Elementals have the ability to manipulate a certain element. The elements include, earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.
Most people are tested as children to see if they have an aptitude towards a certain element and, if they do, are sent to train at a designated school. While at school they learn to use their powers to the best of their ability, they also teach martial arts to help hone their bodies as well as their minds.

Below are brief descriptions of each elemental type. Later I will post more detailed descriptions.

Air - Air elementals can manipulate the air. They can create a breeze or a raging wind storm. They can bind their enemies with bands of air or solidify the air in their lungs.
They also can seem to run at incredible speeds. They do this by creating a draft that propels them at very high speeds. They also where special uniforms that have a small wing that stretches between the arms and body. When used correctly they can glide for very long distances. This makes them very effective scouts and messengers.

Earth - These are like the Geomancers (descriptions of the mancers will come later), but not as powerful. They cannot create golems or any other animate objects. They can, however, control stones. They can throw them, create spikes that shoot from the ground, and make walls.
They are most often employed to build new structures, the best earth elementals are always sought out for the building and repair of defenses, like castle walls.
Exceptionally strong earth elementals can become Geomancers.

Fire - Fire elementals, of course, manipulate fire. They have the ability to create fire out of thin air.
They can do as little as heat a cup of water or they can melt a stone foundation. They can shoot flames from thin air and also create fireballs to hurl at their enemies that explode on contact.
The fire elementals make nasty enemies. They are often used in an offensive force.

Water - Able to manipulate water. They can pull the moisture directly from the air around them. They are able to create ice and rain. They can control the weather to some extent especially when working with an air elemental, but they will only do it in the most extreme circumstances since it can have unforeseen consequences.

Spirit - Spirit elementals are the least understood of all the elementals. They manipulate a persons very soul. They can do things a simple as make a person fall asleep, or they can take control of a persons body. For this reason, they are mainly used as assassins. They also have the ability to plant suggestions in a persons mind. These suggestions can be very powerful and are sometimes used to get a person to, for example, start a fight, or even commit suicide. They can also attack a person in their dreams.
Spirit elementals are very rare, and the strength to actually take control of a persons mind is rare even among them.