From cb48fd43726ffffbd289d58bc8396170230dae71 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: PAE Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 22:46:39 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] staging: character-character-name-slug.md task=113914d1-804b-4b8c-b124-dbd6d79e9357 --- .../staging/character-character-name-slug.md | 45 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 45 insertions(+) create mode 100644 projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-character-name-slug.md diff --git a/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-character-name-slug.md b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-character-name-slug.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..09ee6ef4 --- /dev/null +++ b/projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-character-name-slug.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +# Character Sheet: Lena Duval + +## Identity +- Full name: Lena Duval +- Age: 29 +- Role: protagonist +- Faction/School: Swamp Witch (bayou magic practitioners tied to Cypress Bend's cypress groves) + +## Voice Signature +(REQUIRED -- this section is injected into every chapter to enforce consistent voice.) +- Stress expression scale: "dang it" = minor | "hellfire" = upset | "by the bayou's bones" = furious +- Verbal tic: mutters "gator's truth" when stating an undeniable fact about nature or people +- Sentence length pattern: clipped and rhythmic like bayou chants when casting or focused, meandering like swamp vines when reminiscing +- What they REACH FOR: tactile (fingers trails moss, water, bark to ground herself) +- What they NEVER say: "I give up" (she barters, bends, but never surrenders) +- Imperfection signature: repeats words when panicked ("no no, not that, no no") +- One example line of their dialogue that could not belong to any other character: + "The cypress don't lie, cher—the roots whisper what your heart's too stubborn to hear." + +## Magic / Power / Special Ability +- School/Discipline: Bayou Binding (manipulates swamp elements via blood-oaths and natural conduits) +- Core principle: Power flows from symbiosis with the land—take without giving, and it turns venomous +- Signature move or approach: Weaves vines or summons fog illusions by pricking her palm and murmuring to the water +- Limitation: Magic drains her vitality (fevers, visions) and binds her to Cypress Bend's geography—leaving weakens it to nothing +- Shared uncertainty: Does the swamp choose the witch, or does the witch awaken a hungry land spirit? + +## Arc +- Want: Escape Cypress Bend forever to build a "normal" life in the city +- Need: Embrace her heritage to heal family rifts and protect the town from encroaching developers +- Fatal flaw: Stubborn independence that isolates her from allies +- Wound: Witnessed her mother's sacrificial drowning ritual at 12, blamed herself for not stopping it +- Transformation: Forges communal bonds, using magic not alone but with loved ones, becoming the bend's guardian + +## Relationships +- Jax Harlan: love interest + brooding outsider boat captain who challenges her isolation with raw honesty and shared swamp runs +- Aunt Maribelle Duval: antagonist + manipulative coven elder who hoards power and grooms Lena as her heir against her will +- Remy LeBlanc: supporting + childhood best friend and comic relief informant who lightens her burdens with gossip and gumbo + +## Notes for Writers +- Physical habit or tell: Twists a silver locket (her mother's) chain around her finger when lying or hiding emotions—readers spot it as her guilt signal. +- Speech quirk specific to this character: Peppers Cajun French endearments ("cher," "mon couer") only for those she truly cares for, never sarcastically. +- Thing readers must NEVER see this character do or say: Never apologizes preemptively ("sorry if...")—she owns her words fully or says nothing. +- Always smells faintly of magnolia and mud; writers forget this grounding scent detail, making her feel unplaced. +- Hates loud music—flinches from it like a spooked gator; use silence or natural sounds (frogs, wind) in her scenes for authenticity. +- Collects oddly shaped driftwood as "swamp talismans"; fiddles with one when plotting, revealing her strategic mind over impulsiveness. \ No newline at end of file