I differentiate between “figures” and “characters”. Characters are given more of a personality, and might be someone you could identify with, as you’d expect from a literary character. Figures are people primarily known through their effect on the world around them, the stories told about them, etc.

I say this because back on the worldbuilding subreddit I read an exchange between someone who was explaining several historical figures in their setting, and another person who insisted that they were “characters”, that they ought to be given complex personalities and internal motivations as you would when writing a story. The other person said more or less what I did above, that they weren’t concerned with their personalities and life stories so much as their effect on the setting.

I have both characters and figures in the Lonely Galaxy. For figures, I have a few named Claravian saints.

Pre space age:

Redclaw: described in another post, the founder of the order of Farspeakers, more or less the monkey fox version of Samuel Morse.

Starlight: a healer and botanist who invented a type of self-adhesive fabric inspired by the spiky plant burs that would stick to her fur.

“Blast powder” Blessed Guts^[1]: a test subject I mean tertiary assistant to the research monks experimenting with manned projectiles. Martyred when the projectile he was piloting crashed into a canyon. He possessed an at times destructive interest in blasting powder and firearms, lending him his nickname.

Post space age:

Sunfire: a steadtree hermit^[2] and spiritual councilor who is (in)famous for a particular icon depicting him striking the muzzle of a penitent who sought his spiritual direction. The ritual is common in the Bright Way but often misunderstood by secular yinrih.

Clearwater: a poor bum who lived and died a drunken mess, whose fame in religion comes from him sacrificing himself to save a group of kids drowning in a pit filled with raw sewage, who, in a darkly humorous twist, has become the patron of lone bathroom-goers.

Greenleaf the Steadtree Hermit: credited, along with Iris the Hearthsider, for kicking off the War of Dissolution where a traditionalist faction of internal reformers seized control of the Bright Way from the majority of clergy whom they felt had grown corrupt and worldly. Most famous for calling the High Hearthkeeper a heretic to her face.

Iris the Hearthsider: A cleric aligned with the Pious Dissolutionists who preached against the ruling hierarchy’s corruption and greed. Her name has become so ubiquitous among the pious that the word “iris” is almost a synonym for woman. Another Iris would achieve fame for being one of the missionaries to finally make First Contact.

Cloudlight^[3] the Sensible: a rather portly fellow known for his wit, down to earth wisdom and, common sense. One of the major figures hwo helped re-establish the Bright Way after the war.