Prologue
Clock Tower, 2019
"Lord El-Melloi, are you really sure about this? The balance of power here in the Clock Tower will shift without your presence..."
"Reines is already old enough to handle these affairs, Gray. Besides..."
The short snippets of dialogue, barely audible past the closed wooden door of the office that the two present were speaking in, were punctuated by the noise of books and other documents being shuffled around. The prestigious Lord El-Melloi II, known throughout for the Clock Tower for how he drew the potential out of his students, was busy packing whatever it was that he needed away. His assistant, a young woman donning a cloak to cover her face, was standing quietly off to the side, a worried expression on her face as they spoke. El-Melloi himself was staring at a single stack of papers, the light filtering in from the windowsill more than enough to let him read the contents out loud.
"Fusang City: built in the middle of the Pacific by a joint committee made up of the U.S., China, Japan, and... The Clock Tower. To think that the Animuspheres would willing to reveal the existence of magecraft to the UN and set this spark off... It's almost absurd," he sighed, placing the papers off to the side. "Despite retreating to the middle of Antarctica, their actions have set off a long chain of events that have thrown the world into chaos. More than that, though..."
Flipping the page over, Lord El-Melloi stared quietly at the line he had highlighted. This, more than the widespread knowledge of magecraft, stood out to him.
"Servant Summoning. Despite not having the Holy Grail as an anchor, the residents of this multinational city are able to summon Servants. Of course, there is no Holy Grail War, so I still question the validity of this matter, but this is something that the Clock Tower is unable to overlook any further."
"That's why you're being sent over?" Gray asked, quietly packing a few more books into her superior's luggage. "Didn't they have a few representatives over there presiding over everything already?"
"Well, yes. But for some reason, a certain former student of mine had decided to submit a proposal—without my approval, no less—asking that I teach over there for a few years instead. 'If it's him, he'll certainly find the diamonds in the rough among them and turn them into great magi!' What a headache..."
The way that Lord El-Melloi spoke of the 'former student' only brought one face to Gray's mind, and their name wasn't even necessary at this point. But it was by this point that El-Melloi himself had finished his preparations. All that was left, of course, was the flight over.
"Gray, contact me or Reines if anything goes awry en route; we are moving on different routes because of that, after all. Though, knowing Flatt, I'll be getting mail every week regardless," he remarked, closing up his suitcase and putting on his coat. "Well, in any case... We have a flight to catch."
With that said, the soon-to-be professor took his leave, his assistant following close behind.
It was a long flight to the other side of the world, after all.
Fusang City
Following the revelation that magic (actually magecraft) was real in the early 2000s, the UN hastily put together a committee to work alongside the Clock Tower in regulating anything even remotely involved. This, in turn, led to another small arms race between developed nations in search of knowledge—this, in turn, was stopped in its tracks by the various factions making up the Mage's Association. Though they loathed their centuries of secrecy coming to naught, a few more progressive magi decided to take this opportunity to seek alternate paths to the Root. Among them, of course, was Fusang City.
Fusang City is less of a city and more its own nation-state. Created on an artificial island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the cooperation of multiple first-world nations led to the rapid development of infrastructure; it could be said that the place had essentially sprung up overnight. What sets this place apart, though, is the ability for the residents therein to summon Servants.
Built on top of a miraculous set of overlapping leylines, the summoning ritually normally reserved for combat has instead become a mainstay of life here for the students that make up more than 3/4 of the city's population. Of course, there are measures in place to stop rampage, but the system itself is somewhat more flawed than the one from which it was derived.
As a whole, Fusang City is a land of high-rise apartments and skyscrapers, and of schools and universities that supply the attending students with knowledge of science and liberal arts. As a result of this multinational coalition, though, students are all mandated to learn English, Mandarin, and Japanese in class. For the few with magical circuits or those with potential to become (or are) Masters, though, there are a scant few classes regarding magecraft and the application thereof.
This is not to say that the city is all modern, though; the efforts of a certain few Servants have led to the development of districts more in line with, for example, classical Roman or Sino-Japanese aesthetics. The former, for example, has a giant Colosseum in the center of the region which plays host to various Servant matches depending on the time of year.
In order to keep the city running, though, there stands at the center a giant building that towers over the rest. Comparable in height to the Taipei 101, this building, shielded by multiple barriers and magical wards (thanks to the various Casters contracted to protect it) plays host to the administrative staff of Fusang City, as well as the main AI and computer systems that maintain the city's infrastructure and transportation network.
Students are officially allowed to summon their Servants at age 14, though the end result is based off of both Master aptitude and any possible catalyst. Of course, anyone who knows the ritual can summon a Servant, so this rules is a bit harder to enforce, but the subsequent monetary fine for an 'illegal' Summon is levied on the person in question (or their legal guardian(s)). They keep the Servant, though, so a few impatient (or rich) children tend to ignore the law regardless.
This RP is essentially a mix of Fate/Requiem, A Certain Magical Index, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stories and series. In essence, it's students summoning Servants in a school setting in lieu of actual magecraft. Of course, there's a basic curriculum and specialization regardless, but even so.
For the most part, players will be playing students (who may or may not yet be Masters) and Servants; instructors may be on the table, but focus won't be placed as heavily onto the 'school' aspect here, if at all.
As for Servants... There's only one major set of rules.
Unless you're:
a) Gilgamesh et. al*
b) a Lostbelt King (e.g. Ivan, Qin Shi Huangdi) or from a Lostbelt (e.g. giant horseman Xiang Yu)
c) a collab Servant (e.g. Shiki, Prisma Illya, etc.;) or too silly (e.g. MHX/MHXA)
, anything's fair game.
*Gilgamesh is a VERY odd case. He utterly destroys the balance of any encounter that he comes across, and given that Ea is... Ea... There are notable problems to his appearance even disregarding how much he'd dislike modern society (as compared to Uruk or the Moon Cell). You'd need to go VERY FAR in trying to make a case for him, basically. The same goes for Servants like Enkidu, Karna, Arjuna, etc.;. If you can sell me on why you should be allowed to use them and that you won't go all-in on trying to beat everyone into submission, I'll consider them.
Players are able to make up to two Servants and one Master, though the second Servant necessitates the completion of a Master before anything else. The ideal scenario is that you pair up with one another, but we can a) use NPCs to fill in the gaps and b) self pairing, though a bit awkward, is situationally acceptable.
Speaking of, forms for your convenience.
There's more detail to be fleshed out, but this should suffice for the moment. Any questions, concerns, or what have you, just chime in and ask; I've already got more stuff in the works, so hey, maybe you might ask something that I already have an answer to. Or something.
