Darth Wiki / The Caligula Effect: Placebo

The Caligula Effect: Placebo is a Discord-based roleplay of The Caligula Effect, set in an alternate universe with original characters. It keeps the premise of the original game, with certain aspects being changed, such as μ and Aria's roles being reversed, the existence of a third, neutral group named Gorgias, and a conspiracy surrounding the origins of Mobius.

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This roleplay provides examples of:

A-L

• Abusive Parents:
  • Ryuunosuke's father was a cult leader, and didn't spare him the 'punishments' that came with being part of a cult.
  • Savior-P's parents were both emotionally and physically abusive to him, to the extent he's surprised he's even alive.
• Allergic to Love: Tick. He’s extremely averse to all things even implying romance and sex, especially if he thinks they’re directed at him or his ‘icons’.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Sirius-P was immediately cut out from the rest of his class once he came out to the friends he thought he could trust.
• An Arm and a Leg: Kanade lost use of both her legs in an accident before entering Mobius. She also refused treatment for another condition eating away at her before her accident. She believes it's divine retribution for causing Enji's suicide.
• Anyone Can Die: Tora-P was a fairly major Musician early on, but he's the first character to die permanently.

• Apologizes a Lot: Savior-P frequently apologizes for things, whenever possible, due to his abusive parents.
• Arranged Marriage: Natsuki and Eli were arranged before either of them got Astral Syndrome. Their families never called off the wedding, so they're technically still engaged to each other.
• Ascended Fanboy: Tick is a horror film fanboy who appears as a slasher in Mobius.
• Berserk Button:
  • Ichiro gets angry whenever anyone compares him to a robot or machine.
  • Do not come to Iho-P's restaurant and ask for burgers.

• Big Eater:
  • Aria can devour two giant sundaes that are bigger than a human head, even in her Tiny Aria form.
  • Willow can single-handedly eat an entire massive sundae, which took down three other characters.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Nadeshiko appears to be weak and meek, but she'll laugh at another's misery.
• Birds of a Feather: Makoto develops an odd friendship with Frey over their depression.
• Call to Agriculture: As a member of the Minobe family, Lucius could have had whatever he wanted, but instead renounced the high life and took up farming with his husband.

• Chance Meeting Between Antagonists: Kurouji (post Heel–Face Turn) runs into Kiwami-P while the two of them are walking their dogs one day.
• Constantly Curious: The first thing Willow does when she realizes that Mobius isn't real is trying to jump off the school roof, wondering if she could fly. Saviour-P puts a stop to that immediately.
• Consummate Liar: Nanami's lied for so long that she could probably go through a lie detector without ever getting caught while making the most outrageous statements.
• Crossover: Goro Akechi is in the RP.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's Caligula, what did you expect? Just about every character has this to some degree though some are lying about theirs.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the original Caligula, this roleplay explores much darker themes and more frequently. Not that the source material wasn't dark in parts to begin with, but still.
• Dead All Along: Nyx never found out that Sakiko died in the car accident, until Canas looks into it.
• Defiled Forever: Janus was a victim of sexual abuse. They are uncomfortable with their body both in Mobius and outside because of this, and skews their world view entirely.
• Demoted to Extra: The canon cast of the game hasn't awakened in this timeline; the canon Go-Home Club appears as Kishimai High's gardening club, and the canon Musicians appear as the school's student council. Averted with Shingo and Ritsu, who still have larger roles outside of Mobius.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Kanade absolutely despises people looking down on her. She interprets Shar-P giving her a weapon to fight her with as pity, which makes her mad enough to activate her Catharsis Effect.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Yuuya was drugged and raped by Nadeshiko, and was told to shut up about it and how it was his fault anyway by the people he thought he could trust.
• Driven to Suicide: Candyox very nearly killed herself in the real world by jumping from the roof of the school she worked at, but succumbed to Astral Syndrome before she jumped.

• Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Arashi has difficulty sharing his feelings with others, as it doesn't match his delinquent persona.
• Evil Aunt: Slee-P's aunt was horribly neglectful, and later, emotionally abusive.
• Friendly Enemy: Many of the Musicians are friendly or at least willing to cooperate with the Go-Home Club, but it's not mutual.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: To a much greater degree than the original game; both sides have very sympathetic and un-sympathetic characters.
• Guns Akimbo: When Janus uses pistols, they use two of them.
• Hates Being Touched:
  • Janus mentioned that they have a meter stick to keep people at least 1 meter away from them. This is due to them being abused when they were younger.
  • Even grazing Yuuya makes him extremely uncomfortable.
• Heel–Face Turn: Kurouji defects to the Go-Home Club fairly early on.
• Heroic Bastard: Nanami was born between a prostitute and the CEO of a major medical company. She’s trying to go back to the real world to expose her father’s crimes.
• Honesty Is the Best Policy: Aria believes that telling the truth about one's desires is the key to being happy.
• Hypocrite: Tsubame-P believes that the Go Home Club and the Ostinato Musicians can live peacefully in Mobius if they just talked peacefully, but won't hesitate to force her own idea of happiness on the Go Home Club.
• Identity Impersonator: Or rather, Akechi has an impersonator lurking around the shadows of Miyabi City.
• Ignorance Is Bliss: Tsubame-P tells Aria to stop informing her about Kanade's constant visits so that she can pretend that Kanade has moved on with her life. Her ignorance goes so far as to be called naivety, though she's more aware than she lets on, pretending not to notice anything wrong.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Inverted. Tick wishes to be hated and feared.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Despite all his grandstanding, 666 isn't actually that confident.
• The Insomniac: Sirius-P is unable to sleep anywhere but with Kiwami-P or in the planetarium. He stops sleeping in the planetarium after Nadeshiko's visit before the masquerade.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 666 is rude and bitchy, but seems to genuinely care for his friends.
• Leitmotif:
  • Savior-P has "Let Me Be Your God".
  • Adhafera has "Nostalgic".
  • Candyox has "Telesto Teles".
  • Iho-P has "Sweet Magic".
  • Janus has "Dramaturgy".
  • Kiyoku-P has "Kanjou Xerography".
  • Kurouji has "In the Gray Zone".
  • Sirius-P has "Fragile".
  • Slee-P has "Bitter".
  • Tick has "PARASITE".
  • Willow has "Aster".
  • Yuri-P has "The Me from a Dream".
  • Tsumabe-P has "Lie Eschatology".
  • Yves-P has "Want To Say".
• Living Emotional Crutch: Janus clings to Saviour-P to an almost unhealthy amount.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Kurouji refrained from forming meaningful relationships knowing that he could only ever be the heir, rather than a real person— showing his true feelings was frowned upon, so it made more sense to self-isolate. And when he did have a meaningful relationship, it only got worse when said person passed away, and he was unable to mourn.

M-Z

• spoiler:Make It Look Like an Accident: To get rid of Enji before he could hand off the evidence he found on Nadeshiko to a journalist, Nadeshiko made his murder look like suicide.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Tsubame-P's Pen Name comes from the word for sparrow to honor the name given by her mother. Kotori Yumeno means small bird from dreams, which was exactly what she was to her mother, a blue bird of happiness.
  • Yuuya means increasingly gentle, which he is, as long as you don't incur his wrath.
• Meaningful Rename: Nanami got her last name from the family who adopted her. She took on her first name after swearing revenge for someone she cared for deeply in the past.
• The Mole: Makoto/Janus serves as this, spying on the Go-Home Club for the Musicians. Ryuunosuke/Yves does as well, though this is kept a secret from the Musicians.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Depending on who asks, details about Makoto's past and the reason why she's in Mobius varies. The only person who knows the truth in the Go-Home Club is Mu, but even then, she knows very little.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Kaoru feels awful for putting science and research over his own morality.
• No Antagonist: By Caligula's logic, Saviour-P and the Musicians would be the antagonists, but most of them really aren't very villainous and have good intentions. Saviour-P himself is an Anti-Villain at worst, who only keeps people in Mobius because he wants to help them and feels like people leaving is some sort of personal failure.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Shinzou Yuasa is based heavily on the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe.
• No Sense of Direction: Willow can't point out which way is north, even with a compass.

• Older Than They Look:
  • Kohaku is 17 in Mobius, 24 in real life.
  • Nadeshiko is 17 in Mobius and 32 in real life.
  • Nanami is 17 in Mobius, 30 in real life.
  • Ryuunosuke is 18 in Mobius, 23 in real life.
  • Savior-P is 18 in Mobius, 21 in real life.
  • Downplayed with 666, who is 18 in Mobius and 19 in real life.
  • Adhafera is 16 in Mobius, and 26 in real life.
  • Candyox is 16 in Mobius, 29 in real life.
  • Kiyoku-P is 18 in Mobius, 27 in real life.
  • Tsubame-P is 18 in Mobius, 26 in real life.
  • Eli is 16 in Mobius, 18 in real life.
  • Rina is 17 in Mobius, 21 in real life.
  • Yuuya is 18 in Mobius, 28 in real life.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Sakiko flushed the Prime Minister's credit cards down the toilet at a party, and was hated ever since for it.
• One Degree of Separation:
  • The families of Japan's high society (Takenaka, Minobe, and Yuasa) are very interconnected. To wit: Nyx was engaged to Sakiko Takenaka, Kohaku's sister. Three years ago, Sakiko died in a car accident, and so did the twin brother of Natsuki Yuasa. Natsuki himself was engaged to Eli Minobe, who later was named the heir of his family after Lucius ran away and Shinsaku (Kurouji) got Astral Syndrome. Natsuki's father, the Prime Minister, also has connections to The Conspiracy.
  • Another, smaller set occurs with Kanade, Tsubame-P, Nadeshiko, and Yuuya, as well as the deceased Enji. Kanade and Tsubame-P are childhood friends, and Yuuya is Tsubame's cousin. Nadeshiko was a coworker of his, and she sexually assaulted him. She also killed her fiance, Enji, for figuring too much out about her, and Kanade, believing the death to be a suicide, blames herself for his death.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted; there are two characters named Shinzou.
• Posthumous Character: Enji's been dead for who knows how long, but an NPC of him exists within Mobius.
• Psychoactive Powers: Kiwami-P's weapon reacts to his mental state. The more stressed or angry he is, the scarier-looking it becomes.
• Punny Name:
  • Kiyoku = Kioku (memory) + kyoku (song). Kiyoku is an amnesiac. By itself, "Kiyo" can also mean "pure".
  • "Slee-P" is a visual pun on "sleep" and read as "sleepy".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Tick the slasher villain has red eyes that glow in the dark.
• The Runaway: Kanade was expected to take care of her family's traditional inn. She couldn't stand that kind of life and ran away after graduating high school.
• Running Gag: Nanami has a habit of walking into events, hearing or seeing something weird, and walking away before talking to anyone.
• Sad Clown: Despite Nanami’s constant jokes, she’s a pessimist and depressed.
• Secret Relationship: Ichiro and Ryuunosuke are keeping their relationship a secret, especially given Ichiro is the only person in the Go-Home Club who knows Ryuunosuke is Yves.
• Self-Deprecation: Tsubame-P hates everything about herself, from the way she looks to even the little quirks she has, causing her to take Kanade's face in Mobius, though she hates that as well.
• Self-Harm: In the real world, Sirius-P used to do this because he didn't feel right, from clawing at his throat to digging into his arms until they bled. His real body is covered in scars.
• Sensory Overload: Willow doesn't cope well with loud spaces, especially yelling and arguing, since it reminds her of her mother and father's constant fighting. Has noise cancelling headphones hidden in her hoodie to help with auditory overload.
• Shout-Out:
  • Kosei Aizawa's name is a reference to Shouta Aizawa, from My Hero Academia.
  • Frey's name, as well as his chat and Gossiper handle being "ventuswont"(as opposed to "Ventuswill") are ones to Rune Factory 4.
• Significant Birth Date: Tick, a gigantic horror fan, was born on Halloween.
• Split Personality: Makoto Wears various 'masks' so she could please the people around her. Taken literally as she wears various masks physically as Janus.
• Stepford Smiler: Mu acts very cheerful, but she's upset about the distance between Go-Home Club members and the constant fights amongst themselves and the other people in Mobius.
• Stepford Snarker: Janus uses dry humour to cover up their self-hatred.
• The Stoic: Yuri-P usually keeps her emotions in check. Her finding out Mobius was fake didn't quite go so well, though.
• Straw Nihilist: Natsuki feels like nothing matters, because nothing will bring back his brother.
• Survivor's Guilt: Ryuunosuke feels responsible for the cult's mass-suicide, of which he was the only survivor.
• Take That!: Iho-P's whole character is one towards IHOP's publicity stunt involving them changing their name to IHOb.
• Third Wheel: Enji, toward Kanade and Kotori. At some point, started wondering when the two would finally realize they were pining after each other and attempted many times to tell them it was mutual.
• There Are No Therapists: A very notable aversion, especially compared to the source material; Mobius actually has a therapist with HEART&SOUL, though he is also a Musician.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Yuuya won't forgive Kako for killing Tora-P and acting self-righteous about it, and also won't forgive Canas for hurting Obsidian for no real reason.
• Trans Tribulations:
  • Sirius-P was going to drown himself before entering Mobius because he couldn't take the constant sense of dysphoria wearing female school uniforms. He was also horrifically bullied for it.
  • Tick is heavily closeted in the real world, and so, clings to Mobius as the only place to express his masculinity.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: After being kidnapped by Nadeshiko, Sirius-P seems to have lost most of his memories; the only thing he remembers is Kiwami-P being someone important to him.
• Younger Than They Look:
  • Downplayed with Sirius-P, who is 16 in Mobius, but 15 in real life.
  • Tick is 40 in Mobius, but 17 in real life.
  • Willow is 16 in Mobius, 11 in real life.
  • Downplayed with Natsuki, who is 18 in Mobius, 17 in real life.
• Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Yuri-P's still in love with her best friend, Mari, who's engaged with one of their former classmates. She still keeps an NPC of Mari by her side.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: Tick, the slasher-villain, uses a giant meat tenderizer, complete with razor-sharp spikes.

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