Assorted Supernatural Phenomena

The Black Mask

Detective Akechi relating his near-fatal encounter with the Black Mask

The true, original culprit behind the Psychotic Breakdowns and Mental Shutdowns, known more fully as "the one in the black mask." Who are they, really? That's a secret known only to select individuals in the top ranks of the New World Order.

What is known, and only by another select few at that, is that they work for Masayoshi Shido, who both uses them to gain power for himself and sells their services for top dollar to the right clientele. The Demons, Mementos Shadows, and Palace Rulers they viciously bully all speak their sobriquet with fear.

See Also...

• New World Order

Cognitions

Cognitions are the strange residents within Palaces, Kingdoms, and other Cognitive Worlds that are not Shadows. The best explanation the Dark Side of Sumaru community has for them is that they're the version of people that exist within someone's head.

The form cognitions take within Palaces depends entirely on the distortion of the Ruler. Typically they are people, but the form they take and what they know depends on how the Palace Ruler views them. Some particularly distorted Rulers may not even view them as people and so appear accordingly.

Cognitions for the most part have little supernatural power to speak of and are dispatched quite easily, but that too depends on the distortion of the person in question. For example, someone who sees an abusive parent as an all-powerful source of trauma may have a particularly mighty cognition of them.

If a cognition is dispatched, it reappears naturally within a few hours unless the mind receives evidence--factual or not--that the person is dead in reality.

OOC Minutia

• Player characters are encouraged to think outside the box in using cognitions to their advantage. There are infamous examples in Persona 5 of using them for grand outcomes, and characters can potentially discover or create more if they're willing to experiment. Send a request to staff for anything major in advance, please.

The Dark Hour

A hidden time that begins at the strike of midnight every day that lasts at least, but is not always limited to, a single hour. During this time, the world takes on a sickly green hue, the moon appears huge and yellow, water turns blood red, and people with neither the Potential nor a Persona are sealed within coffins and frozen in space.

The moon's phases, curiously, don't line up with the phases outside the Dark Hour, and indeed are disjointed even from each other. Sometimes that huge yellow moon is a waxing or waning crescent; sometimes it's a half-moon; sometimes it's a waxing or waning gibbous; sometimes it's new and not present at all. It changes from night to night with no sense of continuity--with one exception. Sometimes the moon appears very nearly full but in a state of waning brightness in a phase called "izayoi," or one night past full. When this phase appears, it means a full moon will occur during the Dark Hour in a few more nights. Once it appears, so too will an extremely powerful Shadow called a Full Moon Shadow, which is discussed more thoroughly elsewhere.

All things powered by electricity cease to function during this time, including technology that relies upon Kotodama. Only certain devices with a Plume of Dusk as a component are able to function at all. The exceptions are smartphones with the Meta-Nav app; during this time, if one turns on their smartphone, the Meta-Nav will instantly load, though no other functions of the phone will work.

The Dark Hour is a global phenomenon. Mindless Shadows exist worldwide during this time and will prey on anyone that isn't protected by their coffins, which means that Apathy Syndrome is also global. The majority of Persona communities and the Rumormongers of Sumaru City do not know of Tartarus appearing over Gekkoukan High School during this time, or that Tatsumi Port Island has more Shadow activity and Apathy Syndrome cases than average, due to a well-orchestrated cover-up by the Kirijo Group.

As of game start, most player characters will have experienced the Dark Hour and are likely to have participated in a loose effort to combat Shadows preying on people at night. Some groups other than SEES have probably seen Tartarus or perhaps even tried to explore it, but do not yet understand its significance.

OOC Minutiae

• The Dark Hour always lasts at least an hour, but the exact time it lasts is variable. For example, if you engage a Full Moon Shadow near the end of the Dark Hour, it won't end until 5-10 minutes after the supernatural disturbance has ended, even if it becomes a marathon chase of three to four hours.
• Unless it's something specifically bought into a scene by the players involved, or approved by staff, the Dark Hour should never end for dramatic reasons that render the characters unable to handle the consequences of something during the Dark Hour due to their supernatural abilities no longer functioning. A good example is someone being shot at the same moment the Dark Hour ends.
• Since our Mementos travel integration will send people back to where they entered, please always take this into account as a scene runner. Try not to end a scene by saying, "The Dark Hour ends," as that prevents reactions to events or interactions. At best, say, "The Dark Hour will soon come to an end," implying there's maybe 5-10 minutes before it's over.
• The disjointed lunar phases are a change for Velvet Room MUSH to ensure the Full Moon Shadows can still attack on a full moon without forcing the player base to adhere to the lunar schedule and not their own. Scheduling for big plot events is already hard enough!

See Also...

• Ten Years Ago

Full Moon Shadows

Exceptionally powerful Shadows that appear during the Dark Hour on the nights of the full moon. (Note that these are full moons specifically during the Dark Hour; its lunar phases don't necessarily correspond to the real world's lunar phases, and indeed are usually deeply disjointed. See The Dark Hour for more details.)

These Shadows have unusual powers associated with their Arcana, and leading up to their appearances, there are often mysterious events that can affect people en masse, causing unusual behavior and typically more cases of Apathy Syndrome.

After each of their defeats, the Apathy Syndrome cases around where they appeared decrease substantially, often with at least a few of them recovering miraculously.

It is mostly SEES that are familiar with them, having fought several by the start of the game. However, Strega is familiar as well, having been tipped off to their importance in SEES's goal of erasing The Dark Hour.

The New World Order's leadership is also familiar, with Hisataka Shinjo noting it's imperative that they prevent SEES from destroying them all if there's any hope for their World Without Sin.

OOC Minutiae

• The Full Moon Shadows need not appear only in Tatsumi Port Island! Anywhere in Japan is fair game to encourage crossover content. Note that while the Shadows will typically make the slow journey towards Tartarus night by night, as the night of the Dark Hour full moon approaches, they settle into a pattern, causing more and more supernatural incidents and cases of Apathy Syndrome in the areas they're in until the night when they make their appearance.

• To allow these Shadows to consistently attack on a full moon while also prioritizing OOC scheduling constraints, the moon in the Dark Hour exhibits disjointed phases. It will always conveniently be a full moon when a Full Moon Shadow attacks, with a few nights of a near-full moon beforehand to give fair warning.

See Also...

• Ten Years Ago

Jose

A strange child-like being that bears a superficial resemblance to the Wild Card attendants in the Velvet Room in that he has silver "hair" and golden eyes. However, his body has strangely artificial-looking characteristics, with an odd half-egg shape to his hairline, extremely rounded ears, and a Pinocchio-like stub of a nose.

Jose rides around Mementos in a cartoonish car that's stacked high with his belongings and decorated in starry balloons. His goal is to collect odd flowers that materialize throughout Mementos, turn them into beverages, and drink them, purportedly to better understand the nature of humans. He claims Mementos talks to him and fills him in on things, but rarely clarifies what it's telling him.

Those Metaverse travelers who are willing to help him find his flowers will discover that he can and will use his car to set up shop and offer incredibly useful rewards. He primarily offers services manipulating the 'pressure points' of Mementos that seemingly only he can find, which can net one more money or items or experience while fighting Shadows there, but he can also transform Will Seeds into useful items.

A truly confusing being, but one that tends to endear himself into the hearts of those he meets anyway through earnest curiosity and innocent sincerity.

Kotodama

A concept in Japanese mythology about how words possess mystical power that can affect the world around them. While acting as the Joker Killer, Tatsuya Sudou freely shares that Kotodama is responsible for the power of Rumors in Sumaru City, but it's unclear whether it's the ravings of a madman or, perhaps more disquietingly, actually true. If Kotodama is responsible for the power of Rumors in Sumaru City, then few understand why or what it means.

OOC Minutia

• Most protagonists haven't yet heard the word 'Kotodama' in connection to rumors at the time of game start.

• Strega members would know about it because of Tatsuya Sudou's guidance, while New World Order members might be privy to the fact that the Ritual of Kotodama before Gozen is responsible for a great deal of their supernatural might. The exact specifics would elude both sides.

The Mark

Tatsuya Suou's Mark, as seen on his right hand.

While some Guides do not require fealty from the ones they are guiding, more malevolent entities often require something more from the person in question. Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos, requires an 'invitation.' Contrary to what the term might indicate, this invitation need not be voluntary. He is empowered by delusion, attachment, and hatred, and a grand act of any of these opens the door for him to show himself in. Those unfortunate souls who draw his personal attention are sometimes 'gifted' with a twisted shadowy brand of the outline of a three eyed figure watching them; it appears to slither up to one's arm.

Possession of the Mark is in turn the idea of being possessed. There is an understanding that you belong to Nyarlathotep, whether you defy, fear, or celebrate it. It is an invitation to power and the constant temptation to use it. By invoking the Mark, it creates a link from the Material World to another layer of the Collective Unconscious. Demons commensurate to the power of the person who summoned them begin to appear in not just their immediate area, but in the location where they invoke it entirely. These Demons in general look upon their summoner and their allies with favor for bringing them to this world and are likely to obey them, but it's not absolute control. Upsetting a Demon may have consequences.

Furthermore, invocation of the Mark is like a beacon to any with Resonance, revealing the location of the person to some degree. This can be partially but not fully dulled with interference-type abilities; the use of the Crawling Chaos' power to such a potent degree is antithetical to most Persona users, and they simply feel it. The Mark's powers will last at least until the user leaves the area or is defeated. Afterwards, within a matter of hours, the Demons will begin to vanish back to where they came.

The New World Order is the easiest way for a user to receive the Mark. The act of delusion from rituals in the presence of Gozen is enough that Nyarlathotep may be invited into the person without their consent, though they will often have the impression that they let him in to some degree. Possession of the Mark within the NWO is often sold as a method of 'advancement' towards being a part of the World Without Sin to come, and those with it are often given a degree of authority over normal people. Others may catch his eye as individuals, often receiving hallucinatory visions or whispers that are typically half-truths about the presence of the Other Side and how much better it would be if the world returned to its proper state.

Possession of the Mark is a ticking time bomb, spiritually. Use of it merely speeds up the clock. Eventually all who possess it will become 'his' so completely that he will decide to 'reward' them for their service. This typically transforms the person into a twisted parody of their fondest wish, forcing them into a demonic form that shatters the psyche altogether.

Getting rid of the Mark is near impossible without assistance from another Guide. This generally takes the form of suppression of the Mark's power, thereby extending the timer, since removal requires the Guide to actively take what is 'his'--something they are all understandably reluctant to do, given the cost to themselves.

OOC Minutia

• Staff on the Velvet Room MUSH will not enforce the timer on the Mark. Since that is mostly up to Nyarlathotep's whim, the timer is thus indefinite in an OOC sense. The end point is permanent death, so it is entirely up to you as the player of the character to decide when or if it happens. The Mark is intended primarily as a narrative tool for antagonists, or rare protagonists, that bear it. Having it is not an indication that you must one day kill your character; far from it. Our desire is to offer you a tool for your antagonist to tell a story with that threat of the Mark's consequences hanging over them. How do they deal with the Mark being voluntarily taken on, or involuntarily conferred to them? Do they resist temptation? Become desperate? Seek the assistance of other characters or a Guide? Descend further into madness? Or do you want to tell a tragedy where the character does, in fact, just succumb? All are valid decisions for your character's stories and we encourage players to explore them. Staff, as always, maintains the ultimate decision over the death of feature characters.

• Use of the Mark not only outright fails in Mementos but enrages the Shadows in the area, causing them to converge in the place it was used. This may still be useful to characters looking for a means of escape from people. In other supernatural spaces, it might have peculiar side effects. Don't use the Mark ICly in a way that might touch upon other supernatural spaces without contacting staff and planning it out with us. You never have to ask permission in real-world spaces so long as it isn't during The Dark Hour.

• Use of rumors may significantly extend the effect of the Mark in an area within the bounds of Sumaru City. What rumors take effect for this long, and how long they last, is entirely up to staff. In general, staff will only allow this if we feel it enhances things for Demons to stick around, but submission of an area having Demons around temporarily for a Monad is entirely appropriate. Sometimes part-time retail workers just have to deal with a Jack Frost demanding they crush a rock with their bare hands. Unlike canon, we're not putting Demons permanently in the halls of Seven Sisters or Kasugayama High, the air raid shelter excluded. You must still go to school today.

Meta-Nav

The Metaverse Navigator, or Meta-Nav for short, is a mysterious smartphone application that facilitates access to the The Metaverse. Functioning with ultramodern voice activation that seems beyond even most cell phone technologies and a codebase that even the greatest hackers in the world can't access, it is wholly a mystery. Deleting it will never get rid of it, and buying a new phone will only cause it to appear there as well.

By inputting "Mementos" near any place associated with travel, or the name of a Palace Ruler, the form their Palace takes, and the location it's associated with, one can enter the Metaverse, either into Mementos or that specific Palace. By returning to the point where one entered the Metaverse, one then leaves. The Meta-Nav automatically saves locations already visited and deletes them if they no longer exist, such as in the case of a Palace's collapse.

How one gets the Meta-Nav is a mystery. Not even bringing people into a Palace or Mementos with it will consistently grant them the application. Regardless, it remains the simplest method of doing precisely what it says: navigating the Metaverse.

OOC Minutia

• Not all PCs will have the Meta-Nav at the start of the game! For more details on how non-Will of Rebellion characters access the Metaverse, see Mementos and Palaces.
• The exact details of how one receives the Meta-Nav are a secret, but should one have the potential for an awakening with the Will of Rebellion, then it is likely to appear on your phone at some point as you walk through Tokyo. Circumstances will conspire for that person to be drawn in, either through accidentally voice activating it themselves, finding it and experimenting with it, or being drawn in with someone else nearby.
• Hilariously, not having a smartphone doesn't prevent one from receiving the Meta-Nav! It will appear on a flip phone, even if it makes no technological sense for it to do so. However, we ask that if someone uses this option on a character, they soon after get a smartphone, just to participate in the thematic conceits of Persona 5.
• Should one buy, be gifted, or steal a new phone, the Meta-Nav will vanish from their old phone and appear on their new one. It will exist precisely on one phone in current use that the character associates as their own. Other people can use it; it just can't be replicated onto other phones.
• Attempts to look into the nature of the program's code and how it works fail utterly, even with supernatural assistance.
• Extremely powerful effects can, on rare occasions, draw people into the Metaverse without their consent and conceal aspects of the visit even on the Meta-Nav. Don't do this without staff approval, though. These incidents are rare for a reason.

Metaverse

A mysterious cognitive space, so dubbed by the Metaverse Navigator or Meta-Nav app that facilitates entry into it. Most speculate that it's a part of the Collective Unconscious, but few are able to even guess which part or how it came to be.

As far as most know, the Metaverse is composed of Mementos and Palaces, distinguished from other cognitive spaces by the unique nature of Metaverse Shadows. The name 'Metaverse' itself is just as puzzling to those posting on the Dark Side of Sumaru and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Morgana has backed up that it's called the Metaverse to the Phantom Thieves, which lends it a lot of weight given that he doesn't use the Meta-Nav himself to enter. Unfortunately, his amnesia has made it impossible to know how he got this information.

Some veterans of the Persona communities have quietly posited that it might be related to the SEBEC Scandal of three years ago but have been unable to offer any proof, and those survivors of the incident have been close-lipped.

Whatever one may think about it, many mysteries remain that just as many Persona Users continue to investigate, such as: How did the Metaverse and Meta-Nav come to be? What's at the bottom of Mementos? And why are there signs there's been someone utilizing it for years to their own benefit?