In Integrating the Enneagram into Mind/Will/Soul I realized that many of the systems that try to break a continuum up into discrete samples may be trying a little too hard. And I pointed out a shape in nature that allows for balanced growth across an infinite number of points, based on the Golden Angle:

When building an ensemble of characters, I have noticed that other writers and audiences expect a spread of personalities. And we recognize these archetypes from our real life. A partnership of two people is generally a pair of opposites. When they add a third, the find (somehow) yet another opposite. But as we add characters to the trio, characters seem to form shifting camps of temperament. The contrasts are sometimes fuzzy, fickle, and subject to be obliterated by current events, experience of the character, etc.

I had a vision as I was writing Integrating the Enneagram into Mind/Will/Soul that populating a cast of characters in an ensemble is exactly like Distributing space stations around a planet. Or a plant wanting to grow leaves around a stem in a pattern that minimizes overlap.

Ancient scholars and modern scholar seem to agree about a basic palette of temperaments. It is in trying to organize them that we run into trouble. I recognized in my blog on the color of emotion that feelings are more of a continuum than a pure list of discrete points. If temperament is based on a core emotion, it too would be pretty messy.

I am reminded of my days of playing tuba. Brass instruments work by resonating a fundamental frequency produced by the lips of the player. When learning to play a brass instrument you just kind of learn that you wiggle your lips in just the right way to make any kind of sound at all. The Tuba will only really resonate when you produce the right frequency. What the valves do is shorten or lengthen the resonating tube. And for each of those different lengths, you learn a slightly different lip pattern.

The takeaway is that our brain may be like a musical instrument. When it's producing a muddled tone, it's hard to hear against the noise of life. But when something resonates with you, you can't mistake it. Each of the temperaments are like an instrument tuned to a different range of sound.

In this blog, we are going to use the Golden Angle to build a cast of characters. And for every character we are going to tag the Hue of their personality.

We can use the Circumplex Model of Emotion to approximate color with emotion.

Emotion Theta Hue Saturation Color
Happy 7.8 82.20 41.70  
Delighted 24.9 65.10 44.40  
Excited 48.6 41.40 80.60  
Astonished 69.8 20.20 50.00  
Aroused 73.8 16.20 58.30  
Tense 91.3 358.70 50.00  
Alarmed 96.5 353.50 52.80  
Angry 99.4 350.60 58.30  
Afraid 118.6 331.40 61.10  
Annoyed 128.8 321.20 38.90  
Distressed 184.9 265.10 69.40  
Frustrated 142.4 307.60 52.80  
Miserable 188.7 261.30 63.90  
Sad 193.5 256.50 52.80  
Gloomy 208.4 241.60 61.10  
Depressed 209.6 240.40 66.70  
Bored 240.5 209.50 47.20  
Droopy 256.6 193.40 72.20  
Tired 267.2 182.80 94.40  
Sleepy 271.9 178.10 88.90  
Calm 316.2 133.80 80.60  
Relaxed 317.4 132.60 72.20  
Satisfied 320.2 129.80 88.90  
At Ease 319.9 130.10 72.20  
Content 324.0 126.00 80.60  
Serene 328.6 121.40 72.20  
Glad 349.8 100.20 55.60  
Pleased 353.2 96.80 61.10  

I am going to be trying to match up the distributions of personality between the Enneagram 9 archetype system, the Myers-Brigs 16 point system, as well as Red Oni/Blue Oni, the Power Trio, the Four Temperament Ensemble, the Five Man Band, and the Magnificent Seven Samurai from TvTropes.

My methodology will be to break the continuum of emotion into 3, then 5, then 9, and finally 16 chunks, using the Golden Angle. So what I will do is first allocate the slots, and then we'll slot each archetype into one of those slots. To Generate Red/Blue for our first core characters we are going to start with Red (0/360) and move counter-clockwise. We'll also include X and Y coordinates to place each slot on a wheel that is 500 units in radius.

The math looks like this:

set GA 2.39996322972865332
set PI [expr {4*atan(1.0)}]
set OFFSET 0
set SLOTLIGHT {}
for {set x 0} {$x < 16} {incr x} {
  set SLOT [expr {$x + 1}]
  set huerad [expr {fmod($offset -$x * $GA,2*$PI)}]
  set theta [expr {int(round($huerad*180.0/$PI)) % 360}]

  dict set SLOTLIGHT $SLOT slot $SLOT
  dict set SLOTLIGHT $SLOT theta $theta
  dict set SLOTLIGHT $SLOT huerad $huerad
}

2 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7

3 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08

4 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08
4 307   304.21 -396.8

5 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08
4 307   304.21 -396.8
5 170   -492.3 87.090

7 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08
4 307   304.21 -396.8
5 170   -492.3 87.090
6 32   421.87 268.36
7 255   -129.8 -482.8

9 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08
4 307   304.21 -396.8
5 170   -492.3 87.090
6 32   421.87 268.36
7 255   -129.8 -482.8
8 117   -230.4 443.72
9 340   469.66 -171.5

12 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08
4 307   304.21 -396.8
5 170   -492.3 87.090
6 32   421.87 268.36
7 255   -129.8 -482.8
8 117   -230.4 443.72
9 340   469.66 -171.5
10 202   -462.1 -190.7
11 65   211.92 452.86
12 287   149.64 -477.0

16 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 0   500.0 0.0
2 222   -368.6 -337.7
3 85   43.712 498.08
4 307   304.21 -396.8
5 170   -492.3 87.090
6 32   421.87 268.36
7 255   -129.8 -482.8
8 117   -230.4 443.72
9 340   469.66 -171.5
10 202   -462.1 -190.7
11 65   211.92 452.86
12 287   149.64 -477.0
13 150   -432.6 250.70
14 12   488.33 107.35
15 235   -287.5 -409.0
16 97   -64.25 495.85

As you can see, our pattern is endless. We can populate all of the information about a slot, because unlike with a polygon or star generated by N points, our points will not change. A 5 person ensemble can have the same core three characters as a power trio, which could start with a Red Oni/Blue Oni pair. We also do not have to limit ourselves to a central character of hue 0 (red). Let's build an ensemble around the primary colors of a mirror universe, where we start at 180:

set GA 2.39996322972865332
set PI [expr {4*atan(1.0)}]
set OFFSET $PI]
set SLOTDARK {}
for {set x 0} {$x < 16} {incr x} {
  set SLOT [expr {$x + 1}]
  set huerad [expr {fmod($offset -$x * $GA,2*$PI)}]
  set theta [expr {int(round($huerad*180.0/$PI)) % 360}]

  dict set SLOTDARK $SLOT slot $SLOT
  dict set SLOTDARK $SLOT theta $theta
  dict set SLOTDARK $SLOT huerad $huerad
}

2 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74

3 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0

4 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0
4 127   -304.2 396.80

5 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0
4 127   -304.2 396.80
5 350   492.35 -87.09

7 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0
4 127   -304.2 396.80
5 350   492.35 -87.09
6 212   -421.8 -268.3
7 75   129.80 482.85

9 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0
4 127   -304.2 396.80
5 350   492.35 -87.09
6 212   -421.8 -268.3
7 75   129.80 482.85
8 297   230.45 -443.7
9 160   -469.6 171.51

12 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0
4 127   -304.2 396.80
5 350   492.35 -87.09
6 212   -421.8 -268.3
7 75   129.80 482.85
8 297   230.45 -443.7
9 160   -469.6 171.51
10 22   462.17 190.77
11 245   -211.9 -452.8
12 107   -149.6 477.08

16 Slots

Slot Theta Color X Y
1 180   -500.0 6.1232
2 42   368.68 337.74
3 265   -43.71 -498.0
4 127   -304.2 396.80
5 350   492.35 -87.09
6 212   -421.8 -268.3
7 75   129.80 482.85
8 297   230.45 -443.7
9 160   -469.6 171.51
10 22   462.17 190.77
11 245   -211.9 -452.8
12 107   -149.6 477.08
13 330   432.60 -250.7
14 192   -488.3 -107.3
15 55   287.56 409.03
16 277   64.255 -495.8

Role vs. Temperament

One problem that I didn't think of when I started this exercise was that I was mixing up temperaments with roles in the story. The algorithm I developed is fantastic (in my humble opinion) for figuring out the balance of temperaments for an Ensemble. But as we can see, the algorithm can't tell you what those temperaments are. Red Oni/Blue Oni simply says that the two main character need some contrast. The Five Man band formula doesn't tell you if the Leader is an ENTJ or an IF

As we can see from our distributions of light and dark, we have a few characters that are nearby in hue to characters in their own distribution. We also have characters who are nearby in hue to characters in the OTHER distribution:

While it is true that every personality is unique like a snowflake, we really aren't trying to create a giant tangle of metrics. What we need are Little boxes. Perhaps made of ticky tacky. Humans have limited attention span. 9 doesn't seem to be enough. 16 would seem to be enough, but there is a problem.

A 9 wheel color wheel gives us the primary colors of light, but the primary colors of dark are muddled together. A 16 color color wheel doesn't deliver either all of the primary colors of light, nor the primary colors of dark. We get blue and cyan, everything else is an impure color.

However, a color wheel divisible by 12 gives us all of the primary colors of light, all of the primary colors of dark, and a "cusp" shade in between of each:

A lot of personality systems get wrapped up around whether a mind is inwardly motivated or outwardly motivated, and by what. So for argument's sake, let is say the inward motivation follows the triad described by Carl Jung, of the The Ego, the Personal Unconscious, and the Collective Unconscious. Outwardly motivated personalities conform to the Guna? as described in the Bhagavad Gita: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.

Each of these extremes will be placed around the color wheel. And, oddly enough, the placement of the various personalities has an uncanny resemblance to the Circumplex Model of Affect:

I also realized that based on Jung's work, a lot of pop Psychologists use 12 archetypes for personality. On a whim, I decided to just steal those. The nice thing is the descriptions are just concrete enough to present and argument, but just vague enough to sidestep the awkward questions.

Instead of the Myers' Briggs idea of orthogonal dichotomies, my system uses the idea of a continuum that when sampled in 12 chunks seems to produce a pleasing pattern. Like crayons in a box. And like crayons in the box, people have 1000 different names for a particular hue. But if you just show it to them, they'll recognize it.

Because, as an author and occasional dungeon master, I'm not trying to recreate the actual human mind. I'm trying to recreate how actual human minds try to fool other actual human minds into thinking they are normal.

Now I will posit that everyone can be any one of the personality types. It's just that as people form habits, they gravitate to one or more depending on the mood they are in. Infants are ambidextrous because they don't do things with their hands. Grown ups usually have not only a dominant hand, they have a "good" knee and a "Bad" back. We tend to favor what we are good at, and what we are good at is what we generally have experience in. And sometimes, when we over-use what we are good at, we have to develop another skill to replace what was destroyed by repetitive use.

Like with Enneagrams, a person with a dominant personality in on "archetype" can switch to another to fit the situation, in response to trauma, or after a few pints at the bar. It's only people that have become old and inflexible that are stuck in one personality, even if that personality isn't appropriate for the situation they are in.

Unlike Enneagrams, or the MBTI, or horoscopes, there are no solid walls between the bins. The archetype is just the most exaggerated color in the range, to make it easier to recognize and discuss.

Slot 0

Hue:  
Range: 345 thru 15
Stress: Slot 240 or Slot 210
Security: Slot 150 or Slot 120
Archetype: The Innocent
Type: Ego
Motivation: Learning/Freedom
Desire: To get to paradise
Goal: To be happy
Fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
Emotion: Happiness
AKA: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.

Slot 30

Hue:  
Range: 15 thru 45
Stress: Slot 270 or Slot 240
Security: Slot 180 or Slot 150
Archetype: The Everyman
Type: Ego
Motivation: Belonging
Desire: Connecting with others
Goal: To belong
Fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretense
Emotion: Delight
AKA: The good old boy, regular guy/girl, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbor, the silent majority.

Slot 60

Hue:  
Range: 45 thru 75
Stress: Slot 300 or Slot 270
Security: Slot 210 or Slot 180
Archetype: The Caregiver
Type: Ego
Motivation: Stability/Control
Desire: to protect and care for others
Goal: to help others
Fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
Emotion: Excited
AKA: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.

Slot 90

Hue:  
Range: 75 thru 105
Stress: Slot 330 or Slot 300
Security: Slot 240 or Slot 210
Archetype: The Sage
Type: Self
Motivation: Self/Risk
Desire: to find the truth
Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
Emotion: (They insist that HAVE no emotions. Mostly because they have to go into some pretty dark places of the soul...)
AKA: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.

Slot 120

Hue:  
Range: 105 thru 135
Stress: Slot 0 or Slot 330
Security: Slot 270 or Slot 240
Archetype: The Explorer
Type: Soul
Motivation: Learning/Freedom
Desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life
Fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul
Emotion: Fear
AKA: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim

Slot 150

Hue:  
Range: 135 thru 165
Stress: Slot 0 or Slot 0
Security: Slot 300 or Slot 270
Archetype: The Lover
Type: Soul
Motivation: Belonging
Desire: intimacy and experience
Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love
Fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment
Emotion: Frustration
AKA: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder

Slot 180

Hue:  
Range: 165 thru 195
Stress: Slot 30 or Slot 0
Security: Slot 330 or Slot 300
Archetype: The Creator
Type: Soul
Motivation: Stability/Control
Desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
Emotion: (All over the board)
AKA: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.

Slot 210

Hue:  
Range: 195 thru 225
Stress: Slot 60 or Slot 30
Security: Slot 0 or Slot 330
Archetype: The Magician
Type: Self
Motivation: Risk/Achievement
Desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
Emotion: Depressed
AKA: The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.

Slot 240

Hue:  
Range: 225 thru 255
Stress: Slot 90 or Slot 60
Security: Slot 30 or Slot 0
Archetype: The Rebel
Type: Soul
Motivation: Self/Freedom
Desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to overturn what isn’t working
Fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
Emotion: Anger
AKA: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast

Slot 270

Hue:  
Range: 255 thru 285
Stress: Slot 120 or Slot 90
Security: Slot 60 or Slot 30
Archetype: The Jester
Type: Self
Motivation: Belonging
Desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
Emotion: Boredom
AKA: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.

Slot 300

Hue:  
Range: 285 thru 315
Stress: Slot 150 or Slot 120
Security: Slot 90 or Slot 60
Archetype: The Ruler
Type: Self
Motivation: Stability/Control
Desire: Control
Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community
Fear: chaos, being overthrown
Strategy: exercise power
Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate
Talent: responsibility, leadership
Emotion: Satisfaction
AKA: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager or administrator.

Slot 330

Hue:  
Range: 315 thru 345
Stress: Slot 180 or Slot 150
Security: Slot 120 or Slot 90
Archetype: The Hero
Type: Ego
Motivation: Risk/Achievement
Desire: to prove one’s worth through courageous acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken”
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight
Talent: competence and courage
Emotion: Calmness
AKA: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.

I've reworked the system a few times as I've developed my novels and an RPG game system. The form that was originally posted is archived Here.