event interest post! (or, so who all is interested in killing each other over a magic cup)

[sagittaspei]

Interest Post for a Player-Run Event
HOLY GRAIL WAR, RUBY CITY EDITION

What is a Holy Grail War, I hear you ask? It is a battle royale between master-servant teams for an omnipotent wish granting cup, where the servant is usually a heroic spirit of legend, manifested by magic and tied to their master for mana so they can keep fighting.

Except naturally, in Ruby City, some modifications have to be made.

This is an interest post for conducting a Holy Grail War in-game. Below the cut will be an explanation of the event, as well as some answers for those unfamiliar with the concept. If you are interested in participating, we really need you to post in the comment section. Questions can go there too!

All About Grail Wars

The Basics

What is a Holy Grail War?
This concept comes from the Fate/ series. A Holy Grail war is a battle royale that revolves around seven master-servant teams doing battle with each other in an attempt to achieve the Holy Grail, which in this case is an omnipotent wish granting device. Heroic spirits are manifested legends - either from history or myth - and are divided into seven classes. This is done to obscure their identity and make it harder to fight each other.

How does the war work?
Seven masters summon seven servants - one servant to each master. They form a contract. The contracted duo acts as a team to eliminate, so that they can achieve the grail for themselves. Here, elimination usually means death, for both the master and servant. We'll get into the why of that in the sections below.

Why do you need master and servant teams?
The canon reason is "the grail can't be touched by people, it needs spirits." But the practical reason is there wouldn't be a plot otherwise.

How does one win the Holy Grail War?
One wins the Holy Grail War by defeating all of the other masters and servants. While you don't have to kill a servant's master, it is a generally accepted practice to do so, as cutting off the servant's mana* supply is incredibly efficient. Alternatively, you may just be the last team standing, with everyone else having killed each other off. Alliances, manipulation, etc. are par for the course.

*Mana and prana are exchangeable terms within canon confines and refer to magic energy.

Servants

What's a servant?
A servant is a so-called heroic spirit, summoned by a master to fight in a Grail War. Here, we define heroic spirit as a person of renown in either history or legend, magically summoned and who depends on mana from a power source (their master) to sustain themselves in the world.

Servants fall into one of seven classes.

What are the seven classes?
They are: archer, assassin, berserker, caster, lancer, rider, and saber. Classes are determined by the way a heroic spirit fights - usually in reference to their weapons - but can be based on other aspects of their legends as well.

Typically, servants are referred to by their class name, and hide their identity. Hiding their identity means that their specialized attacks (see below) cannot be anticipated and countered.

For the sake of this being an introduction to the concept of a grail war, we will not be getting into exact specifics about classes, the abilities in each, etc. If you are curious about them and would like to read up, head here.

We'll discuss how the limit of seven classes will play out in-game below, so keep reading.

Are there special attacks that a heroic spirit has?
Yes! These are called Noble Phantasms. They are considered manifestations of legend. These can be swords, spears, horses, entire armies, almost anything. For in-universe examples, check out Excalibur, the Gate of Babylon, and the Ionian Hetaroi (spoiler warning). These linked videos will demonstrate how attacks work within context. These attacks require a lot of mana (magic energy) to work, which is a major purpose of a master.

As mentioned above, these attacks give away a heroic spirit's identity, and are often not used for as long as possible. This, again, is a matter of strategy: if you know a spirit's identity, the easier it is to fight them and anticipate their attacks.

By far and away, we realize that this is the hardest concept to get. Below are three examples from the series, which demonstrate how Noble Phantasms can vary from weapons to special ability, all based on a heroic spirit's legend.

Lancer's spears: In Fate/zero, Lancer has two spears, Gae Dearge and Gae Buidhe. The former can cut through items made of magic (like a servant's armor), the latter makes any wounds that it causes unhealable. This is a straight forward example of weapons being associated with a particular hero becoming noble phantasms, as Lancer's two spears were weapons he personally handled in his lifetime.

Rider's Pegasus: In Fate/stay night, Rider (Medusa) is of this class because of her association with the birth of Pegasus. It is her ultimate Noble Phantasm, and a winged horse is extremely useful in a fight.This association with Pegasus allows her to use it as a Noble Phantasm despite not having ridden it in her life

Heracles' God Hand: Also in Fate/stay night, Heracles has twelve lives, and each one can only be destroyed by an A rank attack. When all twelve run out, then he dies. This phantasm is based on the twelve labours of Heracles.

If the above is still confusing, please click here and check out the wiki page.

Does a servant have to fight?
No, not at all, they can elect not to. However, they will need to find a master, so that they can remain materialized. (See below.) Failure to do so means that they'll eventually have no energy to do so, and as a result, will die.

Masters

What's a master?
A master is a mage who is selected by the Grail to participate in the war. Masters summon their servant, and act as a source of power - much like a battery - so that their servant can remain materialized. Masters usually summon servants forth in order to participate in the war. All masters are given three command seals, which indicate their status as a master, as well as serve another purpose. (See the next question.)

What's a command seal?
A command seal is one of three markings on a master's hand that can be used to issue absolute orders that a servant cannot disobey. Once they're used, they're gone. While they can coerce a servant, they can also damage a masterís relationship with their servant, and encourage mutiny.

In addition, wording with command seals needs to be precise! If an order is direct, it cannot be disobeyed, but if it is vague, then it can simply act as a power boost for the servant.

Needless to say, this is a huge violation of free will for a servant, regardless of if they agree with the order they are given or not. It is pretty much impossible for a command spell to be resisted (you can try, but 99% of the time it will fail). Servants are aware of the hold a command seal has over them! In canon, most of them accepted this as simply a part of the Grail War, but that doesn't mean they enjoy having their free will temporarily ignored. (If your character is big on not being forced to do something, as a Servant the command seals might be a sore point to enforce and cause tension.)

When does one stop being a master?
If a servant is killed, a master is no longer a master. A loss of command seals does not signify a loss of master status.

How will this work in Ruby City?

Who is moderating this event?
The mods are Fel (who plays trashkind, sagittaspei, and ghostshippingly) and Meg (who plays gordianknots). The idea was theirs, and all questions should be addressed to them! Fel is reachable through pm, on plurk as username Tenfel, and on AIM as erraticExcursionist. Meg is reachable through PM, and under the username Megkips on both AIM and Skype. The various OOC posts, culminating in the plotting post, will also serve as a location to ask questions.

What are the event dates?
13-14 September: Interest post goes up. (We will need a minimum of 14 people to opt in, otherwise event won't be happening.)
15-20 September: Sign ups.
21-22 September: Fel and Meg will figure out masters and servants and send that information out.
23-28 September: Plotting post goes live.
29 September-12 October: Event!

Why would my character fight for the grail?
It is an omnipotent wish granting device. You tell us! Maybe getting the grail will get everyone home. Just think about what your character would be willing to hurt others for, if at all.

In-Game Play

How will this work in game?
Sometimes, you can't really question how an omnipotent wish granting device winds up in your city. You just have to accept that it is there, and it has realized that while it has manifested, there are no masters or servants around to fight for it. As a result, the grail does what it always does, and sends out command seals to various residents of Ruby City.

Others, also by the grail's magic (and its own confusion concerning its surroundings - yes, we know that a sentient cup sounds ridiculous - but what do you want from us, it is an omnipotent wish granting device) will be temporarily transformed into heroic spirits.
The individuals in the city will be gifted with a basic understanding of the grail war. Servants will be obligated to find masters, thanks to being dependent on mana to stay materialized, and the fighting can begin.

The basic understanding of the Grail War will not be dissimilar to what we've discussed above. We'll post the exact wording of what information will be imparted on the event sign up post.

--Okay, I'm just going to go with cup of crazy shows up and screws with everything. How do we play this out?
Assuming that we have enough of a response (we need at least twelve people to respond here), we'll be making a sign up post. There, we will ask you to voice a preference for acting as master or servant (if you have one). Those interested in offering one character up as a servant will be asked to pick two potential classes for their character and to fill out a stats sheet ala D&D. That post will be up for a week. After that, Fel and Meg will sit down, and hammer out servant classes over the course of two days. Once that is done, we will contact you with your master or servant status,and make a plotting post.

On the plotting post, we'll list all of the masters and all of the servants. We'll ask you to team up, and plot to your heart's content. Note that anyone not paired up at the end of five days will be assigned a teammate using the magic power of the RNG. On day six, weíll get the ball rolling.

All master servant teams, stats, etc. will be publicly available in a Google spreadsheet for the remainder of the event.

Madoka's and Waver's accounts will alternate posting dates, and will contain grail war developments as the two characters gain that information and a more direct outline in a small OOC note on the post, as appropriate. (IE: Madoka may not know about a character death, but the OOC note at the post bottom will contain that information for the sake of players being on the same page.)

Heroic Spirits use their class names (archer, rider, etc.) to conceal their identities. In Ruby City, we more or less know everyone on a first-name basis. Uh. Explain how this works, please.
Okay so. Here's how we figure this one: the goal for servants here will be to obscure their classes rather than their names, on the basis that most people probably know their names anyway, and that we'll likely have two riders, or three archers, or what have you. Because you'll only need to kill one servant from each of the six classes (excluding your own), it's a really great idea to not reveal what class you are and put your character in danger. This will maintain the need to conceal a servant's noble phantasm as well.

If we have more than one character in a servant class, how does that impact the requirement for six servants to die to power up the grail?
Only one servant of each class needs to be eliminated. See the above question about identity concealment, these two go hand-in-hand.

Will there be character death?
Yes, there will be. Anyone who dies during the event will be brought back when the event ends. Signing up for this event means you are aware of this possibility.

How will my character know how the grail war works? How will they know - in game - if theyíre a master or a servant?
Masters will have no understanding of the war upon waking, they will only have their three command seals imprinted on the back of their dominant hand.

Those who have been transformed into heroic spirits will receive information on the grail war basics upon waking. Roughly, this will include an understanding of grail war basics, knowing what class they are, and that they need to find a master in order to stay manifest, or else automatically forfeit and die.

Why on earth do I need to fill out a stats sheet?
Stats are mostly there to determine the likely outcome of a fight between servants. Consider them a useful tool. In addition, we'll be asking your stats sheet to include your character's Noble Phantasms (max of two, we don't want anyone game breaking here), and everyone will be able to reference it. We'll make a spreadsheet and post it on Googledocs.

So, that's the technical stuff. What's the goal of this event?
The overall goal is going to be the last team standing (please see below), and taking the grail. This means a minimum of six character deaths.

Or, you know, you could try and destroy the grail. It depends on what your goals are.

How long will this event last?
Once it begins in-game, it'll last two weeks. The grail will disappear at the end of those two weeks, regardless if six servants have been killed or not, and normalcy will resume.

What if more than 14 people sign up?
We hope that more than 14 people being interested. While ideally, we'd like multiples of 14 so we can keep servants in groups of seven, we also realize that's likely impossible. So, what we'll do, is try and fill in groups of seven the best that we can, and then any remainders will simply be included. We may have 30 people sign up, leaving us with two sets of seven, and maybe there will be three casters and three riders, because of how the numbers fell.

Betrayals and Death

Can servants turn on masters? Can servants switch masters?
A servant can decide to change their master by finding another master to provide them energy. If this becomes the case, we will ask that you clear an event like this with Fel and Meg before it is done. This is to absolutely ensure that their is consent from both teams and to update the stats sheets etc. to reflect this information.

Do we need to clear deaths with the game mods or event mods?
No, you don't, don't worry. However, Fel and Meg ask that you PM them, informing them that your character is dead, so we can keep everyone else up to date. If you are doing it in a thread, please send them that link when the thread starts. We realize that tagging a death out can take time, and for the sake of keeping everyone up to date with who is and isn't alive, it'll help.

How do I know if my character is "out" of the grail war?
Are you dead? Great! That means you're out! Is your servant dead, and do you have no more command seals? Great, that also means you're out. Do you have no servant, but still have command seals? Well, you can be out if you want, but you can always go grab another servant from a master if you're feeling like it. Remember, if you do that, you've gotta clear it with the mods.

This is all pretty complicated. But I'm in.
Fantastic. Please leave a comment indicating your interest below, and we'll come over and give you a hug to say thank you.

This is really streamlined for Fate/, you know.
Yeah, it is. We're simplifying a few aspects of the Grail War to make it more accessible for the community at large.

I didn't understand any of that.
Please, ask us to clarify any questions you have. Fate/ is notorious for its arcane rules and the creator babble about systems, and it is very hard to get into. We'll do whatever we can to help!

I have other questions not listed above.
Please leave them here and we'll get back to you.

Please remember that this is an interest post, not a commitment post. We are simply trying to gauge if this event is possible right now.

Thanks for reading, and we hope that this moves forward!

Comments

[notagoodperson]

You had me at "holy grail war," small pink child.

[lookingforhead]

So Celty is a bit busy in the DR event right now....but I mean....if someone needs a Rider class Servant....

[lookingforhead]

And I guess I can volunteer Cloud as a Saber :P

[provenworth]

Oh gosh, this looks good. Count Elena in for either a Master or Assassin Servant.

[fairbrook]

Oh man, one battle royale after another, but I am so down for this.

Volunteering Integra as a master ofc. She could qualify as a saber too, but haha Integra in a servant role.

[schild]

man if I can get Reiner in on time I'll be ALL UP ONS

[tatakaeru]

TOTALLY CANON BLIND BUT I WOULD SO SIGN UP FOR THIS

[arttoenchant]

Caster's so in...

[arttoenchant]

God help whoever gets paired with him though tbh

[puppy_lancer]

So Lancer here is already a Servant. And he's already Kirei's Servant. How would he work in the scope of things?

[gordianknots]

Fel and I will chat when I get home from work and get in touch with you, if that's OK.

[neverbeamemory]

Interested, the idea of Sephiroth as a heroic spirit (and how he's going to really hate it afterwards, being taken advantage of like that) tingles at my interest.

though damn I'm so canon blind (only ever watched six episodes of FSN) and timezones but nevertheless!

[sagittaspei]

Canon blindness shouldn't be too much of a problem for taking part in this event, we hope! Meg and I will be happy to explain anything you find confusing, and we're simplifying some aspects to make things more accessible to people who haven't seen Fate. If you have any questions, you can feel free to ask us at any time!

also man I feel you on the timezones thing, don't worry. /EUROPEAN TIMEZONE, weeps

[shadow_spread]

Masamori is all over this.

[thegurlnextdoor]

VERY interested in putting Link and Tifa in this. Yoko is gonna' opt out, as I can't really see her being much of a Master or a Servant.

[colorofthesky]

I am interested in tossing Zack Fair at this! Maybe Xigbar too if someone wants him.

Zack would be a Servant, and I can see Xigbar in the Master or Servant role.

[crowsicle]

Oh wow I'd be super into Davesprite as a Servant like whoa

[crowsicle]

Also I don't know if it's too early to start asking questions about what's possible or not, but since Masters power Servants and basically literally bring them into reality on this plane and in a way kind of determine what they're made of--if Davesprite got the right Master, would it be conceivable to have access to powers he doesn't currently have, but used to have before he became a sprite?

It could depend on how powerful the Master is or on how the Master sees him. I don't know. I just think it could be fun to play with.

[waywardbird]

I would love to play Jason and Labrys as Servants (Archer and Beserker, respectively).

Would Labrys fit a the Berserker role? :0 It just says on the Wiki that a Berserker is a hero who has gone berserk; she's done that a couple times in some capacity, but regained her sanity. Does that still count?? (And I apologize if I'm misunderstanding it ;v;)

[gordianknots]

Yes, that definitely counts.

The sign up post is going to include more specifics for each class, so don't worry!

actually, since you helped beta read this post and pointed out a few problems, would you be willing to do so again for the sign ups? it really helps to have people unfamiliar with canon read stuff over!

[raindownthesky]

I'm in.

[raindownthesky]

I'm going to put Fang in as a lancer servant.

[dragoninstalled]

NYX ON A TERRIBLY WRONG ACCOUNT but, j/w, can characters without any magical ability to be signed up as Masters, too? If yes, how will that be handled in gameplay? Sorry if this is answered somewhere, but I looked through all the questions and it doesn't look like there's one that addresses it?

Asking because I'd like to sign Claudia up as a Master and yes.

[gordianknots]

The in-game explanation is going to be that the grail has temporarily made modifications to allow those without any magical abilities to act as masters, provide prana, and otherwise function like a normal master would. The out-of-game explanation is if we made that a requirement it'd severely limit the number of people who could participate.

TL;DR: a magic cup of bad ideas did it.

[lovesmankind]

I would be interested. I may sign Kirei up, but is it also possible to have a character involved without them being a Servant or Master--say, as a jerk trying to screw things up?

I also may be interested in signing up Erwin as a Master.

[gordianknots]

Kirei and others can absolutely run interference with the events. However, Fel and myself will ask you to get in touch with us to discuss the particulars. This is so that we, as mods, know what's going on, and so that we can communicate any info to everyone else ooc.

[singinghuntress]

So canon blind on this... but can't resist~. >.> So... Rip as someone's servant. This could potentially be interesting.

[ceded]

oh man.

I'm super duper ultra canon blind BUT I WANT IN FOR SURE. I'm also going to ask a question:

Xion is sort of, like. A construct, more or less. She's a piece of another person (the piece she is is memories). If summoned as a servant, would the legend she accessed or represented be more like the whole of that person of whom she is part? (Basically, if you know KH, would she have access to more of Sora's powers and abilities.)

THAT SAID I'm not particular about master or servant yet, I guess it's more up to you guys how that balances out and who actually wants to do what. But count me in regardless.

[sagittaspei]

Hello! As it happens I am very well-acquainted with KH so I know what you're talking about. I think that given Xion's situation and where her abilities come from in the first place, not to mention the stuff that goes down in her canon, her having access to more of Sora's abilities as a Servant would definitely be plausible.

[invigorates]

I AM SO INTERESTED and since im seeing a lot of servants, i want to say lior would be a master just for the sake of balance lmfao yeah magical elf yeeeeeeah

[gordianknots]

The sign up post is going to list an option to sign up a possibility to volunteer as either or, so don't worry about making the decision!

[zuipperpips]

Roxy is in!! time to watch fate/

[libriomancy]

This sounds fantastic. I would totally volunteer Darin for this.