An Introduction to My Biggest Writing Project: The Divine Conspiracy
Yeah, I stole the title from a symphonic metal album. What of it?
(Originally posted on WordPress on July 30, 2020)
My relationship with the world of fictional literature has been a rather strange one. I had little to no interest in fiction writing during my childhood and high school years. Most of the fictional literature I encountered during this period was read by my mother (e.g., Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia) or one of my teachers (e.g., James and the Giant Peach, The Spiderwick Chronicles). I did read some fictional stories of my own accord. Two particular franchises I remember enjoying were the Magic Tree House series and the Bailey School Kids.
Does anyone else remember these books, or just me?
Overall, my reading time was mostly taken up by nonfiction titles that covered whatever topic my autistic brain was hyper-focused on at the time (dinosaurs, the Titanic, cryptozoology, American history, etc.).
But then, as I've talked about elsewhere, Watership Down happened, and I decided I wanted to major in creative writing in college. Since then, much of my creative energy has been spent on creating my own fantasy universe. This story I am writing has been the culmination of all my childhood interests in myth, legend, the occult, and my later interests in religion, esoteric spiritualities, and the worldbuilding of speculative fiction titans like J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft.
So let's talk about it.
The Origin
But before I talk about the story itself, let me elaborate on where it first came from. On the one hand, some of the creative writing classes I took in college definitely had an influence. On the other though, the real credit has to go to the summer job I took in 2016.
That summer, a member of my local church had to take in her aging father, who had dementia, after his partner decided she didn't want to care for him anymore. The problem was that she and her husband were running a dairy farm and couldn't keep an eye on him at all times. That's where I came in. They paid me a generous sum to sit with him and help him operate the remote control so his favorite game shows could keep him occupied.
It wasn't a stressful job at all. The man was gentle and easygoing, and I could sit in the living room with him at all times (except whenever he went out to mow the lawn, which was frequently) and read books or surf the web.
The Basic Premise
The Divine Conspiracy centers on fraternal twins Ariel and Ronan Banks, who were born with unique magical powers. Ariel specializes in healing magic, conventional spell casting, spirit channeling, and practically every psychic ability you can think of (telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, empathic abilities, precognition, and even teleportation). Ronan specializes in spirit conjuration, alchemical transmutation, mind control, invisibility, intangibility, and a temporary ability to copy others' powers. They have also learned the same "bending" abilities practiced by the characters in one of their favorite TV shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, although Ariel is better at water and air while Ronan is better at earth and fire.
They inherited these abilities from their mother, a succubus sent from Hell to help with a plot to assassinate the twins' grandparents, Vincent and Frances, who worked for a secret society descended from the Knights Templar that investigates the supernatural and vanquishes malignant threats. Fortunately, she fell in love with their son, Peter, instead. She renounced her ties to the Underworld, took the name Rhiannon, and became an agent with the Knights alongside Peter.
Sadly, agents of Hell caught up with her ten years later and killed her. The story proper begins two years afterward. As the twins struggle to cope with her loss, they also join the Knights at the insistence of their hawkish director Richard Stackhouse, despite Peter’s protests that they are too young. As they learn more and more about their powers' true nature, they also learn that they may be the key to redressing the imbalance of dark and light magic that has plagued their universe ever since Satan's rebellion against God. But they also must avoid the temptations of the hellish forces of the Underworld, who want to turn them into soldiers of darkness and secure their supremacy over Heaven, Earth, and all of their inhabitants.
One of the books I happened to read that summer was J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, which tells the story of the First and Second Ages of Middle Earth, which he famously presented as having taken place in our world in a long-forgotten past. As I read the tales of elves and dwarves and wizards struggling against the godlike powers of the dark lords Morgoth and Sauron and their orc and dragon soldiers, I suddenly thought: "What would happen if mythological figures like Morgoth started to resurface in the modern world?"
Rather than writing a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, however, I decided to base my story on the real-life mythologies and religions of peoples around the globe (and the Cthulhu Mythos, but more on that later). And thus, with a title I borrowed from an album by the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, The Divine Conspiracy was born.
The Conflict
Ariel and Ronan find themselves caught in the middle of an ancient conflict spanning the breadth of Creation itself. Numerous godlike entities are in a pitched battle to win the right to do whatever they want with Creation. Some want to preserve the life that already exists there. Others want to enslave the lifeforms for their own ends. Still, others don't know or don't care about their existence and would gladly bowl them over to satisfy their own whims. It will become Ariel and Ronan's job to eventually heal the divide between the factions so that humanity's future can be a healthy and prosperous one.
Four magical factions are vying for control of the Divine Conspiracy universe. I ended up basing their characteristics on the four classical elements, which seemed appropriate, considering the story is about ancient gods and demons awakening from their slumber in the present day to continue their destructive conflicts. All four factions have unique characteristics to their form of magic that symbolize their desires and personalities.
Representing the element of water are the Lovecraftian Outer Gods and their children and grandchildren, the Archons (aka Great Old Ones).
Think regular tentacle rape is bad? How about a guy who can tentacle rape the ENTIRE UNIVERSE?!
I copied all of them directly from H.P. Lovecraft's work (Azathoth, Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, etc.), which I can do since his works have long since entered the public domain. I chose water to represent them for two reasons. The first is that, much like water, Lovecraft's gods had no definite shape and can endlessly shift between different forms. The second is that water is the element of change and adaptation, slowly sculpting the Earth's surface over millennia until the landscape is unrecognizable. The eldritch gods behave in the same manner toward the universe, treating it as an artistic canvas to shape as they wish, no matter how many civilizations get wiped out in the process.
Representing the element of air is the other side of the coin; God and His angels.
We're just like bronies up here 'cause we will love and tolerate the shit out of you!
Air is the element of freedom and imagination, certainly befitting a benevolent supreme deity who created the known universe and gave its inhabitants free will. The God of this universe is forever linked to the eldritch supreme deity Azathoth, His twin brother. This is not necessarily bad, as the tension between the two keeps the universe healthy and functional. Unfortunately, the balance between light and dark has skewed toward darkness almost since the beginning, thanks to a particular angel who became a megalomaniac.
That angel was, indeed, Lucifer, or Satan as he is now more commonly known, and he and the legions of Hell he commands are represented by the element of... well, guess.
Wait! Come back! We haven’t tortured you enough for spoiling the end of The Sixth Sense for your roommate yet!
Fire is the element of power and desire, fitting for a despotic fallen angel who wants to take over all of Creation and turn all mortal souls into his slaves. But not all demons share this goal. Indeed, as Ariel and Ronan will soon discover, some demons would much rather leave Hell's bounds and return to their Heavenly Father's side.
Finally, there are the magical races of the Earth, which are divided into three groups. First are the Half-Fallen Angels, composed of several legions who abandoned Satan's army before they were sent to Hell and ended up settling on Earth instead. God granted them stewardship over the planet, and they would eventually evolve into the Watchers/Grigori, the pagan gods, and the fae (i.e., fairies, elves, pixies, household spirits, etc.).
They may look cute, but don't fuck with their forest because they will fuck you twice as hard! (Artwork by Brian Froud)
The second encompasses the elemental spirits formed from the magical energies already present in the Earth when it was created. These include undines (spirits of water, also known as nymphs), gnomes (spirits of the Earth, also known as dwarves), sylphs (spirits of air), and dragons (spirits of fire).
The third group consists of giants, also native to Earth but of such immense magical power that they eclipse all except the Grigori and thus cannot be easily classified alongside the elementals.
All three groups combined represent Earth, the element of substance and strength. They are steadfast protectors of the Earth and all its inhabitants, human and otherwise, facing the future and their adversaries with ironclad resolve.
The interesting thing about Ariel and Ronan's magic is that theirs doesn't neatly match up with any of the other four's characteristics. Indeed, many of Peter's fellow Templar Knights theorize that their magic may be a completely new strain analogous to the elusive fifth classical element, aether. Also known as spirit or quintessence, this element was what the alchemists and occultists of old believed made up Heaven itself. In the Divine Conspiracy universe, aether also makes up the energy that manifests in the physical universe whenever magic is used. It is the element that all the others came from, the great unifier, if you will, which befits Ariel and Ronan's ultimate goal.
A Brief Summary of Each Character
Ariel Aisling Banks: Twelve-year-old girl with red hair and green eyes; timid and reserved, falls on the autism spectrum; keeps a diary that she takes extensive notes in; frequently paints the images she sees in her dreams and visions.
Ronan Diarmuid Banks: Ariel's older (by five minutes) twin brother; has jet black hair with blue eyes; often reckless, impatient, and impulsive; has been diagnosed with AD/HD and dyslexia; prone to getting in fistfights at school; an aspiring heavy metal guitarist who grows his hair out to imitate his idols, much to his grandfather's chagrin.
Ricardo "Rico" Sandoval: Ariel and Ronan's best (and often only) friend; prefers to fight bullies with cunning and pranks in contrast to Ronan's physical intimidation; plays bass and has a lovely singing voice; is secretly the adopted son of Finvarra and Oonagh, the king and queen of the Seelie Court of fairies.
Peter Michael Banks: Thirty-year-old man with auburn hair and steel gray eyes; a former heavy metal guitarist who joined the Knights Templar after the twins' birth; publicly famous for his books on paranormal skepticism and his outspoken leftist politics; has had struggles with depression and substance abuse in the past, which he has found more challenging to deal with since Rhiannon's death.
Vincent Banks: Peter's father; semi-retired from the Knights Templar; paraplegic and uses a wheelchair; currently runs a horse farm alongside his wife.
Frances Banks: Peter's mother, also semi-retired from the Knights Templar, is a bubbly and passionate soul who daylights as a psychotherapist.
Jem: a snarky Maine Coon cat who serves as Ariel's familiar spirit.
Scout: a hyper and excitable Border Collie who serves as Ronan's familiar spirit.
Walton Abernathy: deputy director of the American branch of the Knights Templar, who leads a more dove-ish camp in the agency that favors diplomacy in dealing with supernatural threats, which Peter supports.
Richard Stackhouse: director of the American branch of the Knights Templar; leads a more hawk-ish camp in the agency that favors a more aggressive response to supernatural threats.
Conclusion
My biggest dream is to have The Divine Conspiracy adapted as an animated TV series sometime in the future, but that pipe dream is definitely a long way down the line. For now, I'll post whatever writings I have completed on the series here and DeviantArt and see where that takes me.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ideas and characters I've presented here. I promise I won't overreact to criticism. I know it will be necessary if I actually want to see this story published someday. Until then, stay safe, beautiful watchers, and I'll see you next time!
