Reflection 7: That One with the Subtitle

   There is a surprising lack of online on the Sengoku Jidai, and there are even less books on the subject that can be easily obtained. Nevertheless, I managed to spend my week researching the Sengoku Jidai, formatting the book, and creating characters for the story.

   Due to the three main Shoguns of the Sengoku Jidai (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu), I have decided to split the story up into three parts, each detailing a "sci-fi-ed" version of their reigns while keeping the devastating Ōnin Wars as background information. However, I do not wish to simply tell the story from the limited perspectives of these influential Diamyo; as such, it will be told from the perspectives of multiple characters, similar to how books like A Game of Thrones or Dune were written.

   As this story is science fiction, there have been many changes over the past week, mostly in the technology and religion of the story. In medieval Japan, Buddhism had become quite the military power and, in doing so, a hypocritical institution more focused on spreading its own power and influence than following the lessons of peace and enlightenment it taught. However, I do not wish for the religion to be exactly like Buddhism at the time; to keep the story interesting and consistent, I have created a religion that worships stars as deities. This religion is primarily spread and upheld by warrior-monks, little more than zealous mercenaries who hide their desire for wealth and power behind the curtain of misguided faith.

   As previously stated, technology has been changed around as well. There have been issues, however, in deciding the shape this futuristic technology should take. I wanted the universe to be destinctive, but still carry and portray the spirit and honorable essence of feudal Japanese art, culture, and beliefs. As such, a need for melee weaponry, the arsenal of all samurai, was apparent, as well as certain limits to space travel that allow interplanetary voyages but still keep people tied to planets. To solve the first problem and keep the spirit of honorable samurai duels in the story, I needed to keep melee weaponry to be prevalent while giving a logical reason not to use ranged weaponry or firearms. The solution, after skimming over a few sci-fi novels and reading up on electromagnetic fields, was magnets. If battle armor, similar in appearance to traditional samurai armor, was magnetic, then it would be able to deflect firearms with metal ammunition at a distance or ionized plasma. The only way to avoid the protective field was with a certain type of metal at close range, hence the need for polearms and blades (such as yari pikes or the iconic katana). Space travel was slightly more difficult to overcome; as there were not many iconic naval battles during the Sengoku Jidai, zero-gravity combat via spacecraft would not make much sense. In this story's universe, people would need to be able to travel between world without time dilation (Einstein's Twin Paradox) and still be tied to planets' surfaces. One possible solution would be rare and expensive portals near to or on planets that connect two solar systems, allowing armies and travelers to instantly move between planets.

   This week, I plan to continue developing characters for the story and write the first draft of the prologue. Wish me luck (heaven knows I'll need it)!

   Below is some very rough dialogue I scribbled down in my free time between classes explaining the premise of the pseudo-celestial-Buddhism-religion I have created. I thought I might as well share it to get some feedback and show my progress so that this passage doesn't go to waste.

Context: The dialogue is from one of the warrior-monks explaining to a young child who was recently accepted into the Order. Keep in mind that this is a fairly rough draft of something that may not even appear in the finished work. Feedback is welcome!

   "You know why we fight… don’t you, child?

   "No, do not answer that. That was a trick question. We do not fight. We care not for political conflicts or inter-familial feuds, nor for the shape that lines of succession or the borders upon maps take. We take part in none of these wars… but, as you well know, the Universe does.

   "You, child, were born of Stardust: forged in the hearts of Stars that have long since forged the Substance-That-Gods-Cannot-Bend and given up their divine forms to expel the impure elements from their bodies. Yes, child; you are made of the atoms that Stars despise. That is why we detach ourselves from the rest of humanity; we seek to become pure. As our very essence is passed on into the earth, sky, trees, birds, and plants when we die, our soul travels through the cycle of rebirth with it, contaminating more of the universe. To escape this cycle, we must remove ourselves from the troubles and sins that plague humankind. Only in doing so may we leave behind this reality made up of naught but the impurities from the bellies of the gods themselves.

   "Yet we are still made of Stardust, and the will of the Stars guides us. Though the rest of humankind does not see it, we follow the path down which the Stars guide us. We are mere instruments of their divine will; if they wish us to fight, then we will fight. If they wish us to kill, then we will kill. The horrible acts that our physical vessels commit are dictated by the celestial divines, child; we aid their ancient plan and obey their omnipotent will, and, in doing so, are granted the right to abandon our tainted forms and become one with the Stars. That is why we let the Divine Stars fight through us: so that all who join us may become one with our gods, and those that refuse will be reborn and be given a second chance."