11/8/2023 0 Comments Paracelsus elemental spirits![]() The first group of air elemental miniatures are modeled as personifications of the wind. "The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair,Īnd sport and flutter in the Fields of Air." The appearance of sylphs as slender female spirits comes from Alexander Pope, who characterizes them as an embodiment of post-mortem female vanity in his poem The Rape of the Lock. I have actually seen the Heritage Air Elemental (below) cast up in transparent turquoise resin, and it looked fantastic as well.Īir elementals are known as Sylphs or Sylvestres. I can see using the Dark Art to create one in transparent resin that would result in a great looking elemental. One other miniature that I thought would make a great Undine is the Ral Partha Zaftig Maiden (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-008). I'm sure that fantastic water effects can be achieved with painting, but I don't have those skills. They are (left to right) from WotC (WOC40098), Ral Partha (AD&D Monsters 11-427), Grenadier (Monster Manuscript Vol.III 1503, MM23), and Shadow Corp (3057).įrankly, I like the plastic elementals because they are translucent, which approaches the appearance of water better than metal. The last four water elementals are metal miniatures. ![]() Both of these elementals are the same as the DDM Medium Water Elemental, except they are made of translucent plastic instead of opaque plastic. The one on the left is from The Legend of Drizzt Board Game, while the one on the right is from Heroscape (Champions of the Forgotten Realms expansion). The wave action on the left arm of the Crashing Wave Spirit looks nice, but for the raised right arm, the large sheet under the arm doesn't quite look right. I removed a lot of the paint on the Large Water Elemental with acetone, and I will do the same with the Crashing Wave Spirit, since the paint is just too opaque for my tastes. The first one is a WoW CMG Crashing Wave Spirit (Spoils of War expansion), while the other is a DDM Large Water Elemental (Blood War #38). ".those belonging to the element of water resemble human beings of either sex."īelow are two large water elementals. Paracelsus had a different take, and describes them as spiritual gold diggers who lingered near bodies of water in order to snag themselves a human mate. In the typical game setting, they appear as ambulatory waves. The water elemental is also known as the Nymph or Undine. My miniatures are slightly modified (chin spikes removed), but I'm using them as a type of kobold, rather than as earth elementals. ![]() The TSR elemental has a sculpted look to its face which seems more appropriate for a golem than an elemental, but I do like the look of the Shadow Corp elemental.Īn option that can be used to represent Paracelsian Gnomes are the Reaper Stone Zealots (Warlord 14572). I think the Grenadier miniature would make an outstanding mud elemental. I haven't accumulated many earth elementals because I still haven't made up my mind on how they should appear. The three earth elementals are (left to right) from Grenadier (Monster Manuscript Vol.III 1503, MM21), TSR (AD&D 5602), and Shadow Corp (3057). – The Life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim the Pigmies are of the length of about two spans, but then can extend or elongate their forms until they appear like giants." ".the element of the Gnomes is the earth, and they pass through rocks and walls and stones like a thought for such things are to them as no greater obstacles than the air is to us. Most gamers of course, recognize them as humanoid piles of boulders. Paracelsus characterizes them as malevolent beings, but also as creatures who treat others as they themselves are treated. The earth elemental is also known as the Gnome, or Pigmy. In addition, fantasy gaming has many other classes of elementals, paraelementals, quasielementals, and such, that I won't get into. ![]() In fantasy role-playing games, elementals are typically animate forms of their respective element, while the Paracelsian nomenclatures (pigmy/gnome, nymph/undine, sylph, salamander) are used for related, but completely different types of beings. He described them as beings that occupied a position somewhere between man and spirit, in that they were physical beings, but had the ability to translocate themselves in the manner of spirits. Elementals were derived from the classical Greek elements of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire by the physician and alchemist Paracelsus back in the 16th century.
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