Creating/equating races to 5 Chinese elements?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Earth is balance and a fusion of all the elements.
Metal is of course metal but also cold, hard and unyielding.

Part of me wants to make male dwarves metal, but homebody females earth. They temper the greed and aggression of the males who give them strength and stability.
A bit sexist, but as they wouldn't be human I think it could work without ticking people off.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Emerald Cat

I'd go with tortoises rather than turtles. Or at least make your turtles amphibious. Otherwise, encountering or playing as the "water race" isn't going to be practical.

Tortoises can't swim at all making them odd for a water spirit form.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Part of me wants to make male dwarves metal, but homebody females earth. They temper the greed and aggression of the males who give them strength and stability.
A bit sexist, but as they wouldn't be human I think it could work without ticking people off.

I'm used to female dwarves having all the same traits as male dwarves (save one, which is purely physical and what defines them as male dwarves and female dwarves)

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

I'm used to female dwarves having all the same traits as male dwarves (save one, which is purely physical and what defines them as male dwarves and female dwarves)

I can't remember any myths describing or even mentioning female dwarves. Usually in most legends females of all races are background valuable property NPCs to whatever males are the protagonists. Therefore they have to be classic pretty which dwarves aren't.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Tortoises can't swim at all making them odd for a water spirit form.

I tend to think of that as a translation problem. The shell is symbolic of mollusks and the sea even if you dont think tortoise should be turtle.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I tend to think of that as a translation problem. The shell is symbolic of mollusks and the sea even if you dont think tortoise should be turtle.

It's not like any culture's mythology ever really adhered to factual biology.

Hard shell fits arthropods in my mind. But for common water themes, good old clams do sound most thematically appropriate.
Then again, they don't really do much other than filter feed so fail as an active elemental force/beast to me at least.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

I'm used to female dwarves having all the same traits as male dwarves (save one, which is purely physical and what defines them as male dwarves and female dwarves)

Gimli: "It's true you don't see many Dwarf women. In fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they're often mistaken for Dwarf men."
Aragorn: *whispered* "It's the beards."

While that was adapted from a piece of one of the Appendices, and JRRT never actually said that Dwarf women had beards, it was pretty much implied. :)

Since then, I've been wary of any depictions of Dwarves without beards at all, male or female.

It's not just fantasy Dwarves, either; on Farscape, there was one early (first season) species who had the female of the species played by a grizzled male actor, and until the humorous reveal at the end was treated as male.

[Mithlas]

Originally Posted by Emerald Cat

I'd go with tortoises rather than turtles. Or at least make your turtles amphibious. Otherwise, encountering or playing as the "water race" isn't going to be practical.

The only portrayal I can think of in Chinese woodcut art is a snapping tortoise, which tend to live mostly in the water even though they're perfectly capable of traversing land. In either case, the portrayals of all these animals tends to be a symbol flown by humans trying to venerate a particular quality, with the imperial throne occupying the center (as others mentioned, Earth).

[kdtipa]

If you want to stick with the Tolkien-based fantasy creatures, and maybe include some D&D, but give each a sort of connection to a Chinese element, this might work for you...

Wood - Human: It's about growth and vitality. Humans reproduce quickly, and even use a great deal of wood to expand their homes and vehicles. It seems like a match that humans might have an affinity.

Fire - Elf: It's about summer, life, and energy. In this case it's not a literal fire that makes me think of the elves, but even still, some types of forest benefit from a fire that re-enriches the ground, and provides what is needed for new trees and plant life. Almost like a Phoenix. And if the Elves are the creatures of the forest, this seems to fit to me.

Earth - Gnomes/Hobbits/Halflings: These are the tinkerers, farmers, gardeners, and so on that live best with the Earth. They are considered hardy, calm, and steady. As apt to let a beautiful day slip by sipping tea with a friend as they are to work the Earth to bring foods. I like this association.

Metal - Dwarf: These are similar to the Earth species in stability, but have an additional strength and ambition. The dwarves are also known as the experts with metal craft. They are tough and are the best at using the "element" of metal.

Water - Merfolk: Is suppose that's a sort of cliche choice. Maybe you'd want to pick something else... but a species associated with water ought to live in it I think.

I used the wiki article as a reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing

[RyanW]

To try to settle an aside that may be causing some misunderstanding, turtle/tortoise is a case of cultural difference. In the US, "turtle" generally refers to the group as a whole (or sometimes exclusively to aquatic and semi-aquatic ones), and "tortoise" to the exclusively land-dwelling subgroup. Britain tends to call land-dwellers "tortoises" and water-dwellers "terrapins" (a term that retains traction in the US primarily due to being the name of the University of Maryland athletics teams). In Australia, "tortoise" is often used to refer to any member of the group aside from marine turtles.