Character Creation

Making new characters is probably one of the most fun and exciting parts of an RPG. Whether this is your first Amaranthian or your fiftieth, it's always a good idea to check back here for help and guidelines if you feel unsure.

## Character Design

Your character may be any breed of Amaranthian, including a hybrid. They can have any build and may freely include accessories and scars/injuries if desired. While your character may be any age, for first characters we recommend that you make them at least 13 or older (a teenager), as Amaranthians age like humans, and the timescale of the game is rather slow, meaning that very young characters are unlikely to age into adults within the scope of the game - and playing a little kid is pretty limiting.

If your character is wearing an outfit that covers up significant portions of their body, please provide a "naked" fullbody by linking one somewhere in the description.

Your character should not be wearing designs or have markings that relate to real world groups, religions or other beliefs. As these do not exist in the world of Amaranthine, they hold no meaning, and should be left out. Similarly, references to pop culture are better left out.

## Application Image

You can find our reference template *here*. The reference is a .PSD file, and should you have issues editing it, please tag us in #assistance so a staff member can help you out.

Please don’t make any edits to the template such as moving fields around, changing the background or editing the colors.

### Artwork

The main artwork should be a fullbody of your character. It should fit *mostly* within the frame, and not cover significant portions of the rest of the application.

The artwork may be your own, commissioned, premade lineart or from our Character Creator, as long as you have the permission to use it. Remember to provide proper credit if the art is not your own.

Extra artwork is completely optional; only the fullbody is mandatory.

### Text

Please fill in the fields on the application. The font and color you use should be legible - if you want to match the style, the font we use is *fontnamehere*. Make sure not to cover up the text with artwork.

## Template for Applications

For ease of approval and reading, please follow the provided heading order. You may format the information to your liking or slightly edit the titles. The full application should be made available in the artist description of your piece.

(You may add some “bio decor” here)

**BASICS**

**Name**: The characters personal, unique name. Each character may only reserve one name.

**Soulname**: Applicable to for most characters. Also mention if they don't know theirs.

**Nickname**: Optional

**House**: Only if applicable, leave out if the character isn’t part of one. If applicable, remember to link the infos.

**Birthday/Age**: Does not need to be exact, can just be the year and their current age.

**Gender**: Gender, and pronouns if preferred

**Orientation**: Optional

**Rank**: Current rank

      **Previously**: If applicable

**Affiliation:** Any group or sub-faction your character belongs or is loyal to. Leave out if not applicable.

**Region:** Essentially your character's location. Most characters have a permanent home in one of the game regions, although they can freely travel.

(You may add other “small stuff” here, like drive, alignment, VA, teke color etc)

**APPEARANCE**

**Species**: Is your character a Cervid or an Equine

**Breed**: What breed or mix, your character is

**Build:** Short description of their body build, or comparison to a real life breed/mix

**Height:** Preferably in hands. Normal range 10-19hh.

**Coat color:** Optional.

**Arcane Features:** Only if applicable.

You may also opt for a more freeform description instead or along this, as long as species, breed, height and approximate build are included. This could include things like preferred hairstyle, more appearance notes, favored outfits...

**PERSONALITY**

Personality is the core of your character. Your character should have a balanced mix of positive and negative traits - this does not necessarily mean that they need to have an even *amount* of them, just that they can’t be flawless or completely lacking in any positive traits. You should list a minimum of **5** **personality traits** that are core to your character.

The personality description itself should be a **minimum of 200 words**, not including things like quotes or trait word definitions.

**HISTORY**

A character's history explains their background in the world, and informs things like their level of education, who they might know and how they’ve developed into the person they are today. Even if your character does not know or remember their backstory, it must be included - the player always knows.

All characters **must** be born in Amaranthine, and can not originate from other worlds.

History should abide to game lore and not refer to places or groups that don’t exist in the game.

History should be a **minimum of 300 words** and a **maximum of 2000**.

**IN-GAME EVENTS**

What has happened to your character in-game. Optional but recommended.

**ANYTHING ELSE**

Want to add something more? Perhaps you want to list relations, go in depth on the characters' quirks, likes and dislikes, just have some trivia you’d like to share? Go ahead and add it here. You may add your own headers/subtitles as well. We simply ask that all the “extras” are at the end of the application, as it makes it much easier to read through the required information.

## Character Building Tips

* Don’t make your character's personality all about their rank. Give them some traits or quirks completely unrelated to what they do for a living.
	+ Related: If your character is an awful fit for their job, explore *why* they have that job. Having characters suck at their jobs can certainly be interesting, but especially for higher appointed positions its very unlikely that someone supremely incompetent would get or keep the job for no reason at all.
* Note that due to the slow passage of time, as well as the somewhat classist nature of the society, most characters will **stay in the rank they start in**. This does not mean a character couldn't change professions or advance on their career - simply that the game is not designed around the idea of character constantly moving "up" in ranks.
* Playing a very shy, introverted character can be very difficult, especially as your first character. It can be a good idea to give your character something that would guide them to naturally interact with others, such as a hobby or interest.
* Very few traits are strictly “good” or “bad” - most are ambivalent, and it largely depends on how you write them. Worry less about the balancing of the trait words, and focus more on how the personality *sounds* in the end.
	+ Related: If you have heavily contradicting core traits, make sure you explain how they fit into the character. Contradictions in a personality are fun and perfectly acceptable, but often need a bit more of an explanation
* Make sure your character’s backstory does not break lore, and that your character fits into the world. Rebels and free thinkers are welcome, but no one would be completely unaffected by the culture they grew up in.
* It can be useful to think about what your character **wants**, and then figure out how they would go about achieving those desires.

### Things to Avoid

* Giving your characters **limited rank** relatives/parents/SOs/other relations unless they’re PCs or you’ve discussed it with an admin. This is mainly to avoid conflict in backstories between characters.
* Only write characters with an illness or disability if you’ve done research into it and think you can portray it respectfully. Things like mental illness are not fun tropes or a reason for your character to be evil
* If your character’s backstory includes elements like sexual abuse, less is often more. Please leave out explicit details entirely. Remember to use appropriate content warnings.
* Backgrounds should be about your character, and not for example their family. Lengthy histories on your character’s parents before the character was even born are best suited for separate pieces after the character is approved.