As I thought about it more, I realized it wouldn't be a good idea to use some of the really unique races, like the anthro mantis or the strange octopus creature, because the big reason why Suzy and I had gotten these games was so that we could be together in Ether. If she was a half-elven and I was some strange completely non-humanoid race, it will be a little weird, for both of us. With that in mind, with a few quick thoughts I was able to select GENDER and RACE and set them to Male and Half-Elven respectively.
Next came the tricky part. Thinking towards ADVANCED APPEARANCE, I set about adjusting the various sliders to fit my real life measurements. Of course, I wasn't completely honest, but I don't think anyone would care that I said that I was 6 foot as opposed to my actual 5'7", or that I had given myself a slightly more muscular physique than was likely with my gaming lifestyle. Slowly but surely, the muscle-bound freak began to look more and more like myself. After changing my eyes to a bright blue, I came to a rather difficult decision.
For as long as I could remember, Mom had always made me get a crew cut at the barber shop. I don't know why, I never asked her. But since I always had my hair cut that way when I was a kid, I continued to do so even to this day. Suzy has often told me to do something different with it, but it is sort of an ingrained habit to go to the barber shop every month like clockwork and get my hair cut the exact same way. In fact, I had already instinctively made that change before I even thought about what I would want.
Almost on the spur of the moment, I changed the hair style to longer, almost down to my neck, and very unruly, with random, but cool looking spikes of hair sticking in different directions on top. While I was at it, I changed my hair color to a navy blue, so that Suzy and I would match.
Speaking of matching, after I backed out of the appearance screen, I changed my class to Rogue. I was glad, but not surprised when Suzy told me that she was playing as one. We have both told each other how, when playing with our friends, we would always play as the Rogue character, for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that Rogues have a go where you want, take what you want attitude, they also are able to make rational decisions without factoring national loyalty and stuff like that. (Makes sense, considering they are rogue and all.) Most people don't like the idea, either because they have those pesky morals that say stealing is wrong, or because they are locked into the mindset that powerful characters that can tank through Orcs or supped up wizards are the best. Of course, in real life I would never dream of stealing or doing anything remotely like that, but I figure, in a game, the stuff doesn't really belong to anyone because it isn't real stuff. And, I find it ironic that those same people who bash Rogues for being weak always end up turning to them for help latter on.
Perhaps the most difficult part of setting up my character was the profile. This is basically like the player biography. People who want to go on a quest with you get free access to this part so that they can know the characters history, because after the initial part that the player comes up with, it is updated like a story with all of the person's exploits in the game.
After his parents were killed when he was just a lad, young David Silverkin set out to Epic City in search of a way to make a living. However, upon his arrival, he soon realized that, in his vengeful state, he was useless at any of the jobs he attempted to do. Hungry and tired, he turned to thievery in order to survive. However, what was once intended to be just a means of survival, quickly turned into a lifestyle and David quickly grew in both experience and fame. Known for his signature blue hair, which he keeps as a lasting symbol of his clan and the life that he lost, David had near unrivaled skill with both the blade and the lock-pick.
Okay, so maybe not the best profile ever written, but I was pretty proud of it. It set up nicely for the specialties that I wanted to have. Of course I gave myself great skill in pick-pocketing and lock-picking, but in keeping with the thief nature and in contrast with my elvish background, I made myself very skilled with knives and other smaller, easily concealed weapons as opposed to the standard bow and arrow.
Now the only thing that remained was to give myself a few items. The wire-frame model of me was still naked, and as humorous as it would be to stroll about Epic City in nothing but my computerized birthday suit, it would probably be a good idea to put on a few clothes. In keeping with the Rogue standard of practical over flashy, I just gave myself some simple trousers, plain brown boots, and a white cotton shirt, with a belt containing a few knives and shurikens and the basic tools of the trade tucked safely into my pockets.
Letting off a relieved sigh (figuratively, since I was a disembodied figure still) I thought into the computer that I was finished designing my character. The option screen disappeared, leaving only the wire-frame model behind. Suddenly it began to look more and more lifelike; the bright blues eyes, slightly mischievous looking, seemed to be staring straight into my soul. I found it floating closer and closer, growing until it was life sized, and he and I were nose to nose. And then, without any warning
