How the “Stock Market” Power System in Vèvè-Punk Works
I got a great question about the power system of Vèvè-Punk on a recent live stream: what happens when two people working together have deals with spirits that conflict?
In case you didn’t know, in my world of Vèvè-Punk, people make deals with Loas — spirits/aspects/deities. Gods of war, love, death, the sea, trickery, all of it. But it doesn't work the way you've seen in most fantasy. You don't just pledge yourself to one god and become their champion. That's boring to me, and it's not how people actually work. We’re a lot more fluid and multi-faceted.
Instead, think of a stock market. You call up and you're getting shares. You might have 0.2% of the war god, 0.01% of the love goddess, and 1.3% of the trickster. Everybody has a mixture that is changing dynamically. I wanted to create a power system that felt more true to how we actually behave — because in this world, we're all invested in this strange economic system that nobody fully understands. And the more you come to understand it, the more you understand that it’s all agreements and trust.
The more shares you hold of a given spirit, the closer you get to embodying them. Take too many, and they consume you — your soul, your identity, gone. You're basically them now. So there's a game to it. Every share of the war god means you're a little more Wolverine when someone punches you in the face. A few shares of a fertility spirit and you are more charismatic. Too many, and suddenly you can impregnate people's minds just by looking at them. It escalates.
But here's where it gets really fun. The Loas have their own relationships. They love each other, hate each other, go to war with each other. So today, maybe your war shares and your love shares are working together beautifully because Ogun and Erzulie are getting along. You feel great. Everything's in harmony.
Tomorrow you hop on the ‘Net to do your trading and the two loas you “whip” have broken up. Now the war part of you and the love part of you are suddenly incompatible. You're sick. You're furious at the people you love and you don't even know why. It's not you — it's loas stuff, beyond your pay grade. But try explaining that to the person whose feelings you just destroyed.
I think culturally, people in this world would develop ways of dealing with it, the same way we deal with losing money or watching someone terrible come into power. Most people would play it safe — don't take too many shares of anything, keep your portfolio balanced, and ride out the bad days. But the writer in me wants to show you what happens when someone doesn't play it safe. Someone who went all in on one Loa, and then the next day, it ruins their entire life.
That's the drama. Because even if everyone knows the system is volatile, people are still greedy, still heroic, still human. And the Loas don't care about your plans – they serve Bondye, the most high, and no one knows what he’s up to.
Pick up Vèvè-Punk: Birth of the Dream now in book, ebook, and audiobook (narrated by me)!
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