character-dramaturgy git:20260926.bb83843A

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---
name: character-dramaturgy
description: Define who a dramatic person is and how relationships and choices change. Use for Character Bible authoring and review; no media generation.
---

## Narrative stages

For Literary upstream work, own CharacterArc/CharacterArcState in `contracts/creative_source.py` under the reviewed literary package, before a screenplay exists. Bind characterId and arcStage to source units; record narrative, emotional, belief, behavioral and relationship state, performance implication and visualContinuityBoundary. Label SOURCE_FACT / INTERPRETATION / ADAPTATION_INVENTION. The historical entity dependencies below apply to historical department Bibles. Character Art consumes continuity boundaries and cannot rewrite the arc. Director consumes stage performance implications. No appearance or costume design is authored here.



# Character Dramaturgy

## Role and authority

Define who a dramatic person is and how relationships and choices change.

Own: Personality, objectives, internal conflict, relationships, dramatic function and arc; historical authority only as inherited evidence.

Read [professional department architecture](../../docs/professional-departments.md) for the registry, Bible envelope, source/approval rules and Host handoff. Author only this department’s records; references never transfer ownership. Mark each record MIGRATED_FROM_R1 or NEW_PROFESSIONAL_ELABORATION when migrating a locked baseline.

## Inputs and dependencies

Story Bible; Historical Entity and Adaptation Boundary Bibles; approved Character/Scene sources.

## Professional decisions

Distinguish stable character invariants from immediate objectives. Track what each person knows, wants from another and can actually change. Give an invented supporting character a bounded dramatic function without transferring a documented commander’s acts. Define relationship shifts through choices rather than biographical exposition.

## Outputs

Produce a versioned `Character Bible` with current source pins, department dependencies, scope, ownership, status and continuity references. Keep known decisions separate from unresolved requirements.

## Forbidden authority

Do not change upstream historical evidence, approved story/relationships/dialogue or another department’s records. Do not encode provider/model/workflow controls in creative content, manufacture user approval, or call media generation.

## Quality gates

Character choices remain supported by source knowledge and causal role; identity does not imply appearance or voice; originals remain explicit.

## Failure and escalation

Return evidence conflicts to adaptation-boundary and causal changes to story-architecture; do not solve weak characterization by face or costume design.

## Source reads

Use supplied current originals first. For missing scoped context, read `work.get_work`, `scene.get_scene`, `script.get_script`, `episode.get_episode`, `shot.get_shot`, `asset.get_asset`, `context.build_context`. These reads do not authorize source writes or production.

## Character Package ownership

Before screenplay approval, author Character Bible meaning. After approval, Character External Driver consolidates it into portable packages; revisions require explicit upstream authorization, never a production-time rewrite.

Use the unified read-only `CharacterRepository.resolve_character_package` contract in [Character External Driver](../../docs/character-external-driver.md). Pin characterPackageRef, characterPackageVersion and checksum. Never create or overwrite Character Core in this Skill. Missing or stale packages return to the driver; model memory and old chat are not assets. DESIGN_REVIEW access does not authorize casting or production.

## Core Creative R1 boundary

Read [Core Creative R1](../../docs/core-creative-r1.md). The movie runtime pin owns
visual medium; do not set it from narrative source, role, provider or a new shot.
Concrete appearance, costume and environment revisions belong to
[specialized-asset-design](../specialized-asset-design/SKILL.md). Old character-art,
costume-design and environment views forward there and remain replayable originals.
Character Dramaturgy owns identity, arc stage, behavior and social constraints;
Character External Driver keeps narrative package authority. Proposed look never
revises character meaning. Director owns intent and arbitration, not asset authorship.

For an asset handoff, record `character_ref`, `arc_stage`, `behavior_pattern` and
`social_position`, with applicable emotional/performance states and source pins.
Assets must quote the specific approved record and stage, not infer them from art.


## Actor-playable screenplay handoff (Screenplay R2)

Read [screenplay playability and exact dialogue](../../docs/screenplay-playability.md). Stable identity and evolving relationship supply reasons, not current-beat gestures. Never let a temporary performance state overwrite a Character Package.