Pellatarrum: the Elemental Churn

I was midway through my post on Winter in Pellatarrum when I realized that I probably had not explained a key concept thoroughly and that this would cause a lot of confusion if I didn't stop and immediately address it.

Therefore, I am now explicitly stating for the record that none of the Elemental Planes, not even that of Earth, are static. Elements are created from the heart of the Positive Energy Plane, where they slowly congeal into whatever flavor of creation they happen to be, progressing from raw Positive Energy to Positive Quasi-Elements and thence to "proper" Elemental forms.

From there, the raw elements slowly progress across the plane, pushed forward as more are created, until they degrade into Negative Quasi-Elements and then ultimately destroyed by Negative Energy. This progression is known as the Elemental Churn, and because of it there are very few locations on the Elemental Planes which are static.

Those which are static are typically famous in some way -- the City of Brass and the Great Dismal Delve are the greatest examples -- and all have the attention of powerful elemental spirits to keep them in place as the rest of the plane flows around them. These guardian spirits are quite literally Genie Loci (please pardon my terrible pun there) and their presence -- either through singular strength, mass of numbers, or both -- anchor that location to a fixed point within the plane.

Therefore, all aspects of an Elemental Plane which are not Loci are moving in some way, be it flowing or grinding or blowing or burning, and because of that they are all considered energies for purposes of crossing the infinite distance between their home plane and Pellatarrum.