Starting characters are built on eight character points, and can take up to two points of disadvantages to acquire additional points. Characters can be built by choosing individual traits, taking one or more archetype packages, or combining archetype packages with individual traits.

Before focusing on mechanics of character creation, think about the sort of character you would like to play. Come up with a name and an exact age in years for your character, and consider their background. What are their opinions on some of the major powers in the setting? Are they religious? Do they respect the Crown Prince, or curse his name? Answering questions like these will improve your character immeasurably when you enter the game.

Some Advice

Through experience, the most successful From Light to Darkness players tend to be those who pick a niche during character creation and expand from there. The most straightforward niches are those of the powerful noble, and the wealthy merchant, and both integrate quickly and effectively in the game. Less straightforward but equally successful is the information broker, a character built to be a part of many of the game’s groups who can combine the secrets gleaned from each. All of these concepts benefit from specializing during character creation, and then expanding their character from there. Most players will find it far easier to enter the game with a character who is very good at one thing than with a character who dabbles in many different things.

Individual Traits

The following individual traits are available to characters. Feel free to suggest additional possibilities. From Light to Darkness is a game system under development, not a finished product.

Combat

Chirurgeon (1 point)
Your character is familiar with the principles of chirurgy, and can Treat wounds and set broken bones. By tending to a wounded character, you can turn their Injuries into Treated wounds, preventing them from bleeding to death. You may not use this ability on your own wounds.

Good Duelist (1 point; may be purchased multiple times)
Your character is skilled with a dueling pistol (which must be purchased separately), and may improve her shooting results by two points per level of this trait. Each point of improvement allows you to either convert one Miss in your clip into a Hit, one Hit into a Critical, or one Critical into a Hit. The contents of a clip should be decided at the beginning of a session, and may be changed between games.

Good Fencer (1 point; may be purchased multiple times)
Your character is a skilled fencer, and may call two Dodges per combat for each level of this trait.

Physician (3 points; requires Church Initiate, Merchant, or Heretic)
Your character has mastered the basic rituals of the physician, and can heal the wounds of another character. You gain all of the abilities conferred by the Chirurgeon trait. Additionally, you can heal a character's wounds completely. If you treat a character, he may heal one wounded location every thirty minutes until he takes additional wounds or reopens his existing wounds. If the subject remains stationary, he may heal one wounded location every fifteen minutes. You may treat any number of characters simultaneously, but the benefits conferred by multiple Physicians are not cumulative. Like Chirurgeon, you may not use this ability on your own wounds.

Equipment

Alternate Identity (1 point; may be purchased multiple times)
Your character possesses an alternate identity, denoted by an additional name tag and cast list entry. This trait does not confer any disguise skills beyond what you possess, and is principally intended for nobles who wish to hide their true identity when attending the game.

Armor (1 point; may be purchased multiple times)
Your character begins the game with a suit of armor, and may call two Armors per combat for each level of this trait. Armor is generally considered dated and tasteless by the nobility of Komaru, and is worse than useless in the face of Crux dueling pistols.

Cosmos Deck (1 point)
Your character begins the game with a Cosmos deck, a set of cards with potent mystical significance.

Dueling Pistol (1 point)
Your character begins the game with a dueling pistol. Base dueling pistols have ten shots: five Misses, four Hits, and one Critical. These may be improved by purchasing the Good Duelist trait.

Heir (1 point)
Your character has an heir in the wings. If you lose your character during a session, your heir can be brought in during the next session with full legal access to your previous character's possessions and titles, and full knowledge of everything your character knew before your final session. The heir is assumed to have gained their predecessor's knowledge through a diary or other personal communication. Further, an heir has a legal right to seek blood vengeance on their predecessor's killer.

Social Status - General

Expertise (1 point per area of Expertise)
Your character is an acknowledged expert within a specific artistic or scientific field. The Storyguides reserve the right to approve all areas of Expertise. Acceptable examples include: Architecture, Astrology, Courtesan, Drama, Literature, Music, Order of Succession, Poetry, Scribe, and Wine.

Gitany Ties (1 point)
The Gitany are a clan of rootless wanderers who travel through Komaru and the surrounding lands. While the peasantry fears and reviles them, they are said to know many mystic secrets that have been forgotten or forbidden by the Church of Inner Light. Some nobles maintain ties to the Gitany, secretly supporting them in the hope of learning some of their secrets. It is even said that some depraved nobles have taken Gitany lovers, allowing their bloodlines to intermingle with the Homeless Ones.

Night Market Contacts (1 point)
You have connections to the night market, the underworld of the Komaran economy. You may submit items for auction in the next session's Trade point auction. If your submission is sold for a bid including full Trade points, you receive a Prestige point for each full Trade point spent on your goods. The storyguides reserve the right to ignore trivial or valueless goods offered for auction.

Royal Connections (2 points)
You have a clear connection to Crown Prince Alessandro and his court. You may be a relative, a personal friend, a trusted councilor, or something else -- see a storyguide for approval when creating your character. Taking this trait makes you part of the Royal Household, giving you access to the latest gossip and plots in the Royal Court.

Social Status - Merchant

Merchant (1 point)
Your character is a merchant, firmly placed in the middle class. Nobles need the goods you can provide, but look upon you as little more than a presumptuous commoner. The Church frowns on you for aiding and abetting the decadence of the nobility. However, you have access to contacts and connections that neither the Church nor the nobility possesses, and may attend each game session's Merchant Auction. When taking this trait, a merchant should define his trade specialty. Possible specialties include: gemstones, occult writings, pharmaceuticals, pre-Paraceln artifacts, weapons, et cetera.

Trade Contacts (variable)
Trade contacts are valuable connections to prominent merchants, traders, and dealers in mysterious artifacts. For every point you put into this trait, you will receive one Trade point per session. Each session, the storyguides will produce a number of lots of merchant goods for auction to all merchants present. Trade points represent "wealth" used to bid for these goods. Normally, Trade points are "empty." However, when combined with a point of Prestige, a Trade point becomes "full." In the auction, one Full Trade point is worth more than any number of Empty Trade points.

Twilight Crux Initiate (1 point)
Your character is an initiate of the Twilight Crux, and knows some basic information about the Crux, its membership, and its rituals. You will begin the game with knowledge of at least a smattering of the Crux's magic. This knowledge definitely includes the rites necessary to stabilize a dueling pistol. Increased initiation into the secrets of the Crux will occur through game play.

Social Status - Noble

Empty Title (0 points)
You must have the Nobility trait to take this trait. You have a title, but your lands and prestige have been stripped from you. You should create a story explaining how you lost your inheritance and came to disfavor.

Nobility (1 point)
Your character is noble, and may purchase a Noble Title trait. When choosing this trait, decide on a family you are associated with, or create your own. The six Great Families of Komaru are the Bellatrix, the Komaru, the Minamet, the Sone, the Touraine, and the Yuasa.

Pure Bloodline (1 point)
Before Paraceln cast down their cities, the nobility of Komaru was obsessed with the study of bloodlines. Rigorous astrological principles were applied to any marriage, and there are tales of depraved nobles who bore children by their own siblings to preserve the purity of their blood. While bloodline no longer the obsession it once was, it is true that oftentimes the purity of one's blood is more important than one's title in ascending to the upper ranks of a noble family. Pure Bloodline cannot be purchased after character creation.

Royal Council (2 points)
You must have the Nobility trait to take this trait. You hold a seat on the Komaru Royal Council, the body of nobles who oversee the Crown Prince himself. You can censure other nobles from this position of power, applying your Prestige to undermine their power. At the end of a session, you may apply unspent Prestige against another noble by informing a storyguide of your intent. Royal Council does not allow you to reduce a Church Title.

Noble Title (variable)
You must have the Nobility trait to take this trait. You have one or more noble titles, granting you significant wealth and power in the court. For every point you put into this trait, you will receive one Prestige point per session. Prestige may be awarded to other players, for whom it acts as experience or favors owed. You may keep your Prestige points between sessions. You may purchase more than one title, or spend all your points on one large title. Typical Komaran titles and their associated point costs follow:

Social Status - Priest

Church Initiation (1 point)
You are a vested member of the Church of the Inner Light, devoted to the protection of the souls of all humanity. You are respected and feared by serfs and peasants, and granted a healthy respect by nobles and merchants. You have the authority to judge the state of another's soul, and to command those with obscured souls to perform penance for the sake of their own personal enlightenment.

Church Title (variable; at least 2 points)
You must have the Church Initiation trait to take this trait. You hold an important position within the Church, granting you significant spiritual and temporal power. For every point past one that you put into this trait, you will receive one Prestige point per session. Prestige may be awarded to other players, for whom it acts as experience or favors owed. You may keep your Prestige points between sessions. Typical Komaran spiritual titles and their associated point costs follow:

Spiritual Authority (2 points)
You are a Church Illuminator, and have been authorized by the Principal Light to seek out shadow and evil and purge it from the world's light. You can censure other characters from this position of power, applying your Prestige to undermine their power. At the end of a session, you may apply unspent Prestige against another character by informing a storyguide of your intent. Spiritual Authority may be used to attack both Church Titles and Noble Titles, and can potentially even lead its targets to be branded heretics.

Theurgy (2 points)
While all priests know at least the basics of the rites of theurgical sacrament, your character is a practicing theurgist. You will begin the game with at least basic knowledge of theurgical ritual, allowing you to call upon specific sacraments in service of the Light. Note that while all members of the Church of the Inner Light strive to achieve personal enlightenment and return to the Cosmos, theurgists are known to often succeed in doing so at a very youthful age in the presence of many witnesses. The life of a theurgist is dangerous, but their powers are undeniable.

Disadvantages

Bad Reputation (-1 point)
There is a stain upon your name that has taken on a life of its own. Whether or not the reputation is deserved, it makes it difficult for you to earn the trust and respect of others. You must pay one additional Prestige point when improving any of your traits. Be sure to specify what sort of bad reputation you possess.

Church Rival (-1 point; requires Church Initiation)
The intrigues of the Church rival that of the Komaran court. Somehow, your character's Church Title depends upon the failure of another Church leader's schemes. During your first session with your character, choose a character with Church Title to be your rival. Whenever that Church official gains an additional point of Church Title, you lose a point of Church Title. If you do not choose a rival in your first session, one will be chosen for you by the storyguides. Note that powerful Church figures have a more difficult time gaining titles than simple Luminances or Illuminati, so choosing a Numinous or Radiance for your rival is recommended.

Code of Blood (-1 point)
The nouveau nobility disparagingly refers to traditional nobility as "bibelots," a slur on their adherence to intangible rules of honor. The traditionalists themselves refer to these rules as the Code of Blood, and most attempt to follow their dictates. The Code of Blood demands that its adherents defend the helpless, fight fairly and honorably, offer mercy to a defeated foe, and nurture the land they are entrusted with. Some nobles go so far as to publicly declare their adherence to the Code of Blood, thereby serving as an example to all of Komaru. Those who take this vow and then fail to live up to it generally lose their titles or their lives.

Fragile (-1 point)
You were not born to be a warrior, and the violence of the Interregnum was terrifying as a result. You may never call a "Light Hit," "Dodge," or "Armor" in combat.

Heretic (-1 point)
You are a renegade member of the Church of Inner Light, and have abandoned their teachings in favor of the material world's lures. Any character that arrests you and brings you to a Church tribunal at the end of a session will gain at least one Prestige point. Furthermore, your religious mistakes may have consequences of a more spiritual nature; a storyguide will explain these consequences to you as the game requires.

Noble Rival (-1 point; requires Nobility)
The intrigues of the Komaran Court are deep and obscure. Somehow, your character's prestige depends upon the failure of another noble's schemes. During your first session with your character, choose another noble who is your rival. Whenever that noble gains an additional point of Noble Title, you lose a point of Noble Title. If you do not choose a rival in your first session, one will be chosen for you by the storyguides. Note that powerful nobles have a more difficult time gaining titles than simple barons or viscounts, so choosing a Duke or Marquis for your rival is recommended.

Old (-1 point)
Age matters in Komaran society. If you are playing a character more than twenty years older than your actual age, you may take this disadvantage. Older characters are more likely to experience the negative effects of some of the game's systems.

Paraceln's Vow (-1 point; requires Church Initiation)
You have taken Paraceln's vow to never injure those who bear the Inner Light within them. You may never use a weapon or any other power to injure another human, although you may defend yourself normally from attacks. Those who break Paraceln’s Vow are generally branded Heretics and excommunicated by the Church of Inner Light.

Character Archetype Packages

Bibelot Nobility (Total Cost: 3 points)

Gitany Mystic (Total Cost: 3 points)

Merchant Prince (Total Cost: 4 points)

Nouveau Nobility (Total Cost: 2 points)

Paraceln Healer (Total Cost: 3 points)

Royal Army Veteran (Total Cost: 3 points)

Shiliyite Illuminator (Total Cost: 4 points)

Twilight Crux Occultist (Total Cost: 3 points)

Veiled Guard (Total Cost: 3 points)