The Elemental Plane lies at the central axis of its planisphere, connected innately with the Ethereal and Astral planes, and of all the planes, it is understood most clearly by those who call upon it, acting as an endless reservoir of elemental substrate and energies.
As we understand it, the nature of the Elemental Plane is an expression of energy in patterns that range from rigid to fluid, firm to fragile, and the nature of the plane is to persist. Awash in energy from the Ethereal Plane, the Elemental is buffeted by energy at all times, driving erosion and forming incredible masses of primal elements, which is drawn on by a variety of extraplanar creatures, such as the native cores of giants, the innate breath of dragons, or the comparatively feeble spellcasters of mortalkind.
Primordials
When the planes converged, the pure Elemental energies felt the influence of foreign Rays, catalysing the formation of primal elementals. These manifestations are expressions of the substrate of which they are born, and they can combine or be broken apart. The more elementals combine into one entity, the more powerful that entity becomes. When countless elementals fuse into a single being, they ultimately form a Primordial, an awe-inspiring conglomeration of elemental power that can become large enough to challenge a deity.
Examples of these might be such figures as Abishal the Empty, Istishia the Lord of Water, Ubtao the Deceiver, Pele the Earth-Eater.
Giants
Created by Primordials to act as their servants in other planes, giants are large constructs that shape elemental substrate into a humanoid body, centered around a crystalline core. If broken and dispersed into the correct substrate, the crystals can repair themselves with new iterations, giving birth to new giants. Giantkind is just as intelligent as their genie cousins, able to invent, create, feel and question like any mortal.
Giants are divided by their constituent substrate; fire, ice, storm, cloud, stone, sea, forest, hill and others.
Dwarves
Created by Giants to act as servants and labourers, dwarves are small creatures that blend mortal flesh with elemental power to create a blended existence. At the heart of each dwarf is a tiny cluster of minerals that accumulates over their lifetime, allowing them some small connection to the elemental substrate of the giant-core that originally formed their ancestors.
Dwarves are divided by their ancestral substrate; fire, ice, storm, cloud, stone, sea and more.
Genies
When the soul of a creature enters the Elemental Plane, and is unprotected by a physical body for extended periods of time, the soul can be filled to bursting with elemental power. If this infusion lasts for long enough, and enough elemental substrate is present, it may manifest as a genie, an intelligent, sapient humanoid with command over the element of its birth. Genies cannot produce children with other genies, but are instead empowered by their native plane to near immortality.
Genasi
Accounts of genies mating with mortals results in as many grisly deaths as they do successful births, but the genasi children that survive the process are both more stable biological creatures, and weaker reflections of their elemental ancestor. Their appearance and powers vary as much as their ancestors do.
Fire, earth, air and water genasi are most common among mortalkind, perhaps due to the increasing difficulty to safely contain conflicting elemental powers in a relatively frail body.
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