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Your character stands atop the wall that separates Periphery City from the wilds outside -- building it higher, or guarding it, or visiting for the view -- you're all that'll be left of that proud, hopeful people. Something terrible is about to happen to that city far, far below, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

But maybe there's something you can do to fix it, if you wanted to. It'll take a bit of soul-searching and a lot of keeping an open mind, but maybe -- with your help -- Periphery will shine again.

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This is essentially a fantasy roleplay. Technology in Periphery can reach sci-fi levels of floating buses and laser pistols, while the world outside the wall relies on magic and wild nature for survival. This is your classic tech-vs-nature conflict -- at least on the surface.

It's up to your character to decide whether to restore the city of Periphery to the haven it once was; to side with the Grit and return the city to the wilds; to take advantage of disaster for your character's own gain; or to broker peace between the city folk and the Grit and bring down the wall for good. There will always be a driving force to continue to act, but how you act shapes where the story will end up.

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Your character will begin atop the wall-to-the-sky -- the impossibly high wall that is forever being built higher and higher around the city of Periphery. Builders on the wall tend to be debtors or ex-prisoners -- people who have no other choice but to spend years of their lives building a seemingly pointless wall for minimal pay. They could also be guards, or foremen, or simply curious citizens that wanted a tour of the top of the wall -- why your character is there is up to you.

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Grit are people who live in the wilds outside the wall. They're known to be misshapen and even inhuman, depending on who you talk to. They're said to be tricksters and monsters, wielding infernal powers drawn from their worship of horrible gods. The only good Grit is a dead Grit, as the saying goes.

Sigils are geometric drawings used to cast quick and temporary spells. The basic ones are pretty common -- you can find books and pamphlets full of 'em at any corner magic shop -- but the dangerous ones are famously kept under lock and key in the queen's palace.

Anybody with a decent imagination and some capacity for emotion can cast a minor sigil spell. Just draw the sigil (if you're not using one ready to go, like a book page or an engraving), touch the drawing, and think of something that makes your heart clench -- something happy, or sad, or determined, or powerfully hopeful. That clench in your heart is the feeling of a dream being born. Sigil magic runs on dream power: that's why robots can't use magic at all, and that's why children are devastatingly good at it.

The majority of city folk consider sigil magic to be archaic and too much effort for results that can be achieved far more consistently with technology. Gone are the days when sigils were used to freeze water and make fire, after all.

Runes are used to imbue or enchant objects with permanent and powerful properties. Enchanted stuff is extremely rare for one important reason: in order to enchant an object, the master mage has to splinter off a piece of his own soul and -- using the runes -- imbue an object with it. One mage can only perform very few enchantments in his lifetime before his soul will be too unstable to continue a normal life. Things that have been enchanted by rune magic are very special, and are treated with the respect deserving of a broken soul.

Jsut like in the interest check, absolutely interesting, count me in

I'm most definitely interested. That is if you're still accepting?

@Cat Absolutely! I'm gonna run on the assumption that a lot of people who sign up will drop out in the first few turns -- which happens every time without fail, unfortunately. Therefore I'll be accepting whoever wants to join up, no limit. We'll be left with a nice solid bunch when all's settled. :)

This seems right interesting! Consider a sheet from with a few days! Can't wait to see where this goes.

I'm an eager beaver, so here's my CS, let me know if you'd like more detail, I just went based off your example. Also, would you mind explaining the level of technology within the city?



NAME: Ethan Morrfield

ABSTRACT: Treasure Hunter and Stark Raving Mad Adventurer

DETAIL: Ethan is a born and raised lowlife, thief, scoundrel, and charmer. An on and off fugitive, he has yet to be caught (until our story that is), and is a world class expert at avoiding the law. There are, of course, perks to being such a man. Ethan has a great stash of valuables, but not the kind you sell for money. Objects enchanted with runes, rare sigils, mysterious objects from a lost time or beyond the wall. Ethan doesn't just collect treasure, he uses it. Ethan is not exactly proficient at making friends, and has vastly more enemies, some of them above the law, others...not so much. What he is good at is quick wits, women, and when it comes to it, fighting. Then again, why fight when you can just talk your way out.

MAGICAL INVENTORY: Ethan carries 5 sigils of varying strength, and has committed one other to memory. Ethan has only one enchanted object on his person that he finds useful, though he has a few others in his home, which he rarely uses as he finds their enchantments worthless or odd. His pistol, a relatively average lazer pistol with no fancy sightings or attachments, is enchanted to never miss, as long as he is focused on his target, it is still under the restrictions of ammo, overheating, and breaking. The runes trace along the handle of the pistol. Ethan, despite technically being a debtor, has managed to hide the pistol from the original guards who sent him up, and so much equipment is smuggled to the top that nobody looks twice when he takes it out.

This looks very promising. Will be posting a CS later.

I'm an eager beaver, so here's my CS, let me know if you'd like more detail, I just went based off your example. Also, would you mind explaining the level of technology within the city?

I like him a lot! He'll be approved, definitely. Your CS raises a good point that for some reason I hadn't considered, though, and that's a character's inventory of sigils/enchantments.


I had an idea: How about another point in the CS that specifies how many simple sigils your character knows or is carrying. 0-3 should be average, and up to 10 for extreme background circumstances. You don't have to declare what they do just yet, just set down your inventory. Keep in mind characters can share this info and find more IC.

Enchanted objects are extremely rare and extremely expensive. In a thief/adventurer's case it's plausible for Ethan to have one or maybe two. If your character plausibly can own an enchanted item and has it on their person right now, you'll have to specify exactly what it is and what it does. Again, characters probably don't have these, but there's plenty of opportunity to get them later.


The tech level is pretty damn high. I imagine a city with androids and robots, hovercrafts, holograms, etc. I also imagine it being pretty bright and cheery and colorful and whimsical. Feel free to go down the crazy route when it comes to your character's background. Anything goes. If anything extremely off comes up in a CS, or some tech I didn't think about might skew the world situation, we'll deal with it at that point. :)

@MokleySounds good, I've added a Magical inventory to Ethan, feel free to look it over and tell me if it needs changing.

@OnlyThePie For a highly successful thief, I'd say that works. I also stole your format and added it to the CS template. :) Approved!

@MokleyShould I move it to the tab?

@OnlyThePie Ah yes, sorry, please do. :)

I think I expressed interest in the check, but here is my character.

NAME: Florence Groban

ABSTRACT: Extreme Thrill Seeker.

DETAIL: Florence is an extreme thrill seeker. He works on the wall to help pay for his lifestyle choice and he loves looking out over the height of the grand towering wall. Soon the thrills that normal technology and sigils could bring him were getting boring. He was lucky enough to stumble upon a sigil of protection. Fortunately he had the money and bought it immediately. Most would use it times of being threatened, but Flor used it quite often after putting himself in danger. He tested it repeatedly and found that it could protect him from any danger, but only for a moment. He soon found that he could jump from any height and land without harm. On top of getting it tattoed on the right side of his chest, he memorized the sigil as well. This combined with his jump shoes and sticky fingers made Flor pretty unstoppable. He could run the city and go anywhere he wanted at any time. He woud regularly end his shift by jumping off of the wall and dashing through the city. Flor is a pretty selfless guy and enjoys the company of others. Due to his invincible ego, he is very quick to jump into danger to protect others.

MAGICAL INVENTORY: Flor only has two sigils, including the one he's memorized. He puts more of his trust into technology. Finding him without his jump shoes, sticky fingers and breath cycle was a very rare thing.

Name: Renaldo "Moth" Piper

Abstract: Obsessive Financomancer, Math Genius, and All-Around Dork

Detail: One of the most famous accounting firms in the city, "Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Brown, LLC.", has been personally selected by the queen to oversee the astronomical flow of funding towards the eternal expansion of the great wall which surrounds Periphery. The four big names themselves sit in their palatial offices, pressing a few keys where necessary, but for field work (or what those in the business refer to as "bitch work"), they send Renaldo. Renaldo is fresh out of school and knows how incredibly lucky he is to be interning at CMYB, an organization his instructors gushed about while making it absolutely clear that he had no chance of ever working for them. Joke's on them. Renaldo was hand-picked by the four named partners themselves; he believes it's because of his incredible intelligence and tenacity. He plans to make it big someday. He's going to be the fifth named partner, he's sure of it! He just needs to remember where he put his enchanted calculator.

Appearance: Five-foot-two and stick thin with freckles, large perfect white teeth, and messy blonde hair he tries to push back in the latest style. He wears inexpensive tech-specs, a pair of cybernetically enhanced glasses, both to correct his extreme myopia and provide a quick link to the files and data processors at the main branch. The slightest bit of physical exertion, and his cheap Mechro-Accountant 1000 suit is covered in sweat. (Two words: pit stains.) Various keyboards and touchscreens run across both suit arms.

Magical Inventory: The only item of his that was a major financial investment is the enchanted calculator he usually keeps in his left pocket. An enchanted keycard from the company is in his right. Renaldo was given one sigil for his apprenticeship with the company, a Sigil of Accountancy.

@rechonq Totally approved. :3 Please do copy to the Characters tab!

Also, random thoughts -- it's occurred to me that in a world where everything's electronic, books and pamphlets are probably considered obsolete -- though the magic shops sell old-school sigils on paper, since you can't use a sigil directly from a computer screen. (It has to be drawn or printed physically on a surface.) So, the sigils that your character has on their person are those that they can access from where they are on the wall, offline, without electronic help. In Flor's case, that one protection sigil he uses often is probably drawn somewhere he can touch it quickly. A tattoo, for example? :)

I'm still worldbuilding and working out kinks -- let me know if anything isn't making sense!

@Dud This is pretty cool! :D I'm not sure how or why he would have an enchanted calculator/keycard, though. What exactly is the enchantment?

@Mokley That is actually a good idea. I wasn't quite sure how sigils worked since they could be memorized, but I'll be changing it to he got it tattooed as well. That's a very useful sigil to him. =))

Edit; If the sigil is tattoed to him would he need to tough with his hand or anything to activate it? Or would he just have to think of his dream and it would activate?

@Mokley
I, uh, am still thinking about that. I've been working on the general idea for the character, but this all came out over the past hour or two. The calculator can calculate much more than just math. The odds for survival in dangerous situations, the percentage of sincerity in a person's speech, the chances of getting laid while bar hopping. The keycard is company property, issued to Renaldo for use as long as he remains under their command. It unlocks doors and computers at the company branches throughout the city and can also open other paths if the firm determines it falls under their jurisdiction. If that's a bit much then we can just say it's a normal calculator and keycard.

The sigil is attuned to and tracks the essence of money and can reveal if a client is channeling funds illegally or hiding money from lawful taxation. If empowered with part of a soul, it can track and detect physical objects, goods, and even people.

How's that?

If the sigil is tattoed to him would he need to tough with his hand or anything to activate it? Or would he just have to think of his dream and it would activate?

Thaaaaaat is an excellent question! I think he'd just have to focus his thoughts on the spot where the tattoo is, with specific intention -- otherwise it would activate whenever he got excited, haha!

@Dud The keycard sounds like whatever it can do can be done through technology, however mystical the secret pathways might be -- I'd leave that as a regular old keycard. :)

The calculator is a really interesting idea. Keep it as an enchantment -- no batteries necessary -- only I don't think a company would simply hand it out, just given the fact that this one may be the only one in existence. Unless whoever gave it to him has an ulterior motive. ;) I'm not saying get rid of it, but rather he might have obtained it somewhere else. Unless the ulterior motive stands, in which case you're good to go.

There's a lot of confusion about sigils -- I'm adding stuff to the description to try and clarify it. A sigil is a drawing or an engraving, nothing more. You can memorize it and draw it yourself on a piece of paper (or touch an engraving, etc) and then activate it to produce a temporary magic spell. The exact drawing that is the Sigil of Accountancy might reveal money-related information to the caster depending on the question he holds in his mind. But really, you can decide what it does, exactly, when you get to a situation where you want to use it.

So after this long-winded thing, I'm essentially saying the keycard is not enchanted, and you're approved. :D

So I had the idea for a PI. Not sure if its too far from the kind of characters you wanted. If so, I'll put him in storage for use in another rp. Otherwise, if there are things I can fix, please let me know!