Ixthos

I can tell you care about this topic deeply, and I don't wish to offend you. I also care about this issue in the broader category of science and truth, which matter just as much to me, so I will try to be respectful to you without having to agree with you. And while I don't wish to offend anyone, I can't say black is white or white is black if those two colours are not the same, even if it offends someone. (There is a quote I remember when someone said "I call a spade a spade", to which someone else said, "yes, but there is a difference between calling a spade a spade and calling a spade a [swearword] shovel." I will try to talk about spades, not [swearword] shovels, and if I can avoid having to talk about spades I will, but I won't call a spade a hammer, though I do agree a spade can be used as one.) First, sex isn't a social construct, it is a scientific construct, and thus not subject to arbitrary changes or redefining in the absence of adequite reasons, those being observed real world phenomena. If we encounter aliens which fuse three unique cells together, then we would need a new term for that, but if they produce one of two types of cells, one of which is smaller and generally are motile, the other larger and stationary, then male and female would still be viable terms. Indeed, it is so ingrained into life on earth that even some colonies of generally single celled organisms produce male and female parts. Plants have male and female parts, and even the seahorse which you mentioned is still classified as male because of the terms described above, which have nothing to do with anatomy and everything to do with sex cells. Those cells are what defines male and female, and those aren't subject to personal or cultural interpretation, but scientific accuracy. It is science because it describes traits that are so universal even some single celled organisms can enter into a mode to produce them, and some fish can even change sex to produce them when environmental conditions change such that there aren't any females, one member going from male to female to fill that gap. Those terms cannot be arbitrarily changed - some fish can change sex, change the gametes they produce, and their sex is defined by the gametes they produce. We are always learning more, but that doesn't mean a category can just be discarded. To put it another way, what would you define - scientifically - a male to be compared to a female, or what word would you use to describe an organism that reproduces via fusing two cells together which produces small, usually mobile, cells and which doesn't produce a single large immobile one? Male and female describe specific real world traits, and these traits are like two piles of sand, every grain closer to one centre than the other. Do the piles exist? That depends, but you cannot say that grains in one pile belong to another pile that it isn't in, and if you are describing a path for someone to walk talking about the space between the piles is meaningful. Or the example from before about squares and triangles. The square, before being changed, might make itself look like a triangle, but with one you can tessellate the plane and produce two types of parallel lines, and with the other you will have three types of parallel lines. Constructs? Yes, but that doesn't mean they aren't reflections of things in the real world. The solar system is a construct, not a physical object, but do you agree you can't decide that Earth is actually part of the Sirius star system and not part of the Sol system? There are nuances within categories, but that doesn't mean the category can be thrown out. To try to bring this topic back to the Cosmere, this is like many other philosophical questions like the ship of Theseus, and potentially Sorites paradox, showing how objects and classifications in the physical world affect the cognitive and the spiritual realm. In the Cosmere ideas and classifications become entire beings, such as Cryptics and Honourspren. What are the applications then to scientific and social categories? I appreciate if you want to respond, so by all means do so, but afterwards may we please keep this topic focused on the topic at hand - the idea that investiture can be used to change genetics and cell-structure, to even change organs and organ placement up to and including changing species. Any way, I don't know if you celebrate Christmas, but I hope tomorrow is a happy and joyful day for you. Take care, and have a great day!

@Proletariat I am planning on responding to everyone more fully later on, but I just need to address your point on sex and gender. While gender may be a social construct, sex is not. There are four classifications for all living things with regards to reproduction: Male, female, hermaphrodite, and asexual. Male produce sperm which are small mobile gametes, female produce eggs which are large immobile gametes, hermaphrodites produce both, and asexual produce neither, instead relying on mitosis or budding. Sex is as real a classification as species, and so I think investiture can change both. I think the Reshi king has become male, not just a man - I think they can now produce sperm, and no longer have eggs, basically. I think this therefore carries through to more drastic cellular and genetic changes, not just physical. Perhaps I am wrong about the Reshi king and they are still biologically female but appear as a man, but we have seen investiture from the Well used to change entire species to better suit them to a life in a world of ash, and even produce an entire species, I don't think it is as big a stretch. To be best of my knowledge the Reshi king wanted to be seen as a man, not that they had dysphoria. I would suspect that this means anyone, whether or not they feel dysphoria, would be similarly changed to match what they want others to see them as. This possibly makes Knights Radiant low grade Returned, who likewise can change appearance to match what they and others think of them as. And I'm still convinced this is what Dragons do to shapeshift, taking an existing mechanic and expanding on it further, using it to change species temporarily.

Maybe it's because I watched it later at 1.5* speed, but I actually found it kind of endearing :-P maybe its because I also could see how long the video would be? Brandon certainly sounded like he was trying to keep his annoyance in check.

Very interesting :-) A few questions - with teleportation, you mention it causes you to delay for 1-2 seconds. Is this entirely from the disorientation, or does teleporting not function exactly instantaneously? (side note, this is an element from way back in my stories and I'm debating if I should remove it, but some forms of teleportation in my setting cause you to arrive a short time after you leave, so for a short time you don't exist, while others cause you to teleport slightly back in time, so you could see yourself leaving, while others let you teleport instantly). Can someone with a lot of experience with this be able to gain their bearings instantaneously, especially when moving a short distance, or to an area they can already see? Also, how quickly can you open and close a portal, and does it open at both ends (that is, if you open a portal from point A to point B, and you go from the front of the portal at point A to the back of the portal at point B, can you also go from the back of portal at point A to the front of the portal at point B, or only from the back of the portal at point A to the front of the portal at point B? Also also, can portals be used dynamically in combat to cut things with both opening like in the Wheel of Time with a portal opening being able to cut the material at the area it forms, as well as when it closes? And can you, as you said you retain momentum and inertia when you enter a portal to perform the feats from the Portal series of games, so jumping down into a portal to fly a further distance away? Also, what limitations are there on where a portal can form?

As I recall the reason Odium is scared of Harmony is because he thought Harmony was ... well, in harmony with the two shards, but that the more he learned the less scared he would be. That seems to match the idea that Odium exploits the conflict between shards, and was scared of the idea of two shards that are in complete agreement.

Odium likes questions, passion, challenging the status quo. Odium the shard is a shard of violence and conflict. And in each case Odium killed a shard there was at least one other shard somehow present or involved. Devotion and Dominion were together Honour was killed on a planet with Cultivation Ambition, initially thought to have been taken on alone, somehow had Mercy involved also, Autonomy may have lent a hand in one or more I think Odium can take on two shards at the same time and win BECAUSE it is taking on two shards at the same time. Odium is the essence of judo and comedic scenes in fighting films where you get one opponent to hit their allies when they tried to hit you. Odium takes the dissonence between two shards and uses it to weaken one or both of the others. Consider: Devotion is giving of yourself to serve, while Dominion is exerting your authority on those who serve. They can work together, yes, but also in opposition Honour strives for order and maintaining things, while Cultivation enjoys change. They can work together, together they are science, but they can also be placed against one another - perhaps Honour swore he would never harm Cultivation, or to attack your wife - even if you never promised not to - is beyond what Honour could be made to do, but Cultivation has no such restriction Ambition will seize any advantage, crush anyone who gets in the way, while Mercy - even when cruel - seeks the good or at least to end the suffering of others And Autonomy could be involved in any of these just to counter the influence of a shard against those who wish to do their own thing Could Odium's own weakening, Rayse own weakening, be because he was starting to exist in opposition to the power? So, this raises a question - what of Harmony? What happens when Odium faces a pair of shards with a single vessel? Are they immune, the powers of one mind? Only Sazed is not of one mind, not entirely. Could Taravangian, the cunning and intelligent being, who knows everything the power was used to do - at least in theory - be better at this than Rayse? Could he now study the power with a mind that seeks to understand the nature of what it holds in ways a vessel would normally take aeons to understand? Could he find a crack in Sazed's own struggle to balance the power? Could he find a way to turn Sazed against himself?

You beat me to it by ... a day and a half :-P

Fair enough :-) disagreement is often healthy. If you do think of a problem with this theory I'd be happy to hear it. True, though in theory that data could still be stored in the spiritual realm. It might be that, if later on they start to think of themselves as female again and change back, their original chromosomes would be restored, so it isn't that the data is lost only that it is moved, their cells storing it initially but then it gets backed up to the cloud when a new version is installed. Though even if it is lost, data is unfortunately lost all the time. If you ever eat something with intact DNA it will get broken down in your stomach, and the data lost. While not exactly the same scenario, it does mean that data in any given medium isn't sacred in and of itself - a burned book loses its words, but other copies of the book could still remain.

This still bugs me. Preservation - keep something the way it is Ruin - destroy, break something to make something new, though with greater entropy Together they can create, bringing more energy into the system. Preservation should have been for Feruchemy - especially in the concept of copperminds - and both Ruin and Preservation should have been for Allomancy, bringing energy into the system. The mists behaviour could also still match the idea as there are two types mists, and each one moves towards or away from the presence of the other's investiture, or the combined investiture has an impact on the mists.

I agree with a lot of what you said above, though this part in particular is problematic. I don't think they are already that gender/race/ethnicity/species in the Spiritual Realm until the healing takes effect - they are whatever the physical reality is until the healing causes their physical form to match their cognitive perception, and that then changes their spiritual connections. So the Reshi king, despite wanting to be seen as male, was not male physically or spiritually but was male cognitively, until the healing then caused the physical and spiritual to match the cognitive. To put it another way, a square might want to be seen as a triangle, and sees itself as a triangle, but is still a square in the physical and spiritual realm, only deliberately standing so that shadows cast on it make it appear to be a triangle. Then, when investiture is applied, the shape changes to actually be a triangle, and the physical and spiritual then match it. Also, maybe I shouldn't have chosen Nalthians as the off-world example because of the Breath they had. I mainly wanted them to be an example to compare to an Elantrian. Maybe someone from Ashyn would have been a better example, or First of the Sun? Someone who is just as invested as a regular Scadrian, but from a different world and very different line of descent while still being human, as opposed to Singer or Aimian, etc. Although ... Scadrians also have a bit of Presevation in them that others might not have. Also also, and I seem to be working backwards through your points, I suppose the lost of the one X could be just a case of data being erased. If a new Y is produced - new information added - it would make sense that old information is lost. There are some shared genes between the X and Y chromosome, so maybe some of the lost X becomes part of the new Y?

True, but when Lopen's hand was healed it became a fully functional hand, not just organic matter in the shape of a hand. Would it not make sense for the gonads to be fully functional, just as a hand has functional nerves, capillaries, and tendons? I agree it isn't a guarantee, the changes might only be superficial, but wouldn't that make more sense? Alethi might have a subtly different hormone balance, a susceptibility to certain diseases a Herdazian wouldn't, or vice versa, and possibly different bone structure. We could also change the example of an Alethi turning into a Herdazian to changing into a Horneater and then talk about the structure of their throat and ability to eat hard shells. Changing the spiritual or cognitive aspects isn't a given, true, although the point is that the cognitive aspect does change, and the spiritual reflects the cognitive. Going back to the individual in question, would you agree they no-longer have a feminine spiritual aspect? That they have lost their connection to the concept in the spiritual realm of woman and female and become linked to the concept of male? Perhaps Singer is a bad example, maybe Aimian would have been better. Still, why would the change be a permanent lock to slave form?

True, though Sel has the most - in theory - magic systems in the Cosmere, so the similarity is in that each region is like a planet, the local magic systems similar to one another but different from those in other regions, much like how Scadrial has its own magic while Roshar has its own, each centred on their own ideas of metals and spren respectively. Basically, think of each region in Sel as a planet, each with its own unique magic. It isn't a perfect analogy, as you say Cosmere magics can be used anywhere except for Sel's own systems, but I did think it was interesting.

@Honorless I was wondering about Hoid's attempt. The problem is, as you noted, we don't know the exact details of what Hoid tried. Hemalurgy, with its abiility to steal connections and to take more from an Elantrian than it can from anyone else, might be able to do this in a brute force way, though that also depends on if you would think of Marsh as a Mistborn - though lacking some metals and potentially their shardmetal alloys - or something unique, if just taking or emulating the connections an Elantrian has would change them into an Elantrian. I agree though, I think he was more trying to fool the Dor as you said, rather tahn make an actual change to himself or how he sees himself. In fact, it might be that Hoid can't change how he sees himself, and so that is why he is immortal. Yes :-) I also think this is how the Returned shapeshifting works too. I think Dragons are the oldest race in the Cosmere and in general know more about how the systems work than others, so I think for them it is about frame-shifting their perception of themselves (and I like the way you put that!). The excerpt Brandon read isn't cannon, but if some of what it says is true they probably don't or can't change everything about themselves to appear human or another species due to the eyes, but I think that basically they can change how they see themselves and that changes how they actually are. In a sense every living thing in the Cosmere - and in this universe every human being and every animal and plant and single celled life etc. - starts as material of one type and becomes material of another, and even some of the matter we take in was once part of someone else. The pattern is what matters, but the patterns is also flexable. The Cosmere explores some philosophical questions such as the ship of Thesus - this feels like a logical extrapolation, taking matter that already is one thing, and changing part of its pattern to be - while still the same thing - something slightly different.

Ahhh, fair enough. This is your setting and you have to make your own choices, but you did ask for suggestions, and your are free to adjust or use any parts you want. These are just suggestions, though you can also potentially have it that there are special centres that talk about the roots of the mind and life itself, rather than just being centred on human minds. The idea with the cats is the idea they, despite being domesticated, are creatures that hunt for fun, and why we have the term of someone playing cat and mouse - so it could be sadism, but that feels a little harsh, so possibly playfulness. Butterflies life, if you don't want to use non psychic things, could be about the human drive for change in terms of maturation, rather than a foxes change in general. I interpreted the wolves longing as more of an unfulfilled desire - you long for things you don't have, but love is something reciprocated. Still, as I said, these are just suggestions. Hope it goes well with you

The Reshi King changed from male to female, with an implication this didn't just change the Reshi King's external physiology, but also caused the mammary glands and gonads to change also, and a much deeper implication that the Reshi King, originally female, was now male - a complete transformation of every part, and implying that every cell in their body has now gained new information, as one of their X chromosomes would have to be replaced with an entire Y chromosome. Basically, healing to match your perceived identity can actually add new genetic information to you. So, can this apply to changing ethnicity also? If someone perceived themselves as Alethi when they are ethnically Herdazian, could they change to become an Alethi? Or if someone from Scadrial's north who is a worldhopper thought of themselves as a Nalthian, would they change to become a Nalthian, though lacking Breath? Presumably change is based on altering your identity to march that of another classification, and some identities are potentially closer together than others, or are seen as closer by some. In fact, their are entire tiers of potential changes that are less extreme than changing from male to female, and several that are more, so how far can Cosmere healing go to make you match another group? In general from least difficult to most, here are some possibilities, so the first entry requires the least physical and genetic changes, while the last entry requires the most: Changing family bloodlines within the same ethnicity (so going from genetically matching your relatives to matching your close friends who are of the same ethnicity) Changing from one ethnicity to another on the same planet (such as the Alethi and Herdazian example above) Changing from one ethnicity to another on a different planet with no magical abilities innate (so from Scadrian to Nalthian) Changing from male to female or vise versa - this one is confirmed Changing from one ethnicity to another on a different planet - or the same planet - which has some innate connections (so from Scadrian to an Elantrian) Changing from one species into another with a similar physiology (such as from Alethi to Singer) Changing from one species into another with very different physiology (such as from Alethi to Sleepless) (Might be implied with one of the Yolen species) What are your thoughts?

There are a lot of animals with mythological perceptions. You have already mentioned Wolves (longings) - attract another universe Foxes (change) - change to match a universe Owls (thought) - know where universes are coming together (also, it is a parliament of owls) Scavengers / Hyenas (fear) - tearing a path to another universe Some other possibilities are: Spiders (cunning) - skilfully make a portal Crows / Ravens (ingenuity) - shift a portal somewhere else where two universes are coming together to their location Bears (strength) - force themselves to reach another universe without opening a portal Snakes (deception) - make another universe think that region is a part of it Bees (cooperation) - work in harmony with the movement of universes Hawks (love) - like wolves attract another universe but this time with positive feelings Butterfly (life) - emerge into a new universe after dying Cats (hunting) - slip between universes [Edit] Also, intuitive can be monkey

Welcome to the forum! Hope things go well with you :-)

I think the question is where DON'T you get ideas from. I have gotten ideas from watching a TV show or movie, or reading a book, or watching a play, or playing a game - computer and board games both - and thinking either "there is a really interesting idea in the way that was presented", or "I wonder if this went a different way ..." so that I get an idea based on what both has happened and what hasn't. I have gotten ideas while walking outside and seeing a building or a tree or a bird and thinking about how that shape could be used, or a feeling - how the land looks at midnight, or how strange it is to be on the road and no-one is there despite the number of buildings. I have had conversations and heard conversations and part of it or a phrase suddenly stands out as a great basis for an opening line or general idea. I have seen one thing and then another and wondered how they could combine. And I have used grids, placing existing ideas in categories and then seeing what hasn't been done yet but what is suggested and seeing that. I've recorded short audio snippets of ideas when they suddenly came to me, and now have over a days worth of audio - a bit of a surprise. I've had to use short Google searches of random phrases to keep track until I can get to my computer, making Google no doubt wonder what on earth I meant by "pjantom web soul bud", or "power armour fairy weapon", etc. And ultimately it is about taking those small snipped ideas, or larger ones, and combining them together. Examine existing stories and seeing an interesting idea, such as looking at Star Trek and - to pick something at random - their use of shuttles which have in built transporters, then at StarGate and the idea of the Stargate itself, and wondering how those could be combined if they feel like they fit, and you get the idea of small personal craft that have portals within them to access other worlds. Then, examining it further, that makes one wonder why you would need a shuttle if you already have those sorts of transporters, so it becomes a case of maybe those portals only work if you are close enough, so you have a small network of shuttles travelling between star systems with people able to walk from one planet to a standing portal and then to the shuttle, fly a distance and then step back out. So what sort of culture would this be like, and how are the shuttles maintained, and who started this, and ideas spinning off from that. And of all of this, the main thing to remember is that ideas are not enough - you must use them, and use them well. Two interesting but old and commonly used ideas, boring old tropes, can be given a new purpose if they have never been used together before, and even if they have been used together before if they are used in a way that is interesting and written well. Or three ideas combined together. Take an idea and see where it goes logically and use extrapolation - what does that sort of setting imply. Ideas can come from any possible source, and can be complex or simple, common or new, a bare bones base or a fleshed out fully formed frame. From a book or game or anything else, to a walk outside and seeing something strange, or common, and wondering about it. From rigid examination of existing patterns or from something you'd been wondering about. Then take those ideas and see which ones fit together. Then write.

It just occurred to me that Sel, in general, is a very accurate scaled down version of the rest of the Cosmere It once was ruled by the divine, but that divine - singular for the Cosmere, two for Sel - was destroyed, changing the nature of magic throughout it - indeed, the magic on Sel originated in its varieties with that damage, while the Cosmere's magics are fuelled by shards It has three great empires and several smaller ones under the shadow the of the strength of those empires, just as the Cosmere's three main planets are Sel, Roshar, and Scadrial, each content to rule itself and ignore the others for now, and each the backbone of a major Cosmere series Each nation has its own unique magic, powered by what is left of the divine I wonder if there are other similarities?

Those are Hebrew letters, and Roshar has a lot of Hebraic influences on it, such as the name Kholin being like Cohan, etc. So I can definitely see that as a possible influence. Shin / Sin is the second last letter in the alephbet, the Hebrew alphabet.

I did cover that in Step three point three, but yes, you don't need to form a black hole to destroy or disrupt a planet :-) As with a lot of planetary level things one definitely needs to do the maths before doing anything involving the movement of planets and stars.

Step 1: Construct a device that can store, compound, and tap weight. Alternatively, be someone who can store, compound, and tap weight. For this one might require a lot of metal. Step 2: Place device on desired planet - this may involve simply firing this at the target Step 3: Switch it on. It will store some of its weight, compound it, and then tap it to increase its mass, and can continue to store portions of this while tapping the bulk of the mass. If enough energy can be stored, one of three scenarios will be produced The mass that can be tapped is sufficient for a black hole to be produced, and is able to sustain this state, thus consuming the planet, or The mass that can be tapped is sufficient for a black hole to be produced, but not sustained, resulting in a massive explosion as the black hole evaporates, depending on how much mass was produced, or The mass that can be tapped is not sufficient for a black hole to be produced, but it is enough to cause the object to crash through the body's surface. In this case, don't place the device on the planet, but instead use it at specific locations in space with your unmanned weapon and activated it to subtly affect the local tectonics or tides, or possibly even disrupt the planet's orbit. Of course, to achieve any of these, the device might need to be significantly massive to both store, compound, and tap the right amount of weight / mass, so it might be a bit expensive to produce. But then, if you are blowing up a planet, maybe that's a good thing. Can anyone see any flaws in this, and what other methods could be used to destroy or damage a planet?

:-)

This is a similar attitude to mine, though I initially started with the Wheel of Time and The Chronicles of Narnia, with Brandon being a later influence :-P I applaud your approach :-) Something I am doing, which might be helpful for you also, is to list the types of things you want to be possible (which can also include the types of things you don't want to be possible, such as time travel being able to change the past, or conversely time travel being unable to form ontological loops), and work from that. If we take that approach, lets examine the starting examples you have mentioned. You have already mentioned teleportation grounded in emotions and colours used consistently across systems to affect energy, temperature, and emotion. Assuming that all teleportation is fundamentally the same mechanism, with only the fuel changing, and colours having a consistent effect, might I suggest the following: Anne McCaffrey covered the idea of the three Ts, being teleportation, telepathy, and telekinesis, and in later books of the Dragonriders of Pern she used this to let characters realise the dragons would possibly possess telekinesis because they already had the first two, with - mild spoilers - teleportation also allowing time travel. You already have teleportation tied to emotion - so lets explore possible telepathic and telekinetic abilities. You mentioned love for teleportation. Then you can either make love the emotion needed for the others, or two other emotions (love-hate, sad-happy, surprise-attention, disgust-trust)* for the others, or use will and intellect for the other two. So, using love for both - or love and hate being equally effective can read the mind of someone you love or who loves you, and project thoughts into the mind of someone you love or who loves you physically move an item if you care about it enough with telekinesis Using different emotions for both you can sense other's emotions if they make you happy or sad physically move an item if it disgusts you, so only able to throw things if you feel a strong disgust towards it, or a strong positive attraction Using will and intellect, so the more closely two people are in agreement or acting in accord means you can read their mind to better work together the more you know about an object's history the further away / more deftly you can manipulate / the less effort taking to move it Limiting the powers in some way - like Brandon did with steel and iron for telekinesis and making them act in a single line connecting the user and the object - also might help, so if for example using telepathy again, limit the telepathy to empathic emotion sensing / sensing another's intentions but not their thoughts or motivations behind them / reading another's memories but not being aware of what they are thinking or planning or feeling, could also be a factor I also like the idea of object projection like a green lantern, so being able to make projections of something you feel strongly about or know a lot about could be a factor (you can make a projection of something that frightens you, or a machine you know the workings of), though lets not use will because that is the basis for how green lanterns work :-P For colours, you can explore the ideas of colours outside the visual spectrum, but I would mainly go with the will-emotion-intellect structure again, so each colour is associated with an emotion, a type of action, and a type of knowledge, so each magic system pairs them in some way. So, changing red and blue for white and black white and black - emotion (surprise and attention), will (increase and decrease drives), intellect (increase and decrease intelligence - might need to decrease temporarily to avoid attacks that target a mind), physical (increase energy and decrease energy) red and cyan - emotion (love and anger), will (constructive and destructive drives), intellect (knowledge of how to build or destroy), physical (build up and destroy) green and magenta - emotion (disgust and trust), will (attraction or repulsion to an object or location - so compel people to approach or leave), intellect (mathematical abilities and artistic abilities), physical (barriers and removing) blue and yellow - emotion (sadness and happiness), will (focus on the self and on another - could also help one hide by directing attention away), intellect (add or block memories), physical (energy attacks and draining) (minor note but will-emotion-intellect is a big part of my setting as well, but I am using it in a different way to this, so don't worry on that score - it mainly in my setting has to do with the nature of reality and its ties to the soul, as I believe there are three types of organs of the soul - will, emotion, intellect - but that is another discussion!) Other possible abilities to consider and then see how to fit into a base: flight (hovering, short jumps, gravity redirection, speed, duration) enhanced physical traits (strength, speed, senses, toughness, reflexes, precision) summoning (forming an object like mentioned above with green lantern from ones own or another's mind, bringing an actual physical being there, bringing a being from a different dimension, "banishing") countering other abilities (local field that prevents them from working, targeted, blocking some but not others Basically you can use emotion as a base, or the three organs of the soul as a base - though not everyone calls them this, that is my term for them, everyone recognises the three fold properties of the soul or mind as being those three. In essence I think you should mainly focus on listing abilities you would like in general, then seeing a way to tie them together to the central mechanics. Those are just some of my suggestions. Hope this helps! *[Edit] slight correction, I just double checked and the base emotions are anger-fear, anticipation-surprise, sadness-joy, trust-disgust.