WEEWOOWEEWOO long post ahead

Okay, you all have been incredibly patient with me as far as this project is concerned, and I am eternally grateful for that. At this point I have so much writing to do that I actually have no idea when I'll be able to launch this project, but I will for sure keep you guys posted about new developments. As I am doing right now.

You may recall that I hinted about asking for help with designing characters in an earlier journal, and now that I've got some personalities and motivations down for all the Social Link characters, I could use your help! Some of them are more fleshed-out than others, and for most of them I'd like to withhold the nitty-gritty details of their storylines to avoid spoiling all of you, but if you would like to know more about any of them, feel free to send me a note or something. I've also included some of the university faculty who could use designs; there is one professor not listed but only because he's a recycled character so I already have a design for him.

Of the 23 Arcana that make up the Social Link system, three are plot-based, and fourteen are characters I have already designed or plan to design--these characters are important to the main story. The rest are listed briefly below, with links to each Arcana's entry on the MegaTen wiki. Note that Empress and Star have two possible link characters, while Temperance has three--but whoever picks Temperance should be ready to design the whole family, since they act as a single linkable unit.

Social Link Characters
III. Empress Arcana - Emily (Badminton) // ~tachibana-chan
III. Empress Arcana - Shelly (girls' Lacrosse) // ~Hureim
VI. Lovers Arcana - Haruna Katsuragi //~tachibana-chan
VIII. Justice Arcana - Yuki Emiya
XIII. Death Arcana - Aoi Kaname // ~Hureim
XIV. Temperance Arcana - Kuroda Family (Ichirou, Kaede, and Haruyuki)
XV. Devil Arcana - Reiji Matsushita // ~Hureim
XVII. Star Arcana - Ryohei (Green club)
XVII. Star Arcana - Cici (Craft Club) // ~ether75
XIX. Sun Arcana - Yuuya Aoba

University Faculty
World Mythology - Mr. Elgin
Dialects and Slang - Mrs. Janet "Jan" Ikutsuki
Japanese history - Ms. Kaijou // ~ether75
Field Placement Seminar - Ms. Ueda

If you want to design a character, please comment on this journal, tweet at me, or send me a tumblr ask. I will list your name next to your character on the above list.
Once you finish, please send me a link to the finished design via twitter or dA; I don't think tumblr asks allow links, but i'm p sure fanmail does.
Yes, more than one person can design a character! In that case I'll probably pick the design I like best, or I might pull design elements from both. You can also request more than one character if you're feeling extra creative.
You will be given proper credit for the design once the story gets rolling. Anytime your character shows up in an illustration I will link to your dA/tumblr/whatever. : D

Before I go into character details and all of you start wishing dA journals had readmores, here are some things I'd like you to keep in mind while designing:

Keep the designs relatively simple if you can? All of these people are (relatively) normal humans, and many of them are college students. Try to use natural hair colors, but you have a bit more leeway with eye colors.
You don't really need to design anything from the waist down but I won't stop you if you want to design more than that!
Turnarounds/different face angles are greatly appreciated if the design has something specific from a certain angle
I pulled a lot of these names out of my ass so if you have a better idea for names for any of them, feel free to run them by me -u-
Take your time designing! Seriously guys there's no rush this project is nowhere near ready to launch yet
Don't worry about your drawing ability or style! Once all the designs are in I will probably draw one final comp sheet to get all the designs into a unified style, so seriously, draw the way you feel comfortable drawing.

Okay, on to character details!




Shelly Kobayashi
Arcana: Empress (Girls' Lacrosse)
A loud, athletic American girl who has been studying at Wakaba for three years. She is the captain of the girls' lacrosse team and is always pushing her team to do their best. Her parents were Japanese immigrants to America, and she grew up fluent in both Japanese and English; she wanted to go to Japan to study, but is having a hard time fitting in.
"I always get asked how long I've been studying since my English is so good, and it really drives me nuts!"

Emily Attwater
Arcana: Empress (Badminton)
A study-abroad student from England who joins the Badminton team at the same time as the player. However, Emily stands out from the rest of the team with her elegance in playing, and the other club members get a little discouraged with her around. Emily reveals that she comes from considerable wealth, and has been playing games like badminton and cricket all her life. However, her background makes her self-conscious around others.

Haruna Katsuragi
Arcana: Lovers
A girl who wants to get a boy (Sun) to notice her but keeps messing up. She keeps trying to be the kind of girl she thinks he'd like, but is always letting her true self shine through. However, she doesn't give up because she's the kind of girl who gets up and keeps on rolling anyway. Haruna really likes soccer (watching, not playing) and was once a really good soccer player, but she quit because she heard that her crush doesn't care for soccer. Beckham is still her idol. She's also trying to learn how to cook, and failing pretty badly at it. Note: Haruna was inspired by the song "Rolling Girl" so if that helps any when it comes to thinking of a design...

Yuki Emiya
Arcana: Justice
A middle-schooler who struggles with learning English and is worried about failing high school entrance exams. She knows she has to study to get into a good high school, but she's starting to wonder if studying is all there is in life.

Aoi Kaname
Arcana: Death
A sort of sickly-looking girl who often hangs out at Makuhari Park. She's a little on the forgetful side but does her best to be cheerful. (a lot of what i could tell you about her would spoil her story, unfortunately... I can say that she spends a lot of time in and out of the hospital.)

Kuroda Family (oh boy here we go)
Arcana: Temperance
The player's host family; a small family of three that closely resemble the typical Japanese family. Ichirou Kuroda is a breadwinner salaryman at a corporation in Tokyo, and commutes every day. Because his business has not begun to expand outside of Japan, Mr. Kuroda has never needed to know English and is thus a little cautious when trying to speak to you. Kaede Kuroda is a professional housewife who crochets small animals in her spare time. Although she doesn't mind housework and has several friends to spend time with on weekends, you can't help but think the housewife life is making her gloomy. Haruyuki Kuroda is a six-year-old boy who goes to the elementary school in Makuhari, and he's sometimes teased at school because he likes both Neo Featherman and Witch Detective Loveline.

The Kuroda family trace their roots to the Kuroda clan, a semi-prominent clan active in the Sengoku era. Mr. Kuroda is very proud of his heritage, and clan insignias feature prominently around the house. Mr. Kuroda even has a replica sword once used by Kuroda Kanbei, which sits in a display case above the couch in the main room.

The TV is a central piece in the family's home life, and everyone has their favorite shows. Mr. Kuroda watches the morning news before he leaves for work, and catches documentaries in the evening after Haruyuki is asleep. Mrs. Kuroda has control of the TV for most of the day, and she follows several soap operas and Korean dramas. She is also sure to catch Tanaka's Amazing Commodities every Sunday. Haruyuki enjoys watching anime and kids' shows, specifically Neo Featherman R and Witch Detective Loveline.

I imagine Mr. Kuroda to have a sort of square face and glasses and Mrs. Kuroda to have short, curly hair and a sort of curvy figure. I don't have any thoughts about Haruyuki, other than the fact that he doesn't resemble his parents too much.

Reiji Matsushita
Arcana: Devil
A man in his late twenties often seen hanging out around bars and clubs. He offers to buy the player snacks and even alcoholic drinks, and can sometimes be observed hitting on women closer to his age. In fact, it seems like he'll go after anyone with a pulse--he's all charm, all suave, and a handsome face. However, he later reveals to the player that he feels as though he's grown addicted to womanizing. He also admits that he's had his eye on one girl who probably wouldn't even give him a second glance, and he womanizes hopelessly to keep his mind off her.

Ryouhei Midorikawa
Arcana: Star (Greener Campus Club)
A member of the environmental action "Greener Campus" club, but he's having trouble getting people involved. He's worried that not enough people care about what happens to the environment, and he doesn't want his children or grandchildren to live in a polluted, dying world.
"It's hard to get people worked up about something that doesn't affect them directly…."
I kinda had this asshole in mind while I was coming up with the character, but I don't think Ryouhei would resemble him very much.

Cyrille "Cici" Girard Perreault
Arcana: Star (Craft Club)
A French graduate student who is a member of the craft club. Cici is quiet and is actually here studying the tea ceremony for her masters' degree, but she loves to knit and do other crafts in her spare time. Cici also likes "homey" clothing, big vintage glasses, indie music, and hot drinks. Okay she's kind of a hipster. Craft club is kind of piecemeal, and many of the members don't really show up very often, even the president. With your help, Cici wants to make craft club something that everyone can enjoy, and that (ideally) benefits the Makuhari community in some way.

Yuuya Aoba
Arcana: Sun
A cheerful boy studying Hebrew in the hopes of working in Israel, and the object of Haruna's (Lovers) affections. He loves middle-eastern mythology and is fascinated by the histories and cultures in that area. He works part time at the Makuhari Department Store Food Court. He's known Haruna for a while, but doesn't know she's crushing on him. He reveals to the player that the kind of girl he likes is a girl who isn't afraid to be herself.

And the non-social link characters:

Mr. Elgin
Mr. Elgin is the world mythology teacher at Wakaba, and is originally from England. He specializes in Greek mythology, but knows how to teach about many mythologies from around the world. He often gets ahead of himself, or strays from the focus of the topic at hand. He will also lecture about tarot cards. I imagine someone like Mr. Ekoda but much less of an asshole

Mrs. Janet "Jan" Ikutsuki
Mrs. Ikutsuki (a western woman with a Japanese surname) teaches linguistics, specifically Japanese dialects and slang. She changes her accent every day, so it's difficult to ascertain where she's really from. She will offer a prize to the person who figures out her true country of origin by the end of the year. I imagine her with frizzy hair.

Ms. Kaijou
Mrs. Kaijou teaches Japanese history. She's just crazy about the Shinsengumi and wears a Shinsengumi uniform to class most days. Her favorite is Hajime Saitou. It's rumored that she collects figurines of the various incarnations of Saitou in anime….

Ms. Ueda
Ms. Ueda teaches the field placement seminar. She's a quiet woman with glasses who wears dark clothes. She's the kind of person who WOULD run a stalking seminar

Kay, I think that just about does it. I have several original Personas in mind too and I might put out another request for help with that once I decide how fusion works

HAVE FUN YOU GUYS!!