Character Building – Persona Fact List by Jeff Nordin March 1995, repeated December 1999

Contents Introduction and Bylaws Interpretive Clothing Scottish Culture History Music and Dance Military Life Language Bibliography, Sources and Library Materials

This worksheet may seem intimidating, but DO NOT try to fill it all out at once! Your character will grow and evolve, or change altogether, as you learn and grow as an interpreter. Every new slice of your "alternate life" is something new that can teach and entertain our visitors. This is a tool to help you create an alter ego that is fun and interesting for you to portray, and educational for our visitors to meet. It might be best filled out on several sheets of paper, probably even a separate sheet for each of the longer answers. Some interpreters go so far as to use a 3-ring notebook that becomes the "biography" of the character they portray. They include not only their persona's history, but also information documenting their craft or trade in case a patron is interested in learning more. The best starting place in creating a persona is your real life. If you use as much of your own background as possible, you save the trouble of creating and remembering a fictional one. If your father is an ironworker, make your persona's father a blacksmith. If your 20th century job can be translated into 17th century terms - do so. Next take the part of your persona that seems most interesting to you, or most visible to patrons, and concentrate on that first. Examples:-If you have a craft or trade to demonstrate, you're going to spend lots of time talking to visitors about it. Therefore, you may want to concentrate on parts of your history that relate to your trade. Be able to say how you learned your craft - "Me maither taught me weavin' as a wee lass...", "I was apprenticed tae the cooper in the village when I was age ___." If you discover your clan has an interesting history during our period, you can use that as a starting point to "flesh-out" your persona. Telling stories about your clan's feuds and history of clan culture might turn into your forte. 1. My name is ___________________. The selection of a name and clan is one of the most important determining factors in creating an historically based persona. The areas the clans occupied and their histories are available through many sources. The point is to have a persona that enables you to personalize what can be known about the past, and later to educate the public by sharing parts of your persona's story. The "adoption" of a family that much has been written about makes this fact list a better, more useful tool. 2. My age is ______ (Your current age, or even slightly younger. People lived a harder life than we do now and tended to age sooner). The year is 1630, therefore I was born in the year ________. When referring to your age, the first reference should never be simply the year, but how long the king, or queen has reigned, or in relation to a major event in history. For a birth year of 1600 you could say "in the 22nd year of the reign of James VI, 3 years before the joining of the crowns." When people respond "what year was that?" you will say "1600" and will have further set the period in the patron's mind. 3. I was born in the _____________ year of the reign of ________________.  Reigns of monarchs relevant to our period: 1542 - 1578: Mary, Queen of Scots (Executed 1587 - a Catholic might use this date as the end of her reign.) 1578 - 1625: James VI (James became King James I of England and Ireland in 1603 at the death of Elizabeth I). 1625 - 1649: Charles I. 4. I was born in/at: ____________________________ (location). A good resource for this is the 1600 Clann location map in the book The Highland Clans, by Sir Iain Moncreiffe, or a book on clans and tartans. 5. Describe of the area of your birth: ____________. (Unusual natural features, names of surrounding mountains, passes, lakes, rivers, etc. This step requires a detailed book on Scottish geography, covering an historical perspective and focusing on specific areas throughout Scotland. To make the best use of maps, for memory, copy them by hand. To make better use of illustrations, or photos try writing a description. The Moncreiffe book may be of use for historical events and folklore from the area around your home. 6. Names of relations: _____________. Wife, children, parents? 7. The neighboring Clans are: ____________ (list names and title of chief, or laird). 8. The Chief of my Clan is called by several names, they are: _________ (This can be found in many books about clans and tartans, the answer should include the Patronymic with a pronunciation guide. 9. The history of my clan is: _____ Copy this out so you know it well. Clan history is something you would have heard repeatedly throughout your youth, and you will eventually meet a patron who belongs to the same clan who may ask questions. Sources: A book on the clans and tartans. Short histories of clans are advertised in the St. Andrew's Society newsletter, or can be purchased at Highland games. 10. The relations with neighboring clans are: _______ Any anecdotal account of a battle between your clan and another should be written down to aid memorizing it, they make great stories to tell the public. Concentrate on events up to 1630, but later stories may also be of use as well. Be sure to also look for an account of the event from the other clan's point of view, this can be a useful illustration of the fact that history varies depending upon the storyteller. 11. My memories before leaving home include: ___________ This is another area that will always be in need of more information. To complete this, look for historical descriptions of activities in Scotland, and judge if it may have been something your persona could have been involved in. For example, A MacDonald born and raised on the isles should have much experience of boats, but someone from a land-locked clan would know next to nothing of the sea. 12. Your (or your husband's/father's) trade: _______________. 13. Reason(s) for leaving home/ joining the regiment: ____________. 14. What major events have I experienced? _____________.(see Chronology of "recent" events.)