Character Creation

General Guidelines

There is no naming criteria other than please provide both a last and first name for your character.

Also, if it can be helped, do not give your character a name already in use by another character.

Characters should fit the theme of the RP. It does not take place in the modern-day and designs should reflect that. There is no particular time period in which the group exists, clothing items that couldn't be handmade shouldn't be included. Most clothing will be made of natural materials such as leathers, furs, cotton, etc.

For every species, try to adhere to natural coloration. It doesn't have to be perfect, but rainbow-colored sharks and neon green horses will not be accepted into the group.

If you decide what species you'd like, please check out their "About" Pages under the "Kingdoms" tab! This will give you more insight into the culture of your species of choice!

Naming Criteria

Design Rules

Centaurs are the largest hybrid on Media Terra and should look like classic centaurs from folklore.

Your character must be a horse, though what breed of horse is up to your discretion. No other hooved animals are currently allowed, this includes mythical horses like unicorns and Pegasus.

The human half of your centaur should look almost completely human. The only exception is if you'd like your character to have horse ears or hair going down the back as an extension of their mane. You can also continue some of the pigmentations of the horses coat onto the skin.

You are not required to find the weight of your centaur, but you must include the character's height. To simplify, here are some basic parameters you can use.

9 Ft and up: Draft Horse, the tallest centaurs can be above 9 ft tall. This would be the equivalent to the torso of a 6'0+ human and a horse like a Clydesdale or Shire horse.
- There is a height cap at 10 ft. Your centaur cannot be taller than this.
7 - 8 ft: This is the average height range for centaurs. This includes both slightly taller and slightly shorter horses. Anything between the range of 14-17 Hands would be about this tall.
6 ft -: Anything below 6 ft would qualify as a smaller horse or pony.

Centaurs

Centaur Sizes

Mermaids are the only aquatic species among Media Terra and may come in many different shapes, forms, and colors.

Your character may be based on a freshwater fish, saltwater fish, and nudibranch creatures.

These include but aren't limited to...

Sharks
Eels
Sea Snakes
Jellyfish
Sea Slugs
Flounders
Octopuses/Squids

As of now, no mammal marine life will be accepted.

Overall there is a basic guideline to follow with a couple of exceptions,

The base foundation of mermaids, being a regular fish fin half of the body, may go anywhere from 5 ft to 13 ft of total length.
- Nudibranch, Sharks, Octopuses and Squid fall under this guideline.
Eel, Sea Snakes and Jellyfish are exceptions, and may go anywhere from 8 ft to 20 ft in length.
- These sizes are only the fish half, the length on the written app.
General sizes of the 'human' half of the body should be kept to natural human standards,

no 12 ft behemoths, the human half accounts for the height on the written app.

Your character's not so fishy half may be as human looking or as The Shape of Water looking as you may like. But please refrain from adding any sort of 'abilities' such as unhinging jaws.

Fish with venomous spines or barbs may have their spines and barbs in design, but as of now will not be considered during battle as a viable attack option. For now. You may have them play a part in a normal RP for whatever reason as long as all parties agree to it.

Many fish have very spectacular coloration and patterns on them, but keep them to the species that actually have them, do not try and transfer over one species traits to another.

Mermaids can travel on land with the use of magic, so they have their Sea Forms and Land Forms.

Land Forms require two 'human' legs. They may be as weird-looking as you'd like, with as many fishy traits as you can fit.

The in-canon explanation of how this magic works is that the people wear a pendant that, when dry and worn around their neck, gives them their land legs. Once the pendant gets wet or gets taken off, they get their tails back. You may design what this pendant looks like. A common way the merfolk use these pendents is to keep the pendant in a sealed little container, like a little bottle, and simply put them on whenever they please to immediately get their land legs.

The Land Forms are required to be drawn out, or described in detail in a piece of literature before your character is able to participate with land activities. It would be best to simply have it drawn/described with the original application of your character. And yes they must be passed by us admins for the go-ahead.

Merfolk take up a lot of space on the application, so if the art of their landform doesn't fit it's perfectly acceptable to have a separate file be submitted. It's not required to be on another application sheet.

And yes they wear clothes on land.

Mermaids

Mermaids Sizes

Land Forms

Harpies are the human-bird inhabitants of the northern isles. Most harpies are female, and there will be a limit on male-identifying characters. There will be no limit on non-binary characters. ( Harpies reproduce through magical means and this doesn't affect how many harpies are born ).

There is no restriction on what kind of bird you can choose, other than that it must be able to fly. No ground-dwelling birds such as ostriches or kiwis are currently allowed. This is because the harpies of Media-Terra live on disconnected islands and a grounded bird would not be able to navigate the landscape. If you'd like to create a harpy that can no longer fly, they must live in Harbor Town.

It is a requirement that your character is based on one bird species. Please do not mix and match species attributes.
It must also be a real bird species currently alive today, or recently extinct. No prehistoric birds or mythological ones are allowed.

Due to the climate of the Isles, birds that are not acclimated to cold weather will usually wear some sort of cloak made of fur or feathers to keep warm. If you do not want your character to wear clothing of any sort, it should be a bird evolved to withstand the cold.

Your harpy character does not need to look like harpies of Greek myth. At the very least, they must have wings, feathered legs, and bird talons. They may also not have separate arms. They can have hands if they're connected to their wings, but not another pair of limbs entirely.

Whether you'd like your character to be a bird body with just a human face or a human with bird-like limbs is up to you.
If you're confused on what body-shape is acceptable, here are some examples: https://www.pinterest.com/gsyn99/media-terra/acceptable-harpy-types/

Harpies can be any size you'd like, as long as they're not outrageously huge. If you're unsure of your character's size, ask Idle on discord. There is a lot of freedom in the harpy's size as to whether you'd prefer them to be more human or bird. It is encouraged that their size at least somehow reflects that of their species, though it isn't required.

Harpies

These are the serpent inhabitants that mostly reside in the arid sections of the lands. Nagas have many different interpretations, but we will stick to having them appear mostly human with their upper half, extra traits may be applied,

Traits such as having scaled patches, slit eyes, a forked tongue, and fangs.
There may be more to think of and you are free to ask us if you have an idea for what to add.

The Snakes that are available for design are any existing and living snakes in the real world. Venomous and not.

Sea Snakes will stay under Mermaids rather than being Nagas.
Venomous snake Nagas may have their venom, but it will not be considered during combat rps. For now.
Do consider the Stats depending on what snake you're using, constrictors having more strength, arboreal snakes having more dexterity, etc.

There are snakes that don't do well in arid climates and others that do, snakes that normally need a humid climate will have homes that act like a humidity box for all intents and purposes. They will also do just fine if they live in the underground city of Shashan, which does have underground rivers flowing through it and is much cooler than the desert. Or they can just live elsewhere! That's an option too.

Nagas will wear some kind of apparel on their upper half, use what you think makes sense for where they live.

While Nagas may be well known for being much more massive than their human counterparts, we will be keeping Nagas to smaller sizes.

The human half will be kept to human standards, the biggest torso being at 2.5 ft.The serpent half will be allowed to go from 10ft to 25ft in length. Do consider the species you're basing your Naga off of, a Boa Constrictor Naga will be longer than a Hognose Naga.

Like with Mermaids, the human half is the Height, the snake half is the length.

Nagas

Naga Sizes

General Information

Passenger People are the folks who come from a ship that sailed from lands unknown. They arrive with extreme cases of Amnesia, not remembering even their own names. However.

The Passengers still have subconscious ‘memories’, as in, if in the past life they had a bad experience with water, the character may have a fear of water that they can’t explain. The Passengers will also be able to find that they’re still skilled at things that they liked to do in their past life, such as an artist still being able to paint, but will have to find these skills by chance. Their personalities are also still attached from their previous life, despite not having the memories to form them.

New Species added to Media Terra will always be Passengers, but the base races of Media Terra may also be created under the pretenses of being a Passenger due to the shipment having a mixture of old and new species.

The Passengers will not have clothing from wherever they hailed from, they were given appropriate wear for where they were escorted to, the old clothes discarded.

Note: The New Passenger Species cannot be made with the free 2nd character slot members are given.

The Passengers

Dragontaurs are a new large race to inhabit Media Terra, and while Dragontaurs, or Lizardtaurs, are not an official mythological species, there are still rules to follow.

The lower half of a Dragontaur is to be based on a real life, not extinct, lizard.

This includes…

Legless Lizards/Glass Lizards
Alligators
Crocodiles
Geckos
Monitors
Iguanas
Skinks
Tegus

While not a lizard, but having similar body shapes, I will also allow…

Newts
Salamanders
Axolotls

Note: For these aquatic examples, as they’re amphibians and prominently live in water or at least near a water source, they should be living in Crystal Seas or Harbortown, or claim to be living near a water source of some kind.

The human half of the individual should be more human looking than creature looking.

Traits such as having scales going someway up the arms and in patches around the body, slitted eyes, and pointed ears are allowed.

Specific species traits such as a forked tongues, frills, spines/thorns, dewlaps and crests can be applied to the human and lizard half if desired.

Dragontaur Sizes

Dragontaurs human torsos can be just a bit larger than the norm, but the torso sizes should not go above 3.5 FT.

The Lizard Half of the Dragontaur shouldn’t be as tall as regular Centaurs, as lizards tend to be close to the ground at all times.
Max. Height: 5 ft

Min. Height: 2 ft

(Add the human torso height with this lizard half’s height for the total height)

The Length of the Lizard Half on the other hand can be fairly large, with some species of ‘Lizards’ being able to get longer than humans easily.

Max. Length: 25 ft

Min. Length: 7 ft

With these in mind, do give proper measurements when thinking about the lizard species you’ll have. Such as having a Croc Dragontaur being closer to the max. measurements and an Anole Dragontaur being closer to the min. measurements.

Note: Despite the name of Dragontaur, Dragontaurs will not be able to automatically have the ability to breathe fire or have fire abilities.

Dragontaurs ARE more inclined to have Fire Related Magic, but are not required.

Dragontaur

Sphinxes are new to Media Terra and reside in the Northern Isles. Most live in the Heimsgar Castle, though your Sphynx may also live in Strandr or Outlyr.

Sphinxes are a combination of a bird and a wild cat. For variety’s sake, there will be very few restrictions on the feline and avian you may choose. The typical combination of eagle and lion are not required.

Feline Guidelines

The feline portion must not be a domesticated cat. Other than that, you may pick anything from a serval to a tiger.

The size of your sphinx’s body is the size of your chosen cat breed. Research how tall the original species is, and that will be its size. This means there can be sphinxes ranging from the 600lbs siberian tiger to the 16lbs European wildcat.

The chosen cat species must not be extinct, meaning no sabre tooth cats will be allowed.

There will be no exact restriction on size, but each character will be confirmed to be the proper size. You may decide to create a “large” lion, which is fine, but nothing absolutely absurd compared to species standards will be accepted. Employ common sense.

Bird / Wing Guidelines

Much like the felines, there are few restrictions on this.

Please be sure to choose bird species that are not extinct. It is also suggested that you choose a bird from the same geographic area as your chosen cat, though this is not required as bird traits can be inherited from another parent.

Wing size should be semi-proportional to body size and do not need to abide by the size of the actual bird’s wings. If you’d like to make a sphynx with hilariously small wings, that is up to you but it wouldn’t be caused by the wing size of the bird’s species.

Heredity & Hybrids

In terms of heredity, because these characters have no memory it doesn’t really matter. But just note that your sphinx inherits its species and bird type from its parents. They do not mix, your cat won’t be a liger, it’d be a tiger or a lion. This is because, as much as ligers do exist, it’d be difficult to accept a hybrid of other wild cats that simply aren’t possible.

Same with birds, your character wouldn’t have the characteristics of a hawk and a bluejay, rather a hawk or a bluejay.