I really liked the premise and the setting! Also it's crazy but I have some friends that made a whole game with this very mechanic in the gmtk game jam last year and founded their company on it. You can check it out here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4564690/Rootknot/?l=german
What I'm saying is that I think this mechanic has potential and I really like the direction you went with it.