First breath in days.

I've got a solution to my afore mentioned problem. If you want to read it in detail, you can in my previous post ("an 'oh crap' moment" I think); the premise being that I thought my novel Wielding the Locket (WtL) was doomed because I forgot to account for magic in my world's economy, religion, and current military strategies which is sort of a problem in my book. Most authors tend to deal  with this issue in 1 of 3 ways. They account for the issues. They limit who can use the magic (genetics, chosen one, discipline.) Or they make the cost of using the magic very high  ( sometimes a one time price paid on the onset, sometimes a price paid for each act of magic, sometimes an accumulative cost.
Now, since I hadn't accounted for the affect of magic on certain aspects of my world, I was afraid I was going to have to scrap the book, rewrite it completely (and in ways I didn't like). I did not want deny magic to anyone who wanted it. I considered making it religious taboo, too cliche. I considered having it cause insanity, which would have fit fairly neatly, but this is also a bit over done, and probably darker than I'm prepared to make this story.
I fell asleep having decided I was going to need the magic to cause sudden blindness. and it made me sorta sad. I softened the blow to my characters and myself by leaving my characters with an alternative form of sight (sort of a cross between Wheel of time's "seeing the weaves" of the "one power", Neo seeing the code in The Matrix, and Daredevil seeing with sonar).  But it had to be a big enough disadvantage that people would be pretty hesitant to accept it as fair trade for learning magic. I had already come up with this concept for one old woman, and I felt it solved my problem, but it was still a bit darker than I was ready to make, especially because it could require extensive rewrites of discriptions at very least, along with rewrites of the character struggle. So I wasn't happy.

Finally, while working at Rayovac, I was able to refine that idea into a better fit for the puzzle I'm building.
Not everyone who uses "magic" (or wield the Impeti, as I phrase it.) loose their sight. But the ones who can do serious magic do, the ones who are in complete control of their Wielding will loose their sight.
This will be called "loosing the light" by other wielders. but outsiders (especially those from another city) often assume it's a reference to their goodness. there will be mixed rumors, some knowing about the blindess others not. But they will keep most people away. Many of those that try to learn will give up when they are told the consequences.
It's possible to regain full sight, if you give up the ability to see the Impeti that sorta make up everything.(Will, Reason, Sensation, Life, Nature, Truth/Illusion, Time, Matter, Distance/location/velocity). You could potentially still use magic, but it would be much less controlled. This can't be undone (as of now).
It works well because it will scare people off, help keep people from building their own Wielding armies (with Full wielder help)
Since it doesn't happen until you gain full control over your wielding, and has a build up period, I can keep his sight in the majority of the book; probably with disconcerting periods of blindness.
It also provides a great opportunity for tension in the character, suspension in several scenes, and several excellent plot twists, including one I just thought of now, that probably will remain buried until one of the sequels.

anyway. problem fixed!

Also, I didn't do any kind of reread/edit of this, so I apologize for any nonsense sentences. I literally fell asleep writing this..... Can't wait till I can get more than 5 hours of sleep a day, and work less than 12 hours.