Character Creation Guide
The following guide was written to introduce new and old players alike to the character creation form and assist in creating characters suitable for the Shadowlack universe.
Before you begin to create a character, you should understand that the stealing of characters, whether from copyrighted sources (such as characters from books, movies, or television shows) or from another player is not allowed at Shadowlack and will result in your account being permanently frozen. Shadowlack has board called Hatchling Central to aid you in creating your own multi-dimensional character, should you ever get stuck or need assistance. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have there!
By default, your newly hatched account comes with four activated character slots. Each time you create or adopt a new character, one of your slots becomes occupied. If you are a dedicated and active role-player at Shadowlack, you can unlock even more character slots with Glims!
Contents
Race
The first step to creating a new character is deciding which race you would like to role-play as. Shadowlack is the home of 9 different races, ranging from the common Pendragon, the stalwart Anubi, the mutated Lukuo, to the delicate Feydragon. Please be sure to look over the Codex to see and learn about all of your different choices. All of the playable races at Shadowlack are anthropomorphic creatures, meaning that they are animal-like in appearance, but possess human-like characteristics.
Naming
When choosing a name for your character, try to make sure that it is both unique and memorable to you. Mundane and overused names such as “Bob,” “Sue,” and “Jacob,” do not fit the fantastical theme of Shadowlack. You may also use our Random Name Generator. However, if you do not like that, there are various web sites that specialize in naming and can be used as resources.
Naming Resources
- Shadowlack Random Name Generator
- Latin Names
- Estonian Names
- Kate Monk's Onomastikon
- Kleimo-Random Name Generator
- Fantasy Name Generator
- Baby Names
- Chris Pound's Name Generation
- Greek-English Translator
Gender
The next step to creating a new character is deciding what gender your character will be. You may create a male, female, or even create a gender neutral (androgynous) character. You may choose whatever you would like, and whichever you are most comfortable role-playing as.
Age
Your character’s age tells us approximately what stage in life they are at. Ramathians in general live rather long lifespans when compared to humans. It is not uncommon for a Ramathian resident to live for up to 170 years. Consequently, their ideas of what a teenager is and what constitutes a mid-life crisis differ vastly in regards to our own.
Aging at Shadowlack is also significantly different. Normally when creatures age, they grow weaker and fall apart as their bodies slowly begin to decay and malfunction. This is only slightly true for Ramathians. As Ramathians age, they generally become more susceptible to diseases and illnesses. Many illnesses that would only cause a running nose in a hatchling can be fatal to an elderly Ramathian.
However, as Ramathians age, they also grow significantly stronger. This is largely due to the fact that as they age, they grow closer to Fronima. The closer they are to Fronima; the closer they are to dying: the stronger their magical abilities become. When the pull of Fronima becomes too great due to old age, the Ramathian’s soul gets yanked into Fronima and their body dies. There are very few documented cases of Ramathians who have resisted the alluring pull of Fronima past the age of 170. The pull of Fronima is stronger on those who have an affinity for magic; consequently, they tend to have shorter lifespans.
Below is a small chart with Ramathian ages and their Human equivalents.
| Ramathian | Life Stage | Human |
|---|---|---|
| 0–1 | Baby (Hatchling) | 0-2 |
| 7 | Preschooler (Niotie) | 5 |
| 18 | Adolescence / Puberty | 13 |
| 24 | Teenager | 18 |
| 30 | Young Adult (Arden / Thill) | 20 |
| 35 | Adulthood | 25 |
| 60 | Middle-aged | 44 |
| 80 | Senior (Kiom) | 60 |
| 170 | Really frakking old | 85 |
| 175 | Why aren't you dead yet? | 115 |
Trades
When creating a character, you are given the ability to assign them two trades. Trades should reflect what your character does, or wishes to do for a living. Visit the Trade Catalogue to see the large list of trades that you may choose from.
- Basic (1 to 15+ years old) - Your character knows the fundamentals of the trade and has started to show promise in their trade area. Should time be allowed they could advance to the next level with their knowledge.
- Apprentice (16 to 23+ years old) - Your character has considerable knowledge concerning their trade. A lot of the learning is done by the character him/her/itself with usually a supervisor or teacher monitoring and challenging their progress.
- Journeyman (24 to 30+ years old) - Your character knows really all there is to know about their chosen trade. They have fully graduated from their teaching institution and may be under the guidance of a Master in their area(s) of study. Most characters do not bother to pursue someone to act as their Master and are content with their graduated status. Having a Journeyman rank allows a character to teach the younger generation.
- Master (30+ years old) - Your character knows everything there is to know in their specified trade area. Some Masters reach out to the youth and teach them what they know, while others are content to keep their vast knowledge to themselves. They are considered the know-it-alls on their subjects and should be respected.
On character profiles, trades are ordered first by trade rank (so a Journeyman rank will be displayed higher than a Basic), and then are ordered alphabetically. What order your character’s trades are displayed in does not necessarily reflect what your character chooses to major in.
Character Traits
Character traits are a unique feature to Shadowlack. When creating a character for the first time, you are asked to select seven character traits in order to describe them. These traits are divided into three categories:
- Physical: Your character's physical capabilities (strength, toughness, speed, build, etc.).
- Social: Your character's interpersonal capabilities (how they appear and act around other characters).
- Mental: Your character's mind/intelligence capabilities and thought processes.
These traits are to serve as a foundation for you to build your character upon. Simply choose seven words that you believe best describe your character.
Special Requests
After you create your character, you will have the option of making Special Requests with them. A Special Request is something that is considered just slightly outside of the norm, such as adding additional trades to your character.
If you are seeking permission to create a character that you're not sure will fit into the game, please post in the Help Desk.
World Census
Shadowlack maintains a near real-time World Census page, so that at any given moment, you can see what types of characters are popular and in demand. Not quite sure what sort of character you would like to create on Shadowlack? You may view the to see what types of characters we are currently lacking and try to fill in a gap.
