What is a Persona? (Information Sheet & Awakening Info Updated)

[center][size=24][font=Courier New]What is a Persona?[/font][/size]

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A Persona is a manifestation of a person's personality in the Persona series, referred to as a "mask" for an individual to use to face hardship. A Persona is similar to a Shadow. Shadows are malevolent manifestations of one's inner thoughts, while a Persona is a manifestation of the same feelings but tamed and trained. These Persona can be summoned to your side to assist in your ever going battle against shadows. They reside within you, and grow in strength as you grow yourself.

[u][b]There are numerous forms of a Persona:[/b][/u]

[b]The Initial Persona[/b] - The Initial Persona is the Persona that represents the most inner thought of its host. As a beginning Persona, its ability is usually relatively weak, so the mythological or historic figure that the Persona takes form is often less significant in the respective mythology or history, though there is some exception. As the Persona "closest" to the user, the Initial Persona will always be able to be summoned by the user, even if they previously returned it or transformed it into another Persona. This is the first Persona one starts with once facing their Shadow and unlocking their potential.

[b]The Prime Persona[/b] - Prime Personas are Personas that serve as stronger versions of their original incarnations with upgraded skills. The prerequisite to obtain these Personas are mostly story involved, but it is basically an evolution of your "Initial Persona." To achieve this Persona, your Initial Persona must first be maxed in rank (by having all its skills unlocked). Once this occurs, you will have an optional event where you must traverse a dungeon and overcome it, to unlock your Prime Persona.

[b]The Ultimate Persona[/b] - An Ultimate Persona (or Advanced Persona) is a Persona formed when an individual takes up a resolution in his or her heart. The Persona is usually one of the strongest Personas the user can summon. These Personas can only be unlocked through special events set up by The Velvet Room or if your character experiences a powerful moment in their life.

[b]The "Reverse" Persona[/b] - Reverse Personas are the negative forms of the original Personas, usually depicted with different color schemes and are used against their owner for "special" dungeons. This is also the first Shadow you will encounter to unlock your Initial Persona. Reverse Personas generally possess a unique "dark" version of a specific skill used by the original. When a Shadow Self type character hits their max rank, there is a chance they will be gifted with a Reverse Persona by the Crawling Chaos, allowing them to battle without transforming, or to double team their opponent with another body on the battlefield. With the acceptance of a Reverse Persona, they are also gifted with a "Dark" skill, that allows them to perform a powerful fusion attack fueled by malevolent intent.

[b]The "Tainted" Persona[/b] - Personas personally bestowed upon those who have not unlocked their potential naturally, by Nyarlathotep himself. Those who use these Tainted Personas are watched over by Nyarlathotep, instead of Philemon, and thus are more likely to give into their inner most desires that may bring self harm or harm to others. Usually being natural born antagonist, those who use the Tainted Personas still follow the basic Arcana types and strengths, but grow quite differently than those who naturally unlocked their power. When someone who uses a Tainted Persona becomes honest and noble through well thought out rp, Nyarlathotep will strip their Persona away from them and inturn, will allow them to obtain an Initial Persona naturally. On the other hand, there is a slight chance that Nyarlathotep will "assist" the player by fusing them with their Tainted Persona and turning them into a "higher being" temporarily. The latter is only for those who are loyal to his cause.

[b]The "Mutated" Persona[/b] - The Ultimate version of the Tainted Persona. Once the Tainted Persona reaches its max rank, it will undergo a transformation and will mutate to a more powerful form. This Mutated Persona will allow its user to erase all of its skills, and replace them with any Tier skills they would wish for, for any slot. The fusion will also lose its negative effects, allowing the Child to continue the fight once the phase ends, but it can still only be used once per topic and after use the Persona can't be used again for the rest of the topic.

[b]The "Artificial" Persona[/b] - A Persona that was awakened by force through drugs by the Rogues. Users of this Persona cannot control their Personas, and must constantly take drugs to keep them under check. If they stop taking their medication, the Persona runs the risk of breaking free of their control and killing them and others around them. Rogues get an ability called “Persona Overdose”. In this mode, for three turns, the Rogues get access to a completely new skillset, swapping it for their previous one for that time limit. The new skills are unlocked as the Rogue gains skills normally and are selected when ranking up normally. They can be anything, so long as the skill has the same tier as the tier of the skill in their normal skillset. For example, your first skill is Tier 1 in your normal skillset. That means your first skill in your “Persona Overdose” skillset can be any skill as long as it is Tier 1. Your available skills in “Persona Overdose” also are unlocked at the same time you unlock your normal skills. So if a Rogue only has five skills unlocked in their regular skillset, they can only have access to the first five skills in their Overdose mode. This allows Rogues to have unpredictable play-styles against the enemy and have an edge for this short period of time. Once the three turns are up, their skillset reverts to normal, and for the three turns in battle, your active Persona skills will be randomized each post, as well as the target for said skill, meaning you will not have any control over what your Persona does for that period of time. There is also a chance this mode can achieve a stronger form.

[u][b]How do I get my first Persona:[/b][/u]

For natural Persona Users, no one starts off with a Persona. After making atleast 3 well made threads (your posts atleast two - three paragraphs, and good development), you will trigger an event to obtain your first Persona. This event can involve you overcoming your Shadow self (with some help), and obtaining your Initial Persona among other things pertaining to the current plot. Once you obtain your Persona, your character gets the ability to summon it when applicable and battle the forces of the supernatural. They also get the ability of traveling to the Velvet Room to obtain new Personas and upgrade themselves with new sets of skills if aligned with Philemon.

For Tainted Persona Users, after making atleast 3 well made threads (your posts atleast two - three paragraphs, and good development), you will trigger an event. This event could involve you meeting the Crawling Chaos in disguise. This meeting takes place in the real world, and he will locate you. With a simple shake of the hand, he will bestow to you the knowledge, and potential, of summoning your Tainted Persona and traversing into the world of the Unknown. After this occurs, the Crawling Chaos may visit you from time to time, or simply deliver messages to you for certain missions or objectives he needs accomplished. If you disobey him enough times, or help those who are seen as his enemy, there is a possibility he will remove your Tainted Persona, and thus your potential from you.

For ASSW your awakenings are rather simple. Seeing how you were created with a plume of dusk, your awakening would be you coming into your own ego. It does not have to be a battle if desired to be a social topic.

For Rogues your awakenings involved taking the medication and temporarily losing control of your Persona. It will go on a rampage; defeating enemies that may be present. Once the battle is complete, the Persona will subside and from then on you'll be forced to take the drugs to keep it in check.

Forgotten are similar to ASSWs in terms of their awakening. They do not have a Persona, but they do have a weapon that's a demon/shadow. The weapon will acknowledge them, and they will hear their voice. Once this occurs, the world of the supernatural opens up to you.

Shadow Selves awakenings are strange. Depending on the plot it could follow different things. However, what is a common place is that the Shadow triumphs their other self and takes over their life. Regardless they do not get their Reverse Persona before maxing their True Self.

Velvet Room Attendants simply receive a Compendium from Igor.

[u][b]How do I summon my Persona once unlocking it:[/b][/u]

To summon your Persona once unlocking it, one must envision their Tarot Card in their mind. However, this method can continuously change per plot, depending on the DM. Regardless, once this occurs, it will appear before you. When this happens, simply shatter the card by touching it, and your Persona will burst out of a blue mist to perform its attack/defense before returning to your subconscious immediately after. When you unlock Ultimate Persona you no longer need a Tarot Card or any sort of evoker. You can summon your Persona with a mere thought, showing that you truly unlocked your potential. Rogues follow these same rules, as they also use an evoker to evoke their Persona.

Those who obtain a Tainted Persona from Nyarlathotep do not use evokers to summon their Persona. Instead, this Persona is forced out of the subconscious which is a painful process and usually causes the user to grasp their head in pain. Instead of appearing from a blue mist, these Personas appear from a blood red mist before performing their move. Shadow Selves who have gained their Reverse Persona can summon their other selves with just a simple thought.

Velvet Attendants summon the tarot cards of their guests through their compendium to summon Personas. Forgotten do not own Personas, and thus all their abilities come from their weapon.

**Characters can not sense each other here. This means the only way you can tell if someone has a Persona is if you actually see their Persona or scanning them with a Full Analysis skill or something along those lines.

**Anti-Shadow weapons can summon their Personas with a simple thought. Their evoker is built in, so they do not need to focus upon a tarot card.

**Personas can NOT be summoned in the real world unless supernatural events are unfolding. However if you are in the Other World, you can summon your Persona without issue.

**Even so, forged soul skills can be used in the real world unless they involve summoning your Persona

[u][b]Switching Personas:[/b][/u]

Once you unlock more Personas, you'll have the ability to switch them at will. To do this, one must visualize their preferred Persona in their mind. Once this is done, they'll be able to summon their preferred Persona the same post and so on. If you are attacked the post before you switch Personas, you will take the attack first, then switch in the same post. Meaning if your previous Persona was weak against something, you'd be downed before changing.