Hello! I'm really interested in giving this a try. Here's a character concept I've kicked around in a couple different iterations for Fate stuff. Their historical origin is a little abstract in the Sasaki Kojiro way but I've got other ideas if that's an issue. [hider=Assassin of Verdun] [center][b]Assassin[/b][h3]Marianne[/h3] [img]https://i.imgur.com/ELpm2Vj.jpg[/img][/center] [b][u]Personality:[/u][/b] A sense of anachronism pervades Marianne's conduct, although the grail has made her aware of modern customs. As a heroic spirit she is far older than the body she manifested with, and while its own history is etched into her mind she is also distracted by the fading remnants of countless lives since entangled and confused with her legend. She is a dark girl, with a glimmer of long forgotten normalcy hidden away under gruff military mannerisms and a cold, determined exterior. As one who has lived on either side of death for too long, she can only regard the macabre and horrific with an air of jaded cynicism. Utterly desensitized, she watches executions and shares meals with the same tired expression etched into her sullen face. Removed from the war that made her so, there is more joviality in her spirit than one could have ever seen in life. Sarcastic, dry humor emerges between the clicking of bullets pressed into a magazine. She liked the peace of night, when the City of Light didn't wear blackout curtains, when the cafes thronged with the vibrant youth she watched lined against the wall or marched into trains. She claims to dislike many things in her teasing, difficult way... But in seriousness the things she hates are simple to understand. Tyranny is an unforgivable injustice against the humanity she knows, a wretched cancer to be excised with gunpowder and steel. Those who stand in the way, those who trade their sacred liberty for the favor of despots, cannot be reasoned with. So many tried. [b][u]Stats:[/u][/b] [list][*]Strength: [b]E[/b] [*]Endurance: [b]B[/b] [*]Agility: [b]A+[/b] [*]Magical Energy: [b]E[/b] [*]Luck: [b]A[/b] [*]Noble Phantasm: [b]E~B++[/b][/list] [b][u]Class Skills:[/u][/b] [list][*][u]Independent Action[/u]: [b]A[/b] Assassin is capable of acting for extended periods of time without a direct link to her master, and by extent surviving without a master for up to ten days if she does conserve her magical energy for all but the most vital of functions. It is in her nature to act alone, even being in her homeland has no sustaining effect for her because she lived as a stranger within her own country. Her high rank in Independent Action is derived not only from her chosen form's life of self reliance but also from her generally low mana consumption. She lacks magecraft to employ, and even her Noble Phantasm costs relatively little energy to deploy. [*][u][s]Presence Concealment[/s][/u]: [b]-[/b] While a candidate for the skill Presence Concealment, Assassin does not manifest with it because of her possession of the Espionage skill. [/list] [b][u]Personal Skills:[/u][/b] [list][*][u]Charisma[/u]: [b]D[/b] Assassin is a representative of Liberty itself. However, it was not her but the aspirations of the people around her that compelled the events of her legend. Regardless of her actual fame and the obscure status of the form she has adopted, as a symbol of revolution and icon of liberty, she has a natural ability to compel others in battles against tyranny and enslavement. Her ability to lead is sufficient, having stood at the side of revolutions and resistances in her time, but as someone who was looked to as a symbol more than as a commander her authority does not supersede the ideals that people have chosen to see in her. [*][u]Espionage[/u]: [b]C[/b] An experienced and natural infiltrator, saboteur, and guerrilla, in the form of an Assassin the wraith possesses the credentials for Presence Concealment but is better served by their rank in Espionage. Assassin is able to blend her presence seamlessly with those surrounding her. In a crowd she is nearly indiscernible from ordinary humans around her, far less noticeable than any Magus. Even on an empty street, if one were not already suspicious of her personage she would be no more than a wandering girl. She can carry small weapons while utilizing this effect, as long as they do not protrude from her clothing. Use of her Noble Phantasm or any of her weapons breaks the effect immediately, and she is unable to re-disguise herself while within the sight of any pursuers. [*][u]Eye of Mind (True)[/u]: [b]B[/b] Assassin is an observant soldier capable of assessing her situation and predicting an opponent's actions with a great degree of clarity and speed. She is able to disguise her weakness with versatility, and her mind's eye is capable of discerning all the courses of action available with her many tools. As this ability is reliant on knowledge, it is far less effective against concepts and techniques she has no understanding of. As a Servant, Assassin benefits from the combat experiences of all citizens and soldiers who have died in the just defense of her homeland, as living embodiments of her legend. She gains the greatest amount of knowledge from the form she currently inhabits. As a result, she is a hardened veteran of small scale, clandestine warfare. [*][u]Jusqu'au Boutiste[/u]: [b]C[/b] In all wars there are those who are willing to fight 'until the end.' This extreme dedication to the fatherland manifests in Assassin's case not only in her significant endurance rank, both for an Assassin and a girl of her figure, but in her ability to prolong and endure warfare through wit and determination. Though her body may melt and shatter around her, her mind will not falter. Until she physically cannot act, she will not succumb to fatigue or pain. While she does not possess the extraordinary regenerative abilities of a Servant with Battle Continuation or Disengage, she is similarly able to abscond from conflicts with a catalog of tactics for drawing out battles and escaping into the shadows. [*][u]Soldate Éternelle[/u]: [b]A[/b] Since its birth men and women have died for the Republic. In its defense, at its hands, at times with little distinction between the two. Those nameless, numberless martyrs lost to conflict are the ones who paid every price imaginable for the martial knowledge that defends the nation in modernity, and that which echoes in the iron minds of those yet fighting for Liberty within the Throne of Heroes. Assassin inherits from her own life and all those dedicated to her. Before anything else and after all is done, she is a soldier. She possesses the ability to wield any weapon or technique ever employed in the defense of France. As an Assassin, she is an utterly ruthless killer, showing no grace or flair through the weapons selected to suit her purpose. Firearms, bladed weapons, traps, explosives, and even martial arts are used in her fighting style to orchestrate a symphony of violence that allows no reprieve or complacency. [/list] [b][u]Noble Phantasm:[/u][/b] [center][i][b]La Marseillaise[/b][/i] [i]The avenging sword unsheathe, march on, march on![/i] [i][b]E~B++[/b][/i] [i]Anti-Unit Class[/i][/center] The history of the Revolution, of the Republic, and of the Resistance are intertwined with the armaments of civilization. From the munitions plundered from the heart of the Bastille to the weapons committed by the Allied Powers, all share a common heritage. All were taken up under the spiteful glare of tyrants, and raised at the cost of dear life. Assassin can pull these armaments of liberation from the days of their glory to her side. With the knowledge to use these arms and their varying ranks as Noble Phantasms (generally ranging in reverse order from their initial date of design or production, with exceptions for particularly notable weapons), weapons that would ordinarily be incapable of even scratching Servants are able to inflict modest damage. As she does not need to create these weapons with magecraft the actual cost of accessing the armory is quite low, although the older the armament the greater the drain on her harshly limited supply of magical energy. In practice she can draw as many items from her arsenal as she can afford to, with the chosen tools appearing on her body as if concealed, in her hands, or near her person. The withdrawal of larger pieces of military equipment is possible, but as she cannot reproduce herself to crew them this option is largely worthless. The oldest and highest ranked weapons stored within her arsenal are iterations of the Charleville Musket. A smooth bore weapon of antiquity, it is not like the precision firearms that benefit most from her skills. Instead, it is a prolific weapon that embodies her nature as a spirit of revolution. Muskets of its make were distributed not only to the brave defenders of the young Republic, beset by the monarchist sympathizers of Europe, but also previously entrusted to the plight of a fledgling democracy across the sea. That gesture of sharing arms would define the Treaties of the North Atlantic for centuries to come, France would one day be saved by the weapons of other lands, and all because this weapon fought not only for French liberty, but the birth of the free world. It is imprecise, indeed, it cannot shoot true but to destroy slavery. [b][u]Alignment:[/u][/b] Chaotic Good [b][u]Deviation:[/u][/b] Marianne is the name history uses. A symbol conjured to serve the needs of the government of the French Republic. Like many legends, the Marianne originates from the paradoxical bond between the falsehoods of the symbol and the faint embers of history within. Accounts from the Revolution and the wars that followed it tell tales of 'a certain Marianne,' with Phrygian cap and fiery heart, arriving to inspire those who took up arms and render aid to those who fell in battle. And so it would go. Wars, regimes, and ideals would come and go from the world and those who fought for liberty would recall her likeness. Some would hide behind her name, others would wear it as a patriotic mantle. Different times and different propaganda brought with them different depictions, but no cartoonist's pen stroke nor any writer's word could ever strip her association with the idea for which the symbol and the legend were born to defend: Liberty. The inherent levity of a national personification is pierced through with the lights of all those who willingly chose to embody her in their own lives, and so often sacrificed themselves to do so. Most Heroic Spirits descend from the likeness of a true hero, one who carved his place in history and comes to rest upon the Throne of Heroes by his own merit. Marianne is a dream to which so many aspired. A name taken from an ordinary girl who believed in the Republic, and a legend thrust upon her in return. A culmination of those nameless, numberless martyrs lost to the ages. They are the souls of heroes that did not become Heroes, but by staining her name with their blood ensured that the liberator wraith would forever carry forth their will to fight.[/hider]