So, re-reading the prologue of Fearful Symmetry, I saw another vista in the text of an alternate universe worth speculating on, the celestial union. I wonder, how it might have come to be, a spiritually minded, Bajoran centered Alpha Quadrant. An interesting contrast to the secular earth dominated federation. Anyway, thoughts on how this Celestial Union came to be? Bajoran conquest, or perhaps proselytization of the Alpha Quadrant? I find the concept really riveting and fascinating. Disclaimer: This is not a story idea, and any speculation should not be taken as ideas given. Anyway, thoughts, speculation, suggestions on how this Celestial Union came to be, and what it might be like as a polity?
The Bajoran religious leaders tended to be vile political manipulators, who used religion to amass power, at least in DS9. So, basically, the Celestial Union sounds like Gilead. Pretty much exactly like religious leaders in real life.
Hmm, I’m not so sure, given that Sisko was apparently a member of it and it stretched to cardassia and earth. That tells me, that it must have been expanded through more benevolent means.
That depends on when the Bajoran Hegemony absorbed Earth - think of the difference of Major and Intendant Kira. Major Kira grew up under the Cardassian Occupation. Intendant Kira grew up as a member of a major player of the Alliance. If Hegemony!Sisko was born and grew up a member of a client race of the Bajoran Hegemony, in a society where (for example), the worship of the Prophets has been spread to those client races, this Sisko would potentially be as fervent a believer as any extremist who uses religion to justify their actions.
During DS9 we saw bits and pieces of Bajoran history that showed that they were way more advanced a lot earlier than most of the other races, so maybe something happened that sped up that advancement even more, and they were able to become a more dominant player in galactic politics.
"Advancement" isn't a straight line, and different cultures can advance in different directions. Bajorans had a high civilization tens of millennia before Earth, but chose to direct their efforts toward less aggressive, less physical goals than colonizing the galaxy. That's not "less advanced," just differently advanced. Similarly, according to behind-the-scenes material, the Deltans of TMP had an advanced spacefaring civilization several thousand years ago but chose to give it up to reorient themselves toward more spiritual exploration. They saw the need to expand into space as a phase that an immature civilization went through before "advancing" far enough to give it up in favor of deeper, more meaningful pursuits.
I imagine the religion of the prophets was widespread and became adopted by the celestial union’s members(just speculation not story ideas here)
Just FYI, folks, if you offer a speculation that could potentially inspire a writer to have story idea, then it crosses the line into "story idea" territory, and just saying "I don't intend this to be a story idea" doesn't make one bit of difference.