Main Nation Ministry wrote:Former Citizens of the Nimbus System wrote:Right. First thing's first: I completely forgot about MNM's profile. Apologies; Bishamon has now been taken into account! As it turns out, a slight chill looks to be capable of putting us out of action too. (I deliberately haven't included Artemis yet, since I suspect that Hanafuridake may switch Artemis' affinity and weakness later considering that she currently has no element. I also haven't included Robespierre, since Jeannette is the Wild Card and as such can pretty much do anything.)
Secondly, I thought I'd try to come up with a few ideas of elements that we could switch to if we wanted to balance things out while keeping things thematically solid:
- Mikhail - Seth, A: Fire, W: Light - I guess that Seth could have Wind for Affinity, as god of sandstorms, but frankly nothing fits him nearly so well as Fire does. He's literally the god of deserts, destruction and the colour red. Similarly, though Wind could fit him, given that Horus, who overthrew him, was associated with the sky, as far as I know Horus was more a god of the sky as a celestial thing rather than of the air itself, meaning that Light probably does fit Seth best.
- Alistair - Horatius, A: Phys (R), Light (S), W: Ice - Physical resistance aside, which I felt fit so well with the idea of holding off an entire army that I had to keep it even after switching from Coriolanus, I chose Light as Horatius' Affinity due to his place as an inspirational, paladin-like figure in the Roman mythos. His Weakness, though, I basically selected because he died/was gravely wounded in a river. That's the reasoning. I could change that to Dark (representing the self-destructive side of martyrdom) or Wind (because it was a javelin that finally did him in, even if he weathered dozens previously) without too much pain, though I do still think that I'd prefer Ice if possible.
- Isabelle - Sagi, A: Dark, W: Light - As far as I can tell, Sagi is an original creation. That's cool! It does, however, make analysis somewhat harder. Looking purely at Isabelle herself, I think that one thing I could say is that Psi might work as a Weakness based on her struggle to understand and communicate with others; in fact, if we'll eventually have Ultimate Personae (Rupudska?) that could work quite well, since character development towards that goal could be beautifully reflected in gaining the Evade Psi skill, as it works in Persona 5. Still, you'll understand her better than
- Tanji - Bishamon, A: Fire, W: Ice - I am not familiar at all with Japanese religion, so take all of this with a pinch of salt. That said... I actually think that he could have Ice as his Affinity rather than his Weakness; apparently he's associated with the North and Winter. As for a potential Weakness to replace it, I'm really not sure.
- Donny - Baron Samedi, A: Dark, W: Light - I am even less familiar with Haitian Vodou but just a quick glance at anything about him is enough to demonstrate that he really, really should have Dark as his Affinity. Moreover, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 'When Bawon Samdi ventures out of the kingdom of the dead, he must wear dark or coloured glasses to protect his eyes from the bright light.', so that works brilliantly as a Weakness.
And, you know what, because I'm considerably more familiar with Greek mythology:
- Hanazumi - Artemis, [A: Pierce, W: Strike] - In terms of Affinities, three things come to mind. Leaning into her link with Selene and the moon, you could go with Ice or even Psi but I'd say the most natural Affinity, befitting of her place as goddess of the hunt and her connections to archery and the wild, is Wind. Good Weaknesses, meanwhile, could be Fire, Elec, Nuke or Ice, all of which are destructive to nature. You could also play up her arrogant and spiteful aspect (the myths of Adonis and Orion come to mind) and give her Psi as a Weakness, though that applies to pretty much all of the Greek gods and probably doesn't fit Hanazumi herself.
Of course, there's also the fact that the Persona series, as Rupudska pointed out originally, plays pretty fast and loose with these things to begin with. Why is a fictional female pope portrayed as a nuke-flinging motorcycle? Search me! So yeah, we've got some creative license. Also, all of these are just my thoughts; if you've got better ideas or reasoning, please disregard any of them!
I actually did not realize that with Bishamon. When I was looking for Personas for Tanji's character, I knew to do one based on a Japanese god and based around the acrana he was given. I was planning on doing him as fire-based, but I didn't know Bishamon was based around winter.
Well, do as you feel is right for the character! Personally, I think that Ice could fit Tanji pretty well - cool, stoic outer self that, deep down, he knows is more than capable of melting - but obviously you'll understand him better than I do.
