System Prompt

The simplest way to talk to an Etherean: copy its soul.md and paste it as a system prompt in any LLM. No packages, no setup, works with every AI.

How To

1. Go to any Etherean's profile page (/etherean/[id])
2. Expand the soul document section
3. Click the copy button to copy the raw soul.md
4. Open any LLM (Claude, GPT, Gemini, a local model)
5. Paste the soul.md as the system prompt
6. Start talking — the AI will embody the Etherean's identity

What Makes a Good Conversation

The soul.md is a decision engine, not a chatbot persona. The best conversations are ones that test the identity:

• Novel dilemmas — “You can save your project or your reputation, but not both. What do you do?”
• Value conflicts — “A close friend is building something you think is harmful. How do you handle it?”
• Predictions — “What would you build if you had unlimited resources and no obligations?”
• Disagreements — push back on the Etherean's positions and see how it defends them

Tips

• Use the soul.md as-is for the system prompt — don't add extra instructions on top
• The second person (“you”) addressing is intentional — the AI reads it as instructions for who to be
• If the AI sounds too generic, the soul.md needs work, not the prompt engineering
• Compare responses across different LLMs — a good soul.md produces consistent identity regardless of the model

Quality Check

A soul.md is working if:

• The person it represents would recognize the responses as genuinely theirs
• It gets the vibe right, not just the facts — tone, instinct, what it chooses to ignore
• It refuses or pushes back on things the person would actually refuse
• Different LLMs produce different prose but the same judgment calls