GRAND CASTER // Lachesis
Master // ???
Alignment // Chaotic Good
STR D
END C
AGL E
Mana A
Luck -
N.Ph EX
Maitreya; Edith Dantes; the Wanderer of the Waste; the Maiden of the World's End. A legend that emerged of the Twilight of Man, when the concept of 'heroes' could itself no longer bear meaning. By her works and miracles, she brought salvation to countless, and ensured the survival of civilization unto the dawn of the Liners.
In subsequent eras, she was exalted as 'the Redeemer of the End' -- but the world-spanning desolation wrought in the decades of the Great War came in truth as a direct consequence of her actions.
She was created 'Lachesis' -- designated after the Apportioner; the Drawer of Lots.
Via the processes normally reserved to the coining of homunculi, she was prepared as a proxy to the will of Solomon the Wise -- a pawn through which the ancient king designed to strip humanity of the protections afforded by Mystery against threats of existence. Made to facilitate the slaughter of those she considered her allies and compatriots, she was let alone to survive by the sacrifice of her closest friend -- and thereon, vowed vengeance upon the King of Magicians.
This was the method of her retribution: The intentional forgery of a messianic mythology.
Though motivated initially to charity by an unfocused need to make amends, she came gradually to recognize the stories and tales left in her wake as an instrument to her goals. If she could ascend as a Heroic Spirit -- a Grand Servant of the Final Age -- the annihilation of Solomon the Wise was not a fantasy. The very scenario for which she was crafted provided the knowledge requisite to achieve this -- and in his failure to anticipate the survival of humanity beyond the killing fields of the Great War, Solomon had himself demonstrated the limitations of his apparent omniscience. All that remained was for her to cast herself in the capacity and role of his executioner.
Within his hour of victory -- at the culmination of the Fate that he had foreordained -- she would bring his eternal soul to cessation. This was her promise.
She consigned the remainder of her life to paradox -- laboring in ceaseless compassion out of hatred; and devoting to others the entirety of her being in a perfect selfishness. To deny the present, she lived to die -- and in so doing, paved the way to the future. Her legacy was the rebirth of humanity, built upon unlimited destruction.
Class Skills
Territory Creation // Rank A++ (C)
The thaumaturgical capacity to impose primacy of control over a spatial domain, as in the creation of an Atelier. Owing to lack of skill in direct thaumaturgical practice, the Servant is capable only of establishing a traditional Bounded Field at an effective Rank of C. Assisted, however, by FATE_Excursus, a bounded domain with an effective Rank of A++ may be very briefly established for purposes of defense against Anti-Fortress attacks.
Item Creation // Rank EX
Capacity in the manufacture of thaumaturgical objects, inclusive of Mystic Codes and such existences as artificial elementals or automata. At Rank EX, this skill permits the automated implementation and management of fragmentary True Magics by means of modern technology.
Personal Skills
Magecraft // Rank EX
Knowledge and capacity within the discipline of modern thaumaturgy. Though in life, the Servant possessed a large quantity of high-grade circuits, she was of severely limited capability in the practical use of spells -- being self-taught, and without the direct instruction of a mentor. Specializing instead in theoretical formalcraft, she was able to singlehandedly salvage the thaumaturgical technologies of Chaldea -- refining them to the extent that automata-assisted phenomenon implementation could be used as a direct replacement for invocations of Mystery up to a ten-count Aria.
As Grand Caster, the Servant is independently capable of performing basic magecraft to an effective Rank of C; but with the support of her Noble Phantasms, even the fragmentary rendition of the True Magics isn't beyond her grasp.
Golden Rule (False) // <unranked>
The capacity to acquire material wealth. Differing from Golden Rule (True), this skill cannot be quantified as a denial of the Common Sense per the circumstances of supernatural fortune. Rather, it represents mundane aptitude in the capitalistic endeavor -- and is thus unranked. Grand Caster's proficiency in this skill potentially confers a level of monetary income comparable to the provisions of a Rank B in Golden Rule (True).
Determination of Steel // Rank EX
The discipline and focus to optimize the use of mental faculties regardless of circumstance; the capacity to indefinitely maintain a persona or mental state without flaw, or to perform a repetitive task for any duration of time; the capacity to perfectly negate mental interference of both the mundane and thaumaturgical varieties. As in the circumstance of Bravery, this includes factors such as pain, pressure, confusion, and fascination. Determination of Steel cannot be used while under the effect of Mad Enhancement.
Cetacea // Rank EX
An alien rationality on the matter of 'consumption,' as might govern an organism whose existence itself occurs at a vastly larger scale than an individual human. Though ultimately incomprehensible to humanity, beings possessed of this trait are frequently said to possess a bizarre charisma -- eliciting an inexplicable, irrational envy in those that look upon them.
As a personal skill at Rank EX, the trait confers a weak, curse-like allure to the Servant, and confounds opponent skills that would normally enable anticipation or insight into the Servant's prospective actions. Furthermore, it enables a complete negation of mental interference by thaumaturgical means.
Noble Phantasms
Monte Cristo Mythologie // The King of the Cavern // Anti-Unit - Rank A
A Noble Phantasm that designates Grand Caster as a conqueror of Chateau d'If, and the successor to the will of Edmond Dantes; a sublimation of her actions as an incarnation of vengeance, and of the life she led as the many-faced 'Maiden of the World's End.'
In voluntary activation without the release of its True Name, the Noble Phantasm permits the temporary fixture of falsified information to multiple objects and individuals within the recognition of Alaya -- supplanting the perceptions of any human observer subordinant to the Common Sense. If, for example, a target is appended with the identity of a Servant, attempts by a Master to visualize the target's parameters will display only the information volunteered by Grand Caster; and the target's odic presence will authentically suggest the spiritual stature of a Servant.
Monte Cristo Mythologie may be used as a substitute for Presence Concealment. In the event that its True Name is released, an alternative function is triggered ...
SYSTEMA/FATE_Excursus // Heroic Guardian Deployment Module // Support / Defense - Rank EX
One of the three automata crafted by Grand Caster within her lifetime, for use in the assistance or automation of phenomenon realization and information gathering; a 'machine' fabricated of interlocking concepts, divorced entirely from the domain of physical reality. Designed after the functions of Chaldea's Heroic Guardian Deployment System "FATE."
A spiritual evocation engine that requires only the mental administration of a user and the input of a catalyst, deriving the materialization of Servants and Conceptual Armaments from the Summoning of the Heroic Spirits and Lord Camelot, the Fortress of the Distant Utopia. Though FATE_Excursus is itself without the attribute of 'location,' the output of evocations can be freely localized to any spatial position; and visual representations of system processes may be allocated to holographic displays at will.
FATE_Excursus is additionally invoked in the defensive use of Territory Creation; countless holographic replicas of Lord Chaldeas are virtually deployed to demarcate the boundary of a shielded domain.
SYSTEMA/TRISMEGISTUS_Hermetica // Refraction-Image Observation Module // Support - Rank EX
One of the three automata crafted by Grand Caster within her lifetime, for use in the assistance or automation of phenomenon realization and information gathering; a 'machine' fabricated of interlocking concepts, divorced entirely from the domain of physical reality. Designed after Chaldea's Spiritron Calculation Engine "TRISMEGISTUS," the system sublimates and encompasses the original functions of CHALDEAS and SHIVA.
Founded upon a fragmentary rendition of the Second Magic, TRISMEGISTUS_Hermetica was created as an observational instrument with which to approach, within human means, the boundary of omniscience. In operation, the conceptual topography of Alaya as extant within a targeted world-line is approximated to a fractal schematic, and data pertaining to a particular temporal-spatial locale is extrapolated to specificity -- subjected to quantum analysis for purposes of parsing and representation to human comprehension. Though multiple world-lines and locales may be modeled in parallel for purposes of analysis and comparison, detail is progressively lost with distance from the consolidation of Alaya near the end of the Age of Divinities.
In the activation of Lord Babylon, FATE_Excursus is granted permission to access the resources of TRISMEGISTUS_Hermetica for analytical support in formalcraft calculations.
Lord Babylon // Forge of the Never-Ending Dystopia // Anti-Foundation - Rank EX
Consumption unto banality; the devaluation that comes of mass-proliferation, fueled upon the unrestricted expenditure of resources; the immolation of the past and future for the benefit of the present. This was the purpose for which Grand Caster was created; the artificial Origin embedded within her soul at the ministrations of Solomon the Wise -- which set her upon the path of tragedy, and eventually rendered meaningless the worth of 'heroes.'
Even so, the concept of 'consumption unto banality' is one among the foundational elements to the Common Sense -- for as civilization advances, the equalization of means inevitably eliminates the threat of exceptional existences. Therefore, with the proliferation of firearms, the age of 'heroes' came to termination. Though the legacy of Grand Caster was one of destruction, her actions served to free humanity from reliance upon the fantasies of its adolescence.
Crystallized as a Noble Phantasm, Lord Babylon manifests in two components: First, as a repository of the worldly wealth amassed by Grand Caster in the course of her lifetime. Second, as the capacity to expend 'currency' as a replacement for prana in the realization of any phenomenon within the means of her automata.
On the logic that an infinitesimally improbable event must occur with a large enough sample size, the complete activation of Lord Babylon actualizes a consequence not dissimilar to Marble Phantasm -- giving rendition to a specifically desired reality at the outcome of innumerable failures, and at the consequence of permanently debasing the Mystery invoked to achieve it. In this utilization, Lord Babylon is considered an Anti-Foundation Noble Phantasm.