Introduction

"This world is not as it should be. It's filled with distortion, and The Fall can no longer be prevented. The hearts of men are fickle, and once already did the Crawling Chaos lead them to the abyss. We now dwell in a world shaped by the sacrifices of those who fought to draw mankind back from the brink. To those among you who would defy what is coming, and see their efforts not be in vain... I welcome you to my Velvet Room."

--Igor

This world is distorted. There is a pervasive feeling to all that things are not as they should be, even if few would attribute it to the supernatural. The youth and adults of Japan alike feel that society no longer serves their interests. Corrupt institutions and authority figures are everywhere, forcing people to submit to them, slowly crushing who they are under the weight of those roles.

The digital revolution and the 24-hour news cycle ensures that everyone is constantly bombarded by sensationalizations of this world's most brutal tragedies, drawing people to wonder, 'Is this life truly worth living?' Most people instead take solace in the apathy of blissful ignorance, enjoying the comforts of their social media feeds over difficult truths they feel they can do nothing about.

How do you live in a world that would try to force you to be someone you are not? How do you move on after losing someone you love? What is the answer to life, when death might come at any time? When every memory is unreliable, what can a person rely upon in life? How does one obtain 'freedom' in a society that constantly makes you feel backed into a corner? If 'reformation' has the potential for incredible harm, is it truly worth disrupting the status quo?

If the fate of humanity actually is on the line, then why must we go to school today?

On the Velvet Room MUSH, each of your characters are on their own narrative journey, where the supernatural grants them the agency to discover their own answer to life's most difficult questions through the power known as 'Persona.'

And with it, to battle the ruin that is coming.

The themes integrated here are entirely from the Persona series of JRPGs created by Atlus, and include Persona 1, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Persona 3, Persona 5, and Persona 5 Tactica. Persona 4 and Persona 5 Strikers will be coming later in the MUSH's life cycle but are both already integrated.