In this setting, five magical substances condense where the Mortal Realm brushes against the Elemental Lands. Even tiny amounts, called kernels, can power wards, magical items, and enchantments.
Lift, motion, sound, signaling.
Found in high, wind-scoured places such as mountaintops and storms.
Stability, endurance, anchoring, warding.
Found deep underground or exposed by quakes and cuts in the land.
Heat, light, raw power. Usually tempered or cased to prevent runaway damage.
Found in volcanoes, and rarely in vast wildfires.
Cooling, resilience, flow, flexibility, waterproofing. Often used to moderate other elements.
Found in deep or storm-tossed seas, river rapids, and great waterfalls.
Growth, life, learning, memory.
Found in primeval forests. It is the rarest element now, as many groves were twisted by the Scourge.
A gold-like alloy made by combining all five True Elements in a precise sequence.
It is almost never seen, fiercely contested, and changes the stakes wherever it appears.
Tiny linings or inlays of orichalcum allow other elements to be carried safely; otherwise, all but True Wood slowly escape.
If not stored separately, each element cancels another in equal parts: Wood covers Earth; Fire burns Wood; Water quenches Fire; Air dries Water; Earth smothers Air.
Other mixes can react powerfully… sometimes explosively.