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Quandary. I seem to have a recurring problem with the Connor series in that there simply aren't enough strong female characters. The biblical figure who serves as Connor's soul, had a female companion, and both played important roles in the events of the distant past. Since the male figure returns as Connor, I considered giving him a girlfriend, who happens to be his former companion. I didn't care for that much since it's a huge coincidence (although God could have arranged it that way), and it would add yet another reincarnation to the story, which further deviates from Catholicism. And I can't really think of an important role for her. She'd be worse than useless if I simply shoehorn her into the story without a real purpose of her own.

Connor does have a girlfriend early in book two, but Connor keeps her around primarily to annoy Satan (since Connor is supposed to be Christ). Made worse by the fact that she's into goth, with an outrageous look. And they have sex regularly. And Connor is intentionally not very discreet about her. Tsk. Tsk. I don't see turning Ms. Goth into an important character since one of her purposes is for De Rosa to send her away, to be replaced later by someone even worse.

I do have Dr. Lombardi, who headed the Papal Research team in book one, who I could bring back and increase her importance. In the next draft of book one, I can leave her as is but make her the head of the demon-hunting team at the end, replacing De Rosa, after his true identity is revealed. Still nowhere near as important as Campagna.

Also, I have yet to think of an important role for Father Romano.

And I definitely have to bring Connor's biblical companion into the story. She was present back then and equally responsible for the disaster that occurred. To avoid another reincarnation, I could bring her into the story in her "glorified" body, which (some?) Christians believe we'll all get.

Returning characters include:

Connor
Maria Campana
Satan/De Rosa
Father (Bishop) Romano (exact role is TBD)
Pope-in-Exile Nnamani
Antonio the ghost (his exact role is TBD)
Moses & Elijah (their exact roles are TBD)
Dr. Lombardi

EDIT: One possibility is that the female biblical figure is already on Earth in book one. In fact, she could be in her glorified form as Dr. Lombardi, which would have been what she's looked like thousands of years ago. I would then either keep Connor from seeing/encountering her so he doesn't recognize her from the past, or I could rely on the fact that Connor's soul still hasn't fully awakened.

Ditto for Marry09

I forgot to answer this. I'm not overthinking this. It was an easy decision and a simple, elegant, and complete solution. I chose human DNA as the way to pass on superpowers to Connor. If I had made it spiritual powers, then how would that have worked (see my previous posts where I discuss other possible options and the challenges with them)?

My way ensures that Connor gets his powers from Satan, is also human, and is not inherently evil. The fact that Satan used his powers to animate a zombie and rape Campagna, inseminating her with zombie DNA, does not in any way explain how evilness could have passed to Connor. Answer: It didn't. He's human, he sins, he's under Satan's powerful influence as a child, but he is not intrinsically evil. Any human in Connor's place would have almost certainly turned evil, but Connor is partially protected by his ancient soul, which has the benefit of having lived in Old Testament times and has a strong sense of right and wrong, even while only just beginning to reawaken.

Since Satan altered the DNA in the zombie sperm, I choose to refer to Connor as part demon and as having inherited his powers from Satan. Technically, he "inherited" nothing from Satan in the way we think of inherited, not even anything demon like. But it's as close as a demon can come in my story to creating a human offspring.

Although there are a number of ways to pick apart my solution as not being biblical, my story is on a different timeline that does not require me to arrive at the same outcome as our version of Revelation. Within my story's universe, it holds together with all the other elements of my universe. And if offers a simple explanation of how all this is possible without handwaving.

This is the best I can come to explaining my reasoning to you, George. If you don't buy it, we'll have to agree to disagree. And there's plenty more to disagree on, including how a soul could have multiple personalities and reincarnation of the ancient biblical figure.

In case anyone is interested, the identity of the biblical figure is given in the final chapter of the first draft. Can you find it? I practically hit the reader over the head with it, although readers won't realize that until they learn Connor is a reincarnated being.

In the case of Connor and the biblical figure (bf), I think both have agency, although there are clashes. Connor dominates in book one, begins to lose a little control of decisions at the end of book one (failed to smother the pope), continues to lose control as bf awakens throughout book two, a crisis point is reached that probably requires both to settle their differences and work together (details TBD), after which a blended whole can move forward. I had been thinking that each would continue to exist, though, with one or the other yielding control as dictated by the scene/plot, especially when certain unique strengths are called for that only one of them has. Naturally, if there is a switch in the personality in control, I would need to make that obvious to the reader.

In order for them to reach a compromise, I should probably have a scene where they talk to each other directly (via thoughts), although it seems kind of weird at the moment. The other option is to not show it at all and merely have one of the personalities report the agreed upon compromise. I lean toward the former since I think the conversation would be interesting to both read and write. I'll have to write it to see what works best.

Regardless of the exact details, I definitely need to have some form of clash play out since there are two personalities in one soul, where one dominates at the beginning while the other awakens and fights for some level of control.

I don't think readers will side with bf since Connor is the only personality present in book one, and is the only apparent personality throughout most of book two (who looks to be having growing mental health issues, presumed by other characters to be the result of Satan's manipulations of an otherwise decent kid). I probably won't reveal the presence (and identity) of bf until the end of book two. Not sure yet.

Good grief, there is a lot to think through.

Another fun idea: In book two, Connor should behave increasingly as if he has multiple personality disorder, but doesn't yet know why. He, of course, unknowingly shares the soul within him with the ancient biblical figure, who continues to slowly awaken throughout book two and increasingly attempts to assert control over Connor's body, thoughts, and actions, but Connor's part of that soul strongly resists those attempts, which causes the apparent personality disorder. Connor doesn't know that he is fighting another, awakening part of his own soul. This will come to a head near the end of book two, when both personalities are fully awake and aware of each other. The only way they can keep going is to figure out how to live with each other. They definitely influence each other, though, since they are not really two beings: they share a body, a brain, a soul, and various elements of a personality that is not truly two separate entities. That's the reason the awakening biblical figure was able to prevent Connor from smothering the pope. That figure will be revealed at the end of the book.

If I'm not mistaken, Christians believe that humans are driven by their souls, which remains when the body dies. But what about multiple personalities, especially ones who don't even know other personalities exist within them? Does the soul have multiple personalities as well, like Connor? My answer as far as the story is concerned is: yes.

Cool. My first ranking against other competing fan fiction stories (on Wattpad). My Dune - Into the Worm is currently sitting at 89 out of 501 Dune fan stories. Naturally, it's because of the release of Dune 2. I know I had posted this piece elsewhere, where I could see the number of readers per day and what countries they're from.

I have no problem with Satan having spiritual powers. After all, he is a spirit. But I needed an explanation for how Connor came to be and where he got his power from. If Connor could have "inherited" powers from Satan (much like I inherited my hair color from my parents), how would that have happened? Is there an ability to transfer power from a spirit into a human? And how does one get it from spirit to human? Is it sufficient for Satan to simply think it, and therefore it happens (not believable IMO)? Or is there such a thing as "spiritual" DNA? If so, how do you get it from Satan into Campagna and down to Connor?

If not spiritual DNA, how else might Connor get his powers? Some form of transfer of part of Satan's corrupted spirit into Connor's spirit after birth? If I were to use the latter, then there would actually be true evil in Connor's spirit. That would break the story since the premise is that Connor is not evil. He has free will and the ability to turn away from Satan. Connor just needs to have his eyes opened by people who care about him (his family) that Satan is a manipulative SOB who never actually loved Connor, despite what he told Connor throughout his childhood.

I decided for my story, there is no direct transfer of part of Satan's spirit into Connor's since that makes the kid inherently evil. There is also no spiritual DNA. If you prefer some "form" of DNA for the transfer, you might as well accomplish it through human DNA, modified by Satan in De Rosa's sperm. It's much easier to explain without trying to reinvent the wheel to create spiritual DNA. Also, regular DNA enables an additional element about the relationship between Satan and Connor, namely that some of the DNA manipulation Satan made was intended to create a powerful but fake bond through natural imprinting between Connor and Satan. That bond is something Connor will struggle with until the very end of book three, when he has to decide who to kill: Satan or Jesus.

Ultimately, this is all made-up cacas anyway, so I might as well use a simple solution that doesn't break the story.

Several thoughts:
- Connor has received the sacrament many times without having ever confessed he was part of a huge conspiracy; if I could make him sick every time he took the sacrament, I would, but that would give away the surprise at the end of book one, so I have to explain it (two options noted below)
- by the time Connor fights his father at the basilica, he will have already confessed everything to a priest, although he hasn't celebrated Mass yet, but that might not be a bad idea; I might then have Connor take the sacrament away from St. Peter's for safekeeping since his father is sure to want it destroyed
- just as Satan was not inherently evil from the moment of his creation, neither is Connor; he has his mother's DNA, De Rosa-the-zombie's DNA, with changes to the zombie's sperm to give Connor his supernatural powers; the only thing Connor got from Satan was his powers, no predisposition to evil and certainly no demonic spirit; Satan has been trying to corrupt Connor since he was born, and for book 1 and half of book 2, it appears Satan may yet succeed; however, given that Satan manipulated the zombie sperm, I generally refer to Connor as part demon, albeit with almost 100% human DNA and a human soul
- it's Connor's maternal grandfather who reminds him that, as long as he hasn't blasphemed the Holy Spirit, all else can be forgiven, but he has to make a real confession and atone for his sins; he'll receive instructions from the Holy Spirit on how to do the latter; he's told to proceed with the rescue mission for which he returned to Earth, but he's increasingly terrified of the cost to him personally
- I suppose somewhere in the last chapter of book one, the characters could discuss how it is that Connor could take the sacrament for all those years and not become noticeably ill; they conclude what I summarized above; and since he's not inherently evil, the host is as harmless/useless to Connor as it is for any non-believer and those who haven't gone to confession; the other alternative is that the host, having been transubstantiated, ought to make him sick, but it never does; perhaps he's protected by the fact that he bears the soul of a major biblical figure; either explanation would work
- one caveat about his soul: by the time Connor receives the Holy Spirit, his ancient soul will have been changed by Connor's life up to age 16 (his age in book two); so, when his soul does finally fully awaken to who it is and was, his soul is no longer simply that of the biblical figure; it is also by then part Connor, the screwed up, manipulated-since-birth kid who still loves his father; I'll have to figure out how to keep alive the possibility that Connor might yet kill Christ so as to save his father; perhaps he can have recurring nightmares that alternate between him killing Christ and him killing his father

LOL. Just remember, the last time you "got into it", I pulled the rug out from under you.

The reason I want multiple demons inside De Rosa is that he displays too much power. Although one could say Satan's the most powerful demon, there would have to be others who are nearly as powerful. If that were the case, I would expect them to bring down churches right, left, and center. By requiring multiple demons to accomplish what De Rosa does, it brings Satan's individual powers down to a more reasonable level. Interestingly, though, Connor, as a hybrid, is more powerful than De Rosa, something Satan doesn't realize. Father and son will have a violent confrontation in book two, yet somehow, Connor loses. Can't imagine why. :-)  Neither intends to kill the other, but it will be fun to have them tear St. Peter's Basilica apart as they fight it out.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Catholic Charismatic movement is not the same as the majority of the Catholic Church, or is it? It's the mainstream Church that Connor/Satan are after first.
I think you mean locusts, not dragonflies. The locusts came straight out of Revelation, including their scorpion-like stingers.

I have no problem contradicting the Bible anymore since the alternate, story timeline perfectly explains why the Bible differs from actual events in the story timeline (both timelines inherited the same Bible). There will be a scene dedicated to puzzling out how it could be that the inerrant Bible differs from current events in the story timeline. The Bible was written before the timeline split in two (real-world vs story-world timelines). And God had his reason for allowing the Bible to be written the way it was, not least of which is the fact that the story timeline didn't exist at the time the Bible was written. That Bible correctly predicted what would happen if the timeline continued as is. That scared Satan (who has free will) into issuing his final challenge; when God accepted, the new, story timeline branched off, resulting in both timelines having the same history and the same Bible, yet the Bible only describes events in the old timeline. The theologians will eventually conclude that 1) their Bible is inerrant, but 2) it was written for a different timeline.

I happened to notice that this thread has been viewed over 145,000 times. I was a bit freaked by the number until I looked at the whole forum. My old Galaxy Tales thread has been viewed 280K times. Sorcerer's Progress, 360K. And Amy still holds the record at 465K for her Acts+ thread! Yay, Amy.