diff --git a/media-pipeline/core/character_engine/schema/__init__.py b/media-pipeline/core/character_engine/schema/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/media-pipeline/core/character_engine/schema/character.py b/media-pipeline/core/character_engine/schema/character.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed171a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media-pipeline/core/character_engine/schema/character.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field, asdict
+from enum import Enum
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Optional
+import json
+
+
+class Gender(str, Enum):
+    MALE = "male"
+    FEMALE = "female"
+    OTHER = "other"
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Appearance:
+    hair: str = ""
+    eyes: str = ""
+    skin: str = ""
+    build: str = ""
+    features: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Outfit:
+    name: str = "default"
+    description: str = ""
+    tags: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Character:
+    id: str
+    name: str
+    gender: Gender
+    age: str = ""
+    appearance: Appearance = field(default_factory=Appearance)
+    outfits: list[Outfit] = field(default_factory=list)
+    style_tags: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
+    lora_path: Optional[str] = None
+    reference_dir: Optional[str] = None
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
+        return asdict(self)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_dict(cls, data: dict) -> Character:
+        data = data.copy()
+        data["gender"] = Gender(data["gender"])
+        if isinstance(data.get("appearance"), dict):
+            data["appearance"] = Appearance(**data["appearance"])
+        if isinstance(data.get("outfits"), list):
+            data["outfits"] = [Outfit(**o) if isinstance(o, dict) else o for o in data["outfits"]]
+        return cls(**data)
+
+    def get_reference_images(self, registry_root: Path) -> list[Path]:
+        if not self.reference_dir:
+            ref_dir = registry_root / "references" / self.id
+        else:
+            ref_dir = Path(self.reference_dir)
+        if not ref_dir.exists():
+            return []
+        return sorted(p for p in ref_dir.iterdir() if p.suffix.lower() in {".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".webp"})