## Example

```json
{
  "worldVoices": {
    "court_herald": {
      "label": "Court Herald",
      "voiceTag": "male commanding blunt",
      "instructions": "Formal and clipped, as if announcing to a full hall. Never hurried.",
      "speed": 1,
      "exposeInCharacterCreation": false
    }
  }
}
```

A world voice is a named voice this world defines once and reuses. NPCs and premade characters point at one with `worldVoiceId`, which takes the entry's key, so changing the voice in one place changes it everywhere it is used.

This sits alongside `voiceTag`, which picks a stock voice directly on the character. A world voice is the option to reach for when several characters should share one treatment, or when a voice needs direction beyond what a stock tag carries.

Each effect group has its own switch, and a voice can be saved with all of them off. Previews are the quickest way to hear one: they become available once the voice carries a voice tag.

## Fields

### label

The name this voice is shown under, including in character creation when the voice is offered there. It starts out matching the entry's key, so rename it to something that describes the voice rather than leaving the generated name.

### voiceTag

Describes the voice this one is built on, and what speech audio is selected from. It is free text rather than a fixed list, so a phrase that is not in the [Voice Catalog](/appendix/voice-catalog) is still accepted and matched to the closest available voice. Naming a catalogue voice is what makes the result predictable. A voice without one still saves, but it cannot be previewed until the tag is set.

### instructions

Direction for how the voice should be delivered, layered on top of the base voice.

### speed

How fast the voice speaks.

### effects

Effect settings applied to the voice, grouped as `pitch`, `reverb`, `echo`, `distortion`, `output` and `eq`. Each group is switched on independently, so a voice with none of them enabled plays as its base voice.

### exposeInCharacterCreation

Offers this voice to players in the character creator. Leave it off for voices that belong to specific NPCs rather than to whoever the player builds.