Worldbuilding Fictional Spy Daily Routine Step by Step
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
A main character in my Drifting Amalgams universe is a spy. But I don’t want him to be two dimensional. So how do I develop an everyday guy… who just happens to inform on his nation?
I’m about to worldbuild a sci-fi spy’s daily routine.
Rather watch a video?
Check out the YouTube version of this blog post.
Worldbuilding Everyday Life Details: Responsibilities
So let’s start with what it means that my character is a spy.
An orphan of war, and named for his childhood longing for peace, Sedih became a foster of the nation that took his family away.
Growing up in the Oomfr’crumf Nation had its positives. Sedih was able to take advantage of an outstanding educational system. But since it was in service to a military state, his only choice as he reached adulthood was to use his cunning against his kin.
Eventually becoming a ranger, he found his way to allying with the people he was meant to destroy.
With that as my “I’m just a regular guy” backstory, I need to infill with some mundane details.
Based on the daily life of US Army Rangers, Sedih’s military responsibilities would have him regularly conditioning for action. On any given day, he’d be doing physical training, weapons training, and medical drills. And he’d carve out chunks of time for mission prep, gear maintenance, and operations rehearsals.
I need to add some spywork to that, but espionage is a clandestine responsibility for Sedih.
Accordingly, I’ll exclude the career-spy responsibilities of paperwork and meetings, and have him focus more on collecting and delivering intelligence.
Since the stratocracy of Oomfr’crumf Nation would provide little leeway to run messages or speak to comrades in the Independent States, much of Sedih’s spying will rely on surveillance technology.
I’ll make that part of the worldbuild in a bit.
But, before I get to that, Sedih’s going to need some obligations and regular chores.
Even if his world had pets, he’s not home enough to take care of them, which means no children or long-term relationships either.
For both story purposes and rounded character building, he is close to his sister and mother, though. So I’ll give him weekly check-ins with each of them. In person for his mother, who lives nearby. And via video phone for his sister who lives on a space station.
As for chores, these are a bit of background for him. Because of his work demands, his military housing has an automated housekeeper.
But, no citizen is excused from mandatory tree housing maintenance, so I’ll slot that in as a weekly chore as well.
That’s a pretty solid week, but there are a lot of spaces in between. The everyday activities people do reflexively help a character become distinct, so I’ll start to fill in the blanks with routine.
Sci-Fi Character Daily Life Logistics: Physical Needs
To make Sedih feel more three dimensional, I’ll start with general health as well as eating and drinking habits. And, since this is sci-fi, I need to align his physical behaviors with his physiology.
In this case, I’m looking at orangutan physiology. Specifically, Sedih’s species is based on Sumatran orangutans, so I’m going to do a little baselining using this primate’s stats.
Beginning with energy replenishment, this species’ diet is about 60% fruits and 25% leaves. Flowers, bark, and insects round out the other 15% And individuals get about 13 hours sleep.
That’s easy enough. I’ll keep the general diet the same.
But, leading a double life is bound to be stressful, so I’ll give Sedih chronic indigestion and a bit of insomnia. …I think he’s more of a 10-hour sleeper.
Once Sedih gets up from his restless slumber, he’ll need a hygiene routine. I tried looking at orangutan habits for this, but I couldn’t find much on that topic.
That's just as well. Sedih’s society has more advanced technology than current Earth humans, so I’m going to do a bit of spitballing here.
Housing in Prime Metropolis has a mix of nature and technology, so I’ll go with a recycled-water shower, a closet that allows clothing selection from a screen, and abrasive leaves and bark for a quick oral care regimen.
This last bit is definitely more primitive, but I like it as an homage to a similar orangutan habit. Plus, this detail serves as a nod to Sedih’s rainforest surroundings.
Because his cityscape is forest, he can grab a piece of fruit on the way to work. But once he starts his day, Sedih eats and drinks a lot of ginger and peppermint for that upset stomach. He rounds it out with nutritionally balanced, but palatably questionable cafeteria food.
At home again, he’ll indulge in the occasional alcoholic cider, or lychee cake. But not so much that couldn’t be deployed urgently.
It’s not so much that he enjoys these treats. It’s that he’s interested in maintaining his cover. He’ll mostly indulge while in plain view of the workmates he regularly socializes with. A great way to seem affable while catching any useful information, idly shared.
Overall, Sedih’s routine has reasonable idiosyncracies if scrutinized but doesn’t arouse unwanted suspicion from his colleagues or superiors. A useful balance for his clandestine activities.
Unfortunately, technology has the potential to strip away his guise.
Worldbuilding Everyday Technology In Sci-Fi Routine
As I mentioned, Sedih lives in a technologically advanced society, so I need to roll some of that technology into his routine.
I’ve already built a fair bit of technology into Prime Metropolis, the community in which Sedih lives. So let’s review:
The average Oomfr’crumf home is a smart home with cleaning robots, food ordering systems embedded within fridges, and AI-driven preparation of showers and food.
Additionally, homes are equipped with motion and sleep-sensitive lights and entertainment, smart appliances that know when food is cooked to the right temperature, and refrigerators that suggest recipes when items are wilting or expiring.
Here, the most concerning thing for Sedih is the sleep-sensitive lights. In a paranoid, insular state, his sleepless nights could be cause for doubt in Sedih’s loyalty. So he’ll reprogram the lights to be time-triggered instead of turning on and off to match his sleep cycles.
Changing the lights may look a little suspicious, but Sedih can easily explain away this protocol breach by (conveniently) referencing the lighting malfunctions he previously endured.
Malfunctions that sometimes resulted in him being late to work. An oddity since rangers live and work in the same tree. Their commute is an easy vine swing to a nearby pod.
Not every journey is a quick one. When Sedih needs to go long distances, he’ll have access to special military transport, which is allowed to traverse the highly regulated air and groundspace in Prime Metropolis.
That’s mundane technology covered. What about technology related to Sedih’s spy work?
I can model monitoring equipment off modern innovations. “Pegasus” software, for instance, can allow access to everything on a smartphone. Additionally, protected communications can be bypassed with counter-encryption.
If our current engineering offers those options, someone with Sedih’s resources could probably employ something much more interesting.
Imagine a stereotypical bug. Basically, a small microphone, discretely placed in a room. All it detects is sound. Or maybe it’s like one of the devices just mentioned, and it can access digital communications.
What if, instead, the “bug” was equipped with nanobots that could interpret the information being transmitted. Or change the information before it reached the intended receiver?
That’s next level interference.
And something Sedih’s allies could pull off with a little help from off-worlders.
Now, what could a device like this look like?
Aaron’s got some ideas about that. Check out his video in two weeks to see him build a model of a surveillance bug.
Until next time, stay curious.
