ElementalThe Manifestations
Elementals are the fire, earth, air and water spirits of Renaissance alchemy, formalised by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The Elemental here is that tradition rendered as a being of stone and ember. It is folklore, not a reported visitor.
At a glance
- Home system
- Various
- Avg. height
- 5′11″ – 9′10″
- Appearance
- Energy, rock and organic matter combined
- Reported lifespan
- Unknown
- Social structure
- Unknown
- Technology
- Not applicable
- Primary traits
- Elemental, ancient, volatile
- Relationship to Earth
- Unclear
Physical profile
The Elemental is a humanoid of fractured rock, lit from within by ember-coloured seams, with glowing eyes and a body that seems assembled from stone, magma and organic matter. It is heavy, ancient and volatile in the lore.
Reported origin
Unspecified. The type descends from the four elemental races of Renaissance alchemy rather than from any star.
Culture
Unknown; elementals are forces given faces, not societies.
Technology
None.
Craft
None.
Communication
Rarely described; in folklore, elementals act rather than speak.
Earth encounters
Paracelsus, the Swiss physician and alchemist, codified the elementals in the sixteenth century: gnomes of earth, undines of water, sylphs of air and salamanders of fire. The idea passed through Rosicrucian and Theosophical writing into modern occultism and fantasy, where the elemental is a stock creature. There are no encounter cases.
Lore & history
XenoAtlas lists the Elemental as folklore and speculative.
Elementals survive in fantasy games as summonable creatures, and in the New Age as nature spirits; both are a long way from Paracelsus, who thought of them as real but soulless inhabitants of their elements.
Source notes
- Elemental — Paracelsian tradition · encyclopedic summary
- Fred Hoyle, The Black Cloud (1957) · fictionFind on Amazon
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XenoAtlas documents extraterrestrial concepts appearing in mythology, contactee literature, popular culture, speculative accounts, and related sources. Inclusion does not constitute scientific verification.
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Related species
See every type in the Types of Aliens guide.