A CROWN OF THORNS

## Plot Synopsis

* Isa is a powerful being who has been exiled from his home system of Ursa Major for having a different opinion than his father.  His people have inhabited that stretch of space for around 200,000 years. Isa has a brother, Armilius, who has an innate ability to influence people to his will, and a father, Al'ab, who is the Ruling Father of their people.  Isa been in exile for around 80,000 years, traveling from system to system and planet to planet, looking for other intelligent lifeforms to share his knowledge with.  When he finds a planet that he has deemed capable of achieving Type 1 Civilization status, he blends in with the population for a few hundred years to learn more about them and, ultimately, pass on his knowledge and attempt to help push them in the right direction.

* As he’s passing through the Sol system, he detects primitive life on the third planet and goes to investigate.  He lands on the outskirts of a small town called Ofel and begins to watch.  He notices how the people are dressed and how they look, and he alters his appearance to resemble them.  Soon after, he relocates to a nearby town called Nazareth, and one day as he’s walking, he sees a man performing a strange ritual on people in a small creek.  He approaches and asks what the man was doing.  He says his name is John the Baptist and he’s saving people by baptizing them.  He convinces Isa to participate in the ritual and as he’s receiving the baptism, he receives a message from his father, who says he loves and misses him.  The message ends up being a trick from his brother, Armilius, who has hatched a clandestine plan to seize power from their father.    John sees this and interprets it as the holy spirit visiting Isa and begins declaring him the son of god to anyone who would listen.

* After the baptism, Isa retreats into the desert to figure out what to do.  He’s visited by his brother, Armilius, who tries to convince Isa to leave the people alone and let them progress in their own way.  Armilius is convinced that if Isa is killed, his consciousness will be beamed to a backup receptacle on their home planet and downloaded into a new body.  This will put him out of commission for around 2,000 years, allowing Armilius to fulfill his plan without Isa being around to stop him.  He repeatedly attempts to convince Isa to abandon his quest and return home, to no avail.  Furious, Armilius leaves and Isa moves to Galilee to begin his plan of preaching his knowledge to the people.  He believes that if enough people heed his teachings, then they will spread and eventually, the world will come together and focus on progress and not war, like Isa’s own people.  He builds his ministry steadily for 3 years, sparingly flexing his powers in order to progress his image of a healer.  As he spreads his word, followers begin to travel with him.  As this is happening, Armilius has secretly been influencing the Jewish Elders, pushing them into hypocrisy and greed.  Isa begins to call them out on their hypocrisy, and they begin to clash.

* Tensions are high and the Elders start a secret campaign to undermine Isa in order to sway his followers and shrink his influence.  They infiltrate his inner circle and Judas betrays him, leading to the Roman authorities arresting Isa and putting him on trial for sorcery, breaking the sabbath, claiming to be the King of the Jews, and claiming to be the son of God.  Isa refuses to acknowledge his sins and is found guilty during his trial and is sentenced to die via crucifixion.  Isa knows that if he fights back, then it will negate all of the good that he has done over the past three years, so he decides to accept his fate and go out as a martyr.  This is all part of Armilius’ plan and he watches as his brother’s body is crucified and then entombed in a cave.  He stays for a few years in order to sow distrust and begin his long plan of enslaving the human race.  His plan is to mold humanity into the perfect fighting machine and use them as cannon fodder to invade and subsequently seize power from his father.  When he’s convinced that he’s done enough, he leaves for home so that he can complete the next part of his plan.

* Meanwhile, on Earth, over the next few hundred years, people begin to exhibit special abilities, and a new human race is born.

## Characters

Isa

Armilius

Judas

John the Baptist

Pontius Pilate

## Locations

Nazareth

Outskirts of Ofel

Judaean Desert

Galilee

Garden of Gethsemane

Trial of the Sanhedrin