The Archangels' world is based on the concept of a "scientific" explanation for God(s) and Angels. Remember that "classic" sf idea about energy beings? Well, in this world, our God is the being that inhabits the sun. For sake of argument, we'll call him / she / it (El) a higher level spirit. El created other higher level spirits to seed the solar system and they ended up in the warm cores of the planets (I'm sticking with the historic and inaccurate nine, at the moment). Then there are angels, a middle level spirit and biological creatures that have a very low level spirit. Humans, due to a bit of a mix up, have two spirits / souls - an angelic and an animal. It's the angelic one that actually causes all the trouble because they're so traumatised by being in a biological body that they lead the body astray.

Add to this the intrigue (the gas giants have tried to elevate themselves to El's status and tried their "hand" at creation) and death by cooling - several planet and satelite cores have cooled down since the solar system's birth, and humans have become a potential army to fight over.

The arc I've plotted out is that of Michael, the first Archangel. The current structure I'm using is:

1. A Council of Angels (Short)
2. Maid of God (possible Novel)
3. The Gospel (Short)
   The Next Time: Alternate Reality/Time Travel, Lame Goat Press, 12/01/2010 [External Link]
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The first short story on the list tells of Michael's decision to go to Earth in order to raise an Angelic army for El. The novel would be a life of Joan of Arc / Jeanne d'Arc with this philosophy behind it (so she confused the idea of the "true God" with "true King" and thus nationalism was born). The last short story is set during the re-trial of Joan, twenty years after her death. I actually have another (very badly written) short story gathering dust, The Light Bearer, that fits before these three that tells of how Michael became the father of humanity as we know it. The surviving short stories may become absorbed into the novel, if I ever do it.

The other main problem is the stepping on religious toes, but I'm sure the various churches have more important things to shout at than me!

I also like the potential for jumping about on the time-line and telling other Archangels' and / or Human-Angels' stories. After all, there's got to be more like El out there if there are other stars! Space opera here I come?