And this is ONE of the reasons so many of us dislike (in some cases hate) the IPG. "Be the Pirate you want to be" was how the game was sold to us... but we can't make the pirate we want, we have to chose from an infinite list of ones they'll let us be...
When starting this game, I set myself a time limit on how long I'd allow myself in the IPG before taking the best one I found in that time - I've honestly regretted that decision pretty much every day since. The only recourse I have is to lose all progress, all cosmetics etc and start fresh, once again using the horrid (imo) IPG to attempt to get a pirate I actually like the look of. This whole process could be avoided if they'd just let us make our own, or at the very least, allow us to select from certain options to narrow down what the IPG selects for us.
The game is tied into cosmetic progression but that is made somewhat moot if you're not happy with how your pirate looks in the first place. All the outfits in the world (and let's face it, there aren't really all that many of those) aren't going to fix the issue of you not liking your pirate's appearance.
The simple answer to your initial question is no, you can't save your progress. You'll start completely fresh if you turn off the game without creating a character. You can however, go ahead and create the character and if you don't like it when in-game, can then reset and choose a fresh one again... but once again, with no presets saved.
