Font not containing alternates? Or am I just stupid?

[Zetvue]

Using the variable font, I wanted to see if the alternates were there in the Character map but they just don't seem to exist. At all.

[kenmcd]

The Character Map application (in Windows) only shows characters which have a Unicode code point assigned. Since most alternates are glyphs which are un-mapped (no code point) they do not appear in Character Map. To see all the characters/glyphs in any font you need to use a font editor or an application which has a Glyph Browser feature (such as Affinity Publisher).