Post by thegrimmsleeper on Feb 17, 2005 2:54:43 GMT -5
I mentioned elsewhere (the 'getting to know you' thread I think) that I've done a few plays. My first (first written, first directed, first performed) was called Beyond the Storm. I've decided, after successfully completing my first novel (it's in the editing phase and is unrelated to pretty much anything discussed over here), that it's time to take the tale of "BtS" to the literary world. I thought I'd present a brief overview here, to both gain some feedback and help me organize a few thoughts. Beyond the Storm is very loosely based on history; that is to say, the country in which it's set is quite fictional (and named in honor of Silver Hand's eventual home in SoA: Caledon) but the events are based on the events leading to the protestant reformation. I say "based on" because there are a few crucial differences with history: mainly that the church of Caledon is not and should not be taken as the ancient Roman Catholic Church. It's a different entity that evolved separately but was founded on basically the same ideals.
Okay, now on with it, and I apologize in advance for the length. I tend to be long-winded. And believe it or not, this barely scratches the surface...
The Story
Our story opens in Caledon, where like clockwork every Sunday morning, the people of Bevin gather together for morning services. Nevermind that they don't understand a word that's being said, or a single verse that's being read. For the service - from the opening processionals to the benediction - is entirely in the venerated Holy Language.
It began innocently enough. The early officials of the Church of Caledon wanted to curtail gross misinterpretations of the Scriptures, and so kept them printed only in the tongue known to the educated, the Holy Language. But somewhere along the line, someone realized that having a populace ignorant of the substance of Scripture could put those in power in very prestigious positions. And so this noble intention gone awry transformed the church from a guiding light to the one and only mouthpiece of God himself - through this Mother Church alone would God reveal his will, and his enlightened ones would pass it on to the ignorant sheep that attended services every Sabbath.
Centuries have passed, and the original intention of the Holy Language has long since been forgotten. And so the people of Caledon fill the pews and listen to words they do not understand, in the hopes of pleasing a God they do not even know.
But God does not necessarily require a book of Scripture to speak or move in the hearts of His people - and as has often happened throughout history, He is now at work in a very unexpected place.
Jaden is barely old enough to be called a man. His family is poor; his father earns just enough money selling his crops and wares to support Jaden, his older brother Cohl and younger sister Aria, and their mother. A bit of a self-absorbed rebel, Jaden has never liked or understood the purpose of attending church services that are entirely in a different language, one that he can never learn. His younger sister can't stand it either, although his brother seeks to become a minister himself someday. The Mother Church has shifted its funds for the poor into the pockets of its clergy, and many tasks that the church has pledged to do have fallen by the wayside. None of it sits right with Jaden, but he cannot guess why...
Until one day, entirely by chance, a book comes into his possession. Not just any book - the Holy Scriptures themselves, and in Jaden's own language. He cannot fathom who translated them, nor what improbable circumstances brought them to his hands. But now Jaden has seen the Truth, and he cannot remain silent. He will brave excommunication, banishment, even death to proclaim God's Truth. And through the trials and tribulations, through the heartaches and suffering, through the social maelstrom and the tempests of political upheaval he will learn that God alone is above all, and He will bring us beyond the storm.
Okay, now on with it, and I apologize in advance for the length. I tend to be long-winded. And believe it or not, this barely scratches the surface...
The Story
Our story opens in Caledon, where like clockwork every Sunday morning, the people of Bevin gather together for morning services. Nevermind that they don't understand a word that's being said, or a single verse that's being read. For the service - from the opening processionals to the benediction - is entirely in the venerated Holy Language.
It began innocently enough. The early officials of the Church of Caledon wanted to curtail gross misinterpretations of the Scriptures, and so kept them printed only in the tongue known to the educated, the Holy Language. But somewhere along the line, someone realized that having a populace ignorant of the substance of Scripture could put those in power in very prestigious positions. And so this noble intention gone awry transformed the church from a guiding light to the one and only mouthpiece of God himself - through this Mother Church alone would God reveal his will, and his enlightened ones would pass it on to the ignorant sheep that attended services every Sabbath.
Centuries have passed, and the original intention of the Holy Language has long since been forgotten. And so the people of Caledon fill the pews and listen to words they do not understand, in the hopes of pleasing a God they do not even know.
But God does not necessarily require a book of Scripture to speak or move in the hearts of His people - and as has often happened throughout history, He is now at work in a very unexpected place.
Jaden is barely old enough to be called a man. His family is poor; his father earns just enough money selling his crops and wares to support Jaden, his older brother Cohl and younger sister Aria, and their mother. A bit of a self-absorbed rebel, Jaden has never liked or understood the purpose of attending church services that are entirely in a different language, one that he can never learn. His younger sister can't stand it either, although his brother seeks to become a minister himself someday. The Mother Church has shifted its funds for the poor into the pockets of its clergy, and many tasks that the church has pledged to do have fallen by the wayside. None of it sits right with Jaden, but he cannot guess why...
Until one day, entirely by chance, a book comes into his possession. Not just any book - the Holy Scriptures themselves, and in Jaden's own language. He cannot fathom who translated them, nor what improbable circumstances brought them to his hands. But now Jaden has seen the Truth, and he cannot remain silent. He will brave excommunication, banishment, even death to proclaim God's Truth. And through the trials and tribulations, through the heartaches and suffering, through the social maelstrom and the tempests of political upheaval he will learn that God alone is above all, and He will bring us beyond the storm.
Twyrch /|\
