How to get a special character displayed

Other than a graphic, is there any way to display a special character? (like add it to a font?)

I need something that looks like this, but takes开发者_高级运维 only one line, not two:

_

/\

---

A font is really just a bunch of images that correspond with character values; however, I've heard of some font editing tools that would allow you to edit the characters directly. If iphone lets you import your own fonts, that may be a working solution for you.