Figured this is gonna have quite a few chapters, so time to make it sort-able! Will update it as time goes on.
A combination of the carrion!sif au originally by @traumaboyexo, and an Au I was working on before, to add elements of AdventureQuest World's Astravia. Only needed reading is ISAT itself!
Siffrin is dead. And has been for a long time. But Something wants to live as them. Something that hungers. Something unnatural. But they want to stay with these people. And hope that they don't hurt them...
But Monsters rarely get what they want.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
[Dialogue Symbol Key]
Asks are recommended! Feel free to ask away! Change and Equinox will happily deliver said asks to the party. You can also ask the Scale questions, as they have tech to talk to Change!
You are answered by Silence. No one can carry your words. Asks are closed.
#Symphony!Asks is the tag I use for ask questions.
Character Ref and art: [Siffrin? and Loop] [The Scale] [A fallen star]
[Scale voice ref]
The following are links to the chapters released on tumblr, which are outdated or innacurate somewhat. The accurate version is on AO3, but these are kept as an archive of old writing choices!
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Right, so since p6 just announced, I might as well put me and @flocksis ideas (and Art) for our hypothetical
Persona 6: Monsters
Because while we know what we made probably isn't gonna happen, we called way the hell more then expected. Green and monster theming, right off the bat. Rest though? Remains to be determined.
Now, to start. Most mainline Persona games have a central theme/emotional impact that they are based around. Persona 3 was all about death. Persona 4 was all about Truth. And Persona 5 was about rebellion.
Our Persona 6 would be based on Redemption.
Premise
The initial premise is that, in the city it's set, people can find a strange game they can play, called Eden. Within the game, everyone who has the game, and also everyone who doesn't, can cast judgment on others based on the known things they've done in the real world. If people judge you as good, you get points known as Karma and those can make things better for you in the real world. Little changes, like giving you good luck, or maybe making money.
If enough people judge you as bad though, you can be designated as a Monster, and that person is thrown into the game and transformed (in a way thematic to their crimes). People can go and try to slay the monster with the stuff from the game, and if they do, the real person dies.
Cue our MC Protagonist.
She's moved into town, after her family mysteriously died and nobody caught the killer. She's a bit of an ass, doesn't care about anybody, and is lazy as hell.
But then people find out she might have been the one that killed her family, out of jealousy. And thus, she shows up in the death game, as the Vampire monster of Envy.
Thing is, she already kinda hates herself for having done it. But she still wants to live, be cause 'she's selfish as hell and doesn't care if she's horrible. She's gonna live damnit.' And thus, by accepting the monster within and choosing to be better, she awakens a Persona, Cain.
She ends up meeting a mysterious guide, a floating ghostly figure in chains. They kinda hate her, but they'll help her get out of here and back to the real world. They get VERY annoyed if she's gonna die, and refuse to say anything about themselves.
She eventually escapes, but still remains kinda vampiric. Not exactly human anymore. She wouldn't normally bother anymore, but fuck it, she kinda likes that Karma 'good' players get, so she can ransack the game world for whatever she wants. And if getting allies will help her do that? Well, fine then, if she has to.
With this, we have the premise, onto
Mechanics
See, the thing is, Our protaganist is a terrble person, and you might have noticed she's not exactly like our normal do-everything wildcard. Because she isn't, kind of.
Her Arcana is the Reversed Fool.
In fact, every character in this game would have a reversed arcana. Social links are about taking someone who has the worst version of their Arcana, and helping them bring it back right side up. Even the protagonist will need to figure this out, way before actually learning redemption. You have to forgive yourself before you can truly understand redemption.
But they do start reversed. And a reversed Fool wildcard is it's own can of worms.
The Velvet room is giving her a contract, but it's a little more tenuous. They want to believe in her, they sense her potential and her ability to become the wildcard to solve this crisis. But are aware that at present, she is inclined to fall down worse paths.
So they actively state and remind her that her connections will be the source of her power. They sell her on that idea, and even state that kind of potential could fight gods. That if she does expand her bonds, gain her connections, and reach out, she could truly achieve anything she desires.
Which is all she needs. She's envious of anyone better then her, petty as shit, and fuck it, if she's a vampire now, might as well lean into the thing? Draining others for strength, in her mind.
This does change some things about how her powers work, as at the start, she's closer to a human persona villain then a protaganist. She doesn't get shuffle time, and like P5, needs to intimidate shadows to get stuff. You know, Personas, money, items...
And in her case, Recruits. Because like many persona villains, she can control shadows under the right circumstances.
Recruited shadows can be held in the Main Team's Dark Garden, an area hidden away from the main Eden hub. People and Shadows not wanting to take part of Eden's judgment game can hide away here. There's fewer rewards, but the main team enforces it as a neutral spot (no fighting in our fucking safe space.) But recruited shadows can go out and raid the main hub of Eden for loot, or defend the garden from attacks by players.
There are major players in the game, who are seen as the pinnacle of good, unless you are bad, in which case they are often the ones putting effort into judgments. These people tend to act as major enemies in the story.
Now, with the rough mechanics out of the way, time for
The Party
While we have a few characters, let's start with the two other characters Flock has made art for!
Firstly, we have our guide, and Reverse Death! The Ghost monster of Despair.
They just go by X. And the truth is, they were one of the shadows sent to kill the protaganist. A really costly one, only one of the highest karma players in the game could possibly afford, a Reaper. But... they kinda broke. They developed a consciousness, and for some reason (which they hate), they couldn't bring themselves to kill the protagonist. They have their own persona now instead, and can't really do their Reaper stuff right because you know. Going against their entire nature.
Which they don't like. They want to go back to being normal. Mindless, emotionless, death incarnate. That existence made sense. They are dead set on completing their job, but since they can't seem to do it themselves, they'll stick by the protagonist until they can. (and nobody else gets to kill them, that's their job.)
As the Death Arcana is all about accepting Change and moving on from your past self, right-siding their arcana is letting them come to terms with their new existence.
Next up, we have our Reversed Chariot, the Werewolf Monster of Wrath!
She's an ex biker gang member, who left after her anger issues caused her to go too far and hurt a lot of people. She still has beef with her old gang, cause they absolutely pushed her into that incident, but honestly she just keeps throwing herself into fights she probably isn't gonna win, just to stir up shit to feel something.
Her Persona is Fenrir, and she's also the first party member after X. her arc is less about stopping her fighting, but more learning to direct and temper it. She is the kind of person to fight, but she needs to learn to fight for the right things, in the right ways.
Now, for some short snippets about the rest of the Party (which I don't have art for, or as much detail about).
Reversed Magician, the Spider Monster of Pride.
The magician is all about applying your strengths and creating potential. Our person Likes joining big competitions and Cheating the results.
Their Persona is Arachne, and their monstrous traits includes silk creation and spiderlike features.
Their ark is about learning to actually try, and make use of the skills they very much do have.
Reversed Emperor, the Dark Toon monster of Lust
The emperor is all about creation and focus on your domain and strengths. Rather then regular Lust, our protagonists desire is for attention and popularity. A child star, they don't care about the actual shows they make things for, so long as it looks perfect compared to others, and getting hype and attention even for half assed works.
Their persona is Dorian Grey, and their monstrous traits makes them occasionally drip ink and have mild toon physics.
Their ark is about learning to actually care about what they do, even if it's not what everyone wants. Caring about what they make, because they make it.
Reverse Fortune, the Two-faced monster of Greed.
Fortune is about learning to accept fate and work alongside the whims of the universe. Our person outright rejects every decent avenue for life She could have, only playing the nice friendly mother when she has custody of her son, before he becomes a back ally scammer of medical supplies who spends all his money for gambling.
His/Her persona is Hyde, and their monstrous trait is their features changing depending on which side of themselves they are showing (as well as alchemical substances leaking from them on occasion). They are also the team Navigator, and their unique navigator ability is to create and use new consumables and items mid battle.
His/her ark is about learning to actually use their skills in medical sciences for good, and maybe using it to mend bridges in the family.
Reverse Hanged Man, the Barbed Zombie monster of Sloth
The hanged man is often a figure who experiences hardship to gain wisdom and insight. Our person is a lazy cop who does the bare minimum for his job and ignores how it can hurt people, even though it's put him at odds with his best friend.
His persona is Ferdiad, and his monstrous trait is that his body is filled with metallic barbs and thorns, but unable to feel the pain from it or anything else.
His ark is about learning to care more about his actions, and to take responsibility for thing, mending bridges with his friend. (and also leaving the force.)
Reverse Tower, the Dulahan monster of Gluttony
The Tower is often about calamity, and recovering from it. Our character is the leader of a struggling business, but is keeping their high class lifestyle by chasing cheap profits and exploiting their workers.
Their Persona is Marie Antionette, and their monstrous trait is both a mildly ghostly demeanor, and a head that isn't fully anchored to their torso.
Their ark is learning to take responsibility, and try to make things better, even if it means loosing some of their luxuries.
And that's the whole cast! (aside from other Social links, but that's it's own can of worms).
I hope you all like this idea, because we all know Atlas is too cowardly to do even half of this! But we can sure hope the upcoming Real Persona 6 is gonna be good!
If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.
1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.
2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.
3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.
4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.
5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.
Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.
Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.
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I've never read Homestuck but there's a type of media that I call "a Homestuck" and I think it's a useful categorization. The main criteria are:
long enough that the time investment is a serious barrier to entry
irrevocably changes your personality
brings something genuinely unique to the table. there is no real substitute for reading/playing/watching it in its entirety
Fate/Stay Night is a Homestuck. Worm is a Homestuck. When They Cry is a Homestuck.
Undertale has cultural impact similar to a Homestuck at first glance, but the fact that it's a pretty short and accessible game means that you don't get the particular mix of sunk cost fallacy and an intimate experience with a piece of media that results in you needing to connect with others who have already put in the time investment. You can buy your friends Undertale and expect them to play it if they're not too busy; telling a friend to read Homestuck is giving them a quest that, if accepted, will spark an odyssey. to read someone's Homestuck is an act of love without true equivalent.
I will add dragonfable to this list. 20+ years of development. Needs it's own launcher because it's a former flash game. There is literally no other game like it, not because of mechanics but because of just the weird place it is. I can't even properly explain the themes without someone playing it.
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Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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