Characters can choose an occupation that gives them a set of pre-determined skills and starting funds. Skills can then be further customized as desired. Occupations are somewhat drawn from historical context - if you want to have an occupation that is not on the list, please let us know and we'll try to figure out the relevant skills. Skills and game mechanics are taken from the Serenity RPG system.
In keeping with historical accuracy, we may put a limit on non-traditional roles (ie: a lady banker, an indian doctor, a black lawyer). This is not due to any prejudice on our part - only due to the prejudices of historical times. A few unusual occupation/ethnicity combination are fine with appropriate background explanation, but we want to keep the number low to keep the uniqueness of such individuals in mind.