Hey Cherry, I have a question for you concerning the seraphim weapon thing. Er, which weapons (besides what is shown in Zestiria) do you think align with what elements? (Sorry, I know you're not the type of blog to answer a question like this, but you're kinda the only one I follow that dabs into Zesty HCs?)
Eeeey don’t worry about it I love getting all questions whether about Sorey or his setting and I needed a break from work anyways! I think the easiest thing is to start off with what we know. Quick review of Desolation’s element wheel: Fire is strong against wind, wind is strong against earth, earth is strong against water, and water is strong against fire. Most seraphim use weapons of the element they have an advantage towards to help amplify their power, except Mikleo who didn’t know any better.
So Lailah’s paper is wind. Maybe because of the fact paper is light and easily manipulated by wind? Dezel and Zaveid’s pendulums are earth because of the minerals in them. Edna’s umbrella is water because of its association with rain. Mikleo’s staff is earth, presumably because of a similar reasoning to the pendulums– it’s made of medals and minerals, or perhaps wood which grows from the earth?
Then we have the Armatus weapons. Fire holds a sword– I think steel and metals that have been forged can have a connection to fire because they were tempered by heat. Water is a bow– to be perfectly honest, I’m stumped on why. I’d peg bows as more of a wind thing personally, but that’s just how it goes it seems. Wind is daggers– specifically throwing daggers I think, considering the fighting style of the Wind Armatus. And Earth is gauntlets, which is heavy, associated with minerals.
Now two things become obvious from these, I think. The first being that weapons don’t have to be weapons. In the Zestiria party, Mikleo is the only seraph who wields what could be considered a traditional “weapon,” although the Armatus’s all are, which makes sense given the origins of the Armatus but that’s getting into Berseria lore. Otherwise we have paper, pendulums, and an umbrella. Elemental affinities probably relate to all things then, to some degree or another.
The second being that the elemental association can be stretched. An umbrella is considered water because its concept is linked to rain, but nothing inherent in its materials is water-based. So an element’s affinity to an element can be pretty…metaphysical?
I just realized I haven’t actually answered your questions directly but I guess it’s just hard to think of exact examples when the game already covered a lot of the more obvious weapons and there’s a lot of flexibility in interpreting what is what. The same object made of slightly different things, or intended for different uses might have different elemental affinities. An umbrella is more associated with water, but a parasol might be more associated with fire because it is intended to block sun, not rain.
My Sorey gave @mikleotheenforcer a staff once embedded with sealed vermilion ore to imbue it with fire properties in order to match Mikleo’s elemental advantage.
So just throwing out some random ideas off the top of my head maybe?
Fire: Guns, most forged items, cooking equipment, sundials, parasol, things made out of volcanic materials, torchesWater: Harpoon, trident, nets, cups, ice-picksWind: Pinwheel, fans, throwing weapons like shurikens, whip, streamers/ribbons Earth: Wood, anything with rocks and minerals, gemstones, hourglass, a literal rockVoid: Mirrors ( my HC as the artefact for the Void Armatus ) and prisms
