Writing character profiles can be a fun process, and is a great opportunity to display your creativity. Even so, don't get too carried away! You want your characters to be realistic.

We try to stay as close to the books as possible in ToC. Because of this, we've got some types of characters and bonds/powers that we just plain don't allow. You need to take a look at the banned species, bonds, and powers list before you create a character. Most of it is pretty common-sense (no, we are NOT going to allow gargoyles in-game) and self-explanatory. If something is on the list, it's there for a good reason- either there's a 'rule' in the books that stated something could not occur/exist, or we've had a bad experience with it in-game. If you're really set on playing a panwere or some other banned character, contact the council before you try to submit it. If you have a really compelling plot reason, we might temporarily approve a banned character, bond, or power. On that note, there are two rare species we're willing to on a limited basis. One lamia and one naga may be played IG. We aren't willing to accept more than either one of these, however.

If you're new to role-playing, or haven't really had to fill out a detailed character profile before, here are some hints from other players to help you. (Experienced players, feel free to skip this section!)

- First off, don't play yourself. Taking a characteristic of yours that you like and building a character around it is good. Just don't make someone up that is exactly like you. Stretch your horizions and play something that you've never been.

- Decide what you want to play, human, shifter, vampire or some other preternatural. Be creative but don't go overboard on powers and quirks. Try to keep your basic character simple and develop them as you play them.

- If you can't really decide what your character should look like, find a picture first. Then find them a fitting name (searching for baby names and meanings are a good way to find interesting names for your characters and their meanings may give you an insight to who they should be).

- Try to do something that no one else has done and try to challenge yourself. Remember that just because your character is human or not a master or an alpha, it doesn't mean that they aren't worth playing!

- Creating your character is your way of expressing yourself. So have fun with it! That's the main thing to remember

Full Name:
Nicknames:
Age:
Occupation:
Residency status: This refers to how long your character has lived in New Orleans- the answer will either be New Arrival (NA) or Long-Time Resident (LTR)
Species:
Status: Is your character an alpha or beta, master vampire or non-master? If your character is a human or these don't apply, simply leave this section blank.
Outed: Does your lycanthrope character keep their lycanthropy a secret or not?
Position: Does your character have a position in his/her given group? This applies to lycanthropes, vampires, and human-servants.
Eyes:
Hair:
Height:
Weight:
Tattoos/piercings:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Quirks:
Other:

On the 'eyes' and 'hair' sections, one words descriptors should be used. Anything longer than that will be cut down at the moderators' discretion.

For "Appearance", "Personality" and "History", use full sentences in a summary form.

Example: "Blah has a sweet, heart-shaped face framed by long, dark hair. She is petite and rarely looks anything but innocent, despite the true heart of ice that lies beneath the cherub-like facade."

NOT: "Sweet, heart-shaped face; long, dark hair; petite; looks innocent but heart of ice"

Remember to make your character's history reasonable and credible. If your character had a normal childhood, is it really likely that they're going to be a master in seven different kinds of martial arts, or know ten languages? Of course not! Give your characters skills that match their history. Your character's profile should reflect their history and the effect it's had on them. If something cannot be deduced by a logical jump or isn't explained properly it's not going to be approved.

Please keep your character's weight/height reasonable. Don't have a woman who is 5'11" and 115 lbs. and say that she's 'curvy'. Womanly curves are made of fat. The more curves, the more fat = the more a character will weigh. Same goes for men- don't make a man 6'2" and 150 lbs. and say he's a muscled god. He'd be scrawny. If the character is athletic, s/he will weigh more than a non-athletic person of the same height - muscle weighs more than fat.
If you need help estimating your character's weight, use this height/weight chart. It's fairly accurate, and should prove to be helpful. This BMI calculator is also very helpful.

Reasonable, reasonable, reasonable - that's the mantra you need to keep in mind when creating characters!

Remember that master vampires over 1000 and non-masters over 1500 are not allowed. Also, about alpha lycanthropes: The council knows that in the books some alphas had certain powers, such as healing through touch, sex, or blood, or ripping the beast from another, but we also want our members to remember that these were rare powers. That in mind, we ask that if you submit a character with 'extra' alpha powers that you email us separately and explain why your character should have these powers (ex., the character in question is poised to be bolverk, Nimir-Raj, etc.).

Additionally, alpha status is not automatic. Please explain, at least briefly, in the history how your character achieved it. The explanation can be something as simple as 'Johnny joined the local pack and with their guidance eventually gained alpha status'. Be aware that interspecies mentoring is rare. While a leopard might mentor another big cat, a wolf more than likely would not mentor a cat, etc., etc.

It's always a good idea to check out some of the other profiles. They've all already been approved, so they should give you a good guide as to how to apply.

Once you've gotten your character's profile written out, simply use the form here. All fields, except "Other" must be filled. If you'd like to go into extra detail, feel free to use the "Other" section to add extra fields (eg. weapons, mode of transport, etc.).

In regards to character pictures, they can be sent to the council separately as attachments, but providing a link on the submission form is preferred.