Published Starting Characters
The following characters have been pre-made as starting characters. You can pick up and play them as-is, or use them as examples or a base for comparison. Note that your saga may have some house rules or advanced magi, so you may need to change the character to fit it.
Most starting characters are young, 25 year old magi straight out of gauntlet. Most first sagas begin with such characters (as per the book's advice, on p. 29), and they are suitable as new recruits for more advanced sagas as well.
Darius of Flambeau (core book, p. 34-35) is the example used in the book to explain character generation. Unlike most starting characters, Darius is rather old (62 years past gauntlet), which means he's probably too powerful to serve as a starting character for most sagas.
Tabanus of Guernicus (GotF p. 21) is also a bit old (15 years out of gauntlet), but still "suitable as a player character".
Felicia of Bonisagus (GotF p. 23) is just out of gauntlet, an example of a Trianoma maga.
Ioannes of Merinita (GotF p. 106) is a Merinita knight, knighted by a Faerie court.