This post will contain links to all approved character sheets, including PCs and NPCs.

[hider=NPCs]
[b]Allies of the Hero Candidates[/b]:

[hider=Maria von Einzbern, the Holy Grail]
[b]Name[/b]: Maria von Einzbern, the Holy Grail, Bride of the Abyss.

[b]Species[/b]: Homunculus.

[b]Age[/b]: 18.

[b]Gender[/b]: Female.

[b]Appearance[/b]: Though Maria appears human, her every bodily feature seems intentionally constructed in accordance with modern human ideals, such that her overall appearance is unnaturally, inhumanly beautiful by most people's standards. Her facial features are halfway between Caucasian and eastern Asian, delicate and lovely like those of a girl who has reached adulthood not long ago, yet the facial expressions, along with her crimson lipstick, convey the smooth confidence and allure of a woman with far more maturity and wisdom. Her soft fair skin is utterly flawless and blemish-free, as if straight out of a digitally-edited photo. At 165 cm in height, her geometrically perfect hourglass figure is something one usually only sees in drawings, an ideal that many a glamor model chases in vain, though there is the scant comfort that her relatively moderate bust and hips do not have pornographically exaggerated proportions. Straight, glossy hair of otherworldly silvery white flows down to the middle of her back like a lucent waterfall, though there is a single strand of hair that sticks out at the top of her head. Her most notable features are her eyes, however. They are a deep, vivid hue of sanguine, faintly glowing, yet seemingly lacking a normal person's metaphorical light of focus and awareness. Instead they are deep and empty like the bottomless abyss, sucking in the gaze of someone who meets her eyes, looking not at him but through him, toward the very root of his being and beyond.

Maria's usual attire greatly resembles the [url=https://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=2236545]corrupted Dress of Heaven[/url] from Fate/Zero. It is a highly revealing dress made of an unknown black material with faintly glowing blood-red patterns, possessing the texture and sheen of something somewhere between velvet, satin, and latex. It clings to her figure tightly, yet is impossibly flexible, stretching like rubber and flowing like liquid without hindering her movements in the slightest. It has a shoulderless strapless top that exposes most of her back above the waist, with a plunging V-neck that shows off a generous amount of cleavage, connected to a black choker around her neck by a stretch of sheer black nylon bodystocking. The bottom is a miniskirt that barely reaches the middle of her thighs, with a high slit at each side. Similar to the canonical Dress of Heaven, there are seven small holes in the dress running vertically down the center: one in the middle of her choker; two in the bodystocking above her breasts; three on her abdomen below her breasts and above her navel; and one around her navel. Her left leg is wrapped in a single sheer lacy black thigh-high stocking, and her right arm in a matching single opera glove, while the other arm and leg are left bare. The glove is fingerless and the stocking toeless, displaying the ruby-red nail polish on both hands and feet. The feet are clad in elegant, strappy black three-inch stiletto heels. Her left ring finger wears a gleaming platinum ring with a brilliant golden gemstone.

Contrary to what some may expect, Maria's voice is actually rather high-pitched, though the seduction of its smooth silken caress easily rivals that of a more traditional low husky voice. At close enough proximity, a faint perfume can be smelled, the scent a sensual blend of rose, honey, and exotic spices.

[b]Personality[/b]: Prior to her family's sudden withdrawal from the public, Maria was always known as a shy, gentle soul, humble and soft-spoken. But when she reappeared following the director's disappearance, she has completely changed, as if possessed by another being altogether. Based on the player characters' limited initial observations of her current self, Maria effortlessly projects an air of utmost confidence and composure, without the slightest hint of reservation, shame, or doubt; whether this is her true nature or a carefully crafted facade remains to be seen. Her seemingly vacant and glassy eyes may make some suspect that she is but a mindless puppet controlled by another being elsewhere, but such a possibility seems hardly compatible with the overwhelming, unshakeable sense of self that her mannerisms and actions display.

[b]Backstory[/b]:

The Einzberns are masters of alchemy, unmatched in the quality of homunculi they create. Their current head, Siegbrandt von Einzbern, was the pinnacle of their craftsmanship, capable of siring children and passing down his top-quality magic circuits. Due to friction between the Aethra Aeternum and other branches of the Mage's Association at the time, he hired Emiya Gyouka, a deadly mercenary who combined the Emiya family's time-manipulation magecraft with modern weaponry, to be his bodyguard. The two eventually fell in love, and Maria was their daughter, who possessed magic circuits superior to even her father's. Siegbrandt saw his daughter as a suitable vessel to become the Holy Grail, the omnipotent wish-granting machine that would let him realize his dream of world peace. So he imbued her with the crystallization of the Einzberns' centuries of research into restoring the Third Magic, and Maria took to it like a fish to water, becoming the most promising heir of her lineage in history.

Not much public knowledge existed of Maria's upbringing, other than that her father was very strict and always taught her to put the wellbeing of the human race before her own. To bring a more humane element into her life, her mother adopted a boy in Fuyuki City orphaned in a terrible disaster, named Emiya Kurou, who was then trained by Gyouka and became an older brother figure to Maria. Siegbrandt continued his strict teachings to his daughter, but also allowed her to attend a public school with her adoptive brother, where they befriended Tohsaka Tsubaki, the proud but friendly heir of the Tohsaka family. There was a fourth child that was often seen alongside the three, an unremarkable bespectacled boy with dark hair and eyes, but no one knew of his identity or relation to the three great families.

As she grew older, Maria rarely made public appearances in magus society due to her shyness and introverted nature, but still gained considerable recognition due to her remarkable thaumaturgical abilities. Much was presumably happening behind the scenes, as Gyouka lost her life to an unknown illness, Tsubaki was chosen to be director Zolgen's apprentice, and Kurou followed his mother's footsteps in becoming a mercenary. The fourth boy's appearances became sporadic, and it was not known what became of him.

Not long after Maria became 18 years of age, director Zolgen and Tsubaki suddenly went missing, following the director's exile of the heretic Kotomine Zekkou. Siegbrandt then made the announcement that his family would be withdrawing from the public for the foreseeable future, his expression despondent and lost, in stark contrast with the stoicism he was known for. Maria herself never appeared in public since the director's disappearance, until her sudden reappearance just as the Aethra Aeternum was beginning to panic, completely changed and now imbued with the dark power of what she claimed to be the Holy Grail; Siegbrandt absolutely refused to make any comments on the situation. By her side was Kurou, having since made a reputation for himself rivalling his mother's. Maria calls him "onii-chan" like she always had, a playful lilt in her voice, but there is a complicated expression on the young man's face, even as he quietly does all he can to help his little sister's endeavors in recruiting Hero Candidates and saving the world. Now Maria leads the efforts in tackling the Nullity Marbles, with few daring to challenge her decisions, even as they whisper doubts and conspiracies behind her back.

[b]Skills[/b]: As she rarely appeared in public in the past, few know what mundane skills Maria possesses. However, she is known to be fluent in English, Japanese, and German.

[b]Abilities[/b]:
[list]
[*] Magic Circuit Stats: Due to the Holy Grail's Wish-Granting (see below), Maria has no need for traditional magic circuits. All her magic circuit stats behave as though they're EX-rank.
[*] Elemental Affinities: Demons.
[*] Origin: "Fulfillment".
[/list]
[i]Wish-Granting[/i]: Wish-Granting is the ability to actualize mystery simply by releasing mana, without relying on magic circuits or thaumaturgical theories. Such a thing sounds too good to be true, and was seen as the Einzbern's pipe dream as they chased after the so-called Holy Grail. Yet here Maria is, seemingly capable of altering the world around her through her will alone, easily producing effects on par with high thaumaturgy. However, as vast as her power is, it is still finite, and much of it is occupied by analyzing the Nullity Marbles encroaching upon reality. It is for this reason that she needs the help of Hero Candidates and their Eudaemons.

[i]Heaven's Feel[/i]: This is the Third Magic that was lost to the Einzberns. They had been trying to recreate it through the Holy Grail, and looking at Maria, one may guess that the Einzberns have succeeded, even though no one can say whether what she displays is on par with the original Third Magic. Regardless, this is what she uses to glean information from the Throne of Heroes and manifest them as Eudaemons, and the basis of Eudaemonic Sigils granted to the Hero Candidates.

[i]Movement[/i]: Maria seems capable of blatantly ignoring gravity whenever she pleases. When she isn't casually swaggering and slouching in midair, she glides through it at will without any visible form of locomotion, her slender limbs just there for show as they accompany the flight with elegant decorative flourishes. Even when on the ground, all of Maria's movements are impossibly graceful and fluid, as if she has decades upon decades of experience as a dancer, gymnast, and martial artist. Given the casual ease with which she does all of this, there has to be a considerable amount of magecraft involved, and likely a considerable amount of skill as well.

[i]Alluring Abyss[/i]: Surrounding Maria is an aura of velvety darkness, black as midnight, swirling with mesmerising shades of sanguine and rose. Given her appearance and mannerisms, one may assume that Maria is something like a succubus, but this aura does not force others to become sexually aroused or attracted to her; it doesn't even try to forcibly alter the target's mind in any way. It is simply a natural manifestation of her demonic element detectable by one's ability to sense mystery, mystery associated with the left-hand path of hedonism, indulgence, and self-gratification. The temptation that one feels from this magic is the temptation inherent in the power that she offers, the forbidden fruit of the Abyss that can grant all wishes and satisfy all desires, but can also lead one astray toward ruin. Whether one can ascend to the exalted Throne of Heroes, or be forgotten in the oblivion of history, will depend on the strength of one's heart and will.

[i]Spatial Transportation[/i]: Magecraft approaching the realm of true magic, normally thought to be nearly impossible to accomplish except in extremely special circumstances. Yet Maria can perform it with ease, creating portals that allow herself and others to cross intercontinental distances in an instant, allowing her to send the Hero Candidates to far-away regions affected by the Nullity Marbles.

[i]Thought Partition and Acceleration[/i]: Her exact limits are unknown, but Maria is able to spend a huge amount of computational power on analyzing the Nullity Marbles while simultaneously aiding the Hero Candidates in navigation and tactics.
[/hider]
[hider=Emiya Kurou, the Magus Killer]
[b]Name[/b]: Emiya Kurou (衛宮 九郎), the Magus Slayer, the False Magus, “Faker”

[b]Species[/b]: Human

[b]Age[/b]: 20

[b]Gender[/b]: Male

[b]Appearance[/b]: Before the sudden surge of geological events in 2020, Kurou’s looks weren’t overly special. His skin tone was about what you might expect from somebody of Japanese heritage, even accounting for travel to various world-wide locales, and even his musculature fit his profession. Yellow eyes and a shock of vermilion hair were very noticeable, but not exactly out of place in a crowd. Therefore, to compare that to his appearance after that surge, one would struggle to identify him as the same person: his skin is visibly more tan, he seems to have grown twenty centimeters taller (and he was already decently tall for his age as it was), his eyes have turned grey, and his hair has turned a sort of silvery-white colour.
Not to mention, compared to his previous, more casual outfits, he seems adorned in permanent military gear: his chest piece is black armour of an unknown material, outlining his muscles in silver with a metal collar-plate round his neck; his black trousers are military-style, with straps down each leg; and metal plated black shoes connect to those directly. In fact, the main indicator of whether or not he wishes to fight is whether or not he is wearing his holy shroud, which appears to be a single piece dark green coat at first, but in fact is formed in two distinct sleeves running up over his shoulders, connected at the front with a metallic chain and at the back with a metal plate and capped by metal domes over the backs of his hands, and a short cloak around his waist running down to his shins, secured by a knot tied underneath another metal plate. The entire ensemble, ironically, gives him almost clerical airs.

[b]Personality[/b]: Kurou seems to approach the world with a great deal of intensity, from his ideals of justice to his affection toward his adoptive sister. His general belief system is, roughly speaking, “everything for the greater good”: he has pledged to be a Hero of Justice, dedicated to saving as many people as he can in pursuit of justice, but if he has to sacrifice some to save a larger number of others, he will make the sacrifice every time. Just as pertinently, though, he goes so far as to apply this ideal to everybody else too, believing quite faithfully that if everybody were to make sacrifices for others, the world’s troubles would be much reduced, and that selfishness is the cause of so many of those troubles in the first place. Naturally, this can lead to friction with others, even those he’s close to.
Along with this intensity, he has an air of being older than his years when he speaks. Though, his experiences as a mercenary from his teenage years onward would be trying for anybody; he has seen friends and allies alike perish, and it seems as if some aspect of his character is hollow from past trauma, as if he lacks any sense of personal worth beyond his status as a weapon.

[b]Backstory[/b]: Kurou’s status as an adopted child is known to the majority of people aware of him. A disaster in Shinto- natural to most, blatantly supernatural to the magical world- led to his parents’ deaths and nearly his own, and not long after he was adopted by one Emiya Gyouka, wife to Siegbrandt von Einzbern and the fourth to bear the Emiya family crest. From his adoptive father, there was an air of chill, and even a sense of pity for his rather weak magic circuits; to his sister, he was nothing if not dear, protecting her shy self from children who’d otherwise seek to harm her in school; but with his mother, there was a much closer relationship than even that. She made the claim too often for his liking that she wasn’t strong enough to fulfil her own ideals - a combination of her experimental Einzbern implants failing and magical infection from the disaster she rescued Kurou from were slowly killing her, but even before then, she felt quite strongly that she failed to live up to them. When Kurou sought to follow in her footsteps, then only eight years old, she decided to put her fullest faith in him, and trained him for as long as she could, in particular seeing his talent for projection magic even despite his weakened magic circuits, for which a minor balm was found in the transfer of the Emiya family's Magic Crest to him, albeit in a restricted form to acclimate him to its possession.

Her end ultimately came after grave injuries inflicted upon her by the patriarch of the Tohsaka family, who was at the time possessed by a powerful and malevolent demon after a Eudaemon experiment went wrong, combining with her previous infections to ensure her demise, something the young Kurou could do nothing about. As she drew closer to death's door, Kurou vowed to her that he’d fulfil her ideals as his own, and become a true Hero of Justice. In response, she summoned up the last of her strength, and performed one last modification upon the Emiya Crest, unlocking for him the full extent of her combat training, and more importantly the accumulated knowledge of the Emiya family’s research into time-based magic, up to and including Gyouka’s own personal application of it as Innate Time Control. Between public education- and under the claim from Siegbrandt that with their mother gone he had to take up the mantle of protecting Maria now, and an implicit trust through their shared ideals that he'd do so without question- Kurou spent months studying the information stored in the Crest, under the tutelage of a sort of temporal projection of his mother’s mind within it, until he could fight just as well as her, if not better for the training.

In the meantime, his personal relationships grew quite strong. Of course his urge to protect his younger sister led to a natural affinity, but equally he shared strong friendships with both the heir of the Tohsaka family, Tsubaki, and an unassuming boy his own age, a dark-haired child in glasses whose association with the three families was unknown. In the end, as they grew older, he even found himself romantically attracted to Tsubaki, apparently admiring her desire to go even further than he did and save everybody, even though it seemed impossible to him in particular. Not everybody could be saved - but that didn’t matter to her, so it seemed.

Speaking of saving people, he spent quite a bit of time after his public schooling ended engaging in mercenary work. It was a natural “next step”: a continuation of his mother’s work, and an easy way to seek the worst evils of the world and put an end to them. In time, he became well-known for the same acts of magus slaying as his mother, and even inherited her title in the process, using up a number of the bullets crafted using her Origin of Swirling and Congealing to destroy an equal number of magi of the worst sort, although he was also deemed a “False Magus” or even a “Faker” by many more traditional magi due to his use of modern weaponry, and the unusual manner by which the items he projected seemed to persist well after those of mages even far beyond his power and skill would have faded.

Just as with the rest of the Einzbern family, he retreated from the public eye after Kotomine Zekkou’s banishment by director Zolgen, in particular stoically refusing to comment on any questions about Maria or Tsubaki. Whether or not he engaged in further acts of mercenary work under the public radar is unknown; what is known is that he re-emerged publicly alongside Maria herself, his appearance vastly different from when he was last seen even if that change paled compared to Maria’s, and for all the world could see her second-in-command on the matters of the Nullity Marbles and Eudaemonia Project, enforcing her will more physically should somebody try to push the matter of her practical takeover of the situation. It is clear something troubles him, but what that is remains uncertain to the present day.

[b]Skills[/b]: As a result of frequent travel, Kurou is fluent in a very wide range of languages, most notably Japanese, English, German, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian. Thanks to training and practice in various forms, he is also adept in a range of martial arts, but more importantly an expert with most firearms, and can adeptly point and shoot most guns placed into his hands at will, on top of knowing how best to utilise cover in a firefight, infiltrate secure locations, plant explosives, and survive in resource-sparse locations for extended periods of time. Finally, whilst a minor skill by comparison, he is adept at reading technical documents for complex items, such as a blueprint for building a gun, remote detonator, or heat-seeking mechanism.

[b]Abilities[/b]:
[list]
[*] Magic Circuit Stats: Quantity C; Quality D; Capacity C; Complexity A
[*] Elemental Affinities: Gun
[*] Origin: Gun
[/list]
[i]Projection Magecraft[/i]: Whilst his innate magecraft has historically been relatively weak, even if he is otherwise capable enough at material transmutation and magecraft in general, he has a lot more skill and ability with the style of thaumaturgy called Gradation Air, and in fact has perfected his own form of it under the name of “Tracing” even though it is normally one of the most complicated styles. This variant, so far as anybody can tell, has a tendency to produce both versions of ordinary items that are both higher quality than typical, and have the capacity to last near-indefinitely. If one asked him of the secret, he would tell you that he reproduces the entire history of any object he projects, which may then lead people to consider his familial affiliation with time magic to be the key, though further elaboration is not forthcoming. Due to his specific elemental affinity and origin, his Projection Magecraft works exceptionally well with firearms and the like.

[i]Innate Time Control[/i]: The end result of four generations of research into time manipulation by the Emiya family, this was previously utilised by Emiya Gyouka in mage hunting to great effect, a practice continued by Kurou nowadays. It seemingly replicates the nature of the Second and Fifth Magics, in that it is a magecraft that deals with altering one’s personal time, and more specifically comes close to a form of Reality Marble by generating a localised Bounded Field within the user’s own body, allowing them to accelerate and decelerate their bodily functions at will. The price of doing so, however, is extreme damage to the body once they cancel the Bounded Field, as the World imposes itself upon them to correct the difference in time within the user’s body: at the bare minimum, capillaries burst as blood flow speeds up or slows down to normal, and muscles tear from the force. At higher levels, bones can fracture from the stress of readjustment, and ultimately, continuous use of the power beyond a few seconds or even to too great a degree is certain death, though he appears to have overcome this downside somewhat thanks to his Eudaemon.

[hider=Archer]
[b]Name[/b]: EMIYA (衛宮 九郎, Emiya Kurou)

[b]Gender[/b]: Male

[b]Class[/b]: Archer

[b]Stats[/b]: Strength E; Endurance E; Agility A; Mana B; Luck D; Noble Phantasm A+

[b]Class Skills[/b]:
[i]Independent Action[/i]: C - EMIYA’s general combat abilities and personal skills take little mana to utilise, though they are naturally less potent than more powerful Phantasms. This appears to be enough for Emiya Kurou to have him permanently manifested out of combat without issue, leading their appearances to match.
[i]Magic Resistance[/i]: D - Negates magecraft of a certain level outright, cancelling single-action spells. Whilst a noted sorcerer in life, his magic circuits were never exceptionally strong, especially compared to the Heroic Spirits of old who saw sorceries and True Magic as commonplace.

[b]Personal Skills[/b]:
[i]Presence Concealment[/i]: D - A low level of the skill, allowing a Heroic Candidate with a manifested Eudaemon to detect him at once. However, whilst not on the level of an Assassin, it will still hide him completely from human magi if they do not make a concerted effort to seek him out.
[i]Clairvoyance[/i]: C - Capable of keeping track of fast-moving objects within a range of four kilometers. EMIYA acquires this by applying Reinforcement to his eyes.
[i]Mind’s Eye (True)[/i]: B - A heightened capacity for observation, refined through years of training, discipline, and combat experience; with this, he can calmly analyse a combat situation even in great danger, calculating the best course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament.
[i]Marksmanship[/i]: B - A highly capable sharpshooter, able to hit even small targets with relative ease. Focus on precision and efficiency over trick shots.
[i]Gun Kata[/i]: D+ - A variation of Marksmanship, utilising guns and positioning to avoid and return fire, as well as in melee combat; essentially martial arts performed with guns. Whilst low-ranked, this is still superior to the vast majority of gun-wielders in a melee fight.
[i]Magecraft[/i]: C - Capable of using magecraft. However, whilst equivalent to the most capable of human magi in terms of his temporal magecraft in particular, it is still comparatively weak overall, and generally slightly better suited to utility than his own combat style.
[i]Projection Magecraft[/i]: A - The maximised power of his projection magic, using his specialised magic to manifest guns, bombs, and missiles of all sorts from memory. This even extends to certain suitable Noble Phantasms, though these are relatively rare.

[b]Appearance[/b]: It seems that EMIYA is always fully manifested. This is presumably the reason for his recent change of appearance.

[b]Personality[/b]: Similar to that of Emiya Kurou. Seemingly, there is no apparent shift in personality for him due to this.

[b]Legend[/b]: This information appears to have been censored by Maria’s authority. Perhaps she does not fully trust the Hero Candidates yet.

[b]Noble Phantasms[/b]:
[i]Ebony and Ivory: Together in Perfect Harmony[/i] - Anti-Unit, D+
Personal guns of Emiya Kurou prior to his contract, sublimated as Noble Phantasms. Can be manifested with minimal mana cost; unlimited ammunition with no need to reload; high synergy with Gun Kata, raising the skill’s rank to A whilst in use.
They possess an alternate form, [i]Ebony and Ivory Overbarrel[/i], in which they become extremely large heavy machine guns, firing powerful magnum- or rifle-scale rounds at extremely rapid speeds. In this state, they are considered rank B+ instead of D+, and in addition to their greater power and firerate retain the benefits of their standard form, though they only improve Gun Kata to rank B due to their greater weight.
[i]These sibling firearms?
They have always been reliable for me.
Let me show you- “Ebony and Ivory!”[/i]

[i]Origin Bullet: Mankind’s Destruction of Fantasy[/i] - Anti-Magus, A
Manifestations of Emiya Gyouka’s Thompson Contender and Origin Bullets, crafted from her first and second ribs to weaponize her Origin of Swirling and Congealing and handed down to Emiya Kurou after her death. Extremely damaging to living beings, inflicting no apparent physical wounds, but inducing severe necrosis and permanently maiming nerves and capillaries in the area of impact. Especially dangerous as a conceptual weapon to magi, who must normally defend against the Contender’s high-power penetrative ammunition with most of their magic circuits; upon striking active magecraft, the bullets will overload the magic circuits connected to it, first Swirling them into a turbulent mess and allowing the overwhelming magic to flood the magus’ system, then Congealing them into a chaotic and useless pattern to destroy the magus’ magecraft, often killing them outright if they are using a large portion of their magecraft at the moment of impact, though they are notably less effective against the more robust and conceptually-defined forms and magic circuits of Heroic Spirits, as well as Hero Candidates who are currently manifesting an Eudaemon. Like his mother, EMIYA has a stock of 66 of these bullets, though his stock slowly replenishes over the course of days. In an emergency, he can force the replenishment of Origin Bullets by consuming his own bones, made feasible by his superhuman physique, though doing so still risks temporarily crippling himself.
Technically, in lieu of his mother’s Origin, he may imprint his own Origin of Gun upon any given bullet generated by this Noble Phantasm. However, he has yet to find any significant use for this effect.
[i]Thank you, mother.
These holy bullets shall continue your legacy.
“Origin Bullet.”[/i]

[i]Chronos Rose: Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May[/i] - Anti-Unit (Self), B
The manifestation of the Innate Time Control ability taught to Emiya Kurou by Emiya Gyouka, sublimated into a Noble Phantasm. Upon its deployment, a personal bounded field is created within his body, and a specific effect may be activated with the chant “Time Alter”, followed by “Accel” to speed up his personal time, or “Stagnate” to slow his personal time, and “Release Alter” to end its effects.
Time Alter - Double Accel doubles the rate of his bodily processes: he can move faster than the human eye can see, allowing for split-second evasion of attacks and extreme mobility. This can be further improved to Time Alter - Triple Accel, tripling his bodily processes, and again to Time Alter - Square Accel, quadrupling them. In effect, it improves his Agility by one + modifier for each level of Accel used, multiplying it by two, three, and four times respectively.
Time Alter - Double Stagnate slows his bodily processes to ½ of their usual rate, and Time Alter - Triple Stagnate slows them to ⅓ of their usual rate, making it extremely difficult to detect him by slowing his heart rate, breathing, and body temperature. In effect, it improves his Presence Concealment by one rank for each level of Stagnate used, though it also gives him more trouble perceiving the world due to how it affects his senses, in particular muffling sound proportionately and gathering two or three times more light in his retinas than usual, making the world appear overly bright.
As Emiya Kurou, in addition to the corresponding mana requirements of using Time Alter initially, ending his Innate Time Control would manifest extreme damage to himself as the world forcefully adjusts the “incorrect time” within his own body, making use of higher levels of Accel infeasible. However, whilst manifested by his Hero Candidate, he has more leeway in this regard; his body is physically more able to handle the downsides of his Noble Phantasm, and the adjustment itself is less severe, allowing him to use Double Accel and Triple Stagnate relatively easily, only taking serious harm from Square Accel.
[i]Let’s shuffle the cards.
Can you keep up with me?
“Chronos Rose.”[/i]

It appears further information has been censored via Maria’s authority. Perhaps she does not fully trust the Hero Candidates yet.
[/hider]
[/hider]
[hider=The Red Knight]
[b]Name[/b]: Unknown

[b]Species[/b]: Unknown

[b]Age[/b]: Unknown

[b]Gender[/b]: Presumably male

[b]Appearance[/b]: His physical appearance is unknown. Almost always, he is found wearing a full suit of armour akin to that of the Black Knight from feudal fables, and in particular that of Arthurian legend. However, whilst the armour of a true black knight would indeed be black, it is instead painted a solid red colour, and also stained across much of its surface with what seems to be copious amounts of blood, such that it turns from red to crusted brown, to almost red again in many places. Even the helm glows from within with a glaring crimson light, obscuring the wearer’s features. Due to the armour’s build, it almost isn’t clear that he is male, as a female wearer would almost certainly have her features hidden within the armour’s build, though his voice is distorted in a way that at least sounds masculine.

[b]Personality[/b]: Quiet, grim. He doesn’t talk much, so getting a full read on his character is difficult at the best of times. He is, however, quite focused in a fight - on his allies, rather than his enemies. The reason for this is unknown.

[b]Backstory[/b]: Largely unknown. He showed up as one of the earliest participants in the Eudaemonia project, and since then has not been seen out of armour by anyone other than Maria and her close associates.

[b]Skills[/b]: He seems to be an incredibly skilled fighter, with particular focus in Historical European Martial Arts. Other skills are presently unknown.

[b]Abilities[/b]:
[list]
[*] Magic Circuit Stats: Quantity ?; Quality ?; Capacity ?; Complexity ?
[*] Elemental Affinities: Unknown
[*] Origin: Unknown
[/list]
[hider=Saber?]
[b]Name[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Gender[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Class[/b]: Presents as Saber.

[b]Stats[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Class Skills[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Personal Skills[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Appearance[/b]: Unknown. May be tied to his Hero Candidate’s suit of armour.

[b]Personality[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Legend[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.

[b]Noble Phantasms[/b]: Unknown; obscured by something.
[/hider]
[/hider]
[hr]
[b]Others[/b]

[hider=Mikhail Zolgen, Director of the Aethra Aeternum (currently missing)]
[b]Name[/b]: Mikhail Zolgen, Director of the Aethra Aeternum, the Crest Taker, the Iconoclast.

[b]Species[/b]: Wraith.

[b]Age[/b]: Physically mid-30s, but actually over 500.

[b]Gender[/b]: Male.

[b]Appearance[/b]: Mikhail is 180 cm in height, with a lanky build, pale skin, and the dignified features of Russian nobility. His messy, wavy, shoulder-length hair is deep blue, and his eyes are a mildly unsettling shade of dark red. An air of soft melancholy often suffuses his expressions, as if he has seen and lost much more than his apparent age implies. He is never one for showmanship, always preferring simple but clean clothing such as a plain black jacket and trousers.

[b]Personality[/b]: The younger generations of magi generally think that director Zolgen is someone quite easy to talk to. Despite his power and status, he is always gentle and polite, and never loses his temper or judges others based on their shortcomings. During his lectures, one can clearly see Mikhail's convictions for sharing thaumaturgical knowledge for the betterment of society. His goal for founding the Aethra Aeternum is to teach magecraft to all, such that magecraft becomes an inherent part of human foundations and transcends the nature of mystery, to no longer rely on the ignorance of the many for the benefit of the few. However, friendly as he is, there are few in the Aethra Aeternum that can truly call the director a friend, as the weight of his centuries of experiences makes it difficult for others to understand his perspective. Moreover, the sadness one can sometimes see in his eyes give the feelings that a great many sacrifices have been made in his long lifetime, and in the end he still isn't sure if they've been worth it.

[b]Backstory[/b]:

Those who knew of Mikhail Zolgen from his younger years remember him as a ruthless, power-hungry madman, flagrantly violating all taboos and stopping at nothing to realize his vision of so-called justice. He would relentlessly hunt down any magus he deemed evil, agonizingly drain all knowledge he could from said magus's brain, and perform horrific experiments on the victim until he expired. Yet his abuse toward himself was even greater, as he eschewed all thoughts of a comfortable life and put his own body through equally gruesome modifications so that he could gain greater power and use it to protect those who did not have the power to protect themselves. His enemies were many, but so were his allies, for he took many under his wing and taught them all he could, without consideration for traditional magus notions of preserving one's lineage; the Zolgen "family" was thusly composed of adopted individuals, those bound to him not by blood but by ideals. But as the centuries passed, he grew weary, the zeal of his youth fading into a profound sadness at all the suffering he had wrought and lives he had ended in the name of peace and equality. Fortunately, human society itself became kinder and more accepting over time, so Mikhail chose to forego his violent ways and instead create a place without the deep-rooted prejudices of traditional magus society, where thaumaturgical knowledge could be freely shared and used for the benefit of all. Such a notion was against the very nature of mystery itself, but even so, he strove to change the nature of magecraft itself so that the darkness of ignorance and superstition could give way to the light of science and reason. The opportunity presented itself to him when the World itself began to shift, and he joined forces with two like-minded individuals from the Tohsaka and Einzbern families, among the only ones in his long life that he could truly call friends. The most recent century of his life was tumultuous, and neither of his two friends survived to see the fruit of their labors, but eventually the Aethra Aeternum they created became the dominant power in magus society and granted the power of magecraft to countless who needed it.

As the director of the Aethra Aeternum, Mikhail tried to be permissive of subjects that traditional magi would consider taboo, if it was something with the potential to genuinely help humanity. That was the main reason why he enabled Kotomine Zekkou for so long, or so he told others. But in actuality he saw much of his former self in the young demonologist, his unceasing thirst for power, the willingness to tear down all boundaries and obstacles to grasp for the elusive forbidden fruit beyond his reach. Mikhail kept hoping that Zekkou would use his powers for good, that there must have been some higher ideal for which he desired all that power to fulfill. If such an ideal existed in Zekkou, Mikhail never found it. When Zekkou crossed a line that he could finally tolerate no longer, Mikhail would have killed his junior and taken all the research for himself if it had been a few centuries earlier, but the current Mikhail did not want any more unnecessary bloodshed, and so he exiled Zekkou to a remote corner of the Earth so that he could no longer hurt anyone else. But that was likely a mistake. Not long after Zekkou's exile, leyline disorders all around the world suddenly intensified, while Mikhail and his apprentice mysteriously became missing. Of course, most of the rumors pin the blame on Zekkou, but the Aethra Aeternum's upper echelons are either as clueless as the rest, or refuse to offer any words of elucidation on the matter.

[b]Skills[/b]: In addition to being a magus, Mikhail has extensive knowledge in many fields of human science, including a Ph.D. in applied mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering.

[b]Abilities[/b]:
[list]
[*] Magic Circuit Stats: Quantity EX; Quality C; Capacity C; Complexity A. The quantity of magic circuits in his body has surpassed human limits due to his body being composed of crestflies (see below).
[*] Elemental Affinities: Air, Ether.
[*] Origin: Unknown.
[/list]
[i]Crest Taker[/i]: The magic crest is a magus bloodline's most prized treasure, without which the entire family's meaning and history may as well be null and void. For this reason, if the possessor of a magic crest commits a grievous crime and must be executed, the crest is usually removed from him and given to the next inheritor or, failing that, kept in the Association's custody. It was thus nigh-unthinkable that in his younger years, Mikhail would forcibly rip out the magic crests of those he killed and take them as his own. The chances of someone outside the crest's bloodline being compatible with it was nearly nil, which was more the reason to not rob another family of their legacy, yet Mikhail modified his own body time and time again to forcibly overcome these barriers in genetics. As if that wasn't enough, Mikhail would then go on to master the spells in the stolen crests to such an extent that he became able to duplicate some of those crests, wholly or in part, despite the crests being the accumulation of generations of knowledge. The final nail in the coffin was that despite the vast amounts of time and resources spent to duplicate these crests, Mikhail went the extra mile to improve their compatibility with foreign bodies, then simply gave the duplicate crests to those under his tutelage that lacked crests of their own. For these acts he earned the titles "Crest Taker" and "Iconoclast", the undying loyalty of his pupils, and the eternal hatred of those families that had their crests taken and violated by him.

[i]Crestflies[/i]: The culmination of Mikhail's centuries of research into magic crests and body modification, produced by replicating and merging pieces of all the magic crests Mikhail has taken. They are tiny, firefly-like familiars that act like modular, homogeneous, all-purpose magic crests given form, capable of channeling mana even without a living host. They can merge with people with no blood relations to the caster to grant them additional magic circuits, enhancing a magus's power or even turning a non-magus into a magus. Unfortunately, this process is painful even when done in small amounts, and outright excruciating otherwise, and the subject requires extensive rehabilitation and further practice for the implantation to not permanently cripple the body, which is why it is not done often.

[i]Immortality[/i]: Mikhail's own body is entirely made of crestflies, him technically classifying as a wraith that controls these familiars to interact with the world. Therefore, as long as a single crestfly exists to keep his soul tethered, he can eventually rebuild himself by consuming mana and organic material, though of course this becomes harder the fewer crestflies he has remaining to act as magic circuits. Due to this body, the quantity of magic circuits at his disposal is beyond normal human limits, though there is still a limit of how many crestflies his soul can control at once. Finally, even though he can keep his soul in this world indefinitely, the weight of the ages has caused his soul to deteriorate over time. Through deep meditation techniques learned from multiple ancient gurus across the world, Mikhail was able to stabilize himself so that no further notable degradation will occur, but he still lost the indomitable will that drove him all those centuries ago, instead settling with leaving matters to the newer generations.

[i]Lightning Magecraft[/i]: Mikhail is especially adept at the manipulation of electricity, having combined multiple lightning-related thaumaturgical theories around the world with his New Age magecraft. Much of this expertise was spent on combining magecraft with modern electrical inventions to form new and innovative Mystic Codes, though he is still perfectly capable of unleashing powerful bolts of lightning. If driven in a corner, Mikhail can overload all the crestflies in his body to unleash a devastating surge of power, though doing so leaves him drastically weakened and vulnerable afterwards.
[/hider]
[hider=Tohsaka Tsubaki, the Hollow Wielder (currently missing)]
[b]Name[/b]: Tohsaka Tsubaki (遠坂 椿); the Average One; the Hollow Wielder.

[b]Species[/b]: Human.

[b]Age[/b]: 19.

[b]Gender[/b]: Female.

[b]Appearance[/b]: Tsubaki is a young woman that the majority of Japan's more modern generations would consider very attractive. She is 159 cm tall, with the slim and toned physique of a gymnast, generous curves that can probably land modeling jobs without much difficulty, and slightly tanned skin that gives off a sense of fitness and health. Her hair was black in childhood, but turned a vivid hue of violet upon going through bodily enhancements at director Zolgen's hands (see backstory), then later dyed with sparse strands of blond; it reaches a little beyond her shoulders, with a single small ponytail separated from the rest of the hair on the left side of her head by a reddish magenta ribbon, all of her hair straight except for being slightly curly at the ends. Her eyes remain their natural bluish green color. Her fashion sense is typical of the gyaru subculture, though moderate by their standards, with a variety of flashy and trendy western-inspired clothing. Often her outfit shows a fair bit of skin, though the intention is always to be stylish rather than emphasize sex appeal. She's worn countless different types of shoes, many of which are high-heeled, though they transform into practical low-heeled shoes when she engages in physical exercise or combat.

[b]Personality[/b]: Being the heir of one of the three great families of the Aethra Aeternum, and seen as a nigh-unparalleled, almost omnicompetent genius by her peers, many may expect Tsubaki to be an arrogant and spoiled princess. She is indeed proud, but not of her own abilities or her family's prestige, but rather of her family's conviction to make society a better place for all and her opportunity to help realize such noble ideals. Having taken her elders' teachings to heart, she firmly believes that all should treat each other with kindness and empathy, and wealth and power should be used to unite rather than divide people. Her demeanor combines the gentle elegance of a high-class lady with the easygoing confidence of an extroverted gyaru, making her popular with all manners of people. However, she does possess one major flaw. It doesn't come up often, but when it comes to ideals that truly matter to her, Tsubaki is incredibly stubborn and hard-headed, refusing to give up or compromise even if there is no possible way what she's looking for can be achieved exactly as she envisions. And out of all these ideals, the one that she's the most adamant on is the most unrealistic, the insistence that everyone must be saved without sacrificing anyone to save the other. She knows that most people consider such a notion a childish fantasy, and it pains her every time such a hard sacrifice happens, but her determination only burns stronger in the face of such impossibilities. She will work as hard as she possibly can and become the strongest magus in the world, so that she can create an utopia with her own hands where no one will be left behind.

[b]Backstory[/b]:

Tsubaki is the only child of the great Tohsaka family, one of the three founding families of the Aethra Aeternum. In childhood her parents were doting, which built great confidence in her, but they also always stressed the importance of kindness and equality. Tsubaki took this to heart, and dreamed of using her emerging talents to help everyone. Her life had been happy and peaceful for the most part until that fateful day when she was seven years old. After a major breakthrough in the development of the Eudaemonia project, Tsubaki's father Kousuke volunteered to be a test subject, trying to imbue himself with the power of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. But instead of the famed Sengoku warlord, what came out of the Throne of Heroes was the calamitous demon king Ootakemaru, whose malevolent will took control of the man's body and transformed it into a monstrous killing machine. The battle that ensued was brutal, the possessed Kousuke inflicting grave injuries upon the Magus Killer Emiya Gyouka who tried to stop him, and only momentarily regaining control of his own body after the death of his wife Himari. As he stood there barely holding back the raging demon within him, the bloody katana in his hand pointed precariously toward his trembling daughter, tears streaked down Kousuke's eyes and he professed to the young Tsubaki that sometimes sacrifices must be made to prevent an even greater tragedy. It was at that time when Tsubaki's innate Hollow element activated itself, countless ethereal ribbons emerging from her to wrap around her father's battered, warped body, his agonized grimace softening into an exhausted but relieved smile as he allowed himself to be dragged into the depths of Imaginary Space. Kousuke was never seen again, and Tsubaki was never the same.

Even at such a young age, Tsubaki was mature enough to recognize that the deaths that day were no one's fault but those of life circumstances. But the loss of her parents still pained her like nothing else, and she vowed to not let their sacrifices be in vain. Next time, she would save [i]everyone[/i]. If that didn't seem possible, then she would just work harder and become stronger, so that no one would have to die. She then went under the guardianship of director Zolgen himself, the ancient magus grieving deeply over the tragedy that happened under his watch and vowing to protect and nurture the descendant of one of his closest friends. Not simply content with the innate magic circuits she was born with, Tsubaki pleaded to be imbued with as many of the artificial magic circuits contained in director Zolgen's crestflies as possible, as well as the experimental Hollow Reactor that aimed to allow a magus of the Hollow element to draw energy from Imaginary Space. Director Zolgen hesitated, knowing how excruciating such a process would be, especially for a child, but Tsubaki insisted. It took her a whole year before she recovered from the ordeal, during which her hair had turned vivid violet, but the suffering only tempered her conviction further.

Under director Zolgen's tutelage, Tsubaki learned as much as she could, but she was not a workaholic who would overexert herself past the point of collapse. She knew that she had to maintain a healthy work-life balance to make sure she was always physically and mentally in top shape. She attended public school, became rather popular, and spent a moderate amount of time on personal hobbies like sports, fashion, and cooking. She became close friends with Maria von Einzbern, her adoptive older brother Emiya Kurou, as well as a boy with glasses whose background was unknown. With Kurou she resonated especially strongly, as they were both incredibly hard workers with ironclad convictions of altruism, yet their attitudes were complete opposites where Kurou accepted the necessity of sacrifice while Tsubaki refused to make such concessions even when they seemed unavoidable. The two eventually became lovers, encouraging and supporting each other while maintaining an ideological competition that made each other stronger.

As the years went by, Tsubaki's future seemed secure. After her parents' deaths, some branch family members of the Tohsaka naturally tried to claim leadership, but none of them could realistically challenge Tsubaki's immense talent, personal endorsement from director Zolgen himself, or the protection of Kurou whose reputation as the deadly Magus Killer had been steadily growing. Upon reaching 18 years of age, she officially became the new head of the Tohsaka family, and there was the unspoken consensus that she was the most likely candidate to succeed Mikhail Zolgen as the next director of the Aethra Aeternum as a whole. Her recent disappearance along with director Zolgen sent many into a conspiratorial frenzy, especially after the reemergence of Maria and Kurou who both became almost unrecognizable. Even though most suspect Kotomine Zekkou, some speculate that Tsubaki and director Zolgen were taken out of commission by Maria who wanted control of the Aethra Aeternum for herself, given how she quickly took control of the Nullity Marble situation, despite the previous Maria having explicitly denied interest in a leadership role. When asked about the fate of his girlfriend, Kurou's expression visibly clouds over, and he refuses to say anything more. It is most likely that the situation is far more complex than it appears.

[b]Skills[/b]: Back in high school, Tsubaki was perceived to be an invincible superwoman, among the top-scorers in every subject, from sciences to arts to athletics. She was the champion of the kendo club, a skill that extends to actual kenjutsu in real combat.

[b]Abilities[/b]:
[list]
[*] Magic Circuit Stats: Quantity A; Quality B; Capacity EX; Complexity B. The capacity of her magic circuits exceed human limits due to the Hollow Reactor (see below).
[*] Elemental Affinities: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Ether, Hollow.
[*] Origin: Unknown.
[/list]
[i]Hollow[/i]: A rare elemental affinity that allows the direct manipulation of Imaginary Space, an alternate dimension residing beneath normal reality where the World's laws are laxer and more malleable. This ability typically manifests as numerous ethereal ribbons that extend from Tsubaki's body, each ribbon pristine white with edges and floral patterns in the reddish magenta hue of camellias. They're flexible and prehensile, controlled by Tsubaki's will with great agility, with strength and durability proportional to the amount of mana channeled through them. Their effectiveness against physical matter is mediocre, but are great at interfering with beings made of mysteries like nature spirits and demons. Multiple ribbons can be condensed into a katana, which Tsubaki wields with great skill. The ribbons can also be used to open portals between the real world and Imaginary Space, allowing Tsubaki to hide in the latter or banish enemies into it, though doing so is quite costly and straining. The border between dimensions also remains volatile for some time after a portal is closed, allowing another magus to potentially reopen the portal even without Hollow affinity.

[i]Hollow Reactor[/i]: One of the seven superweapons of the Atlas Institute, which ended up in Mikhail Zolgen's possession during the power struggles between Atlas and the Aethra Aeternum in the mid-1900s. It theoretically allows the rapid absorption of energy from Imaginary Space and conversion into human-usable mana, but requires the Hollow affinity as well as extremely robust magic circuits to use safely. It remained unused for the longest time due to no one having both the suitable elemental affinity and magic circuit strength, and even Tsubaki required the implantation of additional artificial magic circuits via director Zolgen's crestflies before she could use it. Now fused with her body like a second heart, the Hollow Reactor provides her with a nigh-inexhaustible supply of mana, though the rate at which she can weave mana into magecraft is still limited by her magic circuits. When drawing in a particularly large amount of energy from Imaginary Space, swirling patterns begin to appear on Tsubaki's skin, the same color and shape as the patterns on her Hollow ribbons.

[i]Jewel Magecraft[/i]: One of the Tohsaka family's specialties, this magecraft allows the compression and storage of energy inside gemstones for later use. By releasing the stored energy, even powerful spells can be cast nigh-instantly, with the drawback of destroying the gem in the process. Jewel magecraft used to require high-quality natural gems that have accumulated mystery over time from contact with spirits, but the advent of New Age magecraft made it much easier to use cheaper artificial gems for the same purpose, substantially alleviating the monetary strain and consumable nature of this craft. Another drawback is that it usually takes a very long time to store enough energy into a gem to make it worth using, due to the limitations in the average magus's magic circuits, but Tsubaki in particular can circumvent this drawback using her Hollow Reactor. By spending several hours focusing on drawing large amounts of energy from Imaginary Space, Tsubaki can fill gems equivalent to what may otherwise take years, though such a session is quite taxing for her.

[i]Projection Magecraft[/i]: Thanks to her close personal relationship with Emiya Kurou, Tsubaki has learned a great deal about projection magecraft from him, specifically his variant of "tracing" that reproduces an object's entire history so that it can last indefinitely without being erased by the Counter Force as an anomaly. Her affinity for projection magecraft pales in comparison to Kurou's, so she cannot conjure complex objects like modern firearms, but Tsubaki has mastered the tracing of clothing and jewels specifically. The clothes traced by her are ordinary, but they satisfy her fashion sense as a gyaru, and can be easily modified and repaired. The gemstones traced by her are perfectly sufficient for jewel magecraft, practically eliminating its monetary cost.

[i]Elemental Magecraft[/i]: In addition to her Hollow affinity, Tsubaki also has moderate affinity for all five of the standard elements, giving her the title of "Average One". She's not as adept in manipulating these elements as she is in Hollow, so she typically stores elemental energy in gemstones to make simple blasts of flames, ice, lightning, acid, or spiritual power. Using a combination of her Hollow Reactor and projection magecraft, Tsubaki can produce and fill around twenty small gemstones for each of the five elements, over the course of a few hours. The size of the jewels is kept small to allow for more granularity in choosing how much power to release at once; fusing 20 of them can release power on par with high thaumaturgy.

[i]Gandr[/i]: Originally a simple curse, Tsubaki has modified it to be capable of inflicting physical damage, tearing large holes in concrete. It takes the form of bullet-like orbs of hazy white energy that she can fire in rapid succession from her fingertips.
[/hider]
[hider=Kotomine Zekkou, the Demonizer (currently missing)]
[b]Name[/b]: Kotomine Zekkou (言峰 絶光); the Demonizer.

[b]Species[/b]: Human.

[b]Age[/b]: 44.

[b]Gender[/b]: Male.

[b]Appearance[/b]: Zekkou is nothing short of hideous, to the point of appearing barely human. He is 185 cm tall, with a morbidly gaunt, almost skeletal build. His skin is a ghastly pale ashen gray, with the texture of desiccated earth instead of anything resembling human skin, innumerable tiny black cracks running through it to make it look like pieces will flake off at any moment. His lips are a shade of dry, dead dark gray, and his teeth and nails are pitch black. Myriads of unsettling demonic symbols written in blood cling to him, from his bald head down to his face and neck and extending all the way to his hands and feet. Most of his grotesque appearance is hidden within the simple hooded black robe that he wears, but his eyes are the worst part of him. Their sclerae are sunken pits of gnawing darkness, from which two hellish motes of blood-red light glare out at whomever unfortunate enough to meet his gaze.

[b]Personality[/b]: Most of Zekkou's peers agree that his personality is just as unpleasant as his appearance. A typical case of antisocial personality disorder, there is not a shred of empathy or conscience in his heart, seeing people as nothing more than tools to be exploited and thrown away. He lacks the constant need for stimulation that usual psychopaths suffer from, having no urges that may drive him toward reckless impulsive behavior, nor does he take any pleasure in the domination or torment of those weaker than him. Yet he is not lacking in motivation, far from it. Due to his recalcitrant demeanor, no one knows of the actual reason behind his cold, relentless pursuit of power above all else, or perhaps he simply desires power for its own sake. The few who have had anything resembling a chat with him may have become aware of his morbid, almost scholarly fascination with corruption and decay, not only of flesh and matter but also of concepts and ideals. It is fortunate that he is never outright malicious, but that makes him no less dangerous to be around.

[b]Backstory[/b]:

Zekkou is the son of Kotomine Byakurou, a high-ranking and devout priest of the Holy Church. His parents were not magi, and it was widely believed that Zekkou himself was blessed with top-quality magic circuits by the World as reward for his father's piety. Unfortunately, the power that Zekkou was born with was the power to bring forth demons with but a thought. No one could say for sure whether it was this power that corrupted the child, or if his cold-blooded nature was independent of whatever abilities he possessed. Regardless, like many budding psychopaths, the young Zekkou tortured and mutilated small animals just to see what would happen, except in his case he created demons and forced them into the animals' bodies to turn them into warped aberrations. When the Holy Church finally discovered what he was doing, they attempted to capture him for drastic reeducation, only for the boy to manifest an incredible amount of power and kill one of the inquisitors. This would have warranted an execution if not for his father's desperate pleas, and the incident came to the attention of Mikhail Zolgen, director of the influential Aethra Aeternum, who saw potential in the eight-year-old. Thus did director Zolgen take Zekkou under his own wing, hoping to shape the boy's desire for power and knowledge into something that benefits society. Sadly, no one in the Aethra Aeternum could get Zekkou to turn a new leaf, as he actively alienated others while engaging in research that even the liberal New Age magi balked at. Contrary to most other magi who seek the Root, the source of all existence and the ultimate truth, Zekkou claimed to seek the so-called "Abyss", supposedly the flip-side and antithesis of the Root, the final destination of all failed possibilities and potentials that could not be. Where he got such an absurd idea, no one could say for certain, and it was obvious that no one wanted to try to convince him to abandon this foolhardy and heretical path.

Zekkou's rank in the Aethra Aeternum kept rising due to his incredible talent, even though virtually everyone disliked him. The Einzbern family provided him with mindless, mass-produced homunculi as test subjects, and in cases where genuine human souls were needed, death-row inmates were used; his research indeed gave great insights into the nature of demonic possession and contributed significantly to the Eudaemonia project. But rumors kept mounting that he was illegally obtaining test subjects behind the Aethra Aeternum's back, and that he was to blame for several high-profile disasters in the supernatural world. It's not clear what finally sparked the comprehensive investigation into his conduct, but at the end of it all, director Zolgen personally banished Zekkou to some location where he was a prisoner in all but name. Many feared retaliation from Zekkou, and sure enough, director Zolgen and his apprentice Tsubaki mysteriously vanished not long after, while the mana instabilities around the world intensified to unprecedented levels. When suspicions immediately fell upon him, his prison guards tried to bring him to the Aethra Aeternum for questioning, only to find that he had disappeared as well.

[b]Skills[/b]: As a part of his research into demonic possession and its effects on the body, Zekkou has extensive knowledge of physiology and anatomy, of mainly humans but also animals, plants, and even certain phantasmal species.

[b]Abilities[/b]:
[list]
[*] Magic Circuit Stats: Quantity A; Quality A; Capacity A; Complexity A.
[*] Elemental Affinities: Demons.
[*] Origin: Unknown.
[/list]
[i]Demonition[/i]: The Sixth Imaginary Factor is a force that reacts with human desires to form the spiritual entities that the supernatural world recognizes as demons. Most demons form spontaneously, either through intense desires or potent supernatural events, but Zekkou was born with the rare ability to easily bring forth demons through his imagination alone. Despite common superstition, demons are not inherently evil. They exist to fulfill human desires, and only bring harm due to their alien common senses that try to fulfill said desires through twisted means. With sufficient understanding and effort, it is possible to employ demons to benefit humanity, such as the wish-granting magecraft that the Einzbern family strives toward, as well as the Aethra Aeternum's experimental Eudaemonia project; that was the main reason why director Zolgen tried to nurture this ability of Zekkou's. Unfortunately, due to Zekkou's antisocial nature, he played into the negative stereotypes of demonology as straightforwardly as anyone could have. He used to look normal, even quite handsome, but repeated infusions of demonic power into his own body has turned Zekkou into the grotesque mockery of humanity he is known to be. Said body can contort even further into utterly monstrous shapes, claws and fangs and tentacles and numerous other unspeakable instruments of slaughter that can tear a grown man to pieces in an instant. He can also unleash concentrated masses of demonic energy capable of infecting organic and inorganic matter alike and even insufficiently protected magecraft, causing the afflicted regions to undergo cancerous mutations until they're destroyed from within like the most typical victims of demonic possession. Through this fearsome ability, Zekkou earned the title "Demonizer".
[/hider]
[/hider]
Player Characters:

[@Seirei No Hai] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/185178-fate-lost-qliphoth-fgo-like-alternate-universe-no-canon-characters-onl/char#post-5239551]Rosangel Lothine Umina[/url] (Eudaemon character sheet not yet finished)

[@SSW] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/185178-fate-lost-qliphoth-fgo-like-alternate-universe-no-canon-characters-onl/char#post-5243427]Soili and Virve Edelfelt[/url] (Eudaemon character sheet not yet finished)