Name: Izumi Yamamoto

Age: 17

Personality: A relaxed and casual individual, someone who seems to take life one step at a time and wherever the wind blows. The kind of individual who seems more easily approachable, and a stranger might be willing to speak with on the fly. That being said, her true nature deeper down is the kind of hard-worker who throws herself into whatever she does with a smile. She is also the type of extrovert who can be rather headstrong at times, and is the sort of overbearing person who is willing to grab some random friend's or acquaintance's hand and drag them off to some other activity without a second thought. Despite her seeming positivity and lust for life, however, when she angers she does so in a patient, passive-aggressive manner. For example, she could drop a stone-cold and deadly serious threat while disturbingly smiling at you as if nothing is wrong.

Abilities:

-Proficient Gun Skills (Just with her Tanegashima-Style Matchlock Gun Mystic Codes)

-General Magecraft, Fire Magecraft, Tanegashima (Family) Magecraft

-First Aid (Basic)

History:

One of five children born to her parents, and as the heir to the Yamamoto, Izumi's life was one of plenty and hard work in their expansive and isolated estate near Mount Fuji. For as many of the years of her life as could be squeezed in by her parents, she has been drilled in magecraft and usage/creation of the tools of her family's craft. She and her siblings were taught to support each other and form a bond, in order to form the framework for the next generation, though the weight of responsibility upon her in better perfecting and then passing down her family's craft was ever weighed upon her shoulders.

Most of Izumi's life so far has been without any big incidents or issues, and her mundane school life outside of diligent training has been rather standard. However, as of late her being chosen by the Holy Grail has thrown her into an unexpected and interesting situation to be sure. A ritual conjuring heroic spirits, and something about an object granting one's wish? What her family could dig up, at least, gave some background for what was to come. As such Izumi has been packed up, prepared, and sent off to this little place in the middle of nowhere in the Gifu Prefeecture...a heroic spirit by this point by her side.

Were she to achieve such a promised miracle from this situation, it could be used to elevate her family's craft to perfection in her generation alone. Hundreds of years of work, completed by cheating to get the information needed granted by some magical device. Even so, her top priority has been labeled as 'to survive, resolve things, and get home in one piece at the very least'. Whilst a wish would be valuable, to lose their art in the process would be even worse.

Other:

-Family: An odd Japanese magus family, who originally were smiths that got involved in the making of Tanegashima guns in the mid-1500s, before a traveling western mage from Germany came through and ultimately introduced them to magecraft. From here they continued the study of magecraft in the main family, whilst the branch family continued to make guns as a front and to keep income going through the era of the Sengoku Jidai. Come the Tokugawa Shhoguns and the Sakoku, they retreated inwards on their Fuji-based estate and built it up into a great mansion complex. Meanwhile, they were left stuck with a cache of Tanegashima guns which would become outdated antiques and rare ones at that made by their family. By the time the Meiji Restoration came around, they'd married in at least two foreign mages from Germany into their bloodline order to build ties and resource networks in the West as well as improve their own magecraft.

They have become mages who still to this day make matchlock Tanegashima from the ground up as mystic codes, and have a store of antique guns on the side to experiment with in regards to their magecraft to boot. However, unlike many other mages they are unorthodox in that they do not have a goal to access The Root. Rather, they take pride in their focus on the ever-moving progression and perfection of their craft. The perfect magical firearm, the perfect magical ammunition, and the overall perfection of an art in preparation, creation, and execution of it. Or in other words, a kind of enlightenment found in the perfection a craft.

They create their own magecraft-tweaked ammunition at home with varying effects, ranging from exploding mightily on impact to a homing curse to even non-lethal things such as applying a healing spell to the target. Then since the gun is already a properly made Mystic Code, it is just a matter of pulling the trigger and this will fire the shot.

-Other Family Info: A very unorthodox magecraft-wielding family, bearing multiple children to help take on various roles. One could take this as old traditions hey had and the concept of a mage somewhat fusing into a highly abnormal pattern of things over time, though where things became as they are has become muddied and hard to figure out. What is known is that from a young age a certain sense of 'community' in the family is enforced among them each generation, with each generation seeking to continue to develop and work on their family's art. One would be the heir to their crest, leading the rest of the family in their pursuit, whilst others would take up roles as dedicated smiths and craftsmen, public faces, and the ilk.

Due to all of this, they are seen as trivial abnormalities who aren't worth really any note at all. At least, save for the family head's general involvement in the Creation Department.

-Equipment:

Both of her personal Mystic Codes, in the form of her own Tanegashima matchlock rifle and matchlock pistol respectively. Includes equipment to use them in the rain.

A small array of ammunition types for her Mystic Codes.

Money and a Cellphone for communication.

Basic essentials like clothes and such.

Name: Thomas Gardner
Title(s): Magister Templi, Third Order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Gender: Male
Age: 63
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Objective for the Grail: To bring the Holy Grail to the Golden Dawn, if only to throw it in their faces.

Personality: On the surface Thomas is a polite and charming individual, the very picture of an English gentleman. Having spent the better part of his life as part of what is essentially a secret society Thomas has developed a way of dealing with people that can best be described as aggressively diplomatic; he is friendly, approachable, and amiable and yet rarely if ever gives any sort of hint towards his true feelings or motivations.

A determined individual who is not easily swayed by others and someone with the fortitude to forge his own path and follow his own goals even if others seek to place obstacles in his path, yet savvy enough to toe the line and not make enemies unnecessarily. Such social acumen was needed to survive in the Golden Dawn, especially when he is seen as such a… controversial figure by many.

History: Thomas comes from a long line of Magus; not the most impressive line, nor the oldest, and their name hasn’t always been Gardner, but a long line nonetheless. Thomas’ family have been practitioners of Witchcraft in Europe and Britain since the middle ages, engaging in both sides of the art as both black witches focused on curses and hexes and white witches focused on protection from the former.

Even with this age the Gardner Magic Crest is not as well developed as it could be. Being a witch in Britain has always been a hazardous occupation and the family has been forced into hiding a number of times over the years as the craze of witch-hunting rose and fell in popularity. In particular the writing of the Witchcraft Act of 1604 was nearly the death of the Gardner line and their Magic Crest was all but lost during this period.

Thankfully they managed to outlast the witch hunters and the family survived, though diminished in size and power. Over time they began to recover and the complexity of their crest grew in leaps and bounds, however it wasn’t until Thomas’s grandfather and great grandfather that the family truly began to flourish. They are the ones mostly responsible for making the family what it is, at least in terms of wealth and influence. That being said, it was also his grandfather than nearly ruined them.

Thomas’ grandfather joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn after being invited to be a member by another magus via their joint association with the Clocktower. Being a talented Magus in his own right his grandfather quickly rose through the ranks but was at the same time a controversial figure who upset a lot of people by publishing books on occultism. The books were complete nonsense which he saw as both a way to make money while also having some fun but others in both the Golden Dawn and the Clocktower saw it as potentially threatening to reduce the amount of mystery in the world by revealing secrets about Magecraft. In the end he was acquitted and no punishment was given, but the Gardner name was forever tarnished by the accusations.

This controversy has directly affected Thomas as well and means that a number of people within the order have taken a disliking to him on principle. It doesn’t help that his style of Magecraft is seen by some as out-dated, archaic or even barbaric in nature; it seems even Magi are not immune to developing certain stigmas around witchcraft. There have been numerous occasions where people have tried to question whether or not his family should even be allowed to keep their association with the order, citing his grandfather’s past discretions as reasons, and whether or not Thomas and his obsolete style of magecraft can possibly contribute anything of worth to the order.

This did not prevent him from climbing the ranks to become a member of the highest order of the Golden Dawn, as progress through the ranks is determined by skill and learning rather than politics, but he had to fight his way through opposition every step of the way.

When Thomas first received word of the Holy Grail war in the east he tried to keep it a secret, wanting to enter the war himself without the Order learning of it, but it was not long before others found out and the expected arguing and politics began. The Golden Dawn wished to send a member to participate, but all wanted the glory for themselves and none could agree on who to send, other than that it should definitely not be Thomas. Rather than argue in his own defence or try to convince the order to sanction his participation in the Holy Grail war, Thomas opted to simply make the decision for all of them and leave; he acquired a suitable catalyst from the Golden Dawn by what some would consider theft and headed for Japan, lacking the resources of the order to which he may or may not still be a member but backed by the considerable wealth of his family. However his theft of the catalyst would turn out to be pointless, due to the peculiar nature of this war.

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Magecraft:
General Magecraft – The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is more than capable of teaching novices the basic magecrafts to the same level of competency as the Clocktower.

Elementalism – Those in the First Order of the Golden Dawn must study the concepts of elementalism and prove their understanding before moving on to the next level. Every member of the Golden Dawn who has advanced past this stage not only knows how to use magecraft that matches their affinity, they also have knowledge of all the other affinities they cannot use. Thomas himself has a dual affinity for fire and earth.

Bounded Fields – While knowledge of and even proficiency in the use of bounded fields is expected in the higher members of the Golden Dawn, Thomas has taken this understanding even further. He is capable of casting Advance Bounded Fields and Bounded Fields that are supremely hard to detect; over the course of many years he has honed his ability to combine Bounded Fields with his other specialties, particularly Sympathetic Magic, to create some interesting effects.

European Witchcraft – An old form of magecraft not much favoured within the Clocktower due to its close association with curses, European Witchcraft is as much to do with the protection and prevention of curses and afflictions as it is with creating them. Thomas is well versed in the common practices of European Witchcraft including scrying, divination (particularly that will allows for objects/people to be found), healing and protection from harmful magecraft. His particular focus in this area is in the creation and use of Poppets and other items.

Sympathetic Magecraft – A style of magecraft dictated by the laws of Sympathy and Contagion based on the idea that one can influence something, even people, based on its relationship or resemblance to another object. Thomas gained a basic understanding of this craft through his studies of European Witchcraft which makes use of Sympathetic Magecraft in places, particularly in the creation and use of Poppets. Finding himself particularly interested in the subject Thomas continued his studies in this area over the course of decades in order to become a true master of the art, even beyond what is often associated with European Witchcraft.

Weapons:
Grand Poppet – The ultimate expression of Thomas’ art, the Grand Poppet is an item created by Thomas over the course of decades using the principles of European Witchcraft and Sympathetic Magecraft. It is a humanoid figure; a doll woven out of Thomas’ own hair and stained with his blood, creating a Poppet so steeped in Contagion as to be considered unwise or even obscene by other practitioners of his craft, were they to learn of it.

The aim of Sympathetic Magecraft if often to create an object that in some way resembles the object or person that the Magus is attempting to manipulate, but in many ways the Grand Poppet is more ‘Thomas’ than Thomas is and as such it attracts much of the harm that is intended for him whether that be magical in nature or physical.

Ring of Vampirism – A Mystic Code in the form of a ring which allows for the extraction of blood from a person over short distances, which is then stored inside a small internal reservoir. This object has an extremely short range, between five and ten feet at the most, and works best when in direct contact with the target with greater distances slowing the process of extraction. The target feels no pain and the quantities of blood being extracted are so small as to cause no negative effects to the target. However, due to the innate protection against invasive magecraft that all Magus have, against them this ring is only useful for drawing blood from an open wound.

Image Capturing Glasses – A simple pair of glasses capable of capturing and storing an image of whatever the wearer is observing at any given time and recalling that image when requested.

Amplifier Staff – A simple amplification style Mystic Code resembling an ornate cane or walking stick. Intended to be used to strengthen Thomas’ elemental magecraft in particular should he ever need to get his hands dirty.