Strega
"Only by striving to live every moment to its fullest can the soul truly be satisfied."
- --Takaya Sakaki, leader of Strega
Strega, or 'Witch' in Italian, is the name taken for themselves by the gathering of Persona Users led by Takaya Sakaki. They are bound together by a simple desire to enjoy the use of their supernatural might however they might wish.
This file is an informational guide for playing members of Strega on Velvet Room MUSH. It does not necessarily cover every aspect of secrets known within the group regarding their background with the Kirijo Group.
Founding and Outlook of Strega
The founding members of Strega are Takaya Sakaki, Jin Shirato, and Chidori Yoshino, three Artificial Persona Users who were subjected to dehumanizing experiments by the Kirijo Group to forcibly draw their Persona out. As a result, they are all bound together in solidarity of the ideas that they have powers beyond ordinary people and that they were all three fated to die young.
As they all agree there is no future left to them, they've decided to live in the moment, enjoying their powers as they see fit. To that end, Jin has put up the Revenge Request website, through which they take commissions for murder that they then commit during the The Dark Hour. This makes their activities untraceable by the authorities that don't know or understand their methods.
Strega encourages each member to live each moment to the fullest and to take any opportunity possible to increase their supernatural might. Utilizing one's power to protect others from the supernatural, or worse yet to erase the supernatural, is heavily frowned upon by Strega as squandering one's potential.
Prior to game start, the three were joined by Tatsuya Sudou after they crossed paths in Sumaru City. While he's only a 'part-time' member due to his need to vanish for long stretches, Takaya has found himself intrigued by Sudou's visions of The Other Side.
Recently, Takaya Sakaki has figured out through rumors on the Dark Web how to enter Mementos without the Meta-Nav, leading to Strega beginning to extend its reach beyond merely needing the Dark Hour to cover for its murders. As they're only a very recent presence, they're not considered the ultimate culprit of the Mental Shutdowns within Tokyo, but have been responsible for several.
As a result, they're diametrically opposed to SEES and quite irritated with the Phantom Thieves whose Phan-Site has taken many of their revenge commissions away from them. Naturally, from time to time, the Phantom Thieves may run into them in Mementos, as often the two may have the same target from the desperate and disaffected. The Phantom Thieves do not reply to requests on the Phan-Site, which isn't run by them, and there is no guarantee that they will take any given request on. Strega, on the other hand, runs their own website and guarantees results.
Within Sumaru City, Strega has clashed with the Tien Tao Lien in a supernatural territorial dispute over their sudden presence in their spaces, but for the most part they've tried not to declare outright war on them.
Major Figures of Strega
- Takaya Sakaki - The creepily charismatic tattooed leader of Strega. He believes strongly that those with supernatural power should do as they please, regardless of who or what they might hurt, and does not hesitate to oppose those who would try to either squander their talents or curtain them in others.
- Jin Shirato - The information gatherer and rumormonger of Strega. A cranky nerd who believes in nothing and no one--except for Takaya. His sharp tongue and undying loyalty ironically mean he often keeps Takaya in check when he might let his passions get the better of his common sense.
- Chidori Yoshino - The perennially checked-out Anti-Navigator of Strega. She doesn't really care what's going on or what they're doing, but she's always been with Takaya and Jin ever since they were experimented on in their youth, so she does what they ask of her. It's not like it matters anyway.
- Tatsuya Sudou - The Joker Killer and part-timer of Strega. Surprisingly chill in between cackling and murdering and doing arson. Essentially the cool older brother of the group, since he doesn't try to pull rank due to his age and doesn't interfere with anything the others do. Happy to share what the Voices tell him.
Notes for OCs
- While Jin runs the Revenge Request website as its primary webmaster, there's no need for him to be the only one. If you wish for your PC or PCs to be part of its running, he encourages them to do so: "Just don't touch my code."
- Strega enjoys feelings of rivalry with the Phantom Thieves over the Phan-Site, and sometimes will directly message people putting in requests there off-site to say they can ensure the job gets done for a price. This naturally ensures collision of the two factions.
- Jin also maintains a presence as a secret Rumormonger of Sumaru City, known as Moriae, and thus Strega members can always be in the know if they desire.
- Scarcity of Suppressants and Evokers are a part of late Persona 3, but currently on the Velvet Room MUSH, Takaya Sakaki enjoys a tense under-the-table relationship with Shuji Ikutsuki. All Artificial Persona Users benefit from that relationship, but Takaya is tight-lipped on who their benefactor is.
- Takaya both encourages and enables members of Strega to pursue their personal goals and vendettas, so long as they are done so in supernatural spaces so that the rest of Strega might likewise enjoy being a part of it.
- Will of Rebellion OCs of a more selfish and antagonistic streak might easily slot within Strega. How they made contact could be as simple as reaching out over the web or within Mementos itself, but more dramatic meetings are quite reasonable.
- Strega is aware of the New World Order and has refused overtures towards joining. Naturally they are quite suspicious of any authority figures who would order them around. This does not mean that the NWO couldn't place secret commissions on the website to make use of them, but beware Jin's tracing skills.
- Strega as a whole is more proactive against SEES and preventing them from removing the Dark Hour than they are in canon. As of the beginning of Velvet Room MUSH, they understand their aim is to erase the Dark Hour and are making moves to prevent it. How they know this so soon is a mystery, but a Takaya or Jin player should talk with staff to find out.
- Strega, while primarily based in Tatsumi Port Island, moves from place to place to avoid police officers and prying eyes. In Tatsumi, one can find them primarily in Port Island Station's back alleys and Club Escapade; in Sumaru, they lurk in and around the abandoned factory in Konan Ward and in Tokyo they prefer Shinjuku's Red Light District where people tend to mind their own.
- Tatsuya Sudou holds no leadership position in Strega and asserts no authority despite the obvious age gap. Mostly they consider him one of the few adults who 'gets it' and will at times lend a hand with his Joker Rumor killings.
- The Strega founding members are partially read in on The Other Side but from Sudou's perspective, which contains plenty of falsehood from Nyarlathotep's manipulations.