folkmore app

[psientology]

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Takuto Maruki
Character Age: It's never specified....so I'm gonna say like 35?
Character Species: Human!
Current Health: He's a little disoriented given where he's come from and what's happened, a little roughed up, but overall well. Nothing that won't heal within a week.
Outfit: Maruki is wearing a blue dress shirt with a loose blue checkered tie and khaki pants rolled up at the ankles. He completes this stellar fashion with a white lab coat and a pair of sandals.

Character Canon: Persona 5 Royal
Link to History: here
Canon Point: Shortly after he's defeated and they return to reality.
Canon Iteration: Original canon
Canon Iteration Explanation: N/A

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills:
- intelligent. Maruki has a thirst for knowledge in the field of cognitive psience and has spent much of his life studying this.
- has a doctorate.
- adaptable. He's had to change career paths when his original one was shut down. Although it isn't what he's passionate about, he became a therapist shortly thereafter.
- great listener.
- good at cooking. He's no expert, but he's been cooking for himself for a while and loves experimenting with recipes.

Canon Abilities:
- Actualization: Through the use of his persona Azathoth, Maruki can change the cognition of a person and make them believe something else to be true. For example, when his power first awakened, his long time girlfriend had gone through finding her parents murdered. She couldn't cope with it. The unintentional use of Actualization made her believe instead that her parents had died a long time ago and she'd always lived with her grandparents. With enough time and a link to a source of power, this ability can be used en masse to change many cognitions at once and almost rewrite reality. Though....Maruki kind of learned his lesson on trying that shit. Maybe. Hopefully.

- Persona: Although his persona evolved to Adam Kadmon in the middle of the final battle, he'll find himself here with Azathoth's power. If he calls Azathoth to fight, Azathoth will sprout tendrils -- each with their own power and abilities that range from healing/support to offense/defense. They tend to use attack skills with a bless/holy affinity, but there are some generic attacks as well.

Role: Legend
Role Qualities/Attributes: Maruki will look pretty unassuming and ordinary, but eventually he'll be able to produce golden wings as an homage to his final boss outfit which is white and gold.
Role Reasoning: Maruki believes himself to be the hero of his own story and his intentions (wanting to save humanity) are overall good. It was just the methods he went about doing so that made them wrong. But overall, he is someone with a good heart who wants to protect people from harm. My aim might be to explore that fine line between legend and myth and maybe see him eventually become a myth? It all depends on what kind of influence Folkmore has on him.

★ Personality ★

Please choose one of the follow options for your personality section.

OPTION 2 QUESTIONS

What was the most traumatic experience your character endured? How did this change them?
Right before they were about to be wed, Maruki's fiancee's parents were murdered. As mentioned in the powers section, Maruki awakened to his persona and altered his fiancee's (Rumi) cognition. Unfortunately, this also erased his existence/their relationship from her memories as well. From this point forward, Maruki's been locked in a cycle of grief. He tried to cope with it by keeping himself distracted and throwing himself into his research. And one question became an obsession -- one motivation. How could he erase everyone's pain so no one would have to suffer?

This led to Maruki finding a way to tap into the minds of almost everyone at once and rewriting a narrative for them where they could be happy. So um, yeah! I'd say Maruki isn't particularly great at handling his grief.

What is your character's moral code? Do they have one? Why or why not?
Overall, Maruki is a very good man. He's caring and compassionate and only wants to help others. But on that same coin, he wants to help others a little too much. He wasn't above forcing his will onto the world because he believed everyone was happier in futures he designed for them -- ones carefully crafted from their hopes and dreams, but all of those dreams given to them without their permission or without any real effort on their part to attain them. When the Phantom Thieves faced off against him, Maruki came to terms with this. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he was willing to do whatever it took to enforce his ideals, including fight and die.

With his defeat, the phantom thieves changed his heart. So he'll be coming to Folkmore not really having a firm stance. He wants to do good and will do what he can to do good...but everything else is up in the air.

Is your character capable of forgiveness or will they hold a grudge until they die? Would anything ever make them change their mind?
Being a relatively mild-mannered man, Maruki isn't really the sort to confront anyone. However, he is capable of holding a grudge toward people who have wronged him. At one point, he goes to confront the professor who stole his research on behalf of a corrupt congressman and made it a point to tell him he knew what he did. But when asked what he was going to do, Maruki responded 'nothing.' Confronting him verbally was enough.

Bringing this a little deeper, the one person Maruki struggles with forgiving the most is himself. After all that happened with Rumi and her parents, there's a part of him that continues to blame himself. There really wasn't anything that could be done, but it's why he fought so hard to ensure it never happened to anyone again. When he was defeated, he wished to die along with his dream. Although Joker saved him (and shortly thereafter he wound up in Folkmore), Maruki still struggles now to let go of the past and forgive his part in it.

What would your character sacrifice to get what they want or to reach their potential? What have they sacrificed already?
Honestly, Maruki would sacrifice everything if it meant he could accomplish one great thing for the greater good in his life. He fought against Joker and his party, fully prepared to give his life for his dream. And in Folkmore, it would likely be the same. Maruki is an idealist who wants do something noteworthy with his life, something that could change the world. If he could attain that for only one minute and lost everything afterward, he absolutely would do so. Because the truth is, in Maruki's eyes, he's not all that important. His life and his happiness pale in comparison to making a real difference -- to bringing about real peace.

And in the end, heroes are always willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, no?