an affinity of either-or. Multicolor earth is viewed as the purer form of earth, and is hoped to branch out into a new variant that allows total control of all aspects of earth.
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Wind
Wind is a derivative of the union of Electricity and Earth. Wind dragons are thought to possess a regality not found in electric or earth dragons. They often discover their element after they learn to fly.
Wind is exhaled like a visible gust of wind which, much like its Electric parent, is erratic and hard to control, as well as rather wide-spread like its earth parent. In the process of becoming Controlled, wind dragons learn to streamline their wind breath to affect much smaller and specific areas. Like its primordial parents, breaths of Wind can hit with incredible speeds and harsh impacts. While this is not enough to damage an opponent, the objects which they are thrown into will. In combat, wind dragons use their wind breaths to throw enemies against obstacles or sharp objects - or, they throw the objects instead. Wind dragons may also breathe short bursts of Wind to keep their opponent from gaining proper footing.
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Wind manipulation comes in the form of surrounding oneself with a twister of wind, allowing a wind dragon to keep opponents at distance or throw them off. This can also be used to stir up surrounding objects and throw them in all directions, to even greater effect if the dragon allows themselves to spin, creating a full-blown tornado. Wind dragons commonly summon wind around and under their wings to fly at incredible speeds and distances, far beyond the previously fastest dragons, their electric cousins. Wind dragons can also use their wind like a whip by concentrating their magic into a very small, very fast stream, allowing their element to cause injury by itself. Above the levels of Experienced, a wind dragon may be able to pull the air out of an opponent's lungs, provided the opponent is immediately close and unable to struggle.
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While Wind itself is not visible, wind magic is. There are four recognized wind variants, though these have no variations of attributes like other elements, only color classification.
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Grey: The standard variant of wind, a grey, white or slightly teal-tinted grey.
Teal: A natural derivative thought to come from more earth-heavy lineages, a brightly saturated greenish blue, teal, or light green wind.
Tinted: Thought to come from more electric-heavy wind lineages, this variant has a slight bit of color to it. Most commonly this presents as green, teal, or blue, but electric origin and concentration of said origin can cause any different color. Tinted wind is always very bright/desaturated, never as colorful as that of teal wind. Any color is possible, but red, orange, and yellow are rarest.
Saturated: The rarest variant of wind takes much after multicolored earth. Its main color is grey, with a highly saturated center. Like the tinted variant, this center can be any color, but red, orange, and yellow is rarest. This color will always be harsh, and never too dark. Considered the purest form of Wind.
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Water
Like wind, water is a derivative element, the child of Fire and Ice, and the youngest natural element. Water dragons are known to be extroverted, yet possess some of the stoic qualities of their ice ancestors. Water dragons that live on land tend to discover their element in rather accidental fashion, such as during a sneeze, or in the midst of a laugh. Water dragons that spend the majority of their life in the waters discover their element unknowingly, only realizing after the fact that they have been affecting the waters around them.
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There is a disconnect between first generation water dragons, water dragons that live on the surface, and water dragons that live in the seas. First generations and land-living water dragons will breathe their element normally in much the same fashion as fire and ice, but water dragons who have lived in water for generations express their element differently, in fact, their breath and manipulation abilities are swapped. When in waters, the standard breath ability is not of much use, and as such those who have been water-living for generations develop manipulation as a standard ability, and water breath as a second ability. This is similar to a type of Abnormal mastery, or the functions of the shadow element (an element born of a dragon of the aforementioned Abnormal mastery).
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Water-living dragons will use their water manipulation to optimize their swimming, changing the currents around them and boosting their speeds, allowing them to out-swim almost any danger. They are also able to breathe better underwater, while first-generation water dragons struggle with adjusting to this for many, many years.
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Water breath is a stream of water (temperature can vary between individuals, but is never scalding or ice-cold), which at the starting level is not particularly strong. But already at the level of Discovered (or Skilled for water-living dragons), the water breath has gained significant pressure and can function quite similarly to wind, throwing targets into obstacles, or objects into targets. While not as refined at this as wind is, water has the added benefit of being able to easily impact a target's breathing.
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With higher mastery, water dragons can compress their water stream more and more and breathe their stream at faster pressure. At Experienced level (Potent for water-living dragons), a water dragon can severely bruise or even draw blood from an opponent. At levels higher still, the water can cut deep, and at Potent/Master, rip straight through a target's soft tissue.
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Manipulation on land allows water dragons to summon water around themselves (an excellent shield against its root elements, fire and ice - not so much against electricity or earth) or around an opponent to drown them.
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While magical water can persist long enough to drown someone, it dissipates eventually, meaning it cannot be used to hydrate someone or something.
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Water has only three variants, a possible result of most water dragons living in the sea, where no other element can influence theirs. There are no attribute differences between the water variants.
Light blue: The original/standard variant of water, containing all blues and teals from near-white to mid-range.
Deep blue: A natural derivative of light blue water, the deep blue variant has all the other shades of blue and teal, except shades too dark to be considered blue/teal. Water dragons take offense if this variant is mistakenly called 'dark' blue.
Clear: A natural, new and rare variant of water, distinctly white or mostly white. Thought to be the purest of the water variants.
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No information about the dark elements is available.