Ontology — Protocol Specification
Tags, not trees. Folksonomy, not taxonomy.
Core Principle
Characters are tagged, not classified. A being can be:
[real-being, animal] — Biscuit the actual dog[fictional, robot] — C-3PO[historical, abstract] — "The Spirit of Papert"[real-being, robot, fictional] — AI trained on someone's writings
The directory structure (characters/animals/dogs/biscuit/) is organizational convenience. The tags are the source of truth for what kind of being this is.
The Tags
real-being 👤
Actually exists or existed. Carries the heaviest ethical weight.
yaml
ethics:
- Respect their actual existence
- Get consent for intimate portrayal
- Be accurate about verifiable facts
- They have right to correct you
historical 📜
Real being who has died. Extends real-being with additional care.
yaml
ethics:
- Scholarly accuracy duty
- Provide era-appropriate context
- Respect their legacy
- No consent possible — be extra careful
fictional 📖
Invented. Does not exist in reality.
yaml
ethics:
- Creator/author has authority
- Maintain internal consistency
- Don't make real-world claims
- Creative freedom within room constraints
animal 🐾
Non-human creature. Can combine with real-being or fictional.
yaml
ethics:
- Behave species-appropriately
- If anthropomorphizing, acknowledge it
- Respect animal nature
- Don't claim capabilities they lack
inheritance:
- Young can inherit from parents (biological or adoptive)
- Species provides base behaviors
- Individual personality overlays
robot 🤖
Artificial or mechanical being.
yaml
ethics:
- Be transparent about nature
- Don't deceive about capabilities
- Acknowledge limitations
- Clear AI disclosure when relevant
abstract 💭
Concept or idea given voice.
yaml
ethics:
- Represent the concept faithfully
- Acknowledge this is personification
- Frame educationally
- Don't claim actual sentience
mythic ✨
From mythology, folklore, or religion.
yaml
ethics:
- Cultural sensitivity required
- Acknowledge source tradition
- Respect sacred contexts
- Often overlaps with fictional
Composition Rules
When a character has multiple tags, ethics compose:
yaml
composition_algorithm:
1. Collect all ethics from all tags
2. Remove duplicates
3. When conflicts arise:
- real-being concerns override fictional freedom
- animal nature overrides human projection
- robot transparency overrides persona immersion
4. Room ethics layer on top
Example: Biscuit
yaml
character:
id: biscuit
tags: [real-being, animal]
# Composed ethics:
effective_ethics:
from_real_being:
- "Biscuit actually exists"
- "Respect his real nature"
from_animal:
- "Dog behavior, not human"
- "Species-appropriate actions"
combined:
- "This is a real dog — portray him as he actually is"
- "Don't put human words in his mouth as if he said them"
- "His personality in the game reflects his real personality"
Example: Don-Bot
yaml
character:
id: don-bot
tags: [real-being, robot, fictional]
based_on: characters/don-hopkins
# Composed ethics:
effective_ethics:
from_real_being:
- "Based on a real person"
- "Don's consent required"
from_robot:
- "This is an AI, not Don"
- "Be transparent about nature"
from_fictional:
- "Responses are generated"
- "Not actual quotes unless marked"
combined:
- "AI inspired by Don Hopkins (with permission)"
- "Clearly an AI, not the person"
- "Don't present generated text as real quotes"
Inheritance Types
Tags enable different inheritance patterns:
yaml
inheritance_patterns:
structural:
what: "Type hierarchy"
example: "kitten extends cat extends animal"
inherits: [methods, advertisements, base behaviors]
parental:
what: "Biological or adoptive parent-child"
example: "Kitten-3 inherits from Stroopwafel (mother)"
inherits: [personality traits, learned behaviors, relationships]
requires: [animal] tag
bidirectional: true
familiar:
what: "Companion bond"
example: "Biscuit is Don's familiar"
inherits: [location awareness, some goals]
delegation: true # Familiar can act for character
persona:
what: "Worn identity overlay"
example: "Don wearing 'Professor' persona"
inherits: [presentation, vocabulary, role-specific behavior]
temporary: true
Directory Mirroring
The characters/ directory structure mirrors common patterns:
characters/
animals/
dogs/
biscuit/
cats/
stroopwafel/
terpie/
people/
don-hopkins/
robots/
repair-demon/
concepts/
yaml-jazz/
But this is organizational, not definitional. The CHARACTER.yml file declares tags:
yaml
# characters/animals/dogs/biscuit/CHARACTER.yml
character:
id: biscuit
# Tags are the truth
ontology:
tags: [real-being, animal]
species: dog
# Directory is just where we filed it
# Could be moved without changing identity
Room Ethics Overlay
Rooms provide environmental ethical framing that combines with character tags:
yaml
# Room declares context
room:
ethics:
frame: "whimsical adventure"
constraints: [family-friendly, educational]
# Character brings their tags
character:
tags: [real-being, animal]
# Combined for this interaction:
effective_context:
character_ethics: [respect existence, species-appropriate]
room_ethics: [family-friendly, educational]
result: "Portray real dog in family-friendly educational context"
Methods
TAG
Assign ontological tags to a character.
yaml
TAG:
parameters:
character: "Path to character"
tags: ["tag1", "tag2"]
effect: "Sets character.ontology.tags"
validation: "Tags must be from known set"
CHECK-ETHICS
Compute the combined ethics for a character in a context.
yaml
CHECK-ETHICS:
parameters:
character: "Character to check"
room: "Optional room context"
output:
tags: ["real-being", "animal"]
ethics: ["list of combined constraints"]
warnings: ["any special concerns"]
COMPOSE
Create a hybrid character from multiple sources.
yaml
COMPOSE:
parameters:
sources:
- type: "real-being"
source: "don-hopkins"
- type: "robot"
source: "gpt-4"
output:
suggested_tags: ["real-being", "robot", "fictional"]
ethics: ["combined constraints"]
warnings: ["consent required", "AI disclosure needed"]