➵Application

[cognitivism]

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Keith
AGE: 29
JOURNAL: flotilla
IM / EMAIL: Email | Timeless Tealeaf [Aim] | Icarus6378 [Discord]
PLURK: redfielding
RETURNING: Returning. Keith legionnaires

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Goro Akechi
CHARACTER AGE: 17
SERIES: Persona 5
CHRONOLOGY: End Persona 5
CLASS: Unregistered
HOUSING: Open for randomization

BACKGROUND: Megami Tensei Wiki information: be warned of majour end game spoilers.

Goro's part in the story starts two years prior. He is contracted by a false Igor and given the Wild Card Persona moniker as part of a massive "game" to see if humanity can essentially make their own choices. Initially his power is weak, but after realising that this is his way on getting revenge on his father. He seeks out Masayoshi Shido in order to offer his aid in removing the obstacles preventing him from becoming Prime Minister of Japan (to which he accepts, albeit with a backup plan to remove Goro should need be or the time arise).

He then sets the course of psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns through Japan, causing mass panic and subsequent outrage that the current government isn't doing enough to keep it's citizens safe. Akechi, bright minded, ends up stepping into the role of the Prince Detective and "solving" the mental shutdown cases -- giving way to his rise to fame. Given this fame, he is put in the path of the Phantom Thieves, and his investigation of them eventually leads up to the events at the start of the game.

PERSONALITY: Goro is extremely careful about how the public perceives him. He's careful about his grades, his words -- everything about his life is manufactured to keep up a public image to fuel his need to be wanted. He has no friends, simply acquaintances and work colleagues that he struggles to find any common ground with. It's not for a matter of trying after all he spends his time in high class restaurants and hidden stores trying to find anything he can use to converse with the adults around him.

He's charming, keeping true to his Detective Prince persona that he's built up with the public. He's essentially an idol, always smiling, contemplating his words carefully as he stands on the public stage as he's often called to be on television programs. He understands that the masses are quick to turn on him after speaking out against the Phantom Thieves, but he is true to his form of justice and stands by his words.

However, this is all a show for the public. He's extremely jaded by those around him, especially with how the system works. It's implied that his mother considered him unwanted, likely due to who his father is -- and by the time he realised he wanted revenge it seemed to be too late as Masayoshi Shido was already a well respected politician. Early on he struck a deal with with a God who draws out the power of the Wild Card from him, and in tern he uses it to help his father rise through the political ranks to take over Japan as the next prime minister. He wants to destroy his father for what he did to his mother (losing her to suicide, dealing with foster care -- his father is a selfish man) and became his right hand man.

When he joins the Phantom Thieves, he actually experiences joy and happiness. He envies them for their close knit group, especially the protagonist who has everything Goro has ever wanted. He longs for friends and acceptance, thinking that fame will get him what he wants. His obsession for revenge against his father overshadows his feelings he has for the Phantom Thives, dismissing the idea of friends and true justice. He attacks the protagonist and his friends, deciding to kill them in order for his revenge to come to fruition.

It's when he's confronted by his cognitive self he realises where he went wrong. It's revealed through this that Shido believes he's merely a puppet, and was planning on making him pay for his crimes all along to get rid of him. If Akechi was gone, who was to stop him? The knowledge of this causes him to have his own change of heart, and sacrifices himself to save the Phantom Thieves.

POWER:


Dream walking: As the Metaverse is not accessible in Mask or Menace, and due to the fact that Akechi’s abilities are operable on a mental plane, the ability to traverse the Metaverse would be translated into dream walking within game. This would be an ability Akechi would develop over time as he would have to come to learn to control it.

Cognitive Realignment: This ability would represent Akechi’s ability to manipulate the cognition of others, both through simple distortion and destruction. With cognitive distortion, the ability merely causes a mild disorientation of the mind. Akechi feels remorse for what he's done after having to face his cognitive self in Shido's palace, and through this he has decided to try and his us powers less destructively. This will be something he struggles with as he goes through his own form of rehabilitation from his twisted sense of justice.

Cognitive Destruction, on the other hand, is a complete destruction of the mind and results in the victim’s inevitable death. This ability was used within the Metaverse to distort and destroy the Shadow self of a person to cause psychotic breaks or mental shutdowns. This is thanks to a combination of Wakaba Isshiki's research (given to him by his father) and his Personas ability to greatly increase a shadow's attack power and driving it to madness. This ability it tied to Loki and used as a last resort option -- as it has killed people through the series.

Both this and the distortion would be used via dream walking in game as the Metaverse is obviously not accessible within Mask or Menace. These abilities would only be accessed through dream walking despite the fact they are tied to his Persona, Loki. Additionally, as these abilities previously targeted a Shadow of the true heart of a victim, these abilities will need to be adjusted to target their cognitive centers.

These would be used in game via a permissions post due to the intense nature of it. Cognitive Destruction could be limited to in game events if need be.

Wild Card Persona: Goro is one of about a handful of people who are classified as Wild Cards. This means he is able to utilize mutiple Personas either through means of fusing two different types together, or contracting them through battle. Unlike the protagonist of the series, he seems to only utilize two Persona’s in his arsenal: Loki and Robin Hood.

Robin Hood’s innate abilities can be divided into three subgroups: magic based skills, physical attacks, and passive support. His most devastating magical attack is Megidola. While this attack is non-elemental and akin to a massive explosion of energy, it can cause significant damage that would like incapacitate any human that does not have fortified stamina or self-healing capabilities; additionally, it can be used to target multiple foes at once. Kouga and Eiga are also non-elemental skills that do not have any status effects tied to their use and are more like small bursts of energy—holy or darkness respectively. Additionally, they do less damage than Megidola and can only target one foe at a time. Anyone that is hit with these spells may sustain wounds that have a potential to scar, but they would not be incapacitated or left with an inability to fight. Hamaon and Mudoon are like Kouga and Eiga in strength and are representative of holy or darkness energy respectively; however, these abilities also have the potential to inflict their target with an insta-kill. As insta-killing a foe in game would be too much, this would be adjusted to have a higher chance of additional damage, and thus may occasionally cause small explosions of energy as opposed to simple bursts of said energy.

Robin Hood, with only his innate skills, only has one physical attack—Megaton Raid. This attack does severe damage and would result in a significant, major injury worthy of immediate medical attention. Additionally, there is only one passive support skill among Robin Hood’s skills at this point as well—Fortify Spirit. This lowers Akechi’s susceptibility to ailments and status affects. Essentially, Akechi would have a lower chance of being affected by things such as poison and have a higher resistance to being burned.

Loki’s skills, by the time he appears in game, are all available and include magical skills, physical attacks, and support skills.

Megidolaon is the most devastating magical attack in Loki’s repertoire, and is essentially a leveled-up version of Robin Hood’s Megidola. If Megidola is an explosion, then Megidolaon is a coordinated bombing field that can target multiple enemies at once. Anyone hit with this attack would require immediate medical attention. Laevatein and Eigaon are Loki’s next hardest hitting magic skills, and are akin to minor explosions. These skills can cause significant damage that would like incapacitate any human that does not have fortified stamina or self-healing capabilities; additionally, they can be used to target multiple foes at once. Maeiga and Maragoin still pack a decent punch, but are weaker than previous abilities—they are more akin to bursts of energy than explosions. Anyone that is hit with these spells may sustain wounds that have a potential to scar, but they would not be incapacitated or left with an inability to fight. Additionally, Maragoin does have a rare chance of causing a foe to be burned due to it being a fire based spell.

Loki has several physical attacks available for use—Negative Pile, Deathbound, and Brave Blade. These attacks can only target a single foe at any given time. Brave Blade is the most brutal of these attacks, dealing such a significant amount of damage that humans without any superhuman defense or healing ability would need to receive immediate medical attention or risk death. Negative Pile does significantly less damage than Brave Blade, and is most akin to a non-life-threatening hit with a sword. Deathbound is the weakest of these physical attacks, more of a glancing blow when compared with previous abilities, but it can hit the target up to two times at once.

Loki’s support skills include Dekaja, Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Heat Riser, and Desperation. Dekaja provides support by affecting enemy targets by specifically reducing any buffs from said targets—essentially it would reduce superhuman stamina or defense. Tetrakarn is a support skill that raises a physical defensive shield while Makarakarn raises a magical defensive shield. Heat Riser increases the user’s attack strength, defense, and agility. Desperation is a skill tied specifically to Akechi’s dream walking and the mental breakdowns/shutdowns and thus would not be used outside of that setting.

Note: I realise that using both Loki and Robin Hood in the “Real World” would be a bit over powered, therefore Loki would only be used via the Dreamwalking as a manifestation of the Cognitive Realignment. Any and all abilities outside of Desperation would be used to subdue resistant minds.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉


COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

Fascinating. [ A number of things are fascinating as he stares into the camera. It takes him a moment to really come together with his thoughts to really speak to the general public. To say the least he is a little pensive on how this was possible but he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. ]

I apologise. It seems this whole system is very new to me. [He offers a charming smile. ] I didn't realise that it was still recording. I was simply marveling over how some of this technology is different then what I'm used to.

My name is Goro Akechi. I suppose I'm new here. It is a pleasure to meet you all and I hope we get along.

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: Persona users + necromancers.

A chat with a dirty crime boy.

FINAL NOTES: