[Flyndaran]

I guess I am jamming European mythical creatures with Chinese mysticism, and even worse is that I started this whole line of thought with myths of humans being corn made flesh from some native American beliefs.


Going from Wikipedia's "The Azure Dragon of the East represents Wood, the Vermilion Bird of the South represents Fire, the White Tiger of the West represents Metal, and the Black Turtle (or Dark Warrior) of the North represents Water. In this system, the fifth element Earth is represented by the Yellow Dragon of the Center." is perfect for gods.
But I'm not a big fan of anthropomorphized animals unless used very sparingly. Though one could make a metaphysical point that humans are "anthropomorphized" apes.

I'm mainly trying to create fantasy races that fit Chinese elements even if I use more well known, to me at least, European names as placeholders.

It's that the Chinese descriptions of metal vs. earth don't sound different to me. Strong, sturdy resolute, etc. fit both. It's like trying to read daily horoscopes without knowing the signs. They all sound identical.