("get_character_background_text",
    [
      (str_clear,s1),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      ## father
      (try_begin),
        (eq, "$background_type", cb_noble),
        (str_store_string,s2,"@an impoverished noble"),
        (str_store_string,s3,"@You came into the world a {reg3?daughter:son} of declining nobility,\
 owning only the house in which they lived. However, despite your family's hardships,\
 they afforded you a good education and trained you from childhood for the rigors of aristocracy and life at court."),
      (else_try),
        (eq, "$background_type", cb_merchant),
        (str_store_string,s2,"@a travelling merchant"),
        (str_store_string,s3,"@You were born the {reg3?daughter:son} of travelling merchants,\
 always moving from place to place in search of a profit. Although your parents were wealthier than most\
 and educated you as well as they could, you found little opportunity to make friends on the road,\
 living mostly for the moments when you could sell something to somebody."),
      (else_try),
        (eq, "$background_type", cb_guard),
        (str_store_string,s2,"@a veteran warrior"),
        (str_store_string,s3,"@As a child, your family scrabbled out a meagre living from your father's wages\
 as a guardsman to the local lord. It was not an easy existence, and you were too poor to get much of an\
 education. You learned mainly how to defend yourself on the streets, with or without a weapon in hand."),
      (else_try),
        (eq, "$background_type", cb_forester),
        (str_store_string,s2,"@a hunter"),
        (str_store_string,s3,"@You were the {reg3?daughter:son} of a family who lived off the woods,\
 doing whatever they needed to make ends meet. Hunting, woodcutting, making arrows,\
 even a spot of poaching whenever things got tight. Winter was never a good time for your family\
 as the cold took animals and people alike, but you always lived to see another dawn,\
 though your brothers and sisters might not be so fortunate."),
      (else_try),
        (eq, "$background_type", cb_nomad),
        (str_store_string,s2,"@a steppe nomad"),
        (str_store_string,s3,"@You were a child of the steppe, born to a tribe of wandering nomads who lived\
 in great camps throughout the arid grasslands.\
 Like the other tribesmen, your family revered horses above almost everything else, and they taught you\
 how to ride almost before you learned how to walk. "),
      (else_try),
        (eq, "$background_type", cb_thief),
        (str_store_string,s2,"@a thief"),
        (str_store_string,s3,"@As the {reg3?daughter:son} of a thief, you had very little 'formal' education.\
 Instead you were out on the street, begging until you learned how to cut purses, cutting purses\
 until you learned how to pick locks, all the way through your childhood.\
 Still, these long years made you streetwise and sharp to the secrets of cities and shadowy backways."),
      (try_end),
      (str_store_string,s1,"@ You were born years ago, in a land far away. Your father was {s2}. {s3}"),

    ("start_character_1",mnf_disable_all_keys,
    "You were born years ago, in a land far away. Your father was...",
    "none",
    [
    (str_clear,s10),
    (str_clear,s11),
    (str_clear,s12),
    (str_clear,s13),
    (str_clear,s14),
    (str_clear,s15),
    ],
    [
    ("start_noble",[],"An impoverished noble.",[
      (assign,"$background_type",cb_noble),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      (str_store_string,s10,"@You came into the world a {reg3?daughter:son} of declining nobility,\
 owning only the house in which they lived. However, despite your family's hardships,\
 they afforded you a good education and trained you from childhood for the rigors of aristocracy and life at court."),
   (jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_character_2"),
    ]),
    ("start_merchant",[],"A travelling merchant.",[
      (assign,"$background_type",cb_merchant),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      (str_store_string,s10,"@You were born the {reg3?daughter:son} of travelling merchants,\
 always moving from place to place in search of a profit. Although your parents were wealthier than most\
 and educated you as well as they could, you found little opportunity to make friends on the road,\
 living mostly for the moments when you could sell something to somebody."),
   (jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_character_2"),
    ]),
    ("start_guard",[],"A veteran warrior.",[
      (assign,"$background_type",cb_guard),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      (str_store_string,s10,"@As a child, your family scrabbled out a meagre living from your father's wages\
 as a guardsman to the local lord. It was not an easy existence, and you were too poor to get much of an\
 education. You learned mainly how to defend yourself on the streets, with or without a weapon in hand."),
   (jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_character_2"),
    ]),
    ("start_forester",[],"A hunter.",[
      (assign,"$background_type",cb_forester),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      (str_store_string,s11,"@{reg3?daughter:son}"),
      (str_store_string,s10,"@You were the {reg3?daughter:son} of a family who lived off the woods,\
 doing whatever they needed to make ends meet. Hunting, woodcutting, making arrows,\
 even a spot of poaching whenever things got tight. Winter was never a good time for your family\
 as the cold took animals and people alike, but you always lived to see another dawn,\
 though your brothers and sisters might not be so fortunate."),
   (jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_character_2"),
    ]),
    ("start_nomad",[],"A steppe nomad.",[
      (assign,"$background_type",cb_nomad),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      (str_store_string,s11,"@{reg3?daughter:son}"),
      (str_store_string,s10,"@You were a child of the steppe, born to a tribe of wandering nomads who lived\
 in great camps throughout the arid grasslands.\
 Like the other tribesmen, your family revered horses above almost everything else, and they taught you\
 how to ride almost before you learned how to walk. "),
   (jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_character_2"),
    ]),
    ("start_thief",[],"A thief.",[
      (assign,"$background_type",cb_thief),
      (assign, reg3, "$character_gender"),
      (str_store_string,s10,"@As the {reg3?daughter:son} of a thief, you had very little 'formal' education.\
 Instead you were out on the street, begging until you learned how to cut purses, cutting purses\
 until you learned how to pick locks, all the way through your childhood.\
 Still, these long years made you streetwise and sharp to the secrets of cities and shadowy backways."),
   (jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_character_2"),
    ]),
    ("go_back",[],"Go back",
     [(jump_to_menu,"mnu_start_game_1"),
    ]),
    ]
  ),