Getting started. First off, let me thank all of you for coming up with such great ideas, and let me thank most of you for handing me concepts well before I asked for them! I'd planned this section for a while now and had no idea what to write before I read everyone's drafts and heard all of your questions. Most of you, the first thing you'll want is a name, so you know who you're refering to. Names in Lunar Mecha are a little strange! I would like it if you didn't have them be randomly Japanese or ye olde fantasy complete with too few vowels and apostraphes in weird places, but other than that, it's alright. I found there is a bit of a scheme to it, if you're curious. Lunar Mecha Names If you're looking for some nice adjectives to start yourself thinking, you could check out the exalted name generator. While not common, it wouldn't be unreasonable to have an exalted name, and certainly many of the less fantastic adjectives would be just great. Ask other applicants how they came up with their names, where their character is from, and then base the name off of it-- or just talk to me! Let's say you have a name, mm? My pretend character will be Cherry Scarlet. I reccomend that you avoid trapping yourself by thinking of anime you have seen, or other characters you wanted to make in the hopes of fitting a square peg into a round hole. I can tell, and while you're free to do that, you may end up having a worse chance of getting in than other people, or possibly have less fun if the character doesn't exist in the world. If they hapen to work, great! But try and see if a new character is inspired by my setting. That is the nicest feeling I can have, and you'll most likely be happier as well. If you are using this approach, the next step is to learn about the game. You may not know where to start, and certainly I wouldn't, but luckily I made the docs for the game for a person browsing more than reading, so I think it is easy to handle all of the information. The Concept is the most important thing to get, and it's one of my shortest docs. After this, you'll want to decide what sort of person you are. Aside from innate things, environment makes a character. I first like to decide what is special about them, though. The game appears to be about man vs nature, it has the Lunar "power of humanity" thing going on, so let's see what Cherry can be. I want her to represent a red hero, but for this new and strange world. I have a list of what I imagine all of the heroes and dragons being like. You might be inspired by other documents or even other PCs. I reccomend having a look at the list of current PCs because of that. The PCs have a short blurb on them if you click their pictures and, if you hit more, you can see what they wrote in the e-mails without having to fish around. Beyond inspiration, it is good to know the PCs because you want to make characters that are different from them before you have your heart set on them. The red dragon is determined and strong... but I see her as sweet and delicate. I wonder what makes a person be like that? How about if Cherry is from somewhere that it's hard to get into Drakken from, too represent her strength. It looks like Nitou has people who are good at surviving. And look, Cherry gets to have red hair! I don't want it to be that bright, and I think freckles would look a little silly, but thankfully it seems the Nitou don't have to have either of those things. Alright, Cherry is a Nitolo girl. I wonder if she has an accent? I always draw the character at this point because this is how I get to know them. You should do whatever it is you usually do. I decided Cherry Scarlet is too retarded of a name even for this game and settled on Cherilyn Scarlet, and all her friends call her Cherry. She came out more tomboy-ee than I originally intended, but I also decided she should remain the shy sort of person. I think she's really strong and focuses on combat in classes. Let's see that cast list... Yeah, I'd say Cherry did well in combat classes, and I think she likes a lot of the teachers in general, they all seem like good folks. Maybe they are more friendly in Nitou? You might remember hearing that Suris is visiting Nitou-- I'll have to have Cherry talk to her about that when she comes back, huh? I see her being fond of the engineering classes. Even though she is tough I think I want her to be a Jack. If I were you, I would also decide what sort of function your character would have in a mecha party. A girl like Cherry who is interested in such a wide variety of things would best be a Jack, so she's probably fast physically and quick-witted. She is shy but she would like Geranium I think, but I can't see her hanging out with her. If Bahamut got accepted (please talk to the other applicants!) I bet she would think the young mechanic is cool. Thinking about Student Jobs... I think she would be into painting. She would silkscreen shirts for people, too. She seems to like messy hobbies. She can be really extroverted in that way, where she can't be with most people. I wonder what she's afraid of? Probably it's weird coming from Nitou to Drakken where everyone is all into individuality and specialization where all she wants to do is be close to people without all of the hard, unfamiliar work. Poor Cherry! I'm sure you'll be close to people soon. Following with the red dragon thing, I think her mecha should look like a lion, since it says that is of the same element. I bet it's good at more physical stuff. So let's look at the stuff written about mecha! Mecha's name: Regalia Totem: Lion Arm 1: Fist/hand attack Arm 2: Blade, channels fire Legs: standard 2 legs, jointed at knees with thrusters on heel. Head: Lion head Method of flight: Standard wings, glide style flight Other extremities: none Element: Fire Focus: Strength, force This is also a very important document. Consider tying your character in with recent events. Why have these things been happening? Does your character relate to any of it? Does Cherry want to? I think she wants to join the military to find out what happened to Feather Island, since it is so close to Nitou. I also think she is older than most students, 19 or 20, and in 4th year Vane. She would be very protective of the rest of the party, and so her strength would come across, but also she would be shy and reserved. Now I have a character! Once you have developed most everything, you can move on to the character generation! At this point I only need a concept, so don't go crazy putting in all kinds of work. Just thhinking about this stuff should be fine. Let's make a character!