More world/character information...
This was orignally posted on August 8, 2003 in reference to a poll I had posted in my journal. The only edits I have made are removing the link to the orignal poll, and adding the answers to Banrai's questions.

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sanitysloss -- If Adian was originally the owner of Snowhawk and Nytehawk, how would things be different?
The biggest part of Adian's personality to take into account for here, in Section 1, is that Adian only wants one thing: sex.

If I were to base my answer on Adian's orignal Section 1 personality, it could be summed up in that Past Secrets would be VERY boring. Hell, there wouldn't have even been a story. Lots of sex and bondage, and little to no chance of either of them escaping. I highly doubt if either of then would have been little more than toys to him.

Basing my reply on the rewrite, Snowhawk would not have been made to go on those missions, Adian had little to do with his uncle. There still would have been little chance for them to escape, but neither of them would have really had a reason to. Rewrite Adian, while still looking for a piece of ass, is a little more... subtle in his approach. As opposed to mere toys, they would have been "companions".

sanitysloss -- How are the second and third forms influenced by emotions and surroundings? What changes are possible for the forms (color change, new wings, horns, etc.)
Wow. Broad base here. Ok.. *looks at notes*

•Phase 1 --> Phase 2: If this change ever occurs, it happens between ages 18 and 22, some earlier, some later. Usually, it's the males that don't go through this Phase shift. Normally, just the fur, mane, and/or tail color changes. Some Phase shifts give the Delphin wings and/or a horn, or can even change the _type_ of wings and/or horn. This Phase shift can be iniated by more than just age. Age, in combination with some stress from an outside source, can cause it. An extreme emotional outburst at just the right time can force the Phase shift. Sometimes, with age, new forms to shift to are gained, usually no more than 2.

•Phase 2 --> Phase 3: This change rarely occurs. It is the least documented of the Phase shifts. One of the things that has been said to casue it is, after the Delphin's spirit attempts to return to who it was, that split weakens the Delphin. They can't keep going in two directions at once, but the Delphin remains in their Phase 2 form, though they will change back and forth from that Phase 2, to their past self. When the spirit rejoins by a means other than magic, the Phase shift usually occurs. Once a spirit splits, a Phase 3 shift is inevitable since no magic or talisman can stay with a Delphin for their life. As to what causes a split, it varies. No singular thing has been a common thread between any two cases. Sometimes it's suddenly recovering from amnesia and not only remembering their current past, but who they were in another life, sometimes it's a vampire's bite, sometimes it's just too much stress for the Delphin to handle.

Phase 3 shifts can also be caused by either of the latter 2 I described above with out a split.

•Phase 1 --> Phase 3: Very, very few thing casue this. And they are all extreme. Broken horns tend to be the largest casue, and it's also said that the Delphin's personality changes. They become everything they weren't before.

~*Edit 1 :: 3:30 pm, 08.03.03*~
stellie -- Fill me in on everything XD (*is sorta clueless, but would like to know more -- now that I have time*)
Yay summary.

Where to start... Well.. Characters in the beginning.

Janus is a slaver. He's not one of those that will just randomly go out and grab one of his slaves to beat and rape them. He's to refined for that. He only has a few slaves, ones that are intelligent and pretty and suit his "tastes". He's a sneaky bastard. Occasionally, I'll referr to him as "wuff" becasue he's not human, but a wolf morph. Specifically, the species is called the Lupino. He's 21 when we first meet him in the rewrite. His uncle is the disputed leader of the country this takes place in.

Snowhawk and Nytehawk are cousins and 2 of Janus' slaves. Snowhawk is 3 months older than Nytehawk. They're is 18 when we first meet them in the story.

Nytehawk is a trophy slave, she's smart and pretty, but basically only there for her looks. The pale colors on her are rare, and she's very even-tempered, so she's worth a lot. That's not to say she doesn't get pissed off, it just takes a lot to do so. And watch out when you do. She was given to Janus by his uncle for Janus' 14th birthday. An interesting note here is that, while she may not act it, especially in Section 2, she's smarter than Janus. This is a big sore spot for him.

Snowhawk would have been a trophy slave had her attitude and stubborness (sp) not been there. At a young age, her first owner started to used a spiked halter on her, scarring her face. She had little value as anything but a breeder, but was put into that too early. She only managed to carry 2 (*coughthreecough*) foals to term while a with this owner. She was basically given away as her scars and attitude lowered her value. She was a gift for Janus' 15th birthday. His uncle had seen her and actually found her personality to be the best part of her, and thought she'd be a good challenge for Janus. In the PS comic, there was one panel with 13 year old Snowhawk flipping a bird and saying "Sit on it and rotate, jackass." I'll find that scan. The first night Janus had her, she nearly killed him. After some 6 months of him trying, he finally got her calmed down... so to speak. After that point, until she was 18, she would go on missions for Janus to gather information on the other slavers trying to take command from his uncle. She also became an assassin of sorts. As time progressed, the slavers were more and more suspicious (sp) of her, and on her last mission (which, for the record, Janus didn't want her to go on), they knew who she was. She was nearly killed on this mission and escaped from Janus soon after, taking Nytehawk with her.

Hunter is Nytehawk's mate. He's 4 months older than Nytehawk. He was born free and has never been a slave. He's boring. :D

Legacy is Snowhawk's mate and Guardian. He's not fully trained as a guardian and therefore, tends to make a lot of mistakes. He follows his emotions more than this common sense.

Adian... is described above. :D;;

Basically, the story starts (in the rewrite) at Snowhawk's last mission and follows the characters from there.

stellie -- Erm... Why is it called 'Past Secrets'? oO;
Becasue I suck with titles and needed something to call it. Then the name stuck. :D;;

~*Edit 2 :: 08.03.03; 9:30 pm*~
lantairvlea -- How much physical area does the story cover? (i.e. just how far apart is everything?)
I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from where I live and places I've been. The city is based off Knoxville, especially Downtown and the Old City (just more alive). Land area is probably a little smaller than Knoxville. Map here of Knoxville here. (I live near Three Ridges Golf Course, fyi.) Nytehawk's home is on the west fringe of the city, Snowhawk's (most current) apartment is about 7 miles east from Nytehawk's home and more in the city limits. She's still with in walking distance. Janus' estate is actually just outside the city's west limits, and further south than Nytehawk's home. It's within walking distance of Snowhawk's apartment, but it's a long walk. One that's about 15 miles. Something I don't write in is that the characters will take a taxi or get a ride from someone to other places when they know where I need to go.

In the forest, some 20-odd miles from the eastern city limits, is Janus' cabin.

Many miles further east is Kione's castle. He lives by the sea. His castle isn't one of those typical, haunted, spooky vampire castles on a rocky cliff. It's actually not even that large of a castle. If you were to bulldoze his castle and out a hotel in it's place, you'd have a very nice vacation spot... and one pissed off vampire. :D;;

lantairvlea -- Do you plan on doing any other stories in this "universe" either before, after, or during the same time period?
Oh yes.

Before: I want to go into more detail about </a>Emerald and the fall of the Delphin empire. And her relationship to kione. He explains about that here.

During and After: I'd like to develop the characters of her sons (*coughanddaughtercough*) more. See what they're like. The two older boys will show up in Section 3 for certian.

Maybe also see what's happening some 2,000 years down the road. Where the characters are and what not. (My morphics have very long natural lifespans.)

~*Edit 3 :: 10:40 pm; 08.03.03*~
grimmhooke -- If you could change one major, key point in the plot of Past Secrets, what would it be?
They wouldn't have escaped. :D *is killed for suggesting such a thing*

*revives*

Seriously, it's the one I've already tried to get rid of: Snowhawk wouldn't get pregnant. But I couldn't think of another way to do anything so... It stayed. >>

Others, like the fight between Legacy and Adian, then Adian being "killed" by Snowhawk are being changed. Not removed, I'm just trying to write them better. After all, if Adian and Legacy don't fight, then Quillen would never come around. And if they don't fight, then Adian doesn't get "killed" by Snow and therefore wouldn't have been turned into a vampire.

grimmhooke -- Are the characters based on people you've met or with whom you associate? Or are they based upon aspects of yourself?
It's some of both, actually.

I can seriously say that with out Xella getting ahold of Janus and keeping him for... How long was it? More than a year? Anyway, if she hadn't had him for so long, then he wouldn't have changed like he did. Infact, with out Xella and Sallie, I really doubt that Past Secrets would have lasted as long as it did. They helped the characters develop, if they realize it or not.

Hunter was very loosly based on Erik. Janus was very, very loosly based on a guy I used to RP with (this guy would be the one that my character slept with, he vanishes for 3 days, then comes back and tries to kill her).

What fills in the rest of the character is different aspects of myself. I've said before that somewhere in me, I don't hate Quillen. Infact, I sympathise with him.

I don't think you can write a character and NOT have some part of you in them.

~*Edit 4 :: 7:30 pm; 08.05.03*~
gigs_83 -- How did the idea of delphins and lupino (and your other morph names) come about?
The very first Delphin was named Delphine. The name Lupino came about when I needed a name for the wolf morphs and wanted something to show that they were wolves. Feln are my feline species and came about from a typo.

gigs_83 -- Would the words be capitalized (Delphin vs. delphin, etc.)?
I prefer them to be. Dunno why.

~*Edit 5 :: 9:00 pm; 08.05.03*~
xella-- How common are vampires and other "real world mythical creatures" (leprechauns, blah blah) in the PS world?
Dispite what it seems like, vampires aren't that common. Anya isn't technically one as the only thing she gains from taking another's blood is continued youth. She'll die eventually. Her species, the Avizon, is as rare as the vampire. I haven't figured up actual numbers yet as I don't know how heavily populated the country is. I just know it's not very.

xella-- Does Snowhawk have like... animal magnetism or something? Jeez >>;;
I was actually waiting for this to be phrased one way or another...

Way~ back when Emerald was her and she met Kione as a mortal, that's basically when you could say things started. She was very close to him as a friend when Onyx, her mate, was killed. Him "saving" her turned "friends" into more.

So as usual, we'll just blame it on him. :D

Kione: Fl (since I can't do that on a PC keyboard...)

Anyway... We move on to Janus. She tries to kill him, he's intrigued by this. He takes some 6 months to get her. Later, while still with Janus, Legacy, Guardian without a charge and depesperate, decides on her, most likely becasue of how Janus acted to her. He showed her off. "Hey, look what I have and you~ dont~ ;p" etcetcetc. Legacy didn't see that as proper treatment for someone you cared about, and so, vowed to protect her.

Move on a year (or so), Legacy and Sno have met back up. (I'm going by the rewrite here) Janus decides he need to talk to Snowhawk, so he throws a party, knowing she'll come and try to get Nytehawk. He manages to convince her to stay "just the night". Then even longer when he finds out about her condition.

Little while after she gets there, a connection similar to what Emerald and Kione shared starts to develop between Snowhawk and Adian... Snow just doesn't know about it. Adian does this firstly becasue he figures if Janus is happy then Janus will leave him the hell alone. Later on, he does it just to piss Janus off. Brotherly love and all. :)

As for Kione and Sno... He wants Emerald back. He never intended for anything to happen to her. If she hadn't been killed, I never would have written PS.

So, in a way, yeah, she does have some sort of magnetism. I don't know what the hell it is, but there's something there... And it wasn't before Emerald knew Kione, so yeah, we blame it on him. :D

Kione: Why the hell am I at fault?

Becasue you're an annoying ass vampire.

K: --; You know, I explained everything in my journal...

~*Edit 6 :: 10:05 pm; 08.05.03*~
verderame -- What's the average lifespan of a slave delphin? A freed-but-once-slave? Born free (and pantless)?
Hello, Alex... oO;

Anyway, a slave Delphin's life span and a Delphin that's been born free actually have about the same life span, if the slave has a good owner. Freed Delphin have shorter lifespans on average becasue they usually have escaped and their former owners are none to happy about an investment getting away.

Average Delphin (and Feln and Avizon) life span ranges some 4,000 - 5,000 years, though most don't live near that long. By comparison, a Lupino will live some 1,000 - 1,500 years. They've been known to live longer.

verderame -- What's caused you to not give up on PS, no matter what, through thick and thin?
I have... nothing else to do. It's become such a part of my life, I can't think of anything else I'd do. In a way, I'm continuing it soley becasue I can't imagine _not_ having it to work on.

~*Edit 7 :: 7:30 pm; 02.29.04*~
indigo_tears -- How would things be different is, say, Jenga really was part of Janus's estate (like in the RP)
I don't think there would be much difference. Depending on the circumstances of the group, Snow and Nyte have brought her with them when they escaped.

indigo_tears -- DO you think she would have gotten along well with Sno and Nyte? How about with Janus? With Adi?
Probably. She may have gotten along better with Nyte, especially when Snow would try to justify why the missions had to be done. I think getting along with Janus would just have been something to keep her from getting in trouble. And Adi... eh, probably would have tried to avoid him like the plague. :D;;