Roleplay / Defile Circles

Witches are the practitioners of magic who use demonic essence to enact their will upon the world. There are many types of people who may be called witches, but only those who have irreversibly changed themselves can truly lay claim to the title. If you've managed to find this book, you must have followed my footsteps far enough to have become a Witch yourself already, so I leave to you this guide which will help you understand what you are.

A set of notes simply titled "Witches."

Defile Circles is a spinoff-cum-sequel of a Maid RPG campaign aptly named Defile Maids. Set in a Japanese high school in Canada (Yes, you read that correctly), it revolves around the players, in the role of students in the local high school's Occult Studies Club, exploring the system of magic circles presented to them in a set of old notes. It features a number of characters from the previous game, as well as many, many new faces, all of which have their own problems and peculiarities.

The game follows a loosely turn-based format, with each new day refilling the Essence of all the players so that they may begin assembling magic circles to test. Every element has its own attached concepts, each type of circle is tied to a specific function, and that is just the surface of the complexity and depth in the system.

Currently running on Discord, which is linked above.

This roleplay contains examples of:

• Addressing the Player: The GM frequently answers questions asked in-character as if the player had asked personally.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Demons in general tend to be less-than-great people, with Black and Vermilion demons especially inclines to villainy.
  • Kitsune are driven to sadism by nature and often end up killing the people who grow close to them.
• Ambition Is Evil: Dark Is Evil and ambition is a noted trait among Shadow demons.
• Beware the Nice Ones: If there is a kind, helpful character in the game, chances are extremely high that they are entirely capable of tearing the players limb from limb when pissed off. Gamut in particular oscillates between kindness and carnage.
  • Sariel is a notable example, as she appears to be capable of killing quite literally anything, but would really rather not fight anyone.
• Big Damn Heroes: Kotori-Gracie swoops in to stop Lucy from annihilating demonkind when all seems lost.
• Blood Magic: Demonic crests and the Red element in general use and manipulate blood.
• Blue Is Calm: Specifically Sky, the color of demons associated with emotional competency and focused thinking.
• Break the Cutie: Fina initially appears to be an innocent, carefree girl despite her traumatic past. A sequence of events beginning with her brother's death results in her returning to her abusive father and reclaiming her inheritance by obliterating him. She returns to the club as a shell of herself only for their distrust prompting her attacking them, then leaving to act like the terrible tyrant she believes she should be.
• Breath Weapon: The standard armament of the Gold clan generates fire breath from the user's innate magic. Also a frequent natural ability of the same.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Gamut fights Lucy to a standstill. . . only for Lucy to then get annoyed and oneshot her.
• Butlerspace: Julia and Sedrik, the former of which is a Ninja Maid, both tend to just sort of appear whenever called.
• Cast Full of Gay: A very large portion of the characters are LGBT of some variety. The Occult Club is generally regarded as a LGBT club by the school at large, and the members admit this is not an unfair belief. This also applies to demons in general, due to their skewed gender ratios.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Morgan begins doing this to her biological parents after she disowns them.
• Color-Coded Elements: All Demons have at least one, possibly two, Colors associated with them, and each of those Colors has an elemental association for what they do in magic. Some are obvious, like Navy being for Water, but some are more esoteric, like White being associated with Knowledge.
• Cool Gate: Seems to be the standard for demonic portals, which all seem to be some form of Portal Door.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: There are a few examples, but Tamar's encounter with Mortuelel involves her literally being stomped into the ground effortlessly.
• Cute Monster Girl: The default for demons, having traits like wings, fangs, and claws, but still using a human starting point.
• Cyborg: Gray is the Machine element, and Gray demons usually have prominent robotic parts.
• Cyborg Wizard: Any Gray Kin is this by default, being avreasonably skilled practitioner of witchcraft with cybernetic parts.
• The Dark Arts: Witchcraft in general seems to have earned its reputation by tending to kill its practitioners or drive them insane.
• Dark Is Evil: The Shadow element also seems to more or less be the element of fear and evil. . .
• Dark Is Not Evil: . . . however, there are plenty of kind Black demons about, and its effects as a magical element are generally benign.
• Demonic Possession: Morgan was/is possessed by a Pink demon, though this is involuntary on both sides.
• Dead All Along: Kotori-Gracie has been dead for nearly fifty years after being beaten to death by her homophobic father. She relives her death and comes back every year, with her strange existence continuing to shape the entire town around her.
• Dimensional Cutter: Sariel uses her void blades as these.
• Energy Bow: Multiple examples of bows that fire energy projectiles have come up, usually from the Yellow clan.
• Fantastic Racism: Every named demon who has spent any significant time onscreen has thrown out at least one racial stereotype about another demon color.
• Family of Choice: There are a few examples, most notably Morgan, who have found alternative families to support them after their blood relatives turned out to be. . . less than great.
• Flash Step: Demonstrated by a number of demons (and Julia.)
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Demons of "friendlier" colors like Yellow and Beige tend to have avian wings, while colors like Black and Vermilion have bat wings.
  • The exception is the vengeful Silver clan, who look fairly angelic but will kill you on the spot if you wrong them.
  • Gray demons can have mechanical versions of the others, as evidenced by Harriett.
  • Tamar has mismatched black and silver wings.
• Genius Loci: The Old School is alive. As is the rest of the campus.
• Geometric Magic: Witchcraft is based on magical circles of varied complexity, going from the basic 'draw a circle with a semi-circle within it to make some water' to complex arrays of several circles within circles.
• Goth Girls Know Magic: Luna definitely fits goth vibes and is the original witch of Ibaraki High. Honorable mention to Fina, who prefers a gothic lolita style and is one of the few demons to actively practice witchcraft.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: There are many, many useful or just destructive applications of witchcraft, but the search for a way to heal with it has borne no fruit thus far.
• Holy Burns Evil: The Silver element, Holy, is specifically destructive to demons and similar creatures. Human holy symbols replicate this to a lesser extent, causing discomfort and fear to the same.
• Holy Is Not Safe: Holy targets demons and demonic entities. Witches are demonic. Do the math.
• Japanese School Club: The style of club in the school. There's an unreasonably large number of extremely specific clubs to the point where it is genuinely more surprising when there is not a club for an obscure subject.
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: MI13 is more than willing to [[{Unperson} disappear]] or outright kill anyone who risks exposing magic to the public or endangers it with such.
• Light Is Good: Yellow demons are known for being kind and motherly, and the element's effects seem to be similarly gentle. . .
• Light Is Not Good: . . . however, being Yellow is by no means a guarantee of being harmless, gentle, or even good at all.
• Lightning Gun: Many spells just shoot lightning at a target, including the Purple clan's bolt-action rifle.
• Locked into Strangeness: At certain levels of Alteration a witch will develop demonic traits. Attunements will apply a color to a witch, usually changing their hair or eye color to match.
• Magical Accessory: Numerous examples, to varying degrees of magical, such as Sharai's glamour earrings or Morgan's spell amulet. The Aspect of Construction is basically designed to make magic trinkets.
• Magically-Binding Contract: Witches and demons can form Pacts, which grant the offended party an absolute promise over someone breaking the agreement.
• Magic Knight: Several members of the Occult Club are no slouches in the physical department, and multiple have custom melee weapons.
• Magical Weapon: Basically every standard-issue demon weapon is magical and many characters have acquired or built their own.
• Magitek: Fina's projects combine mundane technology with witchcraft to produce results neither could achieve without the other.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Gamut bites it in the Season Finale after bravely holding off Lucy.
• Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Azuren, while expressing displeasure that Kei/Morgan is turning into a succubus, interjects that she doesn't have an issue with anyone who chooses that lifestyle.
• Old School Building: Naturally the school has one. It's strange. Whenever a Witch approaches it, they gain Alteration regardless of what they do there. Some people see it as decrepit and empty, others as well kept storage. The Student Council President disappears inside overnight without consciously realizing she's going there.
• One Myth to Explain Them All: Whenever a myth is explained to be real, it turns out to have been a based on a demon.
• Our Demons Are Different: Demons in this setting are generally humanlike with additional features, and there is no distinction between demons and angels. They are in large part defined by their colors, which appear prominently in their clothing, hair, or eyes.
• Our Vampires Are Different: The term "vampire" in-setting is a pejorative term for demons who originated from bats and foxes, and is associated with succubi as well.
  • It originated as a title specific to the Reliquary family, with traits like blood drinking, invisibility in mirrors, and a weakness to sunlight being common among them.
• Outside-Context Problem: The bizarre phenomena surrounding the schoolhouse and Kotori-Gracie seem to have absolutely nothing to do with demonic magic, or any other established power.
• The Owl-Knowing One: Orange, or Wisdom, demons tend toward owl traits, and have powers like mind reading and clairvoyance.
• Portable Hole: Heaven's specialty is extradimensional holes that can store all manner of things for convenient retrieval.
• Power Crystal: Among the various kinds of crystal one can make with magic are those with magical auras, which can be based on virtually any effect.
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: Alterations are often these, being visibly inhuman parts that also come with corresponding inhuman ability.
• The Power of Blood: Blood is a carrier for demonic essence; draining it can rob a target of power and demons activate their magic with blood.
• Position of Literal Power: Any increase in rank for a demon is this, in particular heading a family. Higher social ranks and higher power levels go hand in hand, with Royals being the most powerful demons of all simply for being Royals.
• Projectile Toast: Fina takes this to an absurd level, with Flandre falling victim to her "toaster."
• Protective Charm: Consecration blocks the activation of witchcraft, and numerous spells exist to ward off all manner of harm.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: Lucy's genocidal plan against demonkind is motivated in part by revenge for her granddaughter's death, and in part by her belief that demons are twisted reflections of mankind's worst aspects.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The battle against Lucy leaves Mortuelel brutally executed, Kei immolated on one of Luna's traps, and Gamut burnt to death by Lucy's flames. The party doesn't even stop her from regaining her body. The only thing making it a victory at all is that Lucy didn't start her campaign right there thanks to Kotori-Gracie.
• Red Is Violent: Red demons and magic are closely associated with blood and injury.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Lucy.
• Season Finale: The aptly named "Revelations 12" event, tying various plot threads into a massive climax.
• Self-Made Orphan: Fina snapping and annihilating her abusive father with witchcraft is a major plot point.
• The Seven Mysteries: The local university has a set. The high school itself probably does as well.
• Silver Has Mystic Powers: Specifically, potent anti-demonic properties, which make it a common material for weapons made to fight demons.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Lucy plans to enact vengeance for the loss of her granddaughter on the descendants of the original offenders. Which happens to be literally every demon.
• Soul Jar: Azuren's soul was trapped within a journal for some time, and Ezra may or may not be playing host to part of Ellie's soul. Neither can really be said to be dead, especially when the former actively socializes with the group.
• Stealthy Teleportation: No teleportation abilities seem to inherently make noise, something Morgan abuses.
• Succubi and Incubi: "Succubus" is a term akin to "queer" in-setting; demons to which it applies (typically Pink/Pink or Pink/Red) can use it, but it is generally questionable for others to do so, and calling someone it is usually meant as an insult. Succubi aren't dependent on sex, the term just means demons with directly sex-related powers.
• Superhuman Transfusion: One method of becoming a witch is to drink the blood of a demon, and some demons can gain power from drinking the blood of higher-ranked demons.
• Supernatural Phone: The phone Gamut gave the club, acting as a limited-use Summoning Artifact for her.
• Squishy Wizard: The default state for witches, having access to potent destructive magic but not gaining the durability and resilience of demons in most cases.
  • Orange demons also have this enforced, having the rare distinction of worse physical traits than humans but good mental and magical stats.
• Sweeping Laser Explosion: The Rainbow projectile takes this form.
• Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: The purview of the Rainbow element, though it also appears to include random nonsense in general.
• Unnamed Parent: The initial fate of the majority of parents in the game, although some have been given names over time.
• Vancian Magic: Spells require extensive prep work, have set functions, and casting them depletes a reserve of energy that takes around a day to replenish.
• Very Punchable Man: Tamar reconnects with Thebes due to an off-screen altercation with one of these.
• Weak, but Skilled: Witchcraft allows a person to get very impressive results on an otherwise-pathetic energy store.
  • Fina is also a demonic example, having compensated for her chronic illness weakening her by learning witchcraft and preparing powerful magical tools with it.
  • MI 13 is entirely based around this trope, defeating demons with preparation and know-how.
• Weak to Magic: Becoming more demonic means opening yourself up to powers that specifically target demons, most notably the Silver element.
• Wham Episode: The week of February 9th. Tamar is attacked by Mortuelel, revealing Luna's presence and Hugo's interference in the school alongside her being kidnapped. Meanwhile, an unaware Occult Club investigates Kotori-Gracie, discovering that she is the entire school and has been unwittingly feeding students to the Old School, which turned out to be a Rainbow demon. This leads into what is more or less the Season Finale.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The location of the game is vaguely "Canada", but with significant Japanese influences. The location is eventually narrowed down to "near Toronto," alongside the town's history as an immigrant settlement.
• Wizard Duel: Several bouts between spellcasters occur, most notably the fight between Kei/Morgan and Fina.
• You're Not My Father: Morgan disowns her parents after calling her father out for creeping on her leads to her mother hitting her with a Bible.