The Five Elements

[Kathryn Lacey]

Air...
Earth...
Fire...
Water...
Spirit...

These are the five, basic elements that command our existance. Air gives us breath. Earth gives us our bodily shells. Fire gives us warmth. Water gives us blood. Spirit gives us our very core. Without them, we would be nothing; we would not exist.

Long before humanity existed, these elements were separate, but they discovered each other and began to combine while still retaining their very cores. Eventually, they all decided to create one world where they could live together in peace. Combining all of their magick and power, they created Earth and the beings upon it. Things were wonderful and peaceful for a time until wars and strife began to infect this perfect world. In order to preserve themselves, the leaders of each elemental world blocked themselves away from Earth with the hopes that the taint would spread no further into their lands than they already had. They sealed the portals between the worlds and eventually, they nearly about each other and about the world they'd created.

Perhaps it was the work of fate or destiny or whatever you want to call it, but simultaneously, one humanoid from each of the worlds - with the exception of spirit - happened upon the portals and found themselves somehow activating the ancient technology before accidentally finding themselves on Earth at the same moment. To get back to their world, they must find the fifth elemental - Spirit - to help them combine their abilities and get home once more. Unfortunately, the fifth elemental has no idea what (s)he truly is, and they must find a way to unlock her/his true potential once they find her/him.



This game would likely have five characters - one of each of the elemental humanoids. I have basic specs for each of the worlds and those who live in it, but this will be played out on Earth. The specs are sort of open for discussion and change, but I researched pretty hard on the first four, so you'll have to bear with me when it comes to changing those, but if there are good reasons for it other than, "Well, I want that element but not those specs." then I'm open for changing them. I tried to make the appearances pretty wide ranged without being all over the place, so hopefully, people will be happy with them in general if they choose to place interest in this. I'll be playing the spirit elemental if everyone is cool with that. I still need to sort out the specs for that one, but I'll get it up eventually. All I know is that the Spirit World is called Nibiru.

Furthermore, this is going to be very casual. It doesn't have to be incredibly, painfully slow, but I have a full time job, and I have to keep my home clean and my love happy on top of that, so our personal lives do need to come first, so it won't be super dee duper fast, either.

---

INTERESTED

• Bird of Hermes - ?
  
• Kathryn Lacey - Spirit
  
• Marionette - Earth
  
• Ragter the junior greeter - Air
  
• Ruu - Water
  
• Ryona Noel - Fire

---

Air

World

• Shambahlah

Abilities

• Air Current Manipulation
  
• Flight
  
• Invisibility

Hair

• Straight to Lightly Wavy
  
• Grey
  
• Platinum Blonde
  
• Silver
  
• White

Eyes

• Black
  
• Gold
  
• Grey
  
• Silver
  
• Violet

Skin

• Yellow Undertones
  
• Fair to Darkly Tanned

Associations

• Breath
  
• Communication
  
• Conceptual
  
• Ideas
  
• Intellectual
  
• Mind
  
• Wisdom

---

Earth

World

• Paititi

Abilities

• Dirt/Rock Maniupluation
  
• Growing Plants with a Touch
  
• Super Strength

Hair

• Wavy to Fairly Curly
  
• Light Brown to Black

Eyes

• Brown
  
• Green
  
• Hazel

Skin

• Red Undertones
  
• Lightly Tanned to Medium Brown

Associations

• Fertility
  
• Firm
  
• Grounded
  
• Nurturing
  
• Practical
  
• Solid
  
• Stable

---

Fire

World

• Thinis

Abilities

• Manipulating Flames
  
• Superheating Body
  
• Superheating Objects

Hair

• Fairly Wavy to Kinky Curly
  
• Auburn
  
• Chestnut
  
• Copper
  
• Ginger
  
• Red
  
• Russet
  
• Sorrel

Eyes

• Amber
  
• Black
  
• Brown
  
• Golden

Skin

• Ashen Undertones
  
• Darkly Tanned to Dark Brown

Associations

• Energy
  
• Inspiration
  
• Instinct
  
• Outgoing
  
• Purifying
  
• Strong Will

---

Water

World

• Lemuria

Abilities

• Breathing Underwater
  
• Healing
  
• Manipulating Water

Hair

• Lightly Wavy to Very Curly
  
• Pale Blonde to Dark Blonde

Eyes

• Blue
  
• Blue-Green
  
• Green
  
• Grey

Skin

• Peach Undertones
  
• Very Pale to Almost Tanned

Associations

• Cleansing
  
• Emotion
  
• Healing
  
• Imagination
  
• Passion

So, who's interested, and do any of you have ideas on how to make this better?

Spoiler:

[Bird of Hermes]

I am interested.

[Ruu]

~I'd be interested as well.

[Ragter the junior greeter]

I am somewhat interested as well. I ditched the Advanced(Was it Advanced? o-o) Interest Check/OOC of another thread, but hearing that this would be super casual...well, I decided to show my interest!

Also, I'm wondering what Kinky Curly hair is...never heard of it before.

[Kathryn Lacey]

It's great that you guys are all interested so soon.

Ragter, think of a generalization of African American hair. Like this.


Do any of you have any ideas for additions or changes to the plot or anything more than I have written already? I'm open to anything, but if not, we can wait a little longer, and I'll open the OoC.

---

{EDIT}

Okay, so we just need one more player. Just out of curiosity, what elemental roles were you guys interested in playing?

[Ruu]

~I'd be interested in playing Water.

[Ragter the junior greeter]

Ah, okay, I think I got it Kathryn. As for additions to the plot...not really; I feel it works well right now, though I am not the greatest storyteller.

As for the element, I would say I'm interested in playing Air.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Sounds good, Ruu. Water is a good element. It's one of my favorites. I actually would have chosen that one myself had I not felt it was more important as the person managing the game to play as the element that isn't quite as... cut and dry as the others.

Ragter, air is a good element, too. I have a feeling that Hermes was also considering that one since I've seen a clear fondness for such affiliations with her characters in the past. However, I could be completely wrong, and maybe she wants to branch out into something new. She hasn't voiced anything since announcing her interest, so if I'm right there are a few things we can do.

First, we can make this a first-come-first-serve sort of deal.
Second, you can both talk about it and see if there's anything else that could interest either one of you, and hopefully things can be done peacefully and non-competitively.
Third, you could both create a character, and I'll judge which one I think is a better fit for what I had in mind for the game.

I know that things like elemental games are pretty hard because there are times when two or more people want the same element ((case in point, the fact that Ruu and I both like water, but I chose a different one to better suit the game)), and as the game moderator, I am willing to try various options to get this going as smoothly as possible.

Of course, this could all just be theoretical. For all I know, Hermes wants to play as Earth or as Fire, and I could totally be coming up with solutions to a non-existent problem. ^^_^^;;

[Ragter the junior greeter]

Well, if Hermes does want to play as Air, I think the second kind of system would be better. I was considering Earth before deciding to go with Air, so if that's the case, I'd be willing to make the shift to Earth.

Also, don't worry about coming up with solutions to non-existent problems. Doing so is good, especially if you don't know if that problem is definitely existent or not!

[Kathryn Lacey]

That's great that you two will be able to work this out peacefully. We'll just have to hear from her again to find out what's happening.

Earth is super awesome as far as the abilities go. I really just like all of them, so I'm not super biased. I think they all have pros and cons which is great for development and depth.

I'm honestly surprised that no one has shown an interest in Fire yet. That's usually the top pick for elemental things, but it could be because the abilities aren't as diverse as they are with the others. I just couldn't think of anything that would properly fit with that other than what I've listed, though.

[Gadreille]

~sigh~ I've been avoiding begging for the fire slot because I owe posts in Emoria and haven't set down to write them...

Consider this sort of interest as I see if I can get my act together, but if you find another person please feel free to kick my pretty little butt out of this.

---

Here are some questions to help you flesh out your plot:

Why does spirit not know who he/she is but the others DO know?

What are the interactions between these humanoids and humans, if any?

Are side plots encouraged?

Is getting back a long term plot or is it something that should be reached soon and come up with new plots after?

Is there any ideas for an overarching reason why they all simultaneously arrived?

Please forgive me if any of this has already been answered. It has been a day or two since I read the Int Check.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Aww. Ryona, it's okay. This is going to be even more casual as far as posting goes than Bram, so it's going to be pretty relaxed. However, I want it to be more active than our Caligo game, so hopefully it'll stay alive without people feeling pressured to post unless they have have time.

Actually, those haven't been answered, and they're wonderful questions!

Let's see if I can flesh this out a bit by answering them...

1. I had the idea that the Spirit element doesn't know about who/what she is because she grew up on Earth while the other four grew up in their respective worlds ((Air in Shambahlah, Earth in Paititi, Fire in Thinis, and Water in Lemuria)). I think that when she was young, she either accidentally happened upon the portal and somehow unlocked it, someone else found it while they were with her and she accidentally got shoved through it once it was accidentally unlocked, or someone found it and unlocked it before purposely shoving her through it. After all, while the respective worlds are more peaceful than Earth on principle, Earth did corrupt them a little before they managed to separate themselves from it and from each other.

2. The elemental humanoids look very similar to humans with various differences. You rarely see a dark skinned person with red hair, for instance ((unless her name is Rhianna)). I'm sure there are slight differences in other areas, too. Water beings have gills to help them breathe underwater, for instance. Air beings may have hollow bones for flight. I haven't really decided what a defining difference for Earth or for Fire could be, but maybe we'll be able to decide on that one together if there is one at all.

Anyway, it would be fairly easy for them to interact with humans though it would likely be culturally difficult at first due to the fact that their technologies and social norms would be different. That's just something they'll have to get used to doing since they haven't encountered each other in so long that Earth is considered a myth along with whatever elemental worlds of which a person isn't a part. For instance, for the Earth elementals of Paititi, the worlds of Earth, Lemuria, Nubiri, Shambahlah, and Thinis would simply be mythological places that probably don't and never did exist. Just like today, most don't believe there's a Mount Olympus or the Elysian Fields.

Actually, I specifically gave names of "lost cities" that "probably" never existed on Earth to the elemental worlds to kind of play on that.

3. Side plots are most definitely encouraged. The idea I have for this game is so basic that without mini side-plots, I'm not sure that we'd get much out of this game. I'm open to all sorts of ideas for side plots. I just want to make sure that the backbone plot of this game remains the focus. Basically, the main plot is to recover Spirit's sense of self and to get the portal working to get back to their own worlds. Other plots are encouraged, but they shouldn't completely take over that main idea.

4. If we're encouraging side-plots, it may not be necessary to quickly get to the end of this road. However, if we do get to the end of this plot, I think it would be awesome to have other plots on the other worlds, you know? I just don't know what those other plots would be. ^o_o^

5. Not at the moment. I mean, there could be someone specifically pulling the strings, but I haven't fully fleshed out that idea. At the moment, the characters can only attribute it to destiny or to the fates for bringing them together. However, I am definitely open to other ideas regarding the reason why they all simultaneously found their ways to Earth.


{EDIT}
I also added each person and the element in which (s)he is interested as well as a rough idea for a character sheet. If you feel anything should be added to the sheet, let me know. ^^_^^

[Marionette]

You are in need of earth? I could fill such a gap if you will have me?

(storing this here to start working on it)

Spoiler:

[Kathryn Lacey]

That would be wonderful, Marionette! Now that we have all five slots filled, I will go ahead and start working on the OoC! ^^_^^

If Bird still wants to play, we can figure something out for her. Maybe she could play a normal human if she'd be up for it. However, since she didn't say anything since her voicing interest and since we have our five players, I'm going to assume she just isn't as interested as she originally thought, and we'll move on.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Also, I posted the OoC. It's called Elemental Entities: Finding the Fifth. If someone can think of a better title, we'll go with that one. XD

[Gadreille]

Thanks for answering those questions, if I can ask another regarding question #2: Are we the elements avoiding human interaction, immersing ourselves within it, or is it up to the player? Are we starting together, or seperate, or again, is that up to the players?

[Kathryn Lacey]

You can ask any questions you like. Facts are that these questions are helping me, personally, flesh out this game more than I already have. That's something I seriously love about role-playing. Things about which I may not have thought may be brought up by other players.

For instance, Marionette had this fabulous idea that because the elemental worlds are separate, they're starting to break down ((Each player gets to decide how her or his own world is breaking down. She has the Earth element, so she's going with earthquakes on Paititi)). The Portal Guardians ((sort of like priests/priestesses)) would realize that it's because the five elements need to once more be united ((to regain balance)) which could be why the portals are unlocked which is why they could be activated so easily by your guys' four characters.

This presents the option of the four characters ((some or all)) of them knowing that they needed to go to Earth and find the spirit elemental to work the portal there and such. As I typed that, I thought of something, what if the only trail between one world and the next is from one world to Earth? A fire elemental could only go to Earth or - if already on Earth - back to Thinis. However, if at least one of each elemental is united, they can travel to the other five worlds with each other rather than alone, they can each travel together between all worlds. That would explain why they'd need to find Spirit beyond just wanting to go home.


Anyway, back to your actual question and not just my rambling. ^^_^^;;

All four of you are ending up on Earth at the same moment or within seconds of each other, so you'll all meet right away and be able to share your shock that more than just your own world exists and that the others aren't mythical beings from mythical places. Then you can each decide what to do from there. As an outsider looking in, I'll say that it would be smarter for them to immerse themselves among the people to try and find strange occurrences that could/would point to Spirit abilities as their mythologies have told them they would be.

Of course, if two or three of the characters are like, "Hey! Let's go with this smart idea to find Spirit!" and one or two are like, "Um... No..." Then they can go their separate ways. We'll just have to find fun, coincidental ways to bring all five back together again. ^^_^^

[Gadreille]

Very good, I am very much liking these ideas. Its going to take a few days for me to get a character sheet up (because of Halloween.)

Glad my questions helped

[Kathryn Lacey]

Yep. No problem! I think it's going to take some time for all of us, really. I have things to do, too. I work all this week, so I'm just slowly going to be getting my character finished. I just posted the UNDER CONSTRUCTION version to have some place to have it visible to everyone while I'm working on finishing it so that some can have it as a reference... even if it'll be sort of different from your guys' since she was raised on Earth... >.>;;

[Bird of Hermes]

Am I that predictable? XD

Anyway, I am so sorry about not being around. I went out of town on Thursday and just got back. It was so sudden I forgot to update my absence thread with anything. If you'll still have me, I will take fire. It will be different than the route I usually go anyway. Scratch that; missed a post.

I will be, eh, something...

I am going to hop to the new thread in OOC. Damn. I am so far behind.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Hermes, it's a little about predictability, but you like what you like. It's just like I am known to play strong, female characters. It's not a bad thing. =3

Ryona called fire, and she started working on her character sheet, but if she wants, she can step down. I'm not making anyone leave if they're excited about the game, though. I think everyone deserves an equal chance. You could try going for a human from Earth, though, since we don't actually have any of them. Maybe (s)he could be a good friend of my character's, or (s)he could stumble across one or more of any of the characters and be sort of dragged into it. It's up to you.

[Gadreille]

I'm willing to step down and let BoH take Fire. I just stepped in because I wanted to see this take off. BoH, please let me know if you are interested in claiming that spot!

[Wildsword]

I'd be keen to play if there's any room as either an Earth or Water being. I realize there's limited space though so no worries if you're full up already.

Cheers!

[Kathryn Lacey]

So, here's the deal... All five elements are taken, and we have some people who've expressed interest in playing a human if all else is taken. In one of my games in the ancient past, I had a waiting list for players who were willing to take a role if someone else dropped out. In my experience, the bigger the game, the harder it gets to go anywhere with the story. I know not all games are that way, but in my experience, they are, so I'm going to go with a waiting list. I'll be posting it shortly in the main thread.

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