• Saber - Blaze Gamma (claim)
• Archer - Anza (accepted)
• Lancer - Cu Chulainn (accepted)
• Rider - Yankee (accepted)
• Caster - SSW (accepted)
• Assassin - vancexentan (accepted)
• Berserker - Reflection (accepted)

Masters: 4 accepted 1 pending, 2 open

Setting the Scene

The year is 2004. Spirit and Opportunity have landed on Mars, everyone is going crazy over their new Nokia Razrs, and Facebook has just taken its first step on the path towards total global conquest. The digital age has only just begun, and magecraft can expect to be secure in its secrecy for at least another ten years. In this time period, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, head of the Yggdmillennia network of mages, has decided to announce his intentions to secede from the Mage’s Association publicly by revealing he has obtained the Greater Grail of Fuyuki thought lost after the disastrous Third Holy Grail War in 1936, and that Yggdmillennia intends to hold its own Holy Grail War.

His proclamation draws swift retribution. Association Enforcers are sent in to try and steal back the Holy Grail but are ultimately dispatched effortlessly by Darnic’s Lancer-class Servant. Whether through luck or coincidence, however, the Grail’s internal backup system is activated, still intact even after Darnic’s decades of tampering with the Grail. The backup allows seven Masters selected by the Association to summon Servants to oppose what is referred to by the mysterious Ruler-class Servant as “the Black Faction”, thus making the Association’s chosen agents the “Red Faction”.

The war is to be held in Trifas, a small town in Romania. It is suspected that Darnic’s original intention was to summon the most famous lord of those ancient lands, Vlad III, as his Servant in this war. However, either something went wrong or a better opportunity presented itself, and now Trifas is simply a convenient battleground where no other Heroic Spirits of note besides the bloody Impaler may benefit from a significant fame boost.

Yggdmillennia, having chosen Trifas as their base of operations long in advance of their public declaration, has spent a fortune and decades of labor molding the surrounding area to their advantage. Reinforced castle walls, perimeter defenses, bugs and spies spread all across Trifas, an army of homunculi to serve as infantry and as a large reserve supply of magical energy for their summoned Servants, and most importantly, the Servants themselves. All the preparations have been made and yet Yggdmillennia remains cautious. Why? Perhaps the incarnation of the rogue Ruler Servant Amakusa, eliminated by Darnic in the 1960s after a long search for any survivors of the Third Holy Grail War, has left the clan feeling jumpy.

Both Caster and Lancer have been summoned months in advance of the actual Great Holy Grail War, and even as the Association rushes to mobilize in the two months given to them by Yggdmillennia, plans to summon the remaining Servants of Black are progressing as quickly as the Trifas leyline will allow. The nearby city of Sighișoara is suspected to be the touchpoint of the Red Faction’s offensive, as it is both in proximity to both Trifas and the capital city of Bucharest, making it a place where the secrecy of magecraft can still be preserved whilst making a large-scale invasion of the kind that could be hidden in Trifas difficult. Battle plans are already being drawn on how to deal with this and other x factors, but the most important variable remains the Servants.

The summoning proceeds quickly...

Locations

Yggdmillennia's ancestral land since before the age of the Ottoman invasion. A bustling little community modeled after the ancient buildings of Sighișoara, its residents feel safe within its walls. They know they are protected by the lords that live in the citadel upon the hill, and do well to respect when its lights come on. Though there is certainly magic at play keeping the townsfolk docile and unsuspecting, Trifas is otherwise unassuming, its traps and hidden secrets kept veiled behind the cloth of everyday life. Most of the buildings in Trifas predate the modern age and telling shops apart from houses or public offices can be difficult for those not from the area. Home to a variety of local industries, mostly agriculture and textiles, Trifas has a colorful local market and many restaurants, bars, and shops worth visiting.

Millennia Fortress

Farmer's Market

Main Street

Residential District

A small town of 20,000 to the north of Trifas, well-known for its preserved Middle Age architecture. It's a UNESCO heritage site and a popular tourist destination, which makes it a likely target for occupation by the Red Faction.

War Assets

The Millennia Fortress is a triumphant intersection of gilded opulence, medieval fortification, and magical might. Boasting over 200 rooms, including 36 bedrooms, 42 bathrooms, 64 fireplaces, three kitchens, five elevators, seven libraries, a swimming pool, a greenhouse, an atrium, a garden, and a vast underground complex outfitted with a panic room, a gymnasium, and all the industrial equipment needed to cultivate an army of homunculi, or whatever sort of product one might require a Workshop to make, it could truly be said to have everything. The fortress is surrounded by layered Bounded Fields that offer numerous methods of detecting or deterring intruders, as well as protection against attacks by forces that would attempt to forcefully besiege the estate, whether via directly repelling invaders or trapping them in a labyrinth of halls and doors that all open into confusing, non-linear architecture. Finally, the castle walls have been meticulously augmented over the course of centuries with various charms, runes, and other spells that make them capable of withstanding a prolonged bombardment from something with the destructive power of modern artillery without breaking. It also has a 24/7 in-house staff of homunculi trained as both bodyguards and competent servants, capable of seeing to any mundane task.

Enemy Intel

• The Clocktower is sending one of its elite instructors along with five well-known freelancers and a representative of the Holy Church to fight on their behalf. Most of the Masters of Red have been positively identified except for the Church representative and one other:
  • Feend vor Sembrem; head of the Sembrem noble family whose history with the Clocktower runs deep. An accomplished mage, his skillset is diverse and formidable. There are no gimmicks with this one. Between years of cumulative experience passed down through the Sembrem family and pockets deep enough to afford any number of powerful Mystic Codes, be ready for anything.
  • Jean Rum; freelancer and master of a particularly brutal brand of elemental wind magic. She's known for her fastidious nature and impeccable track record. Like the others, her chakrams make her a monster in 1v1 combat.
  • The Pentel brothers; Cabik and Deimlet. These two are considered oddballs among oddballs by the conservative branch of the Clocktower, but their methodology of dividing their family's Magic Crest between the two of them has made their naturally-honed teamwork even more dangerous. They're rarely seen far apart, so if you see one, be on the lookout for the other. They won’t be far.
  • Rottweil Bersinsky; also known as the Silver Lizard. This man is to be considered unstable and extremely dangerous. He's earned his reputation for a reason and he will not hesitate to strike the killing blow for even a millisecond. Excessive, unrelenting force dispensed with extreme prejudice is advised.