Domain Architecture

What is a Domain?

A domain defines the complete personality space for your synthetic population. It specifies:

• How personas are organized hierarchically (tiers)
• What personality traits are available (schema)
• What archetypes can generate personas (templates)
• How names are generated (naming conventions)
• How memories are structured (memory templates)

Creating a Domain

In Ensoul Studio, navigate to Domains and click Create Domain. The AI-assisted wizard guides you through the full configuration:

Tier Structure

Tiers define the hierarchical organization of your personas. Context flows down from higher tiers, enabling efficient knowledge sharing.

Designing Your Tiers

Consider what levels of organization make sense for your use case:

Tier Context Inheritance

Higher tiers provide context that influences lower tiers. For example, in a corporate domain:

• Organization tier: Company values, culture, industry context
• Department tier: Team norms, communication styles, priorities
• Team tier: Local dynamics, shared experiences
• Individual tier: Personal traits, memories, history

{
  "tier_structure": ["organization", "department", "team", "individual"],
  "tier_config": {
    "organization": {
      "context_template": "{{name}} is a {{industry}} company with {{size}} employees. Core values: {{values}}.",
      "required_fields": ["name", "industry", "values"]
    },
    "department": {
      "context_template": "The {{name}} department focuses on {{focus}}.",
      "inherits_from": "organization"
    }
  }
}

Personality Schema

The personality schema defines what traits personas in your domain will have.

Base Frameworks

Choose from validated psychological frameworks:

• Big Five: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism — validated with IPIP-50
• HEXACO: Six-factor model adding Honesty-Humility — validated with HEXACO-60
• Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy — validated with SD3

Adding Extensions

Extend the base schema with domain-specific traits:

{
  "personality_schema": {
    "base": "big_five",
    "include_hexaco": true,
    "include_dark_triad": true,
    "extensions": {
      "magic_affinity": {
        "type": "float",
        "min": 0,
        "max": 100,
        "description": "Innate connection to magical forces"
      },
      "alignment": {
        "type": "composite",
        "components": {
          "law_chaos": {"type": "float", "min": -1, "max": 1},
          "good_evil": {"type": "float", "min": -1, "max": 1}
        }
      },
      "creature_type": {
        "type": "enum",
        "values": ["human", "elf", "dwarf", "orc", "halfling"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Extension Types

Archetypes

Archetypes are templates that define baseline traits for persona generation. They specify trait distributions and tendencies rather than exact values, allowing natural variation.

Creating Archetypes in Studio

Within a domain, navigate to the Archetypes tab and click Add Archetype. You can:

• Manual creation: Set trait distributions (mean + standard deviation) for each trait dimension
• AI generation: Describe the archetype and let the AI suggest trait distributions
• From persona: Create an archetype template based on an existing persona's trait profile

Each archetype specifies personality modifiers — deltas in the range [-50, +50] that shift trait values relative to the domain baseline. This ensures archetypes describe tendencies rather than absolute values.

Archetype Composition

When generating a persona, traits are composed from multiple archetypes at different tier levels. The modifiers blend together to create a unique individual:

{
  "archetypes": [
    {"id": "department_engineering", "tier": "department"},
    {"id": "senior_engineer", "tier": "role"},
    {"id": "team_lead", "tier": "role"}
  ]
}

Name Generators

Each domain can configure how persona names are generated. Choose from built-in generators or define custom patterns:

• professional: Formal names suitable for business contexts
• fantasy_medieval: Fantasy-style names with optional titles
• fantasy_scifi: Science fiction naming conventions
• historical: Period-appropriate naming
• custom: Define your own template with first/last name sources

Best Practices

Next Steps