Another Background blog entry, I am such a big tease

This is going to be novel, a real full length one. If it is something that really gets going, who knows.

The Five Elements:

In Asian mysticism, there are several well known elemental concepts that Eastern beliefs based their entire religious and philosophical principles on. There are differences between cultures and views on what elements belong in the cycle. For instance, Japanese tradition have the "Wind" and "Void" elements in their cycle, which the Chinese and Southeast Asian mystics do not hold. Of course I will explore the variations and interpretations these elements have in my story with scientific applications, even if they are outside normal conventions.

In my upcoming story, the Chinese Taoists, who kept studying the sciences, split into five disciplines based around the philosophical 5 Elements:

Metal: Representing applied sciences and engineering. This group researched the applications of practical discoveries and turned them into devices, tools, and structures.

Wood: Biological development is the basis of this group's research efforts. Wood is considered in Chinese mysticism as a representation of life. This group is probably the most ethically ambiguous of the secret society in my novel, because they actively engaged in Genetic engineering, human-animal hybridization, and several eugenics based experiments.

Water: They are the medical and healing based research group with chemistry as focus. Though they share the "Wood" groups investigative desire in biology, they are far more ethical and probably the most empathetic of the entire secret society.

Fire: Military and combat applied research groups with physics as focus. They are both ethical and unethical depending on how you view their research lines in weapons. Their desire is to end all wars by seeking the ultimate advantage in technological sophistication. These aren't brutish thugs with guns, they are strategic, intelligent, and deadly serious.

Earth: They are the group centered on investigating new frontiers first, basically the theoretical sciences. From them comes the concepts for all the other lines.

I am basing my five elemental group division on classic Chinese principles based on each elements importance and place in the cycle. For instance, Earth in the elemental order would be disrupted by metal, which is like a shovel being used on soil.

At a deeper level, while Earth may hold all the elements, when mankind applies understanding in the form of technology in Metal, it changes the 5 elemental balance and a new cycle must begin again.

Hope that gives everyone something to think about