@King Cosmos Alrighty then, good to know. That's a pretty much by the book explanation for what happens when a Noble Phantasm is used by someone who isn't the owner. I don't know if degrading to just a normal weapon is totally right, but it is impossible for others to draw out the true name of a Noble Phantasm or the associated effects without some special circumstances.
@Sightles If you're sure about that that's fine. Thank you, we are currently short on Masters but we've been up less than half a day. I anticipate covering a slot or two if things are dire but I would say they look rather optimistic at the moment.
@King Cosmos I like what I'm seeing here, classic Berserker that brings his own, unique flavor to series staple Berserker mechanics. You are good to go.
Out of curiosity though, there is one thing I'd like to clarify for myself about that NP. The NP weapons and gear dropped by it, I get that he can't wield them, but does their falling from the sky constitute an attack? I guess what I'm asking is whether or not the effect is clobbering people to death with falling Viking loot or if they're Broken Phantasms exploding as they land, or some kind of support arsenal. Either way's cool, but part of me just always likes to know what the tone is going to be for collateral damage ahead of time.
@Sosuke Working fast! Don't sweat it though there's plenty of time to go around and those are some of the most important parts.
Edit: @ERode Then that would tie us up for Servants, nice. Time to begin drawing sweet, sweet Master blood from the playerbase stone.
Awesome! I've actually been meaning to ask if we may know a little bit more about how exactly our characters will be starting out, as far as talking to our new Goddess or whether or not we'll be scattered around the map.
And on the topic of special kinds of Masters, that makes this an excellent time to break the news that we will, eventually, need player Masters. I suppose the ideas for them come more naturally after some Servants are drawn up though.
As for Servants, noted, @Sosuke. That leaves us with only Assassin up for grabs at the moment, as we have at least stated interest in every other Servant Class.
@Ever Green Gotta remember those pesky Master's clairvoyance visions showing people your stats. Obviously hiding the legend is totally okay. I've accepted a person who used an obfuscated version of their CS that scrambled/copyright neutral renamed some of their incriminating ability and NP titles, as well as a Servant who had a skill that gave false information to people assessing their abilities. The latter already exists in canon in some big cases. At any rate if you've got a reason and a doctor's note for why people shouldn't be able to read parts of your CS I'm totally cool with having the obfuscated "public version" in the character booklet as long as the real deal checks out.
Well, thank you for asking since I made the mistake of not taking that information over from our interest check. We can run as a large group and focus on the battle royale if we get the numbers and players with the inclination to mosh things out. I think, right now, it's more likely this thread will see some of the teams player controlled and some covered by NPCs while it more closely follows whichever plot the player groups decide to proceed down.
I don't really have any strict guidelines on power-level sorts of stuff besides the usual "try to keep things fair and balanced." A strong Servant with a famous legend is rightfully so, but thanks to the arbitration and game-like rules of the summoning system anyone is vulnerable somehow and nominally any class can win the war... just not necessarily in a straight fight. There's more ways to win a grail war than duking it out. My general policy, as unsatisfying as this answer may be, is always to go with your heart on things. You know if you're committing something fun and interesting to play with/against to the thread, and you can generally feel when you're putting in something that's just written to be invincible. If you want to feel extra authentic about balancing your Servant I recommend taking a gander at some F/GO parameters for similar legends or better yet looking at the Container Parameters table on the Servant page of the wiki and working up from there.
The funny thing about Fate is the disparity between what is stated in some materials and what actually happens in the stories. When it comes to power-levels regarding Masters I think the anime adaptations are king in this regard. The original VN and especially Zero tend to be a little overzealous with just how much faster and stronger Servants are compared to the 'average human' baseline which becomes meaningless and confusing when the average Magus shatters that baseline as well. It's an element of the series that has been continually toned down (not that it was ever strong when a magically roided ethics teacher punched out King Arthur and Rin took lives off of Heracles) to, I would argue, good effect. Magi are notably weaker than their Servant counterparts, comes with the territory, but it's totally okay for their abilities to contribute meaningfully to the Grail War and combat between teams.
We now have an OOC thread! With a bit of scenario setting. I'll continue to be in both of these threads if questions arise but we've got a proper home now.
The Grail War ended on the night of October 29th, 1994. One errant Master brought to a sudden close a ritual hundreds of years in the making, its history stained with the blood of those who offered up their lives for a chance at one wish. He rebelled against the nature of the war after laying hands on the Grail itself, commanding his Servant to destroy the vessel and with it the hopes of the world of Magecraft. The host city of Fuyuki, Japan was ravaged by a fire that followed soon after, and the rebel mage escaped in the torment and chaos that followed. Unlike the damage the Grail had sustained in the wars past, there were no fragments left to recover. The destruction had been thorough, as if it were not enough to break the vessel apart but to exterminate its traces entirely.
No greater icon of the avarice of mankind existed. It was a vessel said to grant miracles, to endow its holder with all the Earthly gains human minds have lusted for since its legend began. A sip from its gilded body would return youth. Simply holding the chalice was said to make a man immortal. Possessing the Grail could bring happiness and fortune to one's life. To seek the Grail was a Godly act, for as time shaped the legend it became the last goblet of Christ, anointed with holy blood. Desires and dreams to suit the passing ages were heaped upon the innocent Grail, and though its powers transformed from one telling of its story to the next the human desire for a tool to grant wishes never waned. The Holy Grail of the Magi was the wish granter they needed to undo the decay of Magecraft. Though the mystic arts of the world had found ways to preserve themselves since ancient times bloodlines did die out, knowledge was lost forever, and while some lineages flourished the world of the Magi grew weaker with each successive generation. Little by little the mysteries of the world had been peeled back, and the incessant march of technology threatened to invalidate the Magi before they could even fritter away their diminishing power. The loss of the grail was catastrophic to those who thought it would mean a permanent reversal of that decline, and without even the remains of the Founding Families' efforts to rebuild from it looked as though the path to greatness offered by the Grail would be lost forever.
As fate would have it, it was not. Decades later, as the summer of 2021 began, the Europe based Mage's Association announced that it had received a declaration from an anonymous source, a letter that had first been dismissed as a foolish hoax penned by a maddened mage. Dismissed until Magi began to report being marked by the grail, red seals of command appearing on their body, declaring their right to summon a Servant of their own for a Grail War that was not happening. The letter, as reproduced and distributed to the affected, read:
"Dear fellows,
I have created a Holy Grail. Let us bring about an end to the era of Magecraft, for that is my sincere wish upon the Grail. Please pass along this letter to those who will manifest Command Seals in the coming weeks, so that they may be informed of their role in this important and monumental ritual. I have selected the Americas, where the Association is not so free to meddle, as the site for this awakening of the Grail. To be precise, the United States, city of Boston, Massachusetts. How thrilling, to call a city of revolution home for what will assuredly be a great upheaval of our hidden little world. I do not know where the Grail will manifest and it is not yet prudent to share where I have hidden away the foundations of the ritual. In the meantime, let's have ourselves a straightforward, honest Grail War. The birth of a new Magic is finally come!
Have you need of a name to believe me, I would prefer that you address me as Yours, Mr. Crowley"
Whether they came forward to receive their letter or not there was no denying the call of the Grail on those that it afflicted. Visions came to them in their sleep, the glow of city lights, the soft crackle of sputtering lanterns, the towering sight of a red-bricked church, its steeple crafted in brilliant white. Voices whispered to their dreams, calling them to the City upon a Hill. Invisible hands came to carve their seal into the flesh. Bruises blossomed over with blood to reveal the decadent symbol of a Master, the three Command Seals that the aspirant would bear until victory or death. There was withdrawal, there was failure: Only so many of those who became eligible could muster the will, the power, or the fortune to summon their Servant before the Grail had filled its ranks with contenders. But for those who dared to pluck the threads of legend, draw them to their side and summon a Servant for their war, the deathmatch had begun. The letter said what it must, but any mage knows the truth: The Grail is for granting a victor's wish.
Hello and welcome to Fate/Secondary Genesis! It you didn't know this is a thread based on Fate/Stay Night, its surrounding stories, and the Nasuverse. The players will be taking up the roles of both the Masters; magicians chosen by the Grail to do battle and their Servants; spirits of legend with their own wills to the grail who (usually) do battle in their Master's stead. Currently this thread is set up around the series standard seven Masters/seven Servants setup, but that's about as much of the source material you'll need to know. This thread will be fairly freeform, in that there is a plot to follow but the player is free to interest themselves in it or focus on the war the story takes place in. My priority is always to reward and furnish the world around player driven storylines. The series itself is usually character driven, and that's the kind of atmosphere I strive for in the thread. If you have any questions or concerns at any point, for any reason, please feel free to contact myself @Epsir or my co-conspirator @DrowsyPangolin through PMs or this thread. Thank you for reading!
Name: Age: Elemental Affinity: Alignment: Origin:(The basis of your character's existence) Appearance:(image or description)
Magic Circuits Number:(A-E) (We'll assume C is average) Quality:(A-E)
Magecraft/Abilities:(Spells and/or powers your Master has)
Other Abilities:(Skills not related to magecraft)
Mystic Codes:(Any magical items your character has, from potions and mana batteries to priceless, one of a kind family heirlooms)
Weapons/ Other Belongings:
Personality:
Short History:
True Name: (You may conceal your Servant's true name if you wish, although I would ask you to please tell me in any case so we don't get any shenanigans like the same Servant showing up as an NPC somewhere down the line.) Class: Alignment: Appearance:
Class Skills:(Skills your Servant possesses that are tied to their class)
Personal Skills:(Skills your Servant has because of their identity)
Weapon:
Noble Phantasm(s): Name Title Rank: Type:(anti-unit, anti-army, etc.) Description:
Personality:
Legend:
Summoning Catalyst:(If any)
Rules and Things to Remember
1: Be courteous and follow all general RP rules (no autohitting, godmodding, metagaming etc). Your characters might not respect each other, be the asshole of your dreams IC, but the joy of trying to murder each other in game is made better when we, as a community, respect each other and collaborate towards a fun game.
2: There will be combat in this RP. Please try to be reasonable with one another and remember we're all here to have fun. If disputes arise, I will settle them.
3: Characters will die in this RP. That being said, I take serious issue with 'falling rocks' style unreasonable deaths, so I'll try to be as fair as possible in that regard. Also, your character's death doesn't necessarily mean you're on an automatic out of the thread. Obviously you're welcome to hang around in the OOC all you want but IC there are definitely some shady things we can have you participate in if you're interested. Or, you know, rolling another character is generally fine too.
4: Nasuverse rules are almost always made to be broken. I'm not going to be overly pedantic about canon restrictions when the canon goes out of its way to modify them with every new addition. Generally speaking, if it can be backed by even the slimmest modicum of good old logic and mythology, we'll be good.
5: Please try to post regularly. Stick with us, engage in the OOC, and lets get a rotation going. If you've got to go, either on a break or for good, please inform me. You have my solemn promise that there will be no hard feelings either way: No game is better than a bad game and sometimes one just isn't for you, I just need to know if we're down a poster for the good of everyone else. If you're gone for a while and I can't get in touch with you after trying, your character will be controlled or replaced for your partner's sake, but you will be welcomed back if you return.
6: There's no problem with apping canon Servants as long as they're actually eligible to be here, but I would strongly encourage people to respec their favorite Servant or draft up a legendary spirit new to the Fate treatment to keep things interesting. As above: Need to bounce ideas off someone? I'm all ears.
7: As far as reserving character spots, I'm fine with you reserving a particular spot if you wish to do so. I understand it takes a while to make a character. If you reserve a spot and disappear though, I can't hold a spot for someone not communicating with me or the thread.
8: You are welcome to run both a Master and a Servant if you'd like, the only restriction being that they cannot be paired together. Actually, I strongly encourage running Masters (they always seem to be in short supply). You're certainly not required to run more than one character though.
9: Tact is always the word of the day. I prefer to keep things relaxed and communal when it comes to the thread. Please do your best to do the same and treat your fellow roleplayers with respect and dignity. That doesn't mean you've got to be up front and greeting everyone in the OOC if that's not your style, it just means these things work better with the understanding that we are all working together. I am always willing to help you and hear you out.
Fetzen