Character Back Story
Leaving the Empires Behind
Unless specifically designed to have a different theme, starting characters in the World of Makrinos campaigns are assumed to have recently arrived in the Republic of Makrinos after a months-long sea journey, having left the Inchoate Empires, with the understanding that - whether they desired to make the journey or not - they are probably never going back. In fact, it is an accepted premise of campaigns in this setting that game play will never visit the Empires and they wil never be detailed beyond that which players flesh out for their own backstories. The Inchoate Empires are, for all intents and purposes, another world, and even should the PCs gain access to return there, this would mark the end of the campaign. The Empires exist narratively as background feature from which characters travel to live in, explore, and adventure in Makrinos and the East.
As such, atop the mechanical aspects of character creation afore-described, you should think up a reason why your character has left the Inchoate Empires. Background, Peoples, and Class descriptions all included blurbs about their roles in the Empires and why they might have left to help inspire ideas. This is all the back story required of your character - a sentence. While you are welcome to develop your past as you see fit, it is also perfectly fine to leave everything else vague or undefined. There may be opportunities during play to flesh out that past. Furthermore, consider avoiding too long or involved a backstory for your character. While the DM will do their best to incorporate elements from that backstory into the campaign when appropriate (no promises), actual gameplay is the point and where characters develop. About one side of one page is plenty of character backstory, if you are so inclined.
Character death happens. Or sometimes, the character you made is just not what you imagined and you want to try something else. When this happens you will need a replacement character. Your DM will explain how replacement character ability scores are determined (based on the method chosen for the campaign), but when it comes to backstory, consult with the DM if you want the replacement character to be a Makrinod, rather than a recently arrived traveler. This possibility will be determined by how long the campaign has gone at that point and how familiar you are with the Republic of Makrinos.
