Sample Characters

Here are some examples of Sparks you could generate through character creation.

Character Name: Marco Roth
Character Pronouns: He/him
Age: 19
Spark: Crab Crusher Claws – Marco's hands have been transformed into large crab claws. While he's gained large amounts of strength when pinching an object, he's lost fine motor control, and crushes almost all objects he holds.
When Spark First Manifested: Late. Marco's spark suddenly manifested overnight, just a few weeks before the previous year's final art project was due in.
Spark Visibility and Appearance: Extremely visible. It's not possible for him to hide his spark – even if he covers his pincers with something, the unnaturally large size gives away his Sparkedness. The claws are a mottled brown colour, and have spread up to his elbows.
Home District and Living Conditions: Redevelopment Area – an apartment, located on one of the higher floors of the Stonebrick Apartment Complex.
Education Option: An Art & Design student at Citropolis College for Vocational Education (final year).
Family/NPCs Living With You:

• Mia Roth, 38 – Marco's mother. Busy, trying to stay positive whilst balancing her two kids and her office job at The Sleuth. Supportive of her son, but feels unable to truly connect with him after his spark manifested.
  
• Benjamin Aston, 39 – Marco's mother's boyfriend. Understanding and kind, he looks after Marco and Lottie while Mia works, and offers Marco a space to talk (something Marco has avoided).
  
• Charlotte “Lottie” Roth, 6 – Marco's much younger half-sister. Hyperactive – Lottie leaves out happy drawings of her and her brother for him to find, and writes (somewhat legible) messages on the back with love hearts.
  

Quirks:

• Very Obvious

Struggle: Marco’s Struggle, if you were to ask him, is the very existence of his spark, and what it’s taken from him – however, in reality, his greatest Struggle is overcoming his isolation and self-withdrawal, and reconnecting with his inner artist.
Private Bio:
Marco was an outgoing, innovative young man. With a passion for pottery, and the skill to back it up, he soared through projects with joy, impressing his teacher with his detailed approach. He had a very close friend group, forged when he was much younger. When he wasn’t doing school work or meeting his friends, he made terracotta gifts for his family (and even included Ben). He looked to the future with excitement.

Everything changed when Marco's spark manifested.

One night after school, he went to bed, happy, naïve – unaware of what was to come that night; the next moment, he woke up to claws where his hands and forearms used to be.

Things spiralled rapidly from there – no longer able to apply his highly detailed pottery techniques, he couldn’t finish his art project in time for grading, and failed; his friends, adamantly against Sparks, quickly abandoned him once he “revealed himself for what he was”. It wasn’t long before he’d begun to withdraw from his family, too. With no channel for creating in the way he loved, he found another use for his claws: destruction, focused solely on his old creations and achievements.

Now, some months later, Marco (hopeless and isolated, searching for some way to get his claws to disappear) has stumbled onto SparkInYou.org.

Maybe, he thinks, as he signs up, I can find my way out of this.

School Bio: A once high-performing Art & Design student, Marco Roth took an overnight dive in grades after his spark – crab claws – grew in. His failure of his second year project has led to his withdrawal from everyone, and now, Marco exists as something of a (cantankerous, crabby) hermit in college.

Character Name: Amanda Zelda Harper
Character Pronouns: She/they
Age: 21
Spark: Time Trade – Amanda can trade moments of the present to spend time at a specific point in the past, regardless of whether she's lived through it or not. However: every present moment that she trades for the past, she doesn’t get to experience – instead, when she stops using her spark, she mentally returns to a point in the future proportional to the time she gave up, and Amanda has no memories of the time that passed in the present. Additionally, any impact she makes on the past has already occurred, and doesn't threaten the timeline.

[Note – if you were to choose a spark with a similar/higher power level to this one, it would need to be fully explained and discussed with GMs before being approved]

When Spark First Manifested: Normal window, at around 14.
Spark Visibility and Appearance: No visibility or appearance. Amanda is indistinguishable from non-Sparks, even when using her spark.
Home District and Living Conditions: University of Citropolis – lives on the UoC campus, in the dorms with her roommate, Zuri. Family lives in Greenfield Meadows.
Education Option: History Major, Literature Minor at the University of Citropolis (final year).
Family/NPCs Living With You:

• Zuri Hughes, 21 – A Literature Major, Linguistics Minor. A Spark, with a blaze of fire for hair, who organises a (very small) informal Spark group. Despite being extremely lucky to be two Sparks in one room, Zuri is dismissive of whether Amanda's spark truly has a negative impact on them or not.
  
• Sabrina Harper, 51 – Amanda’s mother. Orderly and precise, she has a lot of faith in Amanda’s academic ability – but her tendency to forcibly drop Spark related topics whenever Amanda gingerly brings them up has led to tension at the dinner table more than once.
  
• Carly Harper, 56 – Amanda’s mum. More introverted and quiet than Sabrina, she expresses her love more practically. Carly sees herself as a peacemaker, but in reality, this means she ends up siding with Sabrina's views on Sparks not being a family friendly topic.
  

Quirks:

• Double-Edged Sword
  • While she has a powerful spark, in order to use it, Amanda must experience less of her actual day-to-day life. As a result, Time Trading can lead to missing out on memories made, making new friends, or even being around to enjoy what the future may bring.
    
• Confidant
  • Zelda Harper, at varying ages – Amanda’s wise grandmother, who is no longer with them in the present. Amanda came out to her back when she was still alive, at around 16, after feeling afraid of their parents' reaction. After she passed away, Amanda's isolation from the few Sparks they turned to drove them to visit Zelda in the past – marking the beginning of their (ever-strengthening) habit.
    

Struggle: Amanda uses her spark as a form of escapism – with no confidants to turn to in the present, she flees to the past to feel understood. But this coping mechanism means she’s missing more and more of the present. The core of her Struggle, then, is striking a balance between the past and the present, and perhaps finding connection with a Spark in her time.
Private Bio:
When Amanda’s spark first appeared – shooting her several hours back without her control, before she jolted back to the present – she thought she’d simply imagined it; that she’d experienced a very intense daydream. The second time it happened (taking her even further back to several years ago) she knew it wasn’t a figment of her imagination – and with that realisation, came the understanding that what she could do (and who she was), was something that her parents could never accept.

After coming out as Sparked to her grandmother, Zelda, Amanda was never treated by her as something to be ashamed of; with her, in this small, carved out space of warmth and acceptance, Amanda finally received the support she desperately yearned for. But, all good things must come to an end, and Zelda’s passing hit Amanda hard. Remembering Zelda’s advice, and finally meeting another Spark to open up to, Amanda took the plunge and began attending Zuri’s Spark group.

Nothing could have prepared Amanda for the other Sparks to reject her too: because no one can identify her as a Spark, and her spark is on the powerful side, the few Sparks at Zuri's group grilled her as to whether she really faces any form of discrimination or downside – and whether her ability to remain forever closeted means she experiences a form of privilege they've not been granted.

Soon, her attendance began to drop, before she stopped going to the meetings entirely. Feeling painfully alone, Amanda began pouring through her memories, reflecting on the past – wishing she could only have Zelda’s wisdom once more.

Wait a second… if only she could have Zelda’s wisdom once more.

Amanda, with a flash of inspiration (and desperation), begun using her spark to jump back in time to see her grandmother; an addiction that’s beginning to trade away more and more of her present life.

Zelda, wanting the best for her grandchild, encouraged her to seek out more Sparks – and after perusing the history side of ZipLok and tumbling onto the link to SparkInYou.org, Amanda, hesitant and afraid of rejection, thinks she’s found something Zelda would be proud to know she’s a part of (even if she doubts this time will be any different).

School Bio: A History Major, Literature Minor. Amanda spends most of their time trying to help Professor Ortiz’s research – catch them doing anything else, and it's almost like they're not really there.

Character Name: Debbie Newman
Character Pronouns: She/her (as Debbie) or he/him (as Skyswimmer)
Age: 16
Spark: Skydive – Debbie can swim through the air as if it were water. Her arm strokes cut through the sky like liquid, and she can use swimming actions to gain momentum – and achieve flight.
When Spark First Manifested: 13, when swimming around Barleycorn Bay.
Spark Visibility and Appearance: Normal visibility. Debbie’s spark is only visible when in use.
Home District and Living Conditions: The Bay – a lone house not too far from the cliff’s edge, once intended to be a B&B.
Education Option: Student at Citropolis High.
Family/NPCs Living With You:

• Glenn Selby, 37 – Debbie’s uncle. A hard-working, confident man, who works odd jobs down at the Polygon Pier.
  
• Fay Selby, 40 – Debbie’s aunt. Fiercely protective, and surprisingly perceptive, Aunt Fay keeps Debbie to a curfew – making it difficult for Skyswimmer to sneak out and perform heroic deeds.
  

Quirks: None.
Struggle: Debbie is a character trying to understand her place in the world, form her identity, and define who she really is. Her Struggle is centered around this internal conflict: how much of her is Debbie, the mundane life she’s lived so far, and how much of her is Skyswimmer? Has she truly created a separate identity, or has she uncovered a side of herself previously unexplored?
Private Bio:
While out swimming one day, Debbie’s spark manifested. Ever since then, Debbie has been dipping her toes into her identity, gradually experimenting: at first, she began trying on hero names; soon, she was donning outfits, and taking herself to the streets; and now, he goes by Skyswimmer.

He tries to use his powers for good – so far, his greatest accomplishment has been saving Mrs Tibbles from a tree (and he even managed to walk away with only a few scratches).

School Bio: Debbie is an artsy kid who works on costume design for the student theatre. If you’ve spoken to her, she’s kind and friendly – but sometimes seems like she has her head in the clouds.