Alberich

Ah, good point. Critter Pete 2, like his successor, was a die-hard canister virgin. (This didn't make the third game easy, as this family tends to specialize in shaping fire creatures.) And thanks for the welcome!

Alternative: the ending of one game includes a simple code that you can enter at the beginning of the next game to effect the customization (and the loyal fanbase here promptly tells you all the codes and what they mean when the time comes...).

FWIW, one thing I would've liked in the 2nd and 3rd games is a little "customization" based on previous endings. Nothing too fancy - but, e.g., you get an optional screen in which you can tell the game which shapers died in GF 2 or which ending you got in GF 3 and your character's name (with default settings for newcomers) - so that, for example, an old Khyrik wouldn't appear if you'd killed him (but you could still get the info he provides another way), and the characters who give you background later in the game would mention your previous character and his deeds. Maybe it wouldn't be worth the trouble. I'd enjoy it, though.

Not so - I didn't kill Zakary or join him either; but when I went back to the Shapers, they took the job off my hands. And they didn't execute me. (I never got the ending Micawber describes, "unfinished").

Right. I got the non-aligned Shaper ending - but I never accepted a geneforge quest from Zakary, which may have made all the difference.