Four Easy Steps To Persona Development
As found at SCA INC.

 

Persona development is the first thing most people do when joining the Society for Creative Anachronism. A persona is more than just a name and a T-tunic. Your persona is a statement of your interests. It is the bridge between your twentieth-century pursuits and your "medieval" appearance and behavior. In order to make this process easier, I have developed a short four step process to help people develop their personas. This process is derived from the characterization technique that a fiction writer uses when writing a story or novel. The first two steps define why you are in the Society and what you want to get out of your participation.


Step One: Describe your goal

This concise statement should be no more than three simple sentences. The first sentence should address why you joined the Society. The second should talk about what you want to get out of the Society. The third describes how you will attain this goal. The entire statement should not exceed fifty words.

Example:

I joined the Society to exercise a broad interest in medieval history through reenactment. I desire an understanding of chivalry. I will attain this goal by being active in activities involving all the arts of peace and chivalric war.


Step Two: Describe key aspects of your persona.

In short list, outline the key aspects you feel are necessary for you to achieve the goal stated in step one. There can be as many aspects as you wish, but be careful to make them mutually exclusive. In other words, the aspects should not overlap or depend on each other.

Example:

Make my own armor using metal and leather. Learn the rules of heraldry so I can submit my own device. Become authorized to fight with sword and shield.

The last two steps address how you will achieve your interests. This is where you individualize your persona and focus on a specific place and time in history.

 


Step Three: Select a background

Choose a persona background that will realistically fit your goals from the previous steps. It may be helpful to find a role model who embodies your goals and to research that person. Fighters could select William Marshal, Richard Lion Heart, or Saladin. Unique or special constraints, e.g. choosing a geographic minority, will add flavor to you character but will make research harder.

Example:


I am a condottiere in fifteenth century Milan. I have been in mercenary service under the d'Medicis and have an interest in military theory. My position requires that I maintain an degree of courtly behavior suitable to allow gaining employment with nobility of the highest class.

 


Step Four: Choose a persona name

A persona name should reflect the results of all three previous steps. Do not over emphasize or exaggerate your skills or position. Naming yourself Apgar Kingslayer is undoubtedly pretentious. Naming yourself Erwin MushroomPicker is also not a good idea, especially for a persona with warrior aspirations.

Example:


Cesare l'Gallo (Charles the Rooster). The name denotes fighting spirit (step one and two) and Italian ancestry (step three).

 

The result of the process of persona development is an accurate, medieval package of you twentieth century goals. There will still be contradictions between your persona and Society life. Don't spend a lot of time fretting over how a fifteenth century Italian mercenary got someplace populated with a lot of ninth century Celts and thirteenth century Templars. Smile and carry on; we each must dream our own dreams.