IC
You can't save everyone.
This is an RP based off of a Japanese media franchise consisting of video games, light novels, and anime that was itself based off of a visual novel. However, perhaps this would do best if thought of not as an 'animesque' RP per se but as what the Fate series truly is at the franchise's core - a modern fantasy thriller with drama and action in equal portions. Something I hope to emulate here.
It is the Fourth Holy Grail War. Once again, magi of the Three Founding Families (and many others) turn their eyes to its battlefield. Herein, Masters (Magi either proficient in their craft or just plain lucky) will summon Servants (Heroic Spirits brought forth as familiars) and fight it out until only one Master/Servant pair is left to claim the Holy Grail and the wish it grants.
For those new to anime in general, I bid you welcome, and hope you have a wonderful time. I hope for this to be a wild ride.
And as for those familiar with the franchise? REJOICE.
Now let's get detailed.
Akasha, the Root of the Universe, a metaphysical pocket dimension where all souls originate from and return upon the body's death, where all information about all possibilities and events in all worlds past, present, and future are stored. To access the Root is to be capable of Magic, true miracles that no mere expenditure of time and resources can recreate without using the Magic in question. And to be capable of Magic is to transcend the limits of mortal understanding and become no mere magus, but a Magician.
But learning Magic is no simple task. Many magi spend their entire lives trying to reach the Root, and never find it. And many who do make the mistake of coming in physical contact with it, and are instantly erased from existence. Even if this challenge is undertaken, Magic is considered knowledge outside the realm of Man or Earth, and belonging to what mankind refers to as 'gods'. Those who first learn of a new Magic are usually killed by the 'Counter Force', manifestations of both Man and Earth's will to survive. Indeed, the effort is so difficult that to this very day, only five Magics are known to still exist:
- The First Magic, whose details and effects are unknown. It is believed to have been an early attempt at immortality, due to texts speaking of it usually mentioning the 'Denial of Nothingness', an early attempt at the one thing not even Magic is capable of - resurrection.
- The Second Magic, which enables the user to travel between parallel universes.
- The Third Magic, known also as 'Heaven's Feel' or 'Cup of Heaven' which is the materialization of the soul and enables the user to see the future.
- The Fourth Magic, much like the First, is unknown in its details, effects, and inventor, only that it exists is known. The commonly accepted theory is that the Fourth Magic's identity is hidden via an 'anti-meme' or 'self-keeping secret' spell, which indicates that it must be very powerful.
- The Fifth Magic, known as 'Magic Blue', which has effects similar to but distinct from time travel, which is within the capabilities of the Second Magic.
The Lesser Grail, which is actually a vessel for
the 'true' Grail
One European family of magi, the Einzberns, had once had a Magic - the Third Magic, specifically - but had lost the knowledge needed to use it. A thousand years of trying to recover this knowledge (and reaccess the Root) on their own proved fruitless. Outside help was needed. Europe was too dangerous, the Americas were too uncivilized, and Africa was too unexplored. So the Einzberns chose Asia, specifically the island nation of Japan, where the Church could not only not monitor them, but would be actively repulsed by the government. There, the homunculus Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, with the help of the Japanese magi Nagato Tohsaka and Zouken Makiri, created a system to create a gate leading directly to Akasha. The method was simple on paper - Seven magi would summon seven Servants from seven Servant Classes (Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber), heroic spirits generated as familiars into the world via the mage's mana. The energy of the Servants returning to the Throne of Heroes in Akasha would activate the Holy Grail, which would grant the magi's wish. The Grail had two parts - the Lesser Grail, which is a literal golden chalice, and the Greater Grail, which is a gateway to the Root and performs the actual wish-granting. The Einzberns provided the alchemy necessary to form the Grail as well as a vessel for it, the Tohsaka provided the Servants and the land needed to perform the ritual, and the Makiri assembled the magecraft needed to stabilize the starting materials, as well as the Command Seals needed to control the Servants. Justeaze sacrificed her homunculus body (and thus her life) to create the Holy Grail and grant it the wish-making ability of the Einzbern family magi. This was all performed in the southern Japanese town of Fuyuki, where the first three Grail Wars would take place.
There was a problem, however. In order for the Greater Grail to open a hole to Akasha, it required the energy of all seven Servants. On its own, this would not have been a problem, however the Lesser Grail couldn't be touched by a human, let alone picked up. A Servant needed to do it. Thus, the Grail could only grant wishes to Master-Servant pairs. Even with this flaw, the Three Founding Families proceeded with their plan. The Grail took ten years to gather enough mana from the world to manifest, and it was then, in 1800, they realized the second problem - only one pair could have their wish granted, and thus only one mage could access Akasha at a time. Their differing opinions on how to reach their common goal forced them to break off their alliance upon the manifestation of the Grail. They and four other magi did battle for the right to the Grail, and that was the first Holy Grail War. However, compared to the two to follow, it was barely more than a squabble.
The second Holy Grail War was the opposite. The Greater Grail took 60 years to regather the necessary mana, and it was held in 1860, again in Fuyuki. While technically the second Grail War, it was the first to be referred to as a Holy Grail War, a title it more than lived up to. Due to the vague ruling used in it and the first Grail War, the second quickly became a bloodbath in which Masters slaughtered civilians in order to draw out other Masters. It ended with no victors, and the Three Founding Families took it as a warning to develop more precise rules to prevent such atrocities from happening in the third Grail War. One such action they took is bringing in the Holy Church as a mediating group; by this time period the Church had ceased its anti-mage activities and had instead turned to exterminating vampires and other forms of undead.
The contaminated Greater Grail, in all its hideous splendor.
This new Grail would serve the same purpose - grant a wish and open a portal to Akasha - but it would have two key differences between itself and the Old Grail. The first was that the new Greater Grail would not have a 'fixed' location. Sure, the Lesser Grail could materialize in a number of locations, but never outside of Fuyuki City in southeastern Japan, as that's where the Greater Grail was. It was materialized on a British yacht, rechristened as the Saint Ark for this purpose. The second difference is that the New Grail has an array of failsafes built into it in order to prevent it from being corrupted again, or destroyed. This necessitated the use of a second homunculus to provide an additional core, as the New Grail needed far more energy than any one homunculus could provide on her own, if it was to summon Servants every 60 years or so. The number of Servants and Masters needed was also changed - from 7 to 756. Far more than expected, but not enough to be considered intolerable.
The destruction of the old Grail and the creation of the New took until 1950. It took a little under 66 years for the New Greater Grail to accumulate the mana needed for its gargantuan task.
It is now January 20th, 2016. The selected location of the Fourth Holy Grail War, now just a month away, has been kept a secret from the already-selected Masters, until now. Paris.
It's time to summon your Servants, and see if you have the power to steer Fate.
M A G E S A N D M A G E C R A F T
One’s true worth shows as hardship increases.
Tokiomi Tohsaka, head of the Tohsaka family from 1969 to his death in 2014, demonstrating fire
magecraft.
In a way, the reverse is true for the various schools of magecraft - the more magi that believe or use a certain school's theories and workings, the stronger that school's magecraft becomes. There is also geography to consider - a school's magecraft tends to be strongest in the area where the most magi believe in it. Kabbalah, the thaumaturgical school of Israel and the Jewish Faith, is very strong indeed in Israel, but would be considered weak in China, where the school of Taikyoku is its strongest. Generally speaking, when one refers to the schools of magic, they are referring to the following:
The schools of magecraft are taught in institutions and by organizations worldwide. Generally speaking, these institutions fall under the jurisdictions of one of four organizations: The Mage's Association (Europe, Oceania, the New World), the Magic Foundation (the Muslim World, Africa), the East Asian Order of Magi (Asia), and the Holy Church. However, the Magic Foundation and the East Asian Order do not participate directly in the Holy Grail War, due to their hostile stance towards the Mage's Association, which runs it jointly with the Holy Church. But since the Mage's Association has no control over whom the Grail selects as a Master, members from those organizations may (and have) participated. There have even been those Masters who were not members of any organization.
The Mage's Association is the largest besides the Church, and of the magus organizations that are that and nothing more, it is the largest. It is headquartered in London in the Clock Tower, with major branches in Egypt (the Atlas Academy) and Norway (the Sea of Estray). Most magi in Europe, North Africa, Oceania, and the New World belong to the Mage's Association, along with some in Asia and Africa. It claims to transcend nationality and genre of magecraft, but this is false. It was the first organization to decide to create the Masquerade and drift away from society, largely in order to maximize the capabilities of what magi there were - it did this in the late 13th Century; this event is considered by most magic historians to mark the end of the High Middle Ages. It has numerous facilities dedicated to thaumaturgical research, and institutes to teach the knowledge of the Mage's Association to the next generation of magi - chief among both being the Clock Tower. It also has a military branch dedicated largely to maintaining the Masquerade and punish those who commit acts banned by the Association: Necromancy, research into vampirism, or attempts to create a Reality Marble. While they also deal with crimes in which magecraft is involved, normally the Mage's Association's military only comes into play if such crimes risk revealing the existence of magecraft to common society - otherwise, the Holy Church is more likely to handle it.
The Clock Tower, on a rare sunny day
- The Clock Tower, in London. The primary headquarters of the Mage's Association, it has by far the largest membership, and most magi of European descent are members of it. The name 'Clock Tower' is technically a metonym, as the Clock Tower itself is simply the main academic institute, research facility, and headquarters of this branch - it has subdivisions worldwide except in the Middle East and China. Its academic institute is considered by some to be the best in the world. It is at the very least the most prestigious. The Clock Tower also handles worldwide magecraft patents. It is the largest branch, and the one most responsible for organizing the Holy Grail Wars.
Its welcoming appearance to outsiders and new members is but a facade, however. The Clock Tower's inner workings are ruled by power struggles between factions and families of magi, all of them vying for either their research to get attention, their morals to influence the regulation of the Association, or simply power. As it is, the Tower is largely under the control of the Lords, elite magi who wield great political power in society both beyond and within the Masquerade. A lot of brown-nosing goes on in its hallowed halls. Perhaps because of this elitism in the higher ranks, discrimination and discriminatory behavior is far from uncommon, even if the Association is 'trying to stamp out the demons of bigotry and become more inclusive to magi worldwide'. Anti-Asian discrimination is the most common, which is part of why the East Asian Order was formed in the first place.
Admissions to the Tower's education facilities are done by your typical exam (but with magecraft). It is possible to bypass this with letters of recommendation or with a sufficiently lengthy family pedigree - a magus's power typically increases the more successive generations of magus parents he has; however Professor Waver Velvet has proven that it is possible to increase one's potential simply through effort, experience, and knowledge - a revolutionary (if unsurprising) concept. Magical education is divided into twelve departments: General Fundamentals, Individual Fundamentals, Spiritual Evocation, Mineralogy, Zoology, Anthropology, Botany, Thaumaturgical Astronomy (which includes Astrology, Divination, and Planetology), Creation, Curse, Archaeology, and Modern Theoretical Magecraft.
Most of the older magus families are a member of the Association and the Clock Tower branch specifically. [OOC: A number of magus families can be found here] - The Atlas Academy, located in the Gif Kebir plateau in southwestern Egypt. It specializes in alchemical research, and its alchemy department is considered the best in the world. The most independent of the three branches, it holds its own relations with the Holy Church and other magus associations - most notably it has warm relations with the Magic Foundation. Besides alchemy, Atlas is also skilled in the art of prediction. When one of its past directors predicted the end of the world, its focus shifted to methods capable of avoiding it. However, because anything that could avert the end of the world might also cause it, eventually rules dictating that everything created in Atlas must be kept and disposed of within the domains of the organization were established.
One notable custom of Atlas is that it has been known to lend its alchemists to other organizations, most notably the Holy Church. - The Sea of Estray, officially headquartered in Norway but as its base of operations is a mobile mountain range, this usually changes. It is a conglomerate of minor organizations throughout Europe, and predates the Clock Tower by a few centuries. It severed contact with the Association shortly after the Clock Tower was declared its headquarters. Notably, its mountain range base, the Wandering Tomb, has not been seen in over a decade.
The seat of the Holy Church, the Vatican
The Church is known for its extremely severe anti-undead (specifically anti-vampire) stance, a stance shared by most magus organizations, the Association included. When undead are found (or other forms of magical heresies), the Executors are sent in - a special-force-like branch of the Church's military force charged with the destruction of demonic beings, heretics, and magi that the Church considers to have committed sins against God. As the true danger of exorcising demons lies not with risk to the body but risk to the soul, an iron will and unshakeable faith are an absolute must to become an Executor, as well as desensitization to the sight of death - the training regimen Executors go through is considered by those who have gone through both to be more severe than even that a British SAS must endure.
S E R V A N T S
Even if you refuse to admit it, a hero of justice must have an evil to defeat.
Servants, according to the regulations of the Holy Grail War as per 2009, are heroic spirits summoned either by the Holy Grail itself or one of the chosen Masters via catalyst as familiars to compete for them in the Holy Grail War.
The specifics are more complicated than that, however. A true Heroic Spirit is far too powerful for even the Holy Grail to summon on its own, and only the World can summon a Heroic Spirit directly from the Throne of Heroes, which is located in the same pocket dimension as the Root. Instead, the Grail (or Master) performing the summoning makes a copy using information of the Heroic Spirit in the form of a vessel that enables the Heroic Spirit to exist in this world - one of the seven Classes (Assassin, Archer, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber). Each class identifies the only the core skills of the Heroic Spirit because replication of all their ability is impossible. Their main traits align with the class and are given form, matching the principal nature of the class - for example, a Heroic Spirit summoned as a Lancer would primarily use polearms in combat, one summoned as Saber would primarily use swords, a Caster would use magic, etc. However, only Heroic Spirits matching the attributes of the class can be summoned in that class - for example a hero known exclusively for using magic would not be summoned as a Saber. Since they are disconnected from their main Heroic Spirit body upon summoning, they do not retain memories of any previous summoning. Once a Heroic Spirit is summoned, it is referred to by the name of the class it was summoned as, not as its 'true' name - doing so would reveal its abilities and weaknesses, and it is usually only referred to by its true name by its Master, and others once they determine it on their own... or if it becomes obvious. In combat, Servants use 'Noble Phantasms', items or abilities that symbolize their existence through history, myths, and legends. Some are even Reality Marbles: the projection of one's inner world on reality in a self-enclosed, self-generated pocket dimension.
These Noble Phantasms have classification ranks of their own:
Even with their power reduced to summonable levels as a member of one of the seven main classes, a Servant is too powerful to be controlled as a regular familiar. Thus the Master's three Command Seals are needed. Obedience towards the Command Seals is one of the conditions required for materialization, though Servants with incredibly high magic resistance can resist one - this is part of why Masters have three. Due to the prospect of having a wish granted by the Holy Grail, it also serves as incentive to cooperate with the Master, as well as requiring them for energy upkeep and acting as their anchor to the world - if the Master dies, a Servant will quickly dissipate and return to the Throne of Heroes unless it finds a new one, or finds another means of supplying themselves with magical energy.
Alexander the Great summoned as a Rider-class Servant
The summoning of a Servant is considered by many to be a complex, difficult process requiring multiple creations, destructions, and recreations of a circle made of blood, and a chanted spell. In reality, only the circle and the spell are needed; the Holy Grail itself does most of the work of summoning. The Holy Grail can even select a Servant for the master, and it usually picks the one it deems best-suited to the Master personalitywise - this is the 'standard' method of summoning a Servant, though it is rarely used. Instead, the most common method is for the summoning Master to use a Catalyst to summon a Heroic Spirit of their choosing - symbols or relics of their lives. It can be anything from a weapon, a bit of clothing, or even their bones - for example, the Great Pyramid could be used as a (very large) Catalyst to summon Khufu as a Servant.
A rather game-character-like trait of Servants is their Skills and Strengths. Servants have six Strength Parameters, and anywhere from two to six Skills - at least one of them being a Class Skill, and at least one being a Personal Skill. Servant classes may sometimes have two Class Skills, though only one is required - the one that is is indicated as so below in the section on individual Servant Classes. Both Strength Parameters and Skills have strength levels of their own ranging from E- to A++ and, rarely, EX. Generally speaking, Heroic Spirits of more recent times are weaker than Heroic Spirits of older times, though there's certainly the odd exception as it also depends on how many people know of the myth, life, or legend.
The Strength Parameters are:
- Strength: Bodily might in terms of raw physical power.
- Endurance: The amount of damage a Servant can withstand.
- Agility: Fluidity of motion and speed of reaction.
- Magical power: How much magical energy can be handled. Note that it is not how much power is required for them to maintain form.
- Luck: Exactly what it sounds like.
- Noble Phantasm: The strength of the Servant's weakest Noble Phantasm. [OOC: This differs from the wiki's definition, but I'm not using that because the Wiki isn't clear on what this parameter actually is. I will be.]
As mentioned before, there are seven Classes of Servants, along with the Ruler class, which can only be summoned by the Grail itself as a defense mechanism. The classes are, in alphabetical order:
R U L E S
- I am OP, my word is the will of the World, those who defy it shall be obliterated.
- My Co-OPs shall be the will of the Counter Force; they have less of a say than I but they are to be respected. Agritum, Wolfenium, and Esternial are Co-OPs.
- Yes, I am well aware that Fate/Stay Night was an AO-rated game. Yes I am aware that Fate/Zero is somewhere in the TV-MA range. Don't care. PG-13 is the limit.
- Poor behavior in the OOC will be punished as I see fit.
- Try to stay active in the OOC as well as the IC, and TG me if you won't be able to post for a while. While you are certainly replaceable as characters, I'd like to avoid killing off PCs as much as I can.
- You're free to make requests and ask for more info on the setting. I (or more likely Agri) will answer to the best of our abilities. Worldbuilding contributions are always welcome.
- You will note that though there are stats for your characters, there is no powergrid. This is intentional, as I am letting you set your own stats if you are to make a Servant app. It's an honor system, so while there's nothing preventing you from maxing out, try to be reasonable. I can and probably will deny your app if you aren't.
- You may make a Servant app, or you may make a Master app.
You cannot make both.Rule overturned, applicants may now make their own Master/Servant pair- Masters and Servants will TG each other to determine Master/Servant pairs, and then TG me or Agri to approve the pair. This is not necessary for your app to be accepted, merely for pairs to be formed.
- There are two Servant apps, the Public and the Private App. The Public App indicates what all the other Masters and Servants will know from the beginning. This app will be the one you initially post on the OOC. The Private app is only known to the Servant's player, the Master's player, and the OP/Co-OP. Information on it will be revealed ICly, and when it is, the Private App may be posted on the OOC. Players making a Servant app must submit the Private App to myself for their app to be accepted.
- A minimum of 5 lines, excluding dialogue, is expected.
- Have fun. And as always, stay frosty.
A P P L I C A T I O N S
- Code: Select all
[b][u]Master App:[/u][/b]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Nationality/Ethnicity:[/b]
[b]Religion (if any):[/b]
[b]Servant:[/b] (Leave blank until you decide on your character's Servant with that PC's player)
[b]Catalyst used:[/b] (If any. Like Servant, leave blank until you decide on your character's Servant.)
[b]Preferred School of Magic:[/b]
[b]Preferred Class:[/b] (optional)
[b]Bio:[/b]
[b]Likes and Dislikes:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Wish:[/b] (What would you wish the Grail? This is actually important.) [background=black][color=#000000]Delete what's in parenthesis and write your Wish here.[/color][/background]
[b]RP Sample:[/b]
[Then I shall entrust my fate to your sword...!] <DO NOT REMOVE
- Code: Select all
[b][u]Public Servant App:[/u][/b]
[b]Class:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Preferred kind of Master:[/b] (What sort of personality this Servant would want their Master to have, the likes/dislikes of that master, that sort of thing)
[b]RP Sample:[/b]
[A man without fear cannot be wise.] <DO NOT REMOVE
- Code: Select all
[b][u]Private Servant App:[/u][/b]
[b]Class:[/b]
[b]True Name:[/b] [background=black][color=#000000]Write here.[/color][/background]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Nationality/Ethnicity:[/b]
[b]Religion (if any):[/b]
[b]Master:[/b] (Leave blank until you decide on your character's Master with that PC's player)
[b]Strength Parameters:[/b]
[list][*][b]Strength:[/b]
[*][b]Endurance:[/b]
[*][b]Agility:[/b]
[*][b]Magical Power:[/b]
[*][b]Luck:[/b]
[*][b]Noble Phantasm:[/b][/list]
[b]Noble Phantasms:[/b] (Describe them, and indicate their rank and capabilities) [spoiler]Put here.[/spoiler]
[b]Spells:[/b] (Only for Caster, if your Servant is not a Caster, delete this)
[b]Skills:[/b] (Up to seven, at least one must be a Class Skill, at least one must be a Personal Skill, therefore the minimum is two)
[b]Bio:[/b] [spoiler]Put here.[/spoiler]
[b]Likes and Dislikes:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Wish:[/b] (What would you wish the Grail? This is actually important.) [background=black][color=#000000]Delete what's in parenthesis and write your Wish here.[/color][/background]
[b]RP Sample:[/b]
[I guess he is tough as the legends say...] <DO NOT REMOVE
