What is affected by different levels of Changeling: the Dreaming's Nature Realm?

Question

The descriptions of what each dot of Nature encompasses seem contradictory or nonsensical in places. I'd appreciate clarification.

From Changeling: the Dreaming, Second Edition, pg. 188:

· Raw Material: Unliving, organic matter (rope, paper, stone, etc.). If it's inorganic (steel, etc.), it is not of this realm.

·· Verdant Forest: Living, organic plant material. (Not animals).

··· Feral Animal: Living, nonsentient animals. (Self-aware animals are governed under Actor.)

···· Natural Phenomena: Natural occurrences: weather, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc.

····· Base Element: Governs natural (carbon based) elements, or the traditional four: fire, water, earth, and air.

Raw Material says it includes stone, but doesn't include inorganic things. Stone is inorganic.

How should this Realm be interpreted for stone? By the basic definitions, it seems like it fits in Base Element because it is inorganic. Was including stone as an example in Raw Material an author's mistake, or an intentional exception to "organic" rule?

For Base Element, I don't even know what "carbon based" elements are supposed to be. A chemical element isn't based on anything. That's why it's an element.

Should "carbon based" simply be ignored? Is there an explanation for how this works that I'm missing? I only have high school levels of science education, but that ought to be enough for a CtD game.

Answer 1

Do as the LARPers do. (The Shining Host)

The Mind's Eye Theatre book for Changeling, The Shining Host, removes the reference to stone from the first rank, replacing it with "wood." The fifth rank replaces the whole "carbon-based" bit with "Natural elements in their pure form" -- so, gold, tin, silver, iron, helium, so on -- and then goes on to the "traditional four," putting stone in with Earth. If you consider that an authoritative source, you could use it.

Answer 2

I would risk saying that the "organic rock" would mean rock that is organic in origin like chalk or carbon - first made from shells of dead animals, second from dead trees. In second case I believe it can be interpreted in two ways:

Ignore the "Carbon based" and indeed turn it into a chemical-elements controlling power (silver, tin etc). But I kinda have a hard time to imagine fae as a chemist.

Read the "elements" as "elements of nature" - everything that lives and its body is carbon based, including humans, werewolves, vampires etc. This approach a bit goes into the Actor realm, unless we assume its on chemical level - i.e. affecting someone's blood or hair rather than whole person.

White Wolf Wiki describes it as "Base Element - Natural elements in pure form, or earth, air, water, fire."