Elemental Mage

The term Elemental Mage refers to any practitioner of the mystical arts, where their source of power - and their sphere of influence centres around one or more naturally-occuring element.

The Elemental Arts

Elemental Mages existed long before the first Crystal Circle was formed - centuries, in fact.
In its infancy, Elemental Magecraft was as much a science as a mystical artform. Practitioners sought to understand elements (small 'e') of nature before then seeing if they could manipulate or affect them. That is why, even up to 553AFD, the Crystal Circle included those with a greater leaning to research methodology, rather than simply to 'become more powerful'.
Those most dedicated to this approach up to that year were Polarnis and Frehghan.

The Source of their Power

The most commonly documented sources were Elemental Shards, fragments of crystal-like formations usually found in places where one would expect those elements (lowercase 'e') to occur.
As with the primary Sénaqaii, however, simply finding one and possessing it did (and still does not) grant arcane capabilities. Were that true, many rich folk who wear jewellery (commonly necklaces and bracelets) containing a gem (a fragment of a shard) would also be mages to various degrees.
No, firstly a being must be Myst Sensitive and then, usually unknown to them, be sensitive also to a particular Element's influence.

Which Elements?

For general (non-Circle) Elemental Mages these are:

• Fire
• Erdé/Rock
• Water
• Wind
• Ice

Additional Notes

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Light

There are no known past or present Mages who have harnessed a Light Shard. Claris often spoke of how it felt her own Ormàkai had a will of Its own. Given both a primary Crystal and Shards are linked to the same Element, it may be that Light Shards either avoided being discovered or could not be 'activated' for some reason.

Sky?

There is no Ethkiel equivalent in Elemental Shards as there is no physical manifestation of the Element of Ethkiel from which one could extract a shard. And one cannot channel a reflection of the sky into a dormant shard either, though doubtless many have tried.

Wind

For the general Elemental Mage, it appears there is a distinction between Aevyen and Aevyten. Where Aevyenkai influenced both, Wind Shards are more volatile. In the hands of a malevolent mage (assuming they were also skilled or gifted) such a shard could cause targeted destruction (it is limited in geographical spread by virtue of being a Shard). Equally, in the past, students of the Elemental Arts with aptitude for it were taught to control disruptive winds

Ice?

Ice is unique to Crystal Shards as there is no Sénaqai of Ice. Claris left me this rough note one day we were supposed to meet to discuss this subject:

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As usual, I have to answer the call of a certain Somebody's whim. Trust me, for once, I'd prefer an enlightening conversation over some berry juice!
Anyhow, the creation of Ice in the Crystal Circle is handled by the teamwork of Aevyenkai and Ousiikai. Freezing air manifests and is passed over water. And it takes no genius to figure who would be called to melt Ice, though occasionally Erdékai is used to, for lack of a better word, punch through Ice while Fyrkai does its work.
The lack of Light in the Shards, along with the lack of a requirement for Elemental Mages (I use this term very loosely) to work together, means Ice Shards likely exist as bridges between Elements to make up the lack of unity on general display among so-called sentient species.
Time to go knock some sense into Somebody's head. Wish me luck (yes, I use the term ironically, given none exists, yet I still need it),
-C
P.S. Remember the Glàsdei!

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"The Glàsdei"

Claris here refers to the Glàsdei-an-Ormà, a naturally-occuring feature of the northern landscape. Most of the structure is ice (lowercase 'i') and is known for radiating light - rather than just reflecting it.
What I believe Claris intended here was to also demonstrate that not only can Ice bridge Wind and Water, but also link Light also. In this way, although the Shards differ in the number of types and how they function, the same unity in Nature exists as in the Six Elemental Crystals.

The Crystal Circle

I do not wish to be thought to belittle or demean the readers of this parchment. Nevertheless, for the sake of completeness I will state the obvious: The Crystal Circle, by definition was made up of six Elemental Mages. Given the primary Crystals choose their Guardian Mage, there is no precondition than a Guardian Mage must already be an Elemental Mage, or even that they lean towards one or more naturally-occuring elements before the Crystal joins them to the Circle.

Article Sections

"elements" (lowercase 'e'): naturally-occurring manifestations of aspects of nature. For example, a morning breeze, the fire of a volcano, snow and rivers.
"Elements" (uppercase 'e'): the Powers that govern how Savàni works and, traditionally, deemed to be who (or what) brought it into existence.
The Crystal Circle's work involved both definitions.

Type

Arcane