Over Illusion

Fate/Stay Night & Fate/Apocrypha-inspired Roleplay

"In this tale, we explore the tragedy of competition."

"The tragedy of having difference. The tragedy of lacking difference."

"We love our fellow countrymen, deride those of other lands, learn wisdom, spread ignorance, foster grudges, are incited by misunderstandings, relish prejudice, savor persecution, and feel pity."

"And for this, we pray."

"We pray that there may never be another war."

---

Hi everyone! So, this is for a roleplay centered around the world of Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero, where seven heroes from ages past are summoned by seven mages, to fight a battle royale for control of the Holy Grail.

Instead of the Fourth Holy Grail War (Fate/Zero) or the fifth (Fate/Stay Night), this is an alternate version of the third! The RP will take place in 1939, one week before Poland is invaded by the German Reich and hostilities commence.

The setting will be Fuyuki (the same as in Zero and Stay Night), and there will be two teams, the Japanese team and the German team, fighting for the Holy Grail. The Japanese team has its equivalent of the Mage's Association backing it, while the German team has the Thule Society (and maybe a little bit from Ahnenerbe).

The Church is impartial during this war, and has a moderator present, Risei Kotomine. This is the first time the Church has moderated, so both teams will probably be a little hostile to priests interfering in magus matters.

Something a bit unique about this roleplay is that the Master "roles" are fixed. That doesn't mean you're playing canon Masters, but instead you make a character for your chosen roles! For instance, the Japanese side's roles are the Tohsaka family, Matou family, Einzbern family (which can summon Ruler or Avenger Servants if you want), and a member of the Imperial Japanese military, so we'll need one of each to fill out the Japanese side! For the German side, it will be two Edelfelts (who summon "the same Servant twice", like having two King Arthurs), a member of the SS, and a member of the Thule Society.

I'll be writing up the descriptions for those Master roles soon to explain their little nuances (for instance, the Einzbern character will be a homunculus), but if you're really interested in one or two in particular, let me know and I can explain it right now so you can start on coming up with ideas!

Servants don't have those sorts of specific roles, so just stick to the normal seven classes and make whatever you want! I'll get a banlist for really strong Servants and a few other things up soon if we have enough interest. Also, like I said, the Einzbern can summon Ruler or Avenger, but if you want to make one of those, please check with whoever's making the Einzbern character that they're okay with whatever you're making first! I'd really hate for someone to make a sheet and then all their effort gets wasted because the Einzbern player prefers someone else.

You can have up to two characters, but both characters need to belong to the same faction (I'll be making some private chats for talking about tactics for each team, so we want to keep that fair!), and unless you're doing the Edelfelts, one will need to be a Servant and one will need to be a Master. You can partner with yourself, but I'd really really really prefer you don't, for the sake of character interaction!

Something I think will be fun is that there's going to be imbalance in classes. So as an example, it's possible for the German team to have the three Knight Classes (one of them being summoned twice because of the Edelfelts) while the Japanese faction has the four Cavalry Classes, so the teams will have super-different styles and strategies!

If you've got any questions, ask away! Otherwise, if you're interested in joining then definitely let me know.

Below are tentative versions of the CSs that may get changed between now and the OOC getting put up, to help you in making whatever you want to do preliminarily.

Master CS

Name/Nickname/Titles:

Gender:

Age:

Personality:

Appearance:

Biography:

Family History (if applicable): If the character comes from a magus family with a notable history, jot it down here. Otherwise, just remove this.

Origin: The basis of your existence. Shirou Emiya's Origin of "Sword" and Souren Araya's Origin of "Stillness" are examples.

Elemental Affinity: Dual elements and Average Ones are fine, but rare. If your Elemental Affinity is not one of the Great Five Elements, you cannot have more than one element.

Number of Magic Circuits: Self-explanatory. E-A. No modifiers.

Quality of Magic Circuits: The amount of magical energy each single circuit can sustain. E-A. No modifiers.

Od: How much magical energy you can store in your body. E-A. No modifiers.

Magecraft: Magecraft and magecraft-related abilities/characteristics go here. If something isn't here, it's assumed your magus doesn't know it. The exception will be that every Master is assumed to know "general magecraft" such as fixing broken glass, making a basic bounded field, and locking doors.

Equipment: Mystic Codes (magic equipment) as well as mundane stuff.

Skills: Anything they can do that the general populace can't.

Servant CS

Name:

Class:

Gender:

Appearance:

Alignment:

Personality:

History: Mainly for flavor or to clarify how your version of them lived in the case of conflicting legends. Optional if everything in their history that you're using is on a wikipedia page or something.

Weapon: Whatever they're summoned with. This should include things like Medusa's pegasus that they can innately summon as well.

Parameters:

STR: Damage one can deal.

CON: Damage one can take, ergo how much HP one has.

AGI: Dexterity or reaction time.

MGI: How much prana one can handle.

LCK: Ability to defy fate.

Class Skills: For all skills your class has. Please do not just put name and rank. Give an explanation of what it does. Also, it's worth noting that we're not using the Grand Order system here where things like Divinity are Class Skills and Magic Resistance counts as a Class Skill for, say, an Assassin. Keep that in Personal Skills.

Personal Skills: Certain abilities a Heroic Spirit may have, such as Charisma, Artistic Talent, etc. Keep close to the legend; modifiers are temporary rank ups, not a rating of how good it is. Limit of four.

Noble Phantasm(s): Limit of two, but please don't make a second one if it's blatant wank.

Name:

Title: Stuff like Excalibur's "Sword of Promised Victory", the kanji.

Rank: E-EX. Plus modifiers are possible, but specify if they're temporary rank ups, or an indication of raw power.

NP Type: Anti-Unit, Anti-Army, Anti-Fortress, Anti-Mind, Anti-Evil, Anti-Gate, Anti-World, Anti-Team, Anti-Divine, Barrier, and so on.

Range: 1 is minimum, 99 is maximum. Format is usually something like 2-50, that's Via Expugnatio and Bellerophon's range.

Maximum Number of Targets: 1 to 1000. The format is usually a single number. This may get weird depending on your classification.

Description: Effect of the Noble Phantasm.

Master Roles

Due to the circumstances of the war, certain aspects about Masters are predetermined. These are as follows.

A player can make both a Master and a Servant; however, both characters must belong to the same faction. In the case of the Edelfelt Masters and Servants, one player can make both Edelfelt Masters or play both Edelfelt Servants, but in this case, that is treated as filling both of their slots.

There will necessarily be imbalance in Servant classes due to the structure of this roleplay. For instance, it’s entirely possible for the German Faction to have the three Knight Classes while the Japanese faction has the four Cavalry Classes. It’s recommended you consider what others are doing as well during the application process.

The German Faction has the option of summoning their Servants in Germany before coming to Fuyuki.

Japanese Faction

Imperial Japanese Army: A member of the IJA dispatched to aid the Founding Families in their defense of the Holy Grail. This individual will receive orders from the higher-ups, as well as mission assignments, making them the de juro “faction leader” in some regard. They have been provided with a replica of the Yasakani no Magatama, one of Japan’s three Imperial Regalia, for this assignment. The exact abilities of this are known only to the Japanese faction.

Matou: Formerly known as Makiri. After the death of the family head and hero of the Matou, Zolgen, in the events of the Second Holy Grail War, this character became acting head. The Matou are familiar-users whose magecraft revolves around the use of insects. Their attribute is Absorption, which is related to Energy Drain, but has the original concept of “to take something into oneself”. All Matou magecraft is something that will ultimately return to the user; as such, use of curses is impossible. Elemental Affinity is fixed as Water. The Matou character possesses 10% of the worms that belonged to the late head. As they are a family in the midst of decline, Magic Circuits will be acceptable, but not outstanding.

Einzbern: In truth, not a family, but rather a factory of homunculi designed by the disciples of the Third Magician, all of whom have since died or abandoned the cause of their teacher. They are the greatest creators of homunculi in the world today. Magic Circuits will vary depending on what a given homunculus is made for, such as magecraft as opposed to physical combat. The Einzbern character possesses access to the Einzbern castle and the homunculi within. The goal of Einzbern is to rediscover the Third, and through it, save the world. After two consecutive failures, Einzbern has become desperate. The miracle must be realized. Humanity must be saved. The Einzbern character thus has the option of summoning a Servant bearing the class of ■■■■■ or ■■■■■■■.

Tohsaka: Either a member of the Tohsaka family or a representative chosen to fight for them. The former is more constrained, but the latter lacks knowledge of the Holy Grail that the Einzbern and Matou participants possess. If a Tohsaka is chosen, Magic Circuits will be subpar. Tohsakas specialize in Conversion, a notable example of this being the jewel magecraft used by Rin Tohsaka. Proficiency in martial arts may also be expected, as the former family head, Nagato Tohsaka, attempted to reach the Root through such.

German Faction

SS-VT: A member of the combat troop used separately from the police and Wehrmacht, dispatched in order to supervise this assignment and ensure that Thule is able to obtain the Holy Grail. This individual will receive orders from the higher-ups, as well as mission assignments, making them the de juro “faction leader” in some regard.

Edelfelt: A notorious and powerful Finnish lineage that came into power during the Renaissance. They involved themselves in the Holy Grail War out of a desire to pillage Fuyuki for all it was worth. In truth, they have no allegiance to the German faction or its views, but are merely cooperating with them on the surface since their goals (robbing Fuyuki blind) align. They can undoubtedly be called first-class as magi, bearing the attribute of Conversion as the Tohsakas do, as well as being experts in Scandinavian curses. There are two Edelfelt Masters in this war, twins. As a result of their Sorcery Trait, Ore Scales, which allows the Edelfelt Crest to be passed on to two children, these twins are counted as a “single Master”. They summon the same Servant in the same class, but with different aspects emphasized. For instance, were they to summon Gilgamesh as Archer, then one twin would summon an Archer Gilgamesh with “his capacity as a king exhibited”, while another would summon Archer Gilgamesh with “his capacity as a warrior exhibited”.

Thule Society: Representative sent by the Thule Society, the group that is the one aiming for the Holy Grail, and which roped the military into this. Actual involvement with the political side of things can be as high or as low as is desired. While the German organization possesses ties to its equivalent in the Sea of Estray, the latter is utterly unrelated to the matter of the Second World War. It is better to consider the German organization as a spinoff that is off doing its own thing. The most knowledgeable among the German faction about the Holy Grail. Magecraft revolves around the projects of the Thule Society. They have been provided with a flying mode of transport (“UFO”) powered by an experimental energy known as Vril. The exact abilities of this are known only to the German faction.

Fate/Kaleid: Shatter Prisma

Approved via PM.

Li Chih-Jen

"Bajiquan...NEEDS NO SECOND STRIKE---!"

Name: Li Chih-Jen (Christian Li)

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 170 cm / 61 kg

Personality: An incredibly mundane individual. He lacks any of the obsession or knowledge that a magus must have, instead being a rather lackadaisical, head-in-the-clouds individual. A decidedly un-magus-like magus who would likely get along rather well with the being that unknowingly completed the forgotten Escardos family wish.

In conversation, he is casual to a point that is absurd, even with regards to those who emanate a pressure enough to freeze the blood in his veins. That isn’t to say he is disrespectful, but merely that he does not change his demeanor to fit the situation. Rather than the sort of person who changes throughout many trials and tribulations, who has one face around the parents who raised him and another around the friends he drinks with on the weekends, he maintains a single face on a constant basis.

The sole exception is when kung fu is concerned.

There is no reason for this that one can isolate. Christian did not grow up to a family of martial arts fanatics, nor was he ever rescued in a dark alley by a martial artist. Rather, it is simply an obsession born of nothing but himself, and in this regard one can truly see the madness fitting of a magus blossom in Christian.

Character Alignment: Neutral

Class Affinity: Lancer

Background: Born in the Guangzhou province of China, Christian's early life was relatively simple. While he was born with those pseudo-nerves of the Moonlit World due to random chance and mutation, his family was not one of magi, and so he went through his life unaware of this. At the age of five, though, something changed. Something sparked in him that had never existed before. Perhaps he saw it on the television, perhaps he read a book, perhaps he had a prophetic dream.

...in truth, though, that cause does not matter. It is better to think that this spark would have been lit regardless, as it flows from that impulse of "to do" that emerged from that swirling void.

From that day onwards, Christian lived not as a person, but as a vessel for kung fu. Pestering his parents until they allowed the child-him to train, advancing and learning through the years, neglecting his studies and nearly failing out of school, being pointed at by children as a "scary man" when he was fourteen years old, all things occurred as would be expected.

Upon becoming sixteen, he rejected the notion of university and left his thoroughly disappointed parents and his much more beloved younger brother behind, and set off on a pilgrimage in complete rejection of filial piety and Chinese law. His training had grown stagnant, he had hit a wall. He needed to surpass the limits of his body and achieve "truly amazing kung fu". With that, he began traveling the world, begging for money to get by and seeking out places to hone his craft.

There have been two successes on this pilgrimage. The first occurred two years ago in Japan, when Christian had a fortuitous encounter with a Shinto priest, who recognized his inborn talent in Breathing and Walking and gave him a few pointers for the road. It is from this that his abilities in Breathing and Walking stem.

The second was when he showed up in a Japanese port town, and found a card laying on the ground with the picture of an old man and the words "Li Shuwen" on it. Believing it to be a collector's card of someone who had achieved "truly amazing kung fu", he took it from the ground and believed in a fortuitous encounter between himself and this collector's card.

He was so excited that he hugged the new card to his chest, and from there things went exactly as one would expect.

Occupation: Wandering Kung Fu Enthusiast (Homeless, Unemployed, Disappointment of the Family Line)

Known Magic (If Any): Not knowledgeable regarding magecraft theory.

Special Talents/Hobbies:

Shàolín Gōngfu: Self-explanatory, and hopefully obvious. As someone who has practiced for fourteen years and with the inborn talent of Breathing and Walking, he can be called excellent. Of course, the applicability of this art to true combat is not outstanding, but if nothing else it is a testament to physical fitness.

Breathing and Walking: A core concept in both magecraft and martial arts. The absorption of outer energy to connect the internal and external worlds, taking in and releasing the "gods". This is an inborn talent for breathing and walking that, while not anywhere near the absurd level of those perfect circuits [Holy Children], is beyond what can be reached with mere training. Limited nature interference is possible. It is worth noting that the phenomena used through this are different from magecraft, and do not abide by the same principles.

Dispelling of Spirits: An ability derived from Shinto priests, the capacity to dispel spirits with a clap. It can be compared to the barrier of a certain mountaintop temple. However, the power of this is obviously several leagues below that temple; use against a spiritual entity at the level of a Servant will only result in minor effects. As Christian has never encountered spirits, he does not know for sure that this works, but assumes that it does.

Hardening: Use of Breathing and Walking to harden the hands. Comparable in end result to the use of a hardening rune.

Displacement: Not the Displacement of magi, but similar in end result, so it is called that for convenience. Put simply, it is the ability to transmit the effect of one's martial arts to an area within one's "line of sight" [perception]. For instance, throwing a punch, and the punch landing upon a tree several meters away. This is a transference of everything regarding the martial art, so obviously things such as Hardening play into the effect as well.

Ambition: To witness and, through nothing more than his own effort, achieve "truly amazing kung fu".

Servant Cards

Li Shuwen [Elder], Lancer, Neutral
STR: E, AGI: B, END: D, MAN: E, LUK: E, NP: -
While Li Shuwen [Elder] possesses superior martial skill to his younger self, his parameters have declined in age. This is only further compounded by the limits of his channeler, leading to this pitiful display.

Shen Qiang Wu Er Da [The Divine Spear Needs No Second Strike]
Rank: -
Classification: Anti-Unit
Maximum Number of Targets: 1
When a Heroic Spirit's martial arts becomes his most singular ["one and only"] asset, the "skill" itself is sublimated as a Noble Phantasm. This is one such Noble Phantasm. Even one of Li Shuwen's powerful strikes was enough to take the enemy's life, including those intended as diversions of feints. A saying that has managed to survive the passing of years is "For Li Shuwen, a second strike is needless." It is this saying from which his Noble Phantasm get its name.
To be accurate, this isn't a Noble Phantasm in the traditional sense of term. Rather, it is the ultimate expressions of the true power possible by mastering the martial arts. Li Shuwen is considered to be one of the very few to have gained total mastery over his style, and in fact was believed to have transcended the need for physical attacks, instead defeating his opponents by engulfing them in Chi. There is much debate as to whether Li Shuwen actually uses his Chi to defeat his opponents, although the very few who have managed to survive a confrontation with him report suffering all of the effects associated with this attack, such as obscured senses, heightened state of paranoia, and the feeling that their nervous system was under almost unendurable strain.
Its effects are the same as the "No Second Strike" from when Li Shuwen is an Assassin, but the range has been broadened by holding a spear. It also goes without saying that this can be exhibited with the fists as well. One can guess that the precision of movements is also no different from when unarmed; if anything, the effect is on another level from the mere gateway of unarmed combat.

Include: The Six Harmonies Great Spear is materialized, and acquisition of a fragment of Lancer's martial and meditation skill is endowed. Use of the Noble Phantasm with such a trifling portion is of course impossible.

Install: Acquisition of the weapon, martial abilities, and parameters of the elderly Li Shuwen.

Install Skills:

Sphere Boundary: A
A concealment ability which goes beyond the possibility of the Assassin class's Presence Concealment. A technique in which one uses their Chi to blend in with the whole of their surroundings. For masters of the ability, it is possible for them to truly become one with the universe and have their very forms seem to become invisible.
A capacity to become transparent that does not rely on magecraft and is performed only with one's own body techniques. This is already a mystic art that can no longer be designated as in the "level of humans". Also, this is a digression, but his capacity to become transparent is an essential point of meditation in accordance with Sphere Boundary. Because it is a capacity to become transparent that does not use any magecraft, for those who live under thaumaturgical theories this is a technique of experts that "absolutely cannot be sensed".
Elimination of presence drops in efficiency in the circumstance that the user initiates an attack or poises for an offensive -- even though invisibility is still effectively maintained. For this reason, opponents unfamiliar with the technique are still capable of 'just barely evading' a seemingly invisible attack, provided sufficient skill, talent, or experience. However, in the absence of any preparation for offensive action, a practitioner of the Sphere Boundary remains wholly indiscernible even on physical contact.
In the hypothetical instance where the younger version of Lancer was summoned in this class, Sphere Boundary would likely suffer a one-rank degradation compared to the Assassin class, but the superior martial skill of the elder Li Shuwen is capable of mitigating this.

Chinese Martial Arts: EX
A Chinese meditative ideal. It is a belief that true mastery of martial arts comes not through training, but acceptance. As this technique is extremely difficult to understand, let alone master, it is only when achieving the rank A that one is thought to have actually begun to learn. Those with ranks exceeding A are considered true masters of the arts. Upon reaching +++, one is a expert among experts, and at the nonstandard level exhibited, mental interference nullity has been gained.
While summoned as a Lancer, he has mastered the bajiquan - including spearmanship. Considered to be the ultimate master of Bajiquan, it is said that this person was able to take the life of his opponents with a single gentle touch.
Lancer has achieved inner peace rather than the burning desire to fight that was possessed in his youth. The primal fury of the Geat King is meaningless, and even that witch exiled outside of the world might fall short of this technique.

Juezhao: A
The secret of the Eight Extremities Fist that Li Shuwen learned. Among Anti-Unit techniques, there is no question that it can be called the supreme one. He is the grizzled master who learned the true meaning of strength, and in doing so surpassed the martial technique of even his former self.

Magic Resistance: D
Simply a result of the Class Container. Equivalent to an amulet that rejects magical energy; cancels Single-Action spells.

Install Appearance: Attire changes into a mirror of that worn by the elderly Li Shuwen.

Servant Biography: Li Shuwen.

A Chinese martial artist from Yanshan County, Hebei - Cangzhou. A prominent martial artist in the history of Chinese martial arts, renowned as "a second strike is needless, so long there is one it will suffice".

A legendary martial artist from China who, despite born in modern times, carved many legends. He is of course famous as a master of baji quan, but the exquisiteness of his spear-wielding is to the point of being extolled as "Divine Spear". The progenitor of the Li clan's branch of Bají, Li Shuwen excelled in the use of spear to the point of being nicknamed "Divine Spear Li". The "Six Harmonies Great Spear" that he used was a basic weapon of the Bají-branch and, if one is to accept this extreme logic, it can be said that the unarmed techniques of the Bají-branch (the Bajíquán) are nothing but preliminary steps to learn the techniques of this great spear.

Having been born in the deathbed of the Qing Dynasty, at Cangzhou, Li Shuwen distinguished himself soon after beginning to take lessons in baji quan, ascending to the point of being extolled as the strongest in the history of Chinese martial arts. Rather than learning 1,000 techniques, he personified a literal one-hit kill by thoroughly polishing up a single technique.

This is the Li Shuwen whose body has left its golden age, but whose martial arts have reached their golden age. In the class of Lancer, his true ability is drawn out.

Servant Personality: In his younger days, Lancer desired nothing more than to increase his own strength. In his later years, he came to see the power of his values and way of life as his strength, rather than violence. In other words, while the young Li Shuwen is a fierce fighter, the elder Li Shuwen is a rational, beautiful fighter. The nature of their strength can be called wholly different.

He carries no regrets or grudges. He is the pinnacle of a martial artist who has become one with the world, and in all likelihood may have been a half-step from reaching the Truth of the World. Were he summoned in a war with his younger self, putting down that brat would likely be a priority.

Other: -

Fate/Kaleid: Shatter Prisma

<Snipped quote by Over Illusion>

We are indeed in need of a Lancer, if you wanna join. Although, this isn't a traditional fate rp if my rambling hiders didn't give enough indication. Just a heads up. There's a list of banned servants in the interest check here roleplayerguild.com/topics/166908-fat…

@The Irish Tree

Yep, took a look. I'll be PMing you in a bit, will try and get a sheet out tonight but I've got a good amount of stuff to do, so it might get delayed to tomorrow.

Fate/Kaleid: Shatter Prisma

...Reading Kibisis confuses the hell out of me, but reading it being used against Breaker Gorgon makes it seem more like it counters Bounded Fields like Gorgon's, or Mystic Eye based abilities. Its not especially strong, but it does seem to make Perseus immune to skills like Clairovyance.

@The Irish Tree

Kibisis is super super useless. It reflects Bounded Fields that target individuals, but Bounded Fields aren't supposed to target individuals, so it only works on a super super small subset and is honestly just kinda bad 99 times out of 100.

Anyway hi all! Glad one of the first things I found on here was for Fate! If you still need a Lancer, I can put my name into the hat.

Murder in the Footlights

I'll toss in my hat for this.