@Turboshitter Not sure it's a great idea to have Caster be around as an early summon, though Avicebron needs it to make a bunch of golems, most of what Tiresias would do with that time is just look into the future for spoilers. Useful, but probably a bit too powerful. Plus, I think it would be more interesting to have Tiresias and Cadmus meet on summon rather than having already been hanging out for a while.
@Anza Alright I’m at work atm, so I’m going to try to keep this brief. After doing some research, I realized Void Space was indeed introduced in FGO as a canon concept. I have sworn to do my best to keep my opinions about FGO to myself as much as possible, so I’ll just say that her Void Space magecraft and Codes are fine as long as we tweak them a little.
That said, the Sketchbook is basically the Second Magic in miniature, and I’m just really not okay with anyone having that. I’m afraid that’s going to have to be left out.
@Turboshitter Quick question revolving around how we're starting. Would some of us have some time to be summoned earlier, like how in Apocrypha, Darnic summons Vlad months in advance so he could set up (since otherwise his NP wouldn't work)?
That is indeed the case. While I imagine not all Servants would have been summoned ahead of time, Caster and Lancer would more than likely have been around for a while by the start of the war.
Oh, good to know! You really should keep an up to date Servant list if you're going to be doing claims, though, in the future. It's hard to keep track of what's claimed otherwise, and it leads to situations like these.
Ah, good point. I’ll add that to the 0th post in the OOC. Thanks for the suggestion, I’m busy enough that I might not have thought of it.
Thought I'd throw my hat into the ring. No interest in a Master, but we'll see how this one goes. I may do some minor edits since I threw this together much quicker than usual, but its overall done.
Unas
Pharaoh of Cannibalism
Class: Rider
Gender: Female
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Region: Ancient Egypt
Source: Egyptian History
Attribute: Earth
The true nature of Unas is as a wakemitama(bunrei) of Ammit, in Eastern terms. She tends to act stern and grounded in most things. Perhaps as a way to preserve her sense of self(Or as a product of being hailed a living-God. . .) she has a massive ego, and equivalent though more flexible pride. She has an air of confidence around her that translates to an almost overbearing charisma that seems to drag those around her in a certain direction.
Riders follows the law of the heavens flawlessly, merely considering herself to be a part of them- she herself acting as a bulkwark of what she considers to be 'justice', 'right', and the 'natural order'. Her sort of judgment is not about feelings or even her own opinion, but the firmness and rule of law.
Functioning on the basis of thought inherited from Ammit, she has always viewed living things as 'data', so she makes no distinction between Servants and living things. Going beyond even her own pride, she won't bow her head to a master as if a random familiar as a result.
As someone who took in the conflicting pulses of the Gods and was already an expression of Ammit, she would probably be insane without the 'Rule of Heaven'. There are too many conflicting directions within her nature if she gave into them, and so she remains grounded as possible.
Ammit was herself a Goddess who 'filtered' civilization. The information, knowledge, the data of humanity which had 'no use' to either God or Man was disposed of within her stomach. The truth of the matter is, she functioned as a filter for the sins and other parts of humanity deemed useless. Pushing the 'Human Order' forward by removing the 'unneccessary parts of humanity', put simply.
Though it was a tyranny of the Ancient Gods, surely it was a tyranny that benefited primates. Despite their many flaws, the Gods have always been the greatest allies of humans and civilization alike.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unas The last Pharaoh of the fifth dynasties Old Kingdom. Unas ruled during a period of decline, building, trade, and warfare. She established the most prolific Mortuary Cult of the Old Kingdom, subjugated the Northern nomads, and constructed temples and pyramids within Egypt. Rider also established the importance of the valley temples, and the first 'Pyramid Texts', initiating the passing of Mortuary knowledge to later generations.
Her greatest exploit is enacting the 'Cannibals Hymn'. Acting as a bunrei of Ammit, she fed on the entire Egyptian pantheon to become an all powerful celestial deity near her death.
Weapon: Khopesh, Shield
Parameters: STR: C CON: B AGI: C MAG: A LUK: A+
Class Skills:
Riding: A+
As Pharaoh, Rider is the divine child descended from the heavens who represents the Solar God. A level of Riding which can handle even the Heavenly Beast of Punishment, Shezmu, is to be expected from Unas. All vehicles and creatures at or below the level of Phantasmal and Divine beasts may be ridden without much difficulty. Rather than a skill cultivated in life, this is an expression of Riders 'divinity' and 'wisdom' which was both granted by and taken from the Egyptian Gods. Even unruly or uncooperative mounts may be properly ridden in her case.
However, this ability is not applicable for the Dragon-kind.
Magic Resistance: B Rider has obtained a peerless and divine od by enacting a Ritual of Cannibals and consuming the strength of the Gods. As a result, she possesses an uncharacteristically high Magic Resistance for the Rider class. Normally its rank would be low, as Rider is outside the three Knight classes- but her innately high aptitude has resulted in its manifestation at this rank.
It is difficult for an opponent to harm Rider with even high-thaumaturgy and grand rituals. Spells of three bars or less are completely nullified. Additionally, Rider is herself a skilled Magus who has many ways to counter enemy spells. It would not be an understatement to call her a deadly opponent for Magi of any kind.
Egyptian Magecraft(Rites of the Deceased): B Ownership of the Magic Crest of Ancient Egypt. The millennial legacy of the Pyramid Texts predating even the Book of the Dead, which contain the first appearances of Osiris. It is a skill denoting ownership of an antediluvian variant of Egyptian Necromancy which contains many lost secrets, such as the Hymn of Cannibals.
All the secrets and spells of the Underworld will be revealed to its user without distinction. At the rank of B, it can be called something like a 'magical grimoire contained within Riders mind'. By operating the Netherworlds mysteries, one can demonstrate their proficiency as head of the Mortuary Cult.
Grants proficiency in necromancy, evocation, wards, and manipulating various spiritual bodies. It does not specialize in direct attack magic but rather utility, support, and hindrance. Its color is far darker compared to normal Egyptian Necromancy, being so close to 'Death'.
Additionally the owner of this skill is given a plus modifier toward all checks relating to necromancy.
Judgment of Isfet: A A trait of the Eater of Souls Ammit, who cosigns the unworthy to oblivion. A skill which assists in severing evil(Sin) through judgement. The truth is however, rather than a skill which judges others it instead executes that which is already condemned.
Rather than increasing the damage of Riders attacks against those who are evil, it instead grants Rider an attribute not unlike a conceptual weapon. Each blow landed on an opponent will chip away at their 'Sin', and 'Evil'. It is an attack which not unlike a conceptual weapon targets the Spiritual Core and Saint Graph rather than enacting any sort of physical interference. As a tool for judging the dead, it has a more profound effect on spiritual bodies like Servants than living things.
Though Sin has been removed, nothing has replaced its 'data' within the spiritual core, leading to instability and weakness within the target. It could be compared to carving away a cancerous growth while leaving holes where it once was. It is nothing close to a careful surgery, being a form of execution that excises evil.
In that sense, Rider is fundamentally more similar to a Guardian than a Heroic Spirit- cleaning up a mess after its already been made. That is the essence of her 'Ancestor', Ammit.
Ma'at Devour: - An esoterica among esoterica. The Burden of the 'Eater of Souls', Ammit.
A state of body and existence gained through the ultimate taboo, the Hymn of Cannibals. To gain the powers of a celestial deity ruling in the afterlife, Rider consumed the entrails of all Gods. More than just a mere Sun-Child Pharaoh, Rider has inherited portions of the Egyptian Pantheons collective divine pulses. Unas possesses a superior divine core which strictly speaking exceeds the 'mana reactor' found within the Dragon-kind.
As the incarnation of Ammit, this could also be called analogous to her stomach. As a result, this reactor is not fueled by magical energy, but rather, 'the things which Rider consumes'. Its activation, then, is dependent on fulfilling that condition. More than mere physical objects Rider instead consumes 'wisdom' and 'knowledge'. That is to say, she consumes civilization. Through this process of digestion, she gains power. It is a skill comparable to but unlike absorption, as it is not a matter of incorporation. The only thing waiting in Riders stomach is oblivion, much like Ammit herself.
As an aside if the target is specifically a living thing, this skill will have a scaling increase in effectiveness based on intelligence.
Shapeshift(Punishment): C+ A skill which allows for transformation of form. In Riders case, Shapeshift is almost exclusively a war tool, acting in imitation of Sekhmet-Hathors duality. Ranging from the mists of the Netherworld to a mass of gibbering teeth and claws, a cacophony of terrifying 'Warforms' can be used on a dime. Even the instincts and disposition of beasts may be replicated, exceeding the normal limits of Shapeshift.
It is a technique based on Riders 'ancestor', Ammit, who is a composite of all Ancient Egyptian man-eating predators. As the personification of divine retribution, Ammits form is one only meant for the destruction of humans and sinners. If animals represent the Gods, than all animals who consume evil men can only represent her.
It is strongest in war, and can only be considered middling during peacetime.
Sothis-Aaru
Lion Hymn of Celestial Ascension
Rank: A+
Type: Anti-Evil
Range: 2~50 (Impact radius)
Maximum Number of Targets: 300
A manifestation of Shezmu, Slaughterer of the Gods. It is a Divine Beast of the highest order, a calamity of godly punishment not unlike the Calydonian Boar. Even so, it is not strictly a beast of Heaven, instead being aligned to the Netherworld. The Shezmu is the Lion of Hell which sits next to the Lake of Eternal fire, ensuring that those dead who were damned do not leave their eternal burden- acting as Osiris' Executioner, and Ra's escort. Given the situation it would probably normally manifest in a much weaker form if it lacked the blessings of Osiris- but Unas is a special case with a profound connection to the Netherworld on her own. As a result, it is demonstrating its full power as a Divine Beast.
It takes the form of a Red Lion whose size can vary, ranging from the size of a typical lion to larger than a house. Its claws are a royal green, eternally dripping divine blood or godly wine at the Shezmu's discretion. It is an intelligent beast- being that it assisted Unas in ascending to the Heavens(Though it is quite bloodthirsty in spite of this). The divine blood dripping from its claws represent the authority of the Gods, and so deny demon and unworthy dead alike- sapping their strength.
With a true name release, it will pounce at a target and conceptually reenact the feat of raising Unas to the stars. Shooting forward like a missile, it unleashes a wave of destruction fitting for such a massive beast. Upon finishing the charge, the target will be subject to a LCK-check. Failure will see the unfortunate punted into the Egyptian mythological sky texture, sent irrevocably 'somewhere else'.
Also a surprisingly good cook.
Wordly Wisdom of Eternal Ka
Flesh of the Earth
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: -
Maximum Number of Targets: 2
The water lily crook and flail of the Pharaohs. Normally, it is just the embodiment Pharaoh's divinity and rulership. However, its meaning has expanded in Riders hands- acting as a manifestation of the 'celestial authority' gained through the assistance of Shezmu. It is the wisdom of the Egyptians Gods which Rider gained by eating their collective entrails.
When properly wielded, this Noble Phantasm grants its user a much higher order of wisdom and intelligence. All kinds of benefits are gained as a result, such as more efficient strategy, high-speed multitasking, and better combat skills. It also acts as a mystic code allowing for an expended use of Egyptian magecraft, enhancing thaumaturgy with the knowledge of the Gods.
I’m really sorry, but Yankee has already claimed Rider. If things don’t work out with them I can let you know though!
Gender: F Age: 19 Height/Weight: 167 cm/52 kg Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Master of: Rider (if permitted)
A sharp and highly focused young woman, who never seems to miss even the smallest detail about the world around her. Gives off a scholarly impression, and a sense of knowing more about everyone and everything than a person of her standing should. Despite this, however, her interactions with others have all the finesse of a sledgehammer: she cannot or will not tell a lie and will speak her mind freely, even if doing so means spouting something downright rude or improper.
She is not an empathetic person by nature, or at least not one who cares to understand other humans. Rather, she has an eye for ‘elegance’ and ‘unsightliness,’ not in the aesthetic sense but in terms of mathematics. Something that is sound in terms of principles, structure, and purpose will be seen as good, whereas things that are uncertain or fundamentally flawed will be seen as bad. For this reason, she prefers homunculi to humans, though it’s more of an appreciation for how beautifully they fulfill their purpose rather than any strong desire to influence them.
From Nuari’s perspective, her body is mainly a vessel for keeping her mind alive and at full operating capacity. She maintains it in excellent shape, as one would an essential machine, but prefers mental activities to physical ones in most respects. The exception would be cases where a technique can be finely honed through careful analysis, though really she’s more interested in puzzling out the right movements that need to be performed to carry out a certain action, and actually carrying them out becomes nearly an afterthought. Often, she’ll learn a technique or a form of magic without her body actually possessing the ability to ever make use of it.
It is said that nothing created in the Atlas Institute should ever leave the Atlas Institute. Or at least, this was the rule. For thousands of years, the alchemists fervently obeyed it, keeping the wonders and horrors they had created locked away forever from the outside world. However, over such a long period of time, it is impossible to avoid exceptions to such a strict doctrine. Within the Institute, rumors abound of separatist factions plotting to break away and take their secrets elsewhere, though few can say how many of these whispers contain a hint of truth. On the rare occasion that an Atlas alchemist does attempt to break their cardinal rule, they will almost certainly be killed, or at the very least have their freedom completely restrained. Even if one were to get away from the Institute itself, they would swiftly be hunted down by the Holy Church.
Occasionally, however, an alchemist will just disappear entirely.
Sometimes this is from natural causes, when a half-finished weapon malfunctions and wipes its creator from existence. Other times, such as when a visitor is accepted into Atlas or when the Institute itself is forced to send out some of its alchemists to resolve a major crisis or contractual obligation, they are lost to external forces. The ancestor of what would later become the Maaike family was one such mysterious disappearance, whom all evidence showed to be dead and gone.
In truth, it was a perfect crime. This individual’s field of study- specifically the intersection between Void Space and reality -required them to inspect certain points in the world beyond Atlas in order to continue it. Though they were aware of the Institute’s rule, their obsession with Imaginary Numbers won out in the end, and thus they carefully arranged for their own presumed loss, escaping in such a way that the other alchemists were never even aware of it.
‘Maaike’ is a false name, a minor mage family thought up as a cover for a certain rogue branch of alchemists whose magecraft was originally from Atlas itself. They generally stayed out of the affairs of the Mage Association unless absolutely necessary, preferring to seclude themselves and keep their activities entirely secret while they continued their generations-long work. No matter how stealthy they were, however, eventually suspicions began to rise. A cold case was re-opened, and agents of the Church and the Association suddenly began showing a new interest in this supposedly dull magus family based in the Middle East. The Maaike knew that if things continued, their connection with Atlas would be exposed, and the Institute’s allies would move swiftly to contain and eliminate that which had escaped long ago.
What they needed was protection, an ally who could shield them from the hounds sniffing at their heels and keep the truth from coming out, at least for long enough that they could complete their work. Yggdmillennia represented a power they could align themselves and use as a shield, a power unlikely to pry too deeply into their secrets so long as they remained useful.
Nuari is the latest heir and representative of the Maaike, though she views herself as no more than a cog in the machine that is their project. The Grail is a potentially useful opportunity, both politically and in terms of the power it offers, but to her it is no more than that.
Maaike family: “A device for the realization of a dream, of which I am one component.” Atlas: “A threat to our dream. Avoid where possible.” Mage Association: “Useful resource, but also an inconvenience and source of threat. Keep contact to a minimum.” Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia: “Our shield. Do not trust him beyond his utility in this respect.” Alethia Mathers: “A mage. Some similarities in family history, may be a possible tool.” Slaine Druiminn: “A good boy, but his magecraft is unsightly.”
Origin: Observation Element: Imaginary Numbers School of Magecraft: Alchemy
Memory Partition: an ability used by the superior alchemists of Atlas. It represents the ability to partition thoughts to form multiple independent thought processes. While normal people can only focus on one thought at a time, users of this ability can partition their mind into multiple ‘rooms’ to attack a problem from several angles at once. Advanced users (of which Nuari is one) can perform further titration of their thought processes within these rooms, allowing them to maintain hundreds of separate thoughts at once and perform complex calculations even when occupied with physical tasks.
Thought Acceleration: the main magecraft of Atlas alchemists. Allows for inhumanly rapid thinking, and is a prerequisite for Memory Partition. Used in combination, they vastly increase effective computing power.
Zero Dipping: temporary means of accessing pockets of Void Space and hiding oneself or small objects within them. While in this space, one is effectively outside of reality, and cannot be accessed or harmed from the real world without the use of corresponding magecraft… However, it’s inefficient as a storage method. Its only real use is as an emergency hiding space for Nuari herself or something that she absolutely needs to protect.
Fragrance Annulus: small ring implanted in Nuari’s nose. Vastly enhances her sense of smell, and connects it with the ability to sense magical energy. Her abilities are on par with a bloodhound, or perhaps one of the Hounds of Tindalos; she can detect the nature and origin of a spell even hours after it was cast.
Azure Distiller: an artificial right eye implanted in her skull. Not a true Mystic Eye, but its abilities are on par with them. Not only does it allow for improved sight, it can also configure itself to receive different ‘wavelengths’ and see things that could normally not be seen, from infrared radiation to magically concealed objects to things no human mind would even be able to comprehend.
Q.E.D.: her robes, which act as a strong ‘proof of existence’ of the one wearing them. Can temporarily maintain the user’s existence while in Void Space, and also protects them against conceptual attacks that would erase or distort their nature.
Void Bolt: one of two Maaike weapons in her possession. This one resembles a long brass rifle; when fired it triggers a localized collapse of reality into Void space, about 5 cm wide, that propagates outwards in a straight line for up to 500 meters. The destructive power of this collapse is absolute: anything caught within its narrow path is simply removed from reality as humans know it. However, it propagates at sub-sonic speeds, moving more akin to an arrow than a bullet, so even a human may be able to avoid it if they are fast enough.
Daydream Sketchbook – Void-Reality Observation/Verification Apparatus: a Supreme Mystic Code created by the Maaike. An absolute heresy on par with some of the weapons created within Atlas itself. The form wielded by Nuari resembles a tiny slip of paper no larger than a bookmark, but this is in fact merely a terminal connecting to the true device, which weighs over a dozen tons and is located entirely within Void Space. Activation of the device severs the proofs of existence in an area up to fifty meters around the terminal and allows the temporary superposition of ‘alternate realities’ in a temporary fashion until existence fully reasserts itself. Effectively, the terrain is rewritten to suit the user’s desires: a forest floor can become a field of molten magma, a castle wall can become nothing but air. Individuals and objects can be entirely erased from existence, or left to contend with their new circumstances. However, this effect lasts no longer than two minutes, and once existence reasserts itself anything directly changed or erased by the Sketchbook is reverted to its original state (though secondary effects occurring naturally during the re-write’s duration do not revert, ex: get burned by the floor that is now lava and you will still be burned afterwards). Once used, the Daydream Sketchbook must reconfigure itself before its powers can be accessed again. The time required for this depends on the scale of the re-write performed: affecting an area five meters in radius will put it cooldown for an hour, whereas using it to its full extent will mean it cannot be used again until ten hours later.
Circuit Quality: D Circuit Quantity: E
Other: For some strange reason she is mildly allergic to cats.
Okay, so I’m going to be honest, I have a couple of issues with this one.
Five Mystic Codes is a lot for any magus, let alone a Yggdmillennia clan member. Regardless of the actual power of half the Codes, it’s still quite a sum that’d take a lot of money and skill to make. Most mages we see in canon don’t have that many, or at least we don’t see them use them. To me that implies that either most mages don’t have this many Mystic Codes, or Grail War-worthy Mystic Codes represent a fairly substantial investment not all families are capable of putting together.
Nuari’s Void Space magecraft feels a little over the top. Now in all fairness, El-Melloi II Case Files did establish that “normal mages” (a.k.a. people like Trisha Fellows who are still Clocktower elite but don’t have any super-special OP bullshit magecraft) are capable of making small pocket dimensions or other feats of spacial manipulation, but I feel like being able to do so on this scale is a bit beyond the level of skill/experience most Yggdmillennia mages would possess. Space-erasing projectiles, person-sized pocket dimensions, and a Mystic Code that can temporarily swap/overwrite chunks of reality with whatever terrain or objects the user desires is not only a power that’s a bit too rife for abuse (for a Master at least). To me, that feels like a Noble Phantasm or the kind of Bounded Field it’d take a lot of time and resources to make, rather than something that can be deployed on the fly.
The background presented here seems a bit implausible. Mostly in the way this family managed to not only escape Atlas but remain unnoticed and undetected for years. People like that seem like they’d be capable, resourceful, and reclusive enough that joining an organization like Yggdmillennia would be unnecessary. The other thing about it is... it just doesn’t really fit the aesthetics of this group. Underdogs, outcasts, misfits pining for revenge or their time to shine. That’s what Yggdmillennia is. Mages who were rejected, abandoned, or made outcasts by the Association and mage society writ large. The Maaikes, to me at least, come across more like they’re playing both Atlas and the Association for fools.
@Turboshitter The boring kind, as in, like Tokiomi's relationship with Gilgamesh levels of boring.
Also, I've also been thinking about a hazard to add besides a time limit one and I'm torn between the limitation being the degradation of her Magic Circuits (which fits into the Mather's family magecraft being a hazardous thrown together thing created after Gregor and Crowley fucked up everything) or degradation of her mental faculties (the allowing a spiritual being noted to be beyond human understanding to enter one's body shouldn't be healthy to one's mind) the more time she spends channeling an Archangel.
In your opinion which is better?
I like the degradation of her Circuits because it implies that hosting these things is literally burning her out slowly from the inside.
@SSW I'll stick with her yes, while I like the chimera crafter a little more personally his personality doesn't mesh well with any of the current Servants except perhaps Cadmus bust even that is a big stretch so I feel Aletheia is a much better alternative.
@Turboshitter I've edited my sheet to make Aletheia more utility heavy through the use of her familiars and angelic invocations rather than combat focused. Do you think there are any other areas I could change things up on?
What sort of personality issues do you foresee? Some conflict between Masters and Servants can be fun, after all.
Also, does doing this hurt her body at all? Like does it have a time limit? I don’t know what the exact rules would be for lesser spiritual beings but a human allowing themselves to be possessed by a Servant will explode in like half a second under normal circumstances. Perhaps an interesting limitation on her combat abilities could be that they are effective but short-lived?
@Heavy Snark If it makes the decision any easier, a menagerie of chimeras to ride into battle or use as familiars for scouting could do well in making up for the absence of Roche and Avicebron’s golems.
Fish of Oblivion,
Lemons,
Punished GN
