Welcome to the Eidolon OC Guide!
This guide will walk you through all you need to know if you want to create an Eidolon OC. I still heavily recommend you give the Story Masterpost a read as well, since it explains the basics of the lore and worldbuilding that I won't be going over here. Consider this guide an addendum to the Masterpost.
First, I'll go over the 4 possible categories your OC can fit into, and, at the end of the post, I'll talk about interactive stuff you can do with your OC!
Basically, in Eidolon, your OC will be in one of 4 categories:
Training Academy teacher or mentor
The Paranormal Containment Division is divided into four departments with distinct purposes and duties, those being the Exorcism Department, the Medical & Scientific Department, the Administration Department and the Support Department. You'll have to choose one for your OC, and I'll go over each one.
A) Exorcism Department ⚔️
The Exorcism Department is composed of the agents, often also called exorcists, who are responsible for investigating any reported paranormal threats and fighting and capturing grims. Agents are the face of the PCD, and its most important members. They're beloved and borderline worshipped by the public, and are seen as heroic knights of sorts. Everything, from the royal-esque military style of their uniforms, to the kinds of weapons they use, serves to amplify this image and maintain the PCD's reputation. There's a very performative side to the Exorcism Department, and this image is important.
Because of that, they have a strict dress code; and because of that, I request that you don't alter your OC's uniform too much. Small changes like giving your OC a different tie and different-coloured gloves are acceptable, but keep in mind that 1. They're still supposed to be uniforms, that is, similar to everyone else's uniforms and 2. Their aesthetic is important. Additional accessories like hats, colourful socks or tights, chokers, chains, etc. are not allowed.
Related to the uniforms, you should also consider your OC's rank. There are three ranks within the Exorcism Department: agents, commanders and captains. In basic terms, the captain oversees the entire Exorcism Department, and is the highest authority in a Headquarters. The commanders are assigned a unit of which they are in charge, and oversee all the agents in that unit. The agents are the standard member of the Exorcism Department, and are divided into units. So: one captain per HQ, one unit per HQ, one commander per unit and several agents per unit. There are usually about 4-5 units in one HQ. Agents, commanders and captains have some differences in their uniforms, which you can see in the guides.
Your OC will also need a weapon, which serves two main purposes: fighting grims and capturing them. Because of how they work, the PCD only uses melee weapons, suited for piercing and stabbing. Here are some examples. You have some wiggle room, like different kinds of swords or spears, but that's about it. Weapons like a bow and arrow, guns, hammers, etc. I don't think would work.
Additionally, in this universe, prolonged exposure to grims and paranormal beings may cause genetic mutations known as paranormal mutations. These are usually relatively discreet and cause unnatural eye and hair colours or streaks, and skin markings. (Please note that mutations cannot give people powers, or mutated body parts. It's basically just my in-universe justification for giving characters unnatural hair and eye colours.) Since PCD agents' entire job is dealing with grims, paranormal mutations are very common in them, so keep that in mind if you want. There is a bit of social stigma around mutations, though, due to how the society of this world has been conditioned to view anything related to the paranormal. Although mutations are harmless and only amount to cosmetic changes, some people still have superstitions about them, so that's something you can incorporate in your OC's backstory as well if you'd like.
B) Medical & Scientific Department 🧬
Your Medical & Scientific Dpt can either be a medic, a nurse, a medic-in-training, a nurse-in-training or a scientist.
All of the above, except for scientists, are responsible for treating people who have sustained injuries or conditions inflicted by grims. They are also in charge of regularly assessing PCD agents' health and wellbeing, and patching them up after each mission. The scientists are responsible for researching various things to do with the paranormal. Theo, for example, is both a medic and a scientist who researches cures for paranormal-inflicted injuries.
Medics differ from regular doctors because they also usually go out on the field on missions with agents, especially if it's a long one that lasts a few days. During those missions they provide medical care to the agents and to any civillians that need it urgently in the area.
Medics and nurses-in-training wear the same as their counterparts, only without the epaulettes. They're usually young adults doing internships at the PCD in order to work there as medics or nurses once they graduate.
People who work at this department are also exposed to a lot of paranormal activity on the daily, like PCD agents, so giving them mutations is fair game too.
C) Administration Department 📋
The Administration Department is basically the one that runs stuff like finances, HR, probably dispatchers, and everything to keep the PCD running behind the scenes. I'll be upfront, it's so far the least fleshed out department because it's also the least interesting one to me. It's basically just office work.
They don't have specific uniforms, just general office dress code.
The Support Department is made up of sewists, who design and make the uniforms for the whole of the PCD, and weaponsmiths, who design and build the weapons for the Exorcism Department.
The sewists have a pretty lax dress code, they usually just wear simple dresses or aprons with big pockets for their tools and the Department badge somewhere, usually on one of the pockets. They can wear any other clothes they want under the apron, as well as any accessories they want.
The weaponsmiths have a slightly stricter dress code, but only because of their line of work. They wear similar aprons, also with the badge on one of the pockets, and welding gloves.
Also some final notes about the PCD: usually your OC will only have one of these professions. I have made Theo both a medic and a scientist so that's fair game, but the rest I don't think it'd make a lot of sense since the PCD has people employed to do all these jobs full-time, so other workers don't need to do those part-time alongside their other job, if that makes any sense?
2. Training Academy student
You can read about the Training Academy in more detail here, but in simple terms, the TA is the institution that teaches and trains children and teenagers to become PCD agents (exorcists) in the future.
You have to be 18 or older to officially start working at the PCD, so if you want to make your OC a child or teen but still want them to be sort of affiliated with the PCD, the Training Academy is the next best thing. The age range is 10-17 for children, but there's a separate branch of the TA specifically for adults that didn't get the chance to study there as children, but that want to train to join the PCD. They have different uniforms, though, and are not lumped in with the children. For now, I'll just talk about the main branch for children since that's the most developed one.
These are the uniforms, and, similarly to the PCD ones, I'd rather you didn't change much about them either. You can still give your OC a different tie (you do need a tie, though, do not remove it) and different socks or tights, as long as you keep them a discreet colour like black, grey or white, and different shoes. Head accessories like bows, ribbons, headbands, etc. and relatively low-key hats are allowed. And please remember the skirt is knee-length, do not shorten it. As for the training uniforms, you can change the gloves but that's about it.
The Training Academy is also a boarding school (only applies to kids though). The average day of school for a TA student is have theoretical lessons about the history of the country and the paranormal, what grims are, their behaviours, characteristics and weaknesses, basically all the lore. Alongside these theoretical lessons, they also have physical training sessions.
Up until the end of the first semester of a student's first year, they train with the other first-years and these sessions' purpose is only to enhance the students' physical aptitude and work on their strength, endurance, speed, etc. Then, between the first and second semesters, first-years undergo a series of trials, with the purpose of evaluating their overall fitness and, more importantly, assessing which weapon suits the student best. Each trial tests the student with a different type of weapon, and each is overseen by a mentor. TA mentors are teachers, usually former PCD agents, who train students for combat and specialize in a specific kind of weapon. After the trials, each student is assigned the mentor in whose trial they performed the best, and, once they begin the second semester, that mentor will be the one in charge of their training sessions, and will begin teaching them how to fight with their weapon.
If a student is unable to perform up to the mentors' and teachers' standards at all the trials, they are usually expelled. Being unable to pass any trial is seen as a sign that the student is simply physically unfit to continue training and become a PCD agent.
3. Training Academy teacher or mentor
If your OC is an adult and you want to make them affiliated with the PCD's Exorcism Department, but don't think fighting in the front lines would suit them, making them a teacher or mentor at the TA would be a good option.
Teachers are the ones who teach the theoretical lessons, and mentors are the ones in charge of the physical training and combat lessons. I think I've already covered everything you need to know about one or the other in the previous section.
If you want to go with a teacher, keep in mind that they aren't usually fighters. I can see retired, older PCD agents becoming TA teachers, but the norm is teachers being historians, scientists or generally scholars who have studied grims.
Mentors, however, do need to know how to fight since they train the future agents in combat. Like the vast majority of agents, they usually specialize in one kind of weapon, and then they teach their pupils how to fight with it as well. Mentors are usually either retired PCD agents/commanders/captains, or PCD agents who have put their careers on hold for whatever reason.
Neither are subject to a strict dress code outside of generally having to dress appropriately. Teachers basically just dress like how you'd expect irl teachers to dress. Mentors also dress normally except during training sessions, when they have to wear their PCD uniform.
A grim is an undead human who has usually died a traumatic and/or wrongful and/or untimely death. They can be corporeal or incorporeal. Corporeal grims are grims that have a physical body, incorporeal don't and are more like the traditional concept of a ghost.
All grims have hosts, which function as their anchors to the living world, meaning that if their host is destroyed or killed, the grim permanently dies. A host can be an object, or a living being like a plant, an animal or, in very rare cases, a person. All grims also have one main signature power, which may be related to how they died and/or the place where they died.
It's hard to give you a visual guide to how to design grims because they can have pretty varied appearances, but here are the most important pointers: grims usually look humanoid, but with heavily disfigured and distorted features. Generally, the less human one looks, the more mentally unstable and animalistic it is. The way they died, the place where they died, generally anything related to their death AND their host usually influence their appearance as well, so keep that in mind.
Stuff to do with your OC!
Now that you have an Eidolon OC, what can you do with them? Well not much yet, but hopefully this section will increase in the future-
First, you can fill out the relationship chart, where you can decide how your OC feels about the main cast of canon characters:
Likewise, you can ask me what I think these characters would think of your OC. Sometimes I may take a while to reply to your ask, but I'll do my best to always answer them :]
There are also some ideas or Eidolon OC questions you can answer (when it applies):
What would your OC look like if they were a grim? What/who would their host be, and what would their power be?
If your OC is a Training Academy student, what would they look like in the future as an adult PCD agent?
If your OC is a PCD agent, what did they look like as a Training Academy student?
Which of the canon characters would your OC prefer to go on a mission with? How would that mission go?
On the flipside, how would the mission go if your OC went with the character they like the least instead?
If your OC hadn't joined the PCD, what job would they have?
Why did your OC join the PCD?
If your OC is a grim, why did they choose their host?
If you have ideas/suggestions for more things to add to this post, let me know! I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts :] this will continue to receive updates as I come up with new lore, too. Thank you for reading this far, and please remember to tag me if you create an Eidolon OC so I can see them and coo at them.
