Class Lecture 1: D.A.R.E. [Cadets]

The morning started out with a light drizzle anyone could notice when they first stepped outside, a lackluster continuation from last night's weather. But it was a welcome one as it kept the start of the day feeling fresh. The Class Zero building was bustling with some activity as each individual member were taking the time adhering to their daily duties. But there would be a class that was set aside for a specific lecture.

In said classroom, a woman was busy fiddling with a remote pointed at the ceiling projector. Light flashed on and off with each button and with each careful judgement until she was satisfied. Then there was another in a nun attire setting up what looked like to be a camera recorder on a tripod near a student's desk in the very corner of the room. The room was still empty, save for them, and they were waiting for a couple of people to stop by and an important visitor who would lead the lecture.

When the first arrivals began to set foot, it was only then the older woman began to grant her greeting to them. Meanwhile, in the distance, there was the sound of tapping beginning to approach the room...

The sound of fascinated murmuring would engulf the scarcely populated halls as a well dressed shiba inu and her similarly clothed entourage strode confidently through the school. Accompanied by two generic looking men in black, the dry creature waltzed forward underneath an umbrella held over her by one of the two men (both absolutely drenched in rainwater), the group of three stoically making their way to Class Zero. After folding the umbrella, the two guards would step aside and wait for a brief moment as the Cadet known as Azami entered the premises, dispersing shortly after to allow her to attend to business while they presumably dried off somewhere.

With a crooked grin obscured by a deck of index cards clasped tightly within her maw, the dog would nod acknowldgingly in Serenity's direction as she hopped up on onto an empty desk chair and rested her paws on the table, leaning back with grace and poise that'd be impossible for any mere mutt. After dropping the stack of cards onto the table she'd take a brief moment to look over them before snatching up one in the center and raising it for the princess to see. "Greetings hime-sama. I am doing wonderful. How are you?" The card would read as if the guard dog had somehow perfectly predicted both the speaker and exact introduction in advance.

Gionatan said as he entered the class, the young and slender man wore his fine white suit and a pair of rayban shades. He was positively fashionable and golden when bathed by the sun's warm light. His slender figure moved graciously when he stepped in, smiling brightly. He was greeted by Princess Serenity. Her fashion sense was much more mature and gorgeous than her younger and brasher sister.

"I have been quite fine, i just recovered from a cold i had caught recently." The Giovanni paused for a moment to remove his shades from his face and hang them on his shirt. "If you don't mind me saying, you look gorgeous in that outfit, Princess." There was no second intentions in his heart, he was simply in a golden mood now that he was back. His eyes traveled across the run, noticing Cadet Maria whom he waved his hand at while smiling before sitting down.

The day began with exhaustion. Then aches and pains and muscular fatigue, which happened to be Susan's least favorite way to start any day at all. Not as if she had slept well that night either between the physical activity before bed and the nightmares she kept experiencing. It was the same one every single night. She would be unable to speak or move as bindings wrapped her limbs and choked around her neck. Faceless people would be lined up in front of her facing the other way and that damnable ringmaster in the top hat would slowly walk up and  down the line. He would press a revolver to the backs of their heads... and pull the trigger... and they would collapse like ragdolls as a surge of fire overcame them and burned them to a crisp. She would be forced to watch, powerless to stop it or cry out until it came to her where he pressed the barrel against her temple with a wild look in his yellow eyes. Susan never went farther than that in her nightmare, she had always woken up in a cold sweat before the conclusion. She had awoken at just around 4 AM and decided to not return to bed, she had spent those early morning hours putting together her report and cleaning her P90 instead.


The businesswoman entered the classroom without fanfare or greeting besides a long sigh and a zombified look in her eyes, dressed in her normal professional attire for the occasion with a dripping trench coat for the rain. Though her hair had been misted, unfortunately there was no room in her hands for an umbrella with her silver briefcase and a large thermos of coffee occupying them. Her sensible shoes squeaked on the tile as she made her way toward a desk at the front, pausing for much longer than a mere moment to stare at Shiina's shiba inu. The dog was holding a card with a greeting on it and sitting up in one of the desks. The gears in her head continued to whir as she gazed blankly before finally conceding that there was not nearly enough coffee in her system to understand the oddities of this strange and confusing world and she went about her business without comment.

Susan took her time setting up her desk, taking off her coat, and pouring herself a cup of coffee before making any sort of attempt at social interaction or speech. She would not offer to share any of her caffeinated lifeblood, only begrudgingly doing so if asked. The entire thermos was meant for her alone and she would need it to survive today. She deigned to speak only after half a cup, her second for the day thus far. Her dour mood contrasted with Gionatan's, radiant and vivacious as he always was, nearly glowing at his desk while storm clouds hung over her own. She could not hope to summon even a percentile of that sort of engaging charisma at the moment, let alone the thought ever crossing her mind. A small part of her dreaded that he would speak to her and she would need to respond and interact with yet another human being this morning.


It was polite if curt but Susan was in no mood to interact with people today beyond what was necessary. She had come to learn and the majority of her mental faculties would be devoted to absorbing information in her sleep-deprived state rather than feigning that she was a socially-oriented person. Which many present already had known she was not.

Lectures were an important part of one's education and woe betide the fool who thought Eryka would not be attending. Having woken up at five in the morning most of the Amputee's day, so far, had been preoccupied with her daily exercise regime but eventually the time for the lecture came. Eryka pushed the door to the lecture room and carefully walked inside. Deciding to avoid the majority of her class mates Eryka walked around the outskirts of the chairs before deciding to take a seat at the back of the room.

"Eager to begin." It may have been presumptuous to answer the question in that way but honestly? Eryka was the same as always. She only really felt a desire to get the lecture started and learn something practical especially given the fact these lectures were not a social event. The amputee was here to learn nothing more nothing less. However, despite the fact she saw no real desire to socialise Eryka was actually glad Susan was here. She was one Eryka was not opposed to a deeper friendship with.

Rui was surprisingly less tired that he had expected. Despite literally being knocked completely out of commission at one point in the night due to the tragic incidence of dark magic to his face, he was otherwise fine. Then again, he was fairly good at sleeping at odd times of the day and he figured he was going to go to sleep immediately after this lecture again. One of the many advantages of the...current form.

Of course, after suffering through a variety of tongue-lashings last night from Cadet Groves for his attire, Rui's desire to show up in fancier dress largely died in the morning, both from waking up too late and lack of motivation. Dressing up was important when smashing things, but otherwise less.

Still, he had to look somewhat presentable. So he arrived in a rather strange mix of clothes. This time, he was wearing normal boots and a buttoned-up, collared pleated red trench-coat that dropped below his thighs. Oddly, he had also opted to wear fairly short shorts, to the point where it was actually hidden by his coat. So it was rather impossible to tell if he was wearing anything on his lower-body underneath the coat, unless someone was to lift the coat.

He was wielding a very fancy, frilly blue umbrella as he practically skipped into the door. He didn't notice Azami somehow and the only other person he recognized, Cadet Groves, made a rather peculiar sound die in his throat. And he spotted a certain nun, who would probably have been very angry if Rui hadn't shown up.

Rui had no idea who the person who greeted him was, so he merely assumed she was another Cadet. Perhaps even the lecturer. He replied energetically, "Oh! Absolutely fine! Surprisingly not wet. Yay! The power of Umbrella tech! Anyways, you? I can only hope you're doing just as well!" He flashed her a chirpy smile, before getting ready to claim the open seat farthest away from the lecture.

As to be expected, there were people coming into this morning's lecture despite the weather. There was something good about this time of day when there were willing minds that wanted to learn something new. Even if the number was remarkably small at the moment, hopefully more would take time out of their schedule to come in even after the class started. But alas, some would probably persist not attending. Though she would have quite the interesting attendance.

"Yes... I am doing well. Glad to see you in this morning, Cadet." She replied after reading the card. The Princess kept her composed smile on her face, but it was quite the strange occasion she had to admit. This was the first time she's ever seen a dog in this building. On top of that, it was unaccompanied and showed a curious amount of intelligence than most other canines she's ever seen. Was this the rumored pet from the Tsurinai cadet she heard from her brother?

Though her attention was drawn from the other new arrivals. And they were quite... interesting individuals as well. It certainly meant this lecture may not be so humdrum as one might expect, pending on how inquisitive and thorough their curiosity was. Just as Maria gave a wave back to Giorno, the Princess replied back with a slightly wider and amused smile. "Why, thank you. You look quite dashing despite the weather outside. And I'm doing quite fine, everyone. We will be starting shortly. This morning we will be having a lecture on what we call Rogue Personas. Their creation and their function will be detailed to you by Doctor Hugo Icarus. He is a pioneering scientist in Persona-based and demon-based research. He should be arriving--."


"Ah, how could I not? Anything for the edification of interested parties. It's curious that you managed to step out of your beloved workplace for this morning." The old man sighed with a wry smile. He was shorter than Serenity thanks to his slouching posture. Nothing about him denoted significant strength as he relied on a cane to keep himself upright, but he had no problem moving around at a normal pace. The creases of age could be seen on his face nearly metallic face. The good doctor appeared to be wearing a white overcoat obviously to be worn to ward off the drizzle.

"It's not a mystery that I have my obligations to my Brother's Cadets, Professor. But should you really be the one showing concern for another's self-confinement?" Serenity drolly replied with a raised eyebrow as she finally got the projector running after another button press. It wasn't anything new and nor did either side seem to be taking offense to each other's remarks, they have known each other for some time, after all.

Hugo snorted and chuckled lightly as he began to hobble over to the podium and set his cane aside against it. He muttered words among the lines of "Fair enough" before finally reaching his spot. It was at the same time the projector began to show a title screen that was labeled "Rogue Persona Users and the Tulpa Program".

This school was weird. A talking dog...was there seriously a talking dog inside the lesson?! Okay...well colour Eryka interested. She would have to introduce herself to this dog after the lecture was over. Dogs had always been the Amputee's favourite animal if only because of their loyalty and usefulness. However, more interesting than the talking dog was when one professor Hugo walked in. Eryka stared intensely at him rising out of her seat to get a better look at him. His mechanical traits were honestly a LOT more interesting to Eryka than anything else about him.

"Professor before we move onto the core topic of today's lecture...might I inquire as to the nature of your mechanical aspects? As you can see I am possessed of a synthetic limb myself but the level of the mechanical components of your body is vastly superior to mine." Under any normal circumstances she would have merely answered the question posed to her and remained silence but the uniqueness of the professor had captured her curiosity. After all a prosthetic limb was one thing but actual mechanical parts seemingly combined with the organic body? That was an entirely different level.

"However, to answer your question I do not however, answer me this professor. What exactly is a Persona? I've only recently awakened to mine and I'm lost on the intricacies of how they operate. Where do they come from? How this drug you've inquired about works." The realisation that suppressants for a Persona existed was immensely intriguing. How does one suppress a Persona through drugs? In fact...what even was a Persona? How did it work? It occurred to Eryka that she knew next to nothing about the truth of what a Persona was.

The classroom quicky filled with a multitude of personalities, half stern of composure and half much more... flamboyant in behavior. And one dog. Susan did not know how to classify that one. But all were there for an important brief and as she understood a very special and exclusive one. Except for perhaps Terui, or as she surmised most definitely not Terui. But the mousy woman made no remarks or even sent him any glances though she could see him from her periphery. He was here as he was told to be and present as he was his responsibility, she would not judge otherwise. Not even on his choice of dress. As promised she did not care how he dressed or what he identified himself as if he was not detracting from the overall objective. Save for maybe the color. Red was a dreadful choice with the weather and that pink hair, she would have stuck with tan. The businesswoman was pleased to see the newest recruit on the fast-track to success and taking her position as seriously as she should as well.

Susan began to line out her notebook, thankful for the passing blanket greeting and not being forced to engage in any discussion just yet. A few things were filled out such as the date and topic and an entire back page of the notebook that was irrelevant to anything that would be discussed that day. Things like the anticipated marketing budget for Symphonics's new line of digital media players and where that money should go and when. Truthfully she had to double-work to keep pace with both her jobs nowadays. Though she did release a silent sigh of breath when she heard Rogue Personas. The usage of Rogue had so many negatively associated connotations attached. She became distracted and scribbled a few more alternate, less derogatory names before the professor walked in.

The two parties clearly knew each other and Susan sat straighter at attention as she poured herself more coffee. Her pen graced her notebook to... make only a single line. She had an important question already. But that would come after the Professor's own important question. Susan quickly regretted sitting near the front of the classroom where she could be seen by all. She pursed her lips. It was... not a point of pride that she could not fully control her Persona and not everyone knew this, partly intentional by herself. She chose not to speak of it unless directly asked and darted around the question often. It was one more thing that singled her out as the "special delicate flower" she was treated as, try as she might to overcome this. Susan slouched a bit and her hand twitched over the desk before Professor Hugo made it clear his question was part of instruction and not meant to be answered.

All in all with Eryka's question Susan was more than glad these sessions were highly encouraged. Though in her opinion they should be mandatory. Simple questions such as these would be better asked of immediate superiors but she resisted the urge to answer the inquiry. Besides, Professor Hugo was the certified expert on this matter even if there were personal questions thrown in. There was no better individual to ask these questions toward. The Tulpa Program was an interesting relation to Persona Users as well, being "imaginary friends", and she looked forward to the circumstances of their being... with a little voice in the back of her head whispering in worry over how this was a program. Though she had to stow her own notebook regrettably. While discussion would be interesting none of it should leave the room for obvious reasons. She would be sure to close the seminar with a reminder.

It seemed the class was ready to begin. But before he could even start, there was a question that caused the Professor to pause for a moment as the recent recruit asked of his metallic parts. It seemed as if the look in his eye was mystified of some old memory, but in a split second retained his composure. He began to tap against the metal on his chin with a dry look. "Ah, this? It's a simple prosthesis for an... 'accident'. It's been rather helpful for my research with a small computer inside to help generate complex calculations on the fly. Sometimes you need to come up with a speedy solution or else you risk losing a research grant or two, ha ha... But, never mind the irrelevant contraptions stuck to my head. I do have a class to teach."

He grasped the small secondary remote that was set aside on the podium for his use. Just before he was about to move to a slide, the girl still had other questions and at least they were relevant to what he was going to discuss. He chuckled in mild amusement as he pressed on the button to move to a slide that said What are Personas? and other details that he would relay and discuss in bulletpoints. "Very good questions, Cadet, if I must say. Allow me to preface with this. Do you know of your true self? Don't answer, I want you to think about it. As far as current research still knows little of what exactly they are, what we know of so far appears to suggest this direction: a reflection of your being, your full potential. If I must state my two cents into this, Man is a weak creature to the rest of Nature's creations including demons. Our bodies are even limited in power to prevent harming ourselves. These Personas maybe a means to circumvent such limitations. Many argue that Personas are the evolution of the Homo Sapiens into what some like to coin Homo Phantasma. We discovered a Persona is summoned via brain function, but current hypotheses believe they may come from a place even deeper than that, which wanders further into a very metaphysical territory than science would like to allow. As you may imagine, that itself has many empirical and theoretical issues. And that sparks many controversies on how research is conducted as it is very easy to walk into crackpot theory at times... if only they bothered to share more morsels of what they know..."

He seemed a tad annoyed of said people he muttered under this breath. But the old man knew he was still in class and nevertheless continued despite his distaste. The slide moved to the next topic, the Tulpa Program. "Before we learn about the Person suppressants, we must first understand why they were created and the reason behind the Tulpa Program. Beginning from the time Persona Users became ever more common and with the growing supernatural threats after the Eternal Divide, many initiatives began to understand what these Personas are and wished to find out how to awaken such power in a large scale. The Tulpa Program is one of such initiatives. We received volunteers of various backgrounds to better assist in our research. The more we studied, the more we began to learn what Personas were. Yet at the same time, we were beginning to see people with incomplete potential. Individuals who had trouble summoning and controlling their Personas despite having said power. And thus began the path to creating said suppressants for these people."

"Thank you professor." And with that Eryka sat down, returning to orderly silence. She may not have been fully satisfied with the answer she received but the professor was right. He did have a class to teach and her curiosity was not suitable for the lesson. She listened intensely to what the professor had to say and while it was all well and good but the amputee was left with one question. If there was some form of scientific or biological explanation behind the existence of one's Persona...then what made night time so special?

The Amputee would listen further, intrigued immensely by the nature of the drug and how it was a response to a problem created by a rapid rate of volunteering to support further research.; That was all well and good but the fact a drug, something you ingested which had a measurable effect on the body, designed to suppress a persona existed meant only one thing: there was definitely a physical element to the power of a Persona or to word it better, it had a quantifiable effect beyond simple "meta-physics" which to Eryka sounded like a very imprecise field.

"Professor Hugo. If a drug able to suppress one's Persona exists then surely, that logically implies the state of the body can influence an entity which seems entirely supernatural.What is this connection? Does it go both ways? How was it discovered to start? And....my Persona, and that of others, seems to only be usable at night. What makes night so special? What is the nature of that connection?" So far the only facts Eryka knew were that at night she could summon a giant tank formed from black mist that seeped out of her prosthetic and ultimately, those facts was what she was eager to know.

A great many interesting points were brought forth, many of which Susan did not know beforehand. If only she could take proper notes but that would need to come later. Suffice to say she enjoyed the scholarly pace of the lecture, honestly when Susan envisioned herself as a Cadet she imagined herself in a desk role similar to Professor Hugo's, parsing information and studying this phenomenon. Nowhere near the front lines at all though she would not regret her standing, the businesswoman felt that the position and responsibility she had taken as an assault coordinator was a pivotal and important one. One thing that was presented was the Persona, the true self. Susan understood that the Persona represented the self but not to what extent, from what she had seen she had surmised this to be a loose collection of unconscious, subconscious, and conscious traits that were scrambled into a stray manifestation that could assert itself. A representation of the inner psyche but not quite Full Potential. The implication bothered her. She did not like Seshat at all.

There was more interesting and even bold conjecture in that demons were a natural phenomenon and that humanity was evolving into a new species. Which would make a bit of sense considering how evolution worked. Humans were killed by demons, but not the ones with Personas. Therefore the ones with Personas would survive and pass on this trait.

...however Susan knew this to be empirically false, at least for the majority of the world population.

From the vision they had seen within the television studio, the madness that had overtaken after the Eternal Divide, and from what "T" had told them before...
"But it begs the question, do you really believe your powers come from her? What an interesting assumption you made."
The thought of the ringmaster caused her to shiver and tense but...this ability was granted from an outside source. She did not believe evolution played a role in the slightest, but it was worth asking questions over. She would save those for the end of the slide. Honest to goodness it would be difficult to ask certain inquiries without revealing sensitive information or straying too far into other subjects such as demonology. Though she was beginning to understand what "crackpot theories" would come about due to her conjectures, there were many implications in that humans were able to alter the physical environment through brain activity from the possible existence of other dimensions to the potential that reality existed within an advanced computer program. Eryka's own questions somewhat pointed to this, particularly nightly activity although this could also be explained with the way the brain functions in nocturnal hours, but a very interesting question nonetheless. The other answers Susan knew already but would allow the Professor to answer them. Seshat did indeed quite literally influence her behavior when her abilities were granted, Personas were discovered how any other science phenomenon is discovered which is through observation, and Susan was beginning to suspect that the word supernatural was beginning to lose its meaning if everything was connected in quantifiable ways. Particularly advanced science was indistinguishable from magic, after all, but this science was measurable to some degree. Needless to say her attention was firmly grasped and she was actually a little excited.

Character Strength:

"Excuse me, sir?" Susan raised her hand, "I have a few questions. I am aware that brain activity has an impact on how an individual can use a Persona, what is known as a Synchronization Rate which references the oscillation of neurons in the brain. What frequencies do the brains of Persona Users oscillate and in which wave form? Is it still within the Gamma wave range or does it go beyond? Must there be specific patterns of brain activity that activates this phenomenon? This tangentially leads into the important question I wanted to ask: are there flags within the genetic structure of Persona Users that support evidence that they are a new species of human? I am aware this is not well understood and the Human Genome Project must be too far out of date to support this at this point and I understand I may not have an answer until the end of my lifetime, but I felt I should ask for clarity's sake."

Susan had an endless supply of more questions, theories, and discussion points on what alone had been brought up but she considered it wiser to not hijack the Professor's lecture and to bring these up when relevant to the current topic and slide. Most were centered around The Tulpa Program and exactly what methods were used to grant people Personas or if this only served to Awaken them, she assumed electroneural diodes were involved. Oh, and one gripe to present if she were correct. If low synchro rates caused Personas to be more uncontrollable and high synchro rates resulted in Personas that could be controlled, the goal of suppressants would likely be to raise the synchro rate of the affected individual. Which would mean suppressants were stimulants. And Susan found that absolutely stupid.

Azami waited and listened patiently as other Cadets began to shuffle in and eventually the lecturer himself arrived. While she paid little heed to her comrades' initial entries, she would listen to their questions and the responses they invoked intently, watching the dialogue silently with knowing glints and slight curiosity in her eyes. In truth, her reason for being here was moreso to observe the actual conduct of the Cadets and the newly implemented lectures rather than to learn from them herself. Perhaps she could pick up a bit of knowledge here or there from her attendance and participation, but at the core of it what she really sought to know was what the fruits of this new policy were, how they were cultivated and whether or not her allies could (or would) consume them. That and it served as a gesture of good faith; it reflected well on both her and her master for them to engage with extracurricular activities such as these and there was no harm in currying favor when it suited one's ends. However, the initial proceedings would prove intriguing nevertheless, though not so much that she was certain that choosing this over the thrill of fishing was the right decision.

Hugo's appearance was a briefly entertaining subject. While most seemed to assume his apparent organic matter made him human, Azami was well-experienced with the humanlike appearances of Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons, both those here in the city such as Rui and Jackie and ones aligned with the Tsuriani Group who she'd encountered briefly during the course of her training. That made her assume he was simply some kind of faulty or prototypical machine who lacked a full sheen of humanity: this assertion was proven false. A question spoken by an unfamiliar face led to the confirmation that he was indeed a human and caused Azami to briefly shift her focus over to the recruit, though she'd let it slide back to the general room a mere moment later, especially when she voiced her other inquiries about the more basic fundamentals of supernatural abilities. These were not relevant concerns to the experienced canine, at least not the first few, and so she'd save her focus for the professor's response and the continuation of the lecture. The talk of evolution though was where things truly began to take an... interesting turn. Both the recruit and Susan had their own follow-ups and concerns, but Azami would stew over the topic briefly as they raised them and the lesson drew to a halt, her ears perking up over a particular piece of the unassuming businesswoman's hypothesis but filtering out most of the remaining questions and conjecture. This idea that Persona Users were potentially the next step in evolution, that they were a superior species to the humans that comprised the general masses... It seemed almost appealing at first, almost tempting. After all, Azami was the result of a rigorous and perfect breeding program, possessing purity and health that few members of her species could ever dream of and of course outclassing all others of her kind in many different aspects (intelligence chief among them). It seemed natural to conclude that her superiority was ingrained in her biological code, that from the moment of her birth she had possessed immense Potential beyond what was achievable to most. Her capacity to summon a Persona and her corresponding human levels of intellect surely put her in a different category than all other shibas; she was born beyond them, right?

...and yet that felt... off for some reason. She didn't like that conclusion. She should've been reveling in it, lapping up the implicit praise engulfing the atmosphere, but she didn't like it. It rang so hollow and empty, it disgusted her and grabbed her attention in a way she didn't expect. Was that where her power came from? Genes? Was she so easily simplifiable, a specimen so clearly defined and designed? It didn't sit right with her and the cracks swiftly started to overtake the image. "That's nonsense." She thought. "I was never defined by my species, never driven by instinct alone. True, I was born with natural talent, but what drove me to success was their expectations, their training... I wanted to be worthy of that name like I am now. Like I always will be. I..."


A pre-prepared index card hung from her mouth aimed toward the professor's direction, her frantically moving tail skidding to a stop. It was the second since she'd greeted Serenity. With the voices in her head falling silent save for the faint laughter of Fisher King, she picked up another index card and another after that, displaying them calmly in swift but steady succession. "There is no Homo Phantasma. I am living evidence to the contrary as are others. The idea is already a difficult stretch by its own merits, but when you consider the fact that some animals and machines have displayed a similar capacity to summon these entities, the absurdity of the idea becomes blatant. Are we to believe that creatures such as myself abruptly shifted onto the same evolutionary track as humanity? What about the robots? What's the biological basis for a purely artificial form of life harnessing these supposedly purely natural powers? I understand of course that they were created in the image of humans, but those responsible for this theory would presumably have us believe that these developments happened completely under the nose of humanity, unnoticed until the Divide when these 'latent abilities' just so happened to start manifesting. So what then? Homo sapiens, who to this day are still studying their own genes, mechanically replicated the innate traits of an advanced splinter species? If a near perfect imitation of the phenomenon can be conceived so swiftly then is this development even worthy of such distinguishments? How can we call Persona Users a race of new humans if the older model can essentially manufacture them on the fly?"

"Of course, this is all said with due respect professor, and it's solely my individual stance. I don't mean to imply you intend to uphold this theory as proven fact; I'm certain it was just meant to showcase one of the many explanations people have come up with to address this immensely complex issue. I'm also aware that this explanation has likely been simplified in the interest of ensuring clarity and that I'm no scientist. However, I simply feel obligated to make my thoughts on this clear, to clarify the ridiculousness of the notion before the more impressionable among us let this idea take root as supposed fact or likelihood. While I'm unaware of the greater consensus among what remains of any sort of western scientific community, I feel confident in saying that this sort of theory would get any who espoused it laughed out of the Tsurinai Group, made the subject of eternal mockery and jest. True science has never been about providing simple answers to complex mysteries after all; that reveal five years ago proved that more than enough, yes?"

Relevant(?) Strengths/Weaknesses:

It was proving to be a very fruitful lecture. It took the Professor by surprise as more students began to ask questions... even a dog, to boot. A dog. What was a canine even doing here? And how did the professor not notice him at first? This was truly a strange morning, indeed. Though he really can't complain. Most classes were boringly passive as all they did was just absorb information and not thinking critically about it. For once, it felt refreshing to have an active class than having to drone on and on about what he knew. He began to address the prosthetic-wearing Cadet. "Ah, yes. Let me preface saying that research into Personas is still in its nascent stage. What we know and have established may be subject to change, but there are few things that may stand firm for the while. That said, research and a little bit of experimentation does suggest there is a connection, but there's so much conflicting information on that front that it's difficult to come to a clear commonality to form a working theory that stands solidly on its own. Much of that conflicting information is structured around the fact each individual subject have their own reactions unique to them and so many environmental, personal, and other relevant factors that must be meticulously considered when trying to understand the connection. Even factors that we may previously have thought irrelevant initially, which complicates our comprehension. Nevertheless, the results still suggests there is a sort of holistic connection of the mind and body with said Personas which we still know little about. As far as the night is concerned, we have the Queen to give thanks for as part of this 'miracle' she performed which is limited within the realm of this City. And even that, we aren't privy to the details, unfortunately."

He gave one wistful glance at Serenity who seemed apologetic about the matter. But, he continued as there were other Cadets who wished to be educated. This one was a young woman who got even more technical. At first, he wasn't sure how to approach this as this may get very jargon-y along the way. Though it was discourse that he wasn't above talking about. "You must have been doing your homework, Ma'am. I truly appreciate that. To answer, Persona Users do tend to be at beta waves in general like any human being. But when they finally do summon their Personas, it goes towards gamma waves. Our observations led to noticing a significant number of Persona Users operate at Beta2 frequencies of 15 to 22 Hz normally, perhaps signifying their new awareness and comprehension of the world they inhabit with other Persona Users and demons. Gamma frequencies on the other hand vary very widely between the observed subjects we had. Such waves can be exhibited by sheer will of summoning the Persona. But you can see some waves pop up intermittently when you introduce the presence of supernatural entities, as if registering a kind of factor that can be relegated as a sub-conscious awareness of their existence in the Persona User's immediate area. Which is rather odd... most Persona Users don't seem to have an awareness of demons when they are concealed from view. The machine used to measure Synchronization Rates have a means of replicating said presence to measure the brain waves to compare and contrast each waves your brain exhibits to the machine. Lower rates are determined by how quickly the brain reaches Gamma waves and how consistent the frequencies are. Even a slight deviation in pattern helps to determine how synchronized the Persona User is to their Persona, especially when they even dip back into Beta waves at times. As far as the genetic structure goes, we've yet to find anything. Now you may believe this could threaten the argument about evolution. And I completely agree with this, if I dare say so. However, there are hypotheses that claim it's not so much of an evolution from our genetics, but from our souls. Now you understand why crackpot theories are such a high risk of popping up now?"

My, that was long. He could really use a drink right about now, but there was no place to get so much of a cup of water around here. It was the trade-off for an interesting class, unfortunately. But one, he didn't quite mind at the moment. The last Cadet he had to answer was... this dog. How exactly did it even manage to write on a card? But most interestingly enough, he was from that Tsurinai Group? The professor cleared his throat and merely responded normally.  "It does get complex, doesn't it? And do feel free to give your perspective, that's why we're all here for, right? To learn? I do admit in the grand scheme of things, my knowledge is limited even compared to those who work for your organization. The same goes for the wider scientific communities who are little different from groping around the dark for a light switch. So much what organizations such as your Tsurinai Group know is kept a secret. Not even so much of a leak was given to us to even help guide us to understand more fruitfully in our endeavors to comprehend Personas. As much as these theories of the Homo Phantasma exist, these are only hypotheses at best to help anchor us to a certain solid ground to help us better understand these phenomenons, as faulty as they maybe. We would be here for hours if I could not do my best to condense down to what Mankind at large understands so far. So I ask to bear with me with this as I have limited time and there's so much we could only discuss."

He began to click on the remote again to switch the slide to another titled with "Persona Suppressants". "As I mentioned before, Persona Suppressants were devised as a means to assist individuals who were having trouble with their Persona. These came as a necessity when said Personas have been known to cause or threaten harm to their owners. We aren't quite exactly sure why, but a prevailing belief is that such Personas weren't meant to be awakened in the first place, which maybe the reason for their violent reactions. Hence, why they have been termed as "Rogue Personas". However, in exchange for pacification, the drugs used have unique debilitating physiological and psychological effects on each Persona User. Many of the compounds in some of these drugs are some you could find in any other anti-psychotics, antidepressants, and the such. But most importantly, people have experimented with some of the affected flora from the Divide which helped to assist in these functions we desire to control these uncontrollable phenomenons. Unfortunately, they are currently a trade secret for many legal and corporate-based reasons surrounding it. There are many agreements in place and I cannot explain what they are. I hope you understand."

This made sense. The body and mind were incredibly connected, which is why biological psychology was often attributed as the only acceptable field of psychology given its repetitious nature and experiments that could be replicated. Though Susan was disappointed that the relation to the activity at night, it being "the miracle of the Queen". There must be some explanation for this aside. She began to contemplate on what that could be, finding it may be closely related to the magnetic spectrum and interference similar to how sunspots work. She... was not a strong believer in the supernatural, even after having been faced with it. Everything had an explanation that could be followed and explained in technical terms. "Magic" had no basis in the world of science.

And of course there was Azami's own conjecture. Susan found it slightly uncomfortable and insane that she would be brought to scientific disagreement with a dog of all things but... the points she had stated were biased as all get-out and hardly qualified as actual scientific argument, though good questions were raised it was a weak argument and hardly a declaration of fact. Science did not care whether humanity "deserved" a distinction or not, it did not care who studied it or who thought what was correct. Science only cared about what was and could be replicated again and again, natural laws. Man has harnessed many abilities outside of their evolutionary tree besides: the ability to see in the dark, breath underwater, flight, insulation, all given by the mother of invention and some of these more natural than others. Given her hypothesis that the ability to call upon a Persona related heavily to the synchronization rate of the brain (and it did) humans have long since been able to affect the brain to make changes, the difficulty being it was such a complex structure it was often difficult to make incredibly precise changes. But they were getting closer to this and she suspected closer than she could ever believe.

This was possible. Though, a new strain of species was her educational goal in discovering. It would need to occur in nature. Which as the professor spoke sounded incredibly possible not only due to man making their own changes but from exposure to demonic phenomena and what she had seen before. From "T". Persona Users caused the Eternal Divide... meaning they existed before the Divide, and they were either man-made or naturally occurring. There were many frightening concepts to think about but the discussion excited her beyond belief. Intelligent conversation always served to engage her.


The businesswoman became uncharacteristically animated as she broke off on a tangent, simply joyful with the conversation that was taking place. Though she would quickly realize where she was and what she was doing and who was around her and settle back down with a look of chagrin.
"...b-but that is just an observation of mine, it's not very relevant to the topic at hand. Th-thank you for answering my questions, sir." The meek woman settled farther into her desk, cursing the fact that she could not write any of this down. Her hand found its way over her mouth as she began to mutter ideas to herself based on this new information, focusing on the usefulness of course. Sensors within the city that could possibly detect this brain activity at a distance could serve to work as warning systems for Persona User activity... though at the frequency the range would be severely limited and perhaps not very useful. Other ideas sprung to mind, such as creating pointed beacons of what can trigger enhanced functioning similar to a Persona User as a safer alternative to the Cadet Trial. If workable it could determine if someone was capable of harnessing this power before being subjected to something that may kill them. Though it raised still more questions on what physiological effect the blood of the Queen had, what she could be capable of to suppress Persona during the day, and just exactly how Persona Users could affect their immediate environment. Susan was strongly considering psychic activity. Crackpot theories indeed but it would explain so much if it were true.

It would only be the blink of light from the changing of slides that knocked Susan out of her thoughts. And the more she listened the more Susan slunk down in her seat. It was true, yes, but it was no less concerning to be lumped in with "Rogue Persona Users". Those that should not have Awakened in the first place. Those who could bring harm to themselves and others. Those that required anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, and other psychological medication because there was something wrong with them... and Susan happened to be one of these. She was by definition someone who was fundamentally inferior to everyone around her. Try as she may it was not a stigma that was easily erased.

She was well-acquainted with the few pharmaceutical companies that made Suppressants, what the side effects could be, though not the composition of the drugs and honestly she did not care as long as they worked. Where they came from was irrelevant. Susan asked no further questions, somewhat afraid to draw attention to herself.