• Andlak -> Rutgar, Reneth
• Nyesh -> Dreyrath, Fyala, Ziryon
• Will -> Rutgar, Dreyrath
• Ziryon -> Abilyr, Nyesh, Dreyrath
• Mirlark -> Eythduis, and I’m assuming his missing mother is the second NPC.

And therefore the following NPCs

• Reneth – Journeyman in the Maker’s guild
• Abilyr – now a master of the Academy of Knowledge
• Rutgar – A seasoned gladiator.
• Dreyrath – Successful merchant with connections in high places in Calbeyn
• Fyala – Dreyrath’s daughter
• Eythduis d’n Zafeyn – The Verger at the Temple of Rulana (Need a more Kalyran title though – this is not the C of E!)
• The first part of Mirlark saga didn’t specify an NPC, so I’m going to declare it to be Mirlark’s mother.

So now – what happens next?

We have five PCs

• Andlak – A youth growing wild on the streets of Filgeth
• Nyesh – A kandar growing up in a not-very-prosperous clan of merchants.
• William Brighton – Who doesn’t really know quite how he came to be in Kalyr, but is now enslaved in the arena
• Ziryon – Human apprenticed into the Academy of Knowledge, now a journeyman
• Mirlark – A human youth with a strange affinity to plants

And we have the following NPCs established in the story, which is looking as if it’s going to be set in and around Filgeth.

• Reneth – In the Makers Guild, whether a journeyman or master is yet to be determined.
• Abilyr – now a master of the Academy of Knowledge
• Rutgar – A seasoned gladiator who may or may not be about to buy his freedom.
• Dreyrath – Successful merchant with connections in high places in Calbeyn, who has a daughter

Looking at things we’re at the bottom end of the social hierarchy. Four of the five characters are human (as far as we know), and the one kandar isn’t a scion of the nobility. We have a connection establised between Ziryon and Mirlark

And we have a couple of unanswered questions, which may fuel plot hooks. Exactly who raided the plantation, and why? And what became of Mirlark’s mother?

Phase two picks up where phase one left off. What happened next in the lives of these five?  Again, everyone must reference another character, either an NPC or a PC. And you’re only allowed to introduce two NPCs in total across all phases.

Worth pointing out at this stage that these NPCs do not have to be mentors or allies – they can be rivals or even mortal enemies of your character.

We’re going to start creating characters. For the first few iterations we’re not going to proceed as far as generating any game statistics (that will come later), but generate the character stories and connections.

The players create their characters as a group. Rather than the old cliché of “You meet up in a bar”, this establishes connections between the characters before play starts. It’s a good idea to throw around a few ideas before character generation starts in earnest, especially if some players have a clear idea what sort of characters they want to play.

While some games can insist on a narrower campaign frame, with all characters members of the same clan or guild, I’m going to make this one completely open – you can be anything that’s not out of place for the setting.

Once we’re ready. we’ll start the first of four phases of character generation.

Phase One – Where You Came From

This establishes the character’s background and childhood experiences, and answers some important questions. Are you kandar, human, or something else? Did you grow up in the city, out in the sticks, in poverty, or in wealth. You will want a name at this point. Look though the first few templates to give you an idea of the sort of backgrounds that make sense in the setting.

Each player writes a paragraph on two detailing this phase in the character’s life story, and posts in the comments.

Since we’re not sitting round a physical table, and may well be in completely different time zones, we don’t have to post in any set order. But in each phase, you must reference at least one other character, either as a friend, foe, mentor, or whatever. This may be another character you introduce, who will become an NPC (a supporting character) in the game. Or it may be another player’s character, or an NPC another player has introduced. You may not introduce more than two NPCs over the course of the four phases, which means you’ll be forced to reference at least two other characters introduced by other people. This will result in a web of connections biding all the characters together.

Obviously whoever decides to go first must create an NPC. Whoever goes second may choose either the first player’s NPC, the first player’s character, or create a second NPC. The third player has more choices, and so on.

Once everyone’s posted their paragraph, we’ll move on to phase two.