send help, for I have plotbunnies

[deird1]

I am still thinking through the previous idea, but nevertheless my brain has decided to make space for a new one.


Imagine a religious sanctum, featuring an eternal flame (Temple of Vesta style). Said eternal flame comes, originally, from City To The West, and is used here, in Our City, to encourage the presence of a benevolent spirit who does good things for us.

The eternal flame has been extinguished, and one of the keepers of the flame has been killed.

Why? Well, there is our mystery.
Is it:
- because Our City is evil and must fall, and extinguishing the flame will (supposedly) bring bad things upon the city?
- because the Eternal Flame religion is evil and must fall, thus bringing more followers to the alternative religious option?
- because we will now have to send a party travelling to City To The West and back, to get more flame, and the killer wants that journey to happen?
- because the keeper of the flame needed to be killed, and the flame being extinguished was just a decoy?

As a fan of the mystery genre, my brain is suddenly intrigued...

Comments

[lyr]

Option 3 sounds the most interesting, I think.

[deird1]

Indeed. I think our mystery-solving protagonist would have to consider at least three of the four options, however.

(As a novel, I think it might work well with two protagonists. One on a journey to retrieve more flame, and one running around figuring out what on earth is going on...)

[lirazel]

I actually think all of those options could be super interesting if done well. I'm in!

[deird1]

Hurrah! Now I just need brainspace to write...

[rahirah]

Or the keeper was killed due to a personal dispute, and the extinguishing of the flame was an unfortunate accident, but everyone thinks it was the other way around, and the murderer, who's the only one who knows the truth, watches with alarm and dismay as the rulers of the city set off a pogrom/civil war/inquisition aimed at totally imaginary foes...

[deird1]

Ooh.

Yes, like that.