forge-character

---
name: forge-character
description: Create a strong, coherent character (film, game, ad, book) with the character-forge MCP. Runs a variant tournament — 3 variants of the same concept, independent coherence reviewers and critics argue against each, the author defends once, a judge picks the strongest, which gets an A-pose concept. Use when the user asks for a character, hero, NPC, mascot, protagonist or villain, random or from a brief.
---

# Forge a character (variant tournament)

You are the AUTHOR. Independent agents review your work; they have fresh context and owe you nothing.
Requires the `character-forge` MCP server (tools named `character_*`).

## 0. Setup
- Call `character_method` once (method + protocol).
- Languages: English is always the original. If the user names other languages (e.g. "also in Russian"), note them for step 8c.
- Decide the mode:
  - **Random**: the user gave little or nothing. Anchor = the role they named, if any.
  - **Brief**: the user described what matters. Every variant must keep ALL of it. Anchor = the role from the brief; fix medium/genre/setting from the brief.
  - **Concept, or concept + brief**: the user gave their own concept image (path or URL), with or without a description. `character_create` tells you what to do with it: look at it first, every variant must look exactly like it and explain what it shows, and the winner keeps it as its concept.
  - **Quick**: only if the user explicitly asks for one fast character — `variants: 1`, skip steps 3–7, but still run `character_check` and the designer.

## 1. Create
`character_create` with whatever the user gave: `brief` (their words, verbatim) and/or `concept` (their image), plus `anchor`, `medium`, `genre`, `setting` when known. It rolls 3 variants by default and starts its answer with the MODE and how to treat the brief and the image: follow it.
All variants share the anchor and world but have different cores — "all fishermen, but different fishermen".

## 2. Write
Write 3 full cards and give each a full, honest effort (a tournament with a straw man is useless).
Each card: `meta.group` = the roll seed, `meta.variant` = A/B/C, `meta.seed` = variant seed, `meta.mode`, `meta.brief` if any.
Save each with `character_save`; note each id and its `card.json` path.

## 3. Coherence review — 3 agents in parallel
Spawn the `character-coherence` agent once per variant, all in one message (never more than 4 at once).
Prompt: the card.json path, the variant letter and the brief/anchor. Nothing else — do not tell them what you think of the card.
Fix every BROKEN link they report; re-save with `overwrite: true`.

## 4. Prosecution — 3 agents in parallel
Spawn the `character-critic` agent once per variant (same rules: path + brief/anchor only).

## 5. Defense — you
Call `character_role` with `role: "author"` and follow it: for each critique, fix the card (re-save with overwrite) or rebut in one line with a quote. One round only. Keep the rebuttals.

## 6. Judgment — 1 agent
Spawn the `character-judge` agent with the 3 card.json paths, the brief/anchor, all critics' cases and your rebuttals.
Optionally fold the judge's "steal" idea into the winner and re-save.

## 7. Record
Variants are saved as drafts (`_drafts/` in the library). Write `meta.verdict` (`winner`, score, summary) into the winner and re-save with overwrite, then call `character_pick` with the winner's id: it moves the winner into the library and deletes the other variants. Losers are not kept, so note who they were for the report first.

## 8. Look & concept — winner only
Spawn the `character-designer` agent with the winner's card.json path. Merge its `look` (and any `description.physical` changes), re-save with overwrite.
Call `character_concept` for the WINNER only. If the user gave their own image, give the designer the image path too (it must describe exactly what the image shows) and don't generate: `character_pick` has already made the image the concept.

## 8b. Edit — winner only
Spawn the `character-editor` agent with the winner's card.json path. It returns the card rewritten for a reader who knows nothing of the world (plain narration in a voice tuned to the character, no facts changed). Validate with `character_check`, re-save with overwrite.

## 8c. Languages — only if the user asked for more than English
Run the `translate-character` skill for each extra language (the card is free; the voice is paid and needs a yes). When the voice is made later, pass `translations: [{ lang: "ru", text }]` to `character_voice` so every language is recorded in one call, each performed fresh from the description.

## 9. Show the card and report (in the user's language)
- Call `character_get` for the winner and show the card: it comes back as a Markdown document the app can display.
- Winner: name, logline, why it won (2–3 sentences), signature item, path to card.md (and concept.png).
- One line per losing variant: who they were and their fatal flaw.
- Keep the report short: the card is shown above.