Using Character Lists
Names and occupations of millions of imperial citizens who could play their part in stories are contained in The Galactic List of the Thousand Most Famous Imperial Citizens Through History and Planetary Lists of the Thousand Most Famous Imperial Citizens Through History.
A record of each character's successful mating flights and offspring can be found by researching the character's date of enrollment. If a character has children with unlisted partners, those children will not be listed (except in rare cases, as with some of Thermeon's children). After the date at which they are no longer riding, a citizen will have no more listed children. The lists maintain the fiction that all citizens have horses and that mating flights have been the source of children throughout imperial history, but these rules have been broken often.
Imperial law forbids the copying of citizens older than ten thousand years or the use of gene specs from dead celebrities to create new offspring, but, although adhered to on Lal, these laws have been flouted on many planets.
The Empire's historical records have been destroyed multiple times by various galactic crises, so the lists are meant to be recreations. This leaves an author with plenty of leeway to change details as they see fit.
Researching a Character
After a character from a list has been chosen for a story, it is good practice to check other pages on the website for mention of that character in imperial history, and to see if they have appeared in tales already written. An author should also be aware of what historic events were occuring during the character's lifetime, who were the celebrities of the day, and who was emperor. When choosing a character from a planet other than the imperial capital, their homeworld—if it is one of the original 3010—can be researched on the Planets page. A number of the more important planets also appear on the Famous Places page.
What Can and Can't be Changed
Characters cannot be added or deleted from lists. A character's physical description cannot be changed, though they may alter their appearance in a wonderdome. Test results cannot be changed, but the results are not meant to be accurate, and can be ignored in stories.
A character may change their sex, but the sex recorded on the list cannot be changed.
A character's name can be changed. Their horse can be changed. Their parents can be changed. In some circumstances, they can acquire additional listed children or be rid of listed children attributed to them.
A character still riding may in fact be dead, especially on less-prominent planets, and a character no longer riding may still be alive, though unable to produce listed offspring.
If a character has played a role in historic events, or has appeared in previous tales, the new story should be consistent with events previously described, unless an alternate timeline is involved.
Alternate timelines
Thus far, only a couple of alternate-timeline versions of the galactic list have been posted, but more will be added. Alternate timelines can be created at any time throughout imperial history by an event affecting a birth or death.