The Half Life Project - Comparisons of my life?

Hey guys,

Ara here.

Today I have an update for you (actually uploaded it last night). Half Life Chapter 4!

In light of this I wanted to talk a bit about this series.

First of all this series came from a revelation I had one night. I was playing around with the idea of a Djinn (for a D&D campaign).

Let me just clarify, so that people don't mistake my intentions. I'm going for the well known myth of Genies who grant three wishes specifically here.

Djinn (I prefer this term) have a lot of power, which they can't really utilize for themselves. I love this idea, power that can only be used for others (you may find it in my other works too).

My revelation, however came from the idea that a Djinn who hadn't used their power for a generation would have more power than one who had used their ability even fifty years ago.

Thus the Djinn curse of isolation makes them stronger. I combined this with the idea that some Djinn could link themselves to objects, but only if the isolation was too much for them. The rest would only serve a master who called their true name. This meant that they would be harder to find.

Perhaps if a Djinn lasted for enough time, without fulfilling any wishes, they would have the power to end the curse, dying in the process. But the isolation would often send them mad.

The fates, or the cause of the curse (might have more of my world specifics on this later) would inevitably intervene to keep the curse in place.

I decided that a Djinn would have something like a legal contract, that they would have to disclose before the master gave verbal agreement to the terms.

Instead of three wishes I decided that the wish power would depend on the Djinn power.

There would be limits here as well, a Djinn can't give all their power to one mortal.

The Djinn would have to disclose their remaining power as a percentage when asked, so a master wouldn't know the power of a wish before it was made.

A weak Djinn couldn't give powerful boons, like reviving the dead, creating wealth from nothing, or drastically changing human thoughts or emotion for example. One of these examples would take all the allotted power of a powerful Djinn.

A Djinn will remain with their master, until the allotted power is used, or until 365 days had passed.

What happens once the contract ends?

The master forgets all interactions with the Djinn, and their true name. The ex-master may not make another contract with the same Djinn, and is unlikely to find a second.

I wanted to make this an Urban Fantasy.

Strangely Henry's backstory seemed to resemble my own in many ways. Nothing particular, no mirror image of my own life, it's just an odd jumble of different feelings and experiences. But this makes me feel closer tot he character. I think that's partially why I struggled with the last chapter (chapter 4). Henry's reactions were a bit close to home as well.

Well that sums up a bit about my poor Henry, and his predicament. I may talk a little about some of the other characters later.

I'll leave you with an Arabian Nights inspired image. I was very inspired by the Arabian Nights idea in this work, even despite my decision to set it in the modern day.

I'll be back tomorrow with another update (hopefully) and another write up on the Neweth series.

Ta-ta.