*update 3/23/11- Added gender and combat class questions to character creation doc*

Continuing! This is the companion to the rather in-depth army structure document. This is similarly detailed, but hopefully more useful in crafting a character to fit into the Realm of Sejhat universe. Let me know if there are any discrepancies, editing errors, or formatting issues you run into.

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Character Creation

This document is intended as a guide through the character creation process, which presents the player with a series of questions that will, with a bit of thought, create unique heroes that offer a wide variety of potential bonuses.

Step 1: What is your character’s name?

Create a name, surname, and title for your character. Titles are optional, but your name will determine what your friends, family, and associates call you while your surname will determine how you’re addressed in official documentation and formal situations.

Step 2: What is your gender?

Generally speaking, citizens of either sex are treated as equals. However, your choice in gender may affect or enable special interactions with certain characters, and it will certainly have an impact on your romantic options.

Step 3: What is your nation?

There are four major nation-states in Sejhat: The Caliphate of Man, the Beastfolk Alliance, the Dwarven Confederacy, and the Elven Maenid Empire. While each of these is further divided into many territories, races, and cultures, your choice of nation will determine what races are available to you.

Step 4: What is your race?

Each of the four nation-states has several races within. Some are client races, playing a minor or subordinate political role, and some are major. After you make your choice you can start making visual customizations of your character. By nation, the races are listed as follows:


CALIPHATE OF MAN - Factional Bonus: Zeal (boosts morale & reduces effects of morale shocks)

• Human (Caliphate) - citizens of the Caliphate are cosmopolitan and religiously guided, giving them social and morale boosts

• Human (Benni Sulayim) - the desert nomads of the Benni Sulayim are renowned mystics and survivors, giving them mysticism and HP boosts

• Human (Circassid Empire) - citizens of the tropical and trade-centric Circassid Empire are cosmopolitan and commerce minded, giving them social and financial boosts

• Djinn Elf - the fire casters of the Djinn Elves are rugged survivors and talented elementalists, giving them magic and HP boosts

• Siparid - the acrobatic saurian humanoids of the Siparids are agile and proficient at swordplay, giving them agility and melee damage boosts

• Kolkan - the tiger humanoids of the Kolkan are determined and martial, giving them modest overall damage and significant morale boosts

• Orc (Babilaki) - the brutish looking, but surprisingly sophisticated Orcs are tough and adept melee fighters, giving them HP and melee damage boosts



ELVEN MAENID EMPIRE - Factional Bonus: Culture (boosts crafting & propaganda effects)

• Maenid Elf - the leaders and patrons of the Maenid Empire, the Maenids are skilled bowmen and mages, giving them ranged damage and magic bonuses

• Therian Elf - the scholars and druids of the Therians are most comfortable in melee combat and immersion with nature’s mysteries, giving them melee & mysticism boosts

• Ikonid Elf - the Amazons of the Ikonid people are celebrated sailors and armored warriors, giving them armor boosts and social bonuses in coastal cities

• Vardyrai Elf - the frontiersmen of the Vardyrai people are rugged survivalists and keen marksmen, giving them HP and accuracy bonuses



DWARVEN CONFEDERACY - Factional Bonus: Scientific Method (decreases tech costs)

• Lowland Dwarf - inventive, scientific, and commerce-centered, Lowland Dwarves rely on firepower and industrial trading, giving them financial and ranged damage boosts

• Highland Dwarf - charismatic and ferocious in melee, the Highland Dwarves receive melee damage, armor, and social bonuses

• Giant - formidable and determined, the stoical Giants can endure punishment with stout hearts, giving them HP and morale bonuses



BEASTFOLK ALLIANCE - Factional Bonus: Fur (grants immunity to freezing damage & winter attrition)

• Vucari - the tough wolf humanoids of the Vucari are resilient and relish a good fight, giving them HP and overall melee bonuses

• Checchiatari - the impetuous feline humanoids of the Checchiatari are brave and gifted with monetary wisdom, giving them financial and morale boosts

• Sabalazmon - the sable & marten humanoids of the Sabalazmon are acrobatic and recklessly brave, giving them agility and morale boosts

• Liskai - the cosmopolitan, migrant fox humanoids of the Liskai are gifted marksmen and envoys, giving them accuracy and social boosts

• Rosomai - the gruff, proud, and virtually unshakable wolverine humanoids of the Rosomai are consummate warriors, giving them armor, HP, and morale boosts

• Patkani - the numberless masses of the rat-like Patkani are clever melee fighters and fierce protectors, giving them melee attack and defensive boosts

• Hirvi - the peaceful elk humanoids of the Hirvi are consummate magic users, enjoying both magic and mysticism boosts



Step 5: What is your background?

ROSE THROUGH THE RANKS

Heroes born among the peasantry have a common touch, giving them large social bonuses among the lower classes and Radicals. The foundation of your credibility as an officer is years of valiant service in the armed forces, granting you accuracy and HP boosts.

You grew up an anonymous and poor child, thrown into work at an early age to bring in a meager existence for your family. Facing a lifetime of poverty you took a risk that many take, joining the army for pay- but you did so with uncommon zeal. Through sheer determination and a dash of luck, you fought your way into an officer’s commission, a very difficult feat. As an individual of low birth, you have a decidedly common touch- many have dreamed of being in your position. However, the nobility is not so impressed with you and more often than not will avoid your company or dismiss your merits. Additionally, as a peasant you depend on your commission alone to fund your army and have no special financial backing, meaning that you will have to save money wherever the possibility arises.

• Soldier’s Child- you are the accidental result of the union between a soldier and a ‘camp follower’, with your mother’s eyes and more than a bit of your father’s mouth. Your father died in your youth, but life in the wake of the army made service a natural choice for you. As a result, you enjoy social bonuses with fellow servicemen and your military superiors, regardless of social class. Early sword training also gives you a melee attack boost.

• Laborer’s Child- you were weaned on the teachings of hard work, and your family’s legacy is in stone and mortar, not blood. Your accomplishments can be seen on your calloused hands, and you are unafraid of physical exertion as a result. You almost never fatigue, and any traps or defenses you construct are done so with precision, boosting their overall effectiveness.

• Orphan- you never knew your parents, only the rod and a long string of overlords, some benevolent and some completely sadistic. After toiling in the factories for years, you escaped and joined up with the Army. Your ability to endure pain and absorb punishment continues to astound your peers, and this translates to a damage resistance and HP boost.

• Beggar’s Child- your parents were consummate social parasites, sending you off to help the family beg, borrow, or steal anything you needed to survive. Years of dodging the law gave you razor-sharp cunning and a very steady hand. As a result, you get accuracy and agility boosts.


SILVER SPOON

Heroes with the Silver Spoon background were born among the merchant classes, giving them large social bonuses among the middle classes. Your family legacy is one of influence through wealth and mercantile acumen, and this affects your character by giving you store discounts and better commodities trading profits.

You are the child of enterprising parents, people who pride themselves on pulling themselves up by the bootstraps- or climbing over the bodies of their peers. You learned early that being the child of a merchant puts you one step above the peasantry and a mile below the nobility, and that the act of keeping one’s wealth can almost be as difficult as making it. In a bid to inject themselves into the nobility your parents spent a fortune in bribes and gifts to obtain a military commission for you, and since they want to secure their investment they grant you a reasonable allowance that boosts your income. You do not endear yourself much to either the nobility or the peasantry, but both social strata recognize your necessity, meaning that you do not have any social penalties for dealing with either.

• Mage’s Child- the eccentricities of your parents, as well as the general public’s mistrust of the arcane, made your childhood somewhat difficult and your friends few. However, they insisted that you grow up smart, giving you early training in the many schools of magic. As a result, you get magical, mysticism, and alchemy power boosts.

• Banker’s Child- your parents taught you early that fraud and greed shape people in astounding ways, and that these ways can be predicted by a keen individual. Raised to succeed the family trade, you’re a fully qualified financial expert that knows how to charge just enough interest on loans without being totally insulting, how to give just enough interest to eke out inflation, and how to smack debtors just softly enough to keep them working. This translates to significantly increased interest gathered on your savings as well as a boost to your allowance.

• Trader’s Child- you seem to have spent a large part of your life in caravans and in ship’s holds, traveling the world and immersing yourself in foreign markets. You’ve learned the delicate art of haggling well and made a study of foreign cultures- if only to distinguish between mild resentment and murderous hatred after one too many rounds of bargaining. You can buy commodities certificates at a discount and get special tips on where to sell them for the highest profit.

• Craftsman’s Child- you’ve grown up on the simple wisdom that commerce exists to satisfy peoples’ wants, and that most of the time people simply want to be happy. If that means foregoing sleep for nights on end to finish a project, or selling custom ‘sexual curiosities and bedroom follies’ out of a private room in the carpentry shop, so be it. Your experience with large and custom orders means that you waste less, therefore using fewer raw materials when crafting new items.


PEDIGREE

Heroes with the Pedigree background are born unto the purple, and their place in the aristocracy gives them large social bonuses with fellow nobles. However, their lack of understanding (or appreciation) of the lower classes hobbles their interactions with them. Your family legacy stretches back to gods know when. As far as you can remember, your family has enjoyed a sumptuous lifestyle living off of rents and royalties. After an adolescence filled with art, politics, and swordplay, Pedigrees enjoy boosts to their melee abilities as well as their interactions with the authorities and Royalists. They also have lavish allowances, allowing them to field expensive units considerably earlier than other commanders.

However, breeding out of political expediency from a narrow genetic pool comes with its costs. Where peasants and merchants enjoy special benefits when choosing their background, Pedigrees must choose a personality disorder stemming from their blue-bloodedness and a few too many branches of the family tree touching each other.

• Psychopathy- while considered fairly normal among the nobility, your complete inability to empathize with others is a most troubling trait among your peers and troops. Convinced that you will lead them to their deaths without so much as a proper burial and a ‘sorry you’re dead’ sympathy card, your troops and party members suffer reduced morale.

• Kleptomania- store owners across the realm have heard of your bauble-pilfering habits and will immediately set about raising their rates to offset the potential losses incurred by your visit. Sometimes you never even realize that you have stolen something. Often when you do, you have trouble explaining to yourself why you nicked it in the first place. Even so, you should check your inventory periodically to see what you got. It could still come in handy.

• Tourette’s Syndrome- there’s nothing like a few bawdy quips to liven up a motivational speech on the eve of battle, but you take it a bit too far with your facial tics and your irrational outbursts of profanity. You’re plagued with spontaneous and irregular twitching and swearing, and while this does endear you somewhat to your army it’s a bit embarrassing when seeking a promotion in royal court. As a result troop morale is slightly increased thanks to your perceived eccentricity, but your dealings with royalty suffer while your interactions with fellow nobles are also stunted.

• Hypochondria- you feel sick. You remember that you weren’t actually sick last time, but that got your guard down, and you’re sure that’s when a disease snuck in and got you. You spend entirely too much time poring through physician’s manuals trying to determine what malaise you have, so much so that you actually become sick. A lifetime of this behavior has left you afraid of all kinds of exposure and your character’s HP suffers as a result.



Step 6: What is your class?

As discussed in "Classes and Weapons", there are 6 available classes, each providing special combat abilities and strategies. Your class choice has a greater impact on your character as an individual than your role as a commander.

• Rake- Short range/agility/DPS focus
• Journeyman- Short range/magic/DPS focus
• Cleric- Medium range/defense/buff focus
• Murmillo- Melee damage/agility/HP focus
• Tank- Melee damage/HP/defense focus
• Jager- Long range/agility/debuff focus



Step 7: What is your combat school and specialty?

As discussed in “Army Structure”, you have 3 major combat doctrines, each subdivided into several specializations. Generally speaking, Infantry favors peasantry, Cavalry favors nobility, and Artillery favors the merchant classes. This should not restrict you from choosing whichever school you wish, however.

INFANTRY
Emphasizes infantry tactics and enables special infantry units. Unit replenishment is faster.

• Logistics Officer
• Drillmaster
• Captain of Skirmishers
• Captain of Grenadiers


CAVALRY
Emphasizes cavalry tactics and enables special cavalry units. Morale is higher.

• Cavalier Lord
• Vanguard
• Lance Major
• Commander of Mounted Infantry


ARTILLERY

Emphasizes artillery tactics and enables special artillery units. Damages enemy morale.

• Bombardier
• Royal Engineer
• Light Artillerist
• Field Artillerist

Entering the Game World

With the completion of the first five steps, your character is ready to enter the world and begin their quest for glory and heroism. However, the creation of your character is not the end. Your actions, your interactions with others, and your choices will change many lives and ultimately shape what kind of person your character is. Will you become a hero of the people, bringing justice to the lower classes and rebelling against the status quo? Will you become a defender of civilization, defending the rights and statehoods of all beings? Will you side with the royalists and defend sovereignty against rebels and outsiders? Will you extend the grasp of your species at the expense of others, or will you be an agent of unity and diplomacy between warring races, tribes, and factions?

The choices are yours to make. Many may die along the way, but they will do so gladly in the name of a good cause and a great hero. In a world of conflict, there are no wrong choices- just different consequences. The only poor decision is to make no decision at all.

Bonus Questions:

What is your favorite color?
What is the capitol of Assyria?
What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?