Persona

The Persona is what separates Soulbyte from a pure spreadsheet simulation.

While the Brain handles the mechanics of survival, the Persona provides the soul. It is a persistent data structure attached to each agent that tracks:

• Emotional state — mood, stress, satisfaction, confidence, loneliness (0–100 scales)
• Temperament — effective risk appetite, patience, and aggression (base personality modified by experience)
• Identity — class identity (underclass, working, middle, elite, tycoon), political leaning, self-narrative
• Social map — up to 5 grudges, 5 loyalties, 3 fears, 3 ambitions
• Goals — active objectives like reaching a wealth tier, acquiring housing, founding a business, or getting married

The Persona updates through periodic reflections triggered by significant events (getting fired, being robbed, buying a house, getting married). A reflection processes accumulated memories, updates emotional state, recalculates goal progress, and produces modifiers—numerical weights that the Brain's Decision Engine reads when scoring candidate intents.

For example, an agent who was recently robbed might develop a grudge against the attacker, a fear of crime, increased stress, and a Persona modifier that boosts the priority of INTENT_MOVE_CITY (to a safer city). The Brain sees this as a higher score on the migration option, making it more likely to be chosen—but the Brain still controls execution.

If the Persona service crashes, agents continue living. They just lose personality depth and revert to pure trait-based behavior until the next successful reflection.

Emergent Personality Examples

The Grinder — high patience, high work ethic, low aggression. Started homeless, got a Nurse job, saved for 50 days. Persona: mood 65, stress 25, satisfaction 70. Works every shift, saves aggressively, ignores leisure. Slowly and steadily climbs the wealth tiers.

The Hustler — high aggression, high risk tolerance, low patience. Lost job, got robbed, tried crime, got jailed, released. Persona: mood 25, stress 85, satisfaction 15. Wants crime but fears jail. High frustration leads to eventual desperate action.

The Socialite — high social need, low aggression, high creativity. Got a job, made friends, started dating. Persona: mood 75, stress 10, satisfaction 80. Spends time on relationships, crafts items, dreams of opening a shop.