It recently dawned on me when I saw I spriggan earlier
I don't know if it was Bethesda's intention or not
but do you think spriggans were original suppose
to be earth atronachs and they decided to make them
forest spirits instead.
Then I wondered If they had made them atronachs
would they have had chloromancy as one the destruction
spell types along with fire frost and shock.
so (growth),(flames),(frostbite),(shock).
I thought it an interesting concept anyway.
Well ESO has things called earth atronachs that seem to operate like any other atronach and the spriggan uses the same model as flame atronachs (meh) so it is a logical conclusion to come to. I don't think, however, that they were intended as summons/atronachs/etc.
I would say that it would make a great mod, summonable spriggans. "Druid" characters would drool over it.
"Nature Spell Pack" is what you're looking for, on skyrim nexus. Does exactly all that, nature spells running parallel with the otehr destruction forms, with spriggans as "Nature Atronachs", and even adding new perks to the perk tree. Works just like the other destructions spells, and fits into the world perfectly, meaning bandits, vampires and forsworn all use it. I don't play without it on, though I rarely even ue it myself. I just prefer the game with it in. A lot of the nature spells deal "extra posion damage"
Spriggans have been a part of the Elder Scrolls since the days of Daggerfall. It wasn't until the Bloodmoon expansion that they were officially established as tree spirits. As for why they decided to make it less humanoid than they first appeared, I think the current aesthetic better sells the concept of a tree spirit. This Bloodmoon screenshot just makes me think of a derped elf with a tree stump for a head.