Building an OC

## Introduction

Building an Original character for our writing is always fun. However, there are some things that we, as writers have to remember, we don’t want them to be totally Over Powered Mary Sues.

## Terminology

Before we begin, we’ll go over some basic Terminology.

**Mary Sue:**

A Mary Sue is an original character (oc) and has no flaws. Of course the author of this oc will say "they are clumsy" or "they are not very good at maths" or whatever. They will most probably have a power or an evil twin/ dark side. They also might have an impossible bloodline. Such as a half werewolf or half fairy.

**Overpowered**

Having Too Much power.

Ex: A Character that constantly gets a boost in power when they get into a tight pinch so that they are able to take care of everything on their own.

This Also Can mean that they have more powers than are needed logically.

Ex: “Princess of Powerful I have Everything”. This is a Common misuse or way that many writers will actually write a beloved character...and completely ruin them.

## The Process and Explanation

Now that we’ve got those things out of the way...we’ll start with Creating the character. You want this character believable. Someone you could put into whatever world you are creating them for. That means that you have to also look into what World you are working in.

As The Author of this guide, I have done quite a few different fandoms and finding that balance can be hard.

Shall we? Come and Sit with Madame Saraphin, also known as The Nightmare Senshi, while we go through everything.

So you want to be a Fanfiction writer? Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly, yes? Don’t worry, only spider we have around here is Arenea...and she doesn’t come out often, our Prickly keeps her out of view, knowing we’ve all got some form of Arachnophobia.

Let’s start with the basics. We have a nice little **pamphlet** that you can peruse. Now, I can see you looking at it oddly. Why so many questions? Why such detail?

Lovelies, that’s very simple: The Magic you want for your Original Character is not who they are. Your character was someone before they came into their magic, even if they grew up with their magic and learning it: they are not their magic. Your character does not **need** five magics to be a good character, your character does not need to be a powerhouse with “All The Best Magics” but just modified to get away from calling it what it is in the source.

“But Sa-”

There are no buts, any character can be made wonderful, by simply being not a powerhouse.

## The Result

So what am I getting at here? Development, perspective. Do not go “oh I want that for my character, and that and that! But I'm going to call it XXXX” just to get around making it look like they have too much magic. Magic is trying on a mage...and some magics **do not** play well with one another.

What? What do you mean some magics don’t play well together? That’s what you’re thinking, right? Of Course, that’s a common thing. For example: Dragonkyn Magic. It does not play well with other Magic. Oh, yes, they can take a similar magic and use it to revamp themselves, but...learning a second full type? No. Dragonkyn have their Singular base Type of Dragon Gifted magic that they develop over the course of their lives.

Too Much power is Bad. Too many types of Magic is bad. There should be a basic format, our Characters are not all powerful, they have personalities...and we want them more than their magic. If you overload them, you’re going to get “princess twinklefart of the Nine Realms of Power and living embodiment of all that’s good.”.

I will personally tie you up and spank you if you do this. We don’t do that.

## Okay, so...How should magic be set up?

One Major Type: this is their biggest type of Magic. What is the core of what they will use.

Minor Type: MINOR. Nothing that classifies as a reskin of a major type of magic at full power. **Requip** is considered a “Common” magic to learn.

## What is Requip?

Requip is a magic that is common to use, typically can take little to no magic to start to develop and is a, for the best way to describe it: a personal bag of Holding, sizes may vary by use and magical tenure.

## So what are Major Types of Magic?

Please Note: The Bolded Types of Magic **DO NOT PLAY AT ALL WITH OTHER TYPES OF MAGIC unless otherwise noted.**

There are some exceptions, Archangel Mages, Dragonkyn and Shadowquips **supplement** the Power of the Mage they are **mated** to in a minor manner.

## Now What?

So now, you’re going “What can I use for Minor Magic?” That’s where we learn about toning things back.

Some things, like Summoning Creatures? No, not from another plane. Having an animal companion that you’ve bonded to and learned to understand? Okay. that’s fine.

Empathy, that’s a very minor magic.

## “But I'd like to make a Creator mage that...can shift..."

Alright, how did they get that shifting ability? Was it...an experiment? Well, in that case, they better learn to control it, because Genetic Experiments normally don’t care about the mental state of the subject...and this secondary state has **no** access to the characters primary magic.

A shifter based character can learn a **minor** form of Maker magic (ie: jewelry) but not a major one (ie: crafting armor, etc).

Born Shifters are different, they have a base "Element" which gives them abilities. Some mages were kidnapped from their homes and taken to Seven, these children tend to have...many skills. They have their base (born magic), the Animal half (which can be, often, unstable), and military training.

One thing to also consider with Sevenese shifters is they went through a lab to become a shifter, their magic was analyzed down to the DNA sources before they were paired to an animal, someone with an unidentified dormant magic wouldn't have been used and honestly? If someone decided to experiment? forcing a new magic type into them would cause the dormant magic to emerge and either kill them immediately or slowly kill them.

So...I think we’ve gotten the magic portion of how to make your character out of the way...and if you’ve read the pamphlet, you’re well aware of at least some **basics** on how to create a character background of a character you want to grow and have come into the World of Fairy Tail.

## Combinations that...just Don't Work.

* Shadow and Seith cannot exist in the same mage. It will make them crazy and dark....for a Villain, It could work, but not for a Protagonist character.
* Archangels CANNOT cross with any other Bolded Major magic. Once you get away from the Original Triad, you get variances, magics in the bloodlines that come out, supplementing it, making it more unique for Each Archangel apart from the original Three.
* Archive?rune Mages **DO NOT** stretch out to other magics. Having a Healthy Archive/Rune Base takes massive amounts of magic and Study, they simply do NOT have the time.