One of its main function is to act as an Immortal Breaker and its main effect is Holy Burns Evil along with Yin-Yang Bomb. Keep in mind that Akashic will often try to interpret your desire as literally as possible.. it's as if she's playing a Cosmic Chess Game with another opponent... (Foreshadowing?)
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Nov 2nd 2018 at 8:04:39 PM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!You may want to start by creating a trope-free description of this item’s capabilities and work from there. Right now it’s a little all over the place.
I’d think about what role you want this object to play in your story. Is it something a character is going to have with them the entire time, or is it the ultimate weapon picked up at the eleventh hour? Depending on what you need it to do in the context of your work you can change up its capabilities.
They should have sent a poet.It is supposed to be an ultimate weapon used at the 11th hour that works according to the user's wishes (supposedly).
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!Yeah, you may be overthinking it. How this item functions to drive the plot is more important than what tropes it manifests. Is this this thing meant to act like a character, or is it just the McGuffin?
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.Basically this artifact is both a character and an item. The item is attached to the digital avatar (Akashic) that controls it and subsequently emerges from the Cube to obey the user's desire.
My main goal is to discuss about the possible drawbacks that this item would have if it was used as a Holy Hand Grenade in the hands of others. Made more complicated when the avatar takes things literally (Aka, the user's desires)
tldr: this artifact is meant to be used in warfare to obey the user's wishes, courtesy of Akashic. But the item needs a disadvantage to counterbalance how powerful the Cube is in battle... (This is because of its god-tier power)
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Nov 3rd 2018 at 2:49:08 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!You’re definitely overthinking this, and you’re over-troping it a little bit too.
I’d focus on what exactly you need this thing to do in the story. Right now you’ve got two different concepts that are sort of bumping into each other, and it’s still not really clear how this thing is exactly gonna work. You’ve got a character living in the artifact who grants wishes in an unconventional way, but then the artifact can also be deployed as some sort of holy bomb.
I’d focus on just one of those. It seems like your intent is for characters to use this artifact to destroy or render an opponent vulnerable in a climactic battle, and the “careful what you wish for” aspect doesn’t really mesh with that.
As far as weaknesses, what’s the mode this device actually works in? Is it literally a grenade that needs to be primed and thrown at an enemy? If so, that’s the weakness right there. Does it fire a beam which needs line of sight, or does it empower the attacks of the character who’s holding it? Depending on how it actually works the weaknesses would be different.
They should have sent a poet.Yeah, narratively speaking, it must either be simply an item, or its a character in its own right. It cant be both.
If it's a primary character, then it needs its own character development. What kind of person is it, and what kind of person must it become to play its designated role in driving the plot? If its a secondary character, then it has a role to play in some primary character's development.
If its just an item, then its a plot device. What function within the plot does it serve? For example, in Lord of the Rings, the ring of doom served the purpose of forcing the main character to travel across his world in order to destroy it and defeat the villan. In the process, he has many plot relevent encounters along the way. Thats the purpose that the ring serves within the story. What is this item's purpose?
But at this point I have to ask a question: do you have an outline of the plot yet?
Edited by DeMarquis on Nov 2nd 2018 at 5:25:53 AM
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.The Cube basically empowers/enhances the attack of the character who’s holding it, much like how a Sakura feather has a lot of power in the Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- manga.
Plus since the main plot is that Akashic is a AI digital entity that lives to serve its master.
Novel Plot point: Rose and Kotone are exploring on a jungle planet when they encounter the machine that the Akashic avatar lives in. Akashic starts off being weak and useless, but then halfway through the novel's plot the Akashic Cube is discovered, which upgrades Akashic to godly levels of power and/or destruction.
Rose and Kotone then decide to use the Cube to their advantage on the battlefield as the Akashic avatar needs to be directed by others to deploy the Cube itself. Since its main function is to cleanse the battlefield with holy light with the side effect of enhancing the wielder's elemental power (since the avatar is linked to the machine)... All the Cube needs now is a weakness/disadvantage.
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Nov 3rd 2018 at 12:55:00 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!Okay, I still think you might be trying to do too many things in one place here. Think about it: the cube is a semi-malevolent AI, a holy nuke, and an empowering artifact all in one. I’d stick with one or maybe two of those, rather than making it an everything artifact.
The ”careful what you wish for” aspect still doesn’t really seem to mesh with the other parts, since there’s not really any way for a wish for a giant explosion to be twisted. I’d seperate that particular part from the artifact itself, and since the AI apparently exists separately from the artifact that should work easily.
As far as drawbacks, I’ll take inspiration from the mentioning of the rings of power above and suggest you give your artifact some sort of long-term poisonous side effect. That’s an easy one to work in, and can provide tension across the story.
Honestly, you might need to rework some aspects of this story. As it is now the individual parts aren’t really playing together. The parts are all there, though. A seemingly friendly but actually malevolent AI encouraging explorers to find and use an apparently powerful but actually dangerous artifact works well.
They should have sent a poet.

So in my novel, there is now an uber-special item called the golden Akashic Cube. It is said to be a divine item that grants ultimate power to whoever wants it. The tropes I currently have for it are: Ancient Artifact, Famously Mundane, Fictionally Magical, With My Dying Breath I Summon You, Self-Destructing Security, Amulet of Dependency, Empathic Weapon/ Weapon Wields You, and rather unfortunately... Unholy Holy Sword... It also has a monochrome entity called Akashic living inside it.
Of course with every item, there has to be a drawback!
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Nov 2nd 2018 at 6:26:43 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!