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reverieooc2018-08-13 07:59 pm
reveriemod) wrote in reverieooc2018-08-13 07:59 pm
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OOC Info: August Player Plot
Hello, Reverie Operators!
This is an OOC post regarding our upcoming player plot, which is kicking off on August 15th. As characters slowly start to recover from the illness that has plagued the station for the past two weeks, some characters will discover a new app on their phones. The icon is a strange symbol with an eye, and the app has no obvious use.
The app is called the Metanav.
And it seems like it hides and does more than it lets on! A few days after the app appears on some devices, people are finding themselves being pulled into the Metaverse! On the other side, a strange version of the station itself. Everything about it seems to be unchanged in terms of layout; the same doors are still blocked off, the rooms are in the same locations, the view from the Observation Deck is the vast expanse of space...
But you're not as alone here as you thought.
There are monsters. They come in various shapes and sizes, some of them humanoid and some of them far from it. You can fight them if you wish, but there is no telling what will work best.
What is the Metaverse, and if you’ve been pulled in, how are you supposed to get out?
-- This player plot was brought to you by our Persona cast, and they will be the ones pulling the strings, as well as answering most questions that players may have. If you have questions about the possibilities, here is a post written by the cast about the P5 mechanics.
Along with this teaser for the upcoming plot and its possibilities, we wanted players interested in getting the Metaverse app to sign up on this post, by commenting they’d like the app. In case there are too many sign-ups, we will RNG the results.
If you don't feel like participating now, the metaverse will stick around. There will be chances for personalized plot stuff with the Phantom Thieves later on, if you're interested!
QUESTIONS
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And characters will be stuck there until they either find a way out or die -- if they have the Metanav themselves, then activating it will be enough to get them home, so they can get out through sheer luck if they just push buttons at random on their comms. If they don't have the app, there's also the option for them to encounter someone else in the Metaverse who does have it, or for the Thieves to swoop in and rescue them.
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2. What does it look like (from an external perspective) when characters vanish into the Metaverse? Do they always reappear where they vanished?
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1. The defining feature of the app is that it appears resilient to deletion. If you try to get rid of it, it'll show up again some time later, like it sort of has an insistence on being there. The truth behind its appearance and why it's there is a rather big persona spoiler, but there are definitely outside forces that are nearly impossible to trace going on here. Otherwise, hey, make it up! Persona plays hot and heavy with its own rules.
2. The canon evidence of this leads me to believe that they just vanish, and it's happened in some questionably obvious/public places. Going into the Metaverse seems to be almost a small AOE point of entry, namely- that you can drag other people in with you when the app activates, intentional or not.
Also, it appears as if the cast in P5 pretty much came out from the point they entered, and dungeon mechanics dictate that you basically enter and exit from the same point. However, it's not clear whether or not that's just a plot device/programming style to make it easier to tell a palace entrance and exit. My best guess is that you generally will have to return to the point you vanished from to exit. (CAST... HELP ON THIS ONE...)
There are also spots in the metaverse where the hold of its cognitive world is particularly weak. In those areas, the surroundings tend to warp between the two worlds. Those places are not able to have shadows in them and are considered "safe rooms."
Re: QUESTIONS
1. Will characters who have the app on their device be able to enter and exit the Metaverse at will?
2. Are Shadows inherently hostile to other characters? I know the log says they just stand there talking to themselves, but is it possible to interact with them at all? If they just talk to themselves, will they be talking about events in that character's canon or something specific to the Metaverse?
Thanks!
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Mementos can be accessed from anywhere by entering "Mementos" in the coordinates!
2. This is a little more complicated. Generally Shadows are hostile because they are born from human desires that get out of control and go berserk. Certain Shadows, like those connected to a specific person, can retain personality traits and memories and can actually be conversed with. These are the types of Shadows you usually see as rulers of Palaces, but they can exist in Mementos on a smaller scale, albeit they are very likely to attack you.
tl;dr It Depends, but MOST Shadows are inherently hostile and will attack because they are made from human emotion and are therefore volatile. The Shadows that won't attack right away are still dangerous, but can be communicated with, and ultimately are most interested in their own preservation.
Please let me know if I can clarify more! Persona 5's mechanics are honestly very dense but for the purposes of the event and lot can be handwaved too :)
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To build on your second answer, if a Shadow is interested in its own preservation, would it attempt to retreat from a battle if it was losing? In addition, if a Shadow is "killed," does it stay permanently dead?
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Shadows are mostly constructs born out of cognition. They take a lot of forms, but specifically in the metaverse they're born out of corrupted desires.
When you talk about your own personal shadow, think about meeting a version of yourself and all the repressed desires that you keep hidden/in check. The stronger that repression, the stronger the shadow.
How they act, etc., is completely up to your design! Go crazy with it; it should allow you to build room for CR and character growth (or negatively, if that's what you want too).
Ultimately, defeating a personal shadow can be tricky.
Forgive me, because I'm about to get densely persona in here for a second.
If you kill that inner shadow, by the laws of the game, it will cause you to lose your sanity and will to live, eventually leading to your death. If you defeat it in battle, it might calm down enough to reason with it. You can try persuasion as well. Looking back to other installments in the franchise (persona 4, specifically), it's the very act of denying that the shadow is a piece of you that makes it incredibly hostile and try to take over. Accepting that shadow and believing it's a part of you is basically how you become a persona user to begin with.
In persona 5, you can forcibly change peoples' hearts by interacting with their shadows. If there's some part of you that you'd like to eliminate, say, a fear of connections with people, a certain addiction, a misrepresentation of yourself that you have internally... then being able to communicate with that part can lead the owner of the shadow to change. If you're so deeply corrupted and beyond that point, though, you'll have to engage in much riskier behavior, because usually those people have built sky high walls to protect that inner self (those are called palaces).
I know it's VERY CONFUSING, but honestly, have fun with it. Handwave the stuff you'd like to handwave and if you need any help from the persona cast, I'm 100% sure we'll be there to guide, etc.
Happy shadow hunting!
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You can destroy those, but as long as there are twisted desires and the thoughts are out there, they can be reborn and resurface in the metaverse.