August 21st Writing Prompt: Cleric
In a storied city that values its religion, new clerics are only admitted into the order if they have a vision. An initiate allegedly had one of these visions, and it is up to them to explain what they saw to the clergy. What do they share, and are they accepted into the order?
Ideas and questions:
You could pay attention to a new group of initiates, each of whom are doing whatever they can to try and have the visions that pave the way for entry into the clergy. The initiates might even try to explore ways to entice the visions forth.
Perhaps it is a difficult thing indeed to explain things to the other members of the clergy, and that may be by design. Being graced by the light of a deity might be more abstract, and to that end, they might even use that for the purpose of diviniation.
The point of view and the focus doesn’t necessarily have to be on the initiate who claims to have the vision. It could be on someone who definitively has not had a vision, and is worried about what that means for their time among the clergy.
The word “allegedly” implies that there may be people who exaggerate or fabricate their visions to the order. Is that the case in this story?
Is it possible that the vision that someone has flies in the face of what the clergy does? Could there be a situation where the very foundation of the group is shaken by what an initiate sees?
Challenge:
Write about a situation in which two initiates claim to have had visions. In some ways they mirror each other. But in other ways, they seem to be contradictory. Does this place either of the initiates in danger of losing their spot amongst the order?