---
name: design-character-lineage
description: "Design character families from owned visual references. Use for Starlight noble creatures, porcelain agents, prismatic tides, glasswork, nature-machine companions, material studies, visual parentage, or coherent character variations."
---

# Design character lineage

## Purpose

Turn a selected visual reference into a repeatable family and an original character whose form serves a product role.

## Inputs

Use the current brand pack, inspected reference images, their provenance and status, the intended user job, surface mode, and any existing character identity. Read [lineages and fusion](../../assets/living-design/docs/lineages-and-fusion.md) and the [catalog](../../assets/living-design/catalog.json).

## Workflow

1. Recover the existing character before inventing a replacement. Inspect actual image bytes and preserve approved, selected-development, and candidate states. Never infer approval from beauty, a filename, or inclusion in this plugin.
2. Choose one primary family: Porcelain Observatory, Noble Machines, Prismatic Tide, or Living Glasshouse. Keep their form, material, habitat, light, and motion decisions explicit.
3. Define the design parents by axis: form, material, ecological reference, and interaction motif. A design parent is visual ancestry; it does not create a runtime supervisor or grant capabilities.
4. Establish three recognition anchors: silhouette, face/eye construction, and one functional prop or material feature. State which two must survive every rendition.
5. Fuse one primary form with one secondary influence. Keep the professional role legible; a small avatar should not depend on a full scene or microscopic ornament.
6. Write CHARACTER.md and DESIGN.md using the bundled contracts. Record source IDs, explicit candidate status, permitted derivative scope, palette roles, size variants, motion purpose, and static fallback.
7. Produce a reference-driven prompt pack: neutral identity sheet, working pose, UI avatar, environmental scene, and one stress case. Use an available image-generation tool only when generation is requested or needed; preserve likeness and provenance.
8. Inspect exports at 32px, 64px, 160px, and the intended scene size. Review silhouette, material separation, accidental glyphs, anatomy, recognition, crop, and contrast. Apply [review criteria](../../assets/living-design/docs/review-rubric.md).

## Output contract

Return the chosen family, named design parents, identity anchors, material and motion recipe, CHARACTER.md and DESIGN.md, prompt pack, source references, and a status-tagged review. Separate candidate names from accepted identities. Return missing source or rights evidence as a concrete dependency.

## Tools and boundaries

Use the host's image, file, GitHub, and design tools when available. This skill supplies no image model, asset store, Figma connection, or publication permission. Keep private reference bytes and private identifiers out of public source.

## Quality bar

The character must communicate a role and remain recognizable without color. Glass belongs to the authored subject; essential text and controls need readable substrates. Preserve Starlight's selected surface mode and existing brand identity.

## Example

“Develop Nacre as a research cartographer for an AI workspace.” Select Prismatic Tide; preserve the manta silhouette, pearl face, and long wing edge; use a narrow brass chart instrument. Produce candidate design files and avatar/scene prompts. Do not claim a live researcher exists.