Runsinshadows

I lived in Washington state when I was young. The area I was in, referred to carbonated drinks as "Pops". Two counties over, they were called sodas, the county north of me called them soda pops, which is the original term. It somehow became bastardized in other places. You could use any variant in either of the three counties and people knew what you meant. In a way, that was what I was trying to do, use variants of terms commonly known to differentiate the original races from the evolved ones. When you read the word alpha, for example, you usually are reading about someone who has an aggressive personality who often is the leader. However, a leader only has to be able to get others to follow them. Some of the best leaders I have known were not aggressive. My point with this is that not just any word will work. Alphas are dominate personalities, so a word like dominus, which is Latin for master, is more likely to convey to a reader, the image of an aggressive leader, than a word that most people have never heard, and are unlikely to be able to guess it's meaning. That is something I want in this story due to the sides being related. In another story, I might make up words.

Thought you might be interested in this. I followed the link provided by Invidiared. While looking through the information, I came across the word "scion". I decided that youngling will be something the elder shifters use for teens and young adults. Scion, or descendant, will be used for the Lampires. Beginning to truly hate that word. I keep imagining glow in dark vampires. >_<

Adding on… I like the Lord and Lady. He is Lord of the city kind of deal. Now, if I could figure out something to call the living vampires, instead of "Lampires" which my cousin likes to call them, I would be good to go. I can work around what to call someone submissive who isn't submissive.

Actually, that isn't a bad suggestion. They age slower, and live much longer than humans, so I can see them calling anyone they see as "children by that.

I am not familiar with any of this, except D&D. I did play that a few times. It never really gathered much interest in the crowd I ran with, but I have always been the odd one. Thanks for giving another place to look. I really had no idea past searching other languages.

Your suggestions for master, alpha, beta, and pack are things I can see using. They are close enough to the original words to be understood, but different enough that they would sound unique in a way. Your answer to my last question made me spray my dog with Dr. Pepper. He is now hiding under the coffee table, giving me betrayed looks.

Hello again. Sorry to bug you people with this long post, but I am hoping you can help. I am in the mapping stages of a story in which I am playing around with shape shifters, werewolves, and vampires. It is case where the shifters are huntng the "bad" werewolves and vampires. However, not all are "bad". To make this clear, let me explain a little. In the world I am creating, there were once only shape shifters and "living" vampires. They lived peacefully among humans, but kept what they were a secret. Just like with humans, they had those that refused to follow the rules, and over time evolved into the lycans, and and the more typical form of vampires. Where I am running into trouble is with my desire to come up with terms for the "good" side. What I mean, is that lycans live in packs, they are lead by an alpha, the other members fall into the categories of beta, submissive, or omega. Their home range is called a lair. Vampires are divided into clans, they live in groups called kisses. Their home range is called a nest. They are lead by masters. The rest fall into the category of either leader, childe, or fledgling. There is more to this, but I think that is enough to give you an idea of what I am doing with them. Here is where I am hitting walls. I want the reader to be able to know the difference between a good or bad vampire just by the terms used. I have tried using Google translator to find terms to replace the ones used for vampires, but what I am given is very close to the English word for the most part. I could maybe rethink things if I had alternatives for the words master, child, and vampire. The shifters come in three types: Canindae(wolf), Felindae(large cats), and Serpendae(snake). They don't completely shift- think of a wolfman here. I need alternatives for the words alpha, beta, and pack. There are no omegas among the shifters. What do you call someone who isn't traditionally submissive, but who isn't aggressive enough to be a beta type? I am uncertain if the Serpendae should be used at all. Snakes are seen by many as evil. But there are those who see them as good. The living vampires and the other two shifters have counterparts with the lycans, and vampires. A lycan that turns into a snake just doesn't fit. I am not saying that they wouldn't be dangerous, but they would be like someone with throwing knives, when everyone else had guns. Again, I am sorry for the long post, but the only other person I could ask, blinked at me and told me it was something I was going to have to decide for myself, which was no help at all.

I have decided to just stick to what I have been doing. While I love writing, it is something I do for my own entertainment. After thinking about it, I realized I don't need to be perfect about it. While I want readers to enjoy what I write, once I get something posted, what is more important to me is if I am happy with it. By that, I mean did I get the story out of my head in a way that I can look back and say I enjoyed writing that story. I am my own proofreader. Maybe that is why I worry so much about things like punctuation. Just because I am writing for myself doesn't mean I don't care what others think. I would be mortified to learn someone had the thoughts about something I worked hard at writing, that I have had after reading some stories. My thoughts have been far from nice, so many times.

Confusion is becoming a permenant state of mind for me. I am finding that so much of what I was taught in school, doesn't match what I am encountering now. I am wondering if my teachers were so outdated, or if what is being taught has changed so much.

Thank you. I will check it out. :)

I am sorry, I don't understand. By "we", do you mean this site? I have never heard of Ross's game dungeon, so I have no idea what citations you are talking about.

It looks like I am not the only one confused by this. One site that I checked, stated that either way was correct, you just needed to be consistent in your useage. So far, that one seems to be the most senisble, as it is something I have noticed being done. I have been known to completely reword a sentence to avoid the issue, but that isn't always possible, especially when you are referring to a person directly. Thanks for the input. If nothing else, I no longer feel as if I am stupid for not knowing which way is correct.

Hoping someone here can clear something up for me. When I was in grade school, I was taught that you showed posession by adding a 's at the end of of a name. However, I keep seeing where it as s' as in Ross'. Occasionally, I will still see it written as Ross's. I tried looking into it as I know things are being taught differently in school, but the grammar sites don't agree on which it is. I am now so confused on which is correct. Does anyone here know which is the one I should be using?

Sorry but never mind. Whatever the problem was, it has fixed itself.

Thank you, I obviously misread it.