Class Skills
Magic Resistance – A
Grants protection against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether.
At this rank, the Skill cancels Single-Action spells. Magic Resistance of the same degree of an amulet that rejects magical energy. When holding to the
Banner of Saint Mark, she gains a defensive boost against the sacraments of the Church, a distinction that greatly bothers her pious heart.
Riding – A+
The ability to ride mounts and vehicles. All vehicles and all creatures up to the level of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast can be used as mounts. However, that does not apply to members of the Dragon Kind.
While Rider, as a Servant of the Age of Man, has no proficiency in riding creatures of the Phantasmal Species, the goddess supplementing her Saint Graph has enhanced the scope of this Skill to allow for the manifestation of their second Noble Phantasm.
Personal Skills
Bridegroom of the Sea – EX
A Skill in the same vein as
Affections of the Goddess, except that it carries a ritualistic rather than filial or romantic context. It allows the sea goddess,
Amphitrite, to manifest in the tangible world as a Servant, using Rider as a medium. Even if diminished to the category of Heroic Spirit, the parameters of a great mother goddess (?) are significantly superior to those of a Servant of the Age of Man who would manifest as a nonagenarian.
The foundation for this Skill—and the unique circumstances of this Servant as a whole—is of course the
Sposalizio del Mare: the ancient, traditional Venetian ceremony in which the city’s leader, on behalf of the city as a whole, symbolically weds the Adriatic Sea. While it began as a, expiatory ritual and a supplication for calm seas, it eventually evolved into a nuptial ceremony ascertaining the thalassocracy’s maritime domination, a ritual through which Venice and the sea are made into one. Admittedly, the image may have been reinforced by Tiepolo’s depiction of a female Venice, receiving the gifts of the sea from Neptune.
As a pious Catholic, Enrico Dandolo has no love towards the pagan divinity. This is purely a marriage of convenience.
Incitement – A+
A Skill that functions as the acquisition of the words and gestures to lead the citizens and the masses. Especially, when employed against an individual, it functions as a sort of mental attack. As the man at the center of the course of events of the infamous Fourth Crusade, Rider has a very high rank in this Skill.
It takes a very special kind of man to convince a merchant republic to halt all commercial operations for over two years, risking complete financial ruin in the process, to focus entirely on the crusading mission. It takes an even more incredible kind of man to convince a crusading army set on fighting the hated infidel to turn their weapons against Venice’s Dalmatian—and very Catholic—enemies.
Instinct of the Blind Doge – A
An uncanny ability to read his surroundings without need for visual perception, and instantly identify the best course of action. Really, it is nothing but supernaturally quick wit. Unlike the “standard”
Instinct Skill, this one shines both in the midst of heated battle and on the negotiation table, in the company of emperors and in the midst of fierce haggling at the Rialto.
This Skill further represents Rider’s historical disregard for his blindness, which did not stop him for standing at the vanguard of a defining moment in the history of Western civilization (for good or ill).
Sea of Life – E
A Skill that acts as an expression of the Authority of a sea goddess as “the ocean from which all life is born.”
This Skill manifests solely as a hidden foundation beneath the Mystery surrounding Rider’s Noble Phantasms. In fact, it seems Rider herself is not aware she has this Skill, or at least does not list it as one of her Skills when asked. Rather,
why is this Skill even here?
Noble Phantasms
Stendardo di San Marco
Crimson Banner of the Princes of the Sea
A
Type: Anti-Army
Range: 1-99
Maximum Targets: 1000 people
The flag of the Republic of Venice. It represents Enrico Dandolo’s crowning moment of glory, probably the most significant action in the whole long maritime history of the Republic. Two quotes, one from a contemporary and one from a modern chronicler, best describe this historical moment.
“For the Duke of Venice, who was an old man and stone blind, stood fully armed on the prow of his galley, with the banner of St. Mark before him, and cried out to his men to drive the ship ashore if they valued their skins. And so they did, and he and they leapt down and planted the banner before him in the ground. And when the other Venetians saw the standard of St. Mark and the Doge's galley before their own, they were ashamed, and followed him ashore.”
—Geoffrey de Villehardouin.
“After the mosaics that commemorate the body of St Mark sailing to Venice, this is the single most iconic image in Venetian history—the blind doge, standing erect at the prow of his ship with the red-and-gold lion banner of St Mark fluttering in the wind as his ship grounds beneath the menacing city walls; battle rages around him, but the wise old merchant crusader stands unmoved, urging his fleet on. The memory of this moment, endlessly recounted, would send shivers of martial patriotism down the spines of the Venetian people for hundreds of years; it would become the rallying cry in times of intense national danger, cited as the supreme example of the old heroic qualities on which the wealth of the Republic was built. (…) Dandolo’s initiative made possible, via a train of events that no one could predict at the time, the Republic’s ascent to Mediterranean empire. If that day the Venetians had failed by sea, as the French had by land, the whole expedition would probably have collapsed.”
—Roger Crowley
Upon its invocation, the banner becomes the keystone of unbreakable morale; the drive that pushes armies to assault the most heavily fortified city of the Medieval Era, while outnumbered. Furthermore, it is also the center of a
Sea of Life
fountain of unlimited vitality
that ensures exhaustion will not be the cause of defeat for any of Rider’s allies. Finally, this Noble Phantasm grants Rider some degree of control over the local weather, and more specifically over winds and seas. Things like natural disasters are impossible; at most, it can be used to ensure favorable travel for an armada, or things like a burst of speed that allows large vessels to dodge incoming fire ships.
Quadriga in Trionfo
Pearly Throne of Most Serene Domination
A+
Type: Anti-Army/Anti-Fortress
Range: 2-50
Maximum Targets: 100 people
A seafaring chariot in the image of depictions of Amphitrite (or her Roman equivalent, Salacia): shaped as a giant pearl shell, and pulled by four sea-horses—the mythological
hippocampi. However, the horses pulling Rider’s chariot are not Phantasmal Beasts.
When the crusaders finally seized the great city of Constantinople, an orgy of unrestrained pillaging ensued, which would be engraved in history as one of Christianity’s lowest moments. While the soldiers viciously looted, murdered and raped, Enrico Dandolo was orders of magnitude more carefully at picking his spoils of war. Among with countless relics and thousands of coins, he claimed the four bronze horses standing above the Hippodrome, which even now still rest in Venice (save for a short stint in Paris courtesy of Napoleon Bonaparte).
It is these status which have been granted a mockery of life through the goddess’
Sea of Life
mysterious life-giving powers
. With power equivalent to that of Divine Beasts, they trample across the battlefield on land and sea at Rider’s command. In representation of the episode in which, after placing Alexios Angelos on the throne of Constantinople, Dandolo and the crusaders demanded a portion of the impregnable walls of the city to be demolished to allowed them free and safe access into and out of the city, the chariot bears the power to ignore such defenses to a degree. Standing walls and fortifications with defense values below A-rank fall apart on their own, spreading themselves open like curtains to allow the chariot and its rider to pass through.
Furthermore, as an additional effect of the symbol of one of the most humiliating moments in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, the trampling attacks of the chariot carry both the “Anti-Greek” and “Anti-Roman” traits.
Originally Posted by King of Padoru
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