Kynn being the one who was 'created' as a weapon instead of Reeza, and Kened Denek finds out about him and his family and is sent to get rid of them, but her teenage daughter Maiza stops her before she can finish the job. 

Maybe the Neritye aren't the main villains, but just the Sirrenti or the Bianandrin.  

Thiare and Reeza were classmates at the Celestyn Study School, and are best friends. 

Kr'Enza is a spy for the Sirrenti, and he ends up killing Kev's wife, Indi  (Kev always thought she went off-world to trade, but she was actually an undercover officer for the SF, heading an operation against the Sirrenti).  

Emari as one of the good guys. 

Ki'Rana working alongside Kr'Enza because the Sirrenti are holding her brother, Va'Heta, hostage somewhere and she doesn't think she has another choice until she can find him. 

Anabel was a practicing Nurse until she made a mistake in diagnosing something, and the patient died.  His/her relatives brought a negligence case against her, and before the League could even formally take away her license, she disappeared.  Now she lives on Grasezne, spending most of her time in a certain bar. . .

steph

* * *

I thought it might be good to keep their personalities the same-- change the circumstances instead of them.  For instance, Thiare as a shy voice-weaver/performer could work, a shy body-seller would not.  Anabel would still be herself if we go with the drunk-on-Grasezne scenario, since she's shown a tendency to drink sometimes in order to ignore problems, and if she let someone down badly enough, that's a route she might take.

Going with that scenario, maybe when she left her profession, she also left a husband behind?   Or, Vander being the Karavan's Nurse could be interesting.  Hee.
Speaking of Nurses, how funny would Trader be as a Nurse? 

"You're supposed to help people get better, not put them in the med bay!  Kynn, are you okay?"
"Pretty birds. . ."
"Kev!!"
"What?"
Thiare as a voice-weaver and performer who's an excellent dancer is sounding amusing to me.
Maybe one of them could be disfigured from arson instead of glass cuts?
Indi doesn't die? Maybe she just leaves Kev, or they have an actual happy marriage? She's in the lists below, just in case you want her for a main character later. *S*
Maiza could still be running from the ceremony-- but this time her mother arranged to work with their 'gods', the Sirrenti, to bring in or kill other people they don't like in exchange for her daughter's life?  Maiza is not happy when she finds out about the trade. Tries to go back to Ceves, but someone stops her this time?
Tutor-student thing . . . Kelly and Remy reversed? Or maybe Reeza is Va'Heta's tutor, and after his parents are killed they stay together as more friends than student/teacher?

Maybe Kr'Enza (whose true nature is obviously unknown at this point) is the Head of Security on the hub?   That could make for a creepy scene where he starts following Reeza around, and confronts her in the empty observatory-- making the scene honestly disturbing instead of funny like it was between her and Nolan.
Kynn would be hilarious as a mind-seer.

"Reeza! Quit thinking things like that about me! I think I'm blushing."
"Rrrrrrrrrrrr."

One of them (Indi, if you don't want her as a main character?) being the leader of an anti-Sirrenti task force and being killed-- maybe by Emari, who was in the team as a mole?   The team disbands, and soon after the Karavan starts so as to fill the gap?

One scenario I've thought of--  maybe Va'Heta is the one who had a mind wipe for some reason, and Thiare used to be his wife?   They meet again, and she's thrilled to see him-- until he tells her that she must be mistaken, his name is Ri'Seva Carasdi.   (and it'd get even worse if after Thiare came up to him and started chattering, Reeza Carasdi introduced herself. . .)

Another one (and my current fave.  lol)--  maybe Ki'Rana is the one who meets with Kev and convinces him to give her info on the Palazite.  I can see the two of them, meeting in a bar and half-drunkenly talking (a fake drunk on her part, since Ekalnites don't get drunk easily).  And him only realizing what she was doing when he gets back to what used to be home.

Then later, he meets her again when . . . he goes to get the hub and finds her living on it with a group of scavenger children.  Feeling horribly guilty once she found out what the Sirrenti were up to, she gave up all the trading items they gave her (a donation to the Tamike Adoption Center?) and went back to the one inhabitable area near the world she'd accidentally helped demolish, living as a Mekano woman.

steph

* * *
I can see Trader and Ki'Rana running through the hub when Trader first comes to get it (if we go with the Ki'Rana-as-scavenger plotline), saving their initial argument for later now that they're trying to get back to his ship before the pirate ships manage to link-- they're too late.  The pirates corner them, and a bad situation gets worse when one of them starts to Shift.   But then he turns on the pirates instead, grinning at them as he Shifts back.  "Nolan Stark, undercover SF Officer.  Pleased to meet you."    ;-)

Either that or Trader and Nolan are partners in this one on the trading route.  I can just see the two of them scheming and plotting.   lol

And as for what to keep and what to change, I probably could've explained that better . . . trying again.   *s*     Keep who they are more than what they are, if that makes sense.   For instance, Reeza when we first meet her is arrogant and pretty spoiled, and she could be that way due to Sezare being rather afraid of her unknown power, or because she's the daughter of a very powerful mining magnate, and Remy's sister.   lol    (man, can you just picture the two of them as siblings?  They'd take over the galaxy in a week.  *G*)

So while races would stay the same, purely from a physical-description standpoint, other characteristics could change.  Nolan would still be an independent, *very* self-confident flirt who hides anything deeper than that around most people without being a Shapeshifter.   Not that we *have* to change him being a Shapeshifter, but just keeping options open.

steph

* * *

Va'Heta and Ki'Rana as the created twins who then separated later in life?

Keep the sacrifice-rescue scene on Ceves, only maybe it's not one of their own the Bianandrins are getting ready to kill, but a tourist after they find out that he/she is alone and nobody else knows where they are?

Maybe someone else lives on Voori, near Trader?  Which is how they meet, and decide to go after the Sirrenti together . . . maybe he comes back home, and that person is waiting in his/her own ship near the planet's surface, hoping that someone else was also away at the time of the flood?

Or, oooh-- what if Trader and Jaetina are brother and sister in this one?  His parents took her in, and she told stories when she was younger about how her world was flooded, but they always assumed that was just a kid making up fanciful stories.  Then. . .

Your idea for Sulis's cover when he first meets Thiare just came back to me-- what if we have one of the characters as another character's indentured servant, for real?   (It is possible that I'm having a, "Farm boy, fetch me that pitcher."  "As you wish."  moment.   ;-D)

steph

* * *

More possibilities, this time for Thiare. . .

Maybe Thiare is the one at an Adoption Center due to neglectful parents instead of Kynn.  Kynn and Azkedra could both work there.  Thiare reads about Karavan and wants to go-- knows it's a place for the abandoned, and wants an actual home.  And since Karavan does need caretakers for some of the kids who're already there, Azkedra and Kynn go with her.

Thiare wasn't dropped off as an infant; she was about seven or eight when she was left at the Center, and she's got a few abandonment/attention issues because of that.  Instead of Carala stealing in order to get attention from somebody, maybe it's Thiare?  If Kr'Enza is working security on the hub, that could make for an interesting conflict.  Esp. if Va'Heta's working with him.    *imagines argument and smiles evilly*

steph

* * *

Maybe a scene remniscient of Azkedra helping Trader and Anabel get out of the bar?  It can still be a bar, only the one in question who helps them out could be a waitress there?  (whether Trader and Anabel are the two characters there can be decided later. . .)

Instead of Chas surviving without Trader knowing about it, Indi does?  (or maybe he's married to a different character.  How weird would that be?  *S*)   She finds him later, after he's already involved with Ki'Rana.   ???

steph

* * *

so, I was thinking about Kev--

and how he wont be a trader in this one so then Im like okay why does he own a hub?

On Voori, Trader/kevs dad was a high up political person/law maker, whatever. In Karavan he was a key player in getting voori to join the league and he was key on getting them the hub-- which is what the league offered as a bribe of sorts for them to join. (I imagine the league has to make it good to get people to join.)

theres something in the back of my mind thats saying in this alternate karavan universe theres not going to be an LOP??? maybe Im wrong.

anyway, I was thinking alternate kevs story could be something like this:

kevs dad dies when theyre just discussing joing the league (or having a trader hub built for them if there is no league) Kev takes over his dads position and is the key person for negotiating the hub and getting it built.

am also thinking that kevs family is very very rich and influencial and they have indentured servants (slaves). Kevs personal 'slave' could be Sulis?

so anyway, the hub is being built, just gets finished when voori is flooded? kev and sulis were off world together? or maybe they were on the hub and when they wake up the next morning everyone on voori is dead? so kev goings to being powerful and rich to having absolutely nothing in one
fell swoop?

sulis 'runs' away-- or kev tells him to go? they meet up later, or maybe stay together. I dunno,,, just kinda brainstorming. maybe will keep none of this.

kath

* * *

I love the idea of kirana being mekano and kev being rich (talk about total opposite)

the more I think about it, the more I see kev being a very focused, extremely intelligent business
man with a divorced wife --not because he cheated on her but because he was 'married' to his work.
or because she was using him. but dang, I gotta get to my appointment. more later.

oh but... one more thing-- a divorced wife who will turn up because she owns HALF of his holdings?
and at the time being the only holding he has is the karavan?

kath

* * *
as very very VERY rich on voori, lots of servants, he and his wife were very much in love at one time but things soured for whatever reason-- probably a lot of it his fault. Yeah, greed pretty much over came him. So he can see the end coming (divorce) and he doesnt want her to end up with anything (and maybe one of the things that came between him was she wanted children and he didn't because he was afraid hed have to give up some of his riches? Kids can be expensive?) so he decides to make an 'investment' without his wifes knowledge-- he's found a rather backwards planet named Eliahn... that he puts all of their assets into -- maybe medical research??? and into having a HUGE trader hub built there. He's known some what as a hero to Eliahns-- which feeds his ego and his pockets *until* the sirrenti attack. So he ends up loosing everything-- including his wife who leaves him maybe not so much because she doesnt love him but because HE came to love
everything else more than her??? so shes like, hope youre happy now and she leaves? So all he has left is his servant (who may or may not hate him too, Im thinking maybe sulis was a gift to him as a child) and the hub-- but kev is so devestated that he .... becomes some sort of addict maybe? A scavenger? No, a drunk or drug user, homeless crazy... anyway, he hits rock bottom completely until maybe Vander recognizes him (in a bar somewhere?) brings him back to his house where he's
been trying to figure out who the sirrenti are and how its happened because hes the last eliahn survior? something like that??? will that work? vander gets kev cleaned up and detoxed and tells him he hasn't lost everything-- and they retrieve the hub-- which is being used by scavengers/pirates??? sulis may or may not still be with him. he could have taken off and Kev could put a bulletin out for his arrest and return or he could be with him and be his way of getting his fixes-- sulis doing the work, sulis semi-taking care of him???

kath

* * *

and the more I think about it too--

maybe I could do more with the minor characters and less with the major characters. like jase and neleka, tans, indi. Kened Denek. . .

or maybe not. LOL

just a thought.

kath

* * *

combination of one and two for nolan could be interesting::

hes had a mind wipe, doesnt know why... he meets vander and trader in a bar and goes with them? someone on karavan actually knows who he is but is keeping it a secret, following him... something ??

kath

* * *

I can sooooooo see kynn as a singer/dancer at clubs and thiare as an obsessive fan girl. hee.

kath

* * *
I need to think more about reeza. and indi. and jase.

hmmm. could you do up a list of your characters and my characters separated by male/female so we can see how many we have of what???

cuz its definitely most fun to write the 'parings' when the characters dont both belong to us. if that makes sense...
kath

* * *
lets come up with more of the galaxy's background... Im still not sure who kelly, remy and reeza are. Maybe that will help.

kath

* * *
and thats not to say that our own characters *can't* be paired togehter

and am maybe thinking about writing for indi as a major character and leaving kelly out. . . thinking thinking
kath

* * *
Maybe Indi is SSF? and Ill leave kelly out completely?

is it a requirement for traveling hubs to have a ssf contingent on board? because of the pirates? Kr'enza could be the captain? and theyre in charge of security? Hira could live on the hub too cuz shes indis sister and their parents are dead and hira gets moved around a lot, staying with other relatives or friends when she cant be where indi is? maybe their parents died in the starshine or similiar attack and thats why indi joined the ssf?
kath

* * *

okay, so no neritye in this one... but still the sirrenti are after palazite? whats their motivation?

and they should be a technically advanced race probably-- maybe a secret race on ceves and they keep the bianandrin 'enslaved' by propigating the whole sacrifical thing?

kath

* * *

what if the bianandrin are the 'superior' race and the sirrenti are their slaves and do their bidding and they want the palazite because they believe it 'belongs' to the gods and . . . what if their race is dying out? (actually because the palazite is actually deadly) but they think the gods are angry with them so they keep sacrificing and trying to get more and more of it?

or maybe its not the bianadrin, maybe its kiranas race thats enslaving the sirrenti? what if they call palazite Godstone or something something somethng? LOL my minds going 500 miles an hour
kath

* * *

maybe remy could be anabels younger brother? he's been searching the galaxy for her since she disappeared and because she was a nurse (should we call them healers or meds or something else in this one?) hes been searching med bays on different hubs and in space ports all over, determined to check every single one he can find? and he hooks up with karavan (do we still call it karavan and why? maybe because it was meant to be the first in a long line of 'traveling' hubs?) because it travels and that way he can live and work there and still get to places to look for his sister?

kath

* * *

okay and what about the shape changers and mindseers?

maybe both should be have a lot of restrictions placed on them-- even maybe 'branding' them for the public to know at first glance what they are?

so as many as possible keep who/what they are secret?

and I can see a lot of them living on grasezne/in xedex
kath

* * *

K! I hope youre remembering all this! ;-)

kath

* * *

so are there still traders? cuz if so maybe one of our characters could be a trader, or a shop keeper.

kath

* * *

okay, I added what I know about my characters. wanna add to that list what you know about your characters so far?

and mine can still be completely open for discussion, ie: if Ive taken any ideas youve had for youre guys just cyber thwack me and Ill figure something else out!

kath

* * *

> Kaths:
>
> Female--
>
> Indi-- SSF-- has a little sister named Hira, from the planet Marmara
> Reeza -- not sure yet-- possibly a trader who may have been captured
> by pirates and is freed when kev and vander and nolan (and whoever) retrieve the hub
>
> Male--
>
> Kev -- rich guy from voori who lost everything
> Sulis -- kevs indentured for life servant (or until he has been
> formerly released by his owner)
> Vander -- eliahn, Nurse, his planet was destroyed by sirrenti
> Remy -- anabels younger brother, looking for her

> Stephs:
>
> Female--
> Anabel-- Used to be a Nurse, fled from everything
> when she messed up badly. Now on Grasezne.
> Thiare-- A translator working at the Kwaminle space port.
> Ki'Rana-- Mekano woman who works as an informant for the
> Sirrenti. Gets drunk (or pretends to) one night with
> Vander and gets info about Eliahn.
> Jaetina-- Trader's ex-wife.
>
> Male--
>
> Malachi-- Possibly good, possibly bad, definitely sexy
> pirate. LOL
> Kynn-- Singer/dancer at Kwaminle.
> Nolan-- Has had a mind-wipe. Comes on board Karavan
> after he gives the owners some information.

> 'Minor' characters:
>
> Female--
>
> Serra
> Maiza
>
> Male--
>
> Jase

* * *

you know what--

we are totally and completely crazy whacked to be doing this! LOL

I love it.