I had posted this, which I think is very apt:
Wood, a following of eco-environmental peoples, a tribe of Life Synergy workers, who find the pinnacle of Element Enlightenment through cooperation and blending of elements through the faction/subelement 'Wood'
vs
Metal, a following of industrial technologists who feel that progress is created by mastery over Elements, with force and machinery being the path to Purity, of which the find the pinnacle within the sub-element of Earth, known as "Metal"
or cooperation with elements, vs purity or mastery over elements, lending to two different ideals of hard line 'machines' and soft line 'organics'
where Metal might make a tank, Wood would make an ornithopter. Wood is likely to 'grow buildings' Metal is likely to reinforce concrete with steel. This is somewhat nature vs tech, but can be expanded, Metal can have wizards, but wood would have shamans. Metal can have traditional technology, Wood can have organic technology, or to put it this way, physical vs 'life' science, or chemistry vs biology.
I see creatures far beyond elves and dwarves here.
Some ideas, that build on these notions
Cthonic - below the earth - Metal - immobile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chthonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:ChthonicGaian - above the earth, alive - Wood - flowing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Offspring_of_GaiaFurther, we have the notion of
Eidolon - the spirit/ghost/apparition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidolon_(apparition)
and
Hierophant - the human? who opens a path to the divine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierophantadditionally, we can go into the aspects of
Aidos - humility
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidosand
Kleos - fame/glory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KleosSo, we have a set of two groups,
The Cthonic(Cthoni/Ctonae/etc)
who are our Metal users from beneath the Earth. The praise Kelos, the notion of Glory, and follow a Hierophant, one who reveals the divine. They are believers in the immutable, pristine and mathematically defined world of physics and chemistry.
From these beliefs, we can ally them with the elements:
and
The Gaians
who are our Wood users from above the Earth. They praise Aidos, humility and acceptance, they follow the Eidolon, the great spirit. They believe in the flowing, transcendent nature of reality, the biological, the abstract
From the beliefs we can extract allied elements of:
(remember, they dont have to be even, and there can be a crossover, in this case
applies to both)
some additional resources for our theme
oracles and sybils
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Classical_oracleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:SibylsNerieds and Oceanids
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nereidshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Oceanidshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:DeucalionidsSprites and Daemons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(creature)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DaimonOther creatures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylphhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphand since this is a permanent heavy excursion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_greek_technology^which has a wealth of great ideas.
so, I see two factions, once both friends of the earth, who split, when one, the Cthon, believed that they were separate from the divine, and needed to obtain some form of purity, went into the earth and sought perfection through distilling the most simple, the most discrete aspect of matter, and engaged in Metallurgy, Alchemistry, and in Physics, creating strange machines beneath the Earth. The elected a Hierophant, a great teacher, who led the forward. The other faction, Gaian, sought the heavens and believed they were one with the divine, and were to weave together life and matter as they pleased, the lived among the trees, who provided the most sacred of things, Wood, in its endless varieties of composition, brought together by many forms of Quanta and matter, thus complete. The began to engage in growing and forming of various living technologies, through the use of biology, they formed mighty wooden forms, buildings and even machines, made of wood. Somewhere, at a great cleft in the Earth, where powerful forms of Quanta flowed, both sought to own this sacred place, where heaven and subterranean worlds met, the great canyon city, the mighty cleft, where a cave system has collapsed. In this place, they wage war, among the streets of the once great city, built into the cliffs, think alexandria, where the city extends into the earth in cave tunnels, and above the ground in forests, home to an ancient spring of water. Here, high in the mountains, both in the heavens, the forest and beneath the earth, do worlds come together, with both factions wishing to take hold of the place in order to gain some stronghold among the elemental planes. Here, there war engines meet, and armies vie for control, to determine which will be the most divine, purist, completionist, Cthonic or Gaian, Cold Steel, or Living Wood. Chemistry or Biology, Complexity or Simplicity, The Spirit Within, or The Spirit Above.
Also wanted to add the best split I could find if it was wanted
Cthonic (metal)
Gaian (Wood)
Which is of course mutable, Id put Earth and Entropy in both myslf, I also think the Cthonic might get mother Other Cards.
