Terra and the Church of the One God Questions

[Altair Hayes]

I have an idea for a story in the TiTS universe based around a Terran boy who's family is part of the Church of the One God. His father left the religion and moved off planet, while his mother simply moved on and remarried. On his 18th birthday he gets a gift from his father.


But the problem is, there is little information of Terra or the Church of the One God (which I will now be calling SpaceJesus-ism), so I have a couple of questions.


Ok, so according to the wiki. Christianity has evolved with the times, but are there still separate sects? Like "Only Earthlings are God's creations." or "Fuck it, gene modding is ok so long as you still believe in Jesus."?


And now Terra. Is raci-... species-ism? A thing among Humans on Terra? Is there full integration on Earth between alien races and humans? Do Ausars (if integrated) keep dogs as pets? Do Alabamas and Mississippis still exist (Meaning sections of the planet that are still hostile against species)?

 

[Jacques00]

I'm not a dev, but I'll toss in my two-cents to the world building and you can take it with a pinch (or truckload) of salt:


Like with any major religion or population of peoples, you will always have a small minority of radical-isms--this is rational to preserve the balance of things. I'm sure Terra did not evolve into a utopia due to the advancement of mankind to the stars. While the majority is fully integrated and will be okay with aliens and/or future SpessJesus-ism, there may be tiny pockets of society with different and sometimes negative interpretations of those things. Giant super-religions should, in my opinion, have some varying sects for the sake of variety, though if you have to pause every second to define each and every sects' ideological standing, that could be an issue--also, don't make it seem like that one sect defines the entire religion, unless it is completely intentional to confuse the reader about the actual lore. Some practitioners can have their own interpretations of a belief system but be careful not to let that disrupt the entirety of the established system. Same can be said about racism or adversity towards integrated populations. Since other races, like Ausar, Saeri/Siel have this race/religion/cultural diversity dynamic, I don't see why Terrans would be any exception.


Whether or not the character speaks or carries themselves like a stereotypical caricature to prove the point is questionable and is totally up to how you want to portray said character.

 

[Couch]

I personally recommend avoiding doing anything dealing with that particular faction for the same reason I would recommend doing Space Islam, Space Hinduism, or Space Judaism: invoking real-world religion is inevitably going to stir shit up and doesn't add anything useful to the game in the process.  Especially not when you frame it in such an obviously negative context as the Church of the One God is meant to be.  Shade's part of a group that worships Thor, sure, but the difference is that very few if any people in the modern day actually worship Thor.

 

[Altair Hayes]

I personally recommend avoiding doing anything dealing with that particular faction for the same reason I would recommend doing Space Islam, Space Hinduism, or Space Judaism: invoking real-world religion is inevitably going to stir shit up and doesn't add anything useful to the game in the process.  Especially not when you frame it in such an obviously negative context as the Church of the One God is meant to be.  Shade's part of a group that worships Thor, sure, but the difference is that very few if any people in the modern day actually worship Thor.

Well I'm going to have one character that's rather species-ist, but gets called out on using Space Jesus-ism as an outlet when in reality it's their own previous misgivings and prejudices forced upon them by their parents. There will be other characters that reflect proper, more down to earth (kek) approach to the relegion, which will contrast the psycho-racist character. By portraying the reasonable characters as likable and calm, I hope to give clear information that the psycho is in the wrong, and is not a proper portrayal of what Space Jesus-ism is about. 


Or I could scrap that part and just make it so the psycho is just an over protective mother. Which I guess she already is, but eh.

 

[Couch]

Or I could scrap that part and just make it so the psycho is just an over protective mother. Which I guess she already is, but eh.

This is my recommendation.  Adding a religious aspect is just asking for trouble.

 

[Number13]

 Shade's part of a group that worships Thor, sure, but the difference is that very few if any people in the modern day actually worship Thor.

Thor, along with other Norse deities, are worshipped today in Iceland, although not to the same degree as they were in the past. The first shrine in 1000 years was built in February.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years

 

[Klaptrap]

People who worship Thor are not nearly as numerous and do not nearly have as much of a reputation for stirring up shit as those who worship the One.


Fucking Oners.

 

[Darkwarpalg6]

Spess Paganism is best religion.

 

[Jacques00]

This is my recommendation.  Adding a religious aspect is just asking for trouble.

While I agree with the sentiment, I would like to acknowledge that this is a game with fictional settings, societies and belief structures. The Church of One God may be similar to, or inspired by, Christianity, that does not make it a definitive form of (future/spess) Christianity. I'm sure once it's an officially explicit religion in the game, there will be no mention of "Christ" (at least when referring to that religion specifically) and will probably be Christian in aesthetic at most (corruption, chastity and nun fetishes, right?)--the religion itself will probably be more a parody of the major monotheistic religions.


Again, I'm not a dev, so my word isn't concrete and whatever is on the wiki is still a WIP placeholder that was pulled from the TiTS bible--all of this may be subject to change when things become more official as the development process continues.


As far as what is already in game, Saendra blurts "Christ" in a remark and there are mentions "Christmas", pertaining to celebrations or gifts, that pop up a couple times; so Christianity, at least in a superficial sense, is a thing in the TiTS-verse. The Church of One God is also mentioned in the Galotian codex, viewing the race to be shape-shifting demon homewreckers.


And as far as character traits are concerned, I don't see anything wrong with having an overprotective zealot if that's the character one wants to portray. To think of that character as a reflection of all followers of that religion is a bit narrow though, but I guess that's more of a caveat with assuming the mindset of the audience than anything. If there are other practitioners with varying character traits to help balance the population of the religion's followers, that might seem more acceptable.

 

[LightningRose]

People who worship Thor are not nearly as numerous and do not nearly have as much of a reputation for stirring up shit as those who worship the One.


Fucking Oners.

Just because a particular religion doesn't have a habit of stirring up shit doesn't mean that you should be "insensitive" about making a space parody of their religion. Be respectful man, since Thor, god of lightning and battle, is more likely to cause a divine miracle to strike a dirty heathen such as yourself than the One, god of peace and love. Though in the case of the lightning brotherhood, it's actually pretty well done in my opinion, in capturing the essence of modern nordic religion.


That being said, while it's probably perfectly acceptable to have a character be devoutly religious, it would probably not be a good idea to have religious zealots in any form, since you know, religious tensions in certain parts of the world at all. I know there is the case for freedom of speech, and that people who don't like the content could and should just not get into it, but it could turn into a pretty touchy subject, even in a game which by definition already steps out of societal norms.

 

[Klaptrap]

What I posted was less to make a statement and more to have a bit of fun. It was certainly not meant to tell anyone they should make insensitives parodies about anyone.


Also, agreed on the "no religious zealots"thing. Religion (and politics) have a way of pushing everybody involved into their own little corner and damn everybody who isn't on your side. Making the first encounterable follower of space not-christianity bigoted against furries/aliens is a good way to unnecessarly cause a lot of drama. "Don't get into it" is good advice, but, well... people just don't work that way.

 

[Altair Hayes]

Making the first encounterable follower of space not-Christianity bigoted against furries/aliens is a good way to unnecessarily cause a lot of drama. "Don't get into it" is good advice, but, well... people just don't work that way.

I think this makes the best argument against my plan. It would be the first iteration of Spess Jesus-ism in a character, meaning it'd portray the whole thing in a bad connotation, regardless of how much I point out she's in the wrong. In fact, showing the character in a bad light could be seen as an attack on Christianity in general. So I'm just dropping the religious aspects... but that means I need backstory and character building now instead of a lame excuse of "bigot because belief system" to rewrite the character to have different sources for her motives. Which shouldn't be too hard. Anyone, thanks to everyone for the input and discussion.

 

[Jacques00]

It would be the first iteration of Spess Jesus-ism in a character, meaning it'd portray the whole thing in a bad connotation, regardless of how much I point out she's in the wrong.

Indeed, which is why it may be safer to wait until the population of followers for that religion grows before adding in some bad elements for contrast, especially if you don't want to spoil any first impressions. My opinion is that zealots are okay, as long as they are done tastefully and fits within the context of the TiTS-verse (Protoss encounters when?).

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

As a major fan of Zelazny, I'm pretty disappointed with the consensus you guys seem to have reached. However if you think that the threat of shitstorm would have been real and the core idea of Altair's planned character is still viable religious stuff involved, it's all good.

Protoss encounters when?

Certainly not before we get our Zerg/Tyranid-chans. Mind fucks are too niche.