What Color Magic is Lightning?
Sorry that this is a bit rambly, I struggle with this and need your help
Context: this is for a tcg wargame that I'm working on thats based on history and mythology. I know thats not exactly unique but I believe the depth and flavor of the game is its real selling point. The "magic" is based on collective belief and value that a culture has towards the character, item, place, etc. So the more a Red aligned character succeeds in battle, the more people believe in the power of Red. But if he fails, their belief weakens. There's more nuance but thats the basic idea.
My question is about thoughts on Lightning/Electricity. Currently, I have 4 Primas that represent 3(+1) Primary colors:
- Red: Fire + Earth (ideas of how both forces consume and expand but fire is fast and aggressive while earth is slow and defensive)
- Blue: Water + Wind (formless/form changing cyclical and reactive as opposed to the linear growth of fire that destroys all in its path or nature that continues to spread its seeds)
Yellow: Light + Dark (Balance between opposites, life death, order chaos, etc.)
White: Lightning + Null (extremes, the pushing of opposites to their, well, extremes. Electricity that powers the technology of the future vs. emptiness and return to tradition but also the outcasts of society, also also the formless mind, dreams and imagination, fictional real).
But I worry that 8 Elements is too much to make cards for every set, especially for Lightning and Null since Lightning just isnt super prevalent in history and myth especially in pre-industrial warfare (not to say that it doesn't come up). It's mostly for scientists and other innovators. Philosophers are more Null by default.
So I've been considering a more traditional 6 color system (see attached image) but I do like having Lightning in some capacity. You could make an argument for fire and water with how Lightning is formed by electrons being shed in clouds from ice crystals in the atmosphere as they rise with hot air and fall with cool air but then you also pull wind into it at that point and I'm not sure I like having 3 elements. Mechanically, Units dont have an element cost just a point cost to put them in your army but they do have color fealties that are limited by those of your 2 Leader cards.
Note: Im posting this on my phone and its bugging out so I hope to return to this later and finish my thoughts. Sorry.