Something serious and heady: religion and theocracy (F looking for any)

Started by Beorning, March 20, 2015, 03:31:11 PM

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Beorning

Recently, I caught a few plot bunnies for something that might be quite heady and challenging... Basically, stories that, among other elements, would feature a serious look at religion. I don't know if anyone here would be interesting in exploring such stories, but I've decided to put this ideas up.

So, here they are:




Idea 1: Joining the Brethren

While browsing Youtube, I happened onto the trailer for old British thriller / horror <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRuRV55H4LA">Beware My Brethren</a>. It kind of gave me an idea for a story where a young woman - who has been, until that point, relatively liberal-minded - would join some sort of small church / religious community with radically conservative views.

Specifically, I see two possibilities to approach this story. Firstly, the church the lead character joins could be very conservative, but well-intentioned. In this case, the story would focus on my character trying to turn her life around according to the church's teaching, the reactions of her friends to her new lifestyle etc. The other option would be to make the church into a somewhat sinister group, in the sense that they would be really controlling, demanding strict obedience from the congregation members etc. In this case, the story could be an exploration of what happens to my character after she joins this church, whether she submits to the pressure or decides to quit.

In any case, I'd like to explore a tale of this young woman and see how it all ends for her. I'd play the young woman, with my writing partner playing some other parts: the church's zealous leader, maybe other church members? I'm open to discussion here!

Idea 2: Theocracy

Just what it says on the tin  ;) Basically, I'd be interested in a story taking place in a country ruled by a theocracy. This could be a near-future or alternate reality tale... As for the theocracy in question, I see it as based in some fundamentalist offshoot of Christianity.

The specific idea I'd like to explore would take place a few years after the theocratic government came to power. My character would be a young woman who looks for a job... and, eventually, gets hired as a security guard at a detention centre / prison for female offenders - with the offenders imprisoned there being both ordinary criminals and all kinds of "blasphemers" and "immoral people". While working there, my character would struggle both with the ordinary duties of a prison guard, as well as all kinds of moral dilemmas. On one hand, she'd be facing all these women who are imprisoned for their beliefs - on the other hand, she'd be subjected to scrutiny and indoctrination from her superiors. So, what would my character do in the end? Would she quit her job? Would she start helping the imprisoned women? Or, maybe, she would get swayed by the fundamentalist ideology of the theocratic state and become a cold prison guard?

In this story, I'd be playing the new prison guard. I'm looking for a writing partner to play either my character's superior (a zealous, iron-fisted typed of woman, possibly) and / or at least one female prisoner my character would encounter on her job.




So... any takers? If so, please PM me! :)