Story which I don't have a name for yet...

[Therin]

Well, I was watching a warning message about the Golden Compass on a site called GodTube (located here: www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6af64eef3b0795b775ec)

Anyway, I've had this idea for a while, but seeing what an aggressive attack these books are, I finally decided to do some work on it. I'm thinking about four books (a prequel and a trilogy)

The prequel deals with a young acolyte in a church set in the future after a great disaster destroyed all technology. The church has now grown cold, and at this time there is an uprising of people who prefer logic to religion. Some demonic beings from the World Beyond arrive to liven things up, and it seems like utter chaos is going to engulf everything. Then our hero has a dream, where God reveals himself personally. He has to undertake great struggles to defeat the demonic beings and stop the raging war. A few other characters would be an angel who trains him on spiritual warfare, a girl who is a part of the logic rebellion, and some villain which I haven't really figured out yet.

Book 1 happens 1000 years later. After peace was established in the prequel, an unknown force destroyed most of the church's power, and the logicals took over. In this story, our two main characters are trainees in the armed forces of the nation. However, a mysterious other race shows up and war breaks out. The logicals (I need a better name for them...) expect an easy victory because of the other race's lower technology, but they overlook one thing: magic. This race uses magic to the hilt, and it is a more powerful weapon than they ever could have dreamed. I haven't quite figured out what the heroes will do or who the villain will be, but eventually, their alone versus a huge magical enemy, and one of them calls upon the name of Jesus (speaking in Latin just for effect) to banish their foe. Guess what? It worked (you all knew that was coming). When his friend asks him how he did it, he offers to take him to the place where he learned of this. End of Book 1.

Book 2 comes from a different angle. Our hero is a young wizard who committed some crime and is being banished from their land. He (or she) runs into our other two heroes as they near the place mentioned in Book 1. After they arrive, they learn a bit about the Truth, but then both the magic and logic races attack. In the chaos that ensues, our heroes manage to escape, but there goes their chance of learning the Truth. Anyway, the villain(s?) from book one show up again and the heroes have to try to stop there now more clear plan. Might be some more manifested demons causing trouble and a lot is still up in the air.

In Book 3, I have little to no idea what will happen.

Technology in the prequel is late medieval, and culture will have to be further explored. In the trilogy, the logicals have an advanced Renaissance technology level, but with blimps and clockwork and cycling muskets and any other fancy things that our technology skipped over. The magic people have a technology level similar to that of the prequel. Once again, cultures will have to be explored in greater detail.

That's pretty much all I've got at this date.

Any comments? Questions? Suggestions? I'm open to whatever you guys have to say.

[fluke]

What about the name "Rationalists"?

[Therin]

Hmmm... that could possibly work. It sounds like it might be an actual historic movement (but I may be wrong), but if that's the case I could say that some guy found "ancient" documents promoting it.

[fluke]

Googling it, you're right. There has been a rationalist movement that spanned centuries. Big five were Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, and Kant.

[Divides the Waters]

Not necessarily a strike against it. There are many times throughout history that parties have gone by the same name as one that preceeded it, and not always standing for the same thing. You could simply call your own bluff by making some allusion to those movements of the past with a similar name or goals.

[Therin]

I think I'm going to go with the name Rationalists, at least for the prequel. I kinda like the idea of them basing it on the movements from the past.
It's almost Christmas break, so I may be able to finally get some work done

[Therin]

Ok, I've gotten some work done on the prequel by way of the snowflake method (which is awesome, by the way!), but now I've hit a minor road bump (not enough to slow me down... yet).

After the hero's attempt at holding a peace conference between warring factions goes up in smoke, he gets seperated from his comrades. While seperated, he learns the art of spiritual warfare and a bit more about the truth. However, I can't decide whether or not the person he learns it is an angel or some wandering man of faith.

My original idea was the angel, which I think would be cool and would put the focus more on my main character. However, I think a human would be more moldable and deep as a character and I like the way some of his scenes would look.

Any suggestions? I'm kindof leaning towards the human right now...

I probably won't be able to respond for a few days because I'm going on vacation to some mountains (well, some of you would probably call them hills...)

[Divides the Waters]

I think it depends on how much you want to include the character. You could leave it vague, having him wonder (after odd disappearances, etc.) if the "wandering man of faith" was actually an angel. Enter into training with angels unaware....