Elemental Energy

In many ways, the elements are Anacra. They are not only the substance of the Four Kingdoms, but comprise much of the energy as well. Elemental Power in all its forms churns up from the Wellsprings in the Underworld, rising in great torrential fountains to nourish and uphold the Mortal World, rises all the way into the Sky Kingdom, then falls back down to be renewed again.
Every single piece of matter in Anacra is imbued with some amount of elemental energy, even a handful of dirt. However, most of this energy is bound or latent. You can't do much with a handful of dirt, though you can use it as a link or anchor for casting a spell. Generally speaking, earth is the least energetic element and fire is the most energetic element.
Elemental Energy can obviously be used to control or summon the elements, but each element has other characteristics as well. Fire is also an element of passion, wrath, life and destruction. Water can be healing, destruction, motion. Earth is solidity, determination, nourishment, and burial. Air is freedom, movement, the breath of life, the tempest.

Properties

• Elemental Energy has subtypes based on each classical element. Each element has its own unique properties and inclinations. All forms of Elemental Energy have some connection or compatibility with Vital Energy
• Air energy is most suited for applications of flight, speed, freedom and weightlessness. In its Life aspect it represents the Breath of Life.
• Earth energy is characcterized by inflexibility -- it is very difficult to convert Earth Energy into other forms. However, aside from physically controlling the element of earth, earth magic is naturally suited to defense, stability, and endurance. In its Life aspect it represents nutrients and soil -- potential life.
• Fire energy is the most dynamic and energetic elemental energy. It's the best for powering non-elemental effects and converting into other forms of energy, but it's also the least stable. Fire can obviously be used for setting things on fire, but it's also good for speed and other energetic effects. In its Life aspect, fire is closely related to the "spark of life" as well as purification.
• Water energy is fluid and extremely forceful. It lends itself to applications involving transformation, movement, freedom, and inevitable force. As a Vital energy connection, Water energy soothes, cleanses, and purifies.

Methods & Practices

• Elemental Energy is the most common form, so it's used in almost every magical practice in Anacra. Specialists are usually academic Elementalists who study the unique properties of that energy form, or individuals born with a specific connection to one element that gives them ready access.

Sources

• While Elemental Energy is literally everywhere, most of the time it's locked into the actual physical elements themselves. Your average rock you find in the wilderness will be extremely inert, with little harvestable/activatable energy, whereas Fire is practically an energy form in and of itself and therefore the easiest to channel.
• The Elements rise from the Elemental Wellsprings, so most spellcasters create a Conduit to the Wellsprings to draw directly on elemental energy.
• Veins of elemental energy, sometimes referred to as "Ley Lines" run across all of Anacra. Study of these Ley Lines grants more ready access to energy in its free form, and can be used to empower spells.
• Specific places where Elemental Veins intersect or pool are called Nodes (for single elements) or Nexii (for multiple types of energy). These places are often sites of power with their own guardians and ambient effects, and provide ample sources of power.
• Finally, natural events of raw elemental fury usually provide more available power (Major thunderstorms, storms at sea, earthquakes, massive fires, volcanos)