Character Application

Introduction

1a. Basic Info: To keep track of our players, we need to know some information about you. Please give us your name or a common handle, your age, and your e-mail address. You must be 18 or older to play on Velvet Room MUSH. Make sure the email in this section matches the email in your account.

1b. Past Alts: If you have played any prominent characters at any other MUSHes or similar games, please list who you play/played and where. This doesn't need to be a complete list, just enough to give us an idea of who you are. If you have any characters at Velvet Room MUSH already, please list them.

Profile

2. Please give us the +finger profile of the character that you're applying for, if they haven't been made before. If you want changes to an existing +finger, please let us know that too. Also included are the fields for +info, which revolve around your Persona.

Name: Please give us the @name you'd like on the game. We want given and family in that order, where appropriate.
Pronouns: Whatever pronouns are appropriate for your character.
Arcana: The Arcana that primarily represents your character and their journey. You can browse your options at Tarot.
Persona: Your character's (primary and/or starter) Persona.
School OR Workplace: If your character is a student, list the school they attend. If your character has a job, list the place where they work. If neither of these apply, list N/A.
Grade OR Job: If your character is a student, list what grade they're in. If your character has a job, list what that job is. If neither of these apply, list N/A.
Residence: The place where your character currently lives. Please be specific here if possible; we want to see (for example) 'Shibuya, Tokyo' rather than just 'Tokyo.'
Source: The game your character sources from and whether they're a feature or original character. Format like: Persona 2 (FC), Persona 3 (OC). If your OC uses multiple games as a source, you can instead use Velvet Room MUSH (OC).
Quote: One or two lines that the character might say. This can be as simple as you like. It can even be a victory quote!
Profile: Give us a paragraph about your character. It should cover who they are, anything particularly notable about them (skills, rumors, accomplishments), and any generally-known elements of their history. Try to keep this brief.

Persona Description: A basic, one-to-two sentence description of what your Persona looks like, if applicable.
Persona Info: A basic, one-to-two sentence blurb about your Persona's story.

Background Information

3a. History: Tell us about your character's background. Where did they come from and how did they end up where they are now? What schools have they attended or jobs have they worked, and where? What influences shaped who they are today? What traumas have they suffered, or obstacles are they still struggling to overcome? These questions are for inspiration; you don't need to limit yourself to them.

3b. Awakening: If you didn't cover your character's Awakening in history, please cover it here, including a note as to what kind of Persona awakening they had--Persona-game vs. Evoker potential, etc. If you want your character to Awaken on-grid, please note that here, and what support you'd like from staff for that purpose.

3c. Previous Timeline: Please tell us -- briefly -- how things were different for your character in the previous timeline, if applicable. (See: The Two Timelines for details.) It's okay if things were more or less the same and/or they were a normal person who died unremarkably. (Note that some events from the games have changed on Velvet Room MUSH, so we want a general sense of their life over the past ten years rather than a recap of Innocent Sin's plot.) If they had a wish for the new timeline, please discuss that in question 9b.

Personality

4a. Personality: Tell us about your character's personality. How do they interact with others, what are their goals, what drives them? If they belong to a certain group or faction, why is that? Don't limit yourself to these questions, but instead give us a comprehensive look at who your character is and why they make the choices they do.

4b. Personal Interests: Tell us about your character's interests, hobbies, and/or favorites. What do they do for fun? How do they use their spare time? If they're the driven sort who fills all their spare time with the pursuit of their goals, that's fine, but having other things they care about will help give you more hooks with other characters and plots.

4c. Major Arcana: Tell us about your character's Arcana and how it applies to them. Think about what stage of the Tarot your character's journey is on or represents; all of the tarot cards are within everyone, but choose/describe your character's based on what you want to emphasize.

4d. (OPTIONAL) Fool OCs and some unique powers such as Chidori Yoshino's healing powers are appable, but they require an extensive and in-depth plot to go along with their extra powers; a Fool OC means a commitment to creating an original game plot to go with your character. If you're applying for a Fool OC, please tell us in detail about the Fool's Journey you have in mind, the long-term plot you're looking to create, and any original supernatural influences and/or elements attached to it including any original awakening styles. This will need back-and-forth with staff, so be prepared for questions and/or revisions. This also applies to such unique powers; they don't require a full game plot, but we want them to add more to the game than having a cool power.

Supporting Cast (OPTIONAL)

5. Do you have any Non-Playable Characters in mind to help support your character and the story you want to tell with them? Examples include family members, friends, bosses, and/or co-workers. We encourage you to list a couple here to get thinking about your character's relationships: their name, basic deal, and what they mean to your character is sufficient. If you want to elaborate further, consider an Arcana!

If you want staff to run them, please say so and also include a one-line description or let us know to make something up. NPCs do not need combat statlines and are not expected to have them.

Staff will give you a heads up before using your NPC, and you can revoke this consent at any time.

Persona

6a. Starter: Tell us about your Persona. Tell us how their story unfolds and how it parallels your character. Tell us how they fight in battle and the meaning behind their fighting style -- and the psychological underpinnings of why their style has expressed the way that it does. For instance, Fuuka is a Navigator who is exceptionally talented at relaying information up the hundreds of floors of Tartarus... because she wanted to connect the people around her! If your character or their Persona have any special powers (such as Chidori and Medea's life-emitting talents), please detail them here as well.

6b. Persona Evolution: In canon, many characters gain a second or even third stage to their Persona as a result of character development or some other special event. Consider what such evolution might be in store for your character's Persona, if any. We encourage you to think of at least one, so that we can discourage others from stepping on your toes.

Arcana System Information

7a. Base Combat: Tell us how your character fights. This should include what kind of weapon (or weapons, if they have more than one) they use, what kind of style (or lack thereof) they have, what kind of damage their weapon(s) do, and so one. Tell us why they fight like this and/or what it reflects about who they are as a person -- for example, they have a strict, traditional upbringing, so they use martial arts, or they're in archery club so they use bow and arrows. If a character uses multiple weapons, they can have different types of weapon damage. Basic attack elements include: Strike (e.g. punches, baseball bats, staffs, etc.), Slash (e.g. swords, spears, axes, etc.), and Pierce (e.g. bows, guns, throwing spears, etc.).

7b. Please fill out a character sheet for your character's stats and link it here. Refer to Arcana System and Monad System for instructions. Note that if you're a Wild Card, you can apply for up to four additional Personas. The character sheet can be found below; make a copy of it and include a link to your filled-out copy in your app:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14Aiw9ttoQKq0DhrSTyxr4yDmwdgYk0TAsOMZ5ehmwhE/edit?usp=sharing

Monad Information

8. Stats and Approaches: Tell us about your character's primary traits while exploring supernatural spaces--what they're strong at, what they're weak at, what they're merely okay at--and why they're like that. We'd also like to hear about your character's Approaches (see Monad System for details). This is your space to tell us how your character approaches Monads narratively; please use the spreadsheet linked in the above section to stat the mechanics. Base your strengths on the following five traits:

Academics: How educated your character is; how good they are at reasoning and/or logical understanding.
Charm: How charismatic your character is; how attractive they are and/or how well they can make others like them.
Guts: How brave your character is; how capable they are of standing their ground and/or pushing through.
Proficiency: How adept your character is; how clever they are and/or how deft or agile their movements are.
Understanding: How compassionate your character is; how kind they are, how well they understand others' feelings.

Note that these traits are heavily abstracted, so don't stress too much if your ideas don't match up perfectly; just pick the trait that aligns best with your intent. Each character gets three Approaches, and you may repeat traits if you wish.

Resources, Hype, and Miscellaneous

9a. By Your Side: Does your character have some resources or clout that aren't represented by your statistics? Do they have a secret in their background which might one day prompt a plot? Please tell us here! We understand these things can change and develop in play, but to the greatest extent possible, we want to know what you have in mind. If you already stated it in your character's background or elsewhere, please briefly restate it here as well.

9b. WISH: The new timeline implied in Question 3c was created with the wishes of the survivors. Consider if your alternate timeline self had a wish that affected their life in this timeline, or if they were affected by someone else's wish. The scope of this wish is usually 'has a chance to reconcile with their parent' or 'didn't die young' rather than riches or power. This is something you can think about now, later, or not at all, but if you have something in mind, please state it here. For more on this, see: our discussion of wishes in The Two Timelines.

9c. MADE TO BE IN LOVE: What about this character sparks your passion? What are you excited to see or do with them? What about them and their story are you enthusiastic about experiencing and sharing? We want to know!

9d. Misc.: Do you have plans and hopes for your character that staff should know about? Do you have any particular inspirations for your character, like other character(s) they might be based on? Do you have a concern not covered by one of the other questions that you want to bring up? This is the place to tell us.

All done? Please send your application (as text, not a link or an attachment) to velvetroommush@gmail.com with the following subject line: "FC/OC - Chorus/Focus/Nemesis - Character Name" (for example, "FC - Focus - Maya Amano"). Good luck!