# Messages

Messages are the in-mission communications the player sees and hears. These include wingmate callouts, command briefings, enemy taunts. Each message is defined once in the mission's global message list and can be triggered by any event.

## Message anatomy

Field | Description
--- | ---
Name | Internal identifier used to reference the message from events and SEXPs.
Text | The text displayed in the message box.
Audio file | The voice file played with the message.
Persona | The voice persona associated with this message, used to select the appropriate voice variant.
Sender | The ship that sends the message.

## Priority

Each message has a priority - Low, Normal, or High - that controls how it interacts with other messages playing at the same time.

Priority | Behavior
--- | ---
Low | Queued behind any currently playing or queued messages. Will not interrupt anything.
Normal | Queued behind messages of equal or higher priority. Interrupts low-priority messages.
High | Interrupts any lower-priority message currently playing.

Within the same priority level, messages play in the order they were triggered.

## Triggering messages

Messages are sent by events in the Mission Events dialog using a send-message SEXP. The same message can be triggered by multiple events, and the same event can send multiple messages.

## Personas

Personas are defined in the game tables and control the voice set used for a message. Assigning a persona to both a message and a ship creates a consistent "voice" for that character across the mission. A ship with a Command persona is eligible to serve as the Command sender in Mission Specs.