Elemental Fragments

Elemental Fragments differ from the elemental beings that one might fear roam the world. Whereas Elemental Beings might have a semblance of a body, Elemental Fragments are crystals that have high elemental concentrations that have captured rogue essence. Rogue essence occurs through the expression of magic (ordered essence becoming disordered), the product of an injury (essence being bounded to a mineral, or a body decomposing), or the deliberate deposition of essence into a body (enchantment or transfiguration). When rogue essence enters into mineral that is saturated in the right way, essence can be prevented from a natural escape. Elemental fragments represent the binding of essence into specific minerals that manifest projections of specific elements. These projections may be dangerous or benign and may be triggered by a variety of causes.
One of the simplest causes of projections are proximity. The presence of essence within the proximity of an Elemental Fragment will seem to cause the fragment to drift towards the essence. Essence that is part of a weak system (rogue essence) will be absorbed into the Elemental Fragment as the essence inevitably drifts. Essence that is part of a strong system (living things) will trigger a spontaneous projection, such as an inherent defense mechanism. In the case of what is observed to be a "Fulgarian Shard" (Lightning Shard), the project is the sudden projection of lightning, as though from a storm. As the lightning strikes, the Fulgarian shard restructures as expended essence returns in a cyclic manner. If the strong system still exists, the process will repeat.
It is argued that Elemental Shards are remnants of intelligent beings, whether Heirs, Taladin, beast, or otherwise. This is because of the tendency of these things to seek to magnify their state. When the elemental fragments perform this behavior, they increase their state by absorbing more essence. Thus, this exhibits the desire for growth. However, in reality, this simply exhibits a cycling where manifestation of natural laws enter into a self-propagating cycle. As body absorbs essence without words or power or consumption, the cycle is quicker than with higher-order creatures. Elemental Shards have also been considered to be constructs. As they are thought to be pure forms of elements, the refinement must have occured artificially or in a place of binding. However, in places of binding, essence and elements cannot remain connected. Thus, either a pure body must be removed from the place of binding and then given essence, or the place of binding and the elemental shard are disconnecting. In fact, the elemental shard cycle is a serendipitous beginning of a cycle of creation. As the elemental shard gathers essence into itself, minerals similar to the composition of the material will connect to the body. The elemental shard will continue to grow until broken by some event. At this point, the shard with fragment into two separate systems that may unite or separate.
In general, elemental fragments will not reunite. When elemental shards draw too close together (of the same type), their projection will cause them to push away from one another, rather than absorbing each other. If there is no other essence in the area (thus no preferential direction for the elemental shard to go except towards another fragment), the shards will repeatedly project onto each other. In time, the minerals that make up the elemental shards will weaken and further fragments will occur. The final product is that the fragmentations have occurred endlessly, resulting in minerals that do not have sufficient elemental properties to contain the essence. This results in a concentration of rogue essence and a place of binding.