My protagonist has the ability to wield a franction (a word for a small amount in my verse) of the vitael energies of potential offspring (“poffspring”) they decide not to have, so like if they date someone of the opposite sex and things are going well and they’re thinking of moving in together, and then they ghost them my protag gets the power of the potential unborn babies (well some of it). They have made enemies of pretty much everyone in their hammelit (small village in my world), but have grown that much stronger with each jilted partner.
Anyway, they pulled this with the shire riff’s (reeve of a shire in my lore) daughter and got shot with a pepper shot blunderbuss and exiled from town, but they are able to carry approx a handful of extra sticks using the strength from their poffspring, which they use to heat the abandoned hut they live in upwind of the hammelit’s middens.
Maybe you can do that they will get a “bad power” that is more a problem than something useful because the children had that power and so that would explain why no one ever wanted to adopt him
Ooo yeah like a curse and at first you think it’s the children’s fault, but then at the halfway point you find out they’re the victims. Would also provide some good tension since it’s the only way for the protag to get more power after the pepper shot removed their ability to make more poffspring.
I mean I was joking in my original comment, but you could tweak it a bit and maybe obscure some of the details to make the story halfway evocative.
I was thinking that this was a relatively bullshit example, but the movie “The One” featuring Jet Li makes this an awesome example. On it’s face the impacts of one person likely aren’t even enough for one person to notice, but if you had someone with the knowledge and means to take advantage of this they could be incredibly powerful.
My protagonist has the ability to wield a franction (a word for a small amount in my verse) of the vitael energies of potential offspring (“poffspring”) they decide not to have, so like if they date someone of the opposite sex and things are going well and they’re thinking of moving in together, and then they ghost them my protag gets the power of the potential unborn babies (well some of it). They have made enemies of pretty much everyone in their hammelit (small village in my world), but have grown that much stronger with each jilted partner.
Anyway, they pulled this with the shire riff’s (reeve of a shire in my lore) daughter and got shot with a pepper shot blunderbuss and exiled from town, but they are able to carry approx a handful of extra sticks using the strength from their poffspring, which they use to heat the abandoned hut they live in upwind of the hammelit’s middens.
Wait, but if they think to adopt a child but not do it then they get a power?
I think so, yes, that feels right. OK, this is powerful… I think I’ve got the hook for my second book
Maybe you can do that they will get a “bad power” that is more a problem than something useful because the children had that power and so that would explain why no one ever wanted to adopt him
Ooo yeah like a curse and at first you think it’s the children’s fault, but then at the halfway point you find out they’re the victims. Would also provide some good tension since it’s the only way for the protag to get more power after the pepper shot removed their ability to make more poffspring.
I mean I was joking in my original comment, but you could tweak it a bit and maybe obscure some of the details to make the story halfway evocative.
I was thinking that this was a relatively bullshit example, but the movie “The One” featuring Jet Li makes this an awesome example. On it’s face the impacts of one person likely aren’t even enough for one person to notice, but if you had someone with the knowledge and means to take advantage of this they could be incredibly powerful.