Far away from the modern world rested a holy cup. It was nestled deep inside of a cave, far from human eyes. A thin layer of dust covered its rough wooden shape as a testament to the fact that it had remained untouched for a long time. This cup was the Holy Grail, the real Holy Grail, and a shadow of its glory had once been a part of a great and terrible contest between mages.
It was an artifact of untold power, powered only by untold sacrifice, and it had been untouched for a very long time. In another world, maguses would have their servants fight to the death over this grail. In some worlds it would become corrupted and in other worlds it would remain pure. Sometimes it would grant a great wish and sometimes the only people capable of using it would die terrible deaths. In this world, the world of ours, it had once caught the blood of a simple carpenter, and was forgotten.
Until now.
Golden power flowed forth from the grail as a strange light illuminated the cavern that it rested in. The cup's power had been touched by Alaya herself, and soon a golden liquid seeped out from the top of the grail and onto the pedestal it sat on.
The water continued to flow outwards in all directions before moving with an unnatural motion, congealing into a single large pool which then sprang upwards in defiance of gravity. The gold continued to spew from the chalice as the liquid turned into a pillar and rose higher and higher into the cavern. All the while radiant power saturated the cave with energy.
And then the liquid fell away, leaving behind a single gold-haired man who was dressed in a fine golden armor. He blinked once and then clicked his tongue, all the while smiling arrogantly.
"You summon me for this grail war, not to compete, but to administer it. Not to act, but to direct." He noted to no one in particular, although his conversation partner was listening intently. "I hope, for your sake Alaya, that this war proves to be entertaining. For me to wager the use of my personal treasure is already asking a lot, this contest had better be adequate repayment. "
His name was Gilgamesh, the great King of Heroes. In the entire world, everything was his possession. Indeed, he was to be the ruler of Alaya's great Grail War. In this impromptu war, there was no one better suited for administering this tournament than him. And, while Gilgamesh had half a mind to simply tell Alaya to screw off, she did promise at least some semblance of a show that he had never seen before.
"I suppose that I can at least orchestrate a performance for the ages, even if you give me mongrels instead of real actors."
So he would humor her, at least for now.
It wasn't like she could wish him out of existence in a heartbeat. Nope, that had nothing to do with his willingness to aid the goddess of humanity.
"Well, first things first, I guess I should summon the masters for this contest. I don't think they actually know what they're doing in this world." Gilgamesh mused as he picked up the Grail beside him. With a careless shrug, he tossed the Holy Grail into the air behind him, not at all watching as it disappeared into a golden portal that led to somewhere outside of this world. After all, all the treasures of the world were contained inside his Gates of Babylon – the cup would be safe for now.
"By the command of Alaya and the servant Ruler, I summon forth the minds of the fourteen masters for this war!"
At his command, fourteen lights were summoned into existence. Each one corresponded to a master that Alaya had chosen to participate in this tournament. Gilgamesh himself didn't know who the masters were, but Alaya had promised him that he would soon enough find out. Regardless, they were sure to be disoriented and confused, at least one of them was registering nothing but complete terror at the situation. He could feel their emotions, and they were the finest appetizers for the finest meal.
This would be fun.
"Greetings chosen meat bag masters! I am servant Ruler and I have summoned forth the fourteen of you with a magnificent announcement, so rejoice!" Gilgamesh proclaimed with a radiant grandeur, throwing up his arms and bathing the cavern with treasures from his personal vault. "I declare that this Holy Grail War will commence! The fourteen of you will summon forth fourteen legends like myself, although vastly inferior to me, in a bid to gain my favor. The winner of this war will be the last master to retain control of their servant and I shall bless them with any wish in the world."
"Be it material, such as gold, or immaterial, such as returning a loved one to life or fixing a mistake of the past, no wish will be too great. Now, summon your servants and prepare for war. I grow tired of this lecture so I'll not bother with the finer details. Instead, you shall simply know the rules."
Gilgamesh snapped his finger and smirked devilishly as he drank the terror of the fourteen lights before him. With a simple cue, Alaya had inserted the rules and finer details of the grail war into their heads. Such magic was unfortunately beyond the great king of heroes's abilities but there was no point in letting the actors know that. No, it was best to let them think him as truly omnipotent.
"Know now what you do, with that knowledge in your minds, I shall see you in one month's time in the Holy Land of Judea. There we shall create the most magnificent performance to ever grace this world. Now get out of my sights you mongrels!"
Intro
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the War for the True Holy Grail. If you cannot already tell, this will be a Fate/Stay Night based RP. You will create your master and servant, and pit the pair against others for the One True Holy Grail. If you have never heard of Fate/Stay Night or Fate Zero, feel free to ask any questions. This is mostly an interest check so I and the people more familiar will be more than happy to explain and expand things for you. For now, here are some of the basics:
Fourteen sorcerers have gathered and engage in a Battle Royale, each gambling his or her own life to obtain the Holy Grail, a legendary chalice capable of granting wishes.
Each of the sorcerers, better known as Masters, is aided by one of the seven summoned spiritual familiars known as Servants, who are the reincarnations of legendary souls from all across time. These resurrected Epic Spirits, possess superhuman characteristics and wield powerful artifacts or abilities called Noble Phantasms. A Noble Phantasm's hidden abilities may be released by invoking its true name, but casual brandishing of a Noble Phantasm is best avoided, for symbolic Noble Phantasms usually belie a Servant's identity, diminishing that Servant's competitive advantage. Specific legends may be summoned with the aid of catalysts, which are artifacts, ideas, or experiences similar or of value to the desired Servant. Only one Servant can be summoned in each war from one of seven classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Assassin, and Caster.
As only astral entities (i.e. Servants) are physically capable of retrieving the Holy Grail, Master and Servant are forced to cooperate. Masters control Servants with three Command Spell, which are crystallized miracles issued by the Holy Grail that manifest on a Master's body. When activated, Command Spell permit a Servant to accomplish an incredible feat, or alternatively provide Masters with the authority to issue an irrevocable and absolute order to a Servant. When all three Command Mantras are used up, Servants are no longer obliged to serve their Masters, and as such, may freely choose to turn upon their ex-partner. In the event of a Master's demise, a Servant may choose to bind him or herself to another Master; if a Servant is slain, a Master may ally with a wayward Servant or pursue sanctuary with the Holy Grail War's impartial/totally biased overseer, the Ruler.
The Holy Grail materializes fully only when there is one Servant left standing; therefore, it is not necessary to vanquish Masters in order to win the war. However, as many Servants possess powerful Noble Phantasms and are grueling to defeat, many participants have chosen instead to eradicate Masters, who are responsible for maintaining a Servant's presence through the supplication of Mana.
So now I ask... are You my Masters?
The Servants and their Masters
This covers a great deal on the concepts of Servants, the requirements for summoning, and a few of the 'official' servants that could be summoned. Of course, this list is pretty limited.... which is why This link provides a great list of potential servants!.
FAQ, Rules and Character Skeletons
Some Rather Important Rules
The Golden Rule: Thou Shalt Not Godmod
It's funny 'cause Gilgamesh is OP as hell. Points to the people who get this. Fundamental stuff here people. You cannot take control of another player's master and servant, that's basic. However, simply talk to each other and figure out what acceptable to both of you and write a good story from that. Use Google Docs to write together when you can in a single post for combat, and come to something everyone can be satisfied with. I will ultimately have a final say if people cannot get along and co-write together, and I will glance over stats and strategy to determine what occurs. PLEASE REMEMBER… this is a story, not a PVP game. Nobody can really win.
The Fair-Warning Rule: Thou Shalt Give Fair Warning Before Blowing Up the Plot
It's all good being able to do whatever you want, but if your character is going to do something jarring to the world like say… detonate the local Power Plant into a meltdown or something equally outrageous, please inform me BEFORE you do it? Yes, this is a writing game, and you can do whatever you want. But blowing up a city to kill thirteen masters through nuclear fallout is REALLY pushing the line. Might make a decent plot. So shoot it by me first.
The Good Summaritan Rule: Thou Shalt Summarise Your Posts
Sometimes you read a post the writer finds fascinating, and which many others may also find fascinating too. However, others may well find it dull as dishwater. As a Good Summaritan, you should give a comprehensive and short summary of any posts exceeding 5,000 characters at the head of your post, in a hider labelled 'Summary'. You can also give these summaries for shorter posts if you are a Summaritan unparalleled.
We're all here to have fun, these are the three most important rules in my view and I don't need to spell out every rule imaginable, because RPGuild rules are generally the same. Use your logic, come to the GMs if there are any issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do we have to have a servant to compete in the Grail War?
Initially, yes. But if your servant is slain, your master is not necessarily out of the running, and could potentially compete on his own. Remember, Masters are nowhere near the levels of power of their Servants.
2. How many Masters are there? Servants?
Fourteen of Each. For this game, you will play both your Master and your Servant.
3. Can I use Noble Phantasms without limit?
Not quite. Every Noble Phantasms will have their own unique features, but typically they do take Mana to use… provided by either the Servant itself, or the Master. The Greater the Ranking, the Higher the mana cost. There’s no system in place for this, but use this concept to RP. Arturia would never open combat with an Excalibur blast, because this would drain her to exhaustion and open her easily to attack from her opponent if they survived or a third party.
4. Can I just hang back and let the others kill each other off first?
You could, but that would be boring. Ultimately, we’re writing a story, not an arena grudge match, and its more fun when people interact. Not everyone is immediately an enemy… alliances and friendships can be made, people might have similar desires for the Grail. And sometimes, the path to victory is never as clean cut as it seems...
5. I want to make a Non-Mage character.
Typically, its only Mages who summon Servants. Fortunately, I am a benevolent deity. You may make your normal human Master.
6. I want to create a mage whose at the highest calibre of the Mage Assosciation and can summon all seven servants, and possess all five true magics and-
Woah there tiger. That’s called a Mary Sue. Please try to make your characters real. Don’t give us perfect mages with ultimate powers. Give us characters people can relate too, and either love or hate for their own virtues. No one person can do everything.
7. So, is there any posting order or can I just get working on my post?
There is no posting order or limit, you can post in any order and as many times you want. Do try to allow two players to post after your last post before you post again though.
8. I want to create an original Servant of my own custom design.
That is technically impossible. While yes, Counter Guardians could be Summoned, and heroes from the future are ‘technically’ a thing, they cannot be summoned in this game. You may create a servant from an existing Historical Figure or myth no later than then 1800.
9. How do I know when its okay to engage in combat with another Master?
That’s ultimately up to you.
10. Why doesn't the spoiler work anymore?!
...click on 'Toggle' below the writing box and the formatting cheat sheet will appear to help you out with that.
11. Who is Ruler?
An impartial and totally biased Servant whose goal is to Oversee the Grail War. Unofficially, he’s a proxy for me to either remove or nudge unruly players in this game while still keeping the plot fluid. ANd he might have a plot function later.
12. What is the ‘Gate of Babylon’' everyone seems to fear?
Fear it.
13. I want to create a nercromancer/fire mage/alchemist!
You can if you so wish. However, Nasuverse rules on these magicks still apply. If you’re creating some form of magic not in the Nasuverse, let me approve it first and hash out the details together.
15. Can my Servant be Arturia/Iskander/Kojiro Sasaki?
Yes, though I’d VERY much wish you’d pick a different/original one. See the list of unofficial servants above and borrow one of those if you’d like...
16. Can my Servant be Gilgamesh/EMIYA/Servant Already taken by master?
No.
17. Can my servant be the Third Saber?
Of course you- NO, YOU NITWIT.
18. Can I be any of the side classes? Shielder, Avenger, Shocker...
Only the Standard Seven Classes are allowed.
19. I want more than one Servant
It is entirely possible to come into possession, later, of more than one Servant. Contracts can be forged with a wandering Servant once the primary Master has been killed. Do note that the mana upkeep of TWO servants will be extraordinarily draining.
20. I really want to just RP as a Master or Servant, why do I need to play the pair?
The number of people and coordination that would take would be insane if we had to match every player master with a player servant.
Nobody said you can’t. Medea in the 5th Holy Grail War more or less went solo as a Servant after killing her own Master. Rin/Shirou continued to fight despite losing their respective Servants. Ultimately, don’t see either component as a ‘Way to Win’. Treat them more like characters in Game of Thrones… anything can and should happen for the sake of a good story.
21. Is it possible to destroy, steal, take, appropriate, eat, put out, bury, dodge, parry or in any other way reduce the catastrophic damage of the Gate of Babylon?
*summons Ea* Mongrel….
22. Can I summon Zeus? Thor? The Archangel Michael?
Not quite. Im hesitant to allow the summoning of any heroic deities into this game. While this isn’t a hard no, playing something like would require me to look extensively at your sheet and speak to you about its viability and acceptability.
23. My desired class was taken! Twice! Now I can’t play my desired hero!
Not at all. Many heros can fit into various Classes as long as the concept would fit their legend, though certain attributes or features might change. Hercules could be played as ANY of the Classes other than Caster. King Arthur could be a Lancer, Rider, or even an Assassin due to his myth. Fionn Mac Cumhail could be played as Lancer, Caster, or Saber. These are just examples; the opportunities are endless.
24. I just created something! Awesome!
Great, now go fill out one of the sheets down below and post it in the OOC you miserable minion. All characters must be approved by me.
25. Are the number of players allowed likely to change? Or the rules of the Grail War?
Maybe. This is not the Fuyuki Holy Grail and the rules of the War are moreso assumptions. Who knows what Ruler may decide at any time...
26. Hey haven't I seen this entire FAQ from...
Eat your heart out Kho.
1x Laugh
