Making a character

A character is made on one screen with five tabs. A gold dot on a tab means that choice is made; a hollow ring means it is still needed. Talents and Equipment are optional and only gain a dot once filled. The line at the bottom always names the next thing to do, and Forge lights up when nothing is missing.

1. Race. Pick one of the thirteen peoples. Each card shows what the race costs in creation points and where it leans: its best and weakest stats. Hover a card to read about that people before you commit. A greyed card says why it cannot be picked.
2. Face and eyes. The steppers under the sex toggle cycle the faces and eye colours your body has; the preview turns to the face while you choose.
3. Path. Might, Faith, Guile or Arcana: what you are trained for and how it shifts your stats. Not every race may follow every Path; a closed one says so.
4. Talents (optional). Up to three, each paid from the same 75 creation points as your stats. A greyed Talent names what stands in its way: your race, your Path, another Talent you have chosen, three already taken, or too few points left.
5. Equipment. Once you have a race and a Path, a starting kit for that Path is filled in: a weapon your people know and the heaviest armour you can wear. Change or empty any slot (the preview wears exactly what you pick); Suggested kit puts it all back and Clear all strips it. Change race or Path later and the kit follows, except in slots you chose yourself.
6. Hometown. Click a settlement on the map; it is where you begin, and where you return when you die until you bind to a city's Heartwood. The map first offers only the three towns of Bridhill island, where other players can barely hurt you. Tick Show dangerous towns to choose any settlement in the realm.
7. Name. One word in a single alphabet: Latin (accents welcome), Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Devanagari or Arabic. Three to sixteen letters, or two to eight Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters; no spaces, digits or symbols. The line under the field says exactly what is wrong. A name that only looks like one already taken (the same letters from another alphabet, or with accents) counts as taken. Random offers a name in the sound of your race's peoples. See Names in every alphabet.

Spend the rest of your creation points on stats with the -/+ buttons in the left column; each stat shows its cap for your race and Path, and cannot go below where your race and Path start it. Reset and Close ask before they throw a character away.

Your character has a voice of its own, one for each race and sex. Pick a race and it speaks; pick a Path and it says a few words about that Path. On the character select screen, the character you choose speaks as it draws its weapon.