Elemental Divide

The Elemental Divide (also known as the Elemental Guardians) are one of many groups of important characters in the Spiritverse. What's unique about this group, is that unlike all the other Spiritverse groups, they only exist within a specific story, being Small Spark.

Common appearance details
All of the Elemental Divide are almost human in appearance, although their colour palettes, in addition to their skin colour, are limited to two or three colours depending on which element they're assigned with. Outfits vary, but follow along with the colour palette rules. All of their faces are obscured by a circular mask with varied but simple patters, with one or two eyes being the only facial features being visible through them.

As they're all leaders of various factions, they share the same name with the factions they lead.

History (Development-wise)
During the early development of the Spiritverse in around 2019, this was a concept of a story Al had conceptualized. First starting off as joking thought that a three-colour green palette was a "Forest Deutschland," meaning it looked a lot like Germany's black-red-gold tricolour but shifted to greener hues, this joke then lead to a story concept where the Panstvo-hjomim get subjected and overcome by elemental power. As the concept of the Principals of Principles wasn't made yet, origins ranged and differed from various drafts, but one thing it had in common were the Panstvo-hjomim being subjected to cursed artifacts, thus giving them these powers.

It was only then in 2022 when this story idea was fully realized into the in-between events of World's Delight and Small Spark, and thus was this group. It was then by now the Principals had their concepts realized, and Al began experimenting on how they would be involved in their origins.

History (Lore-wise)
As young as the group seems, the very individuals that compromise this are not newborn, rather were repurposed versions of an already existing group, being the Panstvo-hjomim.

There was at one point Time had noticed an anomaly in the branches of timelines, something in the universe that keeps generating an abnormal amount of timelines than there should be. Of everyone, the Principals of Principles are the ones to care about the matter, and it turns out the centerpiece of these anomalies was Gaia's planet, Earth. The five had sought to observe Earth from afar as to see why these anomalies were occurring.

The cause of this was apparently of a new group not doing the duty they were made to do. They were once called the Earth Guardians, now the Earth Dwellers, given up on their job as guardians of varied factions. Why did they give up?

Because the very people they were assigned to protect never believed in them. Such disbelief caused their de-motivation, and thus was the cause of the anomalies.

Pitying the young group, and never questioning where they came from or Gaia's disappearance, the Principals had made a secret landing on Earth, as to not alert the other Celestial Guardians, and had a long-term plan to right what is wrong, hoping if they motivate the Earth Dwellers into being Guardians again, everything will be fine in the end.

They had set up a grand college in the capital of a small country named Mitka, calling it the Grapevine College of Arts. While it aims to teach young humans about their world and how to handle things such as magic, in reality it was supposed to be a trap set to gather these Earth Dwellers, and when the time is right and when they think they got most of them, will convince them of their goal.

Ten years have passed, and the plan has gone into fruition. With the Dwellers in their hands, the next step was to get a hold of their respective lands and convince the people about the leaders they were meant to have, and thus establishing a new order. In this new order, such things like names and national colours have changed, especially with the Principals' influence of introducing magic to the world, but things like culture and language remained untouched.

The Principals had thought their mission to have succeeded, and thus the anomaly had disappeared. What was supposed to be a liberation of one thing turned to be a fixing of everything. And for once in their lives, the Earth Guardians were satisfied with their jobs, now that there are people willing to listen to them this time. In addition to this, some members of another group associated with them, the House of Speakers, have joined in as well.

Aether
Aether is an element that compromises all of space. It is the cosmos beyond our reach and the magic we cannot explain. While being an element of high hierarchy, not everyone who possesses this element is considered the most powerful out of everyone.


 * Luminance (he/him, they/them) - Is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Despite his association with the Aether element, he isn't much of a higher leader, but initially he had mixed feelings about the new order of things, considering it did not treat him well at first. Is not only set on keeping the order as it is, but also set on erasing whatever happened before the divide. Basically he believes in restarting history with also wiping what was once there before.  Formerly known as Harry Harland, personification of England.
 * Galaxy (he/him) - Also known as Galaxis, is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Is also not much of a high leader despite his element, but has close ties with Cosmos because of some pre-elemental history. Formerly known as Kálmán Héderváry, personification of Hungary.
 * Sunshine (he/him) - Is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Is also not much of a high leader despite his element, but he does have close ties with Darkness because of pre-elemental history. Formerly known as Jose Alfonso Sepúlveda, personification of Mexico.
 * Cosmos (any/all pronouns) - Alternatively spelled as Kosmos, is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Is considered one of the higher rulers of Earth because of their element, but also because the Principal of Aether took pity on them and Darkness back then and thought to give them these higher roles. Formerly known as Jagoda Polanski, personification of Poland.
 * Darkness (she/her) - Also known as Kadiliman, is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Together with Kosmos with their new higher roles, they strive to keep this new world peaceful, as it should be. Formerly known as Juana Maria dela Cruz, personification of the Philippines.
 * Nightshine (they/them, she/her) - Is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Is also not much of a high leader despite her element, but has close ties with Darkness, and is even part of her region-based alliance. Formerly known as Kanda Metharom, personification of Thailand.
 * Starlight (he/him) - Is the leader of the Aether faction of the same name. Is also not much of a high leader despite his element, but has close ties with Darkness, and is even part of her region-based alliance. Formerly known as Quýnh Phan, personification of Vietnam.


 * Brili (he/him) - The leader of the Community of Shine and Brilliance. An Aether-elemented wanderer with not much faction affiliation, but is close with the faction of Kosmos. Also known as Espen, the Speaker of Hope and personification of Esperanto.

Earth

 * Flowerbed (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Unlike the other Earth-aligned factions, he has pink colours associated with him to compliment with his greens and yellows to resemble the flowers he blooms. Formerly known as Thiago Huerta, personification of Argentina.
 * Mossyrock (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Interestingly, his faction is where The Camp in Small Spark is located. In story, he would often watch over The Camp, and even raise them to be functional members of this new society. He's well aware one of them is Darkness' child, but never had the heart to tell her about it.  Formerly known as Damien Ferguson, personification of Australia.
 * Diamond (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Formerly known as Rubem Crespo, personification of Brazil.
 * Sporebud (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Is more associated with fungi rather than the majority of the Earth-factions being focused on plants. Formerly known as Dan Skovgaard, personification of Denmark.
 * Rosebloom (he/him) - Also known as Floraison, is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Is similar to Flowerbed in a sense, as they both have pink to represent flowers, but unlike Flowerbed, his colour palette is primarily pink with not much of a green unlike the others.  Formerly known as Francis Jean Sauveterre, personification of France.
 * Ivyblade (he/him, they/them) - Also known as Efeublatt, is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name.  Formerly known as Hänsel Ziegler, personification of Germany.
 * Mountainstone (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Formerly known as Bat-erdene, personification of Mongolia.
 * Geode (any/all pronouns) - Is the leader of the Earth faction of the same name. Formerly known as Vik Oxenstierna, personification of Sweden.

Air

 * Whirlwind (he/him) - Is the leader of the Air faction of the same name. Formerly known as Keith Hargrave, personification of Canada.
 * Harmony (she/her, they/them) - Is the leader of the Air faction of the same name. Formerly known as Aisling Ó Conghalaigh, personification of Ireland.
 * Greatwind (he/him) - Is the leader of the Air faction of the same name. Formerly known as Hadi Najm, personification of Saudi Arabia.
 * Young Feather (he/him, they/them) - Is the leader of the Air faction of the same name. Formerly known as Xavier Parata, personification of New Zealand.

Fire

 * Firelight (she/her) - Is the leader of the Fire faction of the same name. Formerly known as Natasha Kozlova, personification of Belarus.
 * Flame (he/him) - Is the leader of the Fire faction of the same name.  Formerly known as Zhang Chen, personification of China.
 * Magma (he/him) - Is the leader of the Fire faction of the same name. Has close ties with Darkness, and is part of her region-based alliance,though he leads it more as Darknes often has more important matters to attend to. Formerly known as Yusuf Fauzi, personification of Indonesia.
 * Ember (he/him) - Is the leader of the Fire faction of the same name. Formerly known as Carlos Hidalgo, personification of Spain.

Water

 * Deepsea (he/him) - Is the leader of the Water faction of the same name. He and Galaxy have tense ties with each other because of pre-elemental history. Formerly known as Roderich Leitner, personification of Austria.
 * Seacoral (he/him) - Is the leader of the Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Matias Cuevas, personification of Chile.
 * Seastream (he/him) - Is the leader of the Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Magdi Tawfiq, personification of Egypt.
 * Seawave (he/him) - Is the leader of the Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Rakesh Deshmukh, personification of India.
 * Seafoam (she/her) - Is the leader of the Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Sakura Yoshida, personification of Japan.
 * Glacier (he/him) - Is the leader of the Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Snorre Olhouser, personification of Norway.


 * Telo (any/all pronouns) - The leader of the Community of Simple Waters. A Water-elemented wanderer aligned with no faction. Also known as Toki, the Speaker of Good and personification of Toki Pona.

Mixes
Sometimes one element isn't enough.


 * Grapewine (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth/Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Miltiades Floros, personification of Greece.
 * Snowdust (he/him) - Is the leader of the Fire/Air faction of the same name, despite his name suggesting it may be a Water-elemented faction. Formerly known as Sindri Olvirsson, personification of Iceland.
 * Snowbreeze (he/him) - Is the leader of the Air/Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Aibek Yuldashev, personification of Kazakhstan.
 * Seabreeze (he/him) - Is the leader of the Air/Water faction of the same name. Formerly known as Imran Bakar, personification of Malaysia.
 * Obsidian (he/him) - Is the leader of the Aether/Earth faction of the same name. Also not much of a high leader despite his element, but is neutral towards the new order implemented unlike any other Aether-aligned factions. Surprisingly was supposed to be either Water or Fire elemented, but something went wrong in the way, thus explaining his current element at the moment. Formerly known as Ignatiy Zima, personification of Russia.
 * Seagrass (he/him) - Is the leader of the Earth/Water faction of the same name.  Formerly known as Sviatoslav Holub, personification of Ukraine.
 * Stormcloud (she/her) - Is the leader of the Aether/Air faction of the same name. Is not much of a higher leader despite her element, and is one of the more violent ones in terms of keeping the order as it is. She is also in charge of surveillance on the factions' whereabouts, so to say. Formerly known as Lizbeth Spangler, personification of the United States of America.


 * Miel (he/him) - The leader of the Honeycomb Committee. An Earth/Food-elemented wanderer aligned with no faction. Also known as Volker, the Speaker of Unity and personification of Volapük.

Others
And sometimes one element branches out from another, or simply doesn't fit in with a particular category of elements.


 * Mintchip (he/him, they/them) - Is the leader of the Food faction of the same name. An element split from Earth, he and Pastrycream are the first ones to represent this. Formerly known as Olaf Borde, personification of Belguim.
 * Codeline (he/him) - Is the leader of the Technology faction of the same name. He's a unique one, and a first of his kind. In a way, he may be the Principal of his faction's element. Formerly known as Onni Saari, personification of Finland.
 * Bloodvine (he/him) - Is the leader of the Blood faction of the same name. His element was a split from Water, but an accidental creation. Has mixed feelings towards the new order, considering at first it did not treat him well, similarly to Luminance, but mostly has been alright with it in recent times. Formerly known as Luciano Capello, personification of Italy.
 * Soundwave (she/her) - Is the leader of the Technology faction of the same name. Formerly known as Kyung-Hu Song, personification of South Korea.
 * Pastrycream (he/him) - Is the leader of the Food faction of the same name. Formerly known as Lambert Aarden, personification of the Netherlands.


 * KwtLeq (any/all pronouns) The leader of the Computation group. A Technology-elemented wanderer aligned with no faction. Also known as Von, the Speaker of Brevity and personification of VötGil.

Trivia

 * bazongo
 * As a pretty old concept, a lot has changed from what was initially planned for them. While some factions kept their elements, some elements had to be changed. In addition, the concept of the Principals of Principles wasn't made yet, so their origins were much different than what is shown now.
 * The initial concept for their origins was apparently "they all got it from buying junk from New Zealand or whatever and neither the customer nor the seller knows its c u r s e d." Another concept involved was the citizens of said factions being subjected to cursed ancient artifacts stored in the British museum of all places.
 * Out of everyone, only Ivyblade, Rosebloom, Geode, Luminance, Codeline, Flame, Seafoam, Soundwave, Magma, Darkness, Stormcloud and Mossyrock were the only ones to keep the same elements from their initial draft.
 * Ivyblade, additionally, was the very first among all the factions to be conceptualized. Obsidian, Cosmos, Rosebloom, Luminance, Flame, Seafoam, Darkness, Magma, Codeline, Soundwave, Stormcloud, and Mossyrock followed accordingly.
 * Cosmos was once considered to be water-elemented, and later on was considered to have the same element as Bloodvine, but such has been changed.
 * Pastrycream was once considered to be named Tompouce, however Al had changed it to 'Raspberry' as to keep the name "nationality ambiguous," so to say. It was later changed to Pastrycream as nothing much about the faction relates to raspberries directly.
 * it's still very dutch tho
 * Grapewine was once considered to be named Grapevine, but didn't want confusion with the name of the school of World's Delight, and had to be changed.
 * At least three of the Water-elemented factions' names start with the word 'sea' (Deepsea, Seacoral, Seastream, Seawave, Seafoam, Seagrass, Seabreeze) as an intentional pattern. Grapevine, Glacier, and Snowbreeze break this pattern, however.
 * Telo's name is the Toki Pona word for water or liquid, so they fall under the "sea names" as well.
 * While the main colour established for the Aether-element is purple (and to an extent, indigo), only Cosmos, Galaxy, Darkness, Obsidian, Nightshine, and Starlight sport these colours. Luminance, Stormcloud, and Sunshine seem to diverge from the others, being mainly azure and amber in their palette.
 * Luminance was intended to have either orange or purple in their palette, but such was scrapped.