One of the more interesting points of having the Ealdun setting be elemental based is that there would not be any traditional angels and demons–elementals would fill that role.
What Do I Mean By Angels and Demons?
In the Isle of Ealdun campaign setting, the world is very heavily based on the four elements–Fire, Air, Water and Earth. In addition, there are three main dimensions–the land of the gods, the land of the monsters, and the land of the mortals.
As I thought those parts of the setting through, I came to realize that the angels (celestials) and demons would have a somewhat different tone than in what may be in other settings, especially a swords & sorcery one. By that I mean that the ideas of heaven and hell are not separate places for each god, but maybe different places within each elemental land of the gods.
Once I realized that, it really threw my mind for a loop. I had already planned to have elementals be messengers of the gods, but this goes even further… If there are four basic gods, one for each element, and with each god having a heaven and hell within their chosen element, then what does that mean for angels and demons?
One problem I considered was the need for basically four different versions of both–one for each element. I had started working up how I was going to tailor a balrog for the Isle as a fire demon, and suddenly I realized I needed versions for the other three elements as well. And THAT led me do down the larger rabbit hole…
How Do Elementals Replace Them?
And that rabbit hole is how to handle the larger issue of comparing the angels and demons with elementals, and how they all fit together. What I came up with is simply treating elementals as the angels and demons of the setting.
Here’s what I mean: At a high level, each of the four gods will have beings that serve them, and come from their portion of the land of the gods–the Chia’ad. These beings can be divided into two categories, ones that serve that bright world–the angels–and those that serve the dark, underworld–the demons.
From these two categories, various elementals would communicate with mortals through various means. Some would be seen as "good" and some would be seen as "evil" depending on who they represent. In between these extremes, you have the minor elementals–messengers of the gods. All of these are still angels, demons and spirits, but they just have an elemental nature.
What This Means For Game Play
How will this play out in game terms? To be honest–still not sure. Ultimately, the gods do not really get involved with the Mortal Lands in the Ealdun setting, so any contact will be very rare. The key is to remember that the angels and demons are still angels and demons, and not what you might consider as classic elementals.
That means that the classic elemental summoning spells would not exist, or would be used in a different form–something more along the lines of contacting the gods, or something like that. Contact with angels and demons would still be something like summoning demons in classic RPG systems.
I can see wizards summoning these beings for their help–good or bad. How they would take to that depends on the circumstances! I would think it be more common for the messengers to be encountered. While still rare, they could be used to help drive story lines as needed. (Although care would have to be given that they did not become a crutch for good gameplay…)
In the end, though, much of this will depend on the form of the magic system used for the Isle. That is my Next Big Task–fleshing that portion of the puzzle out…
Marko ∞
(Originally published on inthelabyrinth.org, on 6/25/2021.)
