This is an example civilian Player Character that went through the regular character generation process and was approved by staff.

Stats sheet:

The following is how Jones's +stats looked after character generation. Notice how the statistics are fairly well balanced. There aren't too many merits or flaws, nor are the stat levels too high. Anomaly limits the number of attributes ands skills above three to one attribute, one skill.

The Background:

The following is an example of a background and the level of detail that we are looking for. This background displays a firm grasp for the character's concept. It gives plenty of detail for Early Life, Teenage Years, and Adulthood histories. Notice how the background takes into account the stats of the character sheet above. A good example would be the Athletics ratings of Swimming and Running, and how both of those sports appear in the background in Teenage Years. All character's stats should match up with the background.

As you may notice in the following background, money comes up in a somewhat-unimportant way. Money, usually in terms of latinum, does exist in the Star Trek universe, but is by no means prevalent in the Federation, particularly on central Federation worlds like Earth itself. Backgrounds that focus on having money within the Federation will probably be sent back for revising.

============================| Jones's Background |============================

CHILDHOOD:  Desmond Cyrano Matthew Jones was originally born as Desmond
Graves, the illegitimate child fathered on a Federation Merchant Marine
quartermaster officer, Lt. Rachael Graves, by a hereditary frontier trader and
rouge, Cyrano Jones IV. At the time, Lt. Graves did not even know the real
name of her child's father, knowing him only as a dealer in antiquities named
"Matthew". When she caught up with "Matthew" again, he was at Starbase 12,
being indicted under his real name for various fraud and theft crimes, and for
reasons of legal nicety, fearing he might perhaps be killed by the Klingons
who were among his victims, she managed to enforce a quick paternity test so
that her son might be named Jones' heir, and changed his name in the process.
Despite the cavalier atmosphere of greed and mercenary ruthlessness to which
he was conceived, young Desmond Jones spent his childhood rather happily,
living with his maternal grandparents on the edge of Klingon space, receiving
the occasional letter from his all-but-estranged father and seeing his mother
on every leave she could arrange. When his father finally died at Rura Penthe
-- the Klingons did, in the end, arrange extradition for him after Federation
law was done with him -- he inherited enough money to set himself up in life.

TEENAGE YEARS:  Desmond used the money to finance his 'education', which
actually consisted of just a couple of years at the Daystrom Institute,
studying xeno-econometrics and statistical calculus. He thought he might have
a future for himself in the Merchant Marines like his mother, and learned how
to survey star systems and the social constructs that govern them to chart out
the long-term economic possibilities and forecasts. He even and tried to keep
himself in decent physical shape -- running track, for instance -- but
genetics often shine through, and in Desmond's case the hereditary urge to
swindle got him in trouble one time too many. His record sufficiently shady
enough that the Merchant Marines would not risk taking him on as an
officer-trainee, he started to go into business on his own. A few well-placed
bribes set him up as a third mate on a not-entirely-honest captain's private
transport vessel, specializing in the hauling of colonists and civilian
explorers around the various uninhabited or recently settled frontier worlds.
And he began his serious education then, in the School of Hard Knocks, as
unable to shake his bookish, quiet image as he was to discard his bloodline.

ADULTHOOD:  He spent only a few years on S.S. Highland Fling, learning the ins
and outs of the Federations borders with the Klingons and Romulans in ways
that even his childhood did not make easy. He learned to speak fluent
Klingonaase, understand Klingon culture, survey Klingon and proto-Romulan
archaeological finds for valuable relics to be stolen, fire a disruptor
pistol, sell Romulan ale on Federation starbases with just the right greasing
of palms to stay out of trouble, and pilot a starship. In exchange for this
valuable education, he provided the senior officers of the Highland Fling with
a valuable resource, an officer's mate who was more of a scholar than a
merchant, a keen mind able to synthesize available data on entire star systems
and civilizations into neat little packages for easy analysis, for quick
summary and digestion. Four years ago, after six years on the Fling, Desmond
left it as a first mate to go into business for himself as a free trader
without a ship. His biggest asset -- his information gathering and summarizing
abilities -- needed nothing more than a PADD and a wad of spare isolinear
chips as overhead, and that was easily affordable. Since going solo, he has
made a comfortable legitimate living offering his services to private merchant
and smuggler types unable to afford access to Starfleet databanks by bribing
low-level starbase officers -- he compiles economic, political, cultural, and
astrographic data on planets, systems and entire sectors onto isolinear chips
as both simple summaries and complex holosimulations for such entrepreneurs to
aid them in their quests for latinum. Along the way, he managed to supplement
this income by, in general, serving as something of a broker for minor deals
both legitimate and illicit, and has on more than one occasion crossed
illicitly into the Neutral Zone both on trade and survey missions, earning a
checkered reputation and the enmity of more than a few Romulan officers who
would like to see him suffer just a little for his lack of respect. He has
managed to work himself into a position of responsibility as a backer and
spokesman for a small consortium of private merchants and colonial groups that
want to open up the Neutral Zone and are lobbying both Earth and Romulus
towards this goal, and it is in this capacity as well as for his own continued
enrichment, that he has come to Station 419.

==============================================================================

The +info:

The following is an example of the information that you should set upon your character. See '+help info' and '+help renown'.

._____.
|_____|                                                   Jones's Information
|      `-_____________________________________________________________________.
 `-___________________________________________________________________________|
 .-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|      .-~~~| INFORMATION |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|______|
         Public Info:  A sixth generation merchant and mostly benign scoundrel
with a shady past and a love of the good life. He mostly works as an
information broker, these days.
         Starfleet Info:  Desmond Jones has a reputation for violating the
Neutral Zone quite often, but is always 'just a crewman' on such voyages, even
when he's known to be the prime motivator behind them, so he's had little
direct consequences for his actions except a bad reputation among Federation
and Romulan lawmen alike.
         Romulan Info:  An annoying little man who is known to violate the
Neutral Zone, but has never been caught and punished for it. There are at
least a dozen Subcommanders, commanding small frigate and scout ships assigned
to patrol the Romulan side of the NZ that would *love* to see him screw up
just once.
         Klingon Info:  A merchant from a family with a long and occasionally
shady history of dealing with Klingons. His great-great-grandpa had something
to do with a tribble infestation at Deep Space Station K-7 which caused the
the loss of Sherman's Planet to the UFP, and more recently his father was
imprisoned at Rura Penthe for 19 years, dying just a few years ago. Jones
himself however, seems to enjoy the company of Klingons despite the fact that
he admits he's not a warrior of any kind -- he was alleged, in fact, to have
tried smuggling weapons in to the last Klingon warriors on Bak'tur, where he
lived briefly, during the Siinogan invasion.
         Commnand Info:  Desmond Cyrano Matthew Jones has had family ties to
the Klingon and Romulan borders stretching back many generations. Behind his
legitimate fronts as an information broker, intermediary for trade goods, and
lobbyist for a consortium of border merchants pushing the Federation and
Romulan governments to allow for an opening of the Neutral Zone to free trade
and colonization, Jones is believed to have his fingers in quite a few
less-than-legal pies.


Jones's Renown: 2
 __________________________________________________________________________
|  Initiative  |  Aggression  |    Skill     |  Discipline  |   Openness   |
|      2       |      0       |      0       |      0       |      0       |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The +finger:

The following is an example of the type of information that is settable in a PC's finger file. See '+help finger2' for more information on setting up these variables. While most of these are not mandatory to set, they help other players pull up a quick list of information on the character.

._____.
|_____|                                                     Jones (Sex: Male)
|     |                              Last Connect: (Sat Mar 19 23:07:20 2005)
|      `-_____________________________________________________________________.
 `-___________________________________________________________________________|
 .-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|      .-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|     |  Location:   OOC - Out Of Character Nexus
|     |  Race:       Human
|     |  Posting:    Merchant
|     |  Short Desc: Short, stocky, pleasant-looking human in fur-trimmed
|     |              silks and leathers.
|     |  Full Name:  Desmond Cyrano Matthew Jones
|     |  Age:        Late 20s or early 30s
|     |  Characters: Ghorev@Anomaly, Fidelity@BrassAndSteel, Ben-Prime@OGR
|     |  Quote:      "First declare what you wish to be, then do what you
|     |              have to do." and "Only the educated are free." --
|     |              both by Epictetus, freed slave, Stoic philosopher
|     |  Theme Song: 'Journey of the Sorcerer', as recorded by the Eagles.
|_____|

The Description:

The following is an example of what types of details we are looking for in the description. Try to avoid making comments like 'his eyes are windows to his soul' and other such nonsense. What we want in a description is just that - his physical appearance. It shouldn't try to make us feel one way or another toward the character. That's what RP is for.

Jones
        In an age of giants, he is a small man, and stocky in a way that is
clearly fat-over-muscle ... not unhealthy, but surely not 'buff'. Comfortable,
let us say. Endearing, to those who still go for the whole 'cuddly' thing,
perhaps. Despite this, his skin does have the glow of health to it. Here is a
man who clearly takes advantage of modern medicine to live the good life
without too much in the way of serious consequences from overindulgence. His
hair is thick but has a natural wave as it falls to about his shoulders that
would be a curl if it were any longer, and frames a broad, round, pleasant,
high-cheekboned face clear of complexion and bright of eye.
        His tunic is of fur-trimmed silk, in a style that might, to those who
have studied such things, be reminiscent of 16th or 17th century Russia or
Mongolia, but more clearly owes some inspiration to the many similar fashions
common among those human colonists living on the Klingon border. The wide belt
that keeps the tunic and matching vest in place over his blousy trousers is in
fact decorated at the buckle with Klingonaase lettering, and the PADD that
hangs from it is clearly of civilian design that owes as much to Romulan as
Federation technology. His dark leatheresque boots are likewise of Romulan
workmanship. Even the ring on his left ring finger in just a simple, silver
band, nondescript in any culture. Clearly this is a man who is used to living
on the frontier, and has adapted his needs to the available resources.

The Service Record:

The service record functions a military style profile for your character. It has a summary at the top of the character name, race, birthday, homeworld.