Well, I guess I need to know more about what kind of creatures these familiars are, and whether they are sapeient, manifest human feelings, or possess free will. Do these familiars have any choice in becoming a familiar? Can they leave the relationship after they are summoned? Because the way you are describing it right now sounds a bit like a form of slavery.
That might be ok, if that is what you're intending. In that case, one primary reason why a witch might not want a familiar is ideological, if they object to that kind of master/servant relationship. Which in turn will depend on what kind of society/culture they live in. Is it modern, feudal, something else? Are there master/servant relationships outside of witches and their familiars? How rigid/hierarchical is the culture in general? From the way they seem to assume that they can assign first and second daughters their role in life (what if the eldest daughter decides she doesn't want any children?) my first impression is that they are pretty rigid and authoritarian. In that case, your story could be all about the protagonist struggling with the negative implications of being bound to her family in this way, and binding another spirit to her service. Plenty of room for thematic conflict there.
If that is not the story you are intending to tell, then I need to know more about your project before I could provide an answer to your question. There are lots of possibilities—but in general I feel that world building needs to be driven by the story being told, so more detail about that would be extremely helpful.
These creatures are ethereal daemon spirits summoned from the spiritual realm to exist in servitude to their master, and can be used for various purposes. They exist as formless entities until brought over into the material realm.
he resulting daemon is a reflection of the person's personality, and can take various forms. No two familiars are the same, and only one can be possessed by a witch. It grows in power and size with her until it reaches full maturity. After the ritual, the magical prowess and understanding of the practitioner increase as they are bound for life to one who was literally made from it. Through the connection between one and their familiar, one can manipulate their spells to degree that was previously impossible for them. It also allows for one to be able to understand spells and magic that they would have no understanding/knowledge of quicker and more readily.
Got it. It sounds like the daemons have little to no true independence from their master (mistress? Are all witches female?) at all, at least in the beginning. Is the nature of this relationship an important element of the plot or theme of the story? If its just a background detail, then its probably fine as is. Its common in fantasy stories to the point of cliche, but that isnt necessarily bad, provided that you have included other elements that will help your story be more unique.
If, however, the witch/daemon relationship is important—that is, if you intend to treat the familiar as a fully developed character—then I would say that you will probably want to explore the implications of absolute servitude on each of them, and their society at large, and the challenges this creates as the two of them work and live together. You should understand going in, though, that slavery can be a very tricky subject. Its a challenge to do it well.
Edited by DeMarquis on Jul 19th 2018 at 2:01:56 PM
In my story\'s world, witchcraft is a respected institution, with the most powerful practitioners being at the top echelons of society. Due to this, society traces its lineage through matrilineal lines. A witch has the power to summon a familiar by using her body as a conduit between the mortal and ethereal plane. These powerful spirits are forever linked with their master, and used in a number of ways, such as magical batteries and amplifiers, holding items and resources, for battle. Familiars are birthed into the world in the same way that human children are born, through a ritual ceremony, and grow in power with the user.
When creating a magic system, I was taught that there always had to be a cost, to keep the magic interesting. I am looking for a drawback to explain why every witch does not go through the process. One that I was considering was that the witch must have never given birth before the ritual, and that the process renders her infertile afterwards, ensuring that they will never have a lineage. For this reason, familiars are rare in this world.
it would be tradition in witch families for the first daughter to continue the lineage, which is matrilineal, and the second daughter to birth a familiar and contribute to her family\'s success through having this greater power. I am having a problem with figuring out social dynamics around familiars and what having a familiar means, as well as the internal dynamics of witch families. Is there any advice you can give on solving this problem?