Persona weapon

Persona weapons are ultra tech weapons that contain a persona - a psychically capable, artificially intelligent personality similar to that in an AI persona core. This persona forms a psychic bond with the weapon's wielder and grants or inflicts certain traits based on the personality of the intelligence. This bond is usually both exclusive of other persona weapons and permanent, lasting until either the wielder dies or the weapon is destroyed. The exception is weapons with the Freewielder trait, which form no permanent bond and do not prevent the use of other persona weapons. Additionally, the bond is broken at the moment of death rather than the state of being dead. The bond remains broken if the wielder is resurrected, though they can relink with the weapon if no-one else has.

In addition to the traits the weapons provide, they also improve the combat capabilities of the weapons compared to the baseline versions. The wielder and weapon synchronize their reflexes and attack with frightening speed, accuracy, and creativity. Statistically, this is not represented by an improvement to base damage, but instead by a decreased cooldown time between attacks of between 20 and 30%, increasing DPS by a similar margin. As the baseline weapons are already incredibly dangerous, this places the persona weapons as the best melee weapons on offer.

There are currently three types of persona weapons, each a variant of another ultra tech melee weapon:

• Persona plasmasword, the persona variant of the plasmasword
• Persona monosword, the persona variant of the monosword
• Persona zeushammer, the persona variant of the zeushammer

Construction of persona weapons is beyond the capabilities of the colony, and is a secret known only by the Empire.

Names

Each persona weapon has a randomly generated name in addition to their regular weapon name. For example, a given persona monosword might be styled as "Ragarmar, persona monosword (Legendary)". These names are randomly generated so repeats are possible even in the same playthough, however the number of potential combinations make this possibility small.

There are 6 possible combinations for name creation, in 3 major formats

Noun-verber

The name is given the structure of Noun-verber, where the noun and noun form of verb are randomly selected from the following list and combined.

Part	Word
Noun	Oath-	Promise-	Death-	Pain-	Blood-	Doom-	Murder-	Justice-	Fear-	Chaos-	Terror-	War-	Order-	Silence-	Debt-
Verber	-keeper	-bringer	-sender	-giver	-maker	-crusher	-breaker	-smasher	-bender	-knower	-doer

Examples:

• Oathmaker
• Warbringer
• Doomknower

Syllable assembly

The name is assembled out of three types of syllable, Beginning Syllables, Middle Syllables and End Syllables, in one of three different structures. Either:

• Beginning Syllable + End Syllable
• Beginning Syllable + Middle Syllable + End Syllable
• Beginning Syllable + Middle Syllable + Middle Syllable + End Syllable

The syllable options are as follows:

Type	Syllable
Beginning	Vi-	Na-	Lo-	Ra-	To-	Ger-	Xan-	Kel-
Middle	-ser-	-gar-	-lor-	-ven-	-zan-	-xal-
End	-ys	-or	-ar	-sum	-dor	-mar	-gur

Examples include:

• Toor (To-or)
• Ragarmar (Ra-gar-mar)
• Viservendor (Vi-ser-ven-dor)

Person names

The name is randomly selected from a large list of names also used by pawns. They are not listed due to length.

Animal names

The name is randomly selected from a large list of names also used by bonded animals. This includes 214 female names, 235 male names, and 1538 unisex names for a total of 1,987 unique name options. They are not listed due to length.

Examples include:

• Belladonna
• Romulus
• Zephyr

Persona traits

Persona weapons have individual traits to reflect their individual personalities. Each weapon will have one or two traits. Some traits are good, some are bad, some are just different. Traits affect the weapon's market value, so a weapon with a negative trait will be cheaper. The traits are:

Trait name	Description	Effects	Value	Exclusivity	Commonality
Psychic hypersensitizer	This weapon amplifies the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 40%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	+40% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Psychic sensitizer	This weapon amplifies the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 20%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	+20% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Psychic quiet	This weapon suppresses the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 15%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	−15% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Psychic fog	This weapon suppresses the wielder's psychic sensitivity by 30%. This only applies while the weapon is held.	−30% Psychic Sensitivity	0	Other Psychic Sensitivity Modifiers	0.75
Kind thoughts	This weapon's persona is kind and supportive. It whispers kind thoughts to whoever it is bonded with, increasing their mood.	+6 <NAME>'s kind thoughts mood[When equipped?]	+500	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Calm thoughts	This weapon's persona is relaxed and steady. It whispers calming thoughts to whoever it is bonded with, increasing their mood.	+3 <NAME>'s calm thoughts mood[When equipped?]	+300	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Mad muttering	This weapon's persona is neurotic and unstable. It mutters mad thoughts to whoever it is bonded with, reducing their mood.	−3 <NAME>'s muttering mood[When equipped?]	-500	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Mad wailing	This weapon's persona is highly disturbed and won't shut up about it. It wails mad notions to whoever it is bonded with, suppressing their mood.	−6 <NAME>'s wailing mood[When equipped?]	-1000	Other Bonded Thought Traits Freewielder	1
Kill-focused	This weapon's persona focuses on deaths. If the weapon kills someone, the wielder will instantly gain 20% psyfocus.	Instantly gain +20% psyfocus on killing another pawn, including humans, animals, and mechanoids.	+500	Kill Thought Traits	1
Kill-happy	This weapon's persona loves to kill. If this weapon kills someone, its joy will transmit psychically to the wielder, making them happier for a few days.	+6 <NAME>'s kill happiness mood for 3 days after killing a pawn.[Details]	+500	Other Kill Thought Traits	1
Kill-sorrow	This weapon's persona hates killing. If this weapon kills someone, its sorrow will transmit psychically to the wielder, reducing their mood for a few days.	−3 <NAME>'s kill sorrow mood for 3 days after killing a pawn.[Details]	-500	Other Kill Thought Traits	1
Kill thirst	This weapon's persona find purpose in bloodshed. If it does not kill for 20 days, it will become angry and psychically complain to whoever is bonded to it.	−3 <NAME>'s kill thirst mood after 20 days without killing a pawn.[Details]	-700	Kill Thought Traits Traits Freewielder	1
Psy-meditative	This weapon's persona is naturally meditative and helps its wielder focus in psychic meditation. The wielder gains an extra 10% psyfocus per day of meditation, as long as the weapon is held.	+10% psyfocus gain rate	+500	None	1
Painless	This weapon's persona has some method of psychically disabling pain. The one holding the weapon will feel no pain of any kind.	Psychic Painlessness: Pain is disabled by the psychic influence of a wielded weapon. 0x Pain multiplier	+400	None	1
Fast mover	This weapon's persona has a sense of motion. It confers this onto the wielder, making them move 15% faster as long as the weapon is held.	Psychic Speed: Movement is sped up by the psychic influence of a wielded weapon. +15% Moving	+600	None	1
Hunger pangs	This weapon's persona loves food, and transmits that onto whoever bonds with it. The bonded person's hunger rate will be 50% higher.	Psychic Hunger: Hunger is increased by the psychic influence of a bonded weapon. +50% Hunger Rate Factor	-600	None	1
Neural cooling	This weapon's persona has the ability to help dissipate the wielder's neural heat. The wielder's neural heat dissipation is improved by 0.15 per second.	Assisted neural cooling: Neural heat dissipation is improved by the psychic influence of a bonded weapon. +0.15/s Neural Heat Recovery Rate	+500	None	1
Freewielder	This weapon's persona does not form bonds in the normal way. Anyone can pick it up and use it.	Does not bond	0		1
Jealous	This weapon's persona becomes angry when the bonded individual uses another weapon, thus reducing their mood.	−15 <NAME>'s jealousy mood when a weapon other than the bonded weapon is equipped.	-600	Freewielder	1

Trait Analysis

Psychic hypersensitizer

Comparison with Eltex staff and general practicality of the psyfocus increase needed.

Stat	Increase
Psychic Sensitivity	+40%
Neural Heat Limit	+32

Psychic sensitizer

Comparison with Eltex staff and general practicality of the psyfocus increase needed.

Stat	Increase
Psychic Sensitivity	+20%
Neural Heat Limit	+16

Psychic Quiet

Pros and Cons with drones and psycasting needed

Stat	Increase
Psychic Sensitivity	-20%
Neural Heat Limit	-16

Psychic fog

Pros and Cons with drones and psycasting needed

Stat	Increase
Psychic Sensitivity	-30%
Neural Heat Limit	-24

Kind thoughts

Comparison with other mood sources needed.

+6 mood

Calm thoughts

Comparison with other mood sources needed.

+3 mood

Mad muttering

Comparison with other mood sources needed with additional attention to persona weapons power vs other options. I.e. when is it worth it

-3 mood

Mad wailing

Comparison with other mood sources needed with additional attention to persona weapons power vs other options. I.e. when is it worth it

-6 mood

Kill-focused

The wielder of a kill-focused persona weapon regains 20% of their psyfocus every time they kill another pawn with the weapon up to their normal maximum of 100%. Despite the description, this killed pawn does not have to be an enemy and the psyfocus will even be granted when executing downed enemies, killing wild animals and when slaughtering tamed animals.

A single kill is equivalent to over 5 hours of meditation with the best possible focus, or 10 hours without one. As psyfocus is one of the primary limiting factors for psycasters, this makes this trait incredibly powerful and easily a candidate for the best trait on offer.

The most obvious role is using the weapon in the thick of combat to keep up psycast support and it is very powerful doing so. It not only allows for more psycasting, it also allows the caster to be flexible with their casts and not have to worry about holding back for fear of not having focus when needed later. Pawns with high Psychic Sensitivity are especially ideal as wielders, as they can cast more before before exceeding their Neural Heat Limit and thus better exploit the additional focus. But the benefits aren't limited to only combat.

Simply by manually melee-hunting small animals such as squirrels and rats, psycasters can repeatedly cast Word of Inspiration to mass produce legendary items, Word of Trust to recruit large numbers of pawns quickly, or always have several Berserk Pulses ready to wreak havoc with raids. All this without having to dedicate much of a pawns life to meditation. This out-of-combat use means that even bad quality persona weapons with this trait are very valuable, as any weapon is sufficient to kill downed enemies or small animals. It also synergizes incredibly well with Freewielder, as a single weapon can then provide all the psyfocus needed for all the psycasters in the colony with some micromanagement. Melee hunting can be dangerous however - smaller, weaker animals are ideal to prevent injury to the wielder, but any animal works. Kill-focused plasmaswords may be better for this as being on fire will prevent the animal from attacking, however care should still be taken, especially with herd animals.

Kill-happy

Comparison with other mood sources needed.

+6 mood, 5 stack limit, 0.25 stack multiplier, lasts 3 days.

Kill-sorrow

Comparison with other mood sources needed with additional attention to persona weapons power vs other options. I.e. when is it worth it. Combare/balance with bloodlust.

-3 mood, 5 stack limit, 0.25 stack multiplier, lasts 3 days.

Kill thirst

Comparison with other mood sources needed with additional attention to persona weapons power vs other options. I.e. when is it worth it

Kill every 20 days or -4 mood

Psy-meditative

Practical comparison with base 50% rate and focus needed.

+10% psyfocus per time meditating

Painless

Basic effect description and pros and cons needed (see Painstopper) as well as comparions vs Painstopper/Painblock/Drugs

0x Pain multiplier

Fast mover

Detailed effects of moving, especially its effect on Melee Dodge Chance

+15% Moving

Name	Type	Weight	Max	Description
Hunting Stealth	Stat	1	-	This stat reduces the chance of hunted animals attacking the hunter. A 0% score means no reduction. A 100% score means animals never attack.
Melee Dodge Chance	Stat	18	-	Chance to dodge a melee attack that would've otherwise hit. Characters will not dodge while aiming or firing a ranged weapon.
Move Speed	Stat	1	-	Speed of movement in cells per second.

Hunger pangs

Cost analysis of persona weapons power vs downside needed. I.e. when is it worth it

+50% hunger rate

Neural cooling

Practical comparison with Eltex staff and general practicality of the rate increase needed.

+15% Neural Heat Recovery Rate, only applies while weapon is held.

Freewielder

Basic explaination of what it is incompatible with, why its good.

Does not bond

Jealous

Cost analysis of persona weapons power vs downside needed. I.e. when is it worth it

-15 mood

Version history

• Royalty DLC release - Added
• 1.1.2647 - Persona weapons no longer damage relations with the Empire when used without the necessary titles. Previously, a title of Knight or Dame was required.
• 1.2.2719 - Pawns can now only bond one persona weapon at a time (otherwise trait effects can stack in broken ways).