Player Characters
A list of player characters is here, along with their Arcana Codes, Personae, and the Personae's stats (might/endurance/finesse).
Kyle Nucci (XVIII - Moon; the Bogeyman, 13/11/6).
NPCs
These are the NPCs controlled by the co-GM and I. Their character sheets only contain information that the player characters currently know, and more will be revealed as the story progresses.
Name: Dr. Sophia Neumann.
Age: Chronologically 4; physically appears 18.
Gender: Female.
Appearance: As HoloSys's prized poster child of holo-augmentation, Sophia's body is no less polished than everything else about and around her. Her delicate facial features are a mixture of Caucasian and eastern Asian. Her fair skin is flawlessly smooth and blemish-free to the point of flagrant and nigh-unsettling artificiality. At 165 centimeters in height, her perfect hourglass figure is something most oft seen on glamor models manufactured in holo-studios, though there is the scant comfort that her moderate bust and hips do not have the grossly exaggerated proportions of actresses in the cruder sectors of the entertainment industry. Her gleaming metallic straight silver hair that reaches her mid-back, electric blue eyes, and the faintly glowing blue circuit lines present in both her irises and sparsely all over her skin complete the image of something that is more machine than human. Perhaps her beauty would have been brought out more had she bothered to dress up more elaborately, but she almost always opts for the female business casuals in simple whites, light blues, grays, and blacks.
Personality: Much like her body, Sophia's mind appears cold and machine-like. Stoic, terse, and never bothering with social pleasantries, she seems altogether devoid of emotions or desires, only following as her superiors instruct. However, since around a year ago, she seems to be mellowing out a bit. Her words and mannerisms have gained a hint of gentleness, and her humanitarian speeches are more genuine than before.
Backstory: The culmination of HoloSys's research on human augmentation in the past three decades, Sophia is an artificially created designer baby extensively implanted with bleeding-edge holo-augs since birth. So advanced were the augmentations that they grew along with her, and accelerated her physical and mental growth so that she transitioned from newborn to physiologically 18 years of age in merely three years of real time, before ceasing to age entirely. HoloSys made sure to extensively record and broadcast every step of her growth. Seeing a baby grow by a whole year every two months was unsettling, to say the least, and that's not even mentioning her unreal rate of psychological development that outstrips even her accelerated physical growth. Emotionless and machine-like from the outset, Sophia never went through anything resembling a childish or teenager-like phase, speaking like an adult as a physical toddler and finishing the equivalent of secondary education as only a little girl. She then went on to become the fastest and technically by far the youngest to obtain multiple doctorates, in theoretical holophysics, holotronic engineering, and holo-computing. At the same time, public demonstrations of her superhuman physical abilities persisted, driving home the point again and again that she is something beyond current human limits. Opinions on her are divisive, to say the least, with some seeing her as a horrifying inhuman abomination and the definitive proof that human technology and society has veered off the right path, and others heralding her as the shining example of the kind of godlike being that all of humanity will one day become. All this publicity is exactly what HoloSys wants, and she has effectively become the megacorp's main spokesperson, calmly and dutifully relaying their messages to the masses. However, since the past year, she has begun to show a hint of personal initiative, her frigid and impersonal demeanor thawing a little to reveal a hint of human kindness underneath. This roughly coincides with the emergence and viral popularity growth of the virtual idol Utasaki Aria, whose appearance is infamously a holofake of Sophia's own, which has naturally spawned vast menageries of rumors, but Sophia herself seems to pay these no heed.
Skills: Sophia possesses doctorates in theoretical holophysics, holotronic engineering, and holo-computing. When not working as a spokesperson, she conducts research alongside the other top scientists of HoloSys.
Abilities and Equipment:
The extensive public demonstrations and marketing of Sophia's superhuman capabilities has not stopped the proliferation of rumors and conspiracy theories, some conjecturing that all her achievements are holofaked. Nevertheless, the following is a list of feats she has publicly demonstrated.
- Strength: She could lift massive dumbbells, bend thick metal bars, and crush rocks with a single hand.
- Speed: She could accelerate and sprint more quickly than a cheetah.
- Reflexes: She could dodge dozens of baseballs launched at her in rapid succession, and shoot erratically-moving tiny bugs out of the air with minimal aiming time.
- Endurance: Less easily demonstrated in a sensational manner than the rest, but she could keep the aforementioned massive dumbbells aloft for minutes with no apparent fatigue.
- Regeneration: A cut on her finger could fully heal within seconds.
- Breathlessness: She was shown diving without any oxygen supply for an extended period of time.
- Unaging: Hard to demonstrate for obvious reasons, but HoloSys claimed that she does not age after reaching physical maturity and will live forever.
- Memory: She seems to have eidetic memory, able to memorize long sequences of arbitrary characters after only a short glance.
- Intellect: She can solve highly complex calculations within seconds.
She was also seen on a few occasions to utilize holotronic barriers to restrain rioters that got too close to her.
Arcana Code: Unknown.
Shadow: Unknown.
Persona: Unknown.
Age: Chronologically 4; physically appears 18.
Gender: Female.
Appearance: As HoloSys's prized poster child of holo-augmentation, Sophia's body is no less polished than everything else about and around her. Her delicate facial features are a mixture of Caucasian and eastern Asian. Her fair skin is flawlessly smooth and blemish-free to the point of flagrant and nigh-unsettling artificiality. At 165 centimeters in height, her perfect hourglass figure is something most oft seen on glamor models manufactured in holo-studios, though there is the scant comfort that her moderate bust and hips do not have the grossly exaggerated proportions of actresses in the cruder sectors of the entertainment industry. Her gleaming metallic straight silver hair that reaches her mid-back, electric blue eyes, and the faintly glowing blue circuit lines present in both her irises and sparsely all over her skin complete the image of something that is more machine than human. Perhaps her beauty would have been brought out more had she bothered to dress up more elaborately, but she almost always opts for the female business casuals in simple whites, light blues, grays, and blacks.
Personality: Much like her body, Sophia's mind appears cold and machine-like. Stoic, terse, and never bothering with social pleasantries, she seems altogether devoid of emotions or desires, only following as her superiors instruct. However, since around a year ago, she seems to be mellowing out a bit. Her words and mannerisms have gained a hint of gentleness, and her humanitarian speeches are more genuine than before.
Backstory: The culmination of HoloSys's research on human augmentation in the past three decades, Sophia is an artificially created designer baby extensively implanted with bleeding-edge holo-augs since birth. So advanced were the augmentations that they grew along with her, and accelerated her physical and mental growth so that she transitioned from newborn to physiologically 18 years of age in merely three years of real time, before ceasing to age entirely. HoloSys made sure to extensively record and broadcast every step of her growth. Seeing a baby grow by a whole year every two months was unsettling, to say the least, and that's not even mentioning her unreal rate of psychological development that outstrips even her accelerated physical growth. Emotionless and machine-like from the outset, Sophia never went through anything resembling a childish or teenager-like phase, speaking like an adult as a physical toddler and finishing the equivalent of secondary education as only a little girl. She then went on to become the fastest and technically by far the youngest to obtain multiple doctorates, in theoretical holophysics, holotronic engineering, and holo-computing. At the same time, public demonstrations of her superhuman physical abilities persisted, driving home the point again and again that she is something beyond current human limits. Opinions on her are divisive, to say the least, with some seeing her as a horrifying inhuman abomination and the definitive proof that human technology and society has veered off the right path, and others heralding her as the shining example of the kind of godlike being that all of humanity will one day become. All this publicity is exactly what HoloSys wants, and she has effectively become the megacorp's main spokesperson, calmly and dutifully relaying their messages to the masses. However, since the past year, she has begun to show a hint of personal initiative, her frigid and impersonal demeanor thawing a little to reveal a hint of human kindness underneath. This roughly coincides with the emergence and viral popularity growth of the virtual idol Utasaki Aria, whose appearance is infamously a holofake of Sophia's own, which has naturally spawned vast menageries of rumors, but Sophia herself seems to pay these no heed.
Skills: Sophia possesses doctorates in theoretical holophysics, holotronic engineering, and holo-computing. When not working as a spokesperson, she conducts research alongside the other top scientists of HoloSys.
Abilities and Equipment:
The extensive public demonstrations and marketing of Sophia's superhuman capabilities has not stopped the proliferation of rumors and conspiracy theories, some conjecturing that all her achievements are holofaked. Nevertheless, the following is a list of feats she has publicly demonstrated.
- Strength: She could lift massive dumbbells, bend thick metal bars, and crush rocks with a single hand.
- Speed: She could accelerate and sprint more quickly than a cheetah.
- Reflexes: She could dodge dozens of baseballs launched at her in rapid succession, and shoot erratically-moving tiny bugs out of the air with minimal aiming time.
- Endurance: Less easily demonstrated in a sensational manner than the rest, but she could keep the aforementioned massive dumbbells aloft for minutes with no apparent fatigue.
- Regeneration: A cut on her finger could fully heal within seconds.
- Breathlessness: She was shown diving without any oxygen supply for an extended period of time.
- Unaging: Hard to demonstrate for obvious reasons, but HoloSys claimed that she does not age after reaching physical maturity and will live forever.
- Memory: She seems to have eidetic memory, able to memorize long sequences of arbitrary characters after only a short glance.
- Intellect: She can solve highly complex calculations within seconds.
She was also seen on a few occasions to utilize holotronic barriers to restrain rioters that got too close to her.
Arcana Code: Unknown.
Shadow: Unknown.
Persona: Unknown.
Name: Utasaki Aria (唄咲 アリア), the Azure Muse.
Age: Unknown; physically appears 18.
Gender: Female.
Appearance:
Being the most infamous of holofakes in the shadownet, Aria's face and bodily shape is identical to that of Sophia Neumann, HoloSys's prized mascot for holo-augmentation. But unlike Sophia's cold machine-like mannerisms and plain dress code, Aria is bright and animated, and puts extensive amounts of care into her appearance, making her nigh-unrecognizable as a holofake. While Sophia would have no reason to talk about such things, Aria publicly revealed her bust, waist, and hip measurements as 84 cm, 58 cm, and 84 cm respectively.
Being the fashionista she is, Aria has a wide variety of outfits, all of which are sleek, feminine, and at least a little sexy; she also sometimes experiments with different hairstyles, hair colors, eye colors, and even skin colors. In her most iconic costume, she has fair skin, glossy straight silver hair that extends to the middle of her back, and sky-blue eyes that have white pupils shaped like power symbols. A short ahoge sticks out of the top of her head, along with a pair of unusually long bright red strands that extend past her cheeks, somewhat resembling butterfly antennae. The hair at her temples is pulled into a half-up short ponytail, held together by a large glowing futuristic blue butterfly hairpin; there is also a small silver bell tied to the left side of her hair by red ribbons. Her lipstick and nail polish are both bright red and faintly glittery. She wears a tight-fitting shoulderless top that shows a mild amount of cleavage, detached sleeves that flare out around her lower arms, a pleated miniskirt, and thigh-high boots with three-inch stiletto heels. The outfit is made of a futuristic latex-like material, in shades of white, cyan, blue, and violet, with sparse highlights of bright red, covered in faintly glowing circuit patterns. The center of her chest is adorned with a red butterfly-shaped bow, and above her breasts on her bare skin is a simple red tattoo of nested heart shapes. On her back is a pair of large futuristic butterfly wings, blue with purple hues, though she often keeps the wings hidden due to their size. Below the wings are a pair of strips that resemble the "tails" of swallowtail butterflies.
[Aria's outfit is heavily inspired by a combination of outfits of two pre-existing fictional characters, and I would be a little impressed if anyone knows both. No, it's not anyone from Vocaloid or Hyperdimension Neptunia; that would be too easy.]
Personality:
The usual persona Aria displays is bubbly and cheerful, radiating optimism and warmth with every word and movement, motivated by the desire to bring hope and joy to her audience. She is also vain and utterly shameless, showing off her beauty at every available opportunity and basking in the adoration she receives, proudly stating that her body is her canvas for artistic self-expression. She exudes an air of flawless, impenetrable confidence, effortlessly maintaining her composure against the most vicious of insults and never displaying a hint of competitiveness, envy, or self-doubt. Yet when discussing serious topics, she becomes mature and level-headed, always looking at a problem from multiple perspectives with a gentle, empathic, open-minded attitude. She isn't a self-sacrificial saint, and can have a mischievous streak when dealing with people she doesn't like, but she never displays any genuine malice. Even when faced with people who repeatedly attempt cyber-attacks against her for petty reasons, or people who have committed horrific crimes, the worst she shows is sadness and pity toward these people and the circumstances that made them do what they did. Some people make the accusation that this is all an act, but if so then it's an exceptionally solid and durable one, without any lapse or crack as far as anyone has seen.
Aria has a wide range of interests that she has shared with the public. Aside from the obvious music and idol culture, she loves anime, manga, and video games, happily proclaiming herself an otaku. She's obviously bisexual and rather perverted, thinking of herself as a connoisseur of female beauty, both her own and others'. Her other areas of interest include technology, science, math, philosophy, and creative writing, sometimes delving into surprisingly deep discussions with her viewers.
Backstory:
Aria made her debut as a virtual idol roughly a year ago, which went viral and exploded in popularity due to her genuinely excellent performance as well as her incredibly bold move of basing her appearance on that of Sophia Neumann. She had no intention to impersonate Sophia or deceive, so her holofaking was technically legal, but HoloSys still exerted their immense clout to take down Aria's content from all major legal platforms. Surprisingly, rather than being extinguished and forgotten like many others, Aria simply took her activities to the shadownet without missing a beat, where her popularity steadily grew. Many hackers initially saw her as an easy target, but were again surprised when they not only failed to inflict any real damage to her cyber-defenses, but could not even find any substantial information on her real identity or location. Thus the mystery and rumors around her grew as well, with theories ranging from her being Sophia Neumann herself in disguise, to being a failed prototype of Sophia who escaped, to being an artificial intelligence, or even extraterrestrial; to those theories Aria only gave amused giggles in response. Bearing somewhat of a vendetta against her, HoloSys often tried to impede her in various ways, but she always stayed one step ahead of them, making her a symbol of freedom and rebellion against corporate oppression, despite the lack of significant political leanings in her content.
When the game begins, Aria appears to each player character just as he is about to be attacked by his Shadow, granting him an Arcana Code that allows him to tame his Shadow and transform it into a Persona. She then asks the character to help her investigate the mysterious Saklas syndrome that has been on the rise lately, of which the player character was a victim just now. When asked about her true identity and the origin of these Arcana Codes, she states that it is something she can only reveal once the player character has mastered his newfound powers, and implores him to simply trust her in the meantime.
Skills:
Bilingual: Aria is fluent in both English and Japanese.
Singing: Aria could not have attained the popularity she had without being an incredibly talented singer. Her vocal cords are the same as Sophia's, yet she uses them to produce a voice that is cute and high-pitched without sounding childish or squeaky. It is also soft and crystal-clear, smooth as velvet and gentle like a spring breeze, yet powerful and resonant when needed. She is highly versatile, capable of singing a variety of genres, including J-pop, rock, metal, techno, power ballads, jazz, classical, and even traditional Japanese enka. Her only major weakness is that she cannot do a deep, mature voice; even her death metal growls sound cute.
Dancing: The other half of her performance. Her agility and natural beauty, combined with shameless vanity and confidence, lets her effortlessly pull off dance routines that quickly capture the heart of many an otaku while singing live. She projects the moe aesthetic incredibly well, be it bright and happy, gentle and sweet, cool and elegant, or playful and seductive.
Songwriting: Aria has covered many songs by other artists, but she has quite a few original songs as well. Their tones vary from bittersweet to upbeat, but all ultimately convey optimistic messages, conveying her desire to bring hope and joy to the world.
Gaming: In addition to singing and dancing, Aria often doubles as a video game streamer. She seems unreasonably good at just about every skill-based game she plays, leading to accusations of cheating and bot abuse, though she dispelled those for the most part through live demonstrations that would be difficult to prepare exploits for ahead of time. That instead fuelled rumors that she's some sort of AI, leading to facetious Turing tests and related shenanigans on her part; though most viewers are content with just watching her perform incredibly hard gaming challenges.
Memory: Aria seems to have a nigh-photographic memory for the names of her viewers and the comments they made.
Knowledge: Aria seems highly knowledgeable in science, technology, and various bits of trivia. Maybe she has a search engine holochip implant, but she's occasionally seen holding in-depth discussions with viewers who are doctoral students or researchers. Could she really be an AI, or Sophia Neumann in disguise?
Hacking: One cannot make a living in the shadownet without at least decent hacking skills, and Aria clearly has more than enough. Numerous hackers have targeted her, but none have gotten through. In a few particularly egregious cases she'd even retaliated, teaching the attacker an ultimately harmless but still painful lesson.
Unflappable: None of her viewers have seen Aria getting anywhere close to losing her composure. She laughs and cries like a normal person, and the emotions seem genuine, yet even when attacked during a moment of apparent vulnerability her responses are quick and efficient as usual. It's subtle, but there's something almost inhuman about how her decision-making capability is not negatively impacted by emotions.
Abilities and Equipment:
Avatar Projection: Aria's body that the player characters interact with is actually a remotely controlled avatar. It is a very long-distance connection using top-secret micro-portal technology and encryption, making it almost impossible to trace in normal circumstances, though it can be jammed or blocked. The avatar is entirely made of holomatter, but appears anatomically realistic to external inspection, and can even consume food and drink. But it bleeds bluish purple holotrons when damaged, and can freely shapeshift and regenerate even when seemingly vital organs are destroyed. Its true weak point is a nigh-immaterial core that is resilient against most attacks, but the avatar falls apart if the core is destroyed, and Aria would have to send a new core from her real location to get back to the party. The amount of power Aria can channel through the avatar is limited, which relegates her to a defensive support role to the party. Her true powers are among the things she claims will be revealed to the player characters later.
Movement: Aria is highly agile, and can levitate and fly at speeds comparable to cars. She can also dash in brief bursts of extreme speed, resembling short-ranged teleportation.
Holo-Sense: Aria has a very powerful and accurate holo-sense, able to analyze information in a wide area around her, which allows her to act as the party navigator.
Holography: Aria can conjure elaborate holograms around herself. They have no physical substance, but can make quite convincing sights and sounds. She uses this extensively to enhance her idol performances, and it can be used to distract enemies, though it may not hold up well against those with powerful holo-senses.
Telepathy: By emitting psychic waves, Aria can telepathically communicate with designated individuals around herself, allowing her to share her holo-sense with them and help them see through her own illusions. The telepathic contact is not intrusive, and can be blocked out with willpower. The contents of her psychic waves are encrypted and difficult to spy on, until received by the intended recipient.
Arcana Code Bestowal: Aria is able to grant Arcana Codes to those compatible with them.
Arcana Code: XI - Strength. Like the gentle woman who effortlessly tames the lion, Aria's songs brings strength to her allies and calms aggressive Shadows. Her card is like her main outfit, in hues of blue and violet with sparse highlights of bright red; the pattern on its back is her iconic blue butterfly.
Shadow: Unknown.
Persona: Euterpe, the Muse of Song. Unlike most Persona users, Aria seems to simply conjure the card then absorb it into her body, before holotrons and miasma swirl around her to form her wings and a microphone that resembles a magical girl wand. It's unknown if her Persona is the type that becomes the user's equipment, or if her avatar is the Persona of her real self, or if she simply cannot manifest her full Persona remotely through the avatar. Nevertheless, her avatar behaves like a Persona after the card's invocation, with stats of 5 might, 12 endurance, and 13 finesse, and minor resistances to light, psychic, and electricity.
Songs of the Muse: Several types of omnidirectional auras of nigh-invisible energy that emanate from her, passing through non-magical matter and seeping through the skin to take effect. The name is only thematic, and they do not depend on sound waves or the ability to hear. She has full control over which targets are affected. Their elements are a combination of light and psychic.
- Song of Life: Targets are healed. Missing flesh and bones can be restored, but Aria advises the party to not take chances with vital organs.
- Song of Purity: Negative external influences within the target are weakened or cleansed outright.
- Song of Fortitude: Targets gain increased physical toughness and magical resistance.
- Song of Tranquility: Friendly targets are soothed, reducing their pain and negative emotions. Hostile targets are pacified, weakening their aggressive instincts.
Stunbolt: A bolt of psychic and electrical energy launched from her microphone wand that delivers numbing paralysis, but minimal damage.
Age: Unknown; physically appears 18.
Gender: Female.
Appearance:
Being the most infamous of holofakes in the shadownet, Aria's face and bodily shape is identical to that of Sophia Neumann, HoloSys's prized mascot for holo-augmentation. But unlike Sophia's cold machine-like mannerisms and plain dress code, Aria is bright and animated, and puts extensive amounts of care into her appearance, making her nigh-unrecognizable as a holofake. While Sophia would have no reason to talk about such things, Aria publicly revealed her bust, waist, and hip measurements as 84 cm, 58 cm, and 84 cm respectively.
Being the fashionista she is, Aria has a wide variety of outfits, all of which are sleek, feminine, and at least a little sexy; she also sometimes experiments with different hairstyles, hair colors, eye colors, and even skin colors. In her most iconic costume, she has fair skin, glossy straight silver hair that extends to the middle of her back, and sky-blue eyes that have white pupils shaped like power symbols. A short ahoge sticks out of the top of her head, along with a pair of unusually long bright red strands that extend past her cheeks, somewhat resembling butterfly antennae. The hair at her temples is pulled into a half-up short ponytail, held together by a large glowing futuristic blue butterfly hairpin; there is also a small silver bell tied to the left side of her hair by red ribbons. Her lipstick and nail polish are both bright red and faintly glittery. She wears a tight-fitting shoulderless top that shows a mild amount of cleavage, detached sleeves that flare out around her lower arms, a pleated miniskirt, and thigh-high boots with three-inch stiletto heels. The outfit is made of a futuristic latex-like material, in shades of white, cyan, blue, and violet, with sparse highlights of bright red, covered in faintly glowing circuit patterns. The center of her chest is adorned with a red butterfly-shaped bow, and above her breasts on her bare skin is a simple red tattoo of nested heart shapes. On her back is a pair of large futuristic butterfly wings, blue with purple hues, though she often keeps the wings hidden due to their size. Below the wings are a pair of strips that resemble the "tails" of swallowtail butterflies.
[Aria's outfit is heavily inspired by a combination of outfits of two pre-existing fictional characters, and I would be a little impressed if anyone knows both. No, it's not anyone from Vocaloid or Hyperdimension Neptunia; that would be too easy.]
Personality:
The usual persona Aria displays is bubbly and cheerful, radiating optimism and warmth with every word and movement, motivated by the desire to bring hope and joy to her audience. She is also vain and utterly shameless, showing off her beauty at every available opportunity and basking in the adoration she receives, proudly stating that her body is her canvas for artistic self-expression. She exudes an air of flawless, impenetrable confidence, effortlessly maintaining her composure against the most vicious of insults and never displaying a hint of competitiveness, envy, or self-doubt. Yet when discussing serious topics, she becomes mature and level-headed, always looking at a problem from multiple perspectives with a gentle, empathic, open-minded attitude. She isn't a self-sacrificial saint, and can have a mischievous streak when dealing with people she doesn't like, but she never displays any genuine malice. Even when faced with people who repeatedly attempt cyber-attacks against her for petty reasons, or people who have committed horrific crimes, the worst she shows is sadness and pity toward these people and the circumstances that made them do what they did. Some people make the accusation that this is all an act, but if so then it's an exceptionally solid and durable one, without any lapse or crack as far as anyone has seen.
Aria has a wide range of interests that she has shared with the public. Aside from the obvious music and idol culture, she loves anime, manga, and video games, happily proclaiming herself an otaku. She's obviously bisexual and rather perverted, thinking of herself as a connoisseur of female beauty, both her own and others'. Her other areas of interest include technology, science, math, philosophy, and creative writing, sometimes delving into surprisingly deep discussions with her viewers.
Backstory:
Aria made her debut as a virtual idol roughly a year ago, which went viral and exploded in popularity due to her genuinely excellent performance as well as her incredibly bold move of basing her appearance on that of Sophia Neumann. She had no intention to impersonate Sophia or deceive, so her holofaking was technically legal, but HoloSys still exerted their immense clout to take down Aria's content from all major legal platforms. Surprisingly, rather than being extinguished and forgotten like many others, Aria simply took her activities to the shadownet without missing a beat, where her popularity steadily grew. Many hackers initially saw her as an easy target, but were again surprised when they not only failed to inflict any real damage to her cyber-defenses, but could not even find any substantial information on her real identity or location. Thus the mystery and rumors around her grew as well, with theories ranging from her being Sophia Neumann herself in disguise, to being a failed prototype of Sophia who escaped, to being an artificial intelligence, or even extraterrestrial; to those theories Aria only gave amused giggles in response. Bearing somewhat of a vendetta against her, HoloSys often tried to impede her in various ways, but she always stayed one step ahead of them, making her a symbol of freedom and rebellion against corporate oppression, despite the lack of significant political leanings in her content.
When the game begins, Aria appears to each player character just as he is about to be attacked by his Shadow, granting him an Arcana Code that allows him to tame his Shadow and transform it into a Persona. She then asks the character to help her investigate the mysterious Saklas syndrome that has been on the rise lately, of which the player character was a victim just now. When asked about her true identity and the origin of these Arcana Codes, she states that it is something she can only reveal once the player character has mastered his newfound powers, and implores him to simply trust her in the meantime.
Skills:
Bilingual: Aria is fluent in both English and Japanese.
Singing: Aria could not have attained the popularity she had without being an incredibly talented singer. Her vocal cords are the same as Sophia's, yet she uses them to produce a voice that is cute and high-pitched without sounding childish or squeaky. It is also soft and crystal-clear, smooth as velvet and gentle like a spring breeze, yet powerful and resonant when needed. She is highly versatile, capable of singing a variety of genres, including J-pop, rock, metal, techno, power ballads, jazz, classical, and even traditional Japanese enka. Her only major weakness is that she cannot do a deep, mature voice; even her death metal growls sound cute.
Dancing: The other half of her performance. Her agility and natural beauty, combined with shameless vanity and confidence, lets her effortlessly pull off dance routines that quickly capture the heart of many an otaku while singing live. She projects the moe aesthetic incredibly well, be it bright and happy, gentle and sweet, cool and elegant, or playful and seductive.
Songwriting: Aria has covered many songs by other artists, but she has quite a few original songs as well. Their tones vary from bittersweet to upbeat, but all ultimately convey optimistic messages, conveying her desire to bring hope and joy to the world.
Gaming: In addition to singing and dancing, Aria often doubles as a video game streamer. She seems unreasonably good at just about every skill-based game she plays, leading to accusations of cheating and bot abuse, though she dispelled those for the most part through live demonstrations that would be difficult to prepare exploits for ahead of time. That instead fuelled rumors that she's some sort of AI, leading to facetious Turing tests and related shenanigans on her part; though most viewers are content with just watching her perform incredibly hard gaming challenges.
Memory: Aria seems to have a nigh-photographic memory for the names of her viewers and the comments they made.
Knowledge: Aria seems highly knowledgeable in science, technology, and various bits of trivia. Maybe she has a search engine holochip implant, but she's occasionally seen holding in-depth discussions with viewers who are doctoral students or researchers. Could she really be an AI, or Sophia Neumann in disguise?
Hacking: One cannot make a living in the shadownet without at least decent hacking skills, and Aria clearly has more than enough. Numerous hackers have targeted her, but none have gotten through. In a few particularly egregious cases she'd even retaliated, teaching the attacker an ultimately harmless but still painful lesson.
Unflappable: None of her viewers have seen Aria getting anywhere close to losing her composure. She laughs and cries like a normal person, and the emotions seem genuine, yet even when attacked during a moment of apparent vulnerability her responses are quick and efficient as usual. It's subtle, but there's something almost inhuman about how her decision-making capability is not negatively impacted by emotions.
Abilities and Equipment:
Avatar Projection: Aria's body that the player characters interact with is actually a remotely controlled avatar. It is a very long-distance connection using top-secret micro-portal technology and encryption, making it almost impossible to trace in normal circumstances, though it can be jammed or blocked. The avatar is entirely made of holomatter, but appears anatomically realistic to external inspection, and can even consume food and drink. But it bleeds bluish purple holotrons when damaged, and can freely shapeshift and regenerate even when seemingly vital organs are destroyed. Its true weak point is a nigh-immaterial core that is resilient against most attacks, but the avatar falls apart if the core is destroyed, and Aria would have to send a new core from her real location to get back to the party. The amount of power Aria can channel through the avatar is limited, which relegates her to a defensive support role to the party. Her true powers are among the things she claims will be revealed to the player characters later.
Movement: Aria is highly agile, and can levitate and fly at speeds comparable to cars. She can also dash in brief bursts of extreme speed, resembling short-ranged teleportation.
Holo-Sense: Aria has a very powerful and accurate holo-sense, able to analyze information in a wide area around her, which allows her to act as the party navigator.
Holography: Aria can conjure elaborate holograms around herself. They have no physical substance, but can make quite convincing sights and sounds. She uses this extensively to enhance her idol performances, and it can be used to distract enemies, though it may not hold up well against those with powerful holo-senses.
Telepathy: By emitting psychic waves, Aria can telepathically communicate with designated individuals around herself, allowing her to share her holo-sense with them and help them see through her own illusions. The telepathic contact is not intrusive, and can be blocked out with willpower. The contents of her psychic waves are encrypted and difficult to spy on, until received by the intended recipient.
Arcana Code Bestowal: Aria is able to grant Arcana Codes to those compatible with them.
Arcana Code: XI - Strength. Like the gentle woman who effortlessly tames the lion, Aria's songs brings strength to her allies and calms aggressive Shadows. Her card is like her main outfit, in hues of blue and violet with sparse highlights of bright red; the pattern on its back is her iconic blue butterfly.
Shadow: Unknown.
Persona: Euterpe, the Muse of Song. Unlike most Persona users, Aria seems to simply conjure the card then absorb it into her body, before holotrons and miasma swirl around her to form her wings and a microphone that resembles a magical girl wand. It's unknown if her Persona is the type that becomes the user's equipment, or if her avatar is the Persona of her real self, or if she simply cannot manifest her full Persona remotely through the avatar. Nevertheless, her avatar behaves like a Persona after the card's invocation, with stats of 5 might, 12 endurance, and 13 finesse, and minor resistances to light, psychic, and electricity.
Songs of the Muse: Several types of omnidirectional auras of nigh-invisible energy that emanate from her, passing through non-magical matter and seeping through the skin to take effect. The name is only thematic, and they do not depend on sound waves or the ability to hear. She has full control over which targets are affected. Their elements are a combination of light and psychic.
- Song of Life: Targets are healed. Missing flesh and bones can be restored, but Aria advises the party to not take chances with vital organs.
- Song of Purity: Negative external influences within the target are weakened or cleansed outright.
- Song of Fortitude: Targets gain increased physical toughness and magical resistance.
- Song of Tranquility: Friendly targets are soothed, reducing their pain and negative emotions. Hostile targets are pacified, weakening their aggressive instincts.
Stunbolt: A bolt of psychic and electrical energy launched from her microphone wand that delivers numbing paralysis, but minimal damage.
Name: Dr. Oden Schuyler
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Appearance: 5’10” tall, pale skin, dark and lank hair hanging over one eye, other eye sanguine in color. Black jeans and shoes, red shirt, black leather jacket.
Personality: Dour, deadpan, not easily impressed. Heavy smoker, though his exhalations emerge as clouds of thick black smog rather than merely grey wisps. Fascination with life and death, and the nature of how they can lead into each other.
Backstory: Child genius. Graduated high school at 12; graduated university with an Honors Bachelor’s Degree and Master of Science in Biology and a minor in Engineering at 16; acquired subsequent MScs in Biological Science, Bioengineering, and Biotechnology; acquired a Bioengineering Doctor of Philosophy by the age of 22, with a specific research dissertation into the field of holotronic human augmentation as the technology became available and prominent. Hired as a scientist and researcher working at HoloSys Inc. during his PhD. Went missing shortly after the reveal of Sophia Neumann. Spent time in hiding working as a black market doctor and holo-aug modifier. Currently an associate of Aria, in charge of tending the group’s long-term health.
Skills: Expert in biology and holotech, in particular the nature of holo-augs down to the subcellular level and black-market medical work. Extremely high general IQ. Highly skilled holoscript user, primarily utilised for in-depth bodily examination.
Abilities and Equipment: Highly skilled holoscript user. Lacking in power, for want of a Persona; aura contaminated with traces of miasmal energy.
Arcana Code: XIII - Death. Direct ties to concepts of life and death through work. Back of the card depicts rows of diagonals running top-right to bottom-left, superimposed with a crosshatch across the middle in a shape reminiscent of a mourning shroud. Card frame is deep purple in colour.
Shadow: Unknown.
Persona: Unknown. Seemingly non-existent or otherwise incapable of manifestation, possibly due to miasma contamination.
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Appearance: 5’10” tall, pale skin, dark and lank hair hanging over one eye, other eye sanguine in color. Black jeans and shoes, red shirt, black leather jacket.
Personality: Dour, deadpan, not easily impressed. Heavy smoker, though his exhalations emerge as clouds of thick black smog rather than merely grey wisps. Fascination with life and death, and the nature of how they can lead into each other.
Backstory: Child genius. Graduated high school at 12; graduated university with an Honors Bachelor’s Degree and Master of Science in Biology and a minor in Engineering at 16; acquired subsequent MScs in Biological Science, Bioengineering, and Biotechnology; acquired a Bioengineering Doctor of Philosophy by the age of 22, with a specific research dissertation into the field of holotronic human augmentation as the technology became available and prominent. Hired as a scientist and researcher working at HoloSys Inc. during his PhD. Went missing shortly after the reveal of Sophia Neumann. Spent time in hiding working as a black market doctor and holo-aug modifier. Currently an associate of Aria, in charge of tending the group’s long-term health.
Skills: Expert in biology and holotech, in particular the nature of holo-augs down to the subcellular level and black-market medical work. Extremely high general IQ. Highly skilled holoscript user, primarily utilised for in-depth bodily examination.
Abilities and Equipment: Highly skilled holoscript user. Lacking in power, for want of a Persona; aura contaminated with traces of miasmal energy.
Arcana Code: XIII - Death. Direct ties to concepts of life and death through work. Back of the card depicts rows of diagonals running top-right to bottom-left, superimposed with a crosshatch across the middle in a shape reminiscent of a mourning shroud. Card frame is deep purple in colour.
Shadow: Unknown.
Persona: Unknown. Seemingly non-existent or otherwise incapable of manifestation, possibly due to miasma contamination.
