Prologue
On an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, far off from anything resembling a nation or any semblance of authority, lies a single building made of steel and stone. A heavy contrast to the lush tropical scenery around it, the building stands tall. Before long, a pair of figures begin to approach the building from a road paved with stone. The boat docked at the coast is enough to tell how they got here, but that in and of itself is unimportant.
"Mr. Zelretch, sir, thank you so much for coming to help us with this. As you know, there have been a lot of issues with the quantum mechanics of the device you've helped draft for us, and--" one man, cloaked in a long lab coat that nearly reaches his feet, began to say before being cut off by the older man to his side.
"No need to say any more. I had expected as much, so just show me what you have so far and I should be able to resolve the issue," the older man responded, a somewhat ambiguous expression on his face as the two near the building. Having stopped his rambling, the former knelt down near a small terminal and pressed a sequence of numbers into the device. A few moments later, and the door slid to the side, revealing not the interior of a building, but a solitary stairwell leading deeper into the island.
"After you, sir."
No more words were exchanged as the two slowly made their way down into the building, which was now more apparently a research facility. The area itself was impeccably clean, with only the occasional scientist or worker passing them by. The two continued farther and farther into the base, until they arrive at a hallway with naught but a door emblazoned with a series of magical sigils. Without another word, the man with the lab coat quickly dispelled the seals on the door, which proceeded to slide upwards and out of sight. Before them is what seems to be a large reactor of some sort, and in the center of it all is a small steel circle with a magic circle carved into it.
The older man, Zelretch, nodded without another word and stepped forth, his coat flowing behind him as he looked around--not at the device itself, but around the room. With a sigh, Zelretch massaged his forehead and turned towards the man in the lab coat, who was nervously waiting for the appraisal to come forth.
"The circle is positioned slightly off-center from the leyline that runs through here. I would've thought that you wouldn't have overlooked something so simple," he noted, berating the man beside him before walking forward and shifting the device slightly to the right. Immediately, the circle began to shine, and the man in the lab coat covered his eyes as the light began to cover the entire room. Above that circle, a few more magic circles become visible, showing that the device was constructed from a massive array of magic circles, all layered on top of one another.
"The preparation is complete. Send for the potential Masters now, because I CERTAINLY hope you have been scouting for them across the globe; if we are to have any chance at resolving the crisis ahead of us, we must act quickly."
With an embarrassed face and a hasty "Yes, Mr. Zelretch, sir!", the other man quickly exited the room, leaving only Zelretch and the device. The old man's face, which had been up until then a frown, could now be described as a faint grin.
"Hmhm... I wonder how long it'll take them to finish all of this. If I was in my prime, I could be done in a week--no, less."
With a laugh, Zelretch exited the reactor, leaving the device to continue whirring away.
Plot
This facility, while mostly unassuming, is the location of a device that accurately mimics the abilities of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg's Second Magic. Built under his supervision, the device itself was built to seek out various singularities that have been appearing in the timeline. The device itself cannot act upon or resolve those singularities, though; it can only create a method by which to reach them.
This is where the Masters come in. While there is no explicit 'Grail War' at the root of the singularities, each one does have a Grail at its core. These Masters are to use the mana present at their current location and summon Servants to aid in retrieving each Grail, at whatever cost necessary. By what means are the Masters chosen?
...
Well, that's Zelretch's secret screening process.
Notes
- Each player must submit both a Servant and a Master form; this information is NOT hidden, given the nature of the RP.
- The pairings for Masters and Servants are up to you (the players) to decide on. You can opt to play both halves of the duo, or not. Your choice.
- In regards to alternate classes or versions of a Servant: Only one version of a given Servant may exist at any given point in the timeline, unless stated otherwise (basically NPCs that may or may not appear in the future). No classes outside of the basic 7 are allowed (so no Ruler/Avenger/Saver/Shielder/Etc;). No Alter versions of a character (so sorry all you JAlter fans out there).
- Be reasonable about Servant abilities. Like... Seriously.
- Not all Servants have to be pulled from existing Nasuverse lore. They can be, but they don't HAVE to be.
- No Gil/Karna/etc;-level Servants. Just... Putting that out there.
- Servants have a very basic knowledge of the situation at hand when summoned to minimize the amount of exposition. They may need clarification or a summary of recent events, but that should be all.
Changes from Iteration 1
- One Servant and one Master per player, unless I have given permission otherwise. This is to minimize pairing clutter. On that note...
- Player cap. I feel that running two arcs at once ultimately slowed down the process of both (partially due to my own habit of wanting everyone to post before I did), and so I'm going to try to keep the number of players in the RP lower this time. I think I'll limit the number to... 5 entrants, myself not included. This also means that I'll have a total of six pairs in the RP, which is a reasonable amount to get an arc done in a feasible amount of time (aka not 6 goddamn months to barely get into the first set of arcs)... I think. That leads me to...
- An actual screening process. I'm not going to be running this as a first-come, first-serve sort of thing; quite the opposite, actually. While I may open slots in between arcs if people drop or spontaneously disappear, I shall not do so otherwise. With that in mind, I want at least the following from anyone aiming to join:
- Reasonable posting schedule. I'm not asking of anything absurd, like a post every day or something stupid like that (though I expect the posting schedule will be something like that the first few days of rerelease). I AM, however, hoping that something comes out at least once or twice weekly. If something comes up in life that prevents that, let me know and we can work something out. Last time I ran this, there was a giant delay between posts, so I'm hardcapping delays at a week, maximum. Any more than that and I'm going to keep moving, come hell or high water. Writer's block is a thing, and we all hate it, so if a bout of it kicks in, let me know. If you're already in the RP, I can figure out a way to keep your characters in without necessarily removing them. I'll be jumping a few hoops, but I'm here for you just as you are for me... Right?
- Ability to write coherent posts. Now, I'm not asking that we all be Shakespeare or Hemingway or what have you when writing a post, but I AM asking for posts that make sense within context of the scene, and then in context of the characters in said scene. This should be a non-issue, but let me say that I find no problem in people wanting to write long posts nor do I find fault in short ones. My problem lies in lack of meaning. Take that as you will.
- Willingness to bring up concerns/ideas/etc;. I'm in this for enjoyment just as much as you are, and I'm learning every time I try something like this. If something seems interesting or I may be limiting people too much, let me know. I may have reason behind my actions, but because that information may not always be conveyed up front, I may seem like I'm deliberately making things unfun. That is never the intent behind my actions. So speak up! OoC, PMs, what have you; don't feel afraid to speak your mind.
- Commitment. Yes, I know burnout is a thing, but I'd really like if the people who join intend to stick around for... Well, ideally, the entire RP. I don't mind the fact that people drop RPs, but if you are going to, at least give some warning to the people who are still in it. Morale always takes a hit when people leave, and if their status remains a permanent "?", then matters are made even worse.
- More things to do. I guess my biggest mistake last time was denying players agency at times, or making their stuff feel ineffective. I aim to address that with the arcs in mind (and with things moving faster, maybe it'll feel like less of a slog if that IS the case).
Forms
So... Yeah! Let's try this again, see if I can't get better results now or not.
