Character can be considered an Art, as there can be a wrong and a right way to create a character.

Things to think about when creating your character are:
1. What type of personality do I want to have? If you want an aggressive, blood-thirsty character, you won't choose Mesan for your race. Quite often, the type of race determines the personality.

2. What kind of history do I want to have? Ask yourself "Why is my character joining USI?" and "What events in my characters life have shaped it and make it act and react the way it does?" Think of problems or traumatic experiences your character may have had as a child growing up, and how it affects their outlook on life. Think of the schooling they may have had and their personal goals in life, and how one may affect the other. Your character should be knowledgeable in what is needed to fulfill the positions you apply for in USI.

3. What are the personal characteristics of my character? What does your character do that defines it as itself, and not as anyone else in USI? Does it have a crazy sense of humor, or is it a born looser? Does it go out of the way to help others, or does it laugh at them for getting themselves into trouble, and leave them to rot?

4. Keep in mind that you are joining an organization which has many military based aspects to it. USI in the game, runs similar to a state, with its own form of government. Due to the history, most of its 'citizens' are military, and join USI for protection, or to make a difference in the struggeling universe. USI is unlike any other organizition in effect today; there is no comparison. It has a strong military presence, but also a strong desire for development, and space exploration. Although much of the known galaxy is already explored, we deal with the ongoing threat of another faction trying to obtain ultimate power. USI's primary goal is to prevent this threat. When creating your character past, be sure to read the history page, to be accurate in your account of the characters history.

Restrictions :
1. The character may not be a "God" or anything similar. To have the power to do whatever you want, loses the respect of the other players, and also loses the primary fun of the prupose of role playing.

2. Your character may not have any super magic, or Godlike abilities. If you could solve every problem you came across in a matter of seconds, and by yourself, the game would be no fun, for either you or the other players. This is called the Zero Balance Rule. Basically its stats that for every ability, special or not, you will have a disability, or disadvantage which is equal or greater than your special or normal ability. We do however believe in talents and extraordinary abilities.

3. Your Characters' PSI ability must progress naturually and gradually. In the universe PSI Abilities are all gained through experience, not granted by divine nature or by a Godlike NPC or PC. PSI Level is automatically determeined by the Character System.

Psionics:
psionics are welcome on all ships. If you chose to have a psionic character, you may, but realize others have characters which may not be effected by psionic abilities. For example atelepath is allowed to scan others, as long as they follow some simple guide lines:

You must first know if you CAN scan them. As mentioned before, some characters cannot be scanned, and attempting it would be futile. You must have either the characters permission, or leave it up to them to decide what you get when scanning them. You cannot just say they are planning one thing, when they may very well be planning something quite different. Either leave off your post as you start scanning, and tell them to continue, or get permission for what you want before hand.

Due to too many people trying to create characters with super hyped up psi powers, all characters must be limited to the normal abilities of the species you choose, no more powerful or extra powers. If you wish to create your own species, and wish to add psi powers to it, you must first clear it though USI Admin. However, as your character progresses through the game, he can develop higher and better PSI abilities. For example, the character " Taz " has what is called an Anti PSI. He doesn't know this for nearly a year real time. But now, with some help from technology he can put those PSI abilities to good use. IE, fighting the Darkarians. Progression to ability is okay. If a character progresses to a stage, and takes a while doing it, then that is totally okay. Of course if it is out of hand then admin will talk to you about it. And chances are, longer you are in the game, the more lenience you get, etc.

A play cannot advance his own Psionic level past 4. All other levels are awarded to the player, like unto a promotion.

Your character:
As the stories progress and develop, so should your character. Personal conflict only adds to the story line, and will keep things interesting. If you don't put conflict into your character's life, WE WILL!!! The only rule here is that you don't resolve the conflicts of other players unless they ask for your help, and then you do just that, help, you don't do it for them.

Questions about Characters can be directed at [email protected]