First of all I'm pretty sure this belongs in General Discussion. I see no other feasible area to discuss Story and it is a part of the Game, although if this section is meant to be interpreted as Discussion about the Game as in its contents and gameplay then please inform me as to where this thread should belong.
I do not personally like the Fan Based Storyline (
http://elementsthegame.wikia.com/wiki/Fan_Based_Storyline) currently found on the Elements Wiki. I am not sure how much work went into it but it does feel rather poorly constructed. Nobody likes a moaner though so instead of complaining I simply made my own. I do not demand mine become an official replacement or alternative I simply made it for my own entertainment. I decided to share it however, why should I not? I do not want to go onto the Wiki and Add my own or replace the existing one as that would be far too forward regardless of how much better I thought I could do.
So here we go...
There are many who would ask "How can Something exist from Nothing?" their logic is indeed sound. Their perspective however, is flawed. For they are asking the wrong question, instead what they should be asking is "How can Nothing exist in the first place?" is not by its very definition "Existence" created by there being substance, being life? Ask not how the first entity came to be, but how; without the first entity, can there really "Be" at all.
So it was that the first great being was alone in the World. And it was tormented, a great pain and anguish that none but itself could ever know. Men shake and quiver at the prospect of mere decades of imprisonment and solitude yet it must face eternity. Eternity of nothing, no company, no enmity, no sorrows nor joys. The existence was bearable at first for there was much to discover, infinite universes to see and shape and guide. It was not long though before all that was had been observed, had been shaped, had been known. From here there was nothing left. No, worse then that. There would BE nothing left forevermore. Eons passed and existence turned to boredom, boredom to anger, anger to sorrow, sorrow to emptiness, emptiness to pain and finally one last thing came to claim its mind. Madness, but with it the pain did not cease its being turned in on itself with nothing to lash out at. The beings mind desperately tried to escape its own loneliness and in doing so found the key. It fragmented, splitting apart into many personalities much like Schizophrenia. Only without a physical existance to speak of the minds were not trapped together in one being and had room to escape, the great wisdom and power broke into many parts and burst out from within itself spraying the world with a glorious rain of new life.
(I did not like the "There was one thing and then that thing created other things for no reason and then just randomly disappeared or is not heard from again for some other reason or something" clause at the beginning of the existing story. I prefer there to be actual reason why and if possible how something created new life rather then just be told that it did.)The new beings fell upon the worlds like fresh snow drawing the magic of the world to themselves to give them substance. The power they drew came to define them and they became beings of Elemental Power their existence simultaneously wielding and relying upon that from which they built their form.
(This is one of the main gripes I had. Although the name of the game is indeed Elements you play not as Elements themselves but Elementals creatures who wield the power of Elements within themselves. This is why there is not just one of each Element within the game. Indeed I do not believe that the Elements themselves should have consciousness or will. The existing story makes no mentions of Elementals at all and they need to be explained)(I choose to list each Element below and show and explain their part in the story like this rather then give a single sequential story for two reasons. First I can sequence it out a bit and give each Element its own time in the limelight and attention. This I feel is important because the previous story devotes over half of the narrative to just a few of the Elements with the rest playing rather minor roles and while I want to give them personality I do not like to show any element in too much of a more favourable light then the others. The game (Once fully and properly balanced) should come down to choosing to align with the element that appeals to you and there should be no indication of superiors. The second reason is of course that I can still properly tie everything in together and reference other Elements and the overall narrative but if new Elements are added later in the game it is far far easier to tie them into the story by simply giving them their own chapter and a few key things they were involved with rather then having to write the story all over again to include them.)EarthEarth were the first to find their Home. They came to draw themselves into Rock and Stone and seal themselves within its strength. They saw the great unyielding strength of the land. The strength to survive, for it does not multiply or fight back, but you can never kill a stone. You can break it, you can rip it from the Earth and shatter it into a thousand pieces but it can never be truly gone, and it will find its way back to becoming whole again long after you are gone from the world. Men speak of owning the Land, but it it is an arrogant and naive view they hold. The mountains do not care who calls themselves their ruler for they know we are small and nothing as to them. They have stood for countless centuries before we thought us their master and they will likely still stand the same when none are left to try and claim them. Earth is patient and strong, and while it seems docile and defenseless can contain great hidden strength and peril when threatened. Earth is very removed from the other elements it views the world and its affairs with cold indifference and does not like to associate with them too much. Earth will never take action unless threatened and does not move to aid or hinder others and prefers to leave them to their fate and continue its own solitary existence. Earth was the first to take physical form and it will probably be the last to maintain it. From a purely survivalistic standpoint Earth could perhaps be considered the pinnacle of Elements for its existence is a product of simply its own strength. It relies on nothing else to keep it going and is extremely resilient to outside threat at the same time.
(That last part may have been a little too complimentary. I dunno, but I thought Earth deserves a little bit of extra credit. It is far too often overlooked simply because it is one of the least animated of the elements and thus hard to identify with as a persona. Here is the full part of Earth in the original story in its entirety. "Earth was solid, Earth ran away")LifeThe Elementals that would come to be known collectively as "Life" fell upon Barren Soil. Unlike their cousin Earth they chose not to invest themselves within the land and draw themselves into its strength, but to draw forth their being from below. Pushing Seed and Root through the Earth and feeding upon its sustenance. Life was the first to create its own form rather then seal itself within one, and has always been the pioneer of increasing its own power by generating New Life to govern. Life however can be self-serving and sort sighted. They exist only to serve the needs of their own existence, While they do not directly attack others they can be extremely ignorant of just how much they leech from the power of other beings in order to keep their colossal swarms of entities multiplying. Life even weakens Life itself, with creations vying to outgrow each other and competing for resources many are left too weak to survive. While Light is dependant upon the minerals of the Earth, the energy of Light and the Warmth of Fire for their own existence they are extremely unwilling to let any other being feed upon and draw power from themselves.
(This is a biggie for me. I do not want to go down the road of associating Light and Life with purity and goodness and Death and Darkness with evil and malevolence. I remember it being drawn into the discussion many many times most notably perhaps the reception towards a card idea for a Templar where the card idea was met with criticism that its ability was not holy and good enough to be a Light Card. I believe this is a very narrow minded and human view of things and that Elementals would be beings far above such small and petty things like Good and Evil. While it is true that creatures of good may draw heavily from these elements Light or Life themselves are no more good then a chair or a cup. I wanted to address that right of the bat and make sure that the "Good" elements weren't all sunshines and rainbows from start to finish and obviously the "Evil" elements will get similar treatment. All the Elements will be both Good and Bad perhaps not in equal measure but none should be able to be pinned down as "The Bad Guys")FireThe Fire Elementals were curious beings. Their form and persona more products of ther will then their surroundings. Fire Elementals chose to use the resources in their surroundings as energy to be consumed in order to create their own form rather then using them as the forms themselves. This gave them great energy and power, but also a need to consume, the Fire would constantly need substance to burn in order to maintain the colossal levels of energy needed to keep itself burning. Fire scorched the Earth and burned the Life but it also offered return. The energy generated by Fire is huge but cannot be contained for long so much of it is released after a time, the Energy given off by Fire could be leeched and stored by the other Elementals and so long as it would be given matter to burn Fire could endlessly recycle the energy in order to help sustain both itself and others. Fire is powerful and hungry, it discards what it can no longer hold and the other Elementals draw upon that matter. Because of this Fire thinks itself mighty, it sees the process as the other Elementals feeding upon the scraps from its table. Fire believes that its continuation is paramount and will sacrifice anything to feed its own hunger. The relationship between Fire and the other Elements is fragile at best but none can doubt that they heavily rely on each other to continue.
LightLife were resourceful and clever, they found themselves with very little matter to shape and mold and looked for solutions to this problem. The answer that came to them was at the hands of Fire. Rather then drawing matter to themselves they drew the pure Energy that Fire was unable to contain. The Energy they drew allowed them to shape their future and they were filled with speed and power despite the lack of ability to use a physical form. Although Light was far more efficient with the Energy it used then Fire previously had been it still could not store all of it and much was still lost. This energy, as before was used by Life to help its growth and fuel its survival. Light allowed the process of recycling and sharing of Energy to become much more efficient and successful. Light was born of Fire and gave power to Life which provided fuel for the Flames it was a simple and stable cycle that ensured the continuation of all 3. Light though appearing benevolent is much more devoid of a reason for destruction then filled with a desire for creation. Light does not grow or change, Light merely "Is" by product of its existence it serves to aid Life but there has never been an understanding or alliance between the two. How could they understand each other? Life exists only to give form while Light is utterly devoid of form and has no experience of it. Light is still to be respected as a threat for with no way to attack it save to deny it of its energy by ending Fire it is a difficult foe to face, and it can easily use the energy it is based off to create great power.
DeathIf any elementals were to be labelled the most selfless the award would fall to Death. Death fell upon empty places of desolation, where Fire had destroyed Life or Life had drained the Earth. Death first met their grim home with despair but quickly they began to understand the necessity of such turmoil. The new world was young but Death alone saw what would eventually be. Life was of great importance but it would never stop, could never stop. If left unchecked it would choke the world, draining the Earth and smothering the Flames and with none left for it to draw its strength it would be left crippled. Death saw that to continue the cycle of existence much must cease to exist and knew that with none to ensure it happens it alone could take the mantle. None of the other Elementals could understand Deaths dedication, they had not seen what Death had seen and looked upon Death only as a threat, a cancer, an enemy. Death is cold and calculating, it sees not the pain or peril it causes. Only interpreting each consequence as a cost, a cost to continue existence. And to Death, no cost is too great.
WaterWater, much like Fire shaped themselves by desire rather then opportunism. Water found itself in the same situation Life had originally grown from and it desired freedom. It brought forth power from the Earth below it but shaped that power around itself. Water created for itself a vessel to flow and move and change to wherever it desired. Life saw the beginning of Water just as it saw everything else in existence. It saw how it could use it and grow from it and so like it had done so many times before Life took strength from Water to continue its growth. Water though appearing docile was chaotic and did not fully control its own power, when shook and stirred it could sweep forth with great speed and colossal power washing away Life, dousing Flame and eroding Earth and the other Elementals found there to be great need to be wary around it. But it gave back from where it took in equal measure, much Life adapting to prosper within the Water and become a part of it. Water is bountiful and constant but also volatile Water can shift from friend to threat perhaps faster then any other and must always be watched carefully.
GravityThe fate of Gravity was to land in the nowhere the space between worlds. When it attempted to pull matter to itself there was none to be found close at hand. Gravity reached out further and further and attempted to absorb the very worlds into themselves, it did not accomplish this but it did have another effect. Gravity managed to invest a part of themselves in the worlds close by and they were intrinsically linked by this connection Gravity was able to use the kinship to build a relation with the World and the other Elementals. As Gravity manipulated the parts of themselves in other worlds they began to be able to have ministrations of the worlds as a whole, moving and guiding their paths. Gravity swung the worlds into paths of orbit gaining strength from the momentum it created, as they soared and spun Gravity began to regulate the process and swung Worlds of Life around Stars of Fire so that the Worlds could grow and prosper giving strength to Gravity in the process. Due to this regulation born of the symbiotic link between Gravity and the other Elements Gravity became to see itself as a leader observing its kingdom, the other Elementals loyal subjects and it would seek to extend its domain outwards, Gravity did not know it at the time but this would prove to be the first fatal step towards the eventual chaos to come.
The current Elements; though presented, are not finished. Once all the Elements are done many will have more to be added in order to build on the story of how they interact with each other and such. Let me know what you think of it so far.
Edit: That "Brown" colour doesn't look very "Brown" at all. :/
