There are almost eight billion people on this planet, but though one sky hangs over them all, the world each person lives in is not the same. Each person’s world is small, but infinitely complex. It is built up by one’s nature, upbringing, principles, beliefs, and by those who give it joy and meaning. On the other hand, so too is it built by one’s needs, fears, responsibilities, scars, mistakes, and by those who, through malice or inaction, work to tear it down. Every action sends tremors through countless worlds, some so strong that it is all many can do to merely survive. How then could anyone, alone in their own small world, understand someone else’s? See their value? Know their true face? And who would be willing to fight to keep your one world alive, except you?

But you are not alone. Never have been. Fear and pain may weigh you down, and you may suffer under the unfairness of life, but despite everything you’re still human. Even at rock bottom you can still climb back up. Within you is the power to change--to fight, maybe not for the world, but for your one world.

Things cannot continue as they are. If you understand what needs to be done, then call my name.

• The chosen Persona should have an obvious relation to the story of your character
• Your Persona will also have one of the Major Arcana of the tarot deck
• If you choose a literary character, it should be one of both age and cultural significance
• Your character’s Persona can’t start out as a god/goddess
• Persona evolution is an option later on down the line
• We won’t be going into stats, but your Persona will get attributes: a Specialty, an Element (against which it’ll also have a resistance), and a Weakness to allocate as you please that will affect performance
• Since Personas are a mask to face hardship, Persona users will change outfit while in the Metaverse after awakening

Oh, no, I just realized I have a concept I could (and want to) use for this. Guess this means some research, since I'm familiar with Persona only insofar that I've watched P5 (streams) a while back.

Nick Waller [+]

Name: Nick Waller

Age: 21

Arcana: The Hermit

Appearance: Nick is a lithe young man, standing at about 5’6” and weighing 135-ish pounds. His muscles are tight and lean, hardly noticeable save for on his legs, where his running has built him noticeable calves and thighs. His face is round and baby-ish, hidden beneath a perpetual 5 o’clock shadow kept specifically to hide that baby face.

His hair is kept simple, a light brown never allowed to grow longer than an inch, and otherwise unstyled. His skin is ever-so-lightly tanned but definitely not what one would call remotely dark, despite the Texas sun.

Clothing-wise, during Nick can typically be found in his favorite jacket, a tan American Eagle No. 01977 with faux fur lining. Warm, durable, and waterproof enough, Nick actually liked this jacket enough to get a second one, and he swaps them out every once in a while to keep them in good shape. Underneath he wears t-shirts, and only t-shirts, typically with some graphic design, or a comedic or irreverent phrase written on it. He favors cargo pants and rarely wears jeans, though on some days he will wear a pair of chinos if he’s feeling fancy. His legwear is typically neutral or earth-tone, to match with the tan jacket. Finishing his standard outfit is a pair of well-worn but good still fairly decent black sneakers.

Nick rarely accessorizes, save for his plain olive green backpack, which hardly counts in his opinion.

Personality: Nick is, to the casual observer, a man with two fronts: At times, he is bombastic, loud, comedic, talkative, irreverent, and very open about what he thinks. But he can also be quiet, withdrawn, introspective and even downright isolationist. It’s earned him few friends at Barclay Waterfront University, and Nick seems content with that, rarely branching out and trying to meet new people.

Which Nick you see depends on the context. In classroom discussions, he’s often very eager to speak his mind, especially when it comes to topics he feels people are often mislead or blissfully ignorant about. He has a genuine thirst for knowledge and understanding, and is more than happy to let others explain things to him if he doesn’t know something.

Left to his own devises, Nick tends to withdraw into himself, finding entertainment in his phone via videos on Youtube, browsing reddit, or chatting with people via Discord. Unbothered, he can remain like this for hours on end, more than happy to isolate and ignore the world around him in favor of mindless stimulation.

With friends or those he trusts, a blending of these two extremes is found. Irreverent and nihilistic humor, memespeak, openness, tempered by periods of content silence, browsing the internet to the backdrop of his friends’ conversations, or sharing content with those around him. He’s never quite as loud, or withdrawn and introspective, around his friends, even if everybody is quiet.

Underneath everything, though, is a reservoir of anger that rarely stops bubbling, ready to be set off at the thought of injustice or unfairness. It’s not uncommon for his bombastic rants to be underlaid with a genuine note of anger, or his dry humor to hide genuine disdain, though he does his best to hide this ugly side from others, and even himself.

And to those with a more discerning eye, they can notice the little things Nick hides. The way he flinches, but only for the briefest of moments, and loud noises or unexpected touch. The way he has to center himself before going off on a rant. The slow breaths he takes when somebody explains something that he already knows, thank you very much.

There’s more to him than those two fronts. And what little he lets slip doesn’t paint a good picture.

Bio: Raised by parents who never seemed to be quite proud of him, Nick always felt that he played second (or even third) fiddle to his brothers. This caused him to overvalue the talent he did have in his mind. Able to, generally speaking, absorb knowledge easily and lock it in like a steel trap, Nick always had little trouble in his schooling, and what praise he did receive for his good grades was kept and treasured like it was made of gold.

As he grew older, he learned more about his family’s flaws. The unresolved anger issues that pervaded them like a virus, the general character flaws that made his parents seem less like goals to emulate, and more like warnings to avoid. He learned how to hide his disappointment, how to vent his pain and frustrations, though not in a healthy manner.

Nick would tell you that, in high school, things changed. He wouldn’t tell you how. He wouldn’t tell you why. All he’d tell you is that that is when things changed.

What little trust in others and self-confidence he had broken, Nick tried to double down on what he felt he had, and threw himself into his schoolwork to the neglect of much else. It kept him away from his parents, his brothers, his “friends”, it let him just be alone, where he felt more comfortable. And the results showed. Nick’s grades, somehow, raised, and he took more and more challenging classes, read ahead of the assigned work, and generally stood out as a well-behaved, intelligent young man.

And finally, college came, and Nick was free. Free to stay in bed until 2 PM on Saturday once in a while. Free to avoid the constant fake questions from his family. Free from the constant pressure he felt to perform to their standards. And despite how he let go of some the higher standards he placed on himself, Nick thrived without his family putting stress on him constantly. He let himself speak out more, took (generally) better care of himself, and found a schedule that worked for him.

Yet, despite this freedom, despite this respite from the past, Nick hasn’t been able to shake the ghosts that haunt him. His first real relationship fell apart a scant few months ago, an ugly, explosive break up that came from months of suppressed frustration and disappointment from his girlfriend, leaving Nick reeling and wondering what about him it is that just isn’t good enough.

Be wary, for you are about to trawl the depths of mankind’s darkness. Turn back if you are not ready. Content Warning for Sexual Assault/Rape and Self-harm. [+]

Scars:
Diagnosis: Major Depressive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. “Self-harm wounds evident on left and right shoulders” “Scars on back and thighs not from self-harm, incidental stretch marks from puberty growth spurts. Large burn on back from birth complications and hospital mismanagement. Nick stresses these distinctions. Nonetheless, they cause readily apparent self-image problems” “Sexual trauma has resulted in self-imposed isolation and distrust of others, regardless of gender” “Possible familial abuse? Nick rarely speaks of his family, has not seen them in years, and rarely if ever has positive things to say on the subject” “Relationship history brings Nick great pain to discuss” “Avoid casually asking about girlfriends/boyfriends as a topic of conversation” “Sexual repression and repression of bisexuality likely result of assault” “Generally feels safest alone” “More comfortable in virtual spaces than physically with others”

The profile Nick’s psychologist has on him is…extensive and disturbing to the unprepared reader. It is the story of a young man who has never felt truly appreciated for long, who has found every sanctuary and safe haven ripped away from him.

Nick’s trauma runs deep, and it, in part, has changed him. It has left him feeling unsafe in all but isolation, it has left him afraid of trusting others, and it has turned him against even himself.

Physically, Nick’s scars are much less haunting than meets the eye. His lower back and hips are littered with horizontal stretch marks, which, after a few minor incidents, have resulted in worsening problems with his self-image. On his back, over his heart lies a fist-sized burn scar from a minor medical mishap with a UV lamp and a newborn Nick that left no actual long-term complications.

His shoulders tell a different story. See, Nick is “clever”, and figured he’d cut where people wouldn’t stereotypically think to check underneath a shirt. The wrists were too obvious and the thighs had too many major blood vessels to risk. So, with a guide on human anatomy, he figure that his shoulder would be a good spot to just let out a little stress without risking severing a major artery. Whether it was a good idea isn’t really relevant, because it worked.

Psychologically, Nick’s scars can be attributed to several primary events which resulted in his cynical outlook on the world and interpersonal relationships.

When Nick was 7, his father first insulted him for crying when his parents fought, starting the cracks in their bond as family.

When Nick was 15, his “friends” raped him at a party. Later that year, he realized he was bisexual, but couldn’t stomach the thought of another man touching him outside of a fantasy.

When Nick was 16, he began cutting as a way to relieve the pain he was hiding.

When Nick was 18, he left home and decided that if he could help it, he would never go back.

Nick is from Oklahoma, and he hasn’t left Texas since he started at Barclay Waterfront University. He hasn’t seen his family in over three years. And frankly? That’s just fine with him. The way he sees it, they were just the start of his pain.