is Darius religious in taoe? what about the others? (ik about Sammy, Dave and Roxie, and sort of about Yaz, but i presume the others are not religious?)
For anyone stumbling upon this, these headcanons (currently) only apply to my JWCC fic, The Art of Evolution. These are only canon to that fic as of right now. But feel free to use any of these if you wish!
Ok so before I get into the lore drop, I'm gonna preface this with a little disclaimer. While all of this will likely get mentioned in the fic at some point, most of it won’t be super fleshed out unless it is necessary for the direction I’m taking the character in. Characters that are significantly impacted by religion, or that have arcs that revolve around religion, will have more fleshed-out and nuanced religious storylines. But I'm not going to do this for every character, because trying to write a super complex and nuanced religious subplot for every character will start to bog down the overall narrative. Religion simply isn’t a defining factor of some of these characters, and if I want to explore all of the themes/topics I'm hoping to cover, I want to make sure the story moves along. With that out of the way, fuck it, here's some lore lmao.
Darius's family is Protestant Christian. His mom was raised Pentecostal, and his dad was raised Methodist. Darius and Brandon grew up attending a Pentecostal Church in Oakland, and they went every Sunday pretty consistently when Darius was young. They don't go as frequently anymore, especially since his dad got sick, but as of now he still considers himself a Christian.
Brooklynn wasn't raised religious. She has good basic knowledge of most major religions due to traveling and general curiosity, but she would consider herself Agnostic.
Ben's mother is Jewish, and his father was Christian (though he never actually attended church). Ben's experience with his abusive father left him with a lot of resentment and trauma toward religion in general. However, he has a lot of fond memories of Jewish traditions he would partake in with his mom and relatives. He is a Jewish Atheist, which means he follows the ethnic and cultural construct of Jewishness without believing in the religious aspects.
Sammy's family practices Catholicism. Her parents, little sisters, and she were all baptized as infants. They go to church every Sunday, attend Mass, the whole shabang. Her church is very conservative, and her parents tend to uphold a lot of those values as well.
Kenji wasn't raised religious. He's also never really cared about religion or "God" or anything like that. It's just not important to him. He wouldn't even really know what to call himself, but I would say he's Agnostic.
Yasmina's mother is a Cultural/Non-Practicing Muslim. Yaz was raised secular, though she observes some traditions and customs with her mother and family members. Yaz isn't sure where she stands on religious belief and would prefer to avoid labels, but she is curious about Islam.
Dave, as many of you already know, was raised following the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS); aka, he was raised Mormon. He no longer practices.
Roxie's family practices Hinduism, but she didn't have much exposure to the faith while she was growing up. She loosely practices and holds onto some beliefs, but it doesn't take up a large part of her life.
Keep in mind, all of this is about the characters' current states. Things will change as the story progresses. Also, this is all subject to change. It probably won't veer too far from what you see here, but don't be surprised if the end product isn't exactly the same. Remember, TAoE is very much a WIP.
Finally, I just want to let y'all know that I am an Atheist, and was raised adjacent to Mormonism. While my fic will at times be very critical of religion and delve into some of its darker aspects, I will make sure to highlight the positive aspects as well. Religion isn't inherently good or bad, and in this case, it's purely a plot device.
