Worldbuilding Research: The Theory of Classical Elements
One of the core design questions to Drak'Arna's world is 'What if the theory of classical elements were true?' that the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water were the foundational building blocks of well, everything. Below is a summary of what will be a research article found on the Campfire wiki for this world.
The Theory of Classical Elements was formed from a few sources across numerous cultures and was discredited by Ja'far al-Sadiq and Rhazes in during the Scientific Revolution in the 1600s. Atomic Theory is what explains the material basis of our physical world.
The theory while under what we understand to be Chemistry today, was used amongst many ancient philosophies to explain patterns in nature. The term 'element' in this context is to refer to a state of matter or a type of energy or force rather than what we know as the Chemical elements today.
The number and quality of these classical elements vary depending on the culture the philosophy originates from. Certain philosophies around the elements also impacted culture and the arts which is still seen today with the correspondence of these classical elements in various works of pop culture like Journey to the West and Avatar the Last Airbender.
While I haven't taken on every aspect and quality from these various philosophies, some have been an inspiration to my worldbuilding for Drak'Arna. Notably the States of Matter, Aristotle Qualities, Greek, and Chinese Generating & Overcoming interactions.
To read more on this, I recommend these articles on related discredited theories:
https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Classical_element.html
https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Elemental.html
https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Luminiferous_aether.html
https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/List_of_discredited_substances.html
The purpose of this table is also to highlight some of the elemental philosophies from across our world.
The table pictured above is what I compiled from the above links as well as Wikipedia deep-diving. Note that I haven't dove into the esoteric layers there are many schools of thought, belief, and practice across occult and pagan traditions. When looking through these I tend to recommend exploring the history for understanding where some people of the past may have taken elements (heh) from other cultures - it's good to be aware of that, but also when exploring reconstructed traditions hearing lived experiences and academics explaining their history adds a better depth to understanding than just a wiki-dive.
I'd like to emphasize that I do not use every correspondence in my world-building. I think it's incredibly important to treat traditions, living or ancient, with respect. For example, I do not feel it's appropriate for me to use the Native American Tradition with medicine as I do not share heritage with them. However, if I felt that the aspect of medicine associated with seasons would be fascinating to explore further, I would talk to people to understand how to do so respectfully. I admit using this as an example has piqued my curiosity. Such is the way of learning!
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What kind of correspondence have I used?
I mentioned above that the notable examples are the States of Matter, Aristotle's Qualities, the Greek Elements, and Chinese Generating & Overcoming Interactions. So I'll elaborate on them here:
States of Matter - this is something that is still referred to today and usually highlights the various 'states' an element can be in. For example, Water's states are:
Gas: Vapor.
Liquid: Water.
Solid: Ice.
Plasma: Uh... There isn't one. (Well in our world ;) )
An example of what this inspired is when looking at what mixtures of elements are for magical purposes, Mostly Water + Lil bit o' Earth = Ice.
Greek Classical Elements - which is to say are very 'classic' in pop culture too. But this is your usual Air, Earth, Fire, and Water.
Aristotle's Qualities - this was a further elaboration on the Greek elements which I particularly liked as it showed the connections between them.
Air: Hot and Wet.
Earth: Cold and Dry.
Fire: Hot and Dry.
Water: Cold and Wet.
I used these particularly when working on the biomes and climates of my world when figuring out how certain areas were elements mixed - what would they include or lack?
Using Earth-like qualities. The equator is Hot and the Poles are Cold. However, my hemispheres are split based on which is the 'dominant' element. So the North Pole is Cold + Wet, predominantly water with an ice cap. While the South Pole is Cold + Dry because it's in the Fire hemisphere but because I have the Poles as 'Cold' the other quality of Fire is 'Dry' so this has meant that the South Pole is more of a cold-dry badlands desert.
Chinese Elements - I've always liked the Generating and Overcoming interactions of these five elements. They've played a particular part in both the climates and biomes of Drak'Arna but I've varied it by which element is 'dominant' in the area such as the aforementioned Poles and Hemispheres example.
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That's all for this article, I imagine I'll add more to it as I go but this is a look into how I've used the Elements in my worldbuilding. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below or my ask box but I'd love to know if there's a show or book you love where they use the elements as a form of magic! I know I've harked on about AtLA but there are so many good shows out there.
