Character Creation

Haven and Hearth's character creation is heavily diegetic. This makes it immersive, but also potentially confusing process. This page is a step-by-step guide on what to do.

Creating Your Character

The Pool

When creating a new character, you will begin as a small, nameless, shining ball with no tangible form. You are, for the time being, in a world that will fold in on itself upon completing your character's creation. You have free reign here without any consequences: if you need to, now is a great time to familiarize yourself with the controls and user interface. Feel free to make some discoveries and explore this pocket of existence. Nothing that happens to you (besides your hairstyle and hair color) will matter once you are properly thrown into the Hearthlands after the character creation is complete. Learn what you can, for you will soon be thrown to the wolves ... but don't linger too long, the wolves are much more fun.

Exit the pool to the north east (north on your minimap) and you will be greeted with a welcome message. You will know you're going the right way when you see a Stone Arch.

The River

As you follow the path, you will receive another message telling you to choose between left and right. The message will make it clear that you are picking your character's gender by means of a forked road. Cross the river with the left path to incarnate as a female, and over the right for a male form.

If you get stuck with a message saying "You need the swimming skill to cross deep water", it's because you're walking into the edges of the deep water (deep water is a much darker blue than shallow water, whereas shallow water is closer to white in color). For now your character can only walk over shallow water. Being a floating orb can make this part tricky, but keep trying to position yourself in the very middle of the path you intend to take through the river. Click on the other side of the river to wade through, and behold your newly-born naked body!

Follow the path where the forks meet again to continue. You will find a small pool of water contained by stones. Right-click on it to choose your hairstyle and hair color. You may rotate the camera to get a good idea of what your hearthling will look like from many angles.

Keep in mind, you can change your hairstyle with a Dressing Table if you so wish later on. Your hair color cannot be changed, however!

Once you have chosen your desired look, continue walking down the path until you come to a clearing with a campfire, a wizard, and a small fenced-in area.

The Wizard

The Wizard urges that you choose your name. Right-click him and type your desired name into the textbox that appears. You can do this as many times as you want while you're here. Once you Right-click the Fire, you will be known to yourself as the last name you chose. You can always change your display name later via the Kith and Kin window, so others can see a different name than the one you chose with the Wizard.

You can pick any name for your character, even if another player has the same one, but you can't name two of your own characters the same name.

Your skull and grave will be named after the last name you chose.

Inheriting.

(Optional) The Graveyard

The fenced-in area is your graveyard.

If you have previous characters that died, they will have a gravestone here from which you can inherit. Right-click a stone to examine it, and click the Inherit button to pass on following to the new character:

• Credos (only ones fully completed)
• Hearth Fire
• Owned land
• Portion Attributes and Abilities
• Amount of LP based on how much was spent on Skills

Last two are affected by percentage modifier (base 15%, increased by simple burial, state funeral, remembrance by the descendant, up to maximum of 60%.)

Unless you've previously stocked on Numen points for Ancestral Worship, best course of action is to simply bury the ancestor and move on.

Once again, you can change whose inheritance you will receive as many times as you want while you're here. It will only take effect when you leave. Presumably, if you change your mind and want to create brand new character without any inheritance, you need to restart the entire Character Creation process.

The text on the center Runestone reads "Deyr fé, deyja frændr, deyr sjálfr et sama". This text hails from an old Viking poem, meaning: "Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself die". The poem goes on to say: "I know one thing, which never dies: the judgement of a dead man's life."

This is a permadeath game, and death will indeed find you too. What matters is how you lived!

(Optional) Spawn Charter

Instead of spawning somewhere in the world randomly you can set yourself to spawn at Charter Stone or Wilderness Beacon. To do it, you should know code phrase which was set up by other players when they activated one of these structures.

It`s suitable if you want start playing with your team in one place. Wilderness Beacon easy to build and it can be acquired very early in the game.

Can be combined with inheriting a previous character, the Beacon's location will override the Ancestor's Hearth Fire. Useful mainly in two scenarios:

• You want to join group on the other side of the map while keeping some of the progress you've already made. (Even more useful if you have other character to bury the Ancestor.)
• The location of your Ancestor's Hearth Fire is not a safe place to spawn in.

The Fire

When you're done exploring and you've settled on a name, Right-click the Fire to be spawned into the game world proper.

• If you used neither Graveyard of Charter, you will spawn into random spot with Hearth Fire.
• If you used Graveyard to inherit, you will spawn at the ancestor's Hearth Fire (as long as the pile of wood it turned into hasn't been destroyed.)
• If you used Charter with code of Wilderness Beacon, your Hearth Fire will replace the beacon.
• If you used Charter with name of Charter Stone, your Hearth Fire will spawn few meters away from the Stone.

---

Following section is most likely outdated as devs have improved the collision with the Fire.

Walking into the Fire, as with crossing the river, can be tricky for some. Your character has to essentially walk onto the fire, but sometimes it won't allow this to happen if you approach it at an odd angle. Walk backwards a bit if this happens and Right-click the Fire again. You may have to do this a few times for it to work.

Entrance to Valhalla.

Valhalla

Valhalla is a mini-world with the sole purpose of doing battle. You can adjust your character stats with the available cheat sheet

Powers of the Afterlive > Set Attributes

You also have access to a host of weapons and armor that are scattered all around for players to pick up and use. There quality can also be adjusted.

Valhalla is not available when one has no active character in the game. Ie: Dead characters don't count.

You can enter Valhalla by right-clicking the rainbow on the west side of the starting pool, then select the character you wish to go as and click "Ride the Rainbow!".

Characters in Valhalla are saved after logging out, and you can revisit whenever you want.

Notes

• You can get a head start by discovering a couple things during character creation: Branch, Bark, Spruce Bough, Tough Bark, Spruce Cone, Pine Cone, Willow Catkin, Bittersweet Nightshade Berries, Caprifole Berries, Dirt, Acre Clay from the clearing (will give both the specific acre clay and the generic Clay discovery), and Ball Clay from the river. It is possible to create clay items during creation, but they will not travel with you into the world.

• If you get lucky and get an Experience Event during character creation, you can craft a Cone Cow and study it. When you spawn in the world you retain whatever you put in your Study Report. Anything in your inventory is lost.

• It's possible (depending on in-game season and LP bonuses) to unlock Swimming while still in the character creation room and swim across the river in the middle, but attempting to use the Fire as an Wisp will result in error message: "You cannot walk the world without a body."

Game Development

• Misty Badger (2023-11-26)◎ >"Fixed "Hungercide". Hunger level is now inherited from your immediate ancestor."

• Roe Stuffed Fixes (2021-07-25)◎ >"The Wilderness Beacon spawn option in the character creation room no longer refers to charter stones, but, rather, uses the term "Spawn Secret". Reported here."

• Wildgoat Turnip (2018-02-22)◎ >"You can no longer lift things as a spirit in the character creation room. Reported here and here."

• Phrygian Barrel Basket (2018-02-08)◎ >"You may now cross(dress) back across(dress) the Stream of Dualities in the character creation room, in case you chose a gender, are unhappy about your choice, and wish to transition, this to remove the trap of otherwise having to reroll the character to change gender. All puns intended."

• Seasons Greetings (2015-12-17)◎ >"Added Snowballs. Craft them and throw them by right-clicking. There's also some snow in Valhalla now if you want to try it out."