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Monstersona Mark II: Electric Boogaloo
Heads up! It's a re-mixed quick overview for this weird Monstersona AU!
(Please note, this remains a constant work in progress.)
What is Persona 3?
First, a quick summary of Persona 3.
Persona 3 is, as the title suggests, the third title (…sort of. Persona 2 is actually split into two separate titles because this series is weird like that) of the Persona series. The Persona series, in turn, is an offshoot of the Shin Megami Tensei JRPG series. These games run the gamut of genres and settings; some modern day, some post apocalypse, etc. The one common thing they have in common is drawing from a MASSIVE world mythology of supernatural creatures, either as summons, allies, enemies, whatever. In SMT terms they’re frequently known as ‘demons’ but can encompass anything from angels, devils, folklore monsters, etc.
In Persona 3, all of these creatures manifest as summons known as “Persona” during The Dark Hour. Summoning them opens up a wide range of spells for the characters; anything from elemental magic to healing spells to physical attacks and status buffs/debuffs. In Persona 3 the common enemy these are unleashed on are “Shadows” and basically act as the repressed, hostile manifestations of humanity’s collective unconsciousness.
In short, Persona 3 is an urban fantasy geared game where you play as a group of messed up teenagers with attitude fighting shadowy manifestations of human nihilism in a hidden hour sandwiched between the minutes of midnight, with the magic power of Jungian psychology.
In this AU… things get that little bit weirder with those aspects.
What’s different in this AU?
While the characters still have Personas, this pitch takes the idea of a manifold, faceted conscience plus the idea of a repressed shadow archetype and runs with it, adding on a generous dose of body horror.
The idea being that people have many masks, all of which are a different aspect of themselves… but since this is Megami Tensei, those aspects have a veneer of being monstrous. Sort of playing on the idea that Persona and Shadows are two sides of the same Jungian coin, and blurring the line between the two a little bit more.
And these aspects then forcefully express themselves when the Dark Hour takes place. Whenever the Dark Hour rolls around, it’s time for some amount of painful transformations; either completely into something monstrous, or with partial changes instead. They might occasionally stay human thanks to their Persona, but it’s a very low chance.
And since these shifts are all aspects of someone’s self, this means there are LOTS of monster forms to shift into. So a character may be a werewolf one night, but then be a wendigo or something the next night. It’s always a toss of the dice. Ditto with just how much control they have over the new form.
(Read: there’s a lot of wiggle room on what sort of forms are available for a given bit of RP, plus control, etc. Persona powers are PROBABLY consistent, but open for flexibility too. And while this is mainly a thing that happens during the Dark Hour, maybe there will be plots or events where the changes happen outside of it. Again, going for maximum flexibility and shenanigans.)
Why the hell did you come up with this?
I like monsters! And Persona! And I like other games like Digital Devil Saga a lot, and tried to do a fusion dance with all of those elements.
So what’s the actual in-setting lore?
So 10 years prior to the game events, when the Kirijo Group were experimenting with Things Mankind Was Not Meant To Know, on top of creating the Dark Hour and warping reality, they also fundamentally altered the way people use Persona. In other words, the damage they caused was a lot more far reaching and disruptive.
Mitsuru technically still has Penthesilea as her Persona; otherwise she’d degenerate into a shadow and/or demon completely. Penthesilea basically acts as a shield, disrupting the chaotic energy of the Dark Hour and various Shadows enough so Mitsuru can safely harness it, and use different monster forms.
…It also means that Mitsuru retains her elemental affinities and weaknesses, so if she ever unlocks a monster form that relies a lot on fire magic, she’s in for a wild time.
Okay, can other people use these ideas/AU?
Sure! Other PCs can totally have this as a thing! Either by getting written into the AU (seeing as there’s a whole bunch of other Persona games and castmates in P3) or possibly visiting Mitsuru’s world, being there when the Dark Hour happens, and experiencing the warp first-hand. Or just go whole hog with the idea in other contexts; I just think monsters and Persona are cool and would love seeing more of ‘em.
(Please note, this remains a constant work in progress.)
What is Persona 3?
First, a quick summary of Persona 3.
Persona 3 is, as the title suggests, the third title (…sort of. Persona 2 is actually split into two separate titles because this series is weird like that) of the Persona series. The Persona series, in turn, is an offshoot of the Shin Megami Tensei JRPG series. These games run the gamut of genres and settings; some modern day, some post apocalypse, etc. The one common thing they have in common is drawing from a MASSIVE world mythology of supernatural creatures, either as summons, allies, enemies, whatever. In SMT terms they’re frequently known as ‘demons’ but can encompass anything from angels, devils, folklore monsters, etc.
In Persona 3, all of these creatures manifest as summons known as “Persona” during The Dark Hour. Summoning them opens up a wide range of spells for the characters; anything from elemental magic to healing spells to physical attacks and status buffs/debuffs. In Persona 3 the common enemy these are unleashed on are “Shadows” and basically act as the repressed, hostile manifestations of humanity’s collective unconsciousness.
In short, Persona 3 is an urban fantasy geared game where you play as a group of messed up teenagers with attitude fighting shadowy manifestations of human nihilism in a hidden hour sandwiched between the minutes of midnight, with the magic power of Jungian psychology.
In this AU… things get that little bit weirder with those aspects.
What’s different in this AU?
While the characters still have Personas, this pitch takes the idea of a manifold, faceted conscience plus the idea of a repressed shadow archetype and runs with it, adding on a generous dose of body horror.
The idea being that people have many masks, all of which are a different aspect of themselves… but since this is Megami Tensei, those aspects have a veneer of being monstrous. Sort of playing on the idea that Persona and Shadows are two sides of the same Jungian coin, and blurring the line between the two a little bit more.
And these aspects then forcefully express themselves when the Dark Hour takes place. Whenever the Dark Hour rolls around, it’s time for some amount of painful transformations; either completely into something monstrous, or with partial changes instead. They might occasionally stay human thanks to their Persona, but it’s a very low chance.
And since these shifts are all aspects of someone’s self, this means there are LOTS of monster forms to shift into. So a character may be a werewolf one night, but then be a wendigo or something the next night. It’s always a toss of the dice. Ditto with just how much control they have over the new form.
(Read: there’s a lot of wiggle room on what sort of forms are available for a given bit of RP, plus control, etc. Persona powers are PROBABLY consistent, but open for flexibility too. And while this is mainly a thing that happens during the Dark Hour, maybe there will be plots or events where the changes happen outside of it. Again, going for maximum flexibility and shenanigans.)
Why the hell did you come up with this?
I like monsters! And Persona! And I like other games like Digital Devil Saga a lot, and tried to do a fusion dance with all of those elements.
So what’s the actual in-setting lore?
So 10 years prior to the game events, when the Kirijo Group were experimenting with Things Mankind Was Not Meant To Know, on top of creating the Dark Hour and warping reality, they also fundamentally altered the way people use Persona. In other words, the damage they caused was a lot more far reaching and disruptive.
Mitsuru technically still has Penthesilea as her Persona; otherwise she’d degenerate into a shadow and/or demon completely. Penthesilea basically acts as a shield, disrupting the chaotic energy of the Dark Hour and various Shadows enough so Mitsuru can safely harness it, and use different monster forms.
…It also means that Mitsuru retains her elemental affinities and weaknesses, so if she ever unlocks a monster form that relies a lot on fire magic, she’s in for a wild time.
Okay, can other people use these ideas/AU?
Sure! Other PCs can totally have this as a thing! Either by getting written into the AU (seeing as there’s a whole bunch of other Persona games and castmates in P3) or possibly visiting Mitsuru’s world, being there when the Dark Hour happens, and experiencing the warp first-hand. Or just go whole hog with the idea in other contexts; I just think monsters and Persona are cool and would love seeing more of ‘em.