02 - Background

You are a Local.

You are a unique human character born in a nearby city into a superstitious, low-magic, and somewhat harsh world.

Your Profession should reflect your childhood, which was meaningfully shaped by the place you grew up. One of your parents probably had your profession before you did. If they didn't, there should be an explanation as to how you left your parent's profession(s) for your own.

You likely believe in a common and local God.

You are a Curious Problem Solver.

You're known by at least a few important people or perhaps more widely as someone who knows how to take care of problems.

You're probably decently known by some number of folks, likely for your work in your Profession. If you're not famous, you at least have a small community you are apart of where your name and face are known.

You should have at least 2 contacts that reflect this. These could be friends, family, rivals, co-workers, business parters, or religious figures.

The type of problems you're good at solving depends largely on your profession & trade, but your are generally competent and investigative, and you know you might be asked to help with various issues based on your skill and capability.

You have a Heroic Nature.

As much as possible, you want to avoid and prevent harm and deaths.

If someone attacks you, even as a dagger barely misses your skin you might still be looking for a way to end the conflict. If a creature tries to harm you, you might be faster at escaping with all of your limbs than you are at killing it.

Healers are rare, and the world is dangerous. It's best to avoid conflict when you can.

You're probably a good person, but if you're not, your goals and deepest beliefs align with the good of humanity.

Related to this, your character should have a Drive.
A Drive explains why your character puts themselves in harms way. For your character to do so over and over again, your Drive should offer a strong explanation.

Later on in Character Building you might pick one or more Shared Drives with other players, so you may want to write your Drive so that it is open to including those other players.

Your Drive should be a few words that explain an idea (some examples below). When you determine your Drive, write a 1-2 sentence with details about it.

If your character's Drive is ever fully resolved or fulfilled, they might retire and quit adventuring.

Religious (Priest):

• to keep the status quo
• to redeem bad treatment from others in their past
• to redeem their bad actions of the past
• to find a purpose greater than their current one
• to fix an injustice (that feels personal)

Outlander (Mercenary):

• to distance themselves from their past
• to be acknowledged for their sacrifices
• to make sure their legacy (given by a mentor/parental figure) lives on
• to accept an acquired disability/disadvantage
• to repay a debt (money/life)

Nobility (Spy):

• to overthrow the tyrant
• to prove their expertise and worth (to their family)
• to make a name for themselves/restore their name
• to break free of familial expectations
• to protect a loved one from a dark fate

Alchemical (Mage):

• to grow beyond their expected path
• to be accepted by others
• to take care of their aging mentor
• to provide for their family
• to redeem themselves from a past mistake

Other suggested themes for your Drive:
Altruism, Atonement, Desire, Duty, Fear, Obligation, Patriotism, Restoration, Revenge, Thirst for Knowledge.

Hardships

Your Hardships explain why you have the Drive that you do.

When creating your Hardships, relate at least one of them directly to your Drive.

Hardships could be an incident from your childhood or something more recent. It can be physical or mental: perhaps you witnessed something terrible, or were involved in an accident.

Additionally, you might have a trauma or extreme event that gave you the ability to wield Thaumaturgy.

Age

The next step is to decide the character’s age.
There are three age groups: young, middle-aged, and old.
Pick one, and note your choice on the character sheet. Your age will affect your Attributes and Actions.

• See Attributes.

Name

To help you lean into the cultures of Amorthlund, I highly recommend you choose a name from one of the generators below. Otherwise you can make up your own.

Amorth West (Renaissance English)
Amorth Central (Welsh)
Amorth East (Celtic)
Amorth North (Norwegian)
Ulkken (far North) (Icelandic)

If you're a multi-generational local, you likely have a name commonly found in Amorth Central.