heptagram: (040 |)
Pᴀᴛᴄʜᴏᴜʟɪ Kɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ([personal profile] heptagram) wrote in [community profile] prismatica 2019-04-04 02:26 pm (UTC)

Four elements is a very Western magic system. Well, in my world, at least -- you mentioning the name of Xing (a territory of some kind, going by context), confirms we're from separate worlds. What I've built is a variant on the five-element system of the Wu Xing, from the nation of China. Their five-element system was wood (the latter of which also covered wind), fire, earth, metal, and water. The Wu Xing had a lot of importance in Chinese philosophy even outside of magic; the five elements are ordered as a very specific progression -- representing growth, flourishing, a turning point, decline, and ending.

The sixth and seventh, in my case, are sun and moon. Mostly these are more supportive, but not completely without their own properties -- particularly in that the solar element is more active, while the lunar is more passive.

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