VESTIGIA & THE VANISHED

Reality is a porous sieve. The Topsiders stay caught in the mesh of their smartphones and certitudes, but you were too lost, too peculiar, or too knowing to stay. You have slipped betwixt the floorboards of a world that raced by too quickly to notice.

"One day someone's walking around, going to work, alive ... and then... Nothing. The earth just... opens up and swallows them."

Welcome to the Underside - a realm of industrial rot and eldritch gods, where a Zigguraut's false sarcophagus may creak open into a lost victorian estate. Down here, the laws of physics are merely polite suggestions, and the river of time undulates like a Lamia through silt. Favors are the only coin that matters, and every Secret kept, a dragon's hoard.

When the light no longer claims you, who will you become?

Commerce in the Dark: Forget the coinage of the surface. Here, the only currency with weight is the Artifact—a scrap of the Topside imbued with the gravity of loss—and the Vow. To break a promise is to lose your Clearance, thinning your presence until you are nothing but a smudge on the architecture.

II. Rules of the Under

THE SIEVE is a rules-light, marrow-heavy roleplaying game of urban shadows and ontological mystery. It is designed for speed, atmosphere, and the constant threat of letting slip your earthly tether.

Lost Legacies You are defined by what you were or your specific station above. Your life as an Undersider may begin as a Disgraced Cat-Speaker, a Knight of the Post, or a Sewer-Alchemist.
The Triunity of Self Character creation driven by Mettle, Finesse, and Wits. Your survival is a matter of physical density and social gravity.
Wits Duels Engagement is not always physical. Deal Ego Damage to force concessions, extract secrets, or demand magically binding Vows.
The Curse of Modernity Firearms and other modern technology are fickle vestiges. They are silent and useless until you find a "Thin Spot"—and then, they attract everything hostile within a mile.

Wits (The Knack)

Wits represents your sophisticated mental strength, social influence, and innate "Knacks." It is the attribute of the courtier and the survivor. It is how you navigate the strange logic of the Underside and hold your ground against entities that would see you erased.