Creating a Character

Creating a character is the first step in entering Castle Marrach. When creating a character, many people think of it as grounds for character development. They might choose interesting physical quirks to base their characters around. For instance, someone might choose a short, stocky character and emphasize that in their role playing of that character. Others use physical traits as symbolic of their character's personality. For instance, a person might choose black eyes to symbolize a dark and troubled mind or a shady disposition. But it is all subjective to how each person approaches the creation of the character. Some merely create a character with no heed to quirks or symbolism. It's in the creator's hands to decide what to do with the creation.

The character creation process itself in Castle Marrach is fairly simple. You will be led through a series of web pages which tell a short story of how your character comes to arrive in Castle Marrach. I will provide excerpts of the static portions of the character creation story for your future reference. And I will simultaneously run you through the simplicities and intricacies of the process. We begin with the opening of the creation story:

You slowly awaken, stiff and groggy. Your nose stings, your scalp itches, and you are lying on a hard, cold surface. Wide strips of cheap linen are wrapped tightly around your body.

You squint against the dim light through the cloth. The muffled echos of footsteps on stone, the clatter of small objects being handled, and a couple of indistinct words penetrate your wrappings and your foggy brain. You have no idea where you are, or how you got there.

Through the haze between you and the world, you distantly hear someone's voice: "Well, another one finished. Lith, where's the order from the Queen? What's this one's name?" An old man removes the linen wrappings from around your head.

This is where you enter your character's name. Be aware that there are names which are disallowed in Castle Marrach. Read this before choosing your character's name. And for the rest of this resource, let's pretend we've chosen the name "John" for the example character here.

Your body feels leaden; even rolling your eyes takes an effort. The old man looks at a piece of paper and says, "Hmm, so you're John, eh? Well, I'm Doctor Getheaht, and I'm sure you're full of questions. Well, they can wait for a bit; I've got plenty of other things to do. No rest for the weary, eh? Let's have a look at you." The name 'John' sounds vaguely familiar, but you don't know for sure that it is correctly yours.

Here, you will choose your character's gender: male or female. Remember to go back and change the name if you find it does not fit with the gender. It would be odd to have a woman named "John," no? Also, it may be in your interest to have your character remember that Doctor Getheaht was the one who tended him or her.

Doctor Getheaht squints at you, muttering under his breath. You hear a girl's voice say, "Is he doing well, master?" The old man answers, "Bah! Of course he's doing well--have I ever had any complaints? Young and fit, he is." He turns and stomps off. The girl's voice says, "[There was that man without an arm, master.]" The old man does not answer her.

In the above paragraph of the character creation, there is a portion that is quoted as Lith saying, "There was that man without an arm, master." This is not always the case. There are several different things Lith can say, so pay attention particularly if you want to quote Lith later in the actual castle.

A few minutes pass as the old man putters around, muttering to himself; you have trouble making him out, as the room or cave you are in is lit dimly. You finally gather the strength to briefly raise your hands before your face; they are wrapped in coarse, tan linen. A vague sense of dismay crosses your mind when you realize you don't remember where you were last. You strain to remember more...

At this point in the character creation process you will choose what type of memory you want for your character. Note that the memory you choose can be one of many different types and in each subtype there can be many more actual memories. The memory will be revealed to you and your character later in the creation process. If you do not like your character's memory, you can choose to restart the creation process again. Tedious, but it works.

The old man says, "Hmm, he seems to be coming along well. Lith, you can take John to his room." The young girl, Lith, places a white sheet over you, up to your chin, and pulls up a hinged cloth canopy over your head.

Also, at this screen, you choose your character's build, height, skin and hands.

Lith begins pushing at the foot end of what is apparently a sort of gurney, rolling you out of the dim room, and slowly bumping along a cold, dark passage. As she pushes the two-wheeled gurney with apparent ease, she quietly says, "Hello, I'm Lith."

At this point, you choose your character's eye shape, eye color, ear shape and nose shape.

The gurney rumbles across stone floors, the jolts and bounces keeping you awake.

At this screen you choose your character's mouth shape, lip shape and jaw shape.

Jarred by the ride, you groggily try to stay awake and recall more about your past.

Here you choose your character's cheek shape, brow shape, eyebrow shape and hair coverage.

As the gurney is wheeled along by Lith, you fade back into sleep.

This is where you choose your character's hair length, hair color, hair type and hair style.

You are jarred awake briefly as Lith maneuvers the gurney into a staircase.

At this screen you choose your character's facial hair.

Even the bumping of the gurney up a flight of steps, one by one, cannot keep you awake long.

Here you choose your character's facial hair length; if your character has facial hair, that is.

You waken lying under a blanket in a bed, instead of the gurney. Lith is standing next to the bed, and tells you, "This is your room from now on. The tailors and seamstresses are upstairs, and can provide more clothes. You can get food downstairs, in the dining hall." As Lith pushes the empty gurney out of the room, she says...

At this point, past the ellipsis, Lith will tell your character a rumor. This is not the same each time you run through the character creation process. So if you wish to remember what Lith said to your character particularly, you will need to remember or take note of what rumor she gives your character.

As she leaves the room, Lith says, 'Don't worry -- you'll feel fine soon. Try and get some sleep.' She quietly closes the door.

As you lie in bed, you drift off and think you dreamily remember a scene from your past...

In a paragraph after the above, your character's "memory" is revealed. As noted earlier the memory given can vary greatly. So if you wish a new memory you can start the character creation process over. If you chose "sunset, with brilliant purples and golds" as the category of your character's memory the first time through the process, you can choose the sunset category again and be given a different memory related to sunsets the second time through. However, the possibilities are not infinite and there is a chance you could get the same memory again, but that chance is low.

Also, realize, you can create a memory for your character on your own. You don't absolutely need to follow the memory that is given to your character through the mechanics of the character creation process. Some people have also expanded the memory given through the creation process beyond what the mechanics suggest.

Keep in mind if you are creating your own memory for your character that you should not include anything modern in your character's memory and even things which might be out-of-place in a medieval-renaissance atmosphere. Your character should not have a memory about automobiles of any kind, for instance.

One of the themes of Castle Marrach is fantasy. Dragons, unicorns and elves are perfectly plausible to include in a memory of your own design. However, your character cannot be anything but human.

As well, Castle Marrach has its own culture. While you are free to have your character remember something from real world medieval culture or myth, characters are free to disbelieve it. They can even disbelieve something that is not from the real world if they choose. And keep in mind that the StoryPlotters (game masters) of Castle Marrach may even reveal that it is false outright, either through in-character revelations or by out-of-character channels.

Lastly, it is important to remember that the chief purposes of memories are to create a background for your character. And you can choose to have no background for your character, if you wish.

So, continuing with the story:

You lie in the warm bed, in the dim room, and fall quickly into a deep sleep.

Eventually, you awaken, after an unknown amount of time, still in the bed. You slide your feet onto the cold floor and examine yourself in a mirror on the wall. In the mirror you see...

And after the ellipsis above, your character is described with the details you chose for him or her. It is on this screen where you can decide if you wish finalize the character and begin playing him or her or if you wish to start over and choose a new memory or change the name, details, etc. If you start over, the name you chose before will not be taken, so you can use it again. However, if you actually finalize the creation of the character by clicking the button, you cannot choose that name again, even after deleting the character. It takes 6 months before the name can be used again after deleting a character.

Well, I hope this resource has been helpful in preparing you to create a character for Castle Marrach. And I wish you luck with whatever characters you decide to play.

-Steve S.