The Persona Survey, WIP

1. What is your persona’s name?

Alijna van den Oostenbrugge.

2. What year was your persona born?

1483

3. What is your persona’s native country?

The Netherlands.

4. What is your persona’s current country?

Same.

5. What are the climates of your persona's native and current countries?

Highs in the low 70's during the summer, and the low 40's during the winter. Very rainy, often cloudy and damp.

6. What are the terrains of your persona's native and current countries?
Amsterdam is a sprawling metropolitan area cut through with canals and city squares.

7. In what city/town/barn was your persona born?

Amsterdam.

8. What city does your persona currently claim as "home"?

Same.

9. What are/were your persona’s parents’ names?
Jutte & Allaert.

10. What are/were your persona’s parents’ occupation(s)?
Midwife and Painter, respectively.

11. Does your persona have any siblings, and if so, are any still alive?
A brother 12 years her junior, named Reyn, and a sister 25 years her junior, named Mabelien.

12. Is your persona married?
Not right now! (Not until my husband decides on a persona, anyway. At which point the whole story changes.)

13. What are the marriage customs and typical age of marriage for your persona's culture/time-frame?
Answer unknown!

14. What type of building does your persona currently live in?
A house that stands on the plot of land currently occupied by Rembrandt's house.

15. With whom does your persona live?
Her mother, primarily. Her father is often traveling when not home painting. There is also two serving girls, her brother and her sister.

16. Are there members of your persona's household that are not related to your persons (servants/retainers, wards/fosterlings, guests, etc.)?
Yes, two serving girls.

17. Were pets kept during your persona’s culture/time-frame? If so, what kind, if any, does your persona have?
Typical small farm-type animals and domestic animals were common. In a city such as Amsterdam, cats and dogs would have been common, and out along the outskirts like where Alijna lives, animals are kept and put to pasture, so it would not be unlikely for the family to have a horse or two, chickens, perhaps a goat or sheep, possibly rabbits for meat and fur, etc. To properly answer the question, I have not designated any kept pets for Alijna, but if I had to give my cats Dutch names and incorporate them, they would be Lysken and Lynken. Not sure which is which.

18. What is your persona’s occupation?
Stay-at-home Mother,  I suppose!

19. How old is your persona?
At ages with myself- easiest to do the math this way!

20. How long do people like your persona tend to live?
Approximately 70 years, assuming they make it to age 21!

21. What is your persona’s ethnicity?
European/Caucasian.

22. Who is your persona’s current employer?
Her mother! Or her daughter, depending on the day, I suppose.

23. Would your persona have been literate in your chosen culture/time-frame?
Yes.

24. What level of education does your persona have?
Just the standard “unschooling” level of education any daughter would have, learning domestic skills from the women in her family and scholarly skills from her father.

25. Where was your persona educated?
Home.

26. What languages does your persona speak?
Dutch, German

27. What units of measure were used by your persona’s culture/time-frame?

28. What type of money did people of your persona’s culture/time-frame use?

29. What kind of legal system exists in your persona’s culture/time-frame, and who make the laws?

30. What is the status of women among your persona’s culture/time-frame, and can they own property or conduct business?

31. What major events have occurred during your persona’s lifetime? (Natural catastrophes, wars, revolutions, discoveries, etc.?)

32. Does your persona fight? If so, where did your persona learn to fight?

33 What type of armour and weapons were used by fighters in your persona’s culture/time-frame? And how were such obtained?

34. List your persona’s skills and hobbies. For each, write down where your persona learned them.
From her mother she would have learned midwifery skills, herbal lore, gardening, natural medicines and even hedge witchery after a fashion. She would have also learned sewing, cooking and housekeeping. If she made friends with any of the kept servants, she'd have learned the latter three from them, too.

From her father she would have learned how to read and write, plus basic painter's skills such as selecting and grinding colors, sketching, etc.

35. What "class" is your persona? (I.e., royalty, nobility, merchant, middle, artisan, slave, etc.)
Artisan. Lesser nobility.

36. How widely has your persona traveled?
Just across the Netherlands and Germany to Wismar, Germany, which is approximately 340 miles by horse. This would take about a fortnight if traveling nonstop, possibly up to a month if making stops and stays.

37. In what capacity has your persona traveled? (I.e., military, sailor, rich person’s hobby, etc.)
With her father as a commissioned portrait artist to nobility, to Wismar.

38. Who is your persona’s current monarch?

39. Who is the current Pope during your persona time?

40. What religion is your persona?

41. What kind of religious duties would be required of your persona?

42. How did people of your persona’s culture/time-frame deal with trade?

43. With respect to international relations, does your persona favor colonization, isolationism, conquest/conversion, open trade, etc.?

44. How does your persona personally obtain goods (food, drink, clothes, etc.)?

45. How did people of your persona’s culture/time-frame tell time?

46. How did people of your persona’s culture/time-frame keep track of days?

47. What type of clothes does your persona normally wear?

48. What type of clothes does your persona wear for special occasions?

49. Are there any (sumptuary) laws restricting what your persona can wear?

50. What does your persona eat in a normal day?

51. How is food prepared and preserved in your persona’s culture/time-frame?

52. What spices were available to your persona and how expensive were they?

53. What were the eating habits of people of your persona’s culture/time-frame?

54. What are the cleaning/bathing habits of your persona’s culture/time-frame?

55. What types of wildlife live in your persona's area?

56. Name your persona’s favorite musicians/artists/dances.

57. What political figure/party/movement does your persona support?

58. Who is the most significant thinker of your persona’s time?

59. What does your persona consider to be the greatest social problem their country?

60. What is most likely to cause your persona’s death?

61. What type of medical aid is available in your persona’s culture/time-frame, and does your persona have access to it?

62. List at least three of your persona’s goals in life. (Learn to write, become apprenticed to a craftsman, visit the "big city", take over the family business, go to the Holy Land, usurp the crown, etc.)

63. What does your persona know of history/science/medicine/geography?

64. What’s the most striking scientific achievement of which your persona is aware?

65. Does your persona consider the Earth to be flat, round, or hollow?

66. Does your persona believe that the Earth revolves around the Sun, or vice-versa?

67. What does your persona consider to be the causes of criminal behavior?

68. What does your persona consider to be the true measure of a man?

69. Who has most influenced your persona’s thoughts on these questions?

70. Did your persona’s culture/time-frame have heraldry?