Last night, I went to bed thinking about #ThePeriphery setting re: the paranormal & how we contextualize it in fiction.

I've been listening to 2 podcasts lately, the black tapes & the left right game. They're both great & have been making me think about the stories we tell.

The left right game is an exploration into the surreal, with the characters exploring a world that superficially seems like our own but quickly reveals itself to have its own logic & horrifying phenomena.

It established it's own mythology & untethers the characters from the ability to understand or contextualize what they experience.

The black tapes however relies on concepts of mythology & history on a grander scale, making the paranormal feel more relatable, human-centric, civilisation-centric. These are mysteries that can be researched & understood within the context of history & myth.

And the difference between these two is what led me to thinking about the paranormal in The Periphery VS in say, Monster of the Week.

MOTW monsters play on established mythology for monsters we "know" the rules for; ghosts, vampires, werewolves, demons, etc.

Monsters with rules the hunters can learn, and apply any time those monsters show up. A consistency & mythology that can be researched.

Shows like Supernatural did this, where it became less a question of learning about an undiscovered phenomenon & more about "which one?"

The Periphery, the otherworldy force in the game, is a phenomenon outside of our reality, outside of himan experience. Vampires, werewolves, & other monsyers arent real in the setting.

When The Periphery imprints on & reflects human culture & myths, i want it to be local, personal, & recent - relevant to the people experiencing it. But The Periphery doesn't understand our world, cause & effect don't apply to it.

But the humans who come in contact with The Periphery's Intrusions impose their own cause & effect on it. They come up with rules that seem to work this time, but font apply to other cases.

Each event, each run-up with the paranormal is a fresh start where the investigators have to learn the local situation to understand the mystery.

But why only local, immediate myths? If The Periphery can reflect some elements of human belief or behaviour, couldn't it create a werewolf or vampire?

1, I don't think it affects people or animals in such a direct & literal manner.

2, our myths about these monsters are too generic, too diffuse. You're just as likely to get count chocula as you would an undead bloodsuckers curse, mutation, or contagion.

3, The Periphery's effects are localized on a place. Objects sometimes hold echoes of the intrusion, but It doesn't have the ability to understand or replicate our myths wholesale or on a large scale.