The Muse Project
EPISODE I: EUTERPE
EPISODE II: CLIO
 
b i n d e r
GRIMM BROTHERS
your tale recorded, your deeds made famous

(@monaca_vol on Twitter)
"Hello, please don’t mind the two of us. We are just scholars passing through. You can call me Jacob …"
"And I’m Wilhelm. Although you probably know us by our last name, the Grimm brothers, right ? Yeah, all three of us are here : Jacob, myself, and the lady, though she’s even more of a shut-in than my brother - when she’s not talking through us at least !"
LIKES
Books, warmth, calm
DISLIKES
Rain, the echoes of war, the tears of a child
ALIGNMENT
Lawful Neutral
ATTRIBUTE
Human Heaven
IMAGE SONG
Poems of a Machine - Mili
NATURAL ENEMY
"No." "No ?" "No. We don’t say his name here." "Alright.’"
STR D
END D
AGI D
MAN A
LUK C-
NP E~A+
« Class Skills »Class Skills
Binding & Fettering B+
The signature class Skill of the Binder class, the ability to establish a network of connections with themselves as its focal point. Binder’s attacks create tethers draining both magical energy and lowering the target’s Mana and Luck parameters to redistribute them to Binder’s allies, also marking both sides as applicable targets for their Noble Phantasm. Additionally, targets that are already described within it — whether originally or by being added during their current summoning — are automatically marked as targets and bound by Binder’s tethers. They are known as one of the Three Great Fairytales Authors, their works on gathering and writing down in a single place many tales of their homeland solidifying its folklore and granting it a much stronger foundation than it had as orally transmitted stories altered from one town to another until the original could no longer be discerned.
"Yes, we are summoned as a Binder here. Not Caster, but don’t worry, we are still scholars and teachers here."
"It’s a pretty rare Extra Class, I’ve heard … Do you think her presence is why we’re like that ?"
"It may have helped … but I do think we would have been qualified anyway."
Independent Action D++
The class Skill of both Archers and Binders, the ability to continue roaming the World even without support or anchor for a longer duration. Originally, the brothers would only receive a painfully medium or low rank, as they have been rather dependent on others’ generosity to subsist, yet they are now a famously recognized name due to their work on fairy tales without needing the mention of others — there can be found the influence of the Muse Clio, using that very fame of theirs to promote them in a stable situation upon manifestation. Paired with their high reserves of magical energy and the supplement received from their fetters, barring high-intensity usage of their Noble Phantasm over long periods of time, it’s unlikely that they would find themselves unable to maintain their existence without preparation to deprive them.
"It feels so good not needing as much support as we used to, doesn’t it, Jacob ?"
"... Yeah, it is nice. Well, it’s not full independence, but it’s still better than before."
« Personal Skills »Personal Skills
Recorder (Fairytales) A++
The Skill to gather, record and recall a specific target, usually knowledge, functioning similarly to a composite of a specialized form of Collector and Librarian of Knowledge. Of course, within the field of fairytales, the Grimm Brothers are among the most famous recorders you can find in the Throne, alongside their colleagues Aesop and Hans Christian Andersen, and this specialization is magnified in the Binder class, focusing more specifically on that aspect of them than simply as “authors”. All matters of knowledge pertaining to stories are naturally attracted to them, facilitating recording in their Noble Phantasm, and any tidbit of that recorded data can be recalled at will, facilitating both Noble Phantasm usage and, within the scope of a Holy Grail War or other potential gatherings of Servants such as Singularities and Lostbelts, the recalling of other Heroic Spirits’ legends to their own advantage.
"Well, I suppose it is not surprising seeing a life’s work — no, the work of two lives — result in something like that for Heroic Spirits. Our tales got much more famous after our time …"
"With all we’ve done, it better have ! Decades of toil unrewarded ? No thank you ! That being said, this is pretty neat."
Philology (German) B
A Skill denoting proficiency in the scientific field of philology, that is to say the study of language itself in both oral and written sources and its evolution. While it obviously provides positive modifiers to linguistics checks, it lacks any other general function, as it then varies depending on the user and their contributions to the field of philology. In the case of the Grimm brothers, because their philological work is directly tied to their gathering of German tales and to their attempt at reaching the Root by seeking to understand the origins of languages, it doubles as a means of incantation for spellcasting. Although obviously not effective in that regard to the same degree as it would have when summoning them as a Caster, the Skill itself remains at a satisfactory rank due to the nature of the Binder class, as that very attempt to reach the Root is in essence the reconstitution of a chain binding the languages of old to those of today.
"Ah yes, our Deutsches Wörterbuch … As a scholarly work of philology I'm proud of it. As magecraft research however … Some would say it's a bit of a reach to try to return to the roots of languages-"
"But seeing those Sealing Designates of today, I say we were on the right track ! Well, I've heard that the puppeteer gave up on doing the same with anatomy, but Gotteswort did get pretty close, all thanks to fairies, so that's a good start !"
Discernment of the Poor B
A Skill denoting the ability to see through the opponent’s character and attribute through insight born from the knowledge of the lowest stratums of society. The Grimm brothers lived in poverty for the latter part of their childhood due to their father’s and later their mother’s deaths and had to make do with jobs under their true calling and qualifications to support their younger siblings, continuing to face financial difficulties later in their lives when the political situation lost them their jobs and thus incomes. Deceiving them through words is nearly impossible, especially due to their Philology’s modifiers to language checks and their Noble Phantasm providing cautionary examples.
"Yeah, short-term success is never to be taken for granted, and at the end-"
"I don't want to talk about it."
She Who Proclaims EX
An exclusive Skill stemming not from the Grimm brothers — although some latter uses of their works are factored in rooting this Skill in their Saint Graph — but from the Muse that joined them, Clio. She is, of course, the Muse of History, a goddess whose very name can be translated as “making famous”, and she thus affected Binder’s Saint Graph in her capacity as “the proclaimer, the glorifier and celebrator of history, great deeds and accomplishments” to allow them to reverse the flow of their abilities, or perhaps completing the latter step of their usage — that is to say, turning Recorder’s characteristic of gathering wisdom into 「spreading knowledge」. Although they somewhat lack the storytelling skills of their fellow great authors and the charisma of lyric poets chanting their tales to an audience, through the tethers they create as a Binder, they can share and proclaim knowledge, particularly of the doings of one or multiple persons. By re-establishing their accomplishments firmly into the minds of those around, it becomes possible to essentially raise the target’s fame or discredit it into infamy exponentially in regards to the amount of people sharing this knowledge.
« Noble Phantasm »Noble Phantasm
Tales of Our Land, Land of Your Tales
Kinder- und Hausmärchen
Anti-Tale
Rank E~A+
♫
Kinder- und Hausmärchen, also known as Children's and Household Tales, is the most famous work of the Grimm brothers, and one of their first publications, re-edited through their lives. As its name implies, it is a compilation of tales recorded by the brothers of mainly European origins. In today's world, especially thanks to the adaptations by Walt Disney, it's not wrong to say those stories they gathered are among the most famous, a cut above Aesop's fables and, for some of them, above even Andersen's own works.
Among the Three Great Fairytales Authors, the Grimm brothers indeed stand in a specific place — unlike Andersen, they never wrote their own stories, only recording existing ones, unlike Aesop, they speak of folklore of the Age of Men — and their works show a greater interest for the continuation of an artistic tradition by recording it than simply an entertaining performance to stir the emotions of the public, in short, history over storytelling. This is the very reason behind the choice of the Muse Clio to attach herself to their Saint Graph rather than any other historian to bestow her blessings upon.
As a Noble Phantasm, it manifests as a shared mental landscape for the two brothers, a fictional land of tales in the middle of which they sit, surrounded by bookshelves filled with the written stories that make up the rest of that world. Unlike Reality Marbles, it isn’t a World that can be expanded over the existing one, simply a dream that the two share, a mental study room in the middle of the dreams of the countless children who grew up with their tales. Its primary function is to 「record one's accomplished story as an established legend」, to bind the history of the target to the World so it may be remembered, allowing its temporary elevation to a status similar to Heroic Spirits in tandem with the Muse's proclamation.
As a Caster, they would have then been able to directly summon the contents of that World, gathered stories of their land and newly recorded ones of this manifestation, but as a Binder, it instead combines with their tethers to become the ability to bind the target to the fate of a story. A Wraith may be sublimated, bounties and blessings may be distributed to those ascribed to the fates of the heroes, receiving fortune and riches upon putting on a glass slipper or the support of a booted cat, but just as well may an enemy become entrapped in less-than-favorable situations, condemned to lose their feet to burning shoes or to erode a mountain of pure diamond.
« Notes »Notes
Many thanks to gears for the high-res class icon (though I has to down the res because as it’s the collapse image, I couldn’t use a table or BIMG to have it not take the screen’s full width :romani:)
I’ll add their relations later, I’m on a bit of a time rush rn and having to handle two voices does not help there.
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