katsona-the-katsequel - Tumblr blog

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Expanded on the available and used Velvet denizen names. Focused only on the OG book and films, excluding the crossovers. This isn't a guideline. You can use characters from Hotel Transylvania if you want.

Male

Original Frankenstein

Victor

Robert

Walton

Ernest

William

Alphonse

Beaufort

Moritz

Henry

Clerval

Nameless / Blind Father 🦋

Frankenstein (1931 film)

Fritz

Waldman

Bride of Frankenstein

Hans

Septimus

Pretorius

Karl

Ludwig

Son of Frankenstein

Wolf

Peter

Krogh

Ygor / Igor 🦋

Heinrich

Benson

The Ghost of Frankenstein

Kettering

Theodore 🦋

Bohmer

Hussman

Erik

Ernst

Female

Original Frankenstein

Margaret 🦋

Caroline 🦋

Elizabeth 🦋

Lavenza 🦋

Justine 🦋

Saville (this one can be unisex)

Frankenstein (1931 film)

Maria

Bride of Frankenstein

Minnie

The Bride / Belladonna 🦋

Son of Frankenstein

Elsa

Amelia

The Ghost of Frankenstein

Cloestine

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Background Events: Persona Experimentation

Unethical experimentation on Persona Users has been happening since the beginning. But how has it evolved until now?

Warning: Some speculation will be involved.

TW: Human Experimentation

The Beginning

We don't have an exact date for when experiments related to Personas and the Collective Unconscious began. Phil and Nyarly's bet had been going for some time by the time IF took place. However, if we had to place a true beginning to the experiments, we would have to go with Stephen and the Demon Summoning Program. Along with Kyouji Kuzunoha, he's the only SMT character who's also canon to Persona. Makes sense, considering his weird transcendent nature. The tale may vary between franchises, but the Persona version goes like this:

By unknown means, Stephen managed to create the Terminal System to travel through computer networks. Since he's in a wheelchair in IF, then this Stephen also managed to connect to the Expanse (located in the Collective Unconscious) with the Terminal System. Since he didn't have a way to communicate with the demon who crossed and no Persona to defend himself, Stephen was was attacked and subsequentaly crippled. All of this had to have happened before 1996 for the timeline to make sense (Side Note: This also tells a lot about Stephen, since the incident had the perfect conditions for an Awakening).

The incident led Stephen to create the Demon Summoning Program, probably for personal use, since there was no upcoming war to prepare to (that Stephen could have known of). For some unknown reason, Stephen chose to upload the only copies of the program in the computers of Karukozaka High School. Was he an alumni? Did Stephen realize teens had more probability of connecting with the Expanse? Were Karu High's computers just that good? Who knows. Only Hazama and Tamaki took the program serious enough to use it, even if it was against each other. But that's a story for another time.

Like St. Hermelin would in a few months, Karu High briefly made the news before the entire incident was forgotten. That is highly suspicious on itself. My assumption is that there truly were some experimentation going on before this, amd they made sure to silence the press and make sure the students didn't snitch. Since Tamaki managed to hide among the student population as another victim (probably with Stephen's help), they never questioned her on her abilities nor disappeared her.

But who are they? Well...

SEBEC

The first formal organization seeking to gain a foothold in the Collective Unconscious was the Japanese branch of SEBEC, leadered by Takahisa Kandori. Their story goes like this:

When Kandori took over as head branch of SEBEC, they began to undertake the creation of a device capable of transporting matter from one place to another. Kind of like a portal. This had the main objective of helping to lower freight costs of imports and exports. Maybe even erasing them entirely. Key contributors were Setsuko Sonomura (an engineering specialist) and Dr. Nicholai (a scientist). Kandori kept the project so under wraps that those involved basically lived in the installations. Together they created the Dimension Variable Accelerator System, or DEVA System. However, they also pulled a Backrooms and accidentally connected to the Collective Unconscious.

It is probably at this point that Kandori awoke to his Persona, which was hijacked by the real Nyarlathotep. And thus, Kandori became a puppet in The Great Bet while believing he was achieving world domination or something like that. "But, Kati," I can hear you saying, "all of that was about the Collective Unconscious. Aside from Kandori, there were no Persona Users working with SEBEC".

Oh? OH? So quickly you forget about him?

Takeda. The man, the myth, the barely remembered NPC. All we know about him is that he is Kandori's right-hand man, the head of security at SEBEC and a Persona User. We don't even know what his Persona is, only that its couldn't handle the combined forces of the St. Hermelin students. His existence does imply something deeper: SEBEC is already employing Persona Users to their cause. They probably didn't know much about the phenomena (understandable, since they had just finished the DEVA System) and didn't have a definitive way of figuring out who could be a User and who couldn't. For all they knew this could be random. And so, a not-so-stellar security guard rose to become the second-hand man of the main antagonist. Just because he had the same power as him.

As we know, Kandori and SEBEC failed. But what was the fate of the staff that worked on the DEVA System? What about the little knowledge of the Collective Unconscious they had?

New World Order

Due to Nyarly's meddling, the NWO was founded in 1979 after they found Kiyotada Sumaru's head. They might have had supernatural advice from an ancient head and the backup of one of the most powerful beings in the Persona Universe, but no real Persona Users. Not one of those people had their shit together. The closest thing they had was Chizuru Ishigami, who was a sorcerer (most probable given true power by the Rumor Curse). When the time was right, we can assume Nyarly guided them to the remnants of Kandori's fuck up. The NWO revived Kandori and began their recruitment of the now-lost scientists and inventors. The NWO gave more freedom to their researchers than SEBEC did, which eventually led to the beginning of true human experimentation.

We don't see the worst of it unless you play Tatsuya's Scenario, where the hints they leave us are enough to call for a second Doctors' Trial.

Yikes. And this was only one known experiment.

Like SEBEC before them, the NWO also fell. But they weren't the only ones running supernatural and unethical experiments in 1999.

Kirijo Group

With the creation of the Dark Hour, demons shadows weren't only a danger of the Collective Unconscious anymore, at least, as far as the Kirijo Group knew. Now those in the know had to watch themselves every night to avoid being attacked by them. They couldn't always rely on the perfected version of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. That must have been the moment when they began to hear rumors of supernatural events in Sumaru City, which led them to the crumbling NWO.

As it turns out, the entire Death Incident a couple of months ago left a huge vacancy for their supernatural research division. And these guys seem like they have fresh ideas that might just solve their self-created problem! A secret scramble must have taken place where the Nanjo and Kirijo Groups tried to covet all the info and personnel that had anything to do with the NWO. Those who weren't important enough to know the truth behind Kiyotada Sumaru's head and their self-proclaimed high-class greatness could have become the precursors of the Conspiracy.

And so, the Kirijo Group now had better scientists, inventors and researchers than before, and more willing to dab on unethical territory. With the need for defense, the former NWO scientists must have suggested they try to create their own Persona Users, like the ones who kept barging into their labs back in Sumaru. Thing is, no one there knew how a Persona User came to be. They did seem to have the power to control a shadow to do their bidding... maybe all they had to do was link (whatever that meant) a human with a shadow. The survivors of these experiments would become bodyguards for the Kirijo Group's excursions to Tartarus. No one would last long, though.

Skip a couple of years and the unexpected happened:

A natural Persona Awakening.

Note was taken of the factors that had to do with the event: the User was a child and she had been in a highly stressful situation. This is how the Kirijo Group rounded up the 100 children they would experiment on to create Artificial Persona Users. All of them dying except for three: Takaya Sakaki, Jin Shirato and Chidori Yoshino (and Sho Minazuki). This violation to the Nuremberg Code probably fell to the side when Mitsuru found and recruited two natural Persona Users on her own. Nothing like flushing dozens of children's lives down the toilet.

We must remember that the Kirijo Group didn't know everything about Personas, and so believed that the stressful situation with a dash of fear of death was necessary every time the User wanted fo summon their Persona. And so Evokers were created. Better not think of the trial and error that led to those inventions. Nor the one that helped create Persona Suppressants.

Who cares if three failed lab rats ran away? Now the Kirijo Group had true Persona Users with them.

A lot happened after that, but that is a story for another day. What about the hypothetical precursors to the Conspiracy formed from the high-profile members of the NWO? The ones that fell through the cracks during the power vacuum?

The Antisocial Force

For once, this wasn't Nyarly's fault. The basic rich bitches would have remained basic rich bitches if it wasn't for Yaldabaoth. The creation of the Shadow Operatives and the less restrictive hold on Kirijo Group employees probably made all that Persona and Collective Unconscious experimentation more of an open secret in the science community. And like hypnosis, this is one secret that most didn't believe until they witnessed it themselves. Not all were skepticals, and those interested were recruited by Masayoshi Shido for the creation of the Antisocial Force.

They would be the new oppressive entity in this area, suppressing information and giving stitches to snitches. This wouldn't stop "Cognitice Psience" from becoming an increasingly popular field. Who knows what kind of experiments happened in and out of the Antisocial Force. They couldn't have been the only ones.

If there is one thing the new Kirijo Group managed to contain, was the knowledge of the creation of Persona Users. The Antisocial Force didn't even have the research from the original NWO scientists that would help them create Artificial Users. Yaldy had to put an already-Awakened Goro Akechi in Shido's path for them to have a User. And even with an actual User, they couldn't replicate the circumstances that could have helped create more. I doubt Akechi was very helpful with that, though. Can't have any potential substitutes for his job.

Nah, the Antisocial Force's forte would never be Persona Users, but rather humanity's cognition.

So, what was the order of events?

Stephen created the Terminal System and began working on the Demon Summoning Program.

SEBEC began working on the DEVA System.

Stephen completed the Demon Summoning Program.

SEBEC finished the DEVA System and, after Kandori's Awakening, began to recruit Persona Users (at least one other than Kandori).

After SEBEC's fall, the New World Order recruited the staff that worked in the DEVA System.

The NWO began to experiment with demons and humans.

The Kirijo Group hired all the scientists and inventors from the NWO.

The Kirijo Group began to create Artificial Persona Users.

After Mitsuru's Awakening, the Kirijo Group focused on children experimentation.

The Antisocial Force began to recruit experts in cognitive psience for personal experiments.

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Shin Megami Tensei Universe in 2003-2004

The old Shin Megami Tensei Timeline/Multiverse branch from one of the promotional Nocturne Videos (with the names added by me in white).

While I’m pretty sure it’s not being used anymore, it’s interesting to see what Atlus imagined their franchise’s branching paths and multiverse to be back then.

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Reading the Persona World Guides (or at least the translations provided by awesome Tumblr users like @gabriulio) made me wonder if the Velvet Room is not only helping with the journeys of the Wild Cards, but also its own residents. I'll make a fun fact post about all the games' lore at a later date, but I'll just mention that:

The Demon Painter stayed in the Velvet Room to learn how to paint the Arcana, and finally left after managing to paint the Fool. That's why he's missing in P3.

Igor is stated to be wondering about his origins. He's been basically going through an existential crisis since the first game, and will finally leave the Velvet Room when he learns if he's a human or not (now that I think about it, this makes it clear that it was Igor who created Mona, since they both wonder about their humanity).

Despite having left her post as an Attendant to find a way to save Minato, Elizabeth seems to always return to the Velvet Room (even if its in semi-canon material like Dancing in Moonlight). Maybe its trying to tell her that the answers she seeks are inside the Velvet Room and its denizens, and not outside?

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I should have finishing reading the Persona World Guides and Persona Club Books before making the timelines. After some corrections, I'm going to have to publish a 2.0 version. Maybe including Tactica

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Here's the deal:

FROM MOST POWERFUL TO LEAST POWERFUL

The Great Will

Nyx (love me some foreign eldritch beings)

Philemon & Nyarlathotep

Major Gods and Concept Personifications (insert mini-power scale here)

Velvet Attendants & Affiliates

Other deities and figures of high power also created by humans and living in the Collective Unconscious (insert second mini-power scale here)

Arcana Shadows (P3)

Palace Rulers (P5)

Parasitic "Persona" Users (for lack of a better term)

Dungeon Shadows (P4)

Wild Card Persona Users

Persona Users

Artificial Persona Users

Regular Shadows (the Mementos type, or Shadows Yosuke and Chie)

Demons / shadows

Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons can be found in the same or above level than Users, depending on the skill and raw power of everyone involved. Honestly, idk about the Reaper. We only know he can wipe the floor with Persona Users but that's it.

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I know it doesn't seem like it because I barely (if at all) talk about him, but Yosuke is one of my favorite characters. Some days he's even number one in my brain

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Ok, the last posts made me think, so what do the rest of the fans believe?

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For all that Phil doesn't (really) appear on the modern games, I can totally feel that he uses the protagonists in the arguments he without doubt has with Nyarla in the background💀

Like, when Nyarla feels he's hot shit and that humanity is hopeless and meaningless? Philly just points at the Doors and says "talk to them". When Nyarla brings the shitshow that IS was as a point against humanity? *points to P4 and P5 (and EP)* "talk to them"

It gets worse with every following game.

Nyarla: humans are fucking stupid! blindly goinst towards their own death!

Phil, pointing at Makoto, Kotone, Yu and Joker: Talk to them.

Phil is a deadbat dad who's proud of the kids he didn't raise. Igor hasn't received the annual pension for the last 3 years.

I like to believe that Phil and Nyarly are still betting on humanity, which leads to the events of Newsona. However, this aren't the bets you think they are:

You know that Dark Hour thing that happened in Port Island earlier this year? What if we got that depressed kid hosting Death to prevent Death? Would that be fucked up or what?

Could a cop get away with murder? Let's discuss 🤔

Oh, so you think you could have created a better Joker than me? Prove it, bitch.

...And so forth 😔

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Oh, my god, guys. Can't a divine being retire in peace??? 🙄

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Wait. Weren’t Jun and Lisa 17 when they awakened to their personas or am I just dumb?

Yeah, they were. I put them in the 17-age bracket between Yukki and Anna

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At which age did they awaken their Personas?

Not the age they began fighting with them. Just the age of awakening. I'm trying to get an age range here. Shotout to Aigis for being the youngest user to awaken to her Persona, at the amazing age of "pre-installed upon activation".

So, from oldest to youngest:

Unknown. Adult

37 years old

Takashi Hanya

Takuto Maruki

Zenkichi Hasegawa

Junko Kurosu (assuming she had a Reverse Persona like the other admins)

33 years old

Ginji Sasaki

28 years old

Takahisa Kandori

27 years old

Baofu

Tohru Adachi

25 years old

Katsuya Suou

24 years old

Ulala Serizawa

Unknown. Could have been a teen or an adult

Tatsuya Sudou

18 years old

17 years old

Yasuo Inoe

Makoto Niijima

Naoya Toudou

Maki Sonomura

Masao Inaba

Kei Nanjo

Eriko Kirishima

Reiji Kido

Yukino Mayuzumi

Lisa Silverman

Jun Kurosu

Anna Yoshizaka

16 years old

Hiroki Sugimoto

Haru Okumura

Hidehiko Uesugi

Yuka Ayase

Minato Arisato/Kotone Shiomi

Junpei Iori

Yukari Takeba

Fuuka Yamagishi

Yu Narukami

Yosuke Hanamura

Chie Satonaka

Yukiko Amagi

Naoto Shirogane

15 years old

Rise Kujikawa

Akira Kurusu

Ryuji Sakamoto

Ann Takamaki

Yusuke Kitagawa

Unknown. Between Ages 16-18

Kanji Tatsumi

Goro Akechi

Futaba Sakura

Sumire Yoshizawa

Kenta Yokouchi

Tomomi Fujimori

Kumi Hirose

Michiko Matsudaira

Yuriko Yamamoto

Unknown. Could have been a child, a teen, or an adult

Takeda

Unknown. Could have been a child or a teen

Eikichi Mishina

Akihiko Sanada

Shinjiro Aragaki

Unknown. Could have been a child

Mitsuru Kirijo

Takaya Sakaki

Jin Shirato

Chidori Yoshino

13 years old

Maya Amano

Akari Hoshi

11 years old

Ken Amada

9 years old

Randolph Carter

8 years old

Tatsuya Suou

2 years old

Morgana

The moment she was born

Aigis

Koromaru

???

Teddie

Sophia

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The fact that Elizabeth and Theodore can exist at the same time and place implies many things:

The Velvet Room is a place outside time and space where timelines converge (Most Likely and Basically Canon Answer)

The "Minato and Kotone are twins but one of them died" theory is true, with Attendants being assigned/created/hired from the moment the Wild Card is born or is very young (Lore Heavy Answer)

Actually, we have no concrete proof both of them exist at the same time in the main timeline (Boring Answer)

Theo had a different offscreen guest or will have one (Interesting and OC-Friendly Answer)

No one knows how Theo got here but the Attendants grew fond of him and adopted him (Fun Answer. Provides a reference for Jose's future)

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Maybe the soul they burned was mine

Just listened to Burning Men's Soul for the first time and made it my entire personality

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Just listened to Burning Men's Soul for the first time and made it my entire personality

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I like to imagine Yu and Ren as being older and younger brothers, Yu is more protective (as seen with nanako) and Ren is more theatrical and outgoing, also Yu guided Ren through the basics of Persona usage once he found out that Ren was a phantom thief, but by that point Ren had already beaten multiple palaces. I also imagine Yu meets the phantom Theives at some point during strikers, though that didn’t actually happen obviously

Unfortunately for us, the only way Yu and Akira could meet each other outside of PQ (and maybe even Naoya or Maya) is if Akira joined the Shadow Ops. And tbh, I have a hard time imagining any of the PTs (except maybe Makoto?) joining if asked. Why should they? They don't know anything about them, and have had bad experiences with:

Government

Authority figures

Organizations/individuals that know about Personas outside the PTs

They would need to build rapport first. Hey! Maybe this could be how Yu and Akira meet.

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I was wondering how long it would take for the Oldsona fans to begin their traditional "This Time For Sure" that they do every time a new game is announced