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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DamionW" data-source="post: 2648213" data-attributes="member: 18649">Hi Thia, thanks for the input!  Let me try and answer your questions:Answer1:  I tried to stipulate that the setting implies less that alignments are linked to a certain element, but more elements are opposed to certain alignments.  If you look in the middle of post #9, you'll see the overall cosmology for this campaign world.  It could be represented as a spectrum:INWARD   Inner (Elemental) Planes <-- Ethereal Plane -- Material Plane (U R Here) -- Astral Plane --> Outer Planes  OUTWARDNow, due to an ancient cataclysm, the boundary provided by the Ethereal Plane got shredded and the Material Plane got shifted INWARD on this spectrum, leaning more towards the Elemental Planes, causing partial fusing and permanent gates to them.  To maintain the overall cosmic balance, the Inner Planes took up more alignment traits that were typically reserved for the Outer Planes.  However, they didn't become fully polarized, just "leaning" towards a certain extreme.Fire destroys and consumes life to make itself stronger.  That's just what it does.  Is this necessarily evil?  No, it's simply more "not good."  Thus, it took on an evil bent in the cosmology.  While Azer societies used to be typically Lawful Neutral, more tyrants and misers started appearing, twisting more towards selfish, evil ends.  Are there still good exceptions?  Yes, but they've decreased as the plane became less good aligned.Water cleanses and sustains life.  Is this necessarily good?  No, it's just "not evil."  Thus when the Water Plane collided with the material plane, paladins were drawn to water forces over other elements.Air disperses into any volume it contains and wind can blow in any direction at any given moment.  It isn't as chaotic as Limbo is, but it is definately "not lawful."  Thus air leans towards chaos.Many rocks cleave in straight edges and crystals form in regulated, regimented structures.  Is this as ordered as the Inevitables and Formians of Mechanus?  No, but it's "not chaotic."  Thus Earth leans toward law.Answer2:  Looking at the exchange with Nyaricus, I've decided to put Divine Grace back in.  As for an honor code, there still is one, but it's just different.  While old paladins used to be more charged with upholding law and justice, the overriding focus of Water Paladins is defense of the weak and thirsty.  So even if he comes on a Fire village where there are Goblins whose well has run dry, he is charged with providing for them and trying to convince them the error of worshipping Fire.  If he just put them to the sword because they're filthy goblins, that's a breach of code.  As for swapping Evil directly for Fire, look at post #12 to see why there are evil forces that aren't just Fire that the paladin would have to fight against.Answer3:  Elemental Magic is not outlawed, it is just now the purview of divine clerics for the Elemental Lords.  A Lawful Neutral cleric of Fire could cast a fireball in a party of air and earth characters and not be seen as evil, just following their path.  It simply would get the Paladin riled up if any innocents were hurt.  On the off-nights in camp, the paladin and the fire-cleric would get in religious debates and the paladin would warn him that he wouldn't hesitate to put them down if they hurt anyone, but Fire in and of itself doesn't equal evil, so the paladin could abide them.As stated above, a Fireball isn't evil, it just comes from forces which are generally not good.  A good person could use Fire magic, but the temptation to use it for evil ends is strong.  Magic Missle on the other hand is Arcane magic.  Arcane magic has become so far outside of the natural order of the four elements that it is virtually outlawed and shun.  Wizards and Sorcerers are meddling with sources of power that normal mortals have deemed unfit to meddle with.  Overall, you would have to see how I divided divine spells to better understand the situation, but that's a separate thread.  Basically, Earth gains spells dealing with metal, rock, and strength.  Air gets spells dealing with wind, lightning, and divinations (the sky is above, seeing all).  Fire gets spells dealing with flames and courage (burning with inner fire).  Water spells deal with water, cold, and poison (being generally liquid based).  All clerics by the nature of their faith and devotion gain some amount of healing/harming magic and positive/negative energy channeling, just not in the same level old clerics used to.One of the plot arcs in the campaign will be how Arcane magic users begin "flipping off" the elemental lords and trying to revert society back to the way it was.  The problem is, the Elemental Forces will be focused on their internal conflicts to notice until it's too late.Answer4:  The Elemental Lords are very hands on, but less personified than regular deity.  Wind doesn't have a face the way that Pelor does.  It just IS and it speaks to worshippers that listen.  However, the Material Plane has become the fundamental battleground for these lords.  The Earth Lords grow mountain ranges for now other reason to start a windblock.  Entire sections of land that were once dry now are tidal plains extending dozens of miles inland from the coast.  Other areas have had the wind erode mesas and mountains into deserts.  All of the forces are struggling for real estate and for worshippers, because worshippers strenghten them on the actual Inner Planes.  So they are very hands on with the societies, but they aren't "humanoid" deities that most people are used to.</blockquote>

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