Need Some Help with Natural Forces

[Mindfire]

In my cosmology I have beings called the Yumennos, or "Constellations". They're spirit beings who reside in the heavens as groups of stars, thus their name, and are charged with the overseeing and government of natural forces on earth. Each constellation will be associated with a certain jurisdiction or sphere of influence, like plant life, animal life, bodies of water, etc. Some will have roles associated with the seasons, others with the passage of time, etc.

However, I need some assistance coming up with a list of "natural forces" or "elements" to assign Yumennos to. The working definition of "natural force" is quite broad here. Almost anything to do with nature will qualify. The International Astronomical Union recognizes 88 constellations currently, but I don't need that many unique "natural forces" I think, because certain very large, broad, or important categories, like the passage of time, will have multiple Yumennos assigned to it.

Running List:

• Water (rivers, lakes, seas, etc.)
• Fire and heat
• Wind and weather
• Plants
  • The Harvest
• Animals
  • Birds
  • Fish and sea creatures
  • Land animals
  • Elementals
  • Wolves and lesser wolves (dogs and foxes)
• Pestilence
• Volcanoes and earthquakes
• Cold and snow
• Time and light
• Magic
• Death

Can anyone think of something I might have missed?

 

[Ravana]

Gravity? Strong and weak nuclear forces?

Your constellations can also be much larger than the ones we use–though it ought to be possible to see each one complete at some point, or else it might be hard to understand why anyone looks on it as a constellation. Then again, if the constellations are being organized by higher powers, it may not matter that mere earthbound mortals can view them entire..

Splitting up several of the "animal" categories could provide plenty more: at a minimum, I'd say that lumping all land animals except canines together is probably undesirable. (Assuming there are other significantly different land animals, that is.) If you're looking at terrestrial analogues, cats, bears and serpents (or more broadly, reptiles) have certainly seen enough use, even if you don't feel like splitting out various ungulates, rodents and suchlike. That doesn't even begin to count fantastic/mythical beasts… though you may not want to assign these as specific "forces." Though they could symbolize them. Also, "human" (or "sentient") could be its own force… probably should, considering how different it is, or is usually held to be, from "animal" ones.

For "plants": sprouting and flowering could be added to harvest. (There might even be a dark patch of the sky taken to represent the sleeping seed.) Extending the concepts of these could yield birth, youth/growth and maturity/aging.

You mention "roles associated with the seasons": how 'bout the seasons themselves?

To magic (and/or death, and/or time, depending on your mythic tradition) could be added sleep, dreams, and mind or soul (or both). Fate or destiny. Void, emptiness, absence or deprivation–or more broadly, negation. (You don't have darkness on your list, either, by the way.)

"Family" might be seen as a force, or forces: mother, father, child/offspring, marriage/mate/union, ancestors. I can see the potential for a mega-constellation here, a triangle of the individual constellations of mother/father/child, or even a square, if ancestor is added. Some combination of these constellations might represent emotions or concepts such as love and/or duty.

"Duality" or "opposite" might be a force, even though it seems to underlie (or perhaps really does underlie) many others… some of which might only appear to be opposites to the less enlightened. (Sure, water and fire don't mix well–but one's a material substance, the other an energy: are they genuinely opposites?)

Hmm… how much sky is left?

 

[Mindfire]

Thanks Ravana. I think I can use a lot of these. Spheres such as the mind or the soul, destiny, and family (all of these could be considered together as a larger category of "human affairs") fall squarely within the exclusive jurisdiction of the One-God. The others however, I think I can use. The reason I hadn't considered darkness as a "force" is because technically all the Yumennos live in the darkness of outer night and therefore darkness might be considered "neutral ground." But in retrospect I could include darkness as a "force" with respect to time, as I did with light, because the day/night cycle falls under that jurisdiction.

 

[shangrila]

I agree with Ravana; if you're going to split land animals up you would have to do it with all of them, or at least have a convincing reason for why wolves get special treatment. Otherwise it's just...well, wolves getting special treatment, which wouldn't really make sense.

Some others you might consider; shadows/darkness, magnetism, lightning/electricity and that's all I've got for now.

Hope it helps =]

 

[Mindfire]

I agree with Ravana; if you're going to split land animals up you would have to do it with all of them, or at least have a convincing reason for why wolves get special treatment. Otherwise it's just...well, wolves getting special treatment, which wouldn't really make sense.

Some others you might consider; shadows/darkness, magnetism, lightning/electricity and that's all I've got for now.

Hope it helps =]

Thanks, shangrila. And I gave the wolves special treatment because they're a sentient race, so they have a sort of guardian figure assigned to them.

 

[Addison]

Another way to go is research different cultures. It could give you more ideas for your elements, how to categorize them. You could start with basic elements and break them into separate elements sort of like a hierarchy.
Example:

Earth:
Wood
Metal
Plants
Stone

Water:
Oceans
Lakes-ponds
Rivers - streams

Air:
Wind
Lightning
Storms

Fire:
Wild fires- hearth fires
Volcanoes

I don't know where snow and ice would go in the hierarchy, wind or water, but they could go in the Winter constellation. Seasons could be hierarchy's too. Winter can be broken into snow, ice, joy and cheer etc.

A lot of times when I need to sort things out I write them down, read it, tear it up and start writing with a clear head. There's something strangely relieving about tearing up a piece of written paper.

 

[Zophos]

Lightening comes to mind.

 

[shangrila]

Thanks, shangrila. And I gave the wolves special treatment because they're a sentient race, so they have a sort of guardian figure assigned to them.

Ah, well, that is a convincing reason. Nice

 

[Ravana]

Quite welcome.

The reason I hadn't considered darkness as a "force" is because technically all the Yumennos live in the darkness of outer night and therefore darkness might be considered "neutral ground."

Ah–typical heliochauvinism, imagining that darkness is an absence of light, rather than light being an absence of dark.…

Kidding, of course. Well, mostly.