That is a silly question to ask - would you ever describe a god as living. I'm a Christian but even Christianity aside, even Roman gods and within Greek mythology, and any other world religion - the god being is ALWAYS living, and always described as such. (I say Christianity aside because I didn't want you to think I'm imposing my personal views of God on you - but rather that throughout the centuries, any god-like being is usually described as living) Unless what you're on about is actually Animism - where actually their "god" or super-being is actually referred to as "manna", and can be akin to something like electricity - it is simply an universal energy. But this, it is neither living nor dead - simply neutral. Death is not necessary for life. Say, hypothetically, would you now say angels aren't living because they're immortal and thus, cannot die? But life is necessary for death, not vice versa. If tomorrow for some reason I achieved immortality, I would not cease to be alive because of my inability now to die. But to die, I must first be alive. If the Godstone is not living, then it cannot desire or control anything. If it is living, then you cannot liken it to a storm, because a storm does not make choices, as just any other dead object does not. I'm not saying you can't choose to have your Godstone choose to do stuff and think and want etc - but in order to do so, one must be ALIVE. One must have a conscience, and in order to have a conscience, a mind, one must be alive. Either you stick to what most people will see the term "God" as - which is, something or someone living, usually seen as all-powerful and uses these powers to make certain choices and make certain things happen - or you risk pretty much confusing a LOT of people with your book. Because like it or not, the word "God" (or name) does bring the connotations of life within itself. Or you could just make sure your philosophy is very clearly explained in your book. Otherwise, I for one would be rather confused as to why something DEAD is trying to do things. You're either living or dead - there is no in-between state. Unless of course you go into the typical fantasy realm of the undead
I understand your concerns, but I can't say the Godstone is alive. In my world, living beings naturally create an energy within themselves, which is their "lifeforce," their soul, if you will. The Godstone must steal from it's host's because it cannot create it's own. If I say the Godstone is alive, then why does it have to stay attached to Annabel? This is kind of central to the story. So no, the Godstone is neither alive, or inanimate. I guess you could say that it simply "is," and any attempt to understand it beyond that will result in headaches and failure. The Godstone's very existence, as I said, is an insult to the ways of the universe... does this make sense? It's kind of complicated and I don't know if I'm doing a good job explaining it. But yes, you are right, my analogy is flawed. But then again, so is my character's understanding of the Godstone. It's not until later in the story when Annabel, after having been attached to the Godstone for so long, finally begins to understand it's true nature.
Your explanation of the need to steal energy as opposed to true living things generating their own energy helps. So basically, the Godstone is actually more like a parasite, or probably even more accurately, a virus (seeing as scientists still haven't decided if viruses are living or dead). And even if the Godstone was alive, it could still have reason to stay attached to Annabel. Perhaps being attached allows the Godstone to do much more than it would otherwise (and you'd have to figure out what it is the Godstone wants to do besides steal energy and basically stay "alive" or "awake") Ok, a few questions... 1. How did the Godstone come about? Who created it? 2. How did it "awaken"? Since it must've been "dead" or "asleep" before being attached to its first host, given its lack of self-generated energy. 3. What does taking energy do for the Godstone, other than keep it awake? 4. What is the purpose of the Godstone? What does it want? If you give it a compelling enough goal, the rest could be easy enough. Take Lord of the Rings - the only aim of the ring was basically: be evil, and get back to its master so it can be even more evil. Quite basic really, but the characters make it compelling. And the origins of the ring? It was simply created by someone (I forget who...) so that people can rule, or something like that. Ok I've only watched the movies, so maybe it's much more complex in the book. But what I mean is, you need only a very basic reason - your readers WANT to suspend their beliefs.
Yikes, your story premise struck a chord! I am also including God, his goals and how my lead character reacts as a major plank in the plot. What I chose to do is have the heroes and villians and ancillary characters all define how they interpret "the idea of God" as opposed to having the Diety actually appear. My novel also has the Guardian Angel, who is also an escort between worlds and a more defined angel-of-death easing us into more ethereal aspects of applying your religion. What benefits me is that my particular sect also sees God working in many different guises, and so if necessary He can actually appear if needed.
I'm glad we understand each other. Unfortunately a lot of the questions you asked about the Godstone were the very reasons I started this thread as a brainstorming session I can answer this, though. First of all, I believe the Godstone was created by the aforementioned Avatar of the Godstone, whose true name either will not be stated or I'll have to come up with one, who then inserted her being into it. Why, I don't know yet. I may not even use this explanation and simply go with "The Godstone is because it always has been," and kind of go the Cthulhu route with it. The Godstone wasn't so much "asleep" as it was running on battery-saver. It started to fully awaken once Annabel put the necklace on (as I said, she was unaware of just what she was getting into). Really, the Godstone wants energy because it needs energy. As far as a greater purpose, someone else suggested that simply the Godstone's purpose is that of chaos, and I think I'm going with that. The Godstone is just an anomaly. It has no right to exist, but somehow it does. Jeez, trying to include a true god in my story has proven to be quite a hefty burden I'd love to keep ironing out the details though, so keep asking questions and I'll try to answer them! @The Tourist: The Godstone isn't so much "God" as it is "a god," but the similarities are there I like your idea of having every character have their own interpretation of God, so I may borrow the idea for the Godstone (seems like the only way to do it right) Annabel actually manages to understand the true nature of the Godstone after being attached to it for so long, however, but the only thing she manages to understand is, as I said, "it has no right to exist."
'Opposites always attract.' Your story idea is compelling and I find myself rather jealous that you have such an awesome background to work with. I understand how the godstone can just 'be', but I would describe it as 'living' in some twisted way. It is neither inanimate nor dead, it desires and thirsts for energy. It's existence only serves as a counter balance to the order of nature. That's one rebelious stone she's got there. If annabel is so conflicted though, maybe their paths didn't just happen to cross.
So it takes in energy, outputs possibility and creation? All you need to do is think of some way for this output to be justified, but without human-seeming reasons (although, pretty much anything we come up with is a human reason). Actually, on that note, you could make its motives irrational, for example wanting to destroy itself or wanting to become lesser. We think 'evil' and a variety of ideologies pop into our heads, but surely this is a mistake, for there is neither a thing more evil or more great than a strong ideology. Perhaps its motivation is to understand and then destroy things, quite different from our own tendencies.
