WonderingSword5
Troubadour
Where can I research animal spirits if I want to say that someone inherited them? They would have mystical abilities.
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Animal spirits inherited
- Thread starter WonderingSword5
- Start date
Chasejxyz
Inkling
What does it mean to inherit them? Because if your idea is something like "her great-great grandmother was a Cherokee princess so she has the power of an eagle spirit" I strongly, strongly suggest you do not do that. Blood quantum (the idea that you have a certain % of "Indian blood" and therefore have the right to do/be certain things) is controversial, at best, so "inheriting" animal spirits is going to be along those lines...which isn't great. If you are not Native and you want to use parts of Native culture/religion in your fantasy book, you're going to run into a lot of problems. People are a lot more aware of how hurtful things like that are nowadays.
However, if this is a totally made-up fantasy world and, like, elves are inheriting animal spirits then you won't have this exact problem, but you do need to be aware of what you're doing and how it can come off as cribbing from real-world cultures. You say "where can I research" and it would be the same thing as anything else: the library, google, books, subject matter experts...but you do need to give us more info.
However, if this is a totally made-up fantasy world and, like, elves are inheriting animal spirits then you won't have this exact problem, but you do need to be aware of what you're doing and how it can come off as cribbing from real-world cultures. You say "where can I research" and it would be the same thing as anything else: the library, google, books, subject matter experts...but you do need to give us more info.
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WonderingSword5
Troubadour
I'm sorry I should of explained it more in depth 
The spirits wouldn't be based on Native American culture. The MC's ancestry animal spirits would be of European descent so anything from Europe. Or possibly Egyptian. This is meant to be urban fantasy, where made up fantasy can exist in the real world because that's where my story takes place and the MC inherited this animal spirit from the father's side.
The spirits wouldn't be based on Native American culture. The MC's ancestry animal spirits would be of European descent so anything from Europe. Or possibly Egyptian. This is meant to be urban fantasy, where made up fantasy can exist in the real world because that's where my story takes place and the MC inherited this animal spirit from the father's side.
TJPoldervaart
Minstrel
So, it sounds like you're looking for spirit animals that would be fitting for a European/North-African setting. Now, that sounds to me like you would want animals that are both interesting and fitting for the heritage of your MC. So, a couple ideas:
- Research flags of nations/provinces/cities; these will often have animals on them that are closely associated with that region (unless of course they're griffons and dragons), thus giving you an idea what animals were important to them.
- Research what animals are prominent in the region your MC hails from and choose one of those.
- Research flags of nations/provinces/cities; these will often have animals on them that are closely associated with that region (unless of course they're griffons and dragons), thus giving you an idea what animals were important to them.
- Research what animals are prominent in the region your MC hails from and choose one of those.
I'm sorry I should of explained it more in depth
The spirits wouldn't be based on Native American culture. The MC's ancestry animal spirits would be of European descent so anything from Europe. Or possibly Egyptian. This is meant to be urban fantasy, where made up fantasy can exist in the real world because that's where my story takes place and the MC inherited this animal spirit from the father's side.
Question #1 - is the same story as your martial arts story? If it is I can see how the two could be connected. Like maybe your main character's dad died too soon and his spirit guide/animal spirit, stuck around to help his son? Then his son and the spirit go on some sort of journey to help the dad transfer to whatever heaven is in your story.
My main piece of advice is to seriously re-consider using the term animal spirits or spirit animals. This is a very loaded term for a lot of people and may just seem like your taking from cultures.
Meaning using a different spelling or even term can make a huge difference. For example - Brandon Sanderson also uses spirit magic in his Stormlight Archives series. However, he calls them "spren" not spirits. By making this change he makes them his own and makes it much more engaging as a reader.
So even changing the spelling can make a difference. That's where the fun of being a writer and world building comes in to play! People are way more forgiving/understanding when you create your own stuff.
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