Activity

I’m writing this vast interconnected story universe, called the Domidium. Think of it as the Cosmere meets Tolkien’s worldbuilding, but undergirded by my own rapidly developing writing style that I haven’t quite figured out how to describe yet.

I began outlining for the Domidium four years ago, when I was a fairly clueless fourteen-year old. Now, with a lot more life experience and one completed novel draft set in the Domidium, I’ve realized I need to change… a lot.

My original vision involved writing several epic fantasy series, and then having an extra-epic crossover. Worlds colliding. Ancient secrets being revealed. Beloved characters going through the crucible and coming face-to-face with their own sins and shortcomings. Which of course leads to the need for a savior. Thus, I planned for my magnum opus to climax with the death and resurrection of an allegorical Christ-figure. After all, what could be more climactic than a parallel to the most important event in human history?

Problem: that leaves 90% of my planned Domidium stories set in a pre-Christian world. Furthermore, it’s a world with few parallels to the world of the Old Testament. There’s no ethnic people-group chosen by God to produce a blessing for all nations; rather, the faithful are scattered across seven different planets. Furthermore, I want to write character who have relationships with God like I have a relationship with God, not only because this is what comes naturally to me, but because I connect deeply to characters like this, and because I can’t find enough of them in well-written fantasy novels.

What I have right now is a parallel Christianity that doesn’t really mention Christ, because he hasn’t come yet. If it does mention him, it has to speak in future tense, “the coming deliver will save us from our sins”, which is just weird.

I’m considering shifting the ‘redemptive timeline’ of the Domidium so that the Incarnation and Atonement take place in the past. One question I have is, how can I do this, and how can I write characters who are essentially Christians and have relationships with God, in a way that isn’t just cutting-and-pasting Christianity into my fantasy world? How do I create a fantasy religion that is both true and an integral part of the world I’ve created?