While brainstorming for plot ideas I came up with one I find interesting but am unsure whether it's a good one, so I'd like to hear some opinions. This is the setting: A city in a fantasy version of north-east Africa around 100 BC. The main religion is a polytheistic one, people are very devout and the religion influences all parts of daily life. However, there's a Sect gaining influence in the city, that's promoting an entirely new religion. They build temples, offer miracle healing and care for the poor, homeless and hungry. But of course, that's only on the surface and there are some darker twists to their charity no one knows of yet. What they're really up to is only discovered when the Gang that controls the citie's underworld decides the Sect is a threat to their business and sends someone to eliminate them. The reason why the Gang sees the Sect as a threat would be this: The Gang relies on the poor people for new members and gets it's power partly from providing an opportunity for them to get off the streets. They also make money from selling drugs to addicts, pressing protection fees from citizens and selling people into slavery if they cannot pay their debts. So aside from denouncing the religion the Gang members believe in, the Sect also actively takes away the Gang's basis for new recruits and infringes on their income by offering charity and opposing slavery. Is this a good enough reason for a powerful criminal network to take radical actions against a relatively small group of people? Is it an interesting conflict and does it make sense at all?
I would guess that a gang boss would try to take over the sect first, either through money or intimidation. Second option would be to infiltrate it to investigate what they're up to. Just send in some low rank gang member and have them ask some questions. If plan 1 fails and plan 2 finds out something big, then plan 3 would be to attack directly.
Plan 2 is already included in this, although at this point (send someone to infiltrate) the Gang leaders have already decided the Sect has to go. It is only when the ones executing the attack go into the Sect's temple that they discover that the Sect is up to something shady. Prior to this, it would only be business. Plan 1 does sound like an interesting addition. I'll see if I can include it. Thanks
I think it would make sense. People get into wars over religion alone, if the new religion is also going to make you lose business, that's one more reason to attack.