LukasVolkov

Fate/Secondary Genesis

Katherine pushed the man off her and jumped to her feet to run just in time to witness a woman kill one of the pawns. She felt the bounded field stretch and morph in response. A Servant. Someone’s taken the bait. Katherine ran away and felt bullets pelt her back. They gave the illusion of blood spraying from her ruined flesh. She fell like a puppet with its strings cut. Another victim fell on her, covering her “corpse.” Katherine took control of her proxy Master, she saw through his eyes in a form of pseudo-possession.

“Berserker. Come,” she said through his lips.

Fate/Eternum

The Lover

True Name: Julie d’Aubigny

Alias(es): Mademoiselle Maupin, La Maupin

Servant Class: Saber

Gender: Female

Alignment: True Neutral

Wish: “I want my life to my own once more, my dove by my side.”

Parameters
Strength: D+
Endurance: C-
Agility: B-
Mana:E
Luck: C+
NP: C

Class Skills

Magic Resistance
Rank D+

Riding
D

Personal Skills

The Talk of Paris
Rank EX
(When this Servant is in the city of Paris, this skill activates.)
Julie d’Aubigny was a controversial and highly regarded opera singer in the 17th century, and was the focus of gossip and intrigue most of her life, especially during her time in Paris where her name still echoes. Julie’s presence becomes intoxicating to everyone around her, making her all they think about; regular humans without serious mental protection become devoted to Julie, and will go out of their way to protect her.

Charm
Rank A+
Julie d’Aubigny was a gorgeous woman with the wits to match. Julie can get normal humans to do what she wants with a flicker of her eyelashes and few words. At this rank she can even give other Servants pause at her wiles.

Duelist’s Focus
Rank C
Julie fought and won many dule’s throughout her lifetime, honing her skill well past the finest duelists of her time. When faced against a single opponent she can begin sussing out their weaknesses within a few strikes of her sword. Should she be faced with more than one opponent however she is unable to focus enough to determine weaknesses.

Noble Phantasms

Passion’s Cry, Symphony of Wills
Rank C
Type: Anti-Team
Range: 25 m
Number of Targets: 1-5
Few opera singers can stand up to Julie’s bright, albeit short legacy. This one song is the sum of her life in one triumphant beautiful chorus that forces humans to flock to her and listen enraptured to her music.

Wiles of the Temptress, A Kiss Most Scandalous
Rank B
Type: Anti-Personnel
Range: N/A
Number of Targets: 1
Julie d’Aubigny was often the subject various scandals and controversy, the most talked of funnily enough was when she threw caution to the wind and kissed a young noblewoman in the midst of a ball resulting in no less than three men frothing at the mouth to duel her. She cared not for social constructs and let passion drive her. Julie passes this passion on to the person she uses this NP on. She embrace’s them and plants a sensual kiss upon their lips, if she’s allowed to kiss them for more than three seconds, Julie‘s passion becomes liquid fames being poured down the recipient’s throat. (Let’s face it if you're close enough she can plant a smooch on your lips you deserve death)

Appearance: Julie d’Aubigny will appear for the Grail War as an absolutely gorgeous woman wearing a fine crimson suit decorated with a fiery pattern in the style popular in France at the time of her life. She is graceful and fluid when in motion. Her skin is white as snow, her hair a wild black mane bound in a men’s ponytail, and her eyes pools of molten gold. She wears a slim top hat and carries an elegant cane with a blooming rose at its head. Julie carries herself as a noble man of her time would, with arrogant poise and utter surety.

Personality: Julie has no sense of boundaries nor modesty, caring little if anyone sees her in a state of undress, and often appreciating beauty close up. She does what she wants when she wants, appreciating everything life has to offer. Julie is defiant in the face of authority, often laughing outright when anyone thinks themselves better than anyone else. “I grew up in the palace of a king; he shat and bled as well as any beggar on the streets,” is often what she would say to any ruler thinking themselves better. Julie strolls wherever she goes, humming all the while. She’ll laugh gayly in the face of battle and has no shame in offering beautiful people a night in her bed even in the middle of a fight. She enjoys fighting as much as she appreciates beauty, often seeking combat out when she isn’t trying to get someone into her bed. Julie can’t sit still, and boredom is the bane of her existence.

Background: Julie d’Aubigny was easily the most interesting woman in the world during her lifetime. She was a vixen, passion incarnate. She answered to no one’s whim but her own and left a trail of lovers from both sexes in her wake. She was a whirlwind in her youth, traveling the whole of France with Sérannes, a friend of hers. She dressed as a man but made no attempt to hide her sex while she held fencing exhibitions or sang in taverns. While she took many lovers into her bed, Julie would truly fall in love with a young woman for whom she ultimately would burn for.

The years that followed she entered Paris and made her name as the finest singer in the city, if not the world. She won duels on stage and off, and was celebrated after a legendary duel of wits with Thévenard, a fellow singer and life long friend. Julie would again fall in love to the fair Fanchon Moreau. She was rejected sadly and tried taking her own life in grief, only to fail to die yet again. She eventually moved on and brought scandal upon them after kissing a young lady at a ball, caring little for the fallout. They won the three duels that came of it and fled to Brussels as they broke- yet again- the King’s rule against dueling.

While in Brussels she would remain in trouble with the law for dueling and assault. Then final years of her career would come about. She would, for a final time, fall in love with Marie Louise Thérèse de Senneterre and be with her for years until the time of her death. This would be what broke Julie d’Aubigny. After burying the third and final love of her life Julie retired her voice, traveled to Providence, and then died; from what it isn’t known.

Weaknesses: Julie is fine duelist, deadly even, but she is vulnerable to being ganged up on.

Fate/Eternum

Nightmare Queen

True Name: Queen Mab

Gender: Female

Class: Assassin

Alignment: Chaotic Evil/ Chaotic Good (She’ll redeem herself.)

Stats:
Strength: D+
Endurance: E-
Agility: A+
Mana: D
Luck: D-

Class Skills

Presence Concealment
Rank A-

Personal Skills

Of the Fey
Rank D
Queen Mab is famously attributed as being the Queen of the Fey. As such she is granted a significant boost to her Presence Concealment and Agility. This skill is the key ingredient to her identity as a Servant as well and is responsible for her rather tiny, fairy-like stature. Her physical body akin to glass, pretty yet fragile. Should she be hit by any sort of metal object, she will shatter.

Metaphysical Body
Rank C
The power of belief gave Mab life,made her what she is, and now has granted her the ability to be summoned. Given Mab was a metaphysical being born of humanity’s belief before she became a Servant-metaphysical beings in their own right- she leans more toward this by being able to attack from her spirit form indefinitely and grants her another boost to Presence Concealment, stacking with her Of the Fey skill. The double-edged sword aspect of this skill makes her devastatingly fragile to the thoughts of humans; those that truly don’t believe in the metaphysical are utterly unaffected by her, and she can’t assume a physical form around them, crippling her as she must assume it to have access to her Dreamweaver skill.

Dreamweaver
Rank A+
Mab is often associated with dreams and more commonly nightmares. Mab can enter the dreams of others and even manipulate them into horrific nightmares, or joyous fantasies. She physically enters the dreams of others and she can exit a dream in another location so long as she does so from the dream of another person. Mab can only enter the dreams of anyone in the middle of REM sleep. Mab can drain people of their mana when in their dreams and it will be her prerogative to sneak into the dreams of others whenever possible. Mab can even stitch the dreams of others together, linking dreamscapes together. This skill is available to her so long as her glass blades are undamaged. Once all have been destroyed, she loses this skill.

A Midsummer’s Dream
Rank B
Mab famously locked people that wandered into the forests of her people into fantasies and dreams’ making them nothing more than babes in the woods in the dark of night. Mab emits an aura in her very close vicinity that lulls people into a comfortable haze, then to a deep slumber if around her long enough. She can control when she gives off this aura. Sadly it doesn’t work on her fellow Servants as they do not, can not dream as mortals do. This skill’s strength waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon (the time it takes for her to put portals to sleep in her presence depends how full the moon is) and is at its strongest in the New Moon cycle and is only active at night while she is in spirit form.

Noble Phantasms

Twisted Reality, Wicked Fate
Rank A+
Type: Anti-Team
Range: N/A
Number of Targets: 2
Mab embodies everything wicked and twisted nature of the fey folk and this cruel weapon reflects her nature. Outside of dreams these razors are nothing more than a stylized pair of complementing blades each three times her body height in length. Inside the dreamscape of a Master she attacks their dreamself with these terrible razors, the damage is sustained by the Master’s dreamself is then transferred to the Servant through the very link they share. Once done the Master will be booted out of the dreamscape and awakened, believing it all to be some horrible nightmare. Mab activates the NP hidden in these twin blades by putting them together, forming a pair of scissors, she must have both to wield her one NP, so if one is destroyed, she cannot wield it.

Appearance: Mab will appear for the Grail War as three foot tall, child-like being with moth-like wings and a simple black dress. That being said she is no loli, she has human ish features but her arms are overlong, her eyes have no pupils, and her face has enough feral characteristics to fall right into the down right creepy category. Mab was never meant to be a cute little lady, she spent her existence terrifying humanity and her uncanny appearance reflects this legacy.

Personality: Mab is gleefully mischievous with a deep desire to torment and scare anything with a pulse in her direct line of sight. This is a Servant who will take to her new existence with joyous exuberance. That being said she is utterly terrified to return to nonexistence and will certainly fight to maintain it.

Backstory: Mab was given birth by the beliefs and superstitions of humanity itself like her kind before her and is a twisted reflection of Titania. She was utterly metaphysical, a precursor to the concept of Servants, and tormented the humans that ultimately created her for her own amusement. She clashed time and again with Titania, leading an army of twisted fey created as she was from the darkest nightmares of humanity. Most noteably she haunted the dreams of a young William Shakespeare to spite Titania, who’d taken a liking to the writer. She gave him terrible nightmares, deprived him of sleep, and nearly brought him to ruin; she would have a permanent effect on him as he would develop an obsession with tragedy. She existed for many centuries but eventually met her end as more and more people left behind the superstitions of the past, Mab faded starved the moment a human, the first she’d seen in quite some time, tried to offer her a bit of food like she was some rabbit, or child and swore revenge on humanity. She felt scared for the first time however as she faded from existence.

Mab’s story was written down in the Throne of Heroes due to her crossing several heroes in history and her connection to Titania, who earned her own spot inscribed on the Throne.

Weaknesses: Mab is even weaker against other Servants more than the others of her class, her weapons are literal glass (though a super hardened, deadly sharp glass) that would easily shatter if she crossed weapons with another Servant, is easily killed by a kitchen knife.

Fate/Secondary Genesis

June 30th, Franz Burine Plaza Hotel

Candles burned brightly in the hotel room. With a steady hand Katherine painted flowery text across the man’s flesh. He was calm, breathing easily. His eyes looked up but didn’t seem to register where he was at. Katherine set her brush down and muttered to herself. The man convulsed on the table before going slack. He slowly sat up, his runes glowing faintly. She led him out of the room with a gentle tug of the hand. In the adjoining room, more people waited, eyes blink and postures lax much the man. There was twenty or so.

The runes glowed in the low light of the hotel room, as she felt her mana drain a little as her mind became linked to theirs. Her mind reached out to the many more watching, waiting. She was a little proud of her work, she’d never commanded so many people at once before. Some were staff, others strays off the street. At their feet were an assortment of firearms, knives, chains. Boston’s underbelly was thriving so finding such an inventory was child’s play. For weeks she’d been working on this little trap, readying it. She smiled and walked out of the room and to the elevator. The lobby was bustling with activity as a punk rock crowd was gearing up for a night they would never forget.

“Did you enjoy your stay?” The receptionist asked as she passed the front desk.

“It was wonderful thank you.” She settled her account. Out of the corner of her eye she watched a young man in the lobby. He was settled in a plush armchair pouring over a book. He was handsome, well built, definitely arm candy. He looked a tad haggard sadly, hollow cheeks, bags under his eyes. On his hand a red mark sat, identical to her own. They’d fool the eye at a distance. Close up… but that was what Berserker was for. He was a Mage, low caliber, second generation, third maybe. He had had the intention to summon his own Servant, take part in the Grail War. He would get his wish though not how he’d envisioned.

The night air felt wonderful after being in that stuffy hotel room for days on end. Her hands had even begun to cramp! She walked into the building crowd waiting for the concert to begin. She looked like some punk rock reject, not her favorite fashion. Worst part was she had to cover her lovely tattoos. She was shoved into a man with way too much cologne. Growling, she pushed back. God, she hated crowds! She took a deep breath- sacrifices, sacrifices.

“Don’t murder the flesh bags, don’t murder the flesh bags,” Katherine recited. The mantra kept her sane.

A strum of a guitar signaled the concert beginning. Katherine gave the order. I’m the hotel she sensed her pawns pick up the weapons at their feet and begin shuffling toward the door. Inside the lobby she materialized the connection between her and her… assistant. She bade him to stand and through his mouth uttered a few words. She sensed a bounded field go up. Subpar at best and of her own craft. She was forced to give off the impression of her proxy being the real Master, that meant mimicking the skill of a truly inexperienced Mage which was a bastard unto itself- the boy had only been a student at the Clocktower for fuck’s sake.

Sadly she’d had to… dismantle his circuits some or her art wouldn’t take, cutting her off from his repertoire. He still had a few of course. It’d taken her nearly a month to prepare her good little proxy, even weak Mages had an abundance of will. He’d broken as they all do. In her mind he prepared the incantations necessary to begin syphoning mana from the souls of the crowd to power Berserker.

Then the pawns broke through the ornate glass doors of the hotel. Bursts of gunfire screamed over the music as people panicked and ran only to find themselves locked into the plaza by the bounded field. Katherine played her part and was intent to watch. Berserker’s only order was to protect the proxy adding to the act further. How he accomplished that was up to him. It was odd, what she read of the Grail War told her Berserkers needed explicit instruction, but hers seemed lucid, intelligent enough to handle himself. Thus she would let him rely on his own autonomy. She would see how Harald waged war.

She ran with the crowd only to be tackled by one of the pawns. He gripped a knife in hand. She fought him off. All part of the play. She clenched her teeth and muttered a single phrase.

“Come and find us.”

Fate/Secondary Genesis

Katherine's breath caught in her throat at what she had just witnessed. Her wraiths hissed and lurched toward the mountain of a man. He consumed a goodly portion her personal reserves with his mere presence alone. Either he didn't notice or ignored them outright as he seemed to be having a moment with the wooden club. Katherine found herself appreciating the gravity of the situation much more kennly, this Grail War (though in her mind it was more akin to a battle royal of sorts). She came to realize that perhaps, thinking on the endeavor set before her was more than a simple side project. A chill ran down her spine that just maybe she could die in the battles to come. Looking at her own Servant now she knew if it weren't for the Command Seals he could crush her skull like a sparrow's egg if he so wished, and weren't one thing she could do about it; Katherine doubted hers was the most powerful Servant out there as well. A near mad grin split her neutral mask in twine. She picked up on his sudden shift in intensity and met him halfway.

"It was found where its believed you fell, some valley in Denmark." She said suddenly. "If you want to keep it you may, though I doubt it will be of much use to you." The fingers of her right hand fiddled with the broach choker wrapped about her throat. "But thus is nostalgia, no rhyme or reason." She chuckled then squared herself to her Servant. "I take it you are Berserker; I am you're new Master, Katherine Brekker. Given you're fondness for the club of a long dead king I take you are Harald Wartooth. At least a phantom of him." Katherine snapped her fingers. Annabelle was at her side with the platter. Katherine pulled the large goblet from it and opened a vein on her wrist with her teeth. Sweet pain fueled her action as she let the blood flow into the cup. The amber liquid became stained red, masking the little seeds floating in the mixture, or so she hoped. Katherine took a drink from it. Harsh, burning liquid with a hint of sweetness to it ran down her throat. She offered the rest to Berserker. "A drink shared between Servant and Master, a more fitting beginning to our pact than mere seals. Drink your fill Berserker because tonight we bring death to all standing in our way.

@King Cosmos

Fate/Secondary Genesis

September 13th, 2020

Countryside/ Greyhollow/32 mils Outside Boston

It was smaller than she recalled. Katherine stood outside the old mansion, her eyes wandering the worn, wooden building. The paint had long since peeled away, the windows had been boarded up, the porch was a maze of missing planks, and forests of weeds choking the pathway up to the house. The home of her childhood, rich, and darkly painted with vibrant rose bushes all around was a mere bit of hazy on the horizon of her memory. She climbed the creaky stairs to the door. The inside was no better. The sounds of rats and other rodents scampering about could be heard in the walls and the air was stale and dusty. The floors were bare of furniture, masses of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. Katherine walked through the house, its memory souring with how the house had fallen into such ill repair, the oddest thing being the number of old candy wrappers scattered about the main hall. The kitchen was in ruins with leaves littering the floor and the back door wrenched off its hinges.

Behind the mansion was overgrown with grass, weeds and wildflowers, but to her eyes she saw a poisoned garden, sick with Mage magic from having been set aflame.The echoes of what was once the Gardens’ true home still cried out. Searing pain lanced up through her feet and straight to her breast as her magic reacted to the pain, anger, and misery infused into the ground. The blood of witches had watered this dirt while their bones littered the woods. Katherine stumbled, catching herself on a pillar. She grit her teeth and wiped the moisture from her eyes. Now wasn’t the time for this. The high concentration of magic here created its own bounded field from the echoes of memory. A cold, calculating part of her mind intone the use such a natural bounded field proved rather useful should other Masters come sniffing about the place when the battle royal for the Grail began. She clung to that line of thinking rather than drown in her own sorrow.

Katherine made her way back to the front. She uttered a few words in an eldritch tongue and touched the main doorway. Ancient magic stirred to life at her touch- a Mistress was finally home. Seals, spectors, and any other bit of her family’s magic that survived the massacre came alive. Finally finding a reason to smile Katherine walked to her car. From within she pulled wooden cases and a few suitcases. She began up the path to the stairs when a beat up pick up truck rolled up the drive. From within a grizzled, bear of a man got out. He was perhaps in his late fifties, early sixties. He looked hale and hearty and towered Katherine, which was quite a feat unto itself. He waved as he made his way up the path, a friendly grin on his face.

“Afternoon, it’s good to see another friendly face out this far! I take it you’re the one moving into the old Wormwood place eh?” He stopped just short of her and looked up at the mansion. “Many’s a buyer that’s tried and failed to turn her around.”

“I hope to be the first,” Katherine said with a giggle. She extended a hand. “Maggie Baker.”

“John Jessepe.” He shook her hand vigorously. “Want some help with that luggage?”

Katherine nodded. “I’d appreciate the help yes.”

He grasped her suitcases but upon reaching for the large wooden case she stopped him. “I can handle this one.” She remained friendly but stayed firm. She didn’t need the seals to lash out. “I take it this place has changed many hands?” She mounted the porch stairs. “The realtor was cagey with details.”

John shrugged and together they walked up to the house. “Most people avoid it like the plague.” A grin split his lips. “It’s got something of a local legend about it; people are convinced it’s haunted. Heck I’m inclined to agree. Kids around here are gonna be disappointed though.”

“Why’s that?”

“It's a tradition for kids to spend the night here on Halloween.” His grin turned nostalgic. “I did it once or twice when I was a little.”

Katherine resisted the urge to frown and instead laughed. “Well hopefully they won’t mind getting free candy in lieu of losing such a tradition. You’re from here then?”

“Yes ma’am,” he said proudly. “Born and raised. I own the ranch down the road aways, only house for miles. You’re welcome to call on me and Annabelle anytime ya wish if ya need something.” He blinked. “That reminds me!” He set the suitcases down in the foyer and raced to his truck leaving a bemused Katherine behind.

He came back with a covered dish. “The wife insisted on making our new neighbor one of her chicken bakes. Careful though she’s got a thing for making her chicken spicy, might be a tad hot.”

“Thank you.”

John whistled as he gazed around the ruined parlor and main hall. “This place is in worse shape than I remember. If you need any help with this place I know a guy who’d give you a fair price in town.”

“I appreciate that thank you.” Katherine said before tapping on the forehead. The man collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. “But I’ll require something a little more from you my kind fellow.

June 21st, 2021

Rebuilt Wormwood Manor

The next few months saw a somewhat stately home appear where the hollowed out curiosity once stood. Townspeople whispered about the old Wormwood residence and its new owner. They eyed her, suspicious but soon waved her off as a nice enough lady though a bit of a recluse. Katherine had the weeds about the house torched and used sweet smelling incense to draw in the animals that wandered the nearby forest. Their carcasses made for prime fertilizer and in time her Mother’s garden returned healthy and whole.

Katherine felt proud of her work when the garden took to the Sanguine Gardens bounded field. Her wraiths and alchemical plants flourished and her potions seemed stronger than ever before. The moon was high and full in the sky. The garden’s heart pulsed with mana, and not just her own, the old interesting leylines pulsed in the light of the full moon. Katherine paused to look at the mark on her left hand. She half expected the Grail to ignore her given what she truly was but she certainly wouldn’t dare look a gift horse in the mouth. She felt it rather interesting how a simple side project ended up drawing her attention so readily.

“A fine night don’t you think?” Katherine asked her guest.

John gave muffled reply through his gag. He sat in the center of the magic circle carved into the ancient stones. Behind him an altar rested with a massive oaken club atop it. The manawraiths snapped and hissed at the circle and her guest- poor dears were so hungry. Annabelle waited patiently to the side, her stare vacant as a misers soul. The pleasant if frail woman held a silver tray in her hands. John rattled the chair trying to scream at her through his gag.

“Now, now my lovelies you’ll eat soon I promise.” Katherine. “Mummy must do some work first.” She walked up behind him and began the chant. With a swift slash she opened his throat and his lifeblood filled the stone circle’s groves. Mana burned bright as the summoning took hold and Katherine witnessed a sight unlike any she’s ever witnessed.

Fate/Secondary Genesis

Awesome can’t wait!

Fate/Secondary Genesis

Sounds like we are good to start this up!

Fate/Secondary Genesis

@Epsir

And done.

Fate/Secondary Genesis

The Witch joins the fray.