The six stages of Character Generation are:

1. Chose your Faction.
   
2. Email the GMs at rpgsocgm@maillist.ox.ac.uk with a brief character synopsis and we will email you with the full details of your faction including faction resources and organisational structure.
   
3. Choose your Class.
   
4. Buy your Stats.
   
5. Buy your Quirks.
   
6. Email us with your completed character.
   

More detail on all of these strange game mechanical concepts can be found in the summaries below, and on the individual pages (just follow the links)

Classes

Because Conspiracy encompasses an extremely broad range of character concepts, it is for the sake of our own sanity that we are using a number of broad character classes to enable us to better balence, and better get a hold on, the characters in the game.

There are seven classes, all described on the classes page. In addition, several of the classes have their own subsystems attached. Classes have their own special abilities (described on the classes page. Your class also determines the number of points you get to spend of Quirks and Stats.

Illuminated Masters: The Illuminated Masters are the leaders of their factions, and of the Conspiracy its self. They wield far greater resources than other conspirators, but are themselves a little removed from the cut and thrust of the world. Illuminated masters get 25 points to spend on Stats and 7 points to spend on Quirks. Furthermore, they get an extra 7 Quirk points to spend on Conspiracy Resources.

Operatives: Operatives are the hands-on agents of the conspiracy. They are usually highly skilled in their personal fields. Operatives get 30 points to spend on Stats and 7 points to spend on Quirks. Furthermore they get an extra 2 quirk points to spend on Skills.

Agents: Agents are the puppetmasters of the conspiracy, the ones who pull the stings and pay the pipers. They tend to work hands on with the rest of the world. Agents get 25 points to spend on Stats and 7 points to spend on Quirks. Furthermore they get an extra 7 Quirk points to spend on Private Resources or Political Quirks.

Fringe Scientists: Fringe Scientists work on the superweapons, immortality programmes and so on that some factions of the Conspiracy are so fond of. Fringe Scientists get 25 points to spend on Stats and 7 points to spend on Quirks. See aso the Fringe Science system.

Psychics: Be they mind reading inquisitors, remote viewing spies or telekinetic assassins, Psychics are the wild cards in the conspiratorial arsenal, possessed of uncanny, and often unique powers. They get 25 points to spend on Stats and 7 points to spend on Quirks. See also the Psychic system.

Magicians: Masters of ancient and arcane arts, magicians call up what cannot be put down, channel otherworldly forces beyond human comprehension and generally try to wot of that what man was not meant to wot of. Magicians get 25 points for Stats and 7 points for Quirks. See also the Magic system.

Those Not Technically Human: There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy. Several of them are playable. Characters who are not tecnically human get only 20 points to spend on Stats and a mere 5 to spend on Quirks but they do get a bunch of advantages and a built in coolness factor. See also the list of non-human races.

Stats

These are nice and simple. You have seven stats, rated 1-7. The stats are:

Strength which is - funnily enough - about how strong you are, not just in terms of muscle but also in terms of your constitution

Quickness which is - equally funnily enough - a measure of how quicly you react to things.

Resilience which is how well you recover from being hurt, damaged, infected with horrible itchy diseases or whatever.

Will is your sheer force of will, your strength of personality, and also to some level your self control.

Lore represents how much you know about the strange and esoteric world of the Conspiracy. It's of particular use for Magicians. Note that Lore is a mixure of knowledge and understanding. An AI plugged into all of the databanks in the world can still have low Lore.

Wealth Cash. Income. Simple as that.

Fnord The generic "weirdness" stat. Useful for psychics, pretty useful for magicians, also good for them as are just interested in that sort of thing.

More complete descriptions of all Stats can be found on the stats page.

Quirks

Quirks cover everything not already covered by the rest of the system. There's a huge list of quirks, don't feel that you need to understand all of them, or even pay attention to the ones which don't interest you. Quirks are subdivided into a variety of categories. These are:

Personality Traits: It has always seemed farcical to me that you have to pay points in an RPG for your character to have a useful body (that is to say, to be extremely strong and fast) or a useful set of resources, yet you can tailor your character's personality to be as powerful and useful as possible with no restrictions. Hence personality traits. If your character has psychological or emotional weaknesses, you get compensated. If not, you pay through the nose.

Enchancements: One of the big advantages Conspirators have over the rest of the world is relatively ready access to cybernetic, biotechnological and surgical enhancements.

Conspiracy Resources: A conspiracy, by its nature, works together. By far the cheapest way for your character to gain access to resources is through your Conspiracy. Of course that does mean that you have to share...

Private Resources: If you're not so into the sharing, you can take private resources instead. This is pricier, but they're all yours.

Personal Qualities: These are things about you and your personal life.

Political Quirks: Relate to your influence both within the conspiracy, and within the mundane world.

Skill: Represent stuff you know how to do. More particularly, they represent stuff you know how to do not already covered elsewhere in the system.

Check out the full Quirks list for more details.