CHARACTER CREATION GUIDE
Your OC in Roots will be a villager in one of the three established villages: Rudania, Inariko, or Vhintl. Traditionally, your character was born and raised there, as roads only opened briefly 2 years ago. Though they were closed again for several months as blight surged, they've been cleared again and are currently opened. Regardless of the race of your character, their maximum age is 300 years. Their jobs can include many things that help the villages such as herbalism, hunting, and farming, but other, more cultural options exist as well with researchers in Inariko, performers in Rudania, and mask makers in Vhintl.
Overall, your character will know these key things: What was once known as malice has corrupted further into blight, a contagion that covers most of the areas outside of the three villages. There are newly arisen oracles of power, courage, and wisdom that work with dragons and sages to help keep villagers safe. Older koroks in particular will know the dragon Foras and how Foras helped them escape a blight ridden Korok Forest after the Deku Tree passed away. Many once lost locations have been reclaimed - the Inariko Library, the Eldin Mines, and the Rudania Hot Springs. New races have emerged - keatons first, then twili and mogma most recently.
STEP 1: RESERVATION
Use the following OC RESERVATION template image to make a reservation for your character. Once you have filled this out, post it in the #roster channel of the Discord Server.
A mod will react with ✔️ if you're good to proceed, or ❌ if alterations need to be made.
Once the reservation is accepted, you can work on the application
STEP 2: APPLICATION
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Download the village-appropriate character application below and fill it out.
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Some of the fields are self-explanatory; like your character’s name and what village they live in.
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Listed below are some explanations and instructions for other parts of the application.
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NOTE: Please use a light colored, easily legible font for all write-in information on your apps!
Hearts/Magic Bar/Stamina Wheel:
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While characters will be able to increase these stats through rp and quest rewards, all characters start with 3/0/1! This means you don’t have to change anything in this section when you first make a character.
Stamina
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All characters begin with 1 stamina wheel. Each stamina wheel is divided into 5 stamina chunks 🟩. Stamina chunks are used for a variety of mechanics in the roots universe.
Application Art
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This must be a front facing full body shot of your character with, at minimum, clean lines and flat colors! You do not need to have drawn the art yourself, but it has to be specifically of your character. Art not done by you must have permission from the artist and proper credit attributed. No doll maker art will be accepted.
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As this is a visual reference, we recommend drawing your character in full detail, in a pose that doesn't obscure outfit details. If your character has any essential props, including those too in ways that don't cover up your character can give your fellow group members a convenient reference for them. Finally, make use of the space provided and give us a large image of your character to see! This will make it easier for other group members who want to draw your character!
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Only the character the app is for should be on it. No other characters or children! Pets may be allowed so long as they are not a main focus and do not cover any of the details on your OC's art. Kokiri/Korok Fairy Companions are also allowed!
Triforce Affiliation
Place the symbol of Din (power), Nayru (wisdom), or Farore (courage) in the Virtue box to represent what aspect of the Triforce your character aspires to embody.
Inventory
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For managing your character's inventory and tracking collected items refer to this webpage
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Weapons: The two icon-marked weapon spots next to armor represent your character’s main hand and off hand. Using the weapon list you can choose a starter main hand weapon and shield, or a starter single two-handed weapon. If you choose a two-handed weapon, the shield space should be marked with 'none' or 'n/a'
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Armor: Each icon-marked inventory spot represents the head, torso, and legs of an armor set. Choose starter pieces from the armor list and put them in the appropriate spots!
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Mount: Your mount if you have one goes here! Please fill this is as follows: "Name" Animal Type (basic, mid or high)
Example: "Epona" Horse (high)
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Key Items: This should be left blank for now, as it is reserved for key items that characters earn through quests.
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Personal items: These three slots are for you to use for items that would be important to your character, whether it be scrolls of papers for keeping notes, a memento of your character’s deceased parents, or something else! The important thing to remember is personal items can’t be magic items, or have direct combat use, though if a character might be able to use their personal items to help with certain quests that may be permissible at the discretion of the mod running the quest or event.
Application
click the virtue icon for the PSD versions of the apps
click the apps for a PNG version of the apps
↓Rudania PSD File↓
↓Inariko PSD File↓
↓Vhintl PSD File↓
STEP 3: THE BIOGRAPHY
Since not everything can fit onto the application, everyone needs to include the following biography with their application submission, whether that’s through DA, a google doc, or some other publicly-accessible location. It also helps us get to know your character better!
Name: Your character's name; any aliases?
Race: Your character's race?
Gender: What is your character's gender? You must include their pronouns.
Age: Your character's age; for long-lived races you can also state apparent age.
Height: Your character's height; Please include both Imperial and Metric measurements. For example if your OC is 5'7", you would list 5'7" | 174cm in this space. Please be sure to include both on the visual app itself as well!
Village: The village your character is currently a resident of.
Virtue: Which virtue of the Triforce does your character attempt to embody the most?
Job: The job you have selected for your character from the list of group jobs. You can include any elaboration on how your character personalizes the job - ie. a Craftsman who's main craft is glass blowing.
Inventory: List your character's weapons, armor, and personal items that are on their app. You can add explanations for any if you like. Link to your character's inventory doc here as well.
Personality: What type of person is your character? What are their core values, and what is their general attitude and temperament? Do different situations bring out different sides of them? Include at least five sentences!
History: What influential moments have happened in your character's backstory to make them into the person others will see in the group? You can specify if backstory information is available for other characters to know or not. Include at least five sentences!
Extras: Any random facts that you’d like to add? You can put your character's inventory doc link here if you didn't include it under the Inventory header above.
STEP 4: APPLICATION CHECKLIST
After completing your app, review the information to be sure it aligns with the group's format.
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Is your app text written in a light colored and easily read font?
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The app text should be easy to read even when the app is viewed small in its discord image preview, without needing to zoom in.
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Do you have the Equipment modifiers added?
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There should be a +1 in each of those round spots to the right of starter weapon/shield names and +0 for the starter armor! Click the links below to see the STARTER approved gear:
Click here for Armor!
Click here for Weapons!
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Do you have pronouns added?
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Example: If your OC's gender is female, gender section should have Female | she/her. If nonbinary, Nonbinary | they/them, etc, in whatever format you like as long as the information is there!
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Do you have both imperial and metric heights listed?
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Example: If your OC's height is 5'10", it should be written like 5'10" | 1.75m in whatever format you like, as long as the information is there!
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Have you read the Villages and Races information?
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Is your chosen job one of the ones available in RotW?
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Do you know how Travel works in Roots?
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❌ BEFORE MAY 2020
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Travel between the three villages, and to anywhere else has been nigh impossible in-world for a thousand years.
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During this time one way trips to other villages have occurred, but this is extremely dangerous and almost certain to result in death or severe injury and blighting. These one time, one way trips in an OC's past may be accepted or denied at the mod team's discretion, depending on events and believability.
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✅ MAY 2020 - JANUARY 22nd 2021
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During this time (8 months in-world), the roads were temporarily open and relatively safe enough for travel.
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❌JANUARY 23rd - JULY 22nd 2021
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ALL travel was impossible during this time period due to the the Blight Bloom and its lingering effects!
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✅JULY 23rd 2021 - PRESENT DAY
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Travel to any of the three villages is currently OPEN!
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Travel Info (Under heading Current Year: 1002 AB)
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Optional: Token Tracker and Inventory
- Both the token tracker and inventory tracker are optional to include in your oc application - but to fully enjoy the mechanics of rotw we do recommend you use these trackers
Once you’ve filled out all the information DM the Admin Discord so that your character can be reviewed by the group’s mods for approval!
KEEP IN MIND
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The villages are small, close knit communities no larger than places like Kakariko and Hateno in BotW.
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Any mention of money or revenue should not be in your OC's info or history. Food, goods, and services are the most valuable material things to Hyrule's residents. There is no money system. The economy of Roots is strictly trade and barter based!
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EXCEPTION: Twili used to use money in the form of gold coins and other precious materials in the Twilight Realm! Thus, they would know of the concept of revenue and how it works, but will have to switch to the trade and barter system while living in Hyrule.
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The general tone and style of Roots is medieval like in the Zelda games. Nothing modern to the real world should be included in apps or backstories. Think LotR - super medieval fantasy.
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Roots is in a post-apocalyptic setting! The world is in chaos... times are hard, and monster attacks are a common occurrence.
ACCEPTANCE
When your OC's app has been approved, delete your Reservation from 🔔》roster and upload your completed character app.
▹ To do this, drag and drop your app image file into the discord window, and include the following filled-out text in the image post:
OC Name | Race | Village | Virtue | Job
<Link to OC App>
▹ Make sure to put the link inside <>, and please only make a single post
PLEASE REMEMBER TO...
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Return to 🔔》intro after acceptance and add in the link to your OC's app!
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Then head over to 🔔》roles and follow the instructions to choose your own pronouns, and then your OC's village, race, job perk roles and more within the server.
▹ Please make sure to update your Character Roles every time you get a new OC accepted into the group!
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Lastly, make sure to arrange your server nickname as follows:
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Your Nickname | OC Name(s)
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▹ Exact formatting can vary, but your nickname must come first followed by your OC names!
▹ This doesn't need to list all of your OCs. If you have several, you could just choose one or two you use the most to include!
NPCS
Non-Player Characters are supplemental characters who are used to prop up your Player Character. An NPC has to be attached to an apped PC. They must be accepted into the group before you can start using them alongside the PC they are attached to.
NPCs don't have the same privileges and available actions as PCs. They cannot participate in Quest and Event month activities, and can only participate in non-event RPs if the PC they are attached to is in the RP and the NPC is playing a secondary, supplemental role for that character.
NPCs cannot do activities that involve group mechanics - they cannot be outfitted with weapons and armor like player characters, they cannot have an Inventory, cannot have a mount, and they cannot have official group Jobs like PCs can.
They don't have stats and can't gain heart containers, stamina wheels or a magic meter.
NPCs cannot travel between villages.
NPCs should have very minimal development - they shouldn't take the spotlight away from your own or anyone else's PCs. Please refrain from using them in Question-of-the-Day things, doing RPs that center on them, etc.
If you find these rules too restrictive, then your NPC is actually a PC and should go on an official PC app!
NPC apps do require some minimum information, either in a doc, slides or other place of access just like OC apps. While order of presentation can vary, an NPC's bio should still have the following basics
Name: NPC's name. Any aliases?
Race: NPC's race?
Personality: What type of person is this NPC? What is their general attitude and temperament?
History: Basic history
Extras: Any random facts that you’d like to add, or that the mods should be aware of for approval?
Associated OC & Connection: Example - if they're your OC's cousin, say 'OCName's Cousin'
Link to Associated OC's App: Optional
Click the above app to download a PNG version of the NPC app.