Uh… I don’t
think so.
…but in all honesty, I don’t think it’s a problem. A religious habit is certainly symbolic, yes, but it’s not intrinsically linked to Holy Orders or being a Catholic priest.
I like that you’re smart enough to say emphasis that you don’t THINK it’s wrong. You’d be surprised how bias some people would be in situations like this, especially if it was to their benefit to be so. The fact you admit you cannot honestly know or give a definite answer other than your opinion is admirable.
Yes, they’re not linked. Furthermore to that, we must consider that the title and position of priest is not exclusive to catholicism.
http://images.quizfarm.com/1130268505NEO.jpg
So just make them not be married. I mean, if you’re re-creating it, why not take a few liberties in your interpretation? Just change that particular detail in a subtle way, not anything that would have a huge impact. (…that being said, priests being allowed to marry, even Catholic priests, isn’t necessarily an absurd possibility for a fictional universe… it could happen if the Pope gave his permission. There’s even less to be worried about if this church is not actually a true Catholic church, since there are other Christian denominations that have married clergy.)
Actually, even in the game, the relationship between the priest and his wife isn’t shown, there’s no romance, and the characters are never shown together. So it wouldn’t be out of my way to simply not mention that they are married or simply not imply it. Interestingly enough, many priests have close relationships with their sisters or rely on them in a particular way in church matters, so even if I wanted to have these two together in a scene here or a scene there, I could, and it would be innocent to do so.
That last sentence seems key… so I don’t see much a problem there.
(Although a 16 year-old “nun” strikes me as odd… and maybe an indication that this is more of a lay-oriented religious order, no profession of vows, etc?)
Actually, I forgot to mention, that in my story, it takes place 5 years after the events of the game (before I had only mentioned that it takes place after but didn’t specify a time frame). So, in the reality of the story, Prier isn’t 16 anymore, she’s 21, her brother Culotte isn’t 12 anymore, he’s 17. Alouette isn’t about 25ish, she’s in her early 30s, and Father Salade is in his late 50s.
So, as far as the younger characters, they’re not as naive or predisposed as they would have been before. As for religious vows, there weren’t any in the game as such. To be more specific, there’s the church in this game, and then the elite group within the church which contains these characters. If I were to compare it to something, I’d think of the Knights of Columbus and how they’re a branch within the catholic church but are not officially a part of the system. Similarly, La Pucelle, this group, is a branch within the church, and while they are sisters/brothers, they’re not priests and they don’t carry out any religious ceremonies. La Pucelle’s duty is to, protect, serve, and redeem. They’re essentially a group of clergy who can be commissioned to perform services for the kingdom/public. IE- there’s ghosts haunting some rich guy’s mansion, they’d contact the church, and La Pucelle would be sent.
La Pucelle also works closely with the Royal Police to help investigate and solve murders, etc.
So if they do have “vows” or “holy orders” as it were, it would be in these regards. They still attend services, pray, and all that, but their main duty is to be on call for missions, assignments, and so forth.
So again, why not just change that particular detail? …even just sticking with the generic “sisters” and dropping (or replacing) the “of the church” part might work in some situations?
Actually, and again, the game itself just sticks to the sisters addressing eachother as “sister”, and eventually, the two main characters become such close friends that they drop the honorifics and titles, and refer to each other by name only. “of the church” was only used probably like 4 times I can remember, and it was other people speaking OF them. Casually speaking, everyone just calls them sisters and among themselves they often call each other by their first name only. The only time it’s important to emphasis “of the church of the holy maiden”, is when they’re having an audience with the Queen or some formal authority within the kingdom. After that, it would go to “sister so and so”. It almost makes it seem like they’re a confraternity, but this isn’t the case, as they’re not lay people, nor is La Pucelle a confraternity, it is a group of (I’m assuming) hand-selected veteran sisters and brothers with experience in particular fields the other sisters and brothers are not, which makes it an elite group and fit for the field as opposed to tending the church.
Well, as long as it’s not scandalously immodest, it shouldn’t be much of a problem, I don’t think. (…even less so if you can come up with a way of refashioning them as something more along the lines of “clerics/healers” or whatever)
I don’t think it’s that huge a problem it’s just that their legs are showing up to their hips/thighs and all that’s covering their legs are the pantyhose they’re wearing, and that that doesn’t count. Thankfully, I’ve been inspired to create my own outfits for them and I’m thought of how I can phase out the current outfits and replace them with the new without it seeming or actually being an edit. So the issues of the modesty of dress will be tackled once I start drawing rough sketches and refining these fashionable concepts.
The cross is really only a universal image of Christianity… so at the very least, it’s got to be some sort of denomination thereof. Even if it’s a new fictional denomination, perhaps a splinter group of some Anglican church (I say Anglican only because they’re generally the closest in appearance to Catholicism)?
This fictional church isn’t a denomination of anything to begin with as there is no official religion so it’s less of a problem under that light. I only say it’s seems catholic because it has priests and sisters, churches (as opposed to temples), and in the church there’s a loft, rectory, chapel, infirmary, etc., giving the ambiance and impression of a christian building. There’s even an altar and stained glass windows.
Given this visual imagery and that the fictional time period coincides with the catholic church’s presence in medieval europe, it was easy to assume they used catholicism as a template to create this fictional religion, as it’s organized, not primitive, and has that cozy feeling, not one of disorder, like a pagan temple would have. I don’t think being inspired by the catholics to create a fictional church is a bad thing in and of itself, so long as there’s no misuse, and I can honestly say that there wasn’t any.
I don’t know what to do about the crosses. I might not draw them or replace them with some ambiguous symbol, like the american developers did when they edited the game. I don’t want to have to do that , but as a catholic it seems necessary. The crosses are there, on necklaces and on clothing as patterns, but they serve no religious purpose nor are they signs of the god they serve. And if something that is so important to us isn’t important to them or serves any function other than being an accessory, I don’t see what good I can take out of it.
Out of anything, this would seem to me like the easiest detail to modify?
I don’t see why I should have to modify it. Whether it’s a female or male, it’s still not OUR God. If the point in making her male is just to make us feel better as catholics because our God is male, then its in vain and doesn’t satisfy anything, because the god would still be fictional and gender would be irrelevant with a fictional god. The think the deeds of the god are far more important, and what’s more important than gender is whether we can compare a fictional god to the REAL God and be pleased with how they handled it, and I am comfortable that is the case.
What I CAN do, however, is just deemphasis Poitreene (that’s the goddess’s name) as a deity and make her more like an archangel. In fact, she has the appearance of an angel anyways. So rather than mentioning a god, I could refer to Poirteene as more like a defender or patron saint or something on that level, something below deity. That works, right?
I’ll have to give her clothes, though. Since in all images or appearances of Poitreene, she’s nude (though she’s covered up by her wings or by silk sheets, etc.)
I think you’re doing well to be concerned, but unless I’m completely failing to grasp something, I think by far the best solution would just be to take the minimum artistic liberties you can to “patch up” the troublesome areas that you run into. A little more effort and creativity on your part, but if the end result is that much the better for it, why the heck not?
That seems the best route. Thanks for your post and help.
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