Character Creation

This page will give you all the knowledge you need to begin creating your own characters to populate Raccolto. For information on what different kinds of people live in Raccolto, refer back to Residents.

## Resident Creation

### Basic Character Rules

When building your Raccolto resident, the following rules will apply to all characters:

* Your character should be a pokemon gijinka (at least 75% human, 25% pokemon )
Confused on if your resident is gijinka enough? Take a peek at the visual Gijinka Guidelines.
* Your character should have a fairly natural skin tone.
* You may not give your character Pokemon legs or arms.
* Characters must be eighteen or older
* No Legendaries
* No Shinies
*Shiny status can be granted through a Blessed Shiny Crystal.*
* Evolutions are allowed as a base character.
*You can start out with a Charmeleon or a Nidoqueen. But evolutions, once the character is accepted, must be earned.*
* You are allowed special markings (such as scars, freckles, non-canon eye colors) to make your character unique. However, please don’t go overboard with it.
* While Pokemon come in all shapes and sizes, it would be appreciated if you kept your characters between 4 ft and 6 ft 11 in.
*Keep in mind that if you character is  4'10" or lower, they are legally considered a dwarf, or likely suffered from malnutrition growing up.*
* Please keep this in mind and portray them accordingly. Your character cannot be related to the Harvest God or Goddess, Witch, Mermaid, or any Island NPC in any way. They may, however, know about them.

### Creating a History

Every resident has a story, and your resident's history section is the place to tell it! Keep the following in mind when choosing what parts to include in their history:

* Your character may not be from an Alternate Universe.
* Your character may not be ungodly powerful or anything over the top. Keep them realistic!
* Dramatic backstories are okay for your character, but be sparing in your use. Not everyone can inherit their recently deceased grandfather's farm in Raccolto; nor do we want them to.
* We have a no kill policy, this also applies to your character's history. They cannot have murdered or been murdered.
* Mary Sues and Gary Stues are discouraged. Don't make a "perfect-never-does-anything-wrong" sort of character.
*Consider giving your characters an equal amount of flaws and good points.*

Harvest Lunatone is a group that promotes character growth, so making a believable resident that you can connect with is what we are looking for when new residents are welcomed in.

### Additional Notes

* You cannot apply with two characters, or with two characters on one sheet.
*If you really wish, you can join with a friend or make an NPC.*
* Each property (every farm, ranch, or business) comes with a dog or cat Pokemon. Your resident does not have to adopt this stray Pokemon; however, it will roam about the property no matter what your character does. You may choose the species of this Pokemon from among the following:

 Houndour
 Electrike
 Snubbull
 Lillipup
 Swirlix
 Furfrou
 Rockruff

* When making changes to your character or your character's history, please note the group with the changes for approval.
*Because your character is what we judge on, we want to be sure that any changes are positive. Not informing the group of changes can result in a warning or strike.*

## Second, Third and Fourth Characters

Second, third and fourth characters must go through the same approval process as the original applying characters. While you may purchase a secondary character slot, they need to have their own character sheet, as well as the filled-out character info form below before they will be reviewed and officially accepted or denied.

 Third Character Slot
 Free Character Slot

### Free Character Slot

A free character? Yes! This character slot is a thank you to long-time members that have been with the group for 4 years or more.

There are a few additional things to know before you fill this slot:

* It must be 4 years continually, these means if you left or were kicked your time starts over.
* This slot can be used for any 2nd, 3rd, or even a 4th character.
  *You may use it whenever, but if you use it for a 2nd or 3rd, you will never have a 4th character slot.*

## Special Resident Creation

### Mermaids

* You can create a mermaid character if have a Mermaid Orb in your possession.
* Mermaids will be more harshly critiqued than the ordinary application. This means we expect a good deal of realism and culture in your application.
* What totem can a mermaid be? It needs to be a marine-based Pokemon. Which means it lives in the water all the time. It must also be a Pokemon without hind legs, and has a body that ends in a sort of tail (ex. Kingdra, Basculin, Dragagle, etc.).If you have a totem you are unsure about, please feel free to note the group asking if it is okay.
* Pokemon who do not work would be Pokemon such as Sealeo, Frillish, Mantine etc.
* Mermaids may not walk on land on their own. Mounts or vehicles such as wheelchairs are needed for them to move on land.
* Mermaids, during Cirque de la Lune may not gain legs. They will be given random totems from the list below. However, totem-swap events separate from the circus may allow your characters temporary legs.

A list of acceptable mermaid totems is as follows:

* Horsea, Seadra, Kingdra
* Goldeen, Seaking
* Magikarp, Gyarados
* Quilfish
* Barboach, Whiscash
* Feebas, Milotic
* Relicanth
* Luvdisc
* Finneon, Lumineon
* Basculin
* Skrelp, Dragalge
* Tynamo, Eelectrik, Eelectross
* Wishiwashi
* Bruxish
* Remoraid (can’t evolve)
* Carvanha (can’t evolve)
* Huntail, Gorebyss (no pre-evolution)
* Lanturn (no pre-evolution)

> \* Can't Evolve - These totems may not evolve in the group, unless they want to give up their marine life forever.
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> \* No Pre-evolution - These totems will have started their life on land, and evolved into permanent sea dwellers.
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> \*\* We will not accept histories for characters who entered the group as normal land walking gijinkas, but started their life as a mermaid.
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## Non-Playable Character Creation

You can create NPCs for your character's background, but they must also follow the rules above. Keep in mind, the NPC is a background character and the history should only hold information that relates to your main character. It should not seem like a second character, but a supporting character.
Please be sure to also pay mind to the following guidelines for NPCs:

* *NPC living with your character part time:*
- If younger than 14, an image of their guardian should be on the app. Guardians cannot be your character.
- If younger than 14 and living with your character full time, the guardian must appear in about 2/3's of art work involving the young NPC.
- If older than 14, no guardian image is needed.
* *NPC working for your character:*
- NPC should be 15 or older.
* *NPC that is your character's child in application history:*
- The child cannot live full time with your resident and must stay with their guardian.
- This child may be adopted upon completion of their Journey of Self-Awareness and become a mPc.
* *NPC cannot be any of the following:*
- Mermaid/Merfolk
- Shiny
- Married to playable residents

For further questions regarding NPCs, please note the group.