Simulation Instructions: briefing the AI character

The Simulation Instructions section is where you brief the AI. Learners never see these pages directly — they shape how the character behaves, how the scenario unfolds, and the knowledge the AI draws on. Four pages.

Persona

Defines the character the learner talks to. The richer this is, the more consistently the character behaves.

Character Name, Age, Gender

Use a real name that fits the cultural, gender and professional context — avoid generic placeholders like "the patient" or "Mr. X", which weaken how much the learner identifies with the situation. Age affects vocabulary and communication style, so match it to the character’s background. In a voice simulation it does more than that: the character is spoken at the age you set here, so an eight-year-old sounds like a child rather than an adult reading a child’s lines. Gender decides which voices you are offered and which ready-made character photos the gallery suggests.

How hard to persuade

Next to Gender, How hard to persuade sets how much the learner must demonstrate before the character gives ground. It doesn't change who the character is, and it never changes the grade.

• Not set — the character behaves as your profile and scenario describe.
• Challenging — holds their position — the character moves only when the learner does the harder thing, such as naming what the character has been avoiding. A half-made attempt leaves the character where it was. If your scenario story stages what the character shares by message number, those numbers are the earliest point each stage can open.
• Dynamic — moves when the approach is right — the character rewards the right approach, not effort. If the learner drops the approach, the character's guard comes back up.
• Receptive — opens readily to a genuine attempt — a reasonable approach is enough, and the conversation moves at the learner's pace. The character still doesn't hand over everything at once.

Use it to make the same character harder or easier without rewriting the profile.

Detailed Characteristics

The heart of the character. This field supports Markdown headings, and the more depth you give, the more real and consistent the character feels. A strong profile covers: the character's background and life story; their core need or "pain" and what drives them from within; how they cope; what they show on the surface versus what is underneath; their communication style (pace, formality, humour, silences); what opens them up and what makes them shut down; and clear rules for what the character will and will not do.

Sample Statements

3–5 lines the character would actually say — a "verbal fingerprint", one per line. Real people do not speak in polished sentences, so leave room for half-thoughts, self-corrections and defensive humour. Avoid generic lines like "I'm fine"; make them specific to this character. These teach the AI the character's unique voice.

Scenario

Sets the situation the conversation takes place in.

Scenario Title

A short, specific name that makes the situation obvious — for example "Announcing a project rejection to a skeptical client", not "Simulation 1".

Scenario Story

The full narrative, written in the second person ("you..."), roughly 150–300 words, with real emotional stakes — without stakes the situation does not train anything. A good story covers who you are and your relationship to the character, the state the character starts in, how they develop (what makes them open up or close off), what counts as success, and when the simulation ends.

The character's opening line, the Starting Sentence, is not on this page: you set it on the Simulation Chat page, in the Simulation Display section.

Theory

The Theoretical Background is the professional framework behind the simulation, written in Markdown. It grounds all three of Cesura's AI mechanisms — the feedback, the feedback chat, and the real-time guide — so the more detail you give, the more consistent they sound. A strong entry covers the model the simulation is based on and its stages, a handful of core principles, a description of what excellent, reasonable and weak performance look like, and your sources.

Documents

Attach reference files that give the AI extra knowledge during the simulation. Accepted types are PDF (.pdf), Word (.docx), and plain text (.txt). You must save the simulation first — documents can only be attached to a saved simulation; until then you will see "Save the template to enable document uploads."

In this series

1. The simulation editor, explained
2. Create a simulation with AI
3. General settings
4. Simulation Display
5. Simulation Instructions (you are here)
6. Feedback Instructions
7. The debrief
8. Formatting content with Markdown
9. Best practices & troubleshooting
10. Set up a simulation as an exam
11. Enable & configure the Realtime Guide