Reference sheet creation

The Character sheet is something very closely to a tabletop role-playing sheet + a visual reference for all your pretty images. The sheet for character lore info is called Character sheet while the traditional visual character sheet is caller Visual sheet. But lets start this tutorial with the Character sheet as it will tell us a lot about our character :3 The Character sheet can be found here: New character sheet for users For non photoshop users: The text layers has been rasterized and the fonts used is Candara size 24pt and Century Gothic (for the big ES number) size 100pt =Basic Information=  ==Names== A shifter is always called by their element until they choose a name for themselves. Some shifters never choose a name and goes by the element name their whole life.

A shifter can also go by their element name if they don’t want to reveal their full identity. Sometimes they call others by their element name if they want to be old fashioned, or simply don’t know their name.

A shifter can have several names, nicknames and human names. Some shifters change their name every once in a while. If your character has any additional names you can write them under “other names”.

Element
In this world elements are not based on the classic Earth, Water, Air and Fire idea. They are rather based on modern science. In this world the classic four origin elements are: Solid matter, Liquid matter, Gas matter, and Chemical reactions. Except for the four there is also Plasma which is the state matter takes when it surpass the gas form. An element can also be different energy forms such as electricity, light and magnetism.

An element shifter controls one element, either based on a type of matter or a type of an energy form. The more energy an element contains the stronger it is.

The elements can be divided into two main categories: Depending on your character's element they will be able to join different factions and their element strength will differ.
 * Matter based elements
 * Energy based elements

Matter based elements
A matter based shifter can either be in control of only one state of the matter or several states. For example an ice shifter and a water shifter both control the same types of molecules but an ice shifter only control water in its solid form while a water shifter might be able to control both its solid form and its liquid form.
 * Matter - Any atom or molecule is OK. A shifter can also have power over a specific mix of molecules, like gray stone.
 * Organic matter - An element can be organic matter, like cells, but not organs or organisms. For example: you have liver cells or wood as element, but not liver or trees.
 * Artificial matter - An element can be man-made material like plastic, but not an invention like a toaster.

Energy based elements

 * Chemical reactions - Like oxidation or fire.
 * Biological processes - Like photosynthesis.
 * Energy form - It can also be an energy form such as lighting, light, explosion, and magnetic fields.

Elemental strength
A shifter’s strength is calculated from a number of different parameters. Strength is based on a number between 1 and 10 where 1 is weak and 10 is strong. A member shifter can however not have more than 9 in strength. To get your elemental strength based on your element ask YouAreNowIncognito and she will give you a number based on the element’s attributes.

The elemental strength affects a number of different attributes as shown in the table below. When you have decided on an element and its strength you can then figure out a number of facts about your shifter. 

Faction affiliation
To figure out which faction your character belong in use the flowchart below. You can always join the Thermal/Mechanical faction and the rebel Black faction, no matter what element you have.

Animal and Preferred shape
All shifters are born in their animal form, with a few exceptions, but not all shifters live as the animal they were born as. Their birth form is their “true” biological form. It’s the shape they are born in and it's the shape they take if all their powers are blocked.

Often it's the shifters parents who choose what animal their child will become as they plant their child's soul embryo into an animal's womb. The shifter society has a few rules about suitable host animals for their children. A good rule of thumb is that the animal form should be an animal with four legs, lungs and some intelligence. Host animals can be mammals, reptiles and birds. A host animal cannot be smaller than a rat or the surrogate mother will die. There's no upper limit in size, but remember, it may not always be practical being an elephant. Shifters who cares about their kids and wants to raise them usually plant them into dogs, cats or other domesticated animals so they can keep track of them.

These rules are in place to prevent unnecessary suffering. If a shifter possess a fish, snake, lobster or other animal outside the criteria their shifting will be extremely painful. This happens anyway sometimes if the parents send off their child's soul embryo to find a host on its own.

The animal form must be a currently existing animal, no dinosaurs or unicorns (though you can make a horse with a horn).

Be creative with your host animal!

Gender
In their war forms shifters has no gender. They are however biologically born with one. The gender affects nothing more than the biological appearance. Shifters treat the genders completely equal and the gender does not affect physical strength. Neither does the gender affect their ability to reproduce. Two shifters of the same gender can without problem have children together, since the reproductive ability is tied to a psychic ability rather than biological sex. This also makes almost all shifters pan-sexual. Which means they fall in love with another being rather than another gender.

When you choose gender choose whatever you think looks best for your character. It affects nothing else.

Age
Shifters don’t age biologically after they turn 20-30. After that their visual age is decided by their own self-image. If they imagine themselves to look 70 years old they will look that old and if they imagine themselves to be young and handsome they will stay young. The visual age does not affect anything else than their appearance. In other words a shifter who looks 90 years old will still be as strong agile as one who looks 20.

<p class="MsoNormal">In the age box write your character’s actual age and then the visual age in parenthesis.''' Example:''' age: 389 (24)

<p class="MsoNormal">The shifters are immortal as long as no one kills them. There are however none of the original god made demons left and very few left who participated in the war at the beginning of time. Your shifter should not be more than 3000 years old.

<p class="MsoNormal"><100 years: Newcomer -You are new to the society, you are either in education or still have a mentor.

<p class="MsoNormal">100 - 250 years: Young - You are considered young by the society, you are not likely to hold any higher positions.

<p class="MsoNormal">250 - 500 years: Modern generation - You are born after the industrial revolution.

<p class="MsoNormal">500- 1000 years: Civilised generation - You have enjoyed the benefit of living along humans for all your life.

<p class="MsoNormal">1000 - 2000 years: Old - You might have lived before the factions are organized like they are today.

<p class="MsoNormal">>2000 years: Ancient - You are among the oldest shifters alive

Class and loyalty


The shifter society is a class society. The higher your Elemental Strength is, the higher your class will be. It’s a very unfair system which the rebels are trying to dispose of. If your shifter has a high elemental strength they will be groomed into high positions and considered lazy if they take a low class job. While a low class shifter will have a very hard time making a career for themself, be treated unfairly and will be likely to join the rebels in the uprise against the system. 

Loyalty
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s four different loyalty alignments to choose from. =Character Stats= <p class="MsoNormal">''' The bars represents a scale from 0 to 10. The number in the circle is the element strength as well.'''
 * Loyalist - You follow the Shifter society’s council and you stand up for the shifter society. You live and perhaps you work for the society and live by its laws.
 * Rebel - You had enough of the unfair system or perhaps you don’t think shifters should live hidden from the humans anymore. Perhaps you think the tales about the gods are just a way to control the shifter population. You want to make a difference and this rebellion is your chance to do that. You have joined the black faction!
 * Turncoat - You side with the side which is doing best for the moment. Tides turns and so does you.
 * Neutral - You don’t take sides in the conflict. Maybe you don’t like the society but you don’t think the black faction is much better or the solution to the problems. Maybe you live as an animal in the forest or as a human pet and simply don’t care about the politics.

<p class="MsoNormal">The most boring type of characters are the ones who are good at everything. This is why we have decided to limit the amount of points you get to place out to 24. You may place them however you want on the physique, agility, intelligence and charisma parameters. The element strength is based on your element and will be the number YouAreNowIncognito gives you. You can, if you want to, place less than 24 points. YouAreNowIncognito’s personal main characters has around 22 points placed out. =Element states= <p class="MsoNormal">The element states are which forms your shifter can control their element in. An ice shifter can only control the solid form while a H2O shifter can perhaps control both solid, liquid and gas. =Visual Shifter Traits=
 * Physique - Is your physical strength and toughness.
 * Agility - Is how fast you move and how agile you are.
 * Intelligence - Is how smart you are. You do not have to be book smart to have a high intelligence.
 * Charisma - This is how much others likes you as well as your ability to talk for yourself.
 * A matter based shifter can max control 3 states of the matter. Note: You cannot jump over one state in the middle. So you can't control solid, liquid and plasma.
 * An energy based shifter such as a fire shifter can only control one state. The energy based state.
 * If you have a shifter with an element which can react or emits energy and your shifter can make it react or control the emission. Then they get to fill in the energy based parameter. For example, if you have a gasoline shifter and they can ignite their element by will. It can also be magnetic stuff, electromagnets and luminent stuff.

'''If a trait is removable or only visible in one form. Write it inside parentheses. At max/min traits you write All traits/traits without parentheses. Ex: Max/min traits: 11/7'''  Depending on the elemental strength of your shifter, they will have a number of different visible traits. Not all traits must be visible in both biological forms but the number of total traits must at least correspond to the elemental strength number. If you wish to have one good biological form you may remove up to 4 traits from it as the shifter puts in a large effort to remove them from that form. An example of this is the character Reed who barely use his animal form, he is lazy and don’t bother maintaining a good animal form. Instead he puts all his energy on having a perfect human form when needed. If you wish to have a weak shifter with a humanlike human form you can also choose to hav eshifter traits inside the body, such as a skeleton made out of the element, or unatural blood. Your shifter may have more traits than the element strength stat provides. But having lots of traits are considered a proof of weakness and low class among loyalists. Among rebels, however, it's considered a fashion statement. An example of this is the character Wilfred (aka Black Hole) who wish to look like a low power shifter as a statement to gain the favor of the lower class.

Shifter traits are divided into three categories.

Demon traits
<p class="MsoNormal">Demon traits are when traits from a shifter’s war form shows in their biological form as well. This can be horns, plates, membranes, markings, colors and other things. The trait may occur somewhat different in the biological form. They can be a “biological” version of the trait.

Animal traits
Animal traits only occur on the human form. It can be animal ears instead of human ears, feathers instead of hair and/or another animal trait. The shifter can however only have animal traits from their own species. A shifter with an eagle animal form cannot have wolf ears in their human form.

===Elemental traits===

<p class="MsoNormal">All shifters has the basic elemental trait in form of their own element hovering around them (some elements are invisible though). This trait can be switched on and off as the shifter can absorb the element into their body. When relaxing, their element will appear around them.

Element formations suggestions =War forms=  <p class="MsoNormal">The war forms are the shifters true forms. They all have two, one feral and one humanoid. In the war forms the shifter is stripped of all biological needs and impulses. In these forms the shifters has one instinct which overrides all other; it’s the instinct to kill all other demons with another element than their own. A shifter can easily lose control over themselves in this form and go rampage. Their feelings and sense of rationality is heavily compromised and some describe them as large emotionless warmachines. Shifters can by accident shift into these forms when they get very angry or very hurt. This is why all shifters are taught how to prevent unwanted shifts and how return to normal again. A shifter can practice their war form control but to master their demonic nature takes years of training and a very dedicated mentor.

<p class="MsoNormal">It is forbidden to take these forms outside in the open. Instead the society have large underground training halls to train war form shifting.

<p class="MsoNormal">A low elemental strength makes a small warform and a high elemental strength makes a large one.

Demon Form
The Demon form is the feral version of the war forms. In this form the shifter looks like a colossal dragon or a monster made out of- or incorporated with their element. The size of the demon form is affected by elemental strength. ==Titan form== == The titan form is the humanoid version of the war forms. The titan form is taller than the demon form as the shifter stands up on two legs. The titan form looks like a large elemental armor. The face is often a mask or some kind of helmet. ===Titan weapon===

<p class="MsoNormal">All shifters can summon a weapon to fight with as part of their titan form. This weapon can also be accessed in the shifter’s human form. The weapon can be whatever the shifter wants it to be but most shifters default to only one shape. With some training they can form it to whatever form they consider practical for the moment but far from everyone does this.

War form control
<p class="MsoNormal">In the warform control box you write how good your shifter is at controlling themselves while shifted to warform. You have 5 options to choose between:
 * None - Your shifter becomes a beast when they shift. They have no control over themselves anymore and can’t remember anything. They have forgotten how to communicate with words and tries to kill everyone around them. They will need assistance to return normal or they will rampage until they have drained themselves completely of energy. After two days of sleep they will wake up in their animal form exhausted and starved. They can accidentally shift to warform by powerful negative emotions.
 * Poor - Your shifter has no- to almost no control over themselves in their War forms. They remember how to talk but can’t make any intelligent conversation. They will rather answer with single words or short sentences. They can also have a hard time telling friend from foe. If they regain control of themselves they can return to their biological forms without assistance. Very powerful negative emotions can make them accidentally shift to war form.
 * Modest - Your shifter can handle themselves in their war forms. They can make controlled shifts between all forms. They can hold a conversation but will keep it short. They are however not used to their big size and can accidentally smash things over and use too much strength when holding things. If they get very upset they can lose control for a few seconds and make a sudden outburst of rage before coming to their senses again.
 * Good - Your shifter is well trained in using their warform. They keep their rational thinking and they can keep intelligent conversations. They are good fighters and know how to make perfect use of their war form abilities.
 * Master - Your shifter has completely mastered their war forms. Being a titan or a demon feels just as natural to them as being an animal or human. Their personality is completely unchanged and there is no risk, whatsoever, that they would lose any type of control over themselves.

Preferred form
Most shifters has a preferred war form. Maybe they can control themselves better in it, or maybe they just prefer one fighting style over the other. In the ‘preferred from’ box write Demon, Titan or Both.

=Personality= 

Positive and negative traits: Creating a balanced character


To make a character interesting for storytelling they need to have some strengths and weaknesses. A good rule of thumb is to give the character as many weaknesses as strengths. Either you can come up with strengths and weaknesses yourself or you can use the sheet above to get some inspiration.

Likes/Dislikes
To give a better idea of who your character is you can write some likes and dislikes. This helps people who wants to include your character into their narrative and it helps artists who may draw illustrations of them.

Personality description
<p class="MsoNormal">Under personality description you can write anything you like which describes your character's personality.

Additional info
Under Additional info you can write whatever information you want about your character. =Profession= <p class="MsoNormal">After the basic training your shifter gets to choose their profession. Different factions offers different professions and different professions offers different skill sets. Note, just because your character has a past of having a boring profession doesn’t it have to mean they’ll have to stay there. This is a society in turmoil after all. See the profession more as a part of their backstory granting them a number of skills rather than a path they must walk from now on.

<p class="MsoNormal">The profession is a help for you to build your backstory and to find helpful and logical traits for your shifter to have.

<p class="MsoNormal">Your shifter must've spent at least 5 years at the profession to claim traits from it.

<p class="MsoNormal">For example; the character Hope used to be a Showfighter, this grants her the profession traits: <p class="MsoNormal">A shifter with a long life can have had several professions. Then they get to pick up to 7 traits from different professions.
 * 1) War form control, this makes her a master of her war forms.
 * 2) Fancy fighting, this makes her look good while fighting.
 * 3) Performance. this gives her a charisma boost and gives her good acting skills.

<p class="MsoNormal">Another example;  The character Delmar used to be a Scout, Feral life, and Outlaw. At the start of his story he changed profession to Radiation Spy, this gives him no new skills from his new profession as he is a newbie at the profession. He get to choose max 7 skills from his 3 past professions.
 * 1) Underworld, this makes him know about other outlaw shifters and gangs
 * 2) Disguises, this makes him good at disguising himself
 * 3) Burglar, this makes used to steal things
 * 4) Wilderness experience, this makes him used to take care of himself in the wilderness
 * 5) Animal instincts, this makes him used to use his animal senses
 * 6) Tracking, this makes him good at finding and tracking other shifters and animals in the wilderness.

Profession traits
A list of profession traits can be found here Note that your shifter character cannot pick professions from outside their allowed factions unless you have very strong story motivations for it. =Human identity=

Having a human identification is a luxury. A human identity is something your shifter needs if they want to live in the human world. It can also be practical when buying things or when they need to identify themselves to humans. A human identity often has a bland and believable background and a human name.

If your shifter needs money for their human persona and don’t have any salary they can always ask for funding from the Nuclear faction. =Psychic abilities= All shifters has the Psychic ability to merge their souls to become one being. While doing this they can also form a soul embryo which they can plant into the womb of an animal to give birth to a new shifter.

If you want to have another psychic ability it’s important that you talk with You-Are-Now-Incognito about it. There are very strong regulations to the rules of the psychic abilities as they are considered to be very rare.