![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
finchmods
The mind is a powerful thing. Powerful enough to shape the world and to echo through realities parallel to this one. One such reality is the Shadow World, a dark mirror that reflects and gives shape to suppressed emotion and the collective unconscious of mankind. Typically, these worlds remain separate, but there are places where the barrier between the two is thin and rifts can form that bring them together. Often with dire results.
Shadow World - Shadows - Personas - Velvet Room - Local History
SHADOW WORLD
The Shadow World is a reality that parallels the real world and is shaped by the collective unconscious of humanity, resulting in a landscape that is both familiar and foreign. Electronics don't work in the Shadow World and it's always night, meaning that it is always dark apart from the light of the moon and any other non-electrical equipment the students bring with them.
While the reflection of Haling Cove is recognizable, however, it is broken down. Rotting and rusted. Wet and overgrown with strange, twisting plants. As if the whole town had, for a period of decades, disappeared beneath the waves of the nearby ocean. There's an ominous feeling to the place and, according to some at Finchwood Academy (most notably Lenore), spending too much time wandering the almost-familiar streets takes a toll on the body, mind, and spirit.
The rifts that open between the Shadow World and the real world appear in different locations and at different times, meaning that the danger isn't always present but the potential for danger is.
BACK TO TOP
SHADOWS
The Shadow World is filled with Shadows, dark reflections of human minds and hearts that have manifested as monstrous creatures. A Shadow free in the real world will inevitably seek out humans, drawn to the force that created them, and the result is never good.
Weaker or partially-formed Shadows, those which reflect moments of intense emotion but no other thoughts or feelings, may seek to enter a human and merge with their mind, altering them. A Shadow created from a moment of intense anger could cause a normally patient person to fly into a rage or lash out violently. A Shadow created from despair could cause bouts of depression or attempts at suicide. A Shadow created from lust could inspire an otherwise faithful person to cheat on their partner. Such creatures are not typically powerful enough to influence the mind they've inhabited forever and will eventually dissipate in their host but, by then, the damage is done.
Stronger Shadows, on the other hand, may seek to devour the minds of humans they encounter completely. This process leaves the victim physically alive but mentally detached from all emotion, thought, or sense of self. This phenomenon is not unheard of in the modern era and has even been named Apathy Syndrome in some parts of the world, though a cause has never been identified. A stronger Shadow may also possess a human for a time in order to draw other humans to it.
In rare circumstances, a Shadow may find the actual person it was born from and seek to connect with them. It will do this by attempting to force the person to accept the darker aspects of themselves and the suppressed emotions they didn't want to acknowledge; most people confronted by their own Shadows will refuse or be unable to do this, an act which will so enrage the Shadow that it will attack and kill them. Those that are able to accept their Shadow will gain the ability to use a Persona, but this is unlikely, especially without help.
Most Shadows won't shy away from attacking if threatened and almost all of them will attack Persona-users on sight.
There is much about Shadows that isn't easily understood, but all students at Finchwood Academy should understand that Shadows are a powerful threat. Traditional methods of combat alone are ineffective against them and their ability to manipulate humans makes it almost impossible to fight them.
BACK TO TOP
PERSONAS
While rare, there are people whose minds never create a full Shadow and whose negative emotions are not reflected in the Shadow World. What makes these people different isn't clear but this difference gives them a potential that most people don't innately have: the ability to manifest a Persona. Like a Shadow, a Persona is a powerful creature created from the emotions and thoughts of a human. Unlike a Shadow, a Persona reflects the true self and can be controlled. Used to protect. Used to fight. And they are the only weapon that can effectively combat a Shadow.
Most people that have this potential, however, never realize they have it because the awakening of a Persona is caused by intense emotional or physical stress or by exposure to other realities. The experience is never quite the same from person to person, though it's known to be an overwhelming and exhausting process. After a Persona has awakened, though, it can be summoned at will and controlled as an extension of the self.
TYPES OF PERSONAS There are two primary types of Personas: those that have offensive and defensive capabilities (this is the case for the vast majority) and those that don't. Typically, Personas possess elemental power, an impressive physical prowess, and other innate abilities that make them ideal for doing battle with Shadows alongside those that created them. But there are exceptions to this.
Some Personas, referred to simply as supports, have no combat abilities and instead possess a keen awareness of the worlds around them. Supports can sense Shadows and perceive their strengths and weaknesses. They can map out unseen regions and locate hidden objects. They can communicate with other Persona-users across distances. Most importantly, however, they can read changes in the atmosphere to determine when, where, and for how long portals to the Shadow World will open. This isn't a perfect processes and mistakes do occur but the supports are imperative to completing the mission.
Arcana The essence of Personas is also categorized into different groups and archetypes by the denizens of the Velvet Room. These categorizations align with the minor and major arcana found in tarot and, according to some denizens, will ultimately impact their fate.
The minor arcana correspond with a Persona's elemental affinity. SWORDS can control air and thunder, CUPS can control water and ice, WANDS can control fire and lightning, and COINS can control earth and stone. Because gathering Persona-users with a shared affinity together can supposedly strengthen their connection to their power, this is also how the students of Finchwood Academy are organized.
The major arcana correspond with a Persona-users's nature and characteristics. This association is much less clearly defined and the only reason they know their major arcana at all is because Lenore, one of the denizens, insisted on being allowed to assess and complete a reading for each student to determine their card. While not all of the major arcana are represented at Finchwood Academy, she insists that there are people out there that do represent those archetypes and that those that share the same arcana will be somehow tied together by fate.
A full list of available arcana can be found here.
Because Personas are representations of the mind, their forms are often abstract and strange and symbolic. They can also change as the person who created them changes. In Finchwood Academy, the Personas are named for the Seventy-Two Angels of God. A full list of available Personas and which elements they are associated with can be found here.
BACK TO TOP
VELVET ROOM
The Velvet Room, like the Shadow World, is a place separate from the real world. A mysterious realm existing between dreams and reality, the Velvet Room is influenced by the minds that enter it and seemingly impossible or inexplicable things occur there with some frequency. It is occupied by strange, powerful denizens (all of which possess a startling combination of pale hair and gold eyes) that have made themselves the keepers of arcane knowledge and who sometimes act to assist Personas-users in maintaining order with the Shadow World. They're the ones that have spent centuries categorizing Personas and Shadows. They're the ones that help Persona-users understand their potential.
Only people that have signed a contract with a denizen of the Velvet Room may enter it. The contract signed by the students of Finchwood Academy is simple but strict: Students must take responsibility for their choices and actions. Students must use their power to confront the threat of Shadows. Students must keep the secrets of the academy. If these criteria are not met, the student will not only lose access to the Velvet Room but will also have the memories of their experiences at Finchwood Academy altered and they will be expelled. Don't complain, kid. You chose to sign.
The Velvet Room can be accessed through mysterious blue doors that can only be seen by those that have signed the contract. At times, denizens of the Velvet Room may also summon students while they dream. The Velvet Room is shaped by the minds of those that enter it and the appearance is currently that of a vast lighthouse surrounded on all sides by dark water. The stairway leading down from the main room seems to go on and on and the doorways on the various floors are most often locked.
Several of the staff members at Finchwood Academy are from the Velvet Room.
BACK TO TOP
LOCAL HISTORY
A well-known summer colony on the coast of Maine, Haling Cove seems like just another small town when the tourists return home for the year. The streets are full of quaint shops, charming restaurants, galleries run by members of the thriving artistic community, and other locally-owned businesses. The surrounding hills and forests offer a look into pristine nature. The bay is always bustling and, while often empty after the summer season, the boardwalk presents an idyllic view of the ocean. Usually it's a quiet and uneventful place. More information about the town of Haling Cove itself can be found on the Setting page.
But Haling Cove isn't always a quiet and uneventful place. This is because it's located in a place where the barrier between the Shadow World and the real world is thin. And sometimes tears. The causes of this anomaly are unknown, but it last occurred twenty years ago and plunged the community into chaos. There were stories about the woods, full of whispering ghosts and dark monsters. There were unexplained ailments that left locals comatose or in an apathetic stupor. There were uncommonly high rates of violence. All of this was caused by rogue Shadows, the dark reflections of human minds and hearts that had escaped from the Shadow World.
Fortunately, several local high schoolers had the potential and learned to use their Personas to fight back the threat. Then, as suddenly as the tears had started to appear, they had disappeared and the town began to heal. Most of the students eventually left the area but Luther Gladstone, the only heir to a local old money family, remained and watched. While his powers faded as he got older, he used what power he still had to monitor the areas where the thinnest places had been. And, when he realized the danger was coming again, he used his more worldly resources to acquire a section of land and build a school.
The resulting Finchwood Academy was a modern boarding school, equipped with unparalleled resources and employing impressive teachers. And it was free to those that could get through the mysterious and seemingly arbitrary entrance exams. While largely considered a publicity stunt at the time, Gladstone encouraged students from anywhere and everywhere to take the exam and claimed that he’d only accept those that he felt had the greatest potential to learn, grow, and change the world. Because he wasn't just looking for students; he was looking for potential Persona-users that could be trained to fight the Shadows and find a way to seal the rifts for good.
The school opened in 2017. During that first year, the students learned the truth. Some stayed because it was the Right thing to do. Some stayed for the novelty of adventure and the opportunity to get away from a normal life. Some stayed because Gladstone promised to use his resources to help them achieve their dreams after the work was done. For whatever reason, all of the students decided to stay and train and fight. They all signed a contract with Lenore, which bound them to silence and the consequence of an altered memory/removal from the school if they broke the rules or abandoned their mission. Then they got to work.
That first year was dedicated to training, awakening Personas, and fighting the few Shadows that managed to escape into the real world. It all seemed very simple. Over the summer, though, the rifts have begun to open more widely and more regularly, meaning more Shadow escapes as well as the opportunity to enter the Shadow World and try to find a way to stabilize the worlds for good.
BACK TO TOP
The Shadow World is a reality that parallels the real world and is shaped by the collective unconscious of humanity, resulting in a landscape that is both familiar and foreign. Electronics don't work in the Shadow World and it's always night, meaning that it is always dark apart from the light of the moon and any other non-electrical equipment the students bring with them.
While the reflection of Haling Cove is recognizable, however, it is broken down. Rotting and rusted. Wet and overgrown with strange, twisting plants. As if the whole town had, for a period of decades, disappeared beneath the waves of the nearby ocean. There's an ominous feeling to the place and, according to some at Finchwood Academy (most notably Lenore), spending too much time wandering the almost-familiar streets takes a toll on the body, mind, and spirit.
The rifts that open between the Shadow World and the real world appear in different locations and at different times, meaning that the danger isn't always present but the potential for danger is.
The Shadow World is filled with Shadows, dark reflections of human minds and hearts that have manifested as monstrous creatures. A Shadow free in the real world will inevitably seek out humans, drawn to the force that created them, and the result is never good.
Weaker or partially-formed Shadows, those which reflect moments of intense emotion but no other thoughts or feelings, may seek to enter a human and merge with their mind, altering them. A Shadow created from a moment of intense anger could cause a normally patient person to fly into a rage or lash out violently. A Shadow created from despair could cause bouts of depression or attempts at suicide. A Shadow created from lust could inspire an otherwise faithful person to cheat on their partner. Such creatures are not typically powerful enough to influence the mind they've inhabited forever and will eventually dissipate in their host but, by then, the damage is done.
Stronger Shadows, on the other hand, may seek to devour the minds of humans they encounter completely. This process leaves the victim physically alive but mentally detached from all emotion, thought, or sense of self. This phenomenon is not unheard of in the modern era and has even been named Apathy Syndrome in some parts of the world, though a cause has never been identified. A stronger Shadow may also possess a human for a time in order to draw other humans to it.
In rare circumstances, a Shadow may find the actual person it was born from and seek to connect with them. It will do this by attempting to force the person to accept the darker aspects of themselves and the suppressed emotions they didn't want to acknowledge; most people confronted by their own Shadows will refuse or be unable to do this, an act which will so enrage the Shadow that it will attack and kill them. Those that are able to accept their Shadow will gain the ability to use a Persona, but this is unlikely, especially without help.
Most Shadows won't shy away from attacking if threatened and almost all of them will attack Persona-users on sight.
There is much about Shadows that isn't easily understood, but all students at Finchwood Academy should understand that Shadows are a powerful threat. Traditional methods of combat alone are ineffective against them and their ability to manipulate humans makes it almost impossible to fight them.
While rare, there are people whose minds never create a full Shadow and whose negative emotions are not reflected in the Shadow World. What makes these people different isn't clear but this difference gives them a potential that most people don't innately have: the ability to manifest a Persona. Like a Shadow, a Persona is a powerful creature created from the emotions and thoughts of a human. Unlike a Shadow, a Persona reflects the true self and can be controlled. Used to protect. Used to fight. And they are the only weapon that can effectively combat a Shadow.
Most people that have this potential, however, never realize they have it because the awakening of a Persona is caused by intense emotional or physical stress or by exposure to other realities. The experience is never quite the same from person to person, though it's known to be an overwhelming and exhausting process. After a Persona has awakened, though, it can be summoned at will and controlled as an extension of the self.
Some Personas, referred to simply as supports, have no combat abilities and instead possess a keen awareness of the worlds around them. Supports can sense Shadows and perceive their strengths and weaknesses. They can map out unseen regions and locate hidden objects. They can communicate with other Persona-users across distances. Most importantly, however, they can read changes in the atmosphere to determine when, where, and for how long portals to the Shadow World will open. This isn't a perfect processes and mistakes do occur but the supports are imperative to completing the mission.
The minor arcana correspond with a Persona's elemental affinity. SWORDS can control air and thunder, CUPS can control water and ice, WANDS can control fire and lightning, and COINS can control earth and stone. Because gathering Persona-users with a shared affinity together can supposedly strengthen their connection to their power, this is also how the students of Finchwood Academy are organized.
The major arcana correspond with a Persona-users's nature and characteristics. This association is much less clearly defined and the only reason they know their major arcana at all is because Lenore, one of the denizens, insisted on being allowed to assess and complete a reading for each student to determine their card. While not all of the major arcana are represented at Finchwood Academy, she insists that there are people out there that do represent those archetypes and that those that share the same arcana will be somehow tied together by fate.
A full list of available arcana can be found here.
Because Personas are representations of the mind, their forms are often abstract and strange and symbolic. They can also change as the person who created them changes. In Finchwood Academy, the Personas are named for the Seventy-Two Angels of God. A full list of available Personas and which elements they are associated with can be found here.
The Velvet Room, like the Shadow World, is a place separate from the real world. A mysterious realm existing between dreams and reality, the Velvet Room is influenced by the minds that enter it and seemingly impossible or inexplicable things occur there with some frequency. It is occupied by strange, powerful denizens (all of which possess a startling combination of pale hair and gold eyes) that have made themselves the keepers of arcane knowledge and who sometimes act to assist Personas-users in maintaining order with the Shadow World. They're the ones that have spent centuries categorizing Personas and Shadows. They're the ones that help Persona-users understand their potential.
Only people that have signed a contract with a denizen of the Velvet Room may enter it. The contract signed by the students of Finchwood Academy is simple but strict: Students must take responsibility for their choices and actions. Students must use their power to confront the threat of Shadows. Students must keep the secrets of the academy. If these criteria are not met, the student will not only lose access to the Velvet Room but will also have the memories of their experiences at Finchwood Academy altered and they will be expelled. Don't complain, kid. You chose to sign.
The Velvet Room can be accessed through mysterious blue doors that can only be seen by those that have signed the contract. At times, denizens of the Velvet Room may also summon students while they dream. The Velvet Room is shaped by the minds of those that enter it and the appearance is currently that of a vast lighthouse surrounded on all sides by dark water. The stairway leading down from the main room seems to go on and on and the doorways on the various floors are most often locked.
Several of the staff members at Finchwood Academy are from the Velvet Room.
A well-known summer colony on the coast of Maine, Haling Cove seems like just another small town when the tourists return home for the year. The streets are full of quaint shops, charming restaurants, galleries run by members of the thriving artistic community, and other locally-owned businesses. The surrounding hills and forests offer a look into pristine nature. The bay is always bustling and, while often empty after the summer season, the boardwalk presents an idyllic view of the ocean. Usually it's a quiet and uneventful place. More information about the town of Haling Cove itself can be found on the Setting page.
But Haling Cove isn't always a quiet and uneventful place. This is because it's located in a place where the barrier between the Shadow World and the real world is thin. And sometimes tears. The causes of this anomaly are unknown, but it last occurred twenty years ago and plunged the community into chaos. There were stories about the woods, full of whispering ghosts and dark monsters. There were unexplained ailments that left locals comatose or in an apathetic stupor. There were uncommonly high rates of violence. All of this was caused by rogue Shadows, the dark reflections of human minds and hearts that had escaped from the Shadow World.
Fortunately, several local high schoolers had the potential and learned to use their Personas to fight back the threat. Then, as suddenly as the tears had started to appear, they had disappeared and the town began to heal. Most of the students eventually left the area but Luther Gladstone, the only heir to a local old money family, remained and watched. While his powers faded as he got older, he used what power he still had to monitor the areas where the thinnest places had been. And, when he realized the danger was coming again, he used his more worldly resources to acquire a section of land and build a school.
The resulting Finchwood Academy was a modern boarding school, equipped with unparalleled resources and employing impressive teachers. And it was free to those that could get through the mysterious and seemingly arbitrary entrance exams. While largely considered a publicity stunt at the time, Gladstone encouraged students from anywhere and everywhere to take the exam and claimed that he’d only accept those that he felt had the greatest potential to learn, grow, and change the world. Because he wasn't just looking for students; he was looking for potential Persona-users that could be trained to fight the Shadows and find a way to seal the rifts for good.
The school opened in 2017. During that first year, the students learned the truth. Some stayed because it was the Right thing to do. Some stayed for the novelty of adventure and the opportunity to get away from a normal life. Some stayed because Gladstone promised to use his resources to help them achieve their dreams after the work was done. For whatever reason, all of the students decided to stay and train and fight. They all signed a contract with Lenore, which bound them to silence and the consequence of an altered memory/removal from the school if they broke the rules or abandoned their mission. Then they got to work.
That first year was dedicated to training, awakening Personas, and fighting the few Shadows that managed to escape into the real world. It all seemed very simple. Over the summer, though, the rifts have begun to open more widely and more regularly, meaning more Shadow escapes as well as the opportunity to enter the Shadow World and try to find a way to stabilize the worlds for good.
