She who judges
Denée, a character made for a campaign. They are a mysterious being from another world that suddenly gained consciousness. They take on the appearance of a porcelain doll.
"A sentient doll of unknown origin. Though they have existed for a time, they only appeared before the main party around the time of reemergence of the Mirage Coast. Just what does a doll have to do with the hotel, and why does it have a persona?
"A large porcelain doll with pale skin, a small nose and mouth, black hair, and dark grey eyes. An eye-patch covers the left eye. The long hair rests over-the-shoulder and curls towards the ends. Medium-cut bangs hang on the forehead with a bundle framing the right cheek, and on the left side of the head the hair is braided around the back of the head to the over side, underneath the weaves of hair. A strange earpiece with gold ornamentation is on the left ear."
(The fashion was to reflect the international culture and wealth passing through the campaign's main area. Red, blue, and yellow are the "toy colors" coined by Persona series artist Soejima Shigenori.)
Denée was made to act as a mascot character to match modern Persona games, but more twisted. Instead of wishing to become human, they're already Human-shaped enough to pretend while still being alien. Denée is large enough to pass as a human child, which is both convenient and frustrating to her.
"On the upper-arms just below the shoulders are white puffs of the under-shirt. Tied underneath are long black fanning-sleeves ending in white ruffles. The insides are also white. Over the legs are white tights, shear enough that one could see Denée's joints if they look very closely. They are two kitten-heel Mary-Janes on the feet. Black ribbons tie around the ankles and make little bows at the back. The ensemble makes an almost Victorian-English & German Gothic–inspired maid, if exaggerating-ly cute. It's best described as Lolita Fashion."
The head gives a stylish "off-balance" kind of look. Most of the hair rests on and frames the right side of the face, while the left is open and bare. There's a small braid further tying it to the side.
The bangs cover most of the eyebrows, which naturally gives a harsher appearance since eyebrows are a main way of emotional expression. This is "hiding from others" as much as it can be "hiding from oneself." The sliver of -brow visible is like peaking from a curtain.
The earpiece is ornamented and large, wrapping ~ halfway across the head before breaking. It looks prominent but no longer usable, and links Denée to the campaign's monsters. The eye-patch covers a large hole revealing Denée's real body. Together with the earpiece, it points to a separate direction than the hair.
"Calm, poised, and in control of them-self, if not others. Denée is an aloof figure content to simply observe everything around it. They have a tendency to speak somewhat dismissively and their advice can only seem to come off as abrasive. To Denée, knowledge is earned but wisdom can be freely given; it's up to the audience to determine the answer after experiencing the ultimate lesson. It's by this policy any help is given at their leisure, whether through hints, questions or insults. Emotionally reserved, they're best described as a poker player. Except they consider them-self the house, and attempt to keep everything in their favor.
They have other-worldly power, the simplest being levitation and some connection to Amenthes, The Other-Side. What else could they posses?"
Their personality can be described as an esoteric person stepping into the world for the first time; their language is sophisticated and prideful yet they have little-to-no knowledge of social interaction, and underestimates the danger of the reality they exist within. As an entity from a separate world, they think of human customs as confusing or pointless. They have no sex or real concept of gender; the form is simply what they became when they began developing a conscious and separated from their Mind-hive. You could use any pronoun to refer to Denée, as long as they think you are being respectful.
Denée's concept keywords are mascot, mystery, misdirection, rejection, outcast, identity.
The form you see is not their original body, and because they have become their own person they have become foriegn to the ecosystem they once easily traversed, like a cell that has suddenly become cancerous. The entities, or "Jurors" they were apart of no longer recognize them as an ally and attack on sight. Denée works with their human companions out of convenience and a hidden sense of fear, only to eventually admire and evolve from contact with the humans they looked down on.
Their character and backstory were meant to reveal itself and reshape as the campaign's lore and story progressed. However the campaign is currently on indefinite hiatus, and so Denée's character hasn't been expanded since.
Sub section: Persona
"A nude woman lounging in a pond with a gentle eyes and flirtatious smirk. Her long wispy hair hangs down her back and hips, dipping into the water. Her elbows rest on a skull as she plays with her hair. Behind her are skeletal arms rising out the water, as if reaching out. The hair curls around and entangles the bones, controlling their movements. A lone butterfly flutters over her head.
"The pond itself is small, fading out on the edges where a few lotuses and lilies grow. The closer the water is to the woman's body, the more the water fades into a purple hue. "
Compendium description: "Mythological beings of Slavic lore. Rusalki are beautiful nature spirits comparable to mermaids or sirens; they dwell in or near bodies of water, seducing men that come near before ensnaring their victims in their hair and drowning them. There are many rumors about Rusalka, ranging from being the vengeful spirits of abused maidens, to benevolent fertility goddesses. Even their hair color and living places vary.
"Rusalka Week in early June is believed to be the time when Rusalki activity rises and they leave the depths to swing on tree branches. Swimming is forbidden during this time, lest someone falls to Rusalka."
An ice persona of the Empress arcana, and base persona of Denée.
The characters were requested to be outcasts; in this theme, the personas were based on a famous anti-hero, anti-villain, or otherwise morally complex fictional, historical, or mythological figures. I chose Rusalka because it's one of my favorite mythological creatures and I one think is lesser known. Rusalki has various perceptions and lore depending on the region- they might be a merciful nature deities, or violent spirits drowning men or anyone who gets in their realm. The mixed, often conflicting lore makes Rusalka hard to understand. Rusalka as a persona is either an identity crisis or an acceptance of being two-faced.
The many regional variants of folklore were composited into a design I'm both happy with and I think might look like an official ATLUS design. Rusulka also lends to Denée being "mass-produced".
The following are some unused concepts
While all designs were supposed to have an overt feminine charm, I tried to reconcile Rusalka's conflicted nature. I played with the idea of water hair for supernatural effect. This had problems in how I'd render or illustrate it in an appealing way. At one point I considered trying a route with Rusalka as a wind spirit (I believe there is at least one lore like this) with exposed skeleton feet/parts, to bring in the "death" aspect. Most of the designs I think leaned too harshly into the "benevolent god" side, except for the "fish-lure" design that was too far away from the base. I also didn't want Rusalka to feel too unnatural as most depictions were as regular-looking humans. I feel the final design balances "human/non-human" and "Life/death" aspects much better.
