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persona info.
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→ WHAT IS A PERSONA?
A Persona is the manifestation of an individual's personality and inner self. They are the mask that someone wears in the face of hardship and in Cetana, they are the summonable creatures that the characters can use to defeat Shadows.
Upon their arrival in Hirajiro, all characters will be able to summon a Persona. They can be summoned at any point of the day, but are considerably weaker outside the Lockdown period. Furthermore, although they are the manifestation of inner thoughts, they can be difficult and tiring to control and use. The continuous use of a Persona will weigh on the user's mind and spirit, draining their strength and stamina. As a result, it is possible for characters to push themselves to physical and mental exhaustion should they overextend the use of their Persona.
→ CONTROL
A Persona can appear both willing and unwillingly to users.
A Persona can be summoned both during the day and during the Lockdown. They will both take up the same amount of energy to summon and use, but they are far less effective during the day than during Lockdown. As a result, a user may have to summon their Persona multiple times to accomplish an objective during the day, while it may have only taken one summon during the Lockdown.
Users will generally have control over their Persona, but they may not listen because the user is undergoing intense internal conflict or they may appear spontaneously and dangerously because of an extremely emotional episode.
For the former, the Persona may "refuse" to act in accordance with their user's commands and desires. It may appear then do nothing before disappearing, refuse to come out at all, or perform the wrong action. This would occur should the user be having a great internal conflict with themselves. It would not occur if the character cannot decide on which pair of shoes to wear, but something deeper that may challenge their perspective, choices, morality, and so on. This may or may not lead to the character forming a Shadow, as that is dependent on the player's choice. Characters can overcome their internal struggles on their own without the need for confronting their Shadow, but should it come to that, please see the below paragraph for further repercussions.
For the latter, it could become far more dangerous for everyone involved. Should characters face extreme psychological stress, their Persona may lash out at others and its own user or even convert into a Shadow, forcing the character to confront it and either accept or deny it. Should it be denied, it will attack its former user and attempt to kill them. Even after characters subdue the Shadow, it will continue to attack the user and everyone else until it is finally accepted. If the character's Persona was converted into a Shadow, that character will lose access to their Persona until they are able to confront their Shadow.
NOTE: player-run Shadow events do not require the character to go down the previous paragraph's path and lose their Persona. Characters may still have Shadow events in which they have control over their Persona as they face their Shadows (see Persona 1 and 2), but this is another route that players may be able to take.
In addition, Personas may be more difficult to control or even go berserk during a full moon. Characters who have even the tiniest internal conflict (but not to the extent like the above paragraphs that cause Personas to go rogue) will experience their Persona attacking themselves and others during the Lockdown. Once the Lockdown ends, the Persona will calm down once again.
→ SUMMONING PROCESS
In Cetana, Personas are summoned by the gathering of a character's literal shadow. Underneath them, the darkness and shadows will form together until it comes together as a Persona.
Characters can go through this summoning process with their omamori. Upon their arrival, characters will receive a small silk amulet. It is stitched with a small black crow, the character's name, and the character's Arcana. The overall colour and pattern of the charm is decided by the player. Characters must touch the omamori and have a particular desire in mind to summon their Persona. The desire can be extremely general (such as wanting protection, to be healed, etc) or extremely specific (such as their Persona performing a specific command). Either way, the Persona will be summoned after the character makes physical contact with the omamori. It does not have to be a long point of contact. A simple brush will do the trick, but it must be combined with a desire for summoning or using their Persona in order for it to work.
If characters lose their omamori, they must visit the shrine and make an offering, wishing for their omamori back. The following day, a crow will fly over the character and drop their missing charm.
→ PERSONA CUSTOMIZATION
Should the player choose to create their own Persona rather than using one from the canon series, they must adhere to the following requirements:
⬥ It is based on mythology.
⬥ The mythology can be based on the real world's or the character's canon, should the canon have its own fictional mythology.
⬥ The mythological figure is relevant to the character in terms of personality, journey, struggles, or situation.
⬥ It has an Arcana that fits both the character and Persona.
⬥ It has one resistance and one weakness to an element: physical, fire, ice, electricity, wind, psychokinesis, nuclear, light, dark
⬥ It begins with three low-level skills.
⬥ 15 points are allocated among four stats, each with a minimum of one and a maximum of five:⬥ Strength: the strength of physical attacks
⬥ Magic: the strength and defence of magical skills
⬥ Endurance: the defence against physical skills
⬥ Agility: the hit and evasion rates
→ SAMPLE PERSONA CUSTOMIZATION
Name: Izanagi
Arcana: Fool
Resists: Electricity
Weak: Wind
Skills: ⬥ Zio
Stats:
⬥ Cleave
⬥ Rakukaja⬥ Strength: 5
⬥ Magic: 2
⬥ Endurance: 3
⬥ Agility: 5
→ ULTIMATE PERSONA
When a character undergoes a significant amount of character development and takes on a personal resolution, their Persona may evolve to reflect this change in their heart. When this happens, they will become the Ultimate Persona.
The type of character development and resolution can differ from character to character, but it must be notable and positive enough for the Persona to take on a new form. Some examples may involve choosing to live by your own rules instead of someone else's, to focus on protecting others rather than just yourself, and to face the truth rather than running away.
Characters do not need to have a Shadow event (whether it is personal or game-wide) in order to obtain an Ultimate Persona and characters do not need to obtain their Ultimate Persona just because they had a Shadow event. This is left to the discretion of the player and may take place whenever they like.
When a Persona evolves into an Ultimate, they will retain the same skills that they've had before the change, but they will now null one element and lose their weakness, along with gaining an additional +5 to all of their stats.
There are rare occurrences where a Persona will become an Ultimate but will not change form. If characters hold the desire to retain their Persona's appearance to serve as a reminder for their failures or actions, they can prevent it from happening. However, they will still gain the same benefits as an Ultimate as listed above.
Furthermore, when a Persona evolves and changes, it is left to the player's discretion on how much they want the Persona to change. They can create a brand new appearance and name or simply change a little. For example, a major change will be Akihiko's Persona going from Polydeuces to Caesar and a more minor change will be Naoto's Persona going from Yamato Takeru to Yamato Sumeragi.
When choosing to evolve your character's Persona into an Ultimate, please fill out the form in the Ultimate Persona toplevel and comment underneath it. This form will require a brief paragraph detailing the development that your character has undergone and the details for their new Persona. The mod team will then comment to approve the evolution or not.
→ ARCANA
Each character and their Persona will be aligned with an Arcana. Based on the Major Arcanas from tarot cards, they represent a set of personality traits, a certain aspect of an individual's life, or a struggle that they are going through.
Prior to their acceptance into the game, players must assign an Arcana to their character. The following table is all the available Arcanas and their characteristics:
ULTIMATE PERSONAS
If your character's Persona will be becoming an Ultimate, please fill out the form below in this comment and submit it underneath this toplevel. A mod will then either approve or deny the update. If you have any questions, please contact the mod team. Thank you!
no subject
→ CHARACTER INFO
Player: Haki
Character: Terrence Nowell
Development: In the earlier stages of arriving in Hirajiro, Terry's insecurities about his original resurfaced after having suppressing them for so long. After several months of trying to work his way around it, since he was repeatedly told that he would get a Shadow if he didn't deal with it properly, but it all failed, since he managed to get a Shadow anyway. He felt stuck, not knowing what to do, because there was no way in hell that Terry wanted to accept something that was never his and was forced on him. He felt that he would have accepted anything of what his original was if he even just let one be accepted inside him and he'd been working his entire life to prevent that. However, when his Dungeon opened, he faced a lot of murder and screaming, but eventually accepted everyone's various words in order to accept his Shadow so that he could finally realize that it's okay to have that kind of trait as long as he can control it, and he believes he can, after regaining his will to live. He'll strive to become a better person than his original by facing the problems that spilled over with the attempted brainwashing from his first year of creation instead of running away from them. No more running away!!
→ PERSONA INFO
Changes: How big can a dragon get... Anyway, his horns are longer, his dominant color is black but still has a lot of parts where it's red. He has four wings now! Despite the art, he will never breathe fire. If it's okay, I'd like to keep the name, because I can't think of a better fitting demon/myth figure for him. Haha... Please tell me if I need to change anything.
He'll be losing bless/light weakness and nulling electric!
no subject
You did it, Terry, we're proud of you (':
I MIGHT AS WELL AAAAAAAAA
→ CHARACTER INFO
Player: Card
Character: Tsubomi Kido
Development: Kido started off heavily reliant on people, used to being sheltered as a part of a larger gang and having older sisters to look up to and take care of her, and placed an unreasonable amount of expectation on people. After being let down so many times, to the point where she's started to resent the people she loves, she formed a Shadow that represented her desperation to keep from getting hurt by pushing everybody else away, believing that there is nobody else in the world she can truly rely on but herself. Through her Shadow event, she was able to reconcile these two extremes with the help of her friends, and was made to realize that all the soft qualities that she owned were what made her a good friend and a leader worth looking up to, not raw strength.
From here on out, Kido has decided to rely on herself and believe in her own power first and foremost instead of immediately looking to others, and to have faith in people as a whole instead of placing all her faith on only the people she's closest to. She still wants to be with her family back home, but knows that it's out of love and grief, not actually wanting to die, and she'll be able to move past it with the help of others. She's not a little kid anymore. She is strong enough to stand on her own, to protect those dear to her, and to let them protect her too.
→ PERSONA INFO
Changes: Appearance-wise, Kido's Persona will change from a small ghostly longcat to a large fire tiger. He'll look like Gdon/Dawon but retain the name Nekogami.
He will now null physical and lose his weakness to fire.
no subject
I will miss our long icy cat, but I hope he can still remain as bongonami and jam out.
no subject
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→ CHARACTER INFO
Player: Ichi
Character: Rei
Development: Since her arrival, Rei has always been afraid of the possibility of going home. Although she knows that she probably has to leave, she selfishly wanted to stay and start a new life in Hirajiro. She wanted to experience everything that she never got to do when she was still alive and because of that, she suppressed the thought of going home as much as she could. She didn't want to talk or even think about it, so the knowledge that she'd eventually have to leave and return to the Sea of Souls was buried deep down. For the next few months, Rei would generally have a good time, forgetting about her inevitable departure, but after seeing all the horrors that the dungeons, Daitengus, and this world has created, she became afraid. She thought that her new and happy life was now forcefully coming to an end so she revisited the idea about leaving, but instead of outright rejecting it as she normally did, she embraced it in a desperate attempt to find any type of solution to combat her fears. She was so sure that her new life would be ruined that she wanted it to end while it was still somewhat stable and on her own terms. She thought that if she returned home and properly passed on, she wouldn't have to experience the pain of everything being taken from her. Still being selfish, however, she wanted to take her family and friends as well, but she didn't have the strength in her to follow through on that plan and kill everyone. This is what caused her dungeon to form and for Niko to do it in her place.
In the end, Niko also wasn't able to follow through. After everyone spoke with her, she learned that she'll never have a perfectly happy life without any kind of suffering. There'd be bad moments, but they'll make the good moments even better and it's better to be with people who care about you and will go through the hard times with you than to be completely alone. Furthermore, if she dies, the bad experiences will stop, but the good ones will stop as well, and if she also stays, she can make her loved ones happy. It's with all these discussions with the other Persona users that Niko chose to give this life one more chance and allowed Rei to stay. From this point on, Rei no longer worries so much about whether she'll stay in this world or leave. She's now going to just enjoy as much as she can without being afraid and will be able to get through the tough moments a little better, at least without her running away.
→ PERSONA INFO
Changes: Ananke and her bunnies will remain the same, but she'll gain a starry wolf. She'll also lose her weakness to Dark and will null Light!
no subject
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→ CHARACTER INFO
Player: Archer
Character: Akira Kurusu
Development: Akira came to Hirajiro in a pretty bad state to begin with. Instead of coming straight from canon, where we left him feeling pretty okay about himself and his future, he first went through the Revivarium Mock Trial, where he was made responsible for the deaths of several people, witnessed atrocities that he was powerless to stop, and ultimately only got out alive by sheer luck. In Hirajiro, he arrived with what he thought to be Arsène, the same Arsène he met the first time around in Tokyo, and he continued listening to Arsène's harsh but well meaning advice as he always did. But when Lucifer (the one representing rebellion, conviction, and courage) manifested separately, it became apparent that this Arsène was different somehow. He represented something else. This Arsène was a mask that defended itself through aggression and paranoia, insisting on doing everything on its own because noutsiders can't be trusted, chaining itself straight to Hell and cutting off everything that could possibly lead to a threat or a broken heart in order to make it out of traumatic situations alive and mostly intact. This has been a problem that Akira was struggling with from the start, though it's only gotten worse as the months of Cetana wore on.
At the end of his dungeon, he realized two things. One: the reason why his mental state was taking such a sharp nosedive was because he was cutting himself, and all his assorted Personas and facets, off from the rest of the world, depriving them all of the friendship and connection that began their healing process the first time. Two: this desire to create a self-contained, insulated world, where the only people they had to talk to were each other, was affecting the Personas' ability to manifest and communicate with others. Ala does it freely; Joroko does it freely; these Personas probably could too, if Akira didn't close himself off in his mental Tower.
All Towers have to fall, though, the absolute destruction that brings about the space for change. That's what he's going to try and do. He's now more actively aware that cutting people off like this is bad for him, and he needs to push through his deep-seated distrust of outsiders if he ever wants to really recover from everything that's happened.
→ PERSONA INFO
Changes: Arsène will now manifest as his very truest form, Raoul. Thanks, Royal! Raoul d'Andresy is an alias that Lupin took in several of his stories, and the narration calls him Raoul instead of Lupin for the entire duration of The Damsel With Green Eyes -- and Raoul is also Lupin's real first name. Anyway, he loses his Light weakness and now blocks Phys. Unlike Lucifer/Satanael, Raoul is about the same height as Akira, so he can more easily navigate the human world.
Additionally, all Personas can now manifest in non-battle situations much more easily, and will be more sociable to people who are not Akira or his other Personas.
no subject
no subject
→ CHARACTER INFO
Player: Dani
Character: Sasuke Sagami
Development: Sasuke was always stuck in the past, too focused on his fears and regrets to take a step forward. That changed when he confronted the spirits summoned by the Daitengu - he was forced to come up with hopes and dreams on the spot, and you know what? He really does want them. He wants to hope that everyone brought to Hirajiro can survive whatever trials are sent their way, even if it's partially motivated by his fear of losing anyone who's become so important to him here. He's allowed himself to once again indulge in the dream of seeing the world beyond his family's grounds, built on the desire he had as a child to see the city. He's letting himself want when he's grown up incapable of desiring anything for himself for fear of the ramifications, whether it was his father's disappointment, the inevitable punishment for misbehavior, or shame for having "idiotic dreams" of the like his brother would surely scorn him for.
→ PERSONA INFO
Changes: She is still technically the nameless snake, however she is now visibly her true appearance as the former headmaster.
Null phys/No longer weak to psychokinesis!
no subject
I am so proud of Sasuke. He did it. He got so far. :') Keep going, little ninja.