Optional bonuses or reductions to attributes may be included in the template's Advantages or Disadvantages listing. Assume that a 10 is always average any place any time, despite how squalid living conditions might have been in the time period. Advantages should be kept as realistic as possible. This means that abilities like Eidetic Memory and Magery are not appropriate. If such advantages fit the fictional archetype of your template, you may include them as options, but no cinematic advantage should be mandatory on the template.
Most folks are of Average appearance.
This means that Appearance will rarely appear on these templates except perhaps as an option. Many advantages provide a bonus to attributes and skills within a narrow field. This makes them more realistic than high attribute levels. Though the notion that Illiteracy was the norm in ancient times is factually suspect, assume that Illiteracy is the norm for the templates in this book. If members of your template's profession were historically better of worse off than their fellow countrymen, Wealth may be appropriate.