| “ | There’s no hope on the battlefield. It has nothing but unspeakable despair. Just a crime we call victory, paid for by the pain of the defeated. Yet humanity has never recognized this truth. And the reason for that is, in every era, a dazzling hero has blinded people with their legends and prevented them from seeing the evil of bloodshed. The true nature of humanity has not advanced a step beyond the Stone Age.
— Kiritsugu Emiya
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” |
| “ | People die if they are killed!
— His son
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” |
With years since the last tourney, it's time to have intricately written OCs interact in the most logical way possible.
A giant bloodbath, this time with a beginner's course of history on the side.
It's time to make some masters and servants, and boot up an all new Holy Grail War!
The Deadliest Grail War[]
Like how it was in Fate/Apocrypha, fourteen users will each create a pair of OCs that will participate in a battle royal that spans an entire cityscape, however this time, there are no teams. One character is a master, a mage of notable or unnotable magical skill that desires the Holy Grail, an omnipotent wish-granting cup for one reason or another, or just wants an excuse to kill a bunch of people. The other is a Servant, a powerful magical spirit of historic, fictional, or mythological significance that is summoned by the Master in order to enter the battle. Once all fourteen servants have been killed and only one master remains and claims the grail, a winner is declared.
There will be a total of fourteen user slots, four of which are already reserved as I hijacked the original tourney from WanderingSkull and his goonies.
You may choose your Master's place of origin from any country you'd like, as this will be a Grail War of an international scale. The battle will take place in the city of Paris, France, and the surrounding townships, with much of the population having been evacuated by the Mage's Association. Master/Servant pairs will have two days to get to know eachother and create a battle plan, after which the Grail War would be officially started. There is no time limit, rather, the grail will appear in the Louvre Museum once more than half of the servants and masters have respectively been killed.
So You Want to make an OC[]
The Fate/Universe is confusing as all can be, but to make it very simple, it is a modern world that is deeply connected to the practice of magic. Magic is usually so self-kept that the world has the surface appearance of a modern regular Earth, with technology exactly the same as ours. There are a number of unique factions and organizations composed of magical lineages, but I'll leave those to people who really do their homework. For those unfamiliar with the fate universe, the best I can do for you is to ask you to watch the first episode of Fate/Zero, which does a better job explaining that than I'll ever do.
When you make a master the very first thing you have to think of and explain is what motivates them. Why do they want to get the omnipotent beer pong cup? Do they have ulterior motives? Are they unsure what they really want, hiding a hidden desire?
After that, make a profile of their appearance and a bio for them. Where do they come from? Did they have a troubled or luxurious youth? Was magic a large or small part of their life? Are they cold blooded murderers or a 'hero of justice'?
Once a bio is complete, now you'll get to the meat and potatoes. Give your OC a magical specialty. Each mage linage passes down years of practice in a mystic art, and your character needs to be a mage in the first place in order to summon a servant. Read this as a great explanation of the types of magic in Fate. You can also choose to make your character a terrible mage, but also realize that this hinders the strength of the Servant, and also that they still need a specialty, no matter how small.
Now you can give them physical weapons and equipment that they use in life, or choose to leave that part blank. No high level military weapons or sci-fi shenanigans, although enchanted weapons are okay as long as the enchantment is explained and backed up by Fate lore. For example, a sound muffling enchantment on boots would be reasonable as both soundproofing magic and enchantments both exist in fate. Do they use old fashioned swords and bows, or do they go all Ranbo and pack machine guns? They they wear plainclothes, or a Kevlar suit?
Finally, give a summary of what strategy your master will generally take with the Grail War. Do they play hide and seek and avoid combat unless necessary? Or do they opt to form strong alliances before backstabbing their friends? Maybe they'll try and focus on killing the masters themselves, leaving the servants to starve without mana.
Do be careful though. Please contact me or another expert on Fate lore like Leolab, who can proofread character ideas to make sure they match up with the lore, and don't appear to be too close to an existing character.
Historical Friction[]
A true man amongst men
Servants are powerful spirits that surpass normal physical strength and magical spells, supporting their master as the Grail War ensues.
When creating your servant, first pick a historical, mythological, or fictional character of notable significance. Try something that you're passionate about! Although, keep it pre-modern. For example, existing servants include Gilgamesh, Alexander the Great, and Nikolai Tesla.
Once you've pinned down a figure that you're passionate about, it's time to spice them up with some magical animoo powers, but make sure to read the guidelines before going too crazy. Servants have different stats a-la RPG games, namely Strength, Endurance, Agility, Mana, and Luck. The scale is E-A, with A being the highest, and keep in mind the gaps between each grade is pretty damn big (E-low B level attacks don't really even scratch A level durability and so on). Servants also have different class abilities and servant abilities revolving around their attributed legends and abilities.
Your servant will fall into a class: Saber, Lancer, Rider, Archer, Berserker, Caster, and Assassin depending on their combat style and weapon of choice. Each class only has room for two users, so try to pick a class slot that hasn't been used before. I'll be only picking the most detailed and interesting profiles for each class, and certain users are already reserved to be in the battle (I personally recommend Archer and Berserker if you're new to the tourney).
Noble Phantasms are Servant's trump cards, often using up most of their available mana just to pull off. They're highly dependent on the hero in question, so try and pick an epic weapon or skill demonstrated in their legends and myths (For example, King Arthur's Excalibur). Think Ultimates from Overwatch.
Here is an example profile for a servant. You guys can keep it simple, just include the Heroic Spirit Name, Stats, Servant Skills, Noble Phantasm, Personality, and their relationship with their master.
Guidelines[]
- A servant may have no more than four personal skills.
- For servants, they cannot more than three total A ranks among stats, classes, and Nobel Phantasms unless they have a specific explainable weakness (for example, Gilgamesh's overconfidence and Hercules' reluctance to kill his master for more mana). This includes EX ranks.
- I need specifics on physical weapons, and a solid argument to back magical powers with evidence of them existing in the fate universe. Magic is too loose of a term for me to give free reign and keep this fair.
- I need physical descriptions of the characters and bios on both masters and servants are a must, especially as alliances and friendships are possible here. Also explain their proficiency and weaknesses.
- I reserve the right to be an A-hole and bar entries for any reason not mentioned above. Don't worry, I only plan to do this when an entry has some obvious issues.
Current Servants (as of 1/31/17)[]
It's Time to Battle![]
Post your Master and Servant profiles down below. I'll post mine first in order to provide a sample, and will be taking the Assassin class for myself. The other six classes are up for the grabbing. Once we have all seven classes alloted to users, we can get started on the tournament itself.
(UPDATE: 1/31)[]
We're six slots in, nearly half way! I don't expect to fill out each class, but I am putting a final date for submissions: Monday, February 5th. If you're one of the reserved users, no worries! You'll have time to submit even after they are closed, but realize that our first vote will be a short time from the closing of submissions.
Submissions for Assassins are CLOSED, and be careful about posting a rider, as I still want to include Red Krystals' servant. On the flip side, we still need two Archers and two Berserkers, so go crazy on those!
(UPDATE: 2/7)[]
Submissions are CLOSED. Unless you are one of the following users, or have already posted a comment with a submission, you will not be accepted into the tourney without my OK.
- WanderingSkull
- Battlegames1
When voting is up, any unfinished entries will not be counted. It should begin around the end of this weekend.
(UPDATE: 2/12)[]
Voting is up. This means that submissions are officially closed to everyone, and that profiles may not be edited, unless there was a mistake on my part. Thank you for all of your submissions!