Changes to Capricorn and Mercury across editions

The Zodiac is a basic part of Nephilim's astrology rules. The image below illustrates the order of the signs and their associations with the planets. It uses the planet symbols from medieval alchemy.

Starting in third edition and retained in all subsequent editions so far, Capricorn changed to a Moon sign. Presumably this was done for game balance reasons, as otherwise Moon spells had only one month for themselves while the other four elements had two each. This breaks compatibility with prior editions (such as the Saturnian magic in Secret Societies needing to be cast under Grand Enthronements of Saturn), but I have a house rule for that.

In the US version, the association between planets and elements was altered compared to the French. I briefly compare this on the table below:

Planet Signs (Element*) Day Ka (FR) Ka (US)
Mercury Gemini (Air), Virgo (Earth) Wednesday Water Air
Jupiter Sagittarius (Fire), Pisces (Water) Thursday Air Earth
Venus Taurus (Earth), Libra (Air) Friday Earth Water

*The elemental association as described in modern astrology, not the game rules. I note this for comparison.

I use the French associations because I feel they make more sense (and using them makes it easier to convert stuff from the French). The sticking point seems to be Mercury, which changed from Water to Air in adaptation and forced the other two planets to compensate by shifting. The explanation for the French scheme is actually pretty logical. Here's an explanation from a fansite:

Note: one could wonder why Mercury is linked to Water and not to Air. Mercury being the Roman equivalent of the god Hermes, and sometimes associated with intelligence, wouldn't that make more sense? In fact, mercury is alchemically related to water; of the god Mercury/Hermes, we find in Water-Ka adaptability, sociability. Hermes Trismegistus is therefore clearly to be distinguished from Mercury/Hermes, god of travelers, merchants and messenger of the gods

These associations are particularly important to the Ar-Kaïm, whom I intend to adapt to the US version in my campaigns. It would be incredibly difficult and time-consuming to try adapting them to the US associations rather than switching over to the French associations.

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