Character Creation

## **General Guidlines**

### Naming Citeria

There is no naming criteria other than please provide both a last and first name for your character.

Also, if it can be helped, do not give your character a name already in use by another character.

### Design Rules

Characters should fit the theme of the RP. It does not take place in the modern day and designs should reflect that. There is no particular time period in which the group exists, clothing items that couldn't be handmade shouldn't be included. Most clothing will be made of natural materials such as leathers, furs, cotton, etc.

For every species, try to adhere to natural coloration. It doesn't have to be perfect, but rainbow colored sharks and neon green horses will not be accepted into the group.

**If you decide what species you'd like, please check out their "About" Pages under the "Kingdoms" tab! This will give you more insight into the culture of your species of choice!**

## Mermaids

Mermaids are the only aquatic species among Media Terra, and come in many different shapes, forms and colors.

Your character may be based off a fresh water fish, salt water fish and nudibranch creatures.

These include but aren't limited to

* Sharks
* Eels
* Sea Snakes
* Jellyfish
* Sea Slugs
* Flounders
* Octopuses/Squids

***As of now, no mammal marine life will be accepted.***

**Mermaid Sizes**

Overall there is a basic guideline to follow with a couple of exceptions,

* The base foundation of mermaids, being a regular fish fin half of the body, may go anywhere from 5ft to 13 ft of total length.
	+ Nudibranch, Sharks, Octopuses and Squid fall under this guideline.

* Eel, Sea Snakes and Jellyfish are exceptions, and may go anywhere from 8ft to 20 ft in length.
	+ These sizes include the 'human' half.
* General sizes of the 'human' half of the body should be kept to natural human standards, no 12 feet behemoths.

Your character's not so fishy half may be as human looking or as The Shape of Water looking as you may like. But please refrain from adding any sort of 'abilities' such as unhinging jaws.

Fish with venomous spines or barbs may have their spines and barbs in design, but as of now will not be considered during battle as a viable attack option. ~~For now.~~

*You may have them play a part in a normal RP for whatever reason as long as all parties agree to it.*

Many fish have very spectacular coloration and patterns on them, but keep them to the species that actually have them, do not try and transfer over one species traits to another.

**On Land Forms**

Mermaids can travel on land with the use of magic, so they have their Sea Forms and Land Forms. Land Forms require two 'human' legs. They may be as weird looking as you'd like, with as many fishy traits as you can fit. The in canon explanation of how this magic works is that the people wear a pendent that, when dry and worn around their neck, gives them their land legs.

Once the pendent gets wet, or gets taken off, they get their tails back. You may design what this pendent looks like. A common way the merfolk use these pendents is to keep the pendent in a sealed little container, like a little bottle, and simply put them on whenever they please to immediately get their land legs.

**The Land Forms are required to be drawn out, or described in detail in a piece of literature, before your character is able to participate with land activities. It would be best to simply have it drawn/described with the original application of your character. And yes they must be passed by us admins for the go-ahead.**

And yes they wear clothes on land.

## Centaurs

Centaurs are the largest hybrid on Media Terra and should look like classic centaurs from folklore.

Your character must be a horse, though what breed of horse is up to your discretion. No other hooved animals are currently allowed, this includes mythical horses like unicorns and Pegasus.

The human half of your centaur should look almost completely human. The only exception is if you'd like your character to have horse ears or hair going down the back as an extension of their mane.

**Centaur Sizes**

You are not required to find the weight of your centaur, but you must include the character's height. To simplify, here are some basic parameters you can use.

* 9 Ft and up : Draft Horse, the tallest centaurs can be above 8 ft tall. This would be the equivalent of the torso of a 6'0+ human and a horse like a Clydesdale or Shire horse.
	+ There is a height cap at 10 ft. Your centaur cannot be taller than this.
* 7 - 8 ft : This is the most average height range for centaurs. This includes both slightly taller and slightly shorter horses. Anything between the range of 14-17 Hands would be about this tall.
* 6 - : Anything below 6 ft would qualify as a smaller horse or pony.

## Harpies

Harpies are the human-bird inhabitants of the northern isles. As in mythology, Harpy characters can only be female.

There is no restriction on what kind of bird you can choose, other than that it must be able to fly. No ground-dwelling birds such as ostriches or kiwis are currently allowed. This is because the harpies of Media-Terra live on disconnected islands and a grounded bird would not be able to navigate the landscape. If you'd like to create a harpy that can no longer fly, they must live in Harbor Town.

* It is a requirement that your character is based on one bird species. Please do not mix and match species attributes.
* It must also be a real bird species currently alive today, or recently extinct. No prehistoric birds or mythological ones are allowed.

Due to the climate of the Isles, birds that are not acclimated to cold weather will usually wear some sort of cloak made of fur or feathers to keep warm. If you do not want your character to wear clothing of any sort, it must be a bird evolved to live in a cold environment.

Your harpy character does not need to look like harpies of Greek myth. At the very least, they must have wings, feathered legs, and bird talons. They may also not have separate arms. They can have hands if they're connected to their wings, but not another pair of limbs entirely.

* Whether you'd like your character to be a bird body with just a human face or a human with bird-like limbs is up to you.
* If you're confused on what body-shape is acceptable, here are some examples: https://www.pinterest.com/gsyn99/media-terra/acceptable-harpy-types/

Harpies can be any size you'd like, as long as they're not outrageously huge. If you're unsure of your character's size, ask Idle on discord. There is a lot of freedom in the harpy's size as whether you'd prefer them to be more human or bird is up to you. It is encouraged that their size at least somewhat correlates to their species, though.

## Nagas

These are the serpent inhabitants that mostly reside in the arid sections of the lands. Nagas have many different interpretations, but we will stick to having them appear mostly human with their upper half with other traits.

* Traits such as having scaled patches, slit eyes, a forked tongue, and fangs.
* There may be more and you are free to ask us if you have an idea for what to add.

The Snakes that are available for design are any existing and living snakes in the real world. Venomous and not.

* Sea Snakes will stay under Mermaids rather than being Nagas.
* Venomous snake Nagas may have their venom, but it will not be considered during combat rps. ~~For now.~~
* Do consider the Stats depending on what snake you're using, constrictors having more strength, arboreal snakes having more dexterity, etc.

There are snakes that don't do well in arid climates and others that do, snakes that normally need a humid climate will have homes that act like a humidity box for all intents and purposes. They will also do just fine if they live in the underground city of Shashan, which does have underground rivers flowing through it and is much cooler than the desert. Or they can just live elsewhere! That's an option too.

Nagas will wear some kind of apparel on their upper half, use what you think makes sense for where they live.

**Naga Sizes**

While Nagas may be well known for being much more massive than their human counterparts, we will be keeping Nagas to smaller sizes.

The human half will be kept to human standards, the biggest torso being at 4 feet.

The serpent half will be allowed to go from 10ft to 25ft in length.

Do consider the species you're basing your Naga off of, a Boa Constrictor Naga will be longer than a Hognose Naga.