#Lovecraftian Persona? Check.

[ancient-day]

Cogpsi nerds are just like this, maybe.

[katsona-the-katsequel]

(Apologies for the awkwardness) I remember a AU with the Wildcards that I was curious about your take on it. From what I remember, it’s been awhile, this AU is a type of Velvet Room AU. Where the Wildcards are meant to replace the servants of Philemon who resided in the room, including Igor, Nameless, Belladonna, and Demon Painter. I cannot remember who they placed with who I think Yu was Igor. (I admit I don’t know much about Persona before Persona 4 and some of Persona 3, so I didn’t know who the others were, only Igor) I was curious on your take if you don’t mind.

I know the AU you're talking about!

Strap in, bois, this is going to get long.

First, we need to establish who's replacing who. Newsona is easy: just swap the assistant with the guest. Bada-bim, bada-bam. It was Oldsona that caused some trouble. Also, do I want Igor to go first because of seniority or go in order of the swapped story that makes the most sense for him? In the end, I went for this order:

Igor -> Aigis (only it was moved first in this AU)

Demon Painter -> Naoya

Nameless -> Tatsuya

Belladonna -> Maya

Elizabeth/Theodore -> Minato/Kotone

Margaret -> Yu

Lavenza -> Akira

Maybe there's a Jose and Akechi swap? Or maybe with Morgana? Not sure about that one yet. The thing about Nameless and Belladonna is that they don't share much about themselves, but since they're a package deal, I swapped them with the other package deal here.

I could have swapped Phil with someone but he's an important Jenga piece that I can't move. If I did, it would be one of three: Tamaki, Tatsuya or Jun (maybe an AU where Phil and Nyarly swap with Tatsuya and Jun? But today is for the assistants only). For now, let's stick to only the main protags.

Also, to have some extra fun imagine that instead of Frankenstein-inspired names the attendants now have Dracula-inspired names. Y'know, cause they were changed into something else for the sake of this AU. For the sake of simplicity I'm going to keep calling them by their normal, Japanese names, tho.

Igor & Aigis

I don't even have to create an arc here. They're both man(?)-made beings created to serve a specific purpose who have questioned their humanity. Even Igor made a reference to it! Maybe this AU would feature Igor's creator more, and though Phil is the one who gave him life, we cannot forget about the theory that it was Dr. Victor who created him. Not the Frankenstein book version, the SMT version whose immortal. I'm going with that.

Igor's arc would replace Tamaki's adventure in SMT: if..., which would give me an excuse to add Dr. Victor in the first place. And what would you know? Aigis has a Plume of Dusk, which gives her a deeper connection with the CU and would allow Phil to teach her the deep primordial magicks or whatever it is he uses.

As I mentioned before, the "human or machine" arc is mostly the same, only less friendship and more Lovecraftian. It has to be to be this early in the timeline.

Demon Painter & Naoya

Just imagine the Demon Painter has a proper human name, ok?

I believe Kazuma Kaneko's stand-in deserves to become the First Proper Persona Protag in this AU. The funny thing about him is that, unlike the other attendants, he's 100% human. He just wanted to paint the Arcana! And after that he leaves! So Naoya gets to stay as a human too.

In this AU the Demon Painter left Sumaru for Mikage-cho to try to escape an artist's block. There, he became Maki's art tutor, being willing to teach her even while she's in the hospital. He's very dedicated to his craft. The Demon Painter would be in the hospital when the earthquake strikes, running into the St. Hermelin kids who'd gone to check on Maki, and the plot would start.

Maybe Naoya would incorporate some arcade dynamics during the copying of the cards? Imagine getting into the Velvet Room and there's a guy playing Street Fighters in the corner, lol. He leaves after getting the perfect score.

Nameless & Tatsuya / Belladonna & Maya

I'm putting this two together.

I know its redundant, but I have no way of fitting Nameless and Belladonna into the plot unless they were Lisa, Michel and Jun's teachers. Belladonna can play mom, that's fine.

Attendant!Tatsuya doesn't have an arm here. It was replaced by a golden version Hand of Midas style. In turn, Nyarlathotep's brand covers Nameless eyes, affecting his perception instead of his actions.

Belladonna would go through trial after trial of people and higher beings trying to silence her for some prophecy. Maybe Maya's pep talks could translate as inspiring poems in the Velvet Room? Maybe??? Tatsuya still plays the guitar, though not an electric one.

I almost forgot to mention, but the Demon Painter, Nameless and Belladonna would have different Arcanas than Naoya, Tatsuya and Maya. I would need to write their arcs to figure out what they would be since they have so little personality, but they would definitely be different.

Elizabeth/Theodore & Minato/Kotone

Now that Aigis is the Igor stand-in, she can play favorites with her attendants and allow Minato AND Kotone to get away with anything. That's right. This AU means they get to exist at the same time. Hooray!

Bad news, Elizabeth/Theodore is an orphan. Igor would also return, having been recruited by the Kirijo Group due to his knowledge of the supernatural. Now that I think about it, Elizabeth/Theodore would have been teenagers when the Moonlight Bridge Incident happened, so they would remember more of it. Maybe that would explain Elizabeth's weirdness and Theodore's more meek personality in this AU. Hard to be normal when you remember having something-that-feels-dead inside you.

And yes, this means Igor fought Ryoji. It was a less physical and more magical fight.

Margaret & Yu

Margaret looks adult-age. She would have moved to Inaba out of her own volition. Here, she's Dojima's estranged sister. Think of it like the city-girl protagonist of a Hallmark movie, only instead of a small town lover and the miracle of Christmas she finds some gay kids and a murder mystery. These things happen. She is now the mom-friend who sometimes doubles as the wine-aunt.

At least Yu gets to ride the limo full-time.

Lavenza & Akira

Lavenza's story would steer more towards child rebellion. All about the helplesness of children about the injustices around them. Actually, kind of like Matilda.

I'm loosing steam and can't think about how Akira would be split in this AU by Yaldy, so we'll leave it here.

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[gavalaa]

Sketches of all my redone designs for my Phantom Thieves from my AU, Icarus! Lots of info down below on the cut, so if you want to know more about the details and inspiration, feel free to keep reading!

This includes Akechi’s design for his Princely/Robin Hood attire, BEFORE his Icarus attire you might have seen from my other posts! Check out the Icarus AU tag for more info! Icarus has a main focus on Akechi and his relationship to the thieves, but the AU is actually an entire rewrite with new designs, 3rd semester and epilogue/strikers/tactica stories, hence Zenkichi and Sophia’s inclusion.

Read below for individual info:

I decided to include more motifs towards their persona’s and general vibes; and also just my own personal touches haha.

AKIRA - Not much has changed, I really like his design overall. I raised his boots to be like Arsene’s and changed his neck area.

MORGANA - I hate the OG pill shaped head, his new design is based heavily on the shape of Palico’s from Monster Hunter. Added a little more nod to Zorro/His persona motifs and also just made him cuter! Little hamburger headed cat.

RYUJI - I made him a little bulkier and gave some more weight to his outfit overall. I gave him heavier boots and a slightly buffer build to relate back more to his sporty style.

ANN - honestly was never too big on her latex outfit, I wanted to call back to a personal favorite female lead; Christine Daae, and used one of the versions of her Don Juan costume as inspiration. I remember seeing Phantom live and in many stage versions of her character, the Don Juan scene was a pure moment of female control, and she was truly working the Phantom and controlling every movement on the stage. Her presence is commanding, and I thought it was a very fitting tribute to Ann’s character as feminine strength. (I’m absolutely not referring to the movie iteration of Daae btw.)

YUSUKE - I referred to some historical art and legend of Goemon to add more elements of design to his outfit. When I color them, I want to add some really strong pops of color to his clothing to really drive the aesthetics and artistry home.

MAKOTO - Another totally redid outfit, I opted to give her a design which relates back to Popess Joan, and also Anat. I gave her a clawed hand on her right side and an uncovered hand on her left as both a nod to Anat’s hand raised in iconography of her from art history, but also to show the duality of Anat’s title as both a goddess of war, and of love. It also relates to the mythology of Joan and her nature as both a leader and a martyr. I changed her mask to a Venetian Commedia mask as well.

FUTABA - ok. I’ll be honest. I never liked her skin-tight outfit, it just doesn’t match her personality at all. Also, the high tech Egyptian feel never really sold me. I totally understand the tomb thing, but I truthfully think a dungeon/palace which was more like… tech/nerd themed would have been much more “futaba” the inspiration for this new outfit relates back to her persona, the Necromomicon, as well as her nerdy personality, and her affiliation as Alibaba (Ali Baba.) I wanted to go more lovecraftian, long sleeves and patterning designed to look more like lovecraftian tendrils, and big baggy pants and her classic shoes to match. The patterning on her undershirt will resemble a rib cage, both as a reference to her deathly “tomb” iconography, but also to Lovecraftian and Necronomicon lore. I think she matches the description of a nerdy, techie DND dungeon master more than the initial outfit, so that’s the route I took personally.

HARU - relating back to some fashions from 17th c France, where Milady’s story (the three musketeers) takes place, I kept her design relatively similar. I just gave her a little more iconography relating to the three musketeers and that general timeframe.

AKECHI - in his pre-Icarus outfit, I’ve given him a princely sort of outfit befitting of his two faced nature, and edited it to relate to Robin Hood a little more. I tried to keep it sleek and just generally very concealing and layered.

SUMIRE - i gave her some iconography relating back to one of her personas, who is an inference to Freya. I also included some more nods to classic Cinderella, with fantasy gown elements. Overall, relatively similar.

ZENKICHI - again, relatively similar, I really like his outfit. I just opened up the face some to show more personality and spiced up the outfit generally to keep it matching. honestly, les mis/Valjean was a hard one, but I also think his character could be heavily related back to Edmond Dante (Monte Cristo.) so I gave some nods to that as well.

SOPHIA - I turned her into a FINGIE!!!! I made her whole dress as a nod to her persona/to pandora’s tiles around her/the pillars. I wanted to make her small and almost unnatural since she’s an AI, and I thought having a little guy on the team would add some more variation.

[anim-ttrpgs]

A.N.I.M. Adventure Art: Jordan

Art by @umbraldame

This art has been posted here with permission as part of A.N.I.M.’s Adventure Art initiative in our TTRPG book club.

For everyone's peace of mind, let's just say Jordan is a PC from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by A.N.I.M.

If you’d like to join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, you can find the discord invite on our website.

If your art fits he parameters outlined on this post, and you’d like it featured here, tag us or post it in the book club’s Adventure Art channel on discord.

If you’d like to support us and get a prerelease copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, check out our Patreon! Our Kickstarter is planned for launch in April 2024!

Meet Jordan. There’s no hiding it in these images, Jordan is no ordinary woman, she’s a thing from beyond, the latest addition to the roster of playable monsters in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. The original concept for this creature comes from @saiintxsiinner, and is used with her permission in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy.

Each of the five core playable monster types in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy kind of vaguely represent different ‘eras’ of horror, and if you look at it from that perspective, things from beyond represent the 20th century, evoking things such as Lovecraftian horror, aliens that somewhat resemble sea creatures, body snatchers, the blob, the thing, etc.

What a thing from beyond actually is is a large blanket of skin covered with photoreceptors and chromatophores on one side, and covered with teeth on the other. They have no front, back, head, or tail.

To interact with their preferred prey, humans, they twist, fold, and bend themselves into a very convincing human shape, complete with artificial clothes and hair, and change the color of their skin to complete the illusion. This is a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but it allows the thing from beyond to blend in with human society, mimic human speech, and perhaps most importantly, make friends.

You see, when a thing from beyond is “born”, they are not much more than an animal, but their natural method of hunting is a bit complex. Not only do they absorb nutrients from digested prey, but information encoded in DNA and neurochemical information stored in the brain, which their body integrates into their own body and equivalent to a brain, so that they can better think like their prey so as to better mimic and therefore hunt them.

You could say “they are what they eat.”

So when a thing from beyond develops a taste for humans, something this alien branch of evolution never expected happens, they begin to develop sapience and a personality of their own, along with, in many cases, a variety of very human desires, such as love and belonging.

By the time this is happening, it is already too late to turn back, should the thing from beyond even think to do so, and by the time the sapient mind of the thing from beyond realizes what it is, they have necessarily already eaten several people alive. For either side of their nature, there is no going back. The thing from beyond won’t even have much memory of their life before, at least none that is comprehensible to a human.

This also gives things from beyond some pretty unique mechanics regarding eating people. Unlike other monsters, they tend to ‘swallow’ people alive and digest them slowly—they can even hold a person in their ‘stomach’ while going about their human persona’s regular daily life, the victim trapped and helpless inside them as if the thing from beyond is a skin-tight full-body suit.

Rather than get a single boost of Composure points per victim like other playable monsters, the thing from beyond gets a small trickle of Composure points as they digest their victim over several days—but here’s where it gets even more interesting: They not only gain Composure points from digesting their victims—remember how I said they absorb information encoded into DNA as well as neurochemical information from the brain—they gain investigation points too, much more so if the victim they ate has something to do with the current mystery being investigated. And once they have been working on a victim for at least three days, they can start to “use” the parts of the victim’s mind they have absorbed. Similar to how any PC can spend 1 Eureka! Point to have a “Eureka! Moment” and retroactively gain information from a previously failed investigation roll, the thing from beyond can spend 1 Eureka! Point to gain one piece of information that the victim knew.

This is only scratching the surface of the awesome mechanics and rules interactions the thing from beyond has, but I have other work to do and can’t keep typing this forever—plus, I already wrote it all out in the latest prerelease version of the TTRPG Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which you can get a copy of for $5 on our Patreon and start playing as a thing from beyond right away.