I'm trying to figure out the world-building for my novel and it's giving me a time of it. I feel so close, but yet don't have the specifics, so I thought I'd see what people think. Also, trying to explain it to other people will help me begin to work it out.

The main idea is that the villain is a wizard that's made a deal with the devil that allows him to "steal" a person's soul in some kind of magical rite that gives him power (the person being used ends up in hell and has to be tricked into making an evil deal).

I'm trying to work out the specifics of this. The MC (Mez the ferret) is actually an animal familiar of the wizard who agrees to try to help the forces of good defeat his master in exchange for a soul of his own (since animals don't have one). He's rational because his master using him for his magic has expanded his mind to the point he's starting to debate philosophical points and the meaning of his life. My reasoning here is due to research that shows language actually expands the mind's capacity to think. So, the wizard inhabiting his mind for various rites has given Mez language and now he's starting to think/explore greater concepts, like the fact he's an animal, not a human.

I really like the themes of the idea, but am having trouble ironing out the system. What are the powers that using a soul in magical rites gives the villain? I'm thinking since the person used ends up damned through it, that perhaps the life energy of a person allows the wizard to do something as the person's soul passes on its way to hell? I'm not sure. I want there to be an element of permission/will in there, although trickery can work to get the person to agree.

I think the villain perhaps is just ignoring the consequences for himself in exchange for power... I just am not sure what sort of power he's after, or how they forces of good are planning to defeat him, since I'm sure he has some sort of magical/demonic safeguard to protect himself.

You could work it so that for every soul the wizard steals, the devil gives him a certain amount of magical power and he keeps stealing to make sure that the power keeps coming.

That might be a good solution to making it so he continues his quest for tricking new people. Great idea. Perhaps it only last a short while, meaning each time he wants to do something, he first needs to find a person to trick.

Okay, some new ideas...

I was thinking that my evil wizard somehow used his two animal familiars (the ferret and the cat) to direct power to him like a magnet. I think Miz used to be a normal ferret, but then the wizard did something to give him a magical charge. I'm not sure what the process of doing that would involve... something unpleasant. Need more world-building there. But perhaps he put a different charge on each of the two pets, like the negative and positive ends of a battery, so that they will naturally draw energy in different directions just by their position.

I'm not sure at all how electricity works (ack!) in trying to make up this metaphor for magical energy, but I like the idea of maybe, Miz's presence repels the person's soul while the cat's energy draws, it moving the person's energy into some sort of magical containing circle that the wizard has so he can use it. But then after a certain period of time he can't keep his hold on the soul and it goes to hell and he has to perpetrate another death to get a new one.

Open to inspirations and ideas.

I was thinking also that maybe the forces of good are angels who want to stop both this evil magic and the demons who taught it to the wizard.

A conversation with my husband has left my head a bit fuzzy and convinced electrical energy is extremely complicated. However, it has helped some.

So... each of the evil wizard's two animals have a magic charge (positive and negative). Animals are naturally neutral, so to achieve this, the wizard had them positioned, touching, near where the demon visited him. The demon doesn't touch them, but is extremely close, and that makes all the negative energy move into the animal furthest from the demon, since like repels, and leaves the animal sandwiched in the middle with a positive charge. Thus, now he has two servants, one positively charged, one negatively charged.

Then, the soul being stolen, has a negative charge, being a soul of an person who is more evil than good. So, he positions his two animals with the negative charged one close by, and the positive charged one further away at the right angle, and when the soul leaves the body it's both pushed and pulled right to where he can capture it and use it.

Now I just have to figure out how he captures and stores the soul energy for his own use.

You know, this is sort of a theme used in the TV series Legend of the Seeker. No I have not watched it, and yes I’ve heard it is inappropriate, but a good friend loves it, and she and I have discussed some of the fantastical elements of the world and story.

You see, these things called... bainling, I think (good name, by the way), are sent back up to inhabit their dead bodies and begin killing people for The Keeper (Satan, basically). Basically they send the souls of the dead men back to The Keeper by killing them.

I'm not sure if that helps you think of anything for how the souls are stored. I just thought I'd mention it, since it came to mind.

I haven't heard of the show, but now I'll go look it up and see what information I can find out about it. I might not need to actually watch it, just read the world building information to see if it can help inspire me.

My main thought for the moment is that perhaps I'll use movement (since spinning things is one way electricity is kept) and have some sort of machine that holds the energy for a short period of time until the wizard can use it.

I suppose the other way would be it charges him personally, and he holds the energy in his body until he uses it or it dissipates...

At least with more things to research and some ideas going, I feel like I can bring this together in time to start writing in August for Camp Nanowrimo.

They are in season two, apparently, if that helps.