All characters start with 100 pts free, and up to 50 pts in Disadvantages. Normal Characteristic Maxima is compulsory (but you don't get any points for it — sorry) unless playing a fully cybernetic character, in which case other compulsory limitations apply.
Character points need generally be paid only for Skills or Powers which the character can use in his or her jockstrap; gadgets will normally be paid for with money.
The amount of starting cash each character has to equip his/herself with will be determined by the GM. You get normal clothing free (to begin with), and any tools or equipment appropriate to your character background will also probably be free. There are a bunch of gadgets and weapons on other pages which you can take a look through, but feel free to design your own. The GM will assign a price to new toys on a case-by-case basis; just be aware that the more powerful a gadget is, the more it will usually cost in monetary terms, and as always any new weapon or gadget is subject to GM veto.
See the Jobs for Adventurers page for an idea about what characters can do for a crust. Again, feel free to make up your own profession — if you want to play Bozo the Interstellar Party Clown, that's fine (I guess).
These are skills with which everyone gets a basic familiarity for free. The base chance for success is 8- and skill levels cannot be applied to the roll. However, the chance for success can be improved circumstantially, for example, by taking extra time over the performance of the skill. They are:
and, depending on the character's social background, one of:
Different Everyman Skills may be assigned depending on the background of the character.
Technologically advanced alien civilizations have existed, and presumably still do somewhere, and on occasion the physical traces of ancient civilizations collectively known as "Precursor Races" are found; an occasion for great excitement amongst academic circles. However, up to the present the Oikumene has had no verifiable contact with any other truly alien starfaring species.
Humanity has been traversing and settling the stars for over ten thousand years at this point however, and this has been long enough for many previously isolated societies to develop considerable physical and sociological distinctiveness, even to the point where genetic differentiation is sufficient define them as a separate species. As far as character construction goes, a fair degree of variation from human-normal physiology is permitted.
Be warned however: if you want to create a new race for your new character, it will require quite a bit of background work on your part. The GM will want plenty of information from you about how your native society works, what your home planet is like, and why your character has the features it does.