Adapted from Elemental Manipulation- Superpower Wiki
Lately, I have been exploring various realms of genre fiction and wondering if there was a way to crash them together in a tabletop experience. This means figuring out a way to balance unrelated effects against each other. I love Mutants and Masterminds for its ability do describe almost any character ability you can think of, so I am experimenting with M&M’s tools to work on ways to fold multiple genres together.
Elemental Manipulation
The power to manipulate elements. Sub-power of Matter Manipulation and Universal Force Manipulation.
Capabilities
Users can create, shape and manipulate elements. Elements are the rudimentary, simplest or an essential part of which any material thing consists of. Elements are irreducible in nature and compose other (usually physical) things. Various combinations of elements can be used to create other things. For example, Ice could be thought of as a combination of Water and Air to produce a solid. The exact details of how elements combine, what each element does, and even which things are elements is canon/paradigm specific.
Regardless of the specific elemental paradigm in use, users of Elemental Manipulation may be able to affect things composed in part of their element. For example, Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender learns to control metal using earthen impurities within it.
Elements in Mythology and Folklore
In fiction the elements are usually based on historical beliefs. Sometimes, however, they are instead based on chemical elements such as you would find on the periodic table.
The most commonly used elements in fiction are the four classical elements - , Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These four can be seen commonly in the ancient Western world. Some philosophies include a fifth element, called either Aether or Void. In Aristotelian thought Aether is the quintessential substance that makes up the space beyond earth, while in Hindu thought Akasha represents both the space outside of the Earth and also is the basis of sound. In different traditions the elements may come in certain specific orders or have further associations. For example, in Aristotelian elementalism all of the four classical elements have two 'sensible qualities' from the list of hot, dry, wet, and cold. In Indian thought the five elements mapped to the senses. The elements and sensible qualities also map to the four humors - Black Bile (Earth), Yellow Bile (Fire), Phlegm (Water), and Blood (Air) - which were thought to compose the human form, and which were kept balanced to maintain health.
Not all forms of elemental philosophy revolve around the concept of the four or five used in Aristotelian thought, however. Buddhist belief include eight elements - the classical four, as well as the four secondary properties of cohesion, solidity, expansion/vibration, and heat/energy content. These eight together serve as essences in various combinations to form kalapas, the smallest unit of matter in some forms of Buddhist thought. Further removed yet are the ancient Chinese elements, called Wu Xing, which differ greatly from the Western convention. The five Wu Xing are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. These five Wu Xing relate to the five cycles (Inter-Promoting, Weakening, Inter-Regulating, Overacting, and Counteracting) in a somewhat similar fashion to how the four classical elements relate to the four humors. Similarly, to how the four humors are connected to many aspects of life, these five cycles and elements relate to direction, color, music, martial arts, and medicine. The Japanese Buddhist concept of gogyo, which stems from Chinese Wu Xing, is distinguishable from Godai by the fact that the functional phases of wood and metal within gogyo are replaced by the formative elements of void and the wind (air) in Godai. The Five Godai are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Void.
Elements in Science
In the scientific sense, elements most likely refers to the chemical elements such as you would find on the periodic table. The term element here is a bit of a misnomer, since these elements can be further reduced to particles such as electrons and neutrons, and these particles can be further reduced to sub-atomic particles. At the time of writing, there are 118 known chemical elements. Of these, 94 are naturally occurring while the other 24 are produced synthetically by nuclear reactions. New elements are sometimes discovered or synthesized, however.
The Chemical Elements are determined by the number of protons in an atom. For example, all atoms with 6 protons will be a form of Carbon. Additionally, all chemical elements have a 'period' which determines the number of electron shells that they have.
Aside from the chemical elements, there are also elementary particles. There are 17 elementary particles, and these are, according to current knowledge, possibly irreducible. Particle physics is a very new field, ostensibly starting in the 1930's, and much is still not known about quantum physics. Quantum physics shows up frequently in fiction and is usually used in a way that is similar to magic while borrowing some of the more popular principles from particle physics.
Elements in Modern Fictions
Elements can be present in modern fiction worlds. Furthermore, there are plenty universes in modern games which is present the concept of elements. It can run from fire, air, earth to even exotic elements like arcane or psychic. It is common topic in fantasy and also fiction games involving elemental dragons, elemental robots and so on. Also, in the expanded universes like MCU and Arrowverse the concept of elements is very spread, creating species called meta-humans, mutants and also magicians. In the MCU particularly, there are many concepts which equals the concept of elements which are the Infinity Gems (Power, Mind, Soul, Time, Space, Reality). There are also extra elements if you consider so, that are the Universal incarnations (which turns each one into deities, and also one forms Galactus) and also extra-dimensional forces like the Phoenix Force. About the universe of DC, there are as examples of elements the electromagnetic spectrum of emotions which the lantern corps evolve their powers (green, red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet, white, and black), each one having an emotion as representative. On both DC and Marvel universes, for example, there will be of course meta-humans/magicians/mutants with powers like fire, air, weather, etc.
Mechanics
Elemental manipulation typically manifests as an array associated with a specific Elemental; unrestricted elemental manipulation is an extremely versatile power and would likely be a variable power effect worth 7 power points per degree.
Applications
Earth Manipulation
The power to manipulate earth.
Elemental Aura
The power to surround oneself with an element.
Elemental Mimicry
The power to transform into or have a physical body made up of elements.
Energy Manipulation
The power to manipulate energy.
Energy Generation
The power to generate various elements.
Energy Generation
The power to generate various elements.
Elemental Telekinesis
The power to manipulate matter using elements.
Fire Manipulation
The power to manipulate Fire.
Plasma Manipulation
The ability to manipulate highly ionized gas.
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