Thank you for visiting The Alter-Ego™!
Our site takes places in an original universe set within the realm of Shin Megami Tensei's "Persona" video game series. We are an English-literate roleplay that emphasizes detailed, story-driven character development with a pseudo-statistical format that seeks to emulate the experience of playing the games. Form bonds with characters and roleplayers alike in an interactive Persona experience unlike any other.
Events
PROLOGUE: The site is now open under beta circumstances. What
you are viewing is a fully playable version of the site that will
evolve and release more content as you role-play. Please, enjoy
this project as much as we have had making it.
- The Velvet Room Staff
A PLACE BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY, MIND AND MATTER
Deep within the furthest reaches of the unconscious mind, a faint blue light glimmers like crystal before a candle. To gaze at this point is an instinctive reflex, a yearning to drive away the cold embrace of nothingness. Reaching for this twinkle in the void, however, produces a sensation comparable to falling through the air without a working parachute. It takes less than an instant for the azure speck to transmogrify into a whirling tunnel of blue and white, the 'falling' now closer to 'dragging', until every possible sense that could be imagined falls awash with numbing warmth.
The soft melody of a piano creeps its way into earshot. Following this is a return of vision, which is greeted by an abundance of stunning blues in varying shades and hues. Smell is the next to return, and it is greeted by the distinctive odor of poppy flowers. The exquisite choice in decorum suggested this place to be a smoking lounge, perhaps even a private drawing room, and the presence of a minibar stocked to its brim with a collection of reserves seemed to betray its inescapably surreal atmosphere.
Of course, this was not the true elephant in the room. Rather fittingly, and not without a hint of irony, that privilege belonged to the mysterious fellow with the long and pointy nose, who just so happened to be sitting squarely across the person that now existed as an occupant of this strange blue space. Sitting next to the bug-eyed gentleman in the black suit was a tall and handsome man with dull cobalt hair and pale xanthous eyes, wearing what appeared to be a stylish Inverness cape, whose stoic porcelain features painted a sharp contrast to the other person's seemingly crazed smirk and fixed stare.
"Welcome—" Speaks the old man at last, addressing his new visitor in a prolonged manner, "—to the Velvet Room."
Post by Jason Alexander on Oct 6, 2018 15:01:08 GMT -6
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巫女
March 29th Tuesday
Jason floated through the void. It stretched on, endless, as he floated there for what seemed like an eternity. eventually, spots appeared, the twinkling of stars. Each one appeared, grew, and died, all except for one. A beautiful v\blue light, one that neither dimmed or grew. Not a single flicker blemished the pinprick of blue light. He watched the light, before closing his eyes. It was... hard. Hard to think. Hard to move. Like he was wading through molasses, thinking like treacle dripping through his brain. He could feel himself sinking, away from all the lights, deeper into the empty void around him.
It was like that almost every day now.
He stayed there, floating in the darkness, for a second, an hour, a day, a year, he wasn't sure. Why would it matter. If he opened his eyes, all he'd see is the unreachable light in the distance. He'd see them getting further and further away. He could feel it behind him. The end of his journey. The centre of the void. Everything would be quiet, peaceful. He wouldn't need to try anymore. He could just... sleep.
Forever.
A note drifted through the void. A single, clear, note, followed by another, and then another one. They weaved around his head, driving into his brain, the soft melody piercing through the fog that filled his head. He opened his eyes, the other pinpricks of light fading as he fell further and further down. All except for one. The vibrant blue light pulsed, and grew stronger. It grew stronger until it eclipsed the void, a burning sun made of blue fire.
He could feel the heat, a sensation on his face that seemed to burn away the apathy. He couldn't let himself give up yet. He ever so slowly lifted his hand up. Every centimeter was a struggle. But he tried. He fought. His hand stretched out to eternity, further and further, until his fingertips grazed the burning sun. He began to fall into the sun, the great blue sphere curving around him to great a blue and white tunnel.
The heat of the sun washed away everything, as he was dragged into the centre. He landed in a room, falling backwards onto a chair that was conveniently placed behind him. The smell of poppies was in the air, and the faintest whiff of cigars, the heady, earthy smell just a faint subtle touch to the smoking lounge Jason found himself in. His eyes immediately travelled to the two people there. "Uh, thanks." He said, glancing around as he tried to understand what was happening. "So why blue?"
A PLACE BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY, MIND AND MATTER
The long-nosed stranger lets out a healthy chuckle, a visible display of amusement for the tired-looking young boy that now sat before him. No matter how many times he encounters this scenario, it always remains a true source of humor for him — his guest, on the other hand, is the one that is obsessed with the Velvet Room's color.
"Even I am not truly certain as to why this place appears as it does," he explains in a melodic sort of speaking, like a hypnotist attempting to persuade his subject with the power of verbal suggestion. "This is because the Velvet Room is immutably bound to the soul of its guests. Each visitor's experience is therefore very different." Despite his somewhat confusing cadence, the pointy-nosed fellow's words are leveled at the young man, his 'guest', in a very matter-of-fact way, then hums inquisitively as a stray thought crosses his mind. "In fact, I happen to recall another guest of ours that entered this very same 'venue'. Perhaps the two of you are alike in some manner?"
An abrupt cough escapes from the throat of the sharp-looking gentleman sitting next to the short, spindly-looking excuse for a troll in a tuxedo, who maintains his porcelain expression of serenity with rigid posture. He was getting off track, something the old scarecrow seemed to be dancing around rather deliberately.
"Ah! I haven't properly introduced ourselves. I do hope you'll forgive me, I often get quite lost in my own thoughts." With a grand bowing gesture, the old man lowers his face, giving the young visitor a good look at just how long that nose really was. "My name is Igor. And this is my Assistant, Virgil." Bloodshot eyes and a Cheshire grin meets the Velvet Room's visitor with nothing short of enthusiasm. "I am truly most delighted to make your acquaintance."
Post by Jason Alexander on Oct 6, 2018 17:24:11 GMT -6
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巫女
March 31st Thursday
This was an odd dream. It was too vivid, too real. But even asleep, he knew that this couldn't be real. He'd just flown into a sun, landed in a chair, and was talking to a woodpecker and his assistant. This was one ugly dude though. He hoped for the long nosed dudes sake this was a dream.
It was very subtle, but interesting. The way he talked, it... flowed, with the piano. Emphasis on certain words when a certain note was struck. He wasn't sure if the phantom pianist was playing in time with the... persons? Words, or whether he was speaking in time with the music. Or he was in a dream and imagining things. Either way, it was a nice touch. Bound to the soul? So is it the velvet room for everyone? Is it blue for everyone? Do some people get the brick room? A multitude of questions welled up inside of them, but he silenced them for now, content to listen to this man talk. Another person like him? Weird. The other man coughed, and the weird looking dude instantly changed tracks, introducing himself.
A soft sigh escaped him. "Wouldn't it be lost in my thoughts, since this is my dream?" His eyes drifted between them, before shrugging. "Nice to meet you too, Igor, Virgil. I'm Jason, but I get the feeling you may already know that." The sheer amount of enthusiasm radiating from Igors face was a bit unnerving. He had quite the smile on him. Unlike Virgil, who seemed to be made of stone. Maybe he was Igors handler or something? He couldn't really tell.
"Normally the best part of being asleep is not having to think, so I'll give you a couple of minutes before I wake myself up and go to sleep to end the dream."
A PLACE BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY, MIND AND MATTER
Rather surprisingly, the young man returns Igor's gesture of formality by addressing himself as Jason. And though he resigned to the inevitability of revealing his identity, the boy's listless mannerisms suggested a kind of spiritual impotence, defeatist, a soul easily swayed by the desires of others. He certainly was not the first.
"This is a place that exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter." Igor's response is so fluid it nearly sounds scripted, as if he had rehearsed this scene countless times. No matter how many times the answer is repeated, the underlying question—regardless of what form it takes—remains an innocent one: what is the Velvet Room? "Rest assured, you are still sleeping very soundly from the comfort and safety of your bed." He giggles coyly. "But make no mistake, this encounter is very real, and what you choose to take away from it falls entirely on your shoulders."
Virgil adjusts himself ever-so-slightly, just barely enough so that his presence in the Velvet Room can be acknowledged for a brief moment. It only took the dashing man a little more effort than his master needed to exert; his appearance accounted for a good portion of the proverbial spotlight he seemed to enjoy so vividly.
"I must apologize if any of this seems peculiar for you," Virgil says with a posh English accent, slightly nodding his head as if imitating Igor's earlier bow, albeit with a far greater deal of restraint and modesty. "Right now, you are likely under the impression that this is all an elaborate fantasy of the psyche, what would normally be called a 'dream' in your world." Virgil blinks once, an innocuous gesture that would have remained so had it not been performed by a man who presented himself as if he had never smiled a day in his whole life. "If this were, we would not be having this conversation with you. You would lack agency — and we are not here to strip you of that."
THE ALTER EGO is the original work of IGOR and XIII. Any and all content is copyrighted to THE ALTER EGO.
Copying, altering, or stealing any of the site's content is prohibited.
All of THE ALTER EGO'S characters are the original work of their owners may not be replicated or stolen.
All images and graphics belong to their rightful owners and THE ALTER EGO does not claim to own any of them.
PERSONA and SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI are copyrighted works and concepts by ATLUS INC.
The skin was created by TIMELAPSE OF WICKED WONDERLAND and editted by SKYTHE.
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