On Greylake, Blackouts, and Personas

This is the official lore for Greylake High, the All-Original Persona RP on reddit, which you presumably knew. All credit for this wonderful world building of course, goes to MotleyKnight, the original writer for the lore of Greylake.

The Setting: Greylake, Mass.
Greylake used to be a prosperous town, having a strong industry based on logging and manufacturing. Since then, the last factories have closed, and the remnants of what Greylake once was can still be seen along the shores of the lake, in the form of factories, or on the outskirts of town, in the form of lumber mills and areas where large swaths of trees once stood.

Since the fall of the industries, Greylake has had some tough economic times, as many of the people in town relied on those jobs. This was 30 years ago. Since then, they've made some recovery, the majority of people working in the service industry, or trying their hands at their own businesses, such as grocery stores, hardware stores, and more, mainly focusing on goods and services. A great deal of other former workers now commuted to jobs a town or two over. It seemed to be on the fast track to recovery until the year 2015. 2015 was a rough year for Greylake, and it shows.

What happened, you ask? Well, a few things. First, the old Church of God’s Deliverance burnt down in February. It was a lovely little building, and considered something of a symbol of pride among the community. Though, this is simple compared to what happened a short time later. To put it simply, Greylake has a drug problem. No one knows where it sprang up. Perhaps a few dealers from neighbouring towns decided to expand their territory, or perhaps it was always there, but no one noticed. However, in 2015, it was certainly obvious. While the majority of the residents are clean, there are a few of the poorer and homeless individuals who’ve come to be hooked on heroine. These people mainly live in the old industrial part of town, either in the cheap, dirty apartments that once housed workers and their families, or within the ruins of the factories themselves. To most people’s relief, it’s mostly contained there, though there is a growing worry about the safety of the town and it’s well being, and it is something of a hot button issue for their upcoming mayoral election, and the front running candidates, Ariel Leblanc and Geoffrey Scott, are known to be taking a hard stance against it.

To make things worse, the local economy has again started to take a dip. It’s not nearly as bad as the factory closings, but it’s starting to slow and it’s beginning to make people nervous. One or two business owners have already begun to liquidate in an effort to be ahead of the fall.

And this is mostly tragic, but in May of 2016, the local public high school, known as Greylake Local School, decided to have a last hurrah for the class of 2016. The school chartered a bus and took the students to a nearby amusement park, about an hour and a half away. They spent the entire day there, and on the way back that late night, as they were coming off the freeway on the way back into town, the bus driver simply drove right over the barrier of the freeway, and into oncoming traffic. However, this is not where the accident ends, oh no it is not. The bus keeps going, over the railing of the busy freeway, dropping the bus roughly thirty feet on to it’s side. The bus crushed below was a horrific sight in addition to the massive accident forming on the bridge above. As fate would have it, only three of the class of 2016 survived.

The local youth of Greylake seems to be doomed, or the incident in June of 2016 would seem to indicate that it was. A group of four teenagers were out smoking on a peer in the old industrial district. While we can never be entirely sure how it went down, it seems that the peer caught fire and the fire spread to a nearby factory, burning along fallen wood or dried grass to reach it. While the brick factory exterior itself was fine, part of the inside was charred. The four youths were found in various places on the peer and the factory, most of them burned alive, though the forth, found curled up in a ball in the corner of a ground floor room in the factory was thought to have died of smoke inhalation.

Tragic, yes. The people of Greylake seem to always be mourning or on edge, though there is a small glimmer of hope in Greylake. That would be Greylake High, the private school that was founded centuries ago, and has since been the pride of the town.

It is worth noting that some of the local high school students feel enmity towards Greylake High students.

Now, as this is an original setting, there may be some question as to where social link and character developments can take place. Below are a few locations that exist within the town, but I must stress that you may feel free to create locations within reason. If you have questions about whether or not a location would be suitable, please message one of the moderators.

The Jefferson Drive In, a small drive in theatre on the good side of town. Family owned. Has seating for those who don’t wish to drive in.

Springtime Plaza, a small shopping centre that has a food court, various shops, and a fountain.

Greylake Park, the local park. It has a playground, a volleyball net, and a picnic area. A small pond lies in the center. It is found near the public high school.

Greylake High School
Founded by Felix Mallory and Amos Page is 1797 as a place of study for young men in the surrounding area, Greylake has gone through several names and identity changes over the years, the most recent being the name change to Greylake High in 1952, in an effort to keep itself relevant as time passes. It also modernizes during these changes as well, using the money generated by tuition and investments from various alumni and the Mallory family itself to change and better itself. To put it simply, it is a modern school through and through, and what you expect in a private school would be found here. There are three dorm buildings, each capable of housing roughly 250 students. There’s Anderson Hall, Leroy Hall, and Noel Hall, though Noel Hall seems to hold far fewer students than the rest, almost a pitiable amount.

In terms of facilities, it is rather nice. It has many classrooms, computer labs, a gymnasium, a track, a football field, a basketball court, a garden house, a small campus store, and a swimming pool. While many of these are used for sports teams, they are also open to the general student population.

As one might realize, Persona users will be staying in Noel Hall, for plot reasons. This will keep Persona users separate from the general populace and allow matters to be discussed in the open.

As for why Persona users will be staying in Greylake during the holidays and time typically spent with family, it will be explained in game that the Persona users' parents and/or guardians will be told that Persona users are a part of a special gifted program that goes through the year and a bit into the summer as to further their education. How you RP this is up to you.

Blackouts
Blackouts are manifestations of negative human emotion and something otherworldly. They form in our world, overtaking different places and twisting them within our own space. They exist and do not exist at the same time, as only those with the potential can see them and fully enter them, and the twisted version of reality and our own reality occupy the same space at the same time. The inside of Blackouts ranges, like the environments of our own world varies.

The alterations can be simple, such as few odd spikes laying around on the ground with a swift current of water falling over the counter, or they can be odd and complex, like haunting music seeming to emanate from the walls, or the world may seem to be alive surrounding them. Within this world live beings called Shadows. They are living(?) manifestations of human darkness, and are hostile to those who enter the Blackouts. Shadows widely range in power, from simple pests to what some might consider deities, and seem to be capable of a good deal of what Persona seem to be capable of. Some people seem to be able to manipulate shadows to a degree.

Blackouts also have an effect on even those who cannot see them. Potent blackouts will influence a person’s health, both physical and mental, and alter their behavior. Persona users seem to be able to stave off these effects.

Personas
For the most part, the concept of Persona are unchanged. They are summoned through force of will and are reflections of your psyche and soul. They may only be summoned in Blackouts, but manifest as physical objects outside of them. These objects can vary, from something such as a simple ring or necklace, to something other.