The Grail Works Mission Dossier (Discussion & Ideas)

[Kieran]

Oh cool. Are you talking about the moving of the Works stuff we were talking about before?

While that is still a concept I feel has potential, it's obviously something that should be done in tandem with the other Works authors; and it'd be a long work, I think.

. . . No, what I was actually considering is the same rough idea as the Moon Cell one (a couple of the Seldarine intervene and send him back to a TYPE-MOON-iverse), but shunting my SI to Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya instead. This has a few advantages:

1) I actually have the anime on hand, at least up to Zwei Herz, so I can reference it and be accurate.

2) It's short, and (relatively) light, so it's more in line with what I wanted to do with my Works stories in the first place.

3) Given the possible changes I can bring down on people's heads, this can go off the rails fast.


. . . Before you ask, I figure that Caren will be the one to find him - given that the Church is monitoring the "dimensional cross-rip" zone. Depending on whether or not this universe has a "Caren heals Bazett" event, he may be dealing with her, as well. And given where he is, and who was responsible for sending him there, I'm imagining the presence of a "Kaleidostick Moonstone" - with a seven-pointed star . . .

[Kieran]

Arvandor
The Olympian Glades of Arborea, the Outer Planes




The Seldarine gathered, to wield their powers as they had not for tens of millennia, though they were mere shadows of what they’d once been. They gathered, to heal a world, to lay a foundation for that world’s future . . . And in so doing, save a race of their children that, until recently, had been thought long since lost: the Ssri-Tel’Quessir, the dark elves who had become the drow, redeemed by sacrifice to become dark elves once more.

Unfortunately, that “race” represented a very small fraction of the drow; most of them remained corrupted by the demonic blood that had created them, to say nothing of the influence of their goddess, Lloth the Spider Queen. As such, they were at terrible risk—Lloth had never been one to take challenges to her rule over the drow lightly, and the Ssri-Tel’Quessir had earned her wrath when they had been drow elves, merely by worshipping her daughter, Eilistraee, over herself. That they had now disassociated themselves from the drow—and thus, from her—entirely . . .

No, Lloth would see that as an insult she could never bear. She—and by extension, her followers—would not stop until all traces of the Ssri-Tel’Quessir’s very existence had been utterly eliminated from the face of Aber-Toril. And that was not a fate that Corellon Larethian was prepared to countenance. Not in his role as leader of the Seldarine, the gods of the elven peoples, and not in his role as the Father of All Elves . . . Nor would he tolerate it as Eilistraee’s father, either.

His brilliant, beautiful daughter was gone—a great and terrible loss to a mortal elf, much less an immortal one. All that remained of her were the elves she’d sacrificed herself to save. He would not allow them to fall before Lloth’s evil.

Labelas Enorath knew this, of course. The Lord of the Continuum was, if not omniscient, as close to it as any god could truly claim to be. He had to be: the realms of fate, time and history were his to shepherd. He knew more of the future, and the secret workings behind it, than even Corellon himself—it was why he had allowed the solar to respond to the summons of a mortal, and grant the wish that mortal made. Because he knew what would have been the fate of the dark elves, without that wish . . .

“. . . You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to arrange this, Labelas,” Corellon remarked. “Are we now to find out why?”

The scholar winced. He had thought he was being rather subtle, actually—he had to be, as he was working in realms normally forbidden even to deities . . . Or at least, deities of his level. It was normally restricted to Lord Ao alone; thus, he’d had to be exceedingly careful in his actions, lest he draw the Overgod’s attention—or worse, alert others to the existence of the path he’d used to reach those places. Only chaos could come from that . . .

“I merely sought to fulfill my duties as a member of the Seldarine, Lord Coronal, and protect a tribe of the mortals we oversee,” Labelas replied lightly. “That they are a tribe previously lost to the memory of any mortal living, and barely recalled even in history, made it a duty I thought required any and all efforts I could exert.”

And because, the god did not add, very soon now, as elves and immortals would reckon such things, the great upheavals that had plagued their world would culminate in a truly mighty cataclysm. And in response to that chaos, Lord Ao, the Overgod, would rewrite the very Tablets of Fate, restoring the Realms to much as they had been before. Dead deities, including Eilistraee, would be restored to life; and the Dark Maiden would take up her work of attempting to redeem the drow once more—because the dark elves which had been restored would cease to be, in any significant fashion. The drow would be all that remained of them, once more.

His task was to ensure that history was neither forgotten, nor altered. Labelas would not have stopped the Overgod from performing the act he would, even if he had possessed the power to do so . . . But neither did he wish for such a momentous event as the restoration of the true dark elves (as opposed to the drow, who were often referred to by that name) to be lost. It was an impossible dilemma, even for a god . . .

And in confronting it, he had discovered the existence of a Door—and what lay beyond it.

The mortals there were not yet prepared to deal with the scale of the problem that lay before him; not in the time which remained. But through them, he might be able to allow someone who was to act. And so, Labelas had sought a cat’s-paw, and made his transgressions—and the result had been everything he could have hoped.

“It is a truly beautiful world,” remarked Deep Sashelas—and as a god of beauty, as well as knowledge, magic, and the sea, he ought to know. “Perhaps the Alu-Tel’Quessir could benefit from it, as well?”

Labelas nodded. The sea elves were, in their way, as isolated from most elves as the dark elves would be, should they be returned to Toril. While they had no love for the drow, they had less history of conflict with them, as well; and as the world of Spira was mostly oceanic, such a world potentially offered them vast new territories, away from their traditional enemies. Likewise, they too would be less affected by the coming cataclysm—though not unscathed—and have less effect on it. Entire tribes of them could disappear, and not be missed in the histories—mostly because they would disappear, anyway.

“. . . Do you truly intend to kill the mortal, Lord Coronal?” inquired a feminine voice, and hearing it drew all male attention towards its source.

Hanali Celanil was the goddess of love and beauty among elves—the counterpart to the humans’ Sune Firehair, and a rival of Aphrodite, on the rare occasions when the Seldarine and the Olympians contested with one another. Her most common features, as now, were those of a sun elf: golden hair and eyes alongside porcelain-delicate features. She paired these with a body built to draw the eye, as her voice drew the ear—though she was not above taking other appearances, where and when she deemed it necessary—or simply fun. She would hardly be the goddess of desire, otherwise.

Labelas coughed lightly. “He hardly seems your type, Hanali.”

The frown that crossed her features somehow failed to mar them in the slightest as she shot back, “He isn’t . . . Well, that half-elven aspect is kind of attractive, in a rugged sort of way—but there’s a human under it, and he’s not pretty at all.”

“Does he have a lover, then? Or perhaps he possesses some especial talent for artisanship?”

She snorted delicately, her expression answer enough.

Now it was Corellon’s turn to frown, as he understood the point Labelas was making. “Then what is your interest, Hanali? Gentle though you are, it’s unusual for you to be so concerned over the fate of a mortal—and a human, at that.”

“I’m concerned because he does love,” she answered. “That is at the core of this: that he is willing to die because he loved Eilistraee, in his fashion, as he loves all elves.” She shrugged. “It’s not romantic love, really—little more than the wondrous fascination we evoke in humanity. To some extent, that’s also true of Spira itself, and those people he works for . . . But given the service he’s performing for us in its name, I would find his death a poor repayment of that love.”

“So long as his resolve holds,” Corellon replied, “it should not be necessary; ’twould hardly be a worthy test, otherwise. But the question would then remain, of what to do with him afterwards . . .”

“Toril is no place for him,” Labelas said firmly. Had any of the other gods—even his fellows among the Seldarine—known even half of the sort of knowledge that was in that mortal’s head, or even just known of it . . .

Toril would not survive the ensuing conflicts.

“Nor, would consigning him to Spira do our cause any favours,” he forestalled the next obvious choice, not unkindly. “Should the truth of his nature be revealed, it would undo all the groundwork laid for the Ssri-Tel’Quessir . . . And in truth,” he added, doing his best to sound off-handed, “he does not fit well with his compatriots, either. He is no more of their world than ours, and the differences, though often subtle, leave him somewhat adrift.”

Hanali smiled, and it brightened the whole of the glade. “Then perhaps we can change at least that?” She turned to a fellow goddess. “Sehanine, what would you say to the idea of trying to catch his spirit for a little reincarnation . . .?”








Writer's Notes: . . . And from there, we dive into Prisma Illya, Fate/EXTRA, or what have you.

Since I'm cutting out "Reign of Winter," it occurred to me that I'd need to go back and rewrite Kurai's origin, and the fact that 5th-edition Forgotten Realms basically invokes "Status Quo is God" over the changes that 4th-edition made (in fact, it seems to go right back to 2nd Edition, setting-wise, in some ways), I came up with this.

. . . I didn't like Eilistraee's dying; that's why I initially came up with the whole idea of using Spira as a sanctuary for the dark elves. Am I happy she's back? Yes, absolutely - and it's not as though the Realms has no precedent for it, after all.

Am I happy that the dark elves she created by dying were effectively written out, despite the fact that, so far as I know, canonically, Eilistraee's death still happened . . . ?

NO.


. . . And so, this: Kurai's entire adventure was a scheme by one elven god who wanted to preserve a recreated portion of his charges, who would otherwise be wiped out. He gave Kurai the powers he needed to do the job, and pointed him at the people he would need to help him accomplish it - the Works. And now, as a reward, he'll be reincarnated as a human on a Type-Moon world . . .

Kurai: . . . Could I just opt for death, instead?

[Xamusel]

No, Kurai, you can't opt for death... not while Kieran still draws breath. Now what does that say about your creator?

Haruka: That he really values his fictional characters the most?

Quiet, peanut gallery!

[Kieran]

*Grins* . . . Hey, I love Type-Moon - but most hardened fans have to admit, it's pretty much a death world (if more subtle than most), and particularly for a walking stringbean like me. Given the choice . . . I'm pretty sure I would pick death.

(Which is why, of course, Kurai will get none. )

[Xamusel]

Oh, right, Kieran... what's the appropriate name for a (Grail) Works in Progress one-shot? I need some advice on that.

[Kieran]

Depends on the content, really.

[Xamusel]

(/)_-) Oh, right, good point. Thanks for reminding me.

[Vigilantia]

Oh, right, Kieran... what's the appropriate name for a (Grail) Works in Progress one-shot? I need some advice on that.

Works-in-Progress.

[Xamusel]

Sorry about my prior post and the one before it, but I believe I have a concept in mind for a character this time around. The character's name is Haruka Azul, and s/he (unsure which gender to go with in this case) is a Keyblader from the era of the Keyblade War... which, come to think of it, is remarkably similar to Ventus himself-- Oops!! Hold the phone! I have to go somewhere now... see you when I return.

*walks off to go eat... only for someone else to begin typing at the computer*

Haruka: Let me introduce myself, for the sake of my creator. My name is Haruka Azul, and I am a Puella Magi who, for some reason or another, can use a Keyblade on top of whatever magic a girl like me can use. My aspiration is to be a Keyblade Master some five years or so after starting my career as a Puella Magi, since the creature who contracted with me, who took the name Tama, altered the contract they all use on unsuspecting girls, which now says I can undo the contract after a minimum of five years if I so choose. This means I don't become a Witch, or so I'm aware, although Tama did say I could get a second wish in for free because I could enter a Dive to the Heart for some reason that wasn't her fault. My world was destroyed by the Heartless, however, so I need to restore it after I figure out how to help Tama out with her predicament. It is a pleasure meeting everyone, and I hope we can work well together, all things considered. Please note that I happen to be a--

OI!! What the hell are you doing here?! Back to fictionland you go!

[Xamusel]

Oh, Kieran, one question... what's the new base of operations for the Grail Works these days? Is it Phantasmagoria or something else?

[Kieran]

I haven't moved them yet (assuming I'm still going to, as I still need to work out all the logistics) - so yeah, assume they're still there.

[Xamusel]

Okay, just making sure, man. I need to make sure things are going to be smooth for when the change possibly happens.

[Xamusel]

So, Kieran, what's new with the Grail Works?

[Xamusel]

...well. What an unmitigated disaster. I can't believe I forgot the blinkin' rules for what's supposed to go into a Grail Works story.

Kieran? Could you please help me remember what I need to recall?

[Kieran]

"Rules" in what sense?

[Xamusel]

"Rules" as in:

What plot elements from other franchises are allowed to be included in the overall premise?

When plot elements are potentially being worked in, what requirements are there to allow them to stay in?

...just to name a pair of examples. Mind you, I'm still thinking of questions that need answers in the form of rules (since, you know, your setting and all that).

[Kieran]

"Rules" as in:

What plot elements from other franchises are allowed to be included in the overall premise?

When plot elements are potentially being worked in, what requirements are there to allow them to stay in?

...just to name a pair of examples. Mind you, I'm still thinking of questions that need answers in the form of rules (since, you know, your setting and all that).

Mostly, no permanent changes to the cast or setting that aren't agreed to, since this is meant to be a shared setting. That's why Arturia is once again a Saber, rather than a dragon.

[Xamusel]

Okay, by "agreed to", what are you referring to?

[Kieran]

Back when more of us were contributing regularly, there was an informal consensus needed, so we didn't get in each others' way.

[Xamusel]

Okay, I get that now, thankfully.

In any case, I'm going to need you to take a look at something, to make sure it's accurate to what you have in mind. I'll PM it to you.