Writing Main Element my characters specialize in

[Solstice1309]

My novel basically has the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Virtues.

I want to know what element would they specialize in.

Like
Wrath - Fire
Pride - Ice
Gluttony, Sloth, Greed, Lust and Envy

Oh and since there are too many seven virtues when I surfed the web, I’m listing the ones in my novel here -
Chastity
Charity
Diligence
Humility
Kindness
Patience
Temperance

Complex Elements like Space can also be used. Oh but there’s no Time element so do take that in mind.

Thank you in advance!

 

[DubstheDuke]

Sloth would be something like mud so earth ig

 

[Airlogia]

• Pride - Light. The most showy and grandstanding (in the showoff meaning) element. One many associate with divinity, etc.
• Wrath - Fire. Duh.
• Sloth - Either earth or dust. Dust is more suitable for the nihilistic approach to sloth, especially with a focus on turning what is not dust TO dust. Possibly gravity.
• Gluttony - Darkness, in the shadows that devour what touches them approach.
• Greed - Space, the desire to control and possess everything.
• Lust - Dunno
• Envy - Ice, as envy is often depicted as a cold emotion kept in the back.

 

[sereminar]

Chastity --> Metal (unyielding until sufficiently hot ;)
Charity --> Earth (life giving, nourishing)
Diligence -->Water (consistent, ever moving, can erode a mountain given time)
Humility -->Wind (invisible, unseen worker who provides vital air for all
Kindness -->Fire (burns itself out providing for others, vital for life)
Patience -->Void/Darkness (always existing on the margins, ceaseless, molds around others)
Temperance--> Light (blinding judgement, exists next to but never with darkness/patience)

lol idk, hope you find some good ones :D

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It all comes down to the way you see it. There are tons of underlying meaning to every characteristic and you can spin it however you like.
Depending on the grotesqueness of your story Humility may use blood because of Flagellants and stuff like that.
Lust, as in lust for flesh and bloodlust can do it as well.
Envy, if it is "bad" and "evil" may use something like a void. If it's bad it may want to destroy anything he doesn't have, instead of a feeling of possession. If he doesn't possess it no one should, that kind of envy.
Diligence may be metal, as any kind of handcraft requires a lot of diligence, with metalworking, being arguably the hardest, if you don't have modern technologies.
Patience may use life\nature, waiting for your crops to rise so you could harvest them, for your cattle to grow up, and so on.
Chastity may use either light or fire. Fire in the meaning of burning up anything filthy.
And wrath can use lightning. The common trope in Chinese novels is the lightning tribulation being the wrath of the heavens for defying the natural order. Not only Chinese, other cultures thought that lightning and thunder was the wrath of their god(s) as well.
Gluttony can use something like poison. Using it instead, or in combination with stomach acid, meaning that he can eat and digest anything.

 

[Sii]

You could go for them taking on counter approaches to their opposites. Like Wrath would be a direct opposite of Kindness, thus Fire - Water respectively if you’re going with the usual elemental properties.

Or they could be much more specialized elements. Like Wrath would be Heat or Combustion where they can still control base fire properties but their powers take on a much more focused form.

And since Lust is one of the harder ones to attribute a direct elemental property to then Lust could be the Sins equivalent of Water. If we work on the assumption of specialization and opposition, Lusts most logical opposite would be Chastity. Chastity, in my opinion, would be the Holy Fire that cleanses. So that would make Lust the decrepit Water that infests and pollutes. In contrast to Kindness and its healing Water, Lust specializes in using the torrential nature of water to overpower and decimate.

 

[BenJepheneT]

And since Lust is one of the harder ones to attribute a direct elemental property to then Lust could be the Sins equivalent of Water. If we work on the assumption of specialization and opposition, Lusts most logical opposite would be Chastity. Chastity, in my opinion, would be the Holy Fire that cleanses. So that would make Lust the decrepit Water that infests and pollutes. In contrast to Kindness and its healing Water, Lust specializes in using the torrential nature of water to overpower and decimate.

CHASITY! LUST IS BEING HORNY AGAIN!

got it

 

[vanta_luxe]

I always prefer original or at least useful elements that seem less powerful at a glance.

Example, Blood.
Requires the user's blood to do anything pertaining to the element.
But later on.....
Blood can turn into mercury, poisoning other people who are hit with your element.
Since its mercury the user can affect the density of the blood, making it more like a whip or even mercury blood bullets.
This also opens the way for blood shields, weapons, etc.

Just something off the top of my head. Basically i think you would be better suited looking for unique ways to use the elements your people have, or applying some type of side effect to the elements rather than looking for "original" elements persay. Hope that makes sense.

 

[strayCat0]

You should read The Lazy King(in NU), it should be a good reference regarding 7 sins and virtues. anyway:

wroth : fire
gluttony : darkness, devour
sloth : earth. In The Lazy King, their power are gravity and time, and so fucking great endurance
pride : thunder
greed : space
lust : tree, as in essence of life you get, from you know, being lustful
envy : you know, this is the hardest one. because if the power you wanted was about concept or something, then maybe stealing other sins' power, with only half of it. If it's element, then maybe water, because water doesn't have its constant form, to symbolize how flip-flop these sinners that envy other people differently each day

oh, there is another not so famous deadly sin, melancholy or despair. Its element should be ice