Elemental Magics

[Master_Moridin]

I've been working on developing a magic system for a story, and while a bunch of people in the chat have been very helpful, things seem to have come to a crawl. As such, I thought I might post here to see if anyone else might have some ideas they would like to share.

The system is based around the Wu Xing, a system for arranging the elements by the ancient Chinese. These elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Within the world of the book, the people were granted three gifts, the Gift of Body, Gift of Thought, and Gift of Feeling. When someone has magic, they are attuned to an element and are blessed with the appropriate abilities. We had been looking at this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_xing and referring to the section on traditional medicine for ideas. This is what has already been determined:

• Wood
  
  • Body-Speed
    
  • Thought-
    
  • Feeling-Adrenaline Surge
    

  [*]Fire

  • Body-
    
  • Thought-Illusions
    
  • Feeling-
    

  [*]Earth

  • Body-Strength
    
  • Thought-Spatial sense
    
  • Feeling-Earthbinding(maybe)
    

  [*]Metal

  • Body-Regeneration
    
  • Thought-Intuition/danger sense
    
  • Feeling-Communicating with dead
    

  [*]Water

  • Body-Resistance/Endurance
    
  • Thought-Thought/Urge insertion(maybe, other ideas included teleportation, astral projection, telekinesis, a 'look at me' effect)
    
  • Feeling-Avoidance(no one notices them, to near invisibility levels)
    

Edit: All of this is obsolete and invalid. Could a mod please delete or lock this?

Edited July 17, 2012 by Master_Moridin

[Kuri Shardweaver]

Off the top of my head, I would break the association of Wood-Body with Speed and Metal-Body with Regeneration. Plant-matter isn't exactly known for its swiftness, and ore veins don't replenish much at all, though I'm not as certain of that.

You would be better off associating Wood-Body with Regeneration (the ability of plants to re-grow under even harsh circumstances), Fire-Body with Speed (heat excites most molecules, after all), and Metal-Body with perhaps....resilience to toxins/poisons/infection? Metal can't be poisoned/diseased, after all.

As for Wood-Thought...perhaps clarity of thought? The tranquility of the natural world, allowing one to expand one's awareness and see things in a new light?

Just some stuff off the top of my head.