Astitva/Imagine elements & statuses

1. Elemental alignment

Every being is aligned with one of the ten elements. Elements oppose each other in the pattern shown as follows:

Fire/Wind
Water/Earth
Electricity/Wood
Metal/Poison
Light/Dark

Hence, being aligned with the Fire element means that you will be naturally weak to Wind, but being aligned with Wind means that you will have to deal with Fire. You will resist the element you are aligned with, so Fire characters resist Fire attacks.

The main factor that determines elemental alignment is your species; generally speaking, the race of a character will correspond with an element, and members of that race will share that element. For example, Angelics are usually aligned with Light, while Demonics are normally aligned with Dark. It is perfectly possible for someone of a race to not follow the common alignment, and their alignment is not necessarily a hint to their weakness.

Outside of alignments, there are also Types, which are terms used to describe certain types of common traits between races and monsters. For example, most bird-like enemies, as well as the Sylph, are considered Flying enemies. This means that, for the large part, ground-based moves, particularly Earth techniques, will easily miss these foes. However, having a strong wind can quickly pull them down to earth.

Even past this, different characters have other weaknesses and resistances. They might even have other, more exotic traits, such as being immune to an element, reflecting an element, or even absorbing it entirely.

Elemental alignment also determines what statuses you are weak and resistant to. Generally speaking, you will resist statuses associated with the element you're aligned with, but will be weak to statuses associated with the opposite elements.




2. Elemental symbolisms & traits



~Fire~
Fire is associated with power and focus. In the case of the former, this is pretty literal; fire is a destructive force, and correspondingly, Fire techniques often are fairly powerful. The association with focus refers more to the fire inside someone; their "burning desire", if you want. As a result, abilities that involve focusing oneself, such as charge techniques, are associated with Fire. Usually, they are associated with physical damage.



~Wind~
Wind is associated with the sky and movement. The first correlation comes from, well, how wind blows through the sky. Wind techniques are not always the most powerful abilities, but they often can force the enemy to be moved somewhere else, or even pry open their defenses. Due to the freedom of Wind to move, however, Wind is also with travel, especially in a world full of water and air transportation. As a result, many travel-related spells are associated with Wind, and teleportation techniques are aligned with Wind.



~Water~
Water is associated with the ocean and the cold. The connection to the ocean is quite apparent in a world filled with water; Water is very much the life of the world. Of course, the ocean carries plenty of threats to the life it sustains; this is reflected by there being both plenty of Water-based healing techniques, usually for SP, but also with abilities that aren't inherently threatening, but can bring about conditions that make things much more deadly, or even take advantage of the right situation. Although cold is not necessarily a common aspect of what's a mostly tropical world, to say there is no ice is incorrect. As ice-based abilities are a part of Water, they follow a similar path to offensive Water techniques.



~Earth~
Earth is associated with the land and stability. The former is very obvious in the family of Earth techniques; they tend to be ground-based, and although they are quite powerful, they aren't very subtle, and many can easily dodge such abilities. However, when they hit, Earth techniques have a way of keeping their foes grounded. Earth is also associated with the body; an older belief held that bodies were initially formed out of the earth itself. Earth also represents a stable body and a stable existence, so Earth is also associated with abilities that serve for protection and upholding that stability; they're particularly good for physical defense.



~Electricity~
Electricity is associated with speed and energy. In the sense of speed, Electric attacks are ridiculously fast, to the point that they are actually the fastest family of abilities. This helps add to their power, and for those who are inexperienced with magic combat, it might initially seem like the strongest. Alongside this speed, Electricity is also associated with energy, as it helps power many non-magical electronics in the world over. As a result, some Electric abilities are also associated with power. Electric abilities also include abilities that allow one to charge up for special attacks, which can be very useful for those who prefer not using physical abilities.



~Wood~
Wood is associated with life and abundance, as trees and forests represent both in Astitva. Both traits come into play with Wood-based abilities, as many Wood techniques are good at healing HP, or even combining healing and attacks. Many Wood abilities are referred to as "draining" abilities because of this. Wood abilities are also very good for defending against other forms of magic, so are good for special defense.



~Metal~
Metal is associated with versatility and change. The former is well-represented by how many purposes metals can have; similarly, Metal techniques are surprisingly versatile, capable of taking on many roles, even if they aren't amazing in anything specifically. Metal abilities are also associated with change, and some of their abilities are capable of changing the states of others.



~Poison~
Poison is associated with the dangers and challenges that exist in the world. These many "Poisons" exist, and will either push you towards despair, or strengthen you and improve your life throughout. Poison abilities are similar to this idea. They are a tricky group, focusing more on status conditions than direct damage, and can be quite nasty for others when used properly. In reverse, they can also help improve one's resistance to statuses, allowing you to protect yourself against other ailments.



~Light~
Light is associated with all forms of light, especially sunlight, as well as purity. Much like how the sun covers a huge portion of Astitva during the day, Light techniques have huge amounts of range, and while they might not seem particularly powerful at first, Light abilities will almost certainly never fail to hit someone. They are also associated with the idea of purity, and Light techniques have a thing for healing others, whether it be health, spirit energy, or removing statuses, and keeping them "pure".



~Dark~
Dark is associated with two different sorts of "worlds": the world of the night, and the spirit world. In the case of the former, Dark techniques share a trait with Light in that they have much range; however, the range used by a Dark ability is much greater, at the cost of there being less power. Not that this is of much consequence to Dark abilities, as their connection to the spirit world allows for them to take on attributes that are very unusual. Whether it is inviting a person of the living to the world of the dead, or just exploiting a weakness someone might not have known they had, Dark techniques are quite capable of taking advantage of any situation.





3. Basic status correlations


Fire
Color - Red
Status Ailments:
Burn [Deals fire-type damage continuously, lowers physical damage];
Deafness [Prevents one from being able to hear others, harming one's ability to dodge];
Stun [Prevents one from performing most actions; actions that can be performed are shoddily done];
Rage [Increases physical damage, but user can only randomly attack]



Wind
Color - Orange
Status Ailments:
Silence [Prevents speech, lowering the potency of common magic as a result];
Float [The afflicted can be considered a Flying character];
Slow [Slows down time for the afflicted];
Stop [Stops time for the afflicted]



Water
Color - Blue
Status Ailments:
Frostbitten [Deals continuous Water-type damage that increases gradually];
Dampness [Water- and Electric-type moves deal more damage, but resistance to Fire is increased];
Pressure [Doubles the normal amount of SP/HP used for attacks, also knocks down anything that is air-based];
Frozen [Character takes constant Water-type damage and cannot move, Fire- and Earth-type moves deal more damage, but free you upon impact]



Earth
Color - Green
Status Ailments:
Trapped [Get stuck in the ground, preventing the use of close-range physical attacks];
Amnesia [Forgets how to perform certain moves];
Sleep [Prevents any action from the character, but they heal constantly while asleep, unless they have a nightmare];
Infirmity [Weakens body overall, lowering all stats greatly]



Electricity
Color - Yellow
Status Ailments:
Static [Take constant Electric-type damage, but enemies who try to physically hurt you will also take Electric damage];
Numbness [Halves speed, take less damage and also deal less, might randomly prevent you from attacking at all];
Haste [Increases speed of attacks and movement];
Illumination [Draws enemy spells towards you]




Wood
Color - Brown
Status Ailments:
Drain [Constantly drains HP from the afflicted, giving it to the afflicter];
Leech [Constantly drains SP from the afflicted, giving it to the afflicter];
Growth [Each turn, attack and magic damage increases, but it gets reduced to zero when hit with any element other than Wood, or when the status is over];
Sweet Smell [Draws enemy attacks towards you]



Metal
Color - Gray
Status Ailments:
Petrification [the character is turned to ore, which might as well have killed them];
Corrosion [Cancels the effects of armor];
Mini [Increases evasion, but decreases all other stats]
Reflect [Reflects magic attacks back at the user indiscriminately]




Poison
Color - Purple
Status Ailments:
Poison [Deals constant Poison-type damage to the afflicted, lowering physical defense in the process];
Sickness [Deals constant Poison-type damage to the afflicted, lowering special defense in the process];
Charm [Afflicted becomes more open to the opponent's suggestions, becoming a technical enemy];
Mold [Deals constant damage to the afflicted, removes healing statuses and prevents them from being recast, and hampers the effectiveness of healing techniques]




Light
Color - White
Status Ailments:
Blindness [makes physical aiming just about impossible];
Purification [Instantly cures any other statuses you may have, and protects against any more while this is in effect];
Dizziness [decreases ability to aim];
Regeneration [constantly heal HP and SP over a period of time]




Dark
Color - Black
Status Ailments:
Curse [Decreases all stats, especially luck, and deals a little bit of damage over time];
Invisible [The afflicted can be considered a Ghost character];
Fear [The afflicted becomes distressed and acts irrationally, you also become more vulnerable to critical hits];
Zombification [Turns the afflicted into an Undead character]