Character Generation Rules

[C&J]

Waking Worlds is science fiction, but magic is not commonly present. Perhaps one in fifty thousand people actually posess any minor kind of magical talent. In Sleeping Souls, magic has great influence in the lands, and spellcasters of divine or arcane magic are common. When you create your character, please keep that in mind.

The Mary-Sue Litmus Test offers a varied list of magical and personal powers. For the sake of our sanity, please try to limit your character to one power only. Powers in bold print are allowed in the Waking Worlds, others only possible in Sleeping Souls.

+ Teleportation
+ Telepathy
+ Telekinesis
+ Pyrokinesis
+ Prophecy
+ Healing
+ Animal communication
+ Empathy
+ Shapeshifting abilities
+ Invisibility
+ Invulnerability
+ Flight
+ The ability to pass through matter
+ General magic or sorcery
+ Time travel
+ Transdimensional travel or communication
+ Photographic memory
+ The ability to see auras
+ Summoning
+ Power of seduction
+ The ability to shrug off minor wounds
+ The ability to kill people with her/his bare hands
+ Super strength or speed
+ Skill in martial arts or hand-to-hand combat
+ Sharp-shooting
+ Sleight of hand
+ Computer hacking

Character Strengths: Nobody likes to play a feeble character who's constantly getting sand kicked in his face. That's where strengths come in. Even an ordinary guy can become a hero if he has extraordinary courage and a big imagination. Give him an M16 and a kevlar jacket and he's ready to roll! But just to make sure, why not give him a black-belt in karate, an unlimited credit card and make him a computer wizard at the same time? Here's why...

Everyone wants their character to be unique, to have a special place in the group, to be good at something no one else is. When someone creates a character who not only does everything, but does it BETTER, it's impossible for others not to feel dwarfed in comparison. They think "why bother if so-and-so can do a better job?". For the sake of everyone's enjoyment, take a good look at your character and decide on just one or two good strengths that are unique to you.

Character Flaws: Anyone who writes something like "She's so pretty that it's like a flaw because everyone hates her or wants to have sex with her" will be deleted and barred from re-joining! Good grief!

Everyone has flaws. Even heroes. Usually more than one! Consider a wizard - she wields arcane might, conjuring fireballs and casting spells to divine the truth, but she is utterly miserable in close melee combat! A high school nerd who can hack into the pentagon and steal top secret mission specs is STILL a date-less under-age nerd with all the social and legal restrictions that minors face today! These flaws serve a purpose, they highlight your character's skills and make her a believable person, someone others can understand and relate to. They may be personal or physical, but they are a part of the character as much as any strengths.

[Atira]

Every one in the Waking Worlds is primarily human, but depending on the gravity of the world where they were raised they may have certain benefits.

Planets that have more gravity than our planet Earth require more effort to move around. People who live on these planets tend to have more physical strength as a result, and are often tougher and more resilient than people of lighter planets. They also tend to be shorter and bulkier.

Planets with less gravity, on the other hand, require quicker reflexes and less brute force. People who inhabit these worlds are much more agile and flexible, though less physically strong and not near as durable. They are taller and more graceful in appearance.

Those raised on a planet with Earth's natural gravity are blessed to be part of the Norm. Light-worlders and Heavy-worlders have become the victims of racism as blacks and asians and others have before them, simply because they are different. Stereotypes of the "dwarf" and "elf" reflect these differences.