character & worldbuilding development questions

CONTENTS

CHARACTERS

Basic info - referring to them

What name are they using right now?

What pronouns are they using right now?

What is their current position?

How is this name pronounced?

What title are they using?

What is their current title?

How would their pronouns, name and title be used in a sentence?

Reputation

What is their reputation like among:

  • their peers?
  • their superiors?
  • their inferiors?
  • their enemies?
  • the general public?

physical attributes - appearance

physical attributes - initial impressions:

What is the feature people first notice about them?
What is their default facial expression?
What is their default posture?

species

What is their species?
What is the general category of species (eg, mammal, reptile, avian)?
How do their species' limbs typically work (eg, quadrupedal, tentacles)?
[See also: Specific Species]

physical attributes - features

hair:
What is their hair texture?
What is their hair colour?
What is their hair length?
Other hair details?

skin[/scales/etc]:
What is their skin texture?
What is their skin colouration?
Other skin details?

eyes:
What are their eye colouration?
What are their eye shape?
Other eye details?

nose:
What is their nose prominence?
What is their nose length?
What is their nose width?
What is their nose shape?
Other nose details?

mouth:
What is their mouth prominence?
What is their mouth width?
What is their mouth volume?
What is their mouth shape?
Other mouth details?

ears:
What is their ear prominence?
What is their ear size?
What is their ear shape?
Other ear details?

style

Do they have any tattoos? If so:
What are the tattoos?
Where are the tattoos?
What quality are the tattoos?
How old are the tattoos?

Do they have any scars? If so:
Where are the scars?
What are they from?
What colour and texture are the scars?
How old are the scars?

Do they have any piercings? If so:
What piercings do they have?
When did they get pierced?
Where and how did they get pierced (eg, professionally, by a friend)?

clothes:
What clothes do they wear casually?
What clothes to they wear semiformally/as 'business casual'?
What clothes do they wear to formal events?
What clothes do they wear to bed?
What clothes do they wear as swimwear?

accessories:
Are there any accessories they always or almost always wear?
Are there any accessories they have but never wear?

Mental Attributes

What is their DND alignment?

How do they react to encountering cruelty?
How do they respond to encountering surprises?

What do they describe their ambition as to others?
What is an ambition they haven't told to anyone?

How cluttered is their personal space?

What do they think they can do better than everyone else?

Are they right?

How do they respond to strong positive emotions?

How do they respond to strong negative emotions?

identity

What is their gender and sex identity?
Do they identify as transgender, cisgender, both, or neither?
Are they intersex?
If they are intersex, what is their intersex condition or variation?

What is their sexuality? (eg, bisexual)

What is their cultural identity?

What is their religious identity?
If any, what religious affiliation were they raised with?

See also: General Health & Disability

Favourites

Savoury food?

Sweet food?

Drink?

Film genre?

Show genre?

Art style?

Music genre?

Household animal?

Book genre?

Sport or game?

Colour?

Weather?

Time of day?

Plant/flower?

View?

Wild animal?

Preferences

Sweet or savoury?

Countryside or city?

Hot or cold?

Silver or gold?

Prose or poetry?

Autumn or Spring?

Languages

For the purposes of this segment, “speak” and “speech” include languages that are not verbally spoken, such as sign languages. Heritage languages and L2+ languages are also included. You may wish to indicate fluency level. As always, feel free to alter the questions to fill out any way you wish.

What languages do they speak?

What languages do they understand?

What languages do they read in?

What is their accent, & how strong is it regarded as being?

Swearing:
How ofen do they swear in public?
How often do they swear in private?
How coarse is their swearing?
How varied is their swearig?

Political speech:
How ofen do they speak politically in public?
How often do they speak politically in private?
How passionate is their political speech?
How annoyed is their political speech?

What topics do they frequently speak about?
What topics do they rarely speak about?
What topics do they never speak about?

Do they talk to themself?
If so, how often?
What kinds of things do they say?


Health & Disability

Physical Health

What is their overall physical health like?

What physical health conditions do they have, if any?
If applicable, when were they diagnosed with these?
Are they in remission for any physical conditions?

Do they experience chronic pain?
Do they experience migraines?

Have they undergone any surgeries? If so, what?
Where there any complications?

Mental Health

What is their overall mental health like?

What mental health conditions do they have, if any?
If applicable, when were they diagnosed with these?
Are they in remission for any mental conditions?

What do they do to self-soothe?

Do they identify as Mad?

What, if any, are their triggers, and how do they react to them?

General Health & Disability

What neurodevelopmental conditions do they have, if any?
Do they have any other disabilities or impairments?
Do they identify as disabled, as Disabled, or neither?
If applicable, do they use person-first or identity-first language for themself?

Do they use any mobility aids or other assistive devices?
If applicable, what mobility aids do they use?
Do they personalise their mobility aids (eg, adding stickers)?
If applicable, what other assistive devices do they use?
Do they personalise their assistive devices?

What are the biggest accessibility barriers that they experience?

Are they, or have they ever been, housebound?
Are they, or have they ever been, bedbound?

What can cause a flare for them?
What do their flares look like?
What helps with their flares?
How long do their flares last?

What medications do they take, if any?
What side effects do they experience?
When do they take these medications (eg, daily, hourly, as needed)

If applicable, what is their prognosis?


Personal History

circumstances of birth:
What was the gestation or equivalent like?
Who was there when they were born?
Was it a difficult birth, an easy birth, or in between?
Was it in a hospital, or in the middle of nowhere, or somewhere else?

childhood

What do they remember most fondly about their childhood?

What did they find most difficult about their childhood?

Have they ever been bullied?
Have they ever been a bully?

education

What is their highest completed level of education?
What is their highest attempted level of education?

Who was their favourite teacher, or other favourite educator?
What made this person their favourite?

What did they find most difficult about their education?
What do they remember most fondly about their education?

If they could study anything, what would it be?

work & employment

What's their dream job?

What’s a job they’d hate, but other people say they’d be good at?

Are they, or have they ever been, unable to work for any reason?

Are they, or have they ever been, part of a workers' union?
If so, which union(s)?

What do they do on their day off?

Do they work to rule?

Employment history: For each job they've had, what was the:
position and trade/industry?
location and length of employment?
organisation?

If applicable, what is a joy they enjoyed but struggled at?

criminal record

Do they have a criminal record?
Are there any charges brought against them that have been dropped?
What crimes have they committed without ever being caught?

Travel

In what universes have they been?
On what planets have they been?
In what countries have they been?
In what regions have they been?
What landmarks have they visited?

How often do they travel?
For what reasons do they travel?

Do they enjoy travelling?

What's their favourite place they've travelled to?

What is 'home' to them?


CULTURES

How many seasons are marked by the culture, and what distinguishes them?

What is 'counter culture'?

Which of these are deemed 'normal' in the culture?

borrowing something without asking?
feeding and sheltering a stranger?
reporting a stranger to authorities?

eating alone?
eating communally?
rarely leaving the home?

How is knowledge passed down?
Is there formal education? If so, who gets it?
Is knowledge generally conferred orally, through writing, both, or neither?

What materials are buildings generally made out of?
How tall do buildings tend to be?

Technology

Which of these exist in the culture?

the wheel?
writing?
nuclear fusion?
teleportation?

electricity?
a sewer system?
nuclear fission?
time travel?

Which forms of long-range communication (eg, messengers, internet) exist?

Authority & Governance

How is dissent typically responded to?

How are laws created?
Can laws be amended? If so, how?

How are laws enforced?

Is anyone above the law?

Does precedent matter in the law?

Medicine

How is 'health' conceptualised?

How is 'mental illness' defined and conceptualised?

What is the infant mortality rate?

What is the maternal mortality rate?

Music

What styles of music originate in the culture? (eg, opera, jazz)
What musical instruments have been developed by the culture?
Do any forms of music have a class association? If so, what?
What forms of formal music education are there?
What forms of informal music education are there?
What styles of singing are there?

What styles of music are in common use? (eg, opera, jazz)
What instruments are in common use?
What is seen as an 'entry level' instrument?
What is an instrument regarded as hard to master?
How are instruments classed? (eg,'brass, percussion, string')
Do any styles of singing have a class association? If so, what?

Religion

How common is atheism?

How common is agnosticism?

How common is syncretism?

How common is omnism?

In a given religion:

Does the religion have different denominations or sects?

Does the religion have a heirarchy?
If so, what is the heirarchy?

Is there such a thing as 'heresy' in the religion?
If so, what are some common heresies?


NATURE

Laws of the Universe

Is Narrativium or the Theory of Narrative Causality in place?

Geography

What are the most common natural disasters in each region? How frequent are they?

Planets & Moons

How long is a full orbit (solar year)?

What is the axial tilt?

How many orbital satellites are there, if any?

Flora

What protective mechanisms have plants evolved?

What colours are unusual for plants to be?

What methods of seed dispersal do plants use?

Fauna

Are there any instances of island gigantism?

Are there any instances of island dwarfism?

Specific Species

How do members of the species communicate?

How do they breathe?

How do they reproduce?

How do they feed?
What is their diet?

Where are they in the food chain / food webs?

Do they have fur? Feathers? Scales? Bare skin? Something else entirely?


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