Creating a Character
What Characters are Appropriate?
The nature of these events dictates that only a specific class of character is appropriate. Few high-up members of the aristocracy are likely to attend, as the balls will not be posh enough. On the other hand, the events are certainly too smart for most members of the Labouring Classes. Hence the most posh characters should be the younger sons of Peers, whilst the least posh characters should be Working Class individuals who have managed to gain a commission (such as Sharpe) or have some other distinctive talent.

Time-limits for Character Creation
We encourage most people to play original characters of their own devising. These characters must be submitted at least two weeks in advance, with background details, in order for Dance Cards to be produced. Any players who do not submit characters in time will have to play pre-generated characters created by the GM.
Historical characters or characters from works of fiction may be played, but must be submitted to the GM at least a month in advance. Characters with the Unnatural merit must also be submitted to the GM at least a month in advance.

Merits & Flaws
A starting character may choose two merits. All merits have two ranks. Thus a starting character may have a single level 2 merit or two level 1 merits.
Each character also has the option of taking flaws. For each flaw, they get an extra merit. You may take as many flaws as you wish, but each flaw may only be taken once.

Advancement
Any characters who have survived an event will find themselves changed by what they experience. To represent this, they may take additional flaws (and for each flaw they take they gain an extra merit, as normal). Serious injuries gained through Surgery or Medicine skill count as new flaws, giving you extra merits. The GMs may also offer additional merits to players, at their discretion.

(I want the character generation system to be largely about how eligible the character is for marriage. Because that, at the end of the day, is the aim of these events. Find a partner; survive the monster attack; hope the partner also survives; marry said partner. So there are some combat skills, but determining how dashing your military posting is or how much of Hampshire you own is far more important...)

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Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)

Beauty (Ladies Only)
1. You are one of the most attractive ladies in your home town.
2. You are praised throughout English society for your beauty- poets write about you, artists paint you, and gentlemen fall over themselves for your attention. If you’re not married yet, everyone is amazed.

Duellist
You have been in one or more duel before, and won. Alternatively, you have learnt drill in the military. You must specify your preferred weapon, Sword or Pistol.
1. You may call “Take That!” with your chosen weapon once per event.
2. You may call “Take That!” with your chosen weapon once per fight.

Educated
You have been educated in some formal capacity, or show a natural intelligence. This both entitles you to a bit of respect and means the GMs will give you additional briefings when they deem it relevant. You may get relevant in-game abilities (using lammies).
1. You are clever, and have had the education befitting a gentleman or lady. Without this merit, you'll be seen as a bit ignorant by many.
a. You may choose one speciality, such as Healing, Poetry, Engineering, Languages, Natural Philosophy (a broad subject covering what would now be seen as science- but remember this is a game pre-Darwin and before many of our currently held ideas) and so on. Your speciality may have the potential to be an useful game skill. A Natural Philosopher, for example, could dissect a creature and learn about it. A Healer could help people recover from wounds. Engineering would be more useful in-between events, but would enable you to shape the world and gain fame and fortune. And so on.
b. In addition, you are assumed to have a broad general education. This will include a knowledge of French, Latin and probably Greek; and a smattering of general knowledge on other subjects. However nothing that will be particularly useful in game.
2. You have a university education. You may pick a speciality that is more arcane or obscure than Level 1 specialities. You can lecture on your speciality at great length, if you find people willing to listen.
a. If you choose “Theology”, you may be a priest, monk or nun
b. If you choose “Medicine” or “Surgery” you are a Doctor or Surgeon
c. If you choose “Magical Theory” you have read books about magic, but you cannot perform it without the “Unnatural” Merit. If you want to take “Magical Theory”, you must have read Jonathon Strange & Mr Norell!

Income
If you take this merit then you have ready cash in abundance. You may even own some factories or something along those lines- something that generates money. This is very different from the Landed Family merit- an old family with lots of lands may not have much spare money. However the two can obviously be combined, to make you a very suitable prospect for marriage. 
1. Your family is comfortably well-off, and run a good London house.
2. Your family is stinking rich, and has one of the most fashionable London houses. Your father may sit in the House of Commons, unless you also have Landed Family 2.

Landed Family
Your family has a country estate. This gives you great social status. The family also has a title to match. You must include details of your family, including the location of its estates, in your background. See also the “Income” merit.
If you also have the “Lower Class” flaw you are New Money and your family will not have any title (and your father will definitely sit in the Commons not the Lords).
1. A substantial estate, rolling fields, &c. Also, a decently sized manor house. You’re probably the biggest landowners in your village. Your father may or may not be a baronet or knight, but is definitely gentry.
2. A huge estate, one of the biggest in your county, ruled from a sprawling mansion. Your father may well be a Peer, who sits in the House of Lords. We recommend you choose an actual historical family and title (unless you are “Unnatural”)- look in Debrett’s Peerage or a similar resource.

Lucky or Nimble
You manage to just evade getting hurt when in combat.
1. You may call “Missed!” once per day when struck
2. You may call “Missed!” once per fight when struck

Officer (Gentlemen only in the Army or Navy, Gentlemen or Ladies in the Aerial Corps)
You are a commissioned officer, in either the Army, Navy or Aerial Corps (who fight on dragons). You wear a uniform and will generally be regarded as dashing.
Temeraire is required reading for anyone wishing to play an Officer of the Aerial Corps. As in Temeraire, Ladies may be Officers in the Aerial Corps, as some breeds do not accept male captains. These Ladies fly a Xenica (Officer 1) or a Longwing (Officer 2). The presence of Ladies in the Aerial Corps was originally a secret, however it has recently become universally recognised due to the presence of Admiral Jane Roland.
1. You’re a Captain in one of the branches of the military. If you’re in the Navy you command a small ship; in the Aerial Corps you’re the captain of at most a middleweight dragon (with no special abilities); in the Army you’re in a foot or artillery regiment. Alternatively, you’ve got a more dashing posting (see Officer 2) but you are just a lieutenant not a captain.
2. You’re a Captain with a very dashing posting. If you’re in the Navy, you command one of the larger ships; in the Aerial Corps you’ve got a heavyweight dragon with a special ability (of the English dragons, Longwings can Spit Acid, Regal Coppers are Superheavyweight, and Kaziliks can Breathe Fire); in the Army you’re in the cavalry.

Stout (this requires phys-repping)
1. You are larger than most people, mainly due to muscles. You have 4 body hits.
2. You are either hugely muscular or obese. You have 6 body hits.

Unnatural
You are not a normal human. You must talk to the GM if you wish to choose this merit.
1. You have a touch of the non-human in your blood, but it is only minor. Alternatively, you have some magical ability- without the Educated (Magical Theory) merit this will not be very controllable or useful.
2. You are something very definitely not human, and cannot disguise the fact. Faerie is the obvious origin for such a creature, however there are also rumours of mysterious beings living in out-of-the-way areas like Transylvania…

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Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)

Coward (Gentlemen only- Ladies, see “Faint”)
You are a coward, and must try your hardest to run from any combat you find yourself in. Find a hole to hide in and gibber. You will only fight if you have to, to cut a path of escape. Read Flashman if you have any doubts about what’s required!

Dirty Past
You enjoy whoring and gambling, or have committed a crime, or have got a lady in trouble, or have huge debts, or have a Terrible Secret. You must include give the GMs details before the event. This will not be universal knowledge at the start of the event, however the GMs may reveal your secret to some characters.

Disfigured (this must be phys-repped)
Your face is disfigured, probably due to a scar, to a degree that makes you less attractive in polite society.

Elderly (this must be phys-repped; either by actually being middle-aged or older, or through use of grey hairspray/wigs etc)
You are elderly. You are not a marriagable prospect (or are already married), and are probably no longer regarded as dashing. On the other hand, you will probably have a higher position in society- if you take the Income 2 or Landed Family 2 Merits then it is you who may sit in Parliament or have a Title, not your father; if you take the Officer Merit then you may have a higher rank than Captain.

Faint (Ladies only- Gentlemen, see “Coward”)
You have a fragile temperament. If you see any blood spilt, you will swoon. You remain swooned either for thirty seconds, or until shaken or offered smelling salts by anyone. You do not loose hit points by swooning.
You also swoon at other times. You can choose to swoon whenever you wish for dramatic purposes, and in addition everyone with this flaw must swoon if a GM or NPC calls “SWOON”.

Foreigner
You’re regarded with a mixture of pity, mockery and contempt. On the one hand, imagine not being an Englishman. How terrible. How sad. On the other hand, did you know they eat _______? Imagine that! How funny (and disgustingly barbaric)! It is assumed that you can speak English, but you probably have an outrageous accent.

Lower Class
You’re from the Lower Classes. How terrible for you. You must have a good reason to be at the event (i.e. you might be an officer, a soldier accompanying an officer, a butler, a musician, a magician, an industrialist etc). Members of the Lower Classes with the “Income” or “Landed Family” merits are New Money; filthy jumped-up Industrialists.

Not In Communion
You are not in communion with the Church of England. You are probably Catholic or Jewish. This is not illegal, however you are not as respected and you do not have the vote- Catholic Emancipation (especially in Ireland) is The Big Political Debate. Note that only those actively espousing a different religion count, those who are irreligious do not. You may not take both this and Foreigner.

Weak
You are not at your physical peak. You are skinny, or sickly, or have an old war wound. This means you have -1 maximum body hit (to a minimum of 1).

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Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Esq. (at the start of Pride & Prejudice)
Merits: Landed Family 2, Income 1
Flaws: Anti-Social (Proud)

Lieutenant Harry Paget Flashman (in the first Flashman novel)
Merits: Educated (Languages), Income 1, Officer 1 (Army), Stout 1
Flaws: Coward, Dirty Past

Captain Richard Sharpe (around the middle of the Sharpe novels)
Merits: Duellist 1 (Pistol), Duellist 2 (Sword), Officer 1 (Army), Nimble 1
Flaws: Dirty Past, Disfiguring Scar, Lower Class

Captain Jane Roland (at start of the Temeraire novels)
Merits: Duellist 1 (Sword), Officer 2 (Aerial Corps)
Flaws: Disfiguring Scar

Mr Norrell (at the start of Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell)
Merits: Asset 2 (Library of Magic), Educated 2 (Magical Theory), Income 1, Unnatural 1 (Magic)
Flaws: Anti-Social (Boring Recluse), Coward, Elderly, Weak

Mr Tristran Thorn (near the start of Stardust)
Merits: Family 2 (Lords of Stormhold), Unnatural 1 (Faerie Blood)
Flaws: Weak

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Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)

If you don't have the income advantage, does that mean you're poor as churchmice, or reasonably well off but not loaded?

How would the Beauty advantage work, given that its basically soft skill which affects how attractive the player is? Do you have a badge saying "I'm pretty!" or does every girl without it have to dress down?

Can you take Educated or Duellist twice at level 1 to get two specialities?

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LT - Captain Iolanthe Swan

Riftworld - Jenna Neraid, Clan Sceptre

Brighton Below - Drizzle