https://www.gayauthors.org/story/w-l/Causality

Some good things to think about:

1. Yes, Chinese hell is much more Bureaucratic than punishment based. Our mythology is closer to Ancient Greek and Roman than Judeo-Christian. It's a holding point for reincarnation; you wait for your turn to come back in a long line.

2. So, what's up with Sid and his alter-ego? You should be asking a second question, where did I come up with his name? That will give you a big hint as to his character arc in my story. Also to answer the question beforehand, he is not Siddhārtha Gautama or the "Buddha" That would be too easy

3. Kitt has mentioned this to me a few times, Patrick is turning into my breakout character. Hmm....A gay 18 year old ghost with a huge libido and a lot of angst. I don't know what she means....

4. The main story or case in this area; why don't I skip ahead and go straight for the horror, sci-fi, and mystery? I am building the universe from the ground up. Concepts have to be introduced, materials covered, and prejudices announced.

As for the Chinese Zodiac, I took the idea from a combination of mythologies. Buddhism and Taoism both had a profound concept about order and universal structure. In Chinese mythic Taoism, you get the legend of the 12 Chinese Animals in the Zodiac. In Buddhism, you get the Animal Path of reincarnation. I took the two and combined them to form a new interpretation: Human beings are not all high minded or rational in our natures, we're very animal-like or beastly. This concept between man and beast is not going to be forgotten.

Let me note the animals the three characters so far are in the Chinese Zodiac:

Alex- Horse 1978

Patrick- Sheep 1979

Sid- Tiger 1986

For those that are interested in Chinese Astrology, Yes I did match them up for compatibility

The Horse and sheep are one of the few closely linked animal pairs in the zodiac (1 year apart) that actually work in a relationship according to Chinese astrology.

5. Fun facts about Buddhism: when Siddhārtha Gautama, an indian prince, left his father's palace: He saw many strange and horrifying things in the world that made him wonder why we exist at all.

He saw laborers, he saw old people, he saw disease, and he saw death.

Buddhism is founded on a concept of internal reflection; a concept not many people attempt to explain or writers even approach due to the subject being things readers want to avoid thinking about, let alone finding a way out of.

When I split Sid's personalities and I took cues from Siddhārtha Gautama own first experiences in the "Real World" to give you guys an allusion to the revelation, but also a foreshadowing to the issues this story is going to follow. The supernatural is frightening, but humanity is even more frightening.