Classifying metamorphs by humors

In the Nephilim rulebook the metamorphs are classified into material or spiritual nomenclature (also described as yin and yang, respectively) based on whether it symbolizes a primitive or intellectual aspect of its Dominant Ka. This was noted in-universe by the fictitious "Fludd's law": there are always two paired and opposing metamorphs for each ka-element, one material and one spiritual (see "Creating a New Metamorphosis", Nephilim rulebook p30). However, both the rulebook and the supplement Chronicle of the Awakenings presented exceptions to this "law."

In the French version, metamorphs were classified by two axes of “humors”: four mutable humors and six cardinal humors. The four mutable humors corresponded directly to the four sensible qualities of cold, dry, hot, and wet. The mutable humors weren't linked to any particular elements, contrary to the sensible qualities. Later French books would introduce examples of all four for almost all the elements. The English version seemingly replaced this with the material/spiritual distinction, since there were only two per element at the time.

The six cardinal humors corresponded partly to the four temperaments and each was ruled by an element: choleric was ruled by fire, phlegmatic by air, sanguine by water, melancholic by earth, lunatic by moon, and solar by sun. (The elements associated with phlegmatic and sanguine are switched compared to the temperaments theory.) A metamorph's cardinal humor always corresponded to its dominant ka-element, so noting it comes across as flavorful albeit redundant; this is probably why it was dropped in the English version. With the exception of the solar humor, these cardinal humors also appeared in the English as the five emotional natures (see “Emotional Natures” sidebar, Major Arcana p40).

These descriptors were purely cosmetic and had no mechanical consequences, but they were a fun little detail for fans to play with. For the metamorphs shared between both versions, the associations were:

• Djinn, hot choleric, material Fire
• Phoenix, dry choleric, spiritual Fire
• Sylph, wet phlegmatic, material Air
• Angel, dry phlegmatic, spiritual Air
• Triton, cold sanguine, material Water
• Undine, wet sanguine, spiritual Water
• Satyr, hot melancholic, material Earth
• Elf, wet melancholic, spiritual Earth
• Snake, lunatic, material or spiritual Moon

The Snake is an exception to the typical assignments of mutable humors in French and paired metamorphs in English. It has no mutable humor assigned and isn't paired with another metamorph. Indeed, the French version collectively referred to the lunar metamorphs (chimera, lamia, medusa, naga, and snake) as "ophidians" and wrote that all were variations of the Snake rather than distinct metamorphs (compare "Modifying an Existing Metamorphosis", Nephilim rulebook p30). Naturally, the English version didn't follow this and introduced two new lunar metamorphs later that didn't resemble the Snake at all (see below).

The four new metamorphs inspired by "Celtic" lore were introduced in Chronicle of the Awakenings—Baba Yaga (Moon), Baen Shide (Moon), Fomorian (Water), and Tecarian (Earth)—but weren't assigned a material or spiritual nomenclature. It seems like the writers simply lost interest, and the fan-made metamorphs I found never specified it either (aside from a single material earth metamorph named Duergar). Since these four metamorphs didn't exist in the French then they weren't assigned mutable humors, although the fanpage Prometheus' Body Shop assigned some to them as well as to some of the French's lunar metamorphs.  (Addendum May 1, 2024: As did a French blog.)

Some fan-made metamorphs, like the lion, were assigned a major neutral element that served a similar role to adding a secondary emotional nature (or a mutable humor in the French). The Ex Oculis notes formalized this sort of thing and assigned each metamorph a defining personality trait that gave them an additional elemental "aspect" based on that trait's emotional nature. Examples included: Angel (solar-aspected eolim), Minotaur (fire-aspected faerim), Phoenix (solar-aspected pyrim), Satyr (water-aspected faerim), Sylph (air-aspected eolim), and Undine (water-aspected hydrim). Altho every metamorph could have some variations in its traits on an individual basis (compare "Modifying an Existing Metamorphosis", Nephilim rulebook p30), the defining trait never changed for all instances of that metamorph. To give the elemental association a mechanical effect, using personality traits qualified towards advancing the associated Ka-element too.

Assigning cosmetic classifications like material/spiritual, hot/cold/dry/wet, etc is be fun and all. Ultimately, it's probably too difficult for folks to keep track of and it may limit creativity when designing new metamorphs. I may try to reference these classes when devising new metamorphs, but I make no promises.