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Thanks, NJC. I'll look it up in the morning.

Better yet, remove Satan's comment to Romano at the end of book one that God's minions were forbidden from interfering. However, then I'd have to find a reason why Phanuel, the Archangel of Judgement, doesn't blow Connor's cover. Maybe Phanuel simply chose on his own not to interfere, knowing that God and Satan were in the middle of a final challenge. Moses and Elijah are both supernatural humans (they "could" be the Two Witnesses from Revelation), and they suspect something is up with Connor, but they're not entirely sure what until the end of book one. Eve is supernatural as well since the only way she could return to Earth is as a glorified human. Since I need them all to interfere to some extent, I can't allow Satan to prevent interference by humans. Maybe God insists "only angels" won't interfere, or he sneaks that detail past Satan by volunteering that angels will not interfere until Judgement Day.

One minor issue is that Revelation's Two Witnesses in Catholicism represent the Church's witness to the world of Christ's divinity. There are no supernatural beings involved, except in some Protestant denominations. I added them to the book to poke a little fun at the Left Behind series, which tries to interpret everything in Revelation literally, except when it's impossible to do so (e.g., the dragon sweeping stars from the heavens). So, Moses and Elijah are just a couple of human kooks who have special powers, not the real Moses and Elijah returned to Earth. I may use them to represent a common Protestant interpretation of Revelation throughout the books, although I'll have to hint more clearly that that's what they are. I'm thinking at some point in book one I should have them appear, sitting on a bench and reading either a Left Behind book or a Protestant Bible, or one of each.

That's why I said my target audience is space opera fans. Right now, I'm just looking for a place to slip in/bolt on property X to superweapons fire that allows it to pass through shields but not matter. It's a replacement for mattergy, which I always knew I would toss from the story once I came up with something better. It'll only be used in chapter one. I just need to be careful that my cacas doesn't outright contradict well-known facts about physics.

I definitely should have taken physics in high school and university, though. I could have done a minor in physics or even math, although I don't recall if I even knew about minors back then.

After way too many hours wasted on the opening battle's superweapon, I decided the weapon can alter the fired photons in some way (e.g., forcing them into some previously unknown state) which can pass around other electromagnetic particles unimpeded (e.g., shields), but are stopped by matter (e.g., a ship's hull), causing the latter to go boom! Am I done?

Of course, this assumes that sci-fi weapon blasts are simply a lot of photons.

Can anyone tell me if this impossible weapon is even remotely close to real physics? Naturally, this would cause hard sci-fi fans to vomit, but my target audience is space opera fans.

SPOILER ALERT: Just so I can stop dancing around this topic, Connor's soul is that of Adam, and his companion is the glorified form of Eve.

I'd love to place Eve into Connor's inner circle, there to watch over him and to simultaneously work against the Unholy Trinity while pretending to be part of the conspiracy all along. That would give her a great role. She could wear a Mission Impossible-style mask that looks like Dr. Lombardi for the decade+ that she's known De Rosa and been part of his conspiracy; she'd also have to disguise her voice, but she's had a few thousand years to practice that. The reason Satan doesn't recognize he's dealing with a glorified individual in a mask is because Eve/Lombardi is able to hide the glorified element of herself using limited powers Eve received when she was glorified. Sort of like Emperor Palpatine was able to stand before Jedi and hide his true nature.

Since Satan told Romano at the end of book one that God's minions were forbidden from interfering as part of the rules agreed to between God and Satan, I'll need to figure out an exception for her that doesn't break the rules.

That's what Tylenol is for.

I think the best solution is for Connor's former companion to come to Earth in her glorified body. While there is nothing in Scripture that says humans would ever do that, it would be less offensive than adding yet another reincarnated being.

If I were to make it Dr. Lombardi, then she's in the story from book one, and I can make her a more prominent character, dropping hints that she's more than she seems. Although it would be odd that she and Satan didn't recognize each other as supernatural beings, especially since she would look the same as she did when she lived millennia ago (except young again).

The other alternative is to introduce a new character from book two on. Although I wouldn't reveal her true identity until the end of book two or somewhere in book three, she could be there to assist Connor in some TBD way. He wouldn't fully recognize her from his former life because his soul doesn't fully awaken until the end of book two.

I also need to find a meaty role for Romano and Antonio. I may get rid of Antonio permanently after book one.

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.