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I’d say that could still be seen as a curse. The word curse is a bit vague anyways, and everyone carries different connotational baggage. I like the idea, but it’s entirely up to you. Perhaps the crystals use substances left by other animals, and become like those animals. It just becomes a side effect instead of something intent based I guess, but I don’t know.
Yeah, that is the way I think it would work. I need to figure out how long it would take the crystals to form and how other animals would be involved in it.
Or what if it’s viewed as not the crystals cursing the people, but instead something else cursed the crystals?
Hmm. That could work. In order for his story to work, Sabtah needs to think he was cursed by God. But he might think that God cursed the crystals as God cursed the ground (Genesis 3:17).
I should mention here that this backstory is going to be quite vague and a bit mixed up when it appears in the story. Lots of this history is lost to mythologies. However, I am still developing this in hopes of giving the readers clues as to why the world of Ehverwyld is the way it is.
Also, there will be no scene where all lyens, kentors, and kunulfs, become humans again. Even Wizards will have no way to reverse the corruption of magic on their bodies. Alan is stuck with the wizard scars he has at the beginning of the story. I think this will also help make any curses less cliche. Usually, when there are curses like this, they are all reversed when the hero saves the day, even if the curse happened so long ago everyone just accepts that they are now part animal. (Wingfeather Saga, Zondervan’s Tomo Manga Series, The Amulet Graphic Novels). I was planning to do this anyway.
I’m not sure I fully understand how wizards can connect to crystals yet, but perhaps since the crystal is more raw power, it could simply destroy them completely, so the feather is needed as a sort of energy holder.
The current process of becoming a wizard requires using a bonding spell. Most spells can only be used by wizards, but anyone can use bonding spells. Bonding spells usually accomplish a small task that could easily be done without needing magic. They take more effort to cast if the caster is not a wizard yet, since he is not connected to any crystal. The energies of the crystals not connected to crystals spread through their entire regions, but cannot cover everything at once. The caster of the bonding spell not only has to worry about properly imaging the spell image but also has to correctly cast it while in the same area that a crystal energy is covering. Upon successful casting, one of the crystals that detect this (although crystals cannot think) will connect to the caster, turning him into a wizard. He can now summon the energy of that particular crystal at will. It is not possible to connect to a second crystal.
The size of the crystal and the wizard’s imagination will determine how strong of a wizard he is and how many spells he can use before he Shatters (the crystal shatters and the last of its energy corrupts the wizard, completing his transformation into a monster). However, it is very hard to figure out which crystal someone has connected to, so almost all wizards have no idea how much magic they can use before Shattering, even if they know about the crystals.
Not sure how well this fits with an idea with different phases of magical matter. Maybe it still has these states, but the more solid the state, the further its reach. The gas state is stuck in the areas where the crystals grow whereas the solid state reaches very far across the world. The solid state could also be the only one stable enough to support someone using its energy (until it shatters of course. Each spell cracks the crystal a little.) As you said, the feather could also be an energy holder, stabilizing any attempted connections to the crystal surrounding it.
Also, is there a better place to discuss this? This discussion has definitely moved beyond an introduction and into worldbuilding.
@linus-smallprint There is a worldbuilding thread. I don’t remember its name though.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you, I’ve been really busy, and unfortunately am going to continue to be busy for a while. I’ll say a few quick things here though.
I should mention here that this backstory is going to be quite vague and a bit mixed up when it appears in the story. Lots of this history is lost to mythologies. However, I am still developing this in hopes of giving the readers clues as to why the world of Ehverwyld is the way it is.
Also, there will be no scene where all lyens, kentors, and kunulfs, become humans again. Even Wizards will have no way to reverse the corruption of magic on their bodies. Alan is stuck with the wizard scars he has at the beginning of the story. I think this will also help make any curses less cliche. Usually, when there are curses like this, they are all reversed when the hero saves the day, even if the curse happened so long ago everyone just accepts that they are now part animal. (Wingfeather Saga, Zondervan’s Tomo Manga Series, The Amulet Graphic Novels). I was planning to do this anyway.
Keeping things vague will be a big help in your writing for both making it feel lived in and not needing to fill in all the gaps on your part, so that works. I also support the not helping them thing, there’s lots of curses in scripture that are never lifted, such as the fall (of course this is lifted through Christ, and will be conqured in the end, but from a purely temporal prospective at least.)
Not sure how well this fits with an idea with different phases of magical matter. Maybe it still has these states, but the more solid the state, the further its reach. The gas state is stuck in the areas where the crystals grow whereas the solid state reaches very far across the world. The solid state could also be the only one stable enough to support someone using its energy (until it shatters of course. Each spell cracks the crystal a little.) As you said, the feather could also be an energy holder, stabilizing any attempted connections to the crystal surrounding it.
So perhaps if they don’t have the energy holder, they energy shatters them immediately, so they just turn into a monster from the get go. That could be a good narrative element.
Also, is there a better place to discuss this? This discussion has definitely moved beyond an introduction and into worldbuilding.
Yeah, there’s a lot of worldbuilding forums. If you want one where you just talk about your worldbuilding, you can make your own, but there’s a lot of them for general discussion I can tag you to.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
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