For many years I had been disappointed in how little I knew about my persona, Helois de Mont St Michel. While I knew where she lived, her family, the recent wars and some of the wider social issues I never knew the details relevant to her and her life: what her home was like, how she spent her day, or what she would have eaten for breakfast etc. Despite the niggling dissatisfaction I never went out and learned what I wanted to know. Indeed, I'm not sure I would have known quite where to start back when I first settled on that name.

In 2005 I changed personas to reflect my changing interests within the Society. Towards the end of that year I began toying with the idea of setting myself a series of goals in order to learn those details that had so bothered me with Helois. But it was not only that, I also wanted to create "working persona". I wanted to learn things so that I could better be Isabel Maria at the events I attend.

My pursuit of a more robust and instantly usable persona began with assessing what I thought needed to know. I looked towards what I wanted to be able to use, say or do in persona, the things I know about my everyday existence but not about my persona etc. I then compared my list to suggestions from other people within the SCA and other similar communities.

The outcome I was hoping for was a fully rounded persona as well as a group of items, skills and understandings etc that I could use at events. I was expecting that the documentation for the items made and the essays completed, as well as the sources of information I would uncover, would be collated and held together in a single useable source - my persona book. Each different topic was a new chapter to fill with information.

Some time later it occurred to me that others might be interested in developing a "working persona" or persona resource like the ones I was striving for. Similarly, some might also be interested in pursuing the challenge, or discussing their discoveries and understandings garnered from following aspects of it. From there I formulated the challenge that I would issue to the populace once I had confirmed that this challenge was in fact a feasible idea*.

I formally started pursuing my personal challenge in August of 2006, with the understanding I would allot one year to the task and work towards announcing the challenge in January 2007 and stewarding a "Persona Collegium" in April or May of 2008. However various life changes (moving house, new duties and hours at work, later buying a home, meeting Oswyn, getting a new job etc) made that timeframe unfeasible. In SCA circles it is often said that "real life comes first" and so I chose to alter my challenge (making it open ended) to reflect that understanding.

The revised entry criteria have proven to have another benefit - the challenge is no longer primarily a checklist that needs to be completed but more of an ongoing pursuit being directed by the categories given, which is closer to the original intent. I also hope that by removing the time constraints more people will feel inclined to accept this challenge and pursue it as they are able.

In light of the long term nature of this challenge I have also decided to change the judging portion of the challenge. This challenge to create a ‘working persona’ is really about encouraging people to enhance their own SCA experience and in the end, each individual who participates in the challenge is best able to assess that for themselves. However, it is beneficial to have someone else assess the quality and accuracy of ones work and research so completion of the challenge requires people to enter some of their work in the Baronial Arts and Sciences Championships. I believe that the Baronial A&S entry requirement will provide the necessary feedback within an already functioning framework, as well as encouraging support for the Championship itself.