Cyberpunk/Religion Novel with Inverted Dualism
July 11, 2008
25 Words or Less: Cyber-punk religion novel exploring the relationship between technology and the soul. One world government/church which controls the pathways to heaven and hell.
Background: This work is in the concept phase.
Story: In the indeterminate future, the world is run by one government, one economy and one religion – the Hierophany. All is subservient to this global religion, every individual toils for this church, earning karmic capitol with which to buy their way into “heaven.” Technology allows the spirit, the soul, the essence of each man, woman and child to be transferred to a single disc. If the person manages to accrue sufficient karma in their lifetime, they are then eligible for download into heaven. If they do not, then their essence is simply jacked into a new body, continuing the karmic cycle. There is, of course, a downside. Those who subvert the wishes of the Hierophany lose karma, lose enough and you find yourself downloaded to “hell.”
Problems: Struggling with story ideas, of which here are a couple:
1. Our protagonist begins the story as a member of the Hierophany, a low level functionary, who through his (her?) actions soon finds that he has lost sufficient karma to win a one-way ticket to Hades.
2. Protagonist must journey to hell and back, helping lost souls find new bodies and attempting to dispose of a religious dictator who controls the path to ultimate happiness and fulfillment.
Author: Jason Lewis, Alexandria, VA.
One idea might be to make the technology surrounding the soul-download fiercely guarded by the Hierophany, so that the hero(es) have to battle through the church in order to steal it, and thus gain the upper hand. This could be particularly useful if the third act of the story involves a war between the church and the hell-bound, and thus the hero can keep uploading the lost souls into the bodies of the fallen to keep fighting.
In fact, this becomes even cooler once we get the idea that the armies of the church aren’t so keen to leave “heaven” once their souls ascend, and so the armies of “hell” actually gain an advantage through the desire to exit hell’s torments.
This sort of story sounds like it’s really dependent on creating and describing the world more than the plot. What does it look like? Is it a highly organized world like a neo-tokyo, or a discarded dystopia (neo-new york)
This is an interesting concept.
I wonder what kind of rubric the Hierophany uses to judge whether someone builds “karma”. One idea is to turn this into a kind of futuristic political thriller where the leadership of the Heirophany constant engage in calculated in-fighting to determine what gets people karma and what loses it. In order for the Hierophany to stay in power, the prospect of making it to heaven needs to be believable as does the prospect of making it to hell. Individuals, as you suggest, would get Karmic capitol by essentially “serving the Hierophany” and the political machinery within the Hierophany determine what that service entails. You might devote a chapter or two to developing an exciting tale of political espionage and trickery in the highest ranks of the Hierophany regarding the control of the Karmic capital. The protagonist might become privy to the power struggle and find out a greater truth about the sinister nature of the Hierophany. (This might spur his rebelious behavior). On option for the “truth” is that neither heaven nor hell exist. Instead, people are sent to A) die B) a state of nothingness where they crazy or C) a new body where they sadly lose all of their previous life’s memories and experiences.
You might also consider developing a storyline around an semi-organized resistance or insurgent movement that has taken up the fight against the Hierophany. Maybe the movement doesn’t believe in heaven or hell or are some form of Bohemian libertarians who resist all forms of structured order. The Hierophany police are constantly involved in a struggle to catch them and subject them to the karmic process or download them to “Hell.”
One last idea. You might consider a love story. The protagonist learns that his love(maybe a member of the resistance movement?) is eventually scheduled to be downloaded to hell. Unable to accept this, he decides to fight it any way he knows how. Another way to play it is that the protagonist falls in love with another up and coming member of the Heirophany. She excersizes her political ambition in a manner that betrays him and he resolves to take vengence…