@HKelle Are there any legends or stories of a ghost who has been wandering the desert for thousands of years? Like maybe one ghost meets that ghost. Hundreds of years later, so does someone else. Then, soon, everyone is talking about the longest wandering ghost?
oh, your ghosts have legs, huh?
What about people who had plastic surgery? Do they get restored or is it because they did it to themselves, that they keep the face with the plastic surgery done?
Ooooh, so, wait, can ghosts loose limbs in the afterlife? Can ghosts live headless?
That’s interesting. So, like a black market type of deal, ghosts could do shady things to each other and create lux, huh?
I am more and more intrigued by Crow (who also shares that name with one of my minor Ilvagi characters, Crowfangs, a.k.a Crow).
The weapons are so pretty! Void’s Scythe looks like something my Ilvagi characters would carry around if they had weapons.
Ah…so, then where do dead ghosts go? No one knows? What happens to their body particles or energy or whatever? (sounds similar to how Sorcerers or powerful beings die in Elgana, so I’m curious)
Well, keeping the balance of Elgana. Elgana is a planet that can only exist if there’s balance and unity. This means any strong power has to have a counterpart to balance it out. If not, it is eliminated. The world has to be somewhat peaceful, as in, full out wars between races should be avoided.
Pinti and her friends can use it as their secret language because no one else has bothered to learn it. It’s hard to tell when they are talking to each other and easy to lie about what was said.
It was also an extremely limited language, so she and her friends had to dig deep into ancient Kattalunan to find other tailsign that was forced into a written language. Ancient Kattalunan is a mess and a headache. Clans have stopped teaching it because no one speaks it anyway.
Yes, sometimes. Pinti will say, at some point to someone, “What are YOU purring about?” Sometimes purring is almost like a natural bodily response to happy stimulations and sometimes the purrer doesn’t notice they are purring.
Yep, that’s Crow! He’s believed to be the one controlling the shadows, and he and his monsters are said to wander the desert looking for ghosts to eat. And then he’s found by the MC, Skye (And some lies start to unravel ooooo…)
Haha, this is a very interesting question and one that I haven’t considered! I think maybe they keep their post-surgery face. Unless they regret their plastic surgery, then they might end up with their original face.
Yep! But their limbs and any other wounds will grow back and heal within a matter of minutes (so long as they don’t bleed out before they can heal). They can live headless for those few minutes, and their head will restore itself soon.
Well the concept of artificially created lux hasn’t been explored yet, and I’m not sure if it’s possible, but yeah that could be very interesting to see! ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ
Hahaha Crow’s a weird dude, lol, but I love him. What do the Ilvagi look like? How do they get along with the kattalunae?
In the story, the characters have no idea what happens to dead ghosts after they turn to dust and disapear. In actuality, they’re gone–not existing anymore. It’s like super death. Buuuuut their dust can rarely come back down from the sky in the form of bloodstorms sometimes, as in…it’s black ghost blood raining down. These storms spawn the squall beasts that hunt living ghosts. Fun. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Interesting! Kinda reminds me of how cats use their tails and other body language to communicate in real life. Do they have any other nonverbal language that other kattalunae use if they don’t use tailsign? I ask because I have a deaf kitten and people like to joke that I need to teach her ASL.
Okay, so, the world looks like this:
Try not to get hypnotized XD
It’s made out of six tori. Each torus is a small ring-shaped planet. They all came together to form this thing that floats somewhere far from where Earth is.
Kattaluna live in the Third Ring (counting from the center) and it’s made up of desert plains, rocky plains, forests, and a swamp-river situation. The main character Pinti lives in the forest as part of Makiista Clan.
Kattaluna differ from Humans from how they look. They are bipedal blue felines with opposable thumbs. They are also a head or so taller than Humans. They also live a more rugged life with little to no electricity.
They wake up with the sun and go to sleep with the moon, but they do count the minutes and hours because that was introduced to them before they were secluded from the world.
Ah, that’s awesome! You’re welcome Well, that’s what these questions are for; to make you realize what you might have missed and maybe even come up with a solution on the spot.
Had thoughts about that
You could still have her alone and isolated. Being without the friend the entire story but always thinking of them could increase that sense of loneliness. You know you might realize how important someone is to you once they’re gone?
Reminds of the this Passenger song “Let Her Go” I think was the song. The lyrics are “You only know you love her when you let her go”. It’s that missing and longing.
And what if it’s one-sided? Elya is the one doing all the longing and missing but when she gets to her friend at the very end, the feelings are not reciprocated. That is, if you want to go with a sad, aching ending Elya then has to choose to save the friend regardless, or get mad about it and decide not to.
Just thoughts
Her father is more the “doctor” type. Pinti has no choice She wants to, but she doesn’t want to…it’s a little complicated. And she feels guilty for feeling like she doesn’t want to heal sometimes.
That’s kind of similar to what Kattaluna healing can do. If someone is stabbed in the stomach and then healed, they still need to remain in bed, sometimes might have to take an extra dosage of the same potion later.
No, it just becomes a little extra taxing to cast spells. Sorcerers stabilize their magick after puberty. Once that’s done, it won’t become corrupt on its own. There are ways, though, for it to become corrupted and it has to do with actions and the mind.
I almost wanted my Sorcerers to use it like this, but I decided against it XD I thought it would be too convenient to be able to do everything with magick And I wanted to be careful not to make them overpowered.
So, in your world, when they were using it to heat or cool things, did they have to keep refreshing the magic once in a while? Someone had to go to the fridge once a month or so to “re-cool” the fridge? Or would one spell last forever until someone canceled it or something?
Hmm…reminds me of lizards regenerating their tails. Does it hurt ghosts to have a limb chopped off? Do ghosts feel pain in general?
Ahhhhh, coooool Also, nice monsters
Speaking of getting their limbs back or keeping their faces, what about if they always, always believed they were a vampire or fairy and had fairy wings. They die and…could they get them if they believed hard enough? Or do fantastical things also not exist in the afterlife?
I also wonder what it would be like for people with identity disorders like multiple personalities Or other mental disorders. What happens to brains?
What about people who are born with a physical disability which makes life a little difficult, but that’s the only life they have ever known, will they continue to live like that as ghosts?
Do ghosts have hospitals?
Sorry, I have so many questions about your world XD How does it all work. I need to know it all XD
You said there’s an eternal three-year-old. If she wasn’t born in the era of TV, I’m guessing it would be hard for her to make friends with the other children that come in as time goes on?
Ilvagis are shapeshifting shadow beasts that look like a clump of black smoke with red, pupilless eyes as their default form.
Historically, they are the enemies and controllers of the Kattaluna race after winning in a war against them. Today, after a change in their leaders, they don’t do anything to Kattalunae. Just check on them from time to time. Most Kattalunae fear Ilvagis and are taught how ruthless and evil Ilvagis are.
Ilvagis live in the Sixth Ring, faraway on the outermost Ring. They are organisms born from the shadows of lava. They begin similar to amoeba or other cell creatures and through “strong eats the weak” some come out on top and are given permission to hone magick.
From there, the climb their social latter to gain individuality.
They have a quite unique society. Crowfangs is a minor, minor character with a fellow warrior called Thornwings or Thorn, who, at one point, was MC Pinti’s friend.
Ah, interesting. So, if there ever was a giant battle between this ghost group and that ghost group…potentially everyone could die in the end just from the squall beasts?
Reminds me I’ve seen videos of dogs taking commands in sign language.
No other nonverbal language and Kattalunae can’t communicate with cats. I did get the ideal for tailsign from cats though “If cats show what they are feeling with their tails, why not say Kattalunae have a usable language? That would be fun.”
(someone once pointed out that they thought no way Kattalunae could have such complicated conversations with their tails. And I thought, “Sounds like you’re an expert on my fantasy language?”)
Thanks It makes for a fun moment for that someone to get embarrassed and flustered.
Ha… So… This part’s a little strange because in the first book, all the ghosts in the city of After can’t feel pain, and even their emotions are dulled and senses like smell and touch are gone completely. It’s a long story as to why (a whole book, in fact! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ). But yes, after the events of the first book, the ghosts of After can feel pain again, and their emotions and senses are restored. (It’s assumed that ghosts that don’t live in After and its vicinity are fine.)
Also: they don’t have lungs, but they can still breathe if they want. (They don’t need to breathe, it’s more of a habit sometimes.) They don’t have bones, but limbs and phantom ribs and such can still be broken. (Again, this all heals very quickly.) If you touch them, apart from cold skin, you could definitely feel bones and muscle beneath their flesh as if they were a living person. But cut into them and there’s nothing but blood. Stab them through the abdomen where their kidney should be, and to them it’ll still feel like they’ve been stabbed through the kidney. Ghosts are weird. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank you! I need to make more lol.
NOPE! No fairies or fantasy creatures here. Ghost anatomy isn’t that weird lol. Although, there are “vampires,” of sorts. The squall beasts drink ghost blood.
You’re making me think really hard over here. I think ,ultiple personalty disorders would be alleviated in the afterlife. Depression and anxiety would also be alleviated (though, they can develop depression and anxiety in the afterlife).
Ghosts don’t got brains. ᐠ( ᐛ )ᐟ Just hearts, and all their thoughts and memories are stored in their hearts. Damaging a ghost’s heart can damage their memories. (points at Crow)
I think they get restored and healed.
Nope! Well, I’m sure therapists are a thing. I think Vale will get a therapist at some point in the series.
But since all injuries either heal in a matter of minutes (or the ghosts die), there’s really no need for hospitals. The only long-lasting physical condition a ghost can develop is catatonia, which is when ghosts get too depressed and fall into a ghost coma.
I’m still figuring how it all works too, lol!
She’s a little Inuit girl who definitely wasn’t around in the era of TV. But it’s actually pretty easy for ancient ghosts to make friends with newer ghosts. They’re aware of technology and are familiar (to varying degrees) oof how it works. Objects from Earth are constantly carried over in the afterlife with newly arrived ghosts, and it can be used (when powered by lux). Though, there is no cell service, wifi, or satellite in the afterlife. Maybe if they found a VHS/DVD and the appropriate console and TV, they could watch reruns of Friends or something.
I believe I have a ghost from the American Civil War who references Facebook at some point.
Spooooky. I like them.
I’m assuming that’s not a friendly “check on them.”
Is there travel between the rings? If so, how? Because I’m imagining rocket ships lol.
Also, are any inhabitants able to see the other rings in the sky from their current ring? What does the sky look like? Are the rings flat? Do the rings block sunlight and cast shadows on the other rings? Do all these rings orbit a sun? Do they rotate like the Earth does, making days and nights?
I like this idea a lot.
So if a deaf kattaluna didn’t know tailsign, how would they communicate?
Man, comments like that are the best. My personal favorite was one person who kept insisting that a platonic best friend pair of characters that were male and female should in love with each other, because readers “need romance to root for”. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Interesting! Memories in their hearts. So, does that mean their hearts are pumping memories into their bodies? Is their blood made of memories? So, if they bleed out, they lose memories and hence lose their selves, so that’s why they just disappear?
Do ghosts gain new memories to put into their hearts while living the afterlife? Is there a limit to how much memory can be stored?
Ghost comas! Okay, so ghosts get comas. Do ghosts in comas need to be on life support? (or would that be afterlife support?)
Will a ghost in a ghost coma see visions of their super death?
Wonder what they thought of that
Well, actually, there’s a no-interaction rule, so they just fly over the territories and then go home
Portals. Between First, Second, Third, and Fourth are portals. Fifth is a jail Ring, so no portals connect there. The last, and oldest portal (Edge Portal) on the Fourth Ring directly connects to the Sixth Ring. Only Ilvagi use it. No one can breathe Sixth Ring air except them.
Yes! I have a scene where Pinti looks up at the sky to see a white arc of light going across. That’s the Fourth Ring.
Oh well, on a sunny day you get a blue sky and there’s only one sun, but at night time there’s always a moon or two. There’s two moons that exist with Elgana. A big white-blue (or white yellow) moon called Ikyliell and a small orange one called Nyliell. Ikyliell is considered as the Lunar Goddess and worshipped. Moons don’t wax and wane. They are always full.
Which means no one has ever seen a crescent moon
The way the moons work is unique to each Ring. No one has figured it out quite yet why that works.
The two moons in each sky
First Ring: Always see Ikyliell and Nyliell. Ikyliell comes out in the sky first, and a few hours later, Nyliell follows.
Second Ring: Always only see Nyliell.
Third Ring: Always see Nyliell. Every four years, Ikyliell appears in the sky. Kattalunae believe that Nyliell is the lover of the goddess and every four years he reunites with her. Kind of romantic.
Fourth Ring: Always see Ikyliell, and Nyliell is there, but extremely small. Ikyliell can sometimes look like she is trying to fill up the sky.
Fifth Ring: I actually forgot what I decided. I think it’s both moons all the time.
Sixth Ring: Always see Ikyliell only and this is the only Ring where she sits on the horizon, never sets, and is red. But, in another part of the Sixth Ring, she looks like a normal moon in the sky.
They have torus shapes—meaning shaped like donuts
This is where I say, “It just works.”
There’s one sun. Idk what it does, but it rises and sets in all the Rings (except the Sixth Ring’s one certain section). There’s no time differences between Rings, btw. Eight at night is night everywhere.
Each Ring has day and night. But portals distort the time of the city they are sitting in (although the actual Ring’s time does not shift as a whole).
Oh, and civilians only live on one side of the Rings. Imagine a donut with frosting. You live on the frosting part. There’s more land on the other side that you can’t get to (…or can you? )
Well, Kattaluna do have a written language. And I’m pretty sure there’s a sign language version of Universal.
oh my gosh, someone once insisted on shipping two characters in my story that continuously hated each other And…they were a male and female character. Not an enemies to lovers situation at all because the male character put the female in dangerous situations three times and the third time nearly cost her life.
Ghost hearts no longer pump blood. In fact, they rarely even beat. There’s no circulation involved and no circulatory system. Hearts are just suspended in their chest cavities by a “spider-web” of black tendrils. And ghosts are filled with blood like water balloons. Being stabbed/shot through the heart isn’t a fatal injury. There are traces of memories in their blood, as one of my characters, Ryder who is slowly turning into a squall beast, drinks another character’s (Webb’s) blood and inadvertently sees one of Webb’s memories. But they don’t lose their memories if they bleed out. Like their body, blood regenerates inside them.
Their hearts only beat when they experience strong emotions.
Yep, they can get new memories, and learn new things and retain new information. There’s no limit to how much memories can be stored.
Nope! They’re not gonna randomly die from the catatonia itself, unless someone steps on them or stabs them or something. But they never wake up from catatonia. :c
Nope! They’re just…completely unconscious. No thoughts at all, haha.
Lol, nosy neighbors
So how do the jailed people get there? And if there’s no portal off the ring, do they only serve life sentences there?
The best way to world-build. That’s how I do it.
What’s keeping them from going to the part that doesn’t have frosting?
Dunno why some people are into those kind of ships. Drives me up the wall. (The female character of my platonic m/f pair was a lesbian too…so no, I wasn’t about to make her fall in love with her friend. Blurgh.)
I’m definitely not procrastinating writing my ONC entry right now. Nuh-uh, no way.
There’s no way to wake them up? What does the ghost society do with ghosts like this? Put them somewhere?
Policeships Only policecitizens have such ships and are allowed to travel with them. The criminals can be put there for a time until their trial date is decided. The police of their respective race will then come and get them. As for life sentences, they are made to live in survival mode.
Some of them have made a community of sorts. I mean, it’s an entire Ring, and a part of it is said to be the taiga and seen as dangerous. It’s vast forest lands that is said to be home to a beast. No one goes there because they think they can hear the beast.
I actually wrote a story taking place in the Fifth Ring decades before it became a jail Ring.
They think that way is death because anyone who tried to go that way has not returned. It’s called the Underside by some, land of the dead by others, and some say it’s the forbidden realm.
It’s just naturally inside them and replenishes itself when ghosts heal.
Yup! Exactly! The main character Skye’s first hints that she’s in love with her love interest is that her heart randomly starts beating when she’s around her, and Skye’s like, “Wait wtf is happening?”
Nope, not until the end of the first book at least.
If the catatonic ghost belongs to a found family, that family will look after them indefinitely in their home. If not, well…then catatonic ghosts are just left to lie wherever they fell and other ghosts will try to at least not step on them. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ There is a ghost named Vale, however, that gathers any unattended catatonic ghosts and looks after them and keeps them company in a sort of “graveyard.”
Like rocketships?
But is there actually a beast in there? :0
What happens to them? And are there any important characters in your world that do make it to the other side?
Like the shuttles in Star Trek but can fit up to six to seven citizens.
Nope There used to be and the fear of the beast lives on. But the north is pretty dangerous without the beast because it has a sinkhole that leads into the Guardians’ realm which is currently corrupted.
Nobody knows what happens. Do they die or live or what?
I do have a story where someone returns
I’ll be back with some more questions for you. I think I’ve satisfied my ghost city curiosity and can move on to other things
Who is better than Pinti at whatever she is good at?
Who is a crybaby and/or emotional one in the story?
Who has a massive or just big chip on their shoulder and hates everyone and everything?
Who refuses to take no for an answer?
Who hates being told that they are wrong and who hates being told that they are right?
Who has a stubborn and reckless personality?
Who is the one always causing drama and getting into fights?
Who loves to work, but hates working in a group setting?
Who is a loner and who is a social butterfly?
Who has the traumatic childhood and who has a good childhood?
Why is Pinti given the name “Pinti”? What does her name mean, if it has a meaning? If that is not her real name, what is it? Who gave her the name and why ?
Also, where does the story start and where does the story end, setting/location wise?
Pinti is good at drawing and so are most of her friends. I would say in terms of realism, Kirlan is the best. He’s always been great at sketching and that’s how he keeps track of bird species.
Pinti’s friend Aln is an emotional guy and lets everyone know his emotions. If he’s angry, he’ll show it. If he’s worried, he’ll pace and talk constantly. If he’s in a lovey-dovey mood, he’ll be up and close in personal space and want hugs and cuddles.
Valan. Although he cannot help but smile at Pinti’s little sister, Tendri. Tendri just has that effect on everyone
Valan again. You better not say something that goes against him…although through his interactions with Pinti he learns to give in because Pinti is stubborn and he’s her second-in-command. He has to follow her lead.
That’s similar to the previous question also Idk who would hate being told they are right. I think everyone would like to be told they are right
Not together. Stubborn is Pinti. But she’s not reckless. She’s careful. She’ll think things through before doing it. Reckless is Deel. Deel hasn’t come up in any of the questions yet, but he’s reckless…maybe understandable because he’s a child. Or not.
Well…not in Pinti’s clan, but there’s a leader of another clan called Kalis and she’s ALWAYS looking for drama and causing fights. She’s like the problematic YouTuber in our world, creating negative attention for herself because of her ego.
Like an independent workaholic? Not sure. Kattalunae have a clan mindset and always think about what they can do for the clan. Often they are working together (even if they don’t like each other). I would say many Kattalunae don’t mind working in a group setting if it means the clan would benefit in the end. They are all hard working no matter the clan.
In the story, the loner would be Daero and the social butterfly would be Tendri and Chardi, but among all Kattalunae, there’s no loner as I said, everyone has a clan mindset. They always think “what can I do?” and then “can anyone help me do the thing which I think would help the clan?” They have lived in “support each other” and “survival mode” for centuries and that has been engrained into their race’s values.
I think Tendri has the traumatic childhood. I mean, she’s seven right now, but if she grows up, the kidnapping she endured would remain as a traumatic experience. Pinti would probably consider her childhood as pretty good. She was taken in by a loving family and has always been surrounded by friends.
Pinti comes from “pinti-pinti” which is the Kattaluna onomatopoeia for the sound of rain. Pinti was found on a rainy spring night abandoned as a baby. She gets teased by her friends sometimes when it rains and doesn’t like the name much.
But there’s actually another reason for her name. Rain symbolizes freedom, resilience, and perseverance as well because Pinti was also quite small when she was discovered, but somehow survived being in the rain. Her father gave her this name because he thought she was strong even as a baby.
Skye is the main character, right? She goes to ghost city. Imagining she ends up at that desert. What is her first reaction? Is she scared? Confused? What actions does she take in response?
Who in your story would adopt a pet instead of buying from a pet shop? Why would they adopt?
As much as you can tell me, does Skye remember her past? What are her parents like? Does she have siblings?
Oh, I had another ghost world question: How are the days counted? 7 days a week? Is there night time and day time? Are there clocks? Is there any sense of time at all?
What happens to a ghost if they accidentally injure themselves using a lux weapon? They just heal up?
Does Skye ever eat in the story? Does she ever crave food in the story? What food is her favorite?
Are there animals that are ghosts in the ghost world? Can a ghost own a pet?
Who are the main characters of Red Reign and why have you chosen to tell the story from their perspective instead of other characters?
Who is the antagonist of the story? Why are they against the main character?
Do you have a big bad? The most horrible terrible bad boss that the characters will have to fight at the end? If yes, why are they so bad? If no, why don’t you have one?
What’s one food that appears in the story that you want to try?
If you could become one of the characters in the story, who would you like to be and why?
Out of all of your minor characters (many who might only appear once in the entire story), who is your favorite male character and who is your favorite female character? And why.
How many days are there in a week? How many hours in a day?
Are most people of the world night owls or early birds?
The book opens with her arriving in the afterlife and getting immediately attacked by a shadow. So she’s kinda terrified lol. She’s unarmed and doesn’t know anything about the world, so she can’t do anything but run from the monster. Though she does punch it in the face when it manages to catch her lol.
I think most of them would, but let’s go with Skye because she has the weakest heart for cute, tiny, sad animals. She used to be a vet tech when she was alive.
She arrives in the afterlife with zero memories of her past life, and part of the whole plot is her slowly recovering her memories. She does remember that she had a (still alive) boyfriend, Dominic, whom she’s desperately trying to find a way to return to. She was close with her parents, and they were pretty supportive of them, though she didn’t appreciate that in life. They didn’t approve of her relationship with Dominic which drove a wedge between her and them before she died. And she was an only child.
Day and night aren’t really a thing, as time never passes and it’s always eternal night (or eternal twilight, depending on where in the series you are). So they don’t track the time and and the days (which is kind of annoying to write lol). Any length of time is colloquially referred to as “tonight.”
Ex. “How are you today?” = “How are you tonight?” The lack of any sense of time passing can sometimes make ghosts go catatonic. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yup, it just heals~
At the beginning of the story, her and her buddies share a round of scavenged beer, but that’s all the eating she does lol. I don’t remember if she ever craves food in the story, honestly, but probably. I actually don’t know what her favorite food is, so I’mma just say spaghetti lol.
Yup! Any animal can be a ghost in this afterlife! (There’s even ghost fireflies and jellyfish in the story. And at one point Webb fights an elephant…) And they absolutely can own pets. :3
Crow has thousands of crows under his command. Skye keeps one of his crows as her pet and her name is Nannāru. Nugget the corgi belongs to Webb. Jacob has a lizard named Miguel. The ghost gang has a couple of horses named Cross and Hibachi. And Celia has a pet Thylacine (name pending lol).
Questions for you:
What are your favorite and least favorite scenes of your story?
Oooh, so she had a job before she got there. Does she still remember how to care for animals?
Does she remember if the relationship was good or she’s not sure? Just that she wants to get back to him? How did she and Dominic meet?
oh my gosh, so you can’t say “a few minutes later, they arrived at the place”? Or describe the sky at all?
But they do have a sense that it’s “night”, huh? I thought maybe if it’s always night then that’s the norm for them, so they wouldn’t even consider it “night”. I wonder if they have a a bunch of words to describe a night sky like how countries where it snows a lot have many ways to describe snow?
Void’s Scythe looks like something my Ilvagi characters would carry around if they had weapons.
I think maybe they keep their post-surgery face. Unless they regret their plastic surgery, then they might end up with their original face.
Elya then has to choose to save the friend regardless, or get mad about it and decide not to.
She wants to, but she doesn’t want to…it’s a little complicated. And she feels guilty for feeling like she doesn’t want to heal sometimes.
Also, nice monsters 
Or other mental disorders. What happens to brains?
No fairies or fantasy creatures here. Ghost anatomy isn’t that weird lol. Although, there are “vampires,” of sorts. The squall beasts drink ghost blood.
Spooooky. I like them.
Drives me up the wall. (The female character of my platonic m/f pair was a lesbian too…so no, I wasn’t about to make her fall in love with her friend. Blurgh.)
