The Holy Grail War, a battle of mages, waged by pitting the Heroes of the past against one another for the possession of this wish granting cup of heaven.
This ritual, once carried out in the far eastern city of Fuyuki, has been appropriated by the agents of the Holy Church and established in the city of Prague. Now magi from all over the world have come to Prague to try their hand in the conflict, to summon their Servants and pit their magecraft against one another. Overseen by the gathered agents of the Holy Church, this war will now wage to its finnal conclusion, a single winner who will earn the right to have their most personal wish granted by the holy artifact.
Though similar in name and form, the old rules of the Grail seem to have been overwritten, and now any number of participants of any variety of classes is possible.
Your character arrived in the midst of this, and, after a summoning their Servant in a location of their choosing, was invited to the Prague Castle complex, wherein the Cathedral of St. Vitus sits, a bastion of neutrality in the strange and increasingly horror filled city. There they will be inducted into the war by the Holy Church, and granted the special privileges of sanctuary should their Servant fall in battle.
In the meantime however, other strange forces have begun to appear. Something odd is certainly going on in the grand Cathedral, this so called safe haven. Meanwhile strange disappearances have begun to happen all over the city, as well as bizarre episodes of mob violence. Strange bands of foreigners are roaming the streets after dark, and recently the city's inhabitants have begun going out less and less at night.
Either way the gathered Masters and Servants must slay one another, or so the Church Agents claim, but with no way to predict how many Servants may join the war in the long run, and no assurances as to the current number loose in the city, it may be wiser to find an ally and band together before you strike out blindly...
Though the city of Prague be raised to ashes, the Grail War shall now commence.
Character Creation & Balance:
All Characters should be submitted to me via PM. I believe in asymmetrical balance, so do not expect perfect parity with other players. As the player it is your job to try and capitalize on your advantages, and, if need be, team up with others to fight against superior opponents.
Though I will try to permit each player as much leniency as possible in determining which characters to field, certain high powered Servants may be depowered before they are approved, under the guise of errors in the summoning process. If too many people choose to field extreamly high powered Servants or Magi I may increase restrictions. Gilgamesh, Hercules, Karna, and other such Servants will not be accepted.
Once your character has been approved post it to the Character thread and you are ready to post in the IC Thread.
Just to put this out front, but I don't accept Gods, or modern fictional characters as Servants. Certain incarnations of gods from Hindu or other mythologies may be acceptable, ask me if you have doubts.
No godmodding, metagaming, auto hitting, or excessive profanity. No sexualy explicit content.
Please employ at least basic spell check. Exceedingly bad grammar or paragraph format will be called out.
Please format all post with a centralized header name, like so:
Character Name
Text text text text....
You are permitted to discuss possible future interactions or plans OOC, but if I sense that this is becoming a form of Metagaming, or that animosity is occurring as a result of this, it will be banned.
Posting order is not strictly enforced, except during battles.
If a battle or high pressure situation is playing out IC you must respond within 48 hours or your turn will be skipped. If you are being directly targeted during this time your character will be puppeteered by me or another Mod to move the scene forward. Expect your character to be injured or killed depending on the situation. If an RL problem is occurring warn me in advance for exemption from this.
Talking is a free action. Using a Command Seal is a free action. Activating a Noble Phantasm however, is not.
IMPORTANT: Each Player is expected to run one Servant and Master team as a single unit. You will be playing both Master and Servant of this team. There will be no dual Player teams.
This is to eliminate the phenomena of players A & B being left stranded when player C, who controls the Master of Player A's team, and the Servant of Player B's team, goes inactive shutting down both teams. This frequently results in a chain reaction of inactivity, killing the entire RP. This is a non negotiable condition.
If you have little enthusiasm for playing a Master or a Servant feel free to minimize the role of whichever it is you have no interest in. Playing a Servant with a distant Master who approves all his actions and rarely appears is perfectly acceptable, as is playing a boisterous Master with a mostly silent Servant who only shows up to act as a living shield. It's your choice, but at the end of the day both must be under your direction.
Player interaction will be primarily achieved through enemy interaction and team ups with other Master Servant Pairs, so plan for an alliance heavy Grail War.
Skyline The Setting of the War is Prague. The city is large, labyrinthian, crowded and old. Many nooks, crannies and back alleys offer opportunity for concealment during the nighttime hours. Larger engagements may be readily waged in the various parks and open spaces that dot the city and remain largely uninhabited by night. Down the center of the battlefield the vast Vltava River runs, splitting the city, joined together by a series of stone and steel bridges.
In the North, on the east side of the river lies St. Vitus Cathedral, the seat of power of the Holy Church. Enclosed by Prague Castle it dominates the city, and forms a strictly neutral zone, patrolled by dozens of skilled Burial Agents and watched over by Ruler, the grand mediator of the Grail's Will. This is the first, and final destination of all contestants, as they must come here to gain the approval and protection of the Church before beginning their battle, and shall return hence to collect their finnal reward at the conclusion of the war.
It is here that the primary Nexus of Ley Lines gather, feeding the new Grail. Though this Nexus is occupied, canny Magi seeking to exploit these natural wells of power, may be able to follow these underground rivers of Prana outwards to locate and draw upon the 3 lesser nexus within the city.
To the direct South lies Petřín, a tall wooded hill where the southmost Ley Line comes closest to the Surface, making it a prime location to collect additional Prana. Overlooking most of the city it is an obvious location for a Servant to defend, provided they can erect a bounded field to dissuade the usual park goers.
To the East over the river is the heart of the city's downtown district. Wide and sprawling it is difficult to find seclusion here, making it an optimal location for Servants to hide, less those who would try to bring them to battle risk exposure and the wrath of the Holy Church. The Ley Line here culminates at the Estates Theatre, a large and opulent theatre house dating back to the 16 hundreds.
To the West lies the scattered residential zones of the city, Střešovice. A quiet village like atmosphere and lack of tall buildings or busy streets along with heavy tree cover makes for a nearly rural setting. Its open nature and lower crowds makes it a natural battleground in a city that is otherwise highly cramped. The Leyline here is positioned under the Letohrádek Hvězda, a hexagonal white mansion which lies in the center of an expansive wooded game reserve.
In between all of these is the seemingly endless maze of houses, restaurants, shops, lots, lains, warehouses and all other infrastructure that make a city what it is. In a pinch and will do for a hiding place, or defensive position when one's life is on the line. Beware though, for there are other things besides Servants that seem to be making their way through the less seen areas of the town, and these may very well know the urban jungle better than you.
Though far, Servants travel fast, and the outskirts of the city, with its wide tracts of woodland and empty fields, beckon to those who have no patience for trying to conceal their actions from the wider public or seek wide open spaces for their mounts free reign.
Name:
Gender:
Age: Some Magi may exceed the natural human lifespan. In the case of Homunculi they may be only a few years old. If either of these apply, please include the age that they appear to be.
Appearance: A general description. A picture if possible, do not feel compelled to provide one in the anime style.
Personality:
History: A few paragraphs of their background minimum.
Physical Ability: A simple Ranking E-A+ covering general strength, endurance and agility. If you character specializes in one over the other, make a quick note. E represents an invalid, child, or very old person. A represents someone at peak human capacity, almost certainly having undergone extensive physical training. A+ Represents those who have surpassed the ordinary human maximum by some means. This is your character without reinforcment magecraft or similar boosters.
Mana: A simple ranking E - A+. Lower ranks may be banned from performing certain advanced magecrafts. All Magi with multiple generations of lineage should possess at least rank D in Mana.
Magecraft: List of spells known. To a certain degree, a magi may be able to improvise magic on the fly, but you must consult with me before doing anything not put here, apart from those spells on the basic magecraft list. Reinforcement magecraft and your capabilities while employing it should be listed here.
Mystic Codes: Magical items or reagents used to enact or amplify magecraft.
Skills: General Skills and disciplines of note. Please be realistic. High aptitude with magecraft at a young age is permitted only because Magi are trained from a very young age. Mastery in multiple disciplines will require explanation.
Equipment: Mundane equipment and resources. Please list a general range of their available funds here. If they have a vehicle or a storage space please list it here. You are permitted to have large stockpiles of resources, but I will want justification for why you have them. Very few Magi, even poor ones, should have only what they can carry on their person.
Misc: Anything that does not fit in the above categories.
Name:
Title: An alias or nickname which sums up their position in legend.
Class: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Caster and Assassin are the only Classes accepted.
Gender:
Appearance: A general description. A picture if possible, do not feel compelled to provide one in the anime style.
Alignment: Their moral compass and outlook as understood in modern times, regardless of how they view themselves.
Personality: Personal characteristics.
History: Feel free to leave a link to a source for their legend, however a brief summary of their life and deeds is expected. At least two paragraphs.
Armaments: Any weapons they are summoned with and use that are not Noble Phantasms. Body Armor and shields go here. If they possess ranged weapons please describe their ammunition and rate of fire as well.
Parameters: General measuring stick for Servant capacity. Some Servants may transcend the scale momentarily or perminatly depending on conditions though this will be rare. Phantasmal Beasts use their own scale.
Strength: Bodily might in terms of power.
Endurance: How much damage one can withstand.
Agility: Quickness and speed of reaction. Speed is generally related, but separate.
Mana: How much magical power one starts with, and how well they are able to manipulate it in general.
Luck: General fortune and tendency for things to fall in your favor.
Class Skills: Skills Specific to the Servants Class.
Personal Skills: Skills the Servant possesses due to their legend. These are general indicators, not concrete rankings of ability. A Servant with a high rank in a combat orientated skill for example, is not necessarily a better fighter than one without it. Its function is to describe the Servants skill in battle, not to rank it.
A magical Artifact or special event from the Servants Legend. Not all Servants need have one, but most will. Try to keep it around three, but one is perfectly acceptable. Do not try to turn every little thing your Servant did into an NP, especially if they already have one.
Name:
Title:
Type: Self, Anti-Unit, Anti-Army, Anti Fortress, Anti-World.
Rank: E-EX. If you are unsure, I will assign your Noble Phantasm a rank depending on its age and powers.
Range: The distance from which something can affect its target. Self, something that affects the user. Touch, something that must make direct contact with its target. Short, within a few yards. Medium, a few hundred yards. Long, distance measured in miles, please be specific.
Description: Its function.
Spell List: If any are possessed, list them here. It is possible for Servants besides Casters to be skilled Magi, though their most potent spells will be locked away.
Weaknesses: Specific weaknesses possessed by the Servant, if any. For example, a Hero slain by a viper may take additional damage from poison.
Prana is the magical fuel that is used to enact Magecraft and support Servants. Magi generate it naturally, but Servants consume it to maintain their existence, and must continually seek it out to remain in top fighting condition.
In this RP we will not be keeping a precise tally of prana consumption per action taken, but general measurement will be kept. Each Rank of Mana is given a value of 2 (Servants with E rank Mana starts out with 2 units, a Servant with A rank Mana starts out with 10, and a servant with A+ rank Mana starts out with 12)
1 unit will be consumed each day to maintain the Servants existence, and each battle a Servant engages in will consume a minimum of 1 as well. Protracted engagements will consume more, especially if expensive Noble Phantasms, or techniques such as Prana Burst are used. An extended battle with Noble Phantasms used can be expected to cost an average of 3 or 4 points of Prana.
Not all Servants consume Prana at the same rate, as Servants with Low Perimeters cost less to maintain over all than those with high parameters.
Magi generate 2 units of prana per day + an additional unit of prana per their Mana rank, hence a Magi with E rank Prana will produce 3 units of prana a day, and a Magi with A rank will produce 7. They add an additional 4 points to their production if they cease all activity for the day, entering a rest state and devoting all their energy towards acting as a prana battery. They use prana at a lower rate than Servants, and do not require a regular upkeep.
Servants are capable of devouring humans to gain prana. A Servant can go all out, and devour their victim entirely, killing them, or they can restrain themselves draining them only partially, resulting in the victim falling into a coma from which they will one day awaken. This however results in a significant decrease in the amount of prana gained.
A single unit worth of prana can be gained by devouring 1 human utterly, or 5 partially.
A Servant without a Independent Action uses their Mana rank to determine how long they can maintain themselves if their Master is killed, or the Servant contract is broken. E = 2 hours, D = 4, C = 6, B = 8 and A = 10.
Drawing from a Ley Line Nexus grants an additional 4 prana a day. A Magi with appropriate training should be able to set up a bounded field designed to draw power from a Ley Line in about 8 hours (ie a full days work)
Caster Servants, with their ancient magecraft can draw forth 8 points of prana per day from a Ley line if they establish themselves upon it.
In extreme cases a Servant can choose to gain an additional 2 points of prana by sacrificing their own stats to prolong their existence. Hence, a Servant who has reached 0 points of prana, can replenish their reserves by taking a full rank down in all parameters. To regain its former stats, the Servant must expend 6 prana on raising them to their former levels. Obviously this should be regarded as a last ditch measure to prevent death by prana starvation until another source of prana can be found, or the master is able to replenish himself.
The basics of magecraft that common Magi culture dictates a user of thaumaturgy should know. Any Magi raised as such from an early age should be able to perform the following. Hedge Magi, or those who received inadequate education may be deficient in some of these areas, but unless listed, it will be assumed that your character knows these.
Basic Familiar Creation: Creation of familiars, typically birds and insects suitable for scouting, spying, and delivering messages.
Hypnosis: The mental manipulation of non magically adept persons. Memory erasure, compulsion to obey, and the implanting of false concepts is common. If your character uses this for reasons other than simply deceiving ordinary people, please list it in magecraft. The use of hypnosis to make an old woman forget they saw King Arthur is assumed, the use of Hypnosis to convince the local police to perform a hit for you is more advanced and should be noted.
Basic Bounded Fields: Creation of a Bounded Field that confers intruder alert, soundproofing, and mass hypnosis of ordinary citizens to divert them from noticing supernatural events, is common.
Transfer of Consciousness: Seeing through the eyes of a familiar, through the eyes of your Servant, or use of a seeing stone is common. This includes long range mental communication with your Servant.
I will soon, but I would like to get my two mods in and have them make their Servants before I start in earnest. We also still want to hammer out a few plot elements.
Hey, can I get in on this? And if so, are there rules on the time period Servants can come from (no post-x year stuff)? Because I really want to have Pecos Bill as a Rider, and I think a lot of Fate RPs would consider the Wild West era too recent.
Yes, I will accept Bill. I was shakey on wild west Servants for a long time, but then I realized that jack the ripper is younger than a lot of them, and besides, cannon blew the lid off that one awhile ago.
They keep breaking their own rules. I don't mind I guess, im just disgruntled that they made those rules at all in the first place :P
Yes, I will accept Bill. I was shakey on wild west Servants for a long time, but then I realized that jack the ripper is younger than a lot of them, and besides, cannon blew the lid off that one awhile ago.
They keep breaking their own rules. I don't mind I guess, im just disgruntled that they made those rules at all in the first place :P
I kinda figured that the canon rules regarding time period have been all skewed ever since EMIYA, although I guess he could be an exception.
@Sublimation Yes, King Hassan is acceptable, though depending on his Master he may drop a few stats here and there. If he uses Azrael i'm going to roll a D10 for that proc. Instant death is not something I generally like. If you want to invent a new NP for him in light of this, that's fine to.
@Sublimation Do they ever explain what Battle Continuation EX entails exactly? Considering what Battle Continuation A can do, I can only speculate that it's the ability to ignore fatal injuries for multiple hours.
Alright guys, I can already see the handwriting on the wall, so I am revoking the option of keeping your Servant's identity and Noble Phantasms secret. It presents several problems of its own, especially with planning related to alliances. Several NPC Characters however will remain secret, Ruler being the primary example.
Alright guys, I can already see the handwriting on the wall, so I am revoking the option of keeping your Servant's identity and Noble Phantasms secret. It presents several problems of its own, especially with planning related to alliances. Several NPC Characters however will remain secret, Ruler being the primary example.
Speaking of, is Ruler's picture supposed to be indicative in any way of who he is? I want to check before I give into the temptation to reverse image search.
