Building Your Character
Whether you want to visit a festival, are looking for a fitting fantasy or LARP character, or want to reconstruct a die-hard historical character for living history and re-enactment, it all starts with building your character.
Building a character is simple and honestly super fun! We do this daily ourselves, both during photoshoots and even when assembling museum mannequins.
Time/Genre, Race, Class, Background
The first setup of your character consists of these 4 elements. Whether you're re-enacting or larping, these four elements remain central.
Time/Genre
In fantasy: High fantasy, Low fantasy, Urban fantasy, Dark fantasy, Historical fantasy, Science fantasy (read here about all types of fantasy)
Historical: choose a century and try to keep a margin of 50 to 100 years depending on your accuracy. Objects were used much longer in history than they are now.
Race
In fantasy: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Gnome, Wizard, (for more depth: https://www.celticwebmerchant.com/nl/blogs/info/je-eerste-dungeons-and-dragons-character-race/)
Historical: Man, woman, boy, girl
Class
In fantasy: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue (for more depth: https://www.celticwebmerchant.com/nl/blogs/info/je-eerste-dungeons-and-dragons-character-class/
Historical: wanderer, poor, middle class, wealthy, farmer, craftsman, pilgrim, knight, aristocrat, official, count, duke, king, etc.
Example fantasy composition: you are a high fantasy elf ranger. Now I only need to come up with a backstory for this elf ranger.
Example historical composition: you are a man from the 14th century, I am a middle-class farmer. Now you can deepen this by considering what situation you live in.
Background
The background of every person differs just a little. You can use this for both creating a fantasy character and a historical character. To give a character depth, it's important to take a moment to think about a person's background. A 14th-century farmer in Greenland would have lived a very different life than one near Florence.
Example Fantasy Background: Aranthalas, an elf born in the enchanting Forest of Elanor, grew up with a strong bond to nature. When his beloved forest was threatened by dark forces, he rose up as a brave defender and fought courageously for justice and restoration. His archery skills and knowledge of the forest made him a legend and a symbol of hope, as he walked lonely paths and inspired others not to give up in the fight for freedom and the preservation of nature. In this ranger, you'll encounter lots of clothing and items that are one with nature, referencing back to his beloved forest.
Example historical background: This farmer lives in the middle of the 14th century. He comes from wealthy parents and lived in a village in France. The area was part of the kingdom of France when the Hundred Years' War broke out. Because of this, his family became impoverished and his village was regularly plundered. That's why he took up arms and became a mercenary who was actually loyal to neither England, nor France, nor Burgundy. The reason for this is that they all plundered.
In his equipment, you'll see that he's a farmer who converted his farm tools into weapons. He doesn't have much military gear; what he has, he collected on the battlefield.
Summary
Fantasy: High fantasy elf ranger who grew up in the forest, learned everything there, and then got caught up in a battle against dark forces.
Historical: 14th-century French farmer who, driven by poverty and plundering, was forced to leave his own home to serve as a mercenary.
Your Costume
Once you've built your character, creating a fitting costume becomes much easier. You have a visual framework to work from.
Tip: use our timeline filter and other filter functions to create the ideal costume for your needs.
