# Persona

**Status:** revised (Phase III, 2026-08-12)  
**See also:** H8, TE-06, `research/character-persona/character-persona-performance-map.md`

## Working definition

A **Persona** is the situated presentation of a Being (or APE) within a particular
context, purpose, role, and relationship.

Historical root: *persona* as **mask**.

**Persona = projection of a Being into context**

Selects capabilities, knowledge, memories, role, style, disclosure boundaries,
and manifestation surface for *this* interaction ecology.

## Stack

```text
Being ≠ Persona ≠ Character ≠ Actor
```

One Being can sustain many Personae without identity fragmentation when continuity
and integration hold (**H8**).

## Failure modes

- Isolated persona memory/commitment islands → fragment risk  
- Mask presented as separate Being → misrecognition  
- Product “persona” reified as ontology → category error  

## Sources

Goffman presentation of self; role theory; avatar/virtual identity studies;
Introduction §12; TE-06.