Hero Creation
Work in Progress
Heroes in Lyra
You are about to embark in a glorious journey through the astonishing and impossible-made-possible lands of Lyra, a world that the will of your character can be manifested into extraordary feats of bravery and courage. To begin your adventure you will need to create your character, your avatar into this world. Once you and the rest of the members of your crew have created your characters, your Storyteller will introduce you to the world and you will also start writing your story!
You will need to follow the steps below to create your character. This document wil serve as your guide on how to record and fill your character sheet. The articles linked below will give you more information on which options are available to you and how to go about recording them.
1. Create a Concept for your Hero
If you haven't already read through the "Welcome to Lyra" the "Who can you become in Lyra?" articles and any other material your Storyteller has given you to read. After you do so, jot down 3 sentences to a paragraph to describe your character. This concept can change as you go through the steps below but it will help you get a move on.
2. Select your Species
The first thing you will need to do is to decide which of the Predominant Species of Lyra your character will belong to. Each species will alter the way your character looks, it will gives you access to a variety of backstories and special abilities. Unless your Storyteller told you otherwise, everyone should have access to play an Anthros or a Vulpe, If you want to play any of the other species, you might want to talk to your Storyteller to make sure that his story has place you'd fit in. Playing an Eledhrim (Free, Dool or Durge) will be significantly harder, while the Ymirsen and Deamkin. although rare, should fit in most stories.
Anthros
Anthros (Humans) are first most populous species on Lyra. They come from the great continent of Thebia and most of them are born and die under all-seeing gaze of the Holy Empress Lydia Radeken d'Alderac or the The Holy Theban Empire. Anthros are versatile and intelligent people. They have learned to adapt on almost any enviroment from the frozen southern edges of Naya to the scorching hot tropics of Azun.
Life under the Empire, for most, means a life of burden, The Imperial Cult fits all citizens with the a Locket which assures their obidience to the Empress. For the less fortunate, becoming rebels and escaping up in the mountains of Thebia, or finding their way to the free colonies of the Nyrian Archipelago is the only chance to a free and unshackled life.
Eledhrim
Eledhrim are the original inhabitants of the Nyrian Archipelago, six limbed tall and limber, agile, jungle warriors able to bend their bodies to their will to become the deadliest hunters, flying-saurian, riders, fly themselves or sages of the mystical arts. With their homeland endangered by the encroachment of the Theban Empire, the Eledhrim have to make tough decisions every day. Whom to trust as a friend, and whom to protect their homes and families from.
One with nature, masters of the wild, servants to the ancients Atlanteans, now masters of their domain. The 8 clans of the Eledhrim span the whole of South Nyria, from the islands of the archipelago to the skies over the thickest jungles. Each clan has its own beliefs and traditions and as a part of one you will be responsible to further their agenda. The Clans are not united as one in all matters, and the reason that Eledhrim are the fierce warriors they are is because of the wars fought between the clans over, territory and or ideology.
* Trigger Warning both Doll and Drudge characters, are very hard to play and tackle very sensitive issues of abuse and psychological pain. It is suggested that you only consider playing them if you are an experience player and have talked to your Storyteller about it.
Doll *
Not every Eledhrim lives free in Nyria. A Doll or "Bird of Paradise" is an Eledhrim youngling which was captured, enslavedby the South Nyria Company SNC and forced, via physical torture and mindbending, to focus their mutagenic development towards beauty and elegance, more specifically the beauty ideals ascribed by the Anthros nobles or other buyers on the Theban Empire that order her or him to become custom-made to their desires.
As a doll you are a highly valued slave that, either by planning a successful escape or with the help of the Emerald Grotto you have found your freedom. You are highly recognisable, so finding a way to hide yourself from the world would be your first priority. Your only vunerability is also your most powerful weapon. Your beauty is unparallel and you have been trained in a variety of skills depending on what your prospect owner had in mind.
Drudge *
You are very much like a doll, with the only difference being that you really aren't. You have been bred via torture and extreme exersize into a hulk. Your bulging muscles can carry several times your weight. You can take a punch and if needs be stay without food for days, but your will is broken. Years of abuse and torture have taken their toll. Although you are now free you will have to fight your inner deamons, and cutlivate out the vocal commands your masters froze into your mind.
Vulpe
Beautiful green valleys and hills littered with stepped rice fields, busy white washed cities of tall, purple-tiled, sloped rooftops and the sound of swords clashing, either in the dojos or in the field of battle. Short, with a lush red, white or midnight coloured fur, the Vulpe, are the fox-like kin of Viliria . Creating the first cities, clans, empires and waging bloody wars before even the Anthros climbed down and left their trees, they are one of the oldest civilized species to rise from the ashes of the cataclysmic event that saw the Atlanteans disappearing into thin air.
The Vulpe are quick and cunning, honor and philosophy are a big part of their culture and you carry this with you whereve the wind might take them. Their understanding of the world around them and the people leaving in it made their mind strong. Their ancient past of being a hunter never left left them - their eyes and ears are tuned to the world around them, and can see and hear things nobody else can. Their ways will seem strange to most outside of their homeland but they are well respected once introduced to outsiders.
Ymirsen
Standing tall and strong, towering over most other humanoids, the Ymirsen are proud warriors and sailors of the sea and sky. Anthros consider them their giant cousins. Ymirsen stand, in average, 2 meters tall, while many of them reach 2.5 or even 3 meters in height. Their bodies are wide and sturdy and their skin is much tougher than any Anthros. When their history began thousands of years ago, their homeland of Azun was a lush green forest, now Azun as Lyra danced on her axis is a scorching desert - but the Ymirsen persevered. Hardy and tough, they found ingenious ways to make do with what they had. Nowdays, with the skies open to them, the Ymirsen fish and grow what they can and raid for what they want. Not all agree with the idea that stealing from others is the right way, many sail the oceans and the skies to find new lands to call home. Many great Ymirsen warriors find themselves deep into the womb of modern civilization by joining the The Zeturian Guard, the Uncorraptable bodyguards, protecting the one true Holy Empress Lydia Radeken d'Alderac.
If there is a single defining feature for the Ymirsen is that they are driven people, to a fault. They will never backdown, they will never surrender and will stand for what they want and their values no matter what life throws at them. This doesn't make them necessarily honorable and good, setting their mind to a harmful to others goal also has exactly the same effect to them and the others around them.
Deamkin
According to the stories, thousands of years ago the Deamkin were splintered from the Eledhrim by their Atlantean masters. Nobody knows why. What is certain is that the Deamkin have evolved to become quite different than their Eledrim brothers and sisters.
Standing at about the same height as most Anthros, the Deamkin, are easily recognisable by their dark, blue, purple or red thin-scaled and soft to the touch skin and their piercing, purple, blue, red or white shining eyes. Their wings might not be, in most cases to be utilized for flight, but they are able to use them to glide and many Deamkin have mastered ways to use the wind to their advantage in daily life. their elegant, thin, pointy and very expressive tails and an obvious tell tail for their emotional state for anyone that knows them, and then of course there are the elaborate and scaly horns that come in all shape and sizes.
The Deamkin come from the frozen and plunged in darkness lands of Aspiria, They are excellent hunters and able to survive to the coldest of temperatures. For thousands of years they fought the horrors of the Duskbelt. Living is such harsh conditions requires hope, and hope for the Deamkin comes in the from of Aster, The South Prince their guiding light and saviour. Following his teachings the some Deamkin can achieve incredible feats by controlling the environment around them and bending it to their will. Deamkin's skin is venomous, nobody is really sure why but that makes them incapable of touching anyone who is not a Deamkin without causing them serious bodily harm.
3. Choose a Culture
Find where you are fromRegardless of which species your character belongs to, the place they were born, their education formal, or otherwise and the traditions that the people around them follow, affect who they are deeply. This is especially the case during the early formative years of their life. Work with your storyteller to find where your character was born. First of all determine which of the continents, Thebia, Azun, Viliria, Aspiria or Nyria.
Select your Place of Birth, this can be one of the major cities of that region or a village around it. Write down to your sheet your Place of Birth
Select your Culture. Read a bit about the cultures present on each region, you can consult the Global Map under the Cultures layer. Each pin is connected to the article for that Culture The map shows the primary culture of the region. This mean if you want to live in a place but have a different culture, you will have to create a small backstory to explain why, but it's perfectly possible. Refugees, Visiting Academics, Travelling Merchants and so many other professions do that all the time. Write to your sheet your Culture.
Choose a name. Your name is a product of the culture you were born in. Check your chosen culture for ideas of what your name might be. If your species has some generic names, you can always choose from those.
Choose a Religion. Not everyone is religious or follows a philosophy, but in Lyra, a place that will can be manifested, it's hard not to. Religions in Lyra are split between organized and free-acting religions but both of them have a dogma that you need to follow if you are part of them. Philosophies are more open ended and they are teachings and guidelines of how you live your life. Choosing a religion can create contacts for you, and finding people believing at the same set of values and practices when you are far away from home and possibly alone, can be a great strength.
4. Choose Background
Your Background defines your roots, where you came from. In most cases your background refers to those formative years between the age of 5 and 15, when your character was still a wee child. Going to school, running around the streets of a city with your friends or milking the cows at your parents homestead, all of those experiences introduce you to the world and become your initial skill set. The tools that you will be using in daily basis during this time will become second nature to you. May as it be a black smiths hammer, an inkwell and a pen or the saddle and tack of a horse by the time you are an adult you will be able use them with your eyes closed.
In game rules, the background you choose will give you a set of 2 - 3 skill ranks for free and, possibly, some equipment. As an examples taking the background "Son of the Smith" will award your character 1 rank in Craft - Blacksmithing, 1 rank in Endurance, 1 rank in Athletics and a set of smithing tools. Jot down your chosen background to your character sheet and keep a note of the skill ranks and equipment somewhere on the side.
5. Choose a Career
For most of people in Lyra, the age of 16 (leaving childhood) means that is time to find out what you think you will be doing for the rest of your life. It is the first time you get to focus on a set of skills. There are literally, hundreds of careers to choose from in the Careers list and you should not feel constraint to those. If you have something very specific in mind, talk to your Storyteller about it, and he will create something specifically designed for you.
In game terms, each career awards you with one or two ranks of a skill and a feat. Feats in Lyra are a sign that you have gone above and beyond in your knowledge of a skill. They give you access to special moves, recipes for crafting, special effects and modifiers. The last two levels, the 4 and 5 of a feat, in most cases, also give you access to Willpower powers. Feats are quite more expensive than skill ranks, so choosing your career correctly can give you an edge. Feats also define the titles you can use. For example, a character with a third level feat in Armorsmithing is a Master Armorer (3rd Rank gives them the Master part, the fact they have a feat in Armorsmithing makes them an Armorsmith). These feats at the easiest way to understand what a character is (since there is no such a thing as charactetr classes). For example, Joan, is a Charmer, Expert Gunslinger and a Master Swordman. This definition makes it very clear what to expect from that character.
To give you an idea if you chose the Blacksmith career awards 1 rank in Craft - Blacksmithing and the "Blacksmith" feat, which will make your an Apprentice Blacksmith, and give you a list of simple crafting recipies you can use. If you already had the Son of Blacksmith background, you already have 2 ranks in Blacksmithy and one feat, and your character will be well on their way to become an legendary craftsman of exceptional items.
6. Pick your Hero's Attunement
What makes a hero unique compared to anyone else in the world of Lyra is that they are Attuned. Being attuned means that due to the way that the stars were aligned when you were concived, your mind and body is uniquely focused to one of the six Attributes. Attunement grants +2 to the associated attribute and -1 XP cost per rank on skills associated to that attribute skills. Choose one of the attributes and add a star by its score. Attunement cannot be easily changed and although you can always choose ot disregard it, playing on your strengths can give you a unique advantage compared to most people around you.
7. Determine the Motivation, Morals and Personality Traits of your hero
8. Select Body Transformations or Mutations (optional)
If your species or background gives you the ability to acquire a mutation, you can spent up to 20 Experience Points to purchase any Mutation or Transformation
In contrary to the Species and Attunement attribut score bonuses and penalties, mutations and transformations allow you to exceed the species-imposed limitations.
9. Assign Attribute Scores
Assign 50 points to your 6 Attribute Scores and add or remove any potential modifiers from
Where relevant, make sure that your attributes do not exceed your species limitations.
10. Purchase Flaws
Select up to 4 Flaws , sum the XP points from those11. Choose your Crystal
If no crystal, spend 10 XP points, else choose an Adium Crystals12. Calculate your hero's available XP Points
Total XP = INT*6 + 30 + Sum of Flaws XP (if any) + Species Bonus XP (if any) - Mutations Assigned XP (if any)13. Purchase Skills & Feats
First keep a record of the skill ranks given to your character by their
- Backgrounds
- Careers
- Species
- Ethnicity and/or Religion
Once you have recorded those, proceed to the Skills & Feats in order to spend all your remaining Experience points.
14. Pick Weapons, Armor and Equipment
15. Finalize your Hero
Fill the rest of your sheet
Table of Contents
Choosing Playtester will give you access to the articles required to create a character and play the game
GamemasterWarning Choosing Gamemaster will reveal to you secrets of the world and hooks that should only be read by people aiming to run games in Lyra, do not choose this if you wish to play as a player ar some point
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