Monsters as manifestations of the elemental fields

One of my inspirations for reinventing elementals was the ancient roleplaying game Nephilim. Originally published in France from the early 90s for three editions before the publisher went under, it was briefly translated and adapted by Chaosium in the mid 90s. Nephilim operated on the conceit that the world was the result of the interactions of six elemental "aethyrs" generated by the sun, planets and moon. The sun released rays that reflected off the moon and the planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Thus produced the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Moon and Sun.

The interaction of these "magical fields" produced the world we live in and created its geography and life. Every cycle and phenomenon was the result of these magical fields, including the weather and afterlife. Contrast that with Dungeons & Dragons, in which the elements are reduced to simple power sources for spells and are otherwise completely disconnected from the world building. (Seriously, I have had arguments with people online who thought that the fantasy world was made of the periodic elements and the classical elements were only for elementals.) The magical cosmology of Nephilim was a breath of fresh air after having to deal with the disjointed world building of typical fantasy settings.

This brings me to elemental creatures. Nephilim did not have elemental planes: all elementals formed and lived in the same world as humanity. All physics was elemental and all living creatures were elemental creatures, by definition. Magic was just the applied knowledge of manipulating the universe. Hence:

• Air creatures included angels, harpies, sprites and sylphs.
• Earth creatures included basilisks, elves, hemogoblins, mandrakes, manticores, gargoyles, satyrs, and sphinxes.
• Fire creatures included cyclopses, genies, goblins, gremlins, phoenixes, salamanders and will-o'-the-wisps.
• Moon creatures included banshees, chimeras, dinosaurs(!), dogs of the Otherworld, ghouls, gorgons, hags, medusas, and serpents of Eden.
• Water creatures included kelpies, krakens, naiads, sirens, tritones, and undines.
• Combination creatures included the Stymphalian birds (air/earth) and gryphons (air/fire).
• Sun creatures included humans and other mortal animals.

I imagine that most if not all monsters in fantasy gaming may be categorized along these lines. It would certainly be a decent way to make elementals less boring than they are in default bestiaries.