Religious cult arc idea for my story! Need help!

Which is better?

Religious group that sees this species as demons/sinners

Religious group that eats this species to gain strength

Apr 5, 2017 7:54 PM

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Dec 2016

So I'm writing a story that resembles Tokyo Ghoul, Parasyte and X-Men. Humans co-exist with another species, but, as you could imagine, they don't get along. I'm not going to go into detail because it will take an essay long explanation. So, long story short, main character is this species who has trouble controlling his monstrous side and he encounters situations that challenge his control. Also this is a sci-fi.
I have various "arcs" planned to develop him and I have an idea for another one. While this is a sci-fi, I thought it would be interesting to add a religious group that has a controversial opinion of this species.
However, I could approach it in two ways: (1) religious group see this species as demons/sinners, or (2) religious group that eats this species to gain strength.
(1) This species will be viewed the same way some religions view homosexuality. They believe with some "gentle" intervention (TORTURE) they can convert the specimen back to a human. As you could imagine, the main character might get tortured... It is also a good way to further explore the Monstrosity (or demon) Complex the main character has.
OR
(2) This species possesses superior strength and immune strength, so the group believe that by eating them, they could gain these strengths. The reason for this is because sometimes this species commits cannibalism, and through cannibalism, they gain beneficial mutations (kinda similar to Tokyo Ghoul). However, humans can't benefit it from it. If anything it could potentially kill them (for biological reasons), but the crazy will be crazy!

So....

Apr 5, 2017 9:22 PM

Takuan_Soho

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Oct 2012

6648

MelanieYin-Chan said:
So....

The other species has unique random powers, the human religion believes that if they eat a particular individual they gain that unique power? Since the other species could be stronger than humans collectively, it isn't entirely evil for humans to want to achieve the same power.

It's like the American Indian concept of eating the heart of a strong person in order to become stronger. Its an cannibalistic arms race. In this case your protagonist realizes that the only end to this race is MAD.

Apr 5, 2017 9:38 PM

MelanieYin-Chan

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Dec 2016

Takuan_Soho said:

MelanieYin-Chan said:
So....

It's a little more complicated than what I made it seem. This is sci-fi so there are scientific explanations as to why cannibalism is beneficial for the species, but not all beneficial for humans. However, the religious group is insane to begin with so no amount of scientific evidence will convince them. The protagonist is pulled into this mess and will probably be threatened with the possibility of being dissected. However, this is not the only conflict in the story. There are others who will collectively change the character and reveal WHAT he is.

Also, as a side note, the species also belongs to a different Genus, so they don't belong to the Genus Homo.

Apr 5, 2017 9:49 PM

Takuan_Soho

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Oct 2012

6648

MelanieYin-Chan said:
However, the religious group is insane to begin with so no amount of scientific evidence will convince them.

Then sorry, your story will suck. Insane antagonists seldom work out. Manga gets away with it through art, not through story.

Evil people have reasons, even the Nazis had reasons. Insane groups end up gnawing themselves to death like feral telepathic minks sexually stimulated. Good stories are those where the antagonists are a bit sympathetic and leave the possibility of identifying with them open.

Apr 5, 2017 10:00 PM

MelanieYin-Chan

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Dec 2016

Takuan_Soho said:

MelanieYin-Chan said:
However, the religious group is insane to begin with so no amount of scientific evidence will convince them.

Insanity doesn't instantly mean that they have no motives. For example, someone may be declared insane because of some sort of psychotic mental illness. Maybe that mental illness was provoked by some sort past trauma and therefore they center their goals around that trauma with the psychosis pulling back.
Insanity doesn't equal lack of motivation and goals. Of course, this does depend on your definition of insanity. I mainly use the psychopathological definition, not the colloquial definition.
Also, antagonists are not the only building blocks to a good story. There are also the protagonist, supporting characters, environment/setting, narration, pacing, character/plot development (realistic vs superficial), etc.
Finally this was just an idea so I was hoping of receiving feedback. So maybe I'll take your advice of making them a little more grounded in reality, psychologically.

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Religious cult arc idea for my story! Need help!

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