Character Creation

Characters should be designed as Heroic High Chivalric characters as per the C&S 5th Edition Core Rulebook. Players may roll for certain factors if they do not want to accept a default or pay CP points for them.
Characters should have some connection to each other. This should be discussed with fellow players. Campaign default is for cooperative play; the extent of permissable rivalry or hostility should be decided in Session Zero.
Most character types are acceptable but note:

• Characters must be human. Traits such as fae blood are acceptable.
• Avoid legitimate or acknowledged offspring of royalty, as the campaign plays out against a backgrop of rivalry for the English crown. Offspring of high nobility such as dukes or earls may also be problematic outside a High Politics game.
• The priestly vocation of Friar is not available. The first order of Friars, the Carmelites, though founded in 1155, did not enter England until 1240. The other orders of friars were founded in the early 13th century, after this campaign is set. The closest thing to a Friar is a Canon Regular - a Priest who lives in a community of priests but serves the common folk outside the priestly community.
• Monks and nuns will find it easier to take part in the campaign if they belong to a lax Benedictine house rather than one of the reform orders such as Cistercians or Gilbertines, which are much stricter about enforcing the monastic code.
• Druids and Elementalists are not available as a vocation.
• Shamans and witches might represent hedge wizards or cunning-folk who pay lip service to Christianity, or pagans. Paganism did not survive to this period in any meaningful form in England, but still existed in the upper Baltic and co-existed with Christianity in Iceland.
• Religious magi who seek to better their souls may consider the Mystic priestly mage vocation.
• Some discretion is advised for Magi. Don't flaunt it, even if you got it. There are no active witch-hunts or anti-heretical campaigns during this period, but the Church is powerful and deeply suspicious of magick, especially magick perceived as originating from spirits or demons (whether it actually does so or not), and common folk are fearful of overt magick. Scholarly magi who have learnt their craft in Europe will probably know Latin, but would find Arabic or Greek more useful as far more grimoires are written these languages than Latin. Character background should include reasons why a character speaks these languages (time spent in Muslim or Byzantine lands, or a mentor who has spent time there, for instance).

Characters who cannot speak English will be at a distinct disadvantage, though they may find some people who can speak Latin or French, mostly among educated people and nobles. The ability to read and speak Latin is a requirement for Christian priests. Hebrew is spoken in Jewish communities, and most Jews will also know English or French; some know Latin. Cymraeg, Kernewec (Cornish) are spoken in parts of western Britain, and Gaeilge (Middle Irish) in Ireland, Man and parts of Scotland. Norse is spoken in parts of Scotland, Ireland and Northern England. Other languages are rare, though merchants and travellers from other areas may know them.
Players should consider their characters' degree of freedom to act independently of any social organisations they may belong to, and find ways they may circumvent restrictions when needed. Serfs (whose ability to leave their lord's land is restricted) and monastic characters, including members of fighting orders, will have most restrictions on their ability to operate outside their commitments since serfs cannot legally live away from their village without permission from their lord and monastics cannot leave their religious house with permission from the head of that house. Outlaws have the most freedom, but their lives are perilous and every authority is against them.