From the introduction:
Living Forgotten Realms (LFR for short) is a worldwide Living Campaign that uses the Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition) rules and the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Players create characters using the core D&D rules and the guidelines in this document, and can then play those characters in any LFR adventure, anywhere in the world. As you play adventures, your character earns experience points, gold, and magic items which stay with you from game to game. There are dozens of new adventures to play each year!
The Living Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide explains how to create and advance characters. This document also contains various rules needed to support the shared-world and organized-play aspects of the game. In a Living Campaign, characters grow and develop over time through many adventures. So, when you come to an LFR play session, you are expected to bring your own character.