Wherein I take some time to expand a concept of mine and see how far I can take it. I have something like 50 pages of story ideas (just the ones I've sorted, moreover) and this will be an exercise in seeing how much potential they have.
The initial idea that I'm building this from is that our protagonist is a human with the soul of a jaguar... No, let's make that a tiger. That feels better. Yeah. I don't do enough with tigers lately.
So, human with a soul of a tiger. Shapeshifting is possibly, but it is really painful and against the natural order. Of course, having a mismatched soul like this is also against the natural order, but when you break one thing it's easier to break another.
Showing posts with label mind and thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mind and thought. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Sunday, November 2, 2014
CYOA brainstorming: Domain Master
Affinity Technology/Acoustics
Size class Giant
Race Monstrous/Construct
Boss perks Vitality prowess, charisma prowess, arena manipulation, phylactery, hybrid, empowerment, shapeshifting, enchanted armor, enchanted weapon, perception prowess
Minion races Humanoid, celestial
Minion size classes Human, Colossal (only celestials)
Mooks Soldiers (100), clerics (25), slaves (50), recruiters (25)
Elites Warriors (10), craftsmen (10), agents (20), battle mages (20)
Lieutenants Chosen, Hunter
Minion perks Sustenance, training, faction
Realm perks Expansion, hidden
Complications Benevolent, whispers
Friday, April 18, 2014
Idea: Every language is potentially a magical language
We have fantasy stories about magic being manipulated through a specific magical language. Say the word for "fire" in this language and BOOM, fire.
What if magic could manipulated by any language but only certain people had the capability to do it? If you're not a magician, nothing will happen when you say "fire," but if you are then you need to be careful. Magicians that don't restrict themselves to sign language on a regular basis are centers for cataclysmic change, continually reshaping the world around them with every word spoken- if they were sane when they decided to be such things, they don't remain so for long but quickly become more like a bodily force of nature with increasingly inhuman drives.
Moreover, when magicians speak, they don't get specific results. The magic is locked down for as long as they are expressing a thought (and with greater practice comes the ability to lock it down for longer periods of time, with young magicians unable to keep it for longer than it takes to say a single word) but when they're done it takes shape and is bound only by the words used. "Fire" can do anything from shoot fire from your fingertips to turn your enemy to fire to turn yourself into fire and only the very slightest of mental nudging is possible (if you're doing it with the intent of harming someone then the blast of fire will be directed at your enemy) but it's based on raw emotion (it's really not so much your enemy as it is "whoever you most want to hurt," which means it's not so easy as just shooting the guy with the knife in front of you but still too far to be an immediate threat if you haven't gotten over the fact that your boyfriend has been cheating on you and he's in the same room).
Magicians need to be kept from speaking until they're old enough to be careful with what they say (maybe stitching the mouth shut, but if this has been going on for long enough some other techniques have certainly been developed) and mostly use sign language. Magicians need to know what the word means (it needs to have some meaning in their minds to be shaped by) but that doesn't help with communication because a language that can't be shaped by magic is then also a language that they don't understand (or else it could be shaped).
What if magic could manipulated by any language but only certain people had the capability to do it? If you're not a magician, nothing will happen when you say "fire," but if you are then you need to be careful. Magicians that don't restrict themselves to sign language on a regular basis are centers for cataclysmic change, continually reshaping the world around them with every word spoken- if they were sane when they decided to be such things, they don't remain so for long but quickly become more like a bodily force of nature with increasingly inhuman drives.
Moreover, when magicians speak, they don't get specific results. The magic is locked down for as long as they are expressing a thought (and with greater practice comes the ability to lock it down for longer periods of time, with young magicians unable to keep it for longer than it takes to say a single word) but when they're done it takes shape and is bound only by the words used. "Fire" can do anything from shoot fire from your fingertips to turn your enemy to fire to turn yourself into fire and only the very slightest of mental nudging is possible (if you're doing it with the intent of harming someone then the blast of fire will be directed at your enemy) but it's based on raw emotion (it's really not so much your enemy as it is "whoever you most want to hurt," which means it's not so easy as just shooting the guy with the knife in front of you but still too far to be an immediate threat if you haven't gotten over the fact that your boyfriend has been cheating on you and he's in the same room).
Magicians need to be kept from speaking until they're old enough to be careful with what they say (maybe stitching the mouth shut, but if this has been going on for long enough some other techniques have certainly been developed) and mostly use sign language. Magicians need to know what the word means (it needs to have some meaning in their minds to be shaped by) but that doesn't help with communication because a language that can't be shaped by magic is then also a language that they don't understand (or else it could be shaped).
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Idea: Vampires possessed by their blood
You could possibly call these vampires "tragic" if you were so inclined. It is the blood itself which controls a vampire, which may be either cooperative with the force flowing through its xir veins or be engaged in a futile struggle to retain control. The blood has no physical control over its host but it is able to insert sensations into its host's mind, whether it does so in order to speak to its companion or as an assault on xir mental stability. A person may try to resist but the blood is well-equipped to wear down xir resolve. Even without resorting to finer techniques of psychological manipulation the blood can simply "shout" relentlessly in its host's mind until, for the sake of being able to sleep or have even a single minute of rest, xe will follow through with what the blood wants him to do. Suicide might be considered but the blood can make its host suffer agonizing pain. While that might not be enough to dissuade some people simply on a mental basis the pain can become intense enough to make it impossible to move.
Many older vampires have lost their sense of self to one extent or another. They have become so compliant to the demands of the blood in them that as it speaks, they act, and their will slowly ebbs away.
To some extent this curious relationship arises because, magically speaking, memories are contained in the blood. They're still located in the brain, yes, but there is a sort of sympathetic relationship relationship between blood and memories. As masters of bloodwork the main power of a vampire lies not in xir shapeshifting or incredibly strength or telepathy or anything else of this sort. Indeed, a vampire may not even possess these powers (do with them as you wish). No, a vampire's main asset is xir natural power over memories. Draining blood from someone can drain their memories, too. Simply drinking their blood allows their memories to be read.
Transferring their own blood to another person has the effect of infecting them with vampirism because of this power. Their blood is, essentially, alive and a thinking entity in its own right, and it infects the blood of the victim with these selfsame attributes. A very small amount is enough to affect the victim's memories but not enough to truly start the process of blood-conversion. Larger amounts are required, commensurate with the strength of the victim's willpower and even sense of self (many vampires will engage in psychological torture before beginning blood-conversion). Because of the large amount of blood required to spawn a single vampire, let alone multiple vampires, spawning vampires hunt much, much more frequently than other vampires. They don't need to eat or replenish their energy in any other manner (in a way they're perpetual motion machines) but the blood in them is constantly decaying, as it were. The blood must be replenished on a regular basis, and giving up large amounts to create more vampires only makes the need more pressing.
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Many older vampires have lost their sense of self to one extent or another. They have become so compliant to the demands of the blood in them that as it speaks, they act, and their will slowly ebbs away.
To some extent this curious relationship arises because, magically speaking, memories are contained in the blood. They're still located in the brain, yes, but there is a sort of sympathetic relationship relationship between blood and memories. As masters of bloodwork the main power of a vampire lies not in xir shapeshifting or incredibly strength or telepathy or anything else of this sort. Indeed, a vampire may not even possess these powers (do with them as you wish). No, a vampire's main asset is xir natural power over memories. Draining blood from someone can drain their memories, too. Simply drinking their blood allows their memories to be read.
Transferring their own blood to another person has the effect of infecting them with vampirism because of this power. Their blood is, essentially, alive and a thinking entity in its own right, and it infects the blood of the victim with these selfsame attributes. A very small amount is enough to affect the victim's memories but not enough to truly start the process of blood-conversion. Larger amounts are required, commensurate with the strength of the victim's willpower and even sense of self (many vampires will engage in psychological torture before beginning blood-conversion). Because of the large amount of blood required to spawn a single vampire, let alone multiple vampires, spawning vampires hunt much, much more frequently than other vampires. They don't need to eat or replenish their energy in any other manner (in a way they're perpetual motion machines) but the blood in them is constantly decaying, as it were. The blood must be replenished on a regular basis, and giving up large amounts to create more vampires only makes the need more pressing.
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