Cosmic Angels and Aquatic Demons: The Caretakers

Welcome back, this may be the final lore-based post I make for a while, as I begin to write a story using all of these elements. I want to talk about a twist in the story that I've been weighing until now, one that would offer a lot of opportunity for conflicts in the franchise.

The Nature of Our Creators

In one of my first posts I illustrated a universe where stars act as gods who protect and create their own star systems. Although this would make sense in a fantasy universe, I want my story to stay rooted in reality, so it will appeal to a wider audience. Of course, there is an element of science-fiction in the existence of Aquatic Apes and the UFOs they pilot, but where the stars are concerned, the notion that our Sun is a sentient deity, watching all of these events transpire on Earth, seems more supernatural than sci-fi. If the Sun is really just a giant ball of gas that offers life to Earth, and burns away creatures born in darkness, then how can the belief in a sentient celestial Creator take root and motivate the story?

Celestialism: The Universal Faith

Religion. It's something that drives the most sound-minded men and women into passionate action for a cause they believe in. Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, all have causes related to their faith which they will fight for when called upon. Imagine a faith that held up the stars as shepherd deities, with worlds forged by their fiery breath and granted life by their light.

In the book of Genesis, God creates Adam and Eve to care for his other creations- plants, animals, the Earth, as caretakers of his work. What if the Sun, after creating Earth, then raised up mankind to existence as a protector of the Solar System's most radiant gem? And if this is the case, how does it look like humans have done protecting the Creator's work?

Enter Celestialism, a religious belief that the planets are works of art made by their stars, and that people were made to protect worlds directly, on behalf of whichever star they orbit. Followers of Celestialism would be very proactive people, inspired to maintain and cultivate the world around them wherever they saw blemishes. This can range from cleaning pollution from cities to restoring parts of the world desecrated by human corruption (Chernobyl, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, etc.) Understand that Celestialism is not synonymous with Environmentalism. Where an Environmentalist would see an endangered species of animal and campaign to protect them, a Celestialist would first consider whether or not human action was the cause of the species' condition, and then pass judgement on saving them.

The conflict with Celestialism arises when their cause becomes aimed at other humans. Industry moguls with the power to shroud Earth in human's creations, livestock empires that capitalize on animals for human consumption large scale, and even Environmentalists who fight for parts of the world destined to pass away are all targets of radical Celestialists who will go so far as to kill to protect the work of the Sun. For a radical Celestialist, the idea of a dark, aquatic offshoot race of humanity that is poisoned by the lifegiving sun sounds like an invitation to a hunting trip. If we throw radical Celestialism in a pool with Aquatic Apes, along with people being abducted and killed by the Apes, scientists and explorers yearning to learn their secrets, and just plain scared people, hoping for peace and progress...

Well, that's what the story will tell us someday.

Thanks for reading my exposition to this science-fiction universe, I hope I'll get to share it in-depth with all of you someday!