abstract
| - Apathy Syndrome is a mysterious condition that affects students of Gekkoukan High School and other residents of Tatsumi Port Island during the course of Persona 3. Those suffering from the syndrome suffer from debilitating levels of apathy. When it strikes the inflicted will collapse in a heap where ever they happen to be and become unable to move, feed, or care for themselves. The number of cases grows in correlation with the approach of the full moon, when a shadow makes an appearance somewhere in the city. The cases quickly decrease each time a Shadow is defeated, only to slowly rise again as the next full moon approaches. People affected by the Apathy Syndrome are called the Lost by the inhabitants of Tatsumi Port Island. It is later explained that Apathy Syndrome is a result of having one's psyche eaten by Shadows. Due to having their soul taken away, the victims are reduced to a vegetative state. It is implied that when a psyche is stolen, it somehow ends up with the boss Shadow that will appear during the following Full Moon (either due to that specific Shadow having eaten them itself, or by the lesser Shadows eating the psyches and bringing them to the boss Shadow), because following the destruction of each Full Moon Shadow by SEES, the number of the Lost decreases dramatically. As it turns out, the Lost are the earliest manifestations of the Fall, an event where all of mankind will forfeit their will to live. Each Full Moon Shadow was a piece of Death (a being created by Nyx, that would later become one with its creator), and so their collection of psyches was their method of facilitating the Fall. As the game reaches its climax, Iwatodai becomes more and more wrecked, litter and entire public structures broken down and left all over the ground. At this point, some Lost may start giving out actual dialogue, instead of their usual moans and useless pleas.
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