Character Creation Quickstart

Character Creation in Emporium consists of the following components:

• Manifestation Type: Entities of diverse natures generally manifest in three different ways in Emporium: Glories, Chimerae, and Implements. Entities which manifest as Glories are usually esoteric, magnificent, and abstract divine beings dedicated to a single ideal. Entities which manifest as Chimerae tend to be savvy, vibrant, and ferocious primal creatures, characterised by their readiness to seize opportunities in the moment. Entities which manifest as Implements are beings who usually occupy positions of relative anonymity but absolute necessity in their worlds, working behind the scenes to power universes. Which one best describes your character?

• IC name(s) and pronouns: Let us know how your character's name (naming convention guide here) manifests in Emporium and what their preferred pronouns are.

• Attributes: You have four Attributes that describe how your character acts and impacts the world around them.

• Quirks: Quirks represent unique advantages a character possesses or unique problems one faces. Playstyle quirks are OC and are a way for you to indicate to the GMs what you want (or don't want) to see in your game.

• Homeplane: Your character hails from somewhere, please tell us about this place that is their homeplane and their relation to it.

• Starting position: Will your character be starting the game as a customer or employee? As a customer, an Entity is granted more freedom and service from the store, while as an employee, an Entity has a fixed income and has easier access to more locations. A character's position may change during the game.

• What is your character looking for? This could be a physical item, or something more profound.

• Private Bio: A description of your character (including backstory and any secrets) visible only to you and the GMs.

• Public Bio: A short description of your character that will be published on the Characters page on this Wiki, visible to all players.

It doesn’t matter if you are the first cause, the beginning and the end, you still come from somewhere: your homeplane. Your homeplane may be anything: a mostly mundane planet where the shadows of creatures come free when night falls; a conceptual nebula where eternal concepts swim between abstract geometry; an endless labyrinthine jungle of sentient, singing flora where the fauna are the prey; a multiverse sustained by a pantheon of one trillion weaving gods.

Different homeplanes do not interact under normal circumstances: each is its own self-contained universe, however large or small that may be. However, it is possible for Entities in Emporium to come from the same homeplane. To travel to a homeplane one does not belong to is not impossible, but it generally requires significant metaphysical effort.

In Emporium, a character's homeplane mainly functions as part of their personal story and serves as a potential source of payment. Visiting one's homeplane (or other people's, for that matter) is not within the scope of the game. That being said, you are encouraged to consider your relationship with your homeplane and how this interacts with your shopping. The station you hold within it empowers you but also weighs on you: your actions may easily have resounding impacts.

Please tell us about your homeplane by filling in the entries below. Give your homeplane a name, then pick a few options from the lists provided. Alternatively, if none of the options appeal to you, or you have a particular idea that they don’t cover, you are welcome to write your own. If you would like to provide more details on your homeplane you may do so as part of your bio.

• The homeplane is named:
• The homeplane can be described as: mythological, high fantasy, low fantasy, weird fantasy, sci-fi, space opera, punk, mundane, vibrant, bleak, extravagant, gothic, utopian, dystopian, realistic, …
• The homeplane is inhabited by: mortals, immortals, humans, gods, elves, dwarves, dragons, aliens, AIs, sentient flora, dinosaurs, …
• Your station in it can be described as: a benevolent ruler, an ironfisted tyrant, a loyal follower of some higher force or creed, an unwilling servant to some higher force or creed, an invisible force of nature, a worshipped deity, a feared monster, an overlooked facet of reality, …
• The homeplane and/or your people face certain problems: War, natural disasters, magic is fading, portal to cosmic horror has opened, existential angst, boredom, …
• The amount of time that passes in your homeplane between sessions: weeks, decades, centuries, aeons, …

All Entities come to Emporium looking for of something, be it the right kind of volcano to light up the night, the meaning of life, or just the end to one's debts. Mundane or extraordinary, what is your character hoping to find?

Emporium is a game about dreams and desires and reflections upon them. We encourage players to explore their characters' wants and hopes, which may be satisfied, thwarted, or changed during the course of the game. The answer to this question is not at all binding, but we hope it may serve as an interesting starting point for your character's story.

Please submit a personal bio that consists of your character's personal background and anything else you would like the GMs to be aware of during the game. Your character's background and personal arc will be taken into consideration when the GMs handle your character's story. You may wish to refer to the Entities page for some details you might like to include. The bio does not need to be long (and please avoid sending us a novel, touched though we will be). This will only be visible to you and to the GMs, so please do use this as an opportunity to tell us all the secrets you hope will be unveiled over the course of the game.

Please also submit a public bio that represents what is publicly known, rumoured, or speculated about your character. You may consider including some description of your characters' physical appearance or what is apparent and noteworthy about them. This doesn't need to take any particular form (it could be a simple third-person description, a conversation between two passersby, an official register form, anything you like really), but should be a couple of paragraphs at most and not exceeding 150 words. This will be visible to all players on the Characters page and will be posted alongside your character's name and pronouns.

Here are some sample characters to serve as inspiration!

The preferred method of submission is via the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/V2XxzQjKjqtQKULU9

If however, for whatever reason, you would prefer not to use this, we will also accept character submissions by email to: gm@emporium.oxfordrpg.com

The deadline for character submissions is 12 noon on Sunday 1st August.

Age: Are you over 18 or not?
OC Name:
OC Pronouns:
Email: 
Discord Handle: 
Address for mailing (optional): 

Manifestation Type: 
Character Name:
Character Pronouns:
Attributes:
Quirks:
Homeplane: 
Starting Position: 
Your character is looking for: 

Private Bio:

Public Bio:

Ballot position: 

Accessibility & anything else: 

If you would like to receive physical objects or letters from the GMs, please give us an address for this purpose. Here's our privacy policy.

In this game, it is not possible to play anonymously. However, it is possible to avoid knowing who everyone is OC if you wish to have a fully immersive experience.

All players must disclose their OC name as well as their character name, which the GMs will compile into a document. Viewing this document will be made optional to the entire player base, free for people to look at if they wish. It will be possible to see people's names and character names individually, without revealing the identities of the entire playerbase to the observer. OC names will be publicly listed as your first name plus the first initial of your last name (except where this does not uniquely distinguish you from other players, in which case the minimum number of subsequent letters of your last name required to distinguish you will be displayed).

This is to ensure that people remain accountable if there is a breach of conduct and that players can avoid contact with other players for OC reasons, if they so choose.

Please note that we only accept players above 16 years of age and that we need to know whether or not you are over 18 for safety reasons.

This game has a player cap of 25 players and we will prioritise current students in the case of the player cap being met. Thus we would like to know whether you are a student and in the case of the player cap being met, whether you would like to take part in the ballot.

If you have any accessibility requirements (especially in relation to the multimedia aspect of the game) or phobias you would like to disclose, please let us know in this section. We will endeavour to accommodate your requests. For more details, see accessibility.