Monthly Create-A-Servant Contest

[Kamera]

never said i specifically hate the class desu. well, maybe i did. but there's a first time for everything.

[NINE-lives]

I generally hate foreigner class servants because they turn interesting artists into nasuverse OC’s but this was pretty interesting so I’ll Give it a pass.

[MehKitteh]

Faceclaim

"Servant Caster, has arrived to answer your summons. I'll do my best if you do your best. That is all."

Class: CasterPretender
Alignment: Lawful NeutralChaotic Neutral
Origin: History
Region: AmericaIndonesia

STR: D
END: E
AGI: C
MGI: A+
LCK: D
NP: A+

Personal Tidbits

True Name: Archibald MacLeishChairil Anwar
Talents: writing, being an ass
Likes: reading, studying languages, poetry
Dislikes: the Japanese, plebeians
Natural Enemy: Sherlock Holmes, Qin Shi Huang

Skills

Class Skills:

Territory Creation: D
The Skill to create specialized territory that is advantageous to oneself as a Magus, such as for the purposes of collecting Mana. CasterPretender, as a prolific writer, can create a small Study to help with his arts.

Item Construction: C
The Skill to manufacture magical items, from implements of war to items for daily use. Allows the creation of mundane and low-powered magical items of the 'scrolls' and 'tomes' category, although CasterPretender doesn't really like to use this Skill unless absolutely necessary.

Anti-Human Order: D-
The ability that puts a stop to everything created by humanity, as well as the laws that work in humanity's favor. Arguably a Class Skill for his Class, Pretender obtained this Skill through deception of everyone, including the World and oneself. He does not hate humanity, as can be seen by the amount of works he had done for fellow humans, but instead his nature to go against the collective, the human thoughts of his time and region, to reject their very nature and express 'himself' regardless of rules and systems, and to oppose and rebel against them at any point. To put it simply, a form of inalienable malice that lurks in one's heart.

As his very nature is the 'opposition' of anything man-made, this Skill provides some form of protection against divinations attempted on Pretender to perceive his true nature, preventing anyone from gleaning on his personal information unless Pretender consents.

Personal Skills:

Espionage: B
Not exactly Presence Concealment, but the Skill to make one's presence fail to register as hostile. This Skill causes others to misunderstand one's status, including mistaking one for a kind neighbor, a harmless pebble, or as the most beloved person.

At this Rank, this Skill makes CasterPretender to be perceived as a friend, a comrade in arms or in faith, anything that is remotely related to those who view him in the best light possible. Whether he's seen as a devout Christian, a fellow Marxist supporter, a zealous Muslim, or a staunch opponent of Western imperialism, CasterPretender, through his works, inadvertently created a 'self' that is accepted in hundreds of different communities and labels, without having to be any of those labels.

Weak Constitution: A
A weakness struck by the nature of frail health. A Skill similar to Innocent Monster, where perception from the future affects one's existence to a degree. CasterPretender is accompanied by the risk of a sharp status drop at anytime, without prompt.

Typhoid, syphilis, or even tuberculosis, many diseases was brought up to be the one that returned CasterPretender into Death's sweet embrace, and even ignoring that, CasterPretender has been described in life as 'bloodshot-eyed and incredibly pallid'.

Wild Beast's Logic: C
A feral and combative way of thinking, usually brought by one's transformation into a beast. While it is not useful for finding weak points, it accelerates thinking speed when focusing in harming or killing the enemy.

While CasterPretender is not a beast in a literal sense, his 'rejection' of social norms and rules has turned him into an existence that can't be truly called 'man', thus allowing him to attain this Skill. A very unique and 'savage' way of thinking, helping him hack away to find what he is actually inside through his persistence in writing; A 'wild' approach to dissect the human condition.

Noble Phantasm

Hole-ridden Moon-section Phantasmagoria

The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak

Anti-Army Individual, B+

"We were young, they say. We have died. REMEMBER US."

Through one of his greatest works, CasterPretender internalizes the despair, fear, and grief of those who died in the process of attaining glory; the side characters of an ideal's realization, the collaterals of a future they can never enjoy, and then projects them in an area, creating a phantasmal scene of death and misery. Unmarked 'graves' adorn the battlefield, as miasma seeps into the environment, carrying the stench of blood and death with it. Phantasmal arms starts to sprout from the ground, frantically flailing and trying to grab anything to bring back with them to their shallow graves.

Of course, none of this are truly real. These hands are the manifestations of the people that were sacrificed in the name of an ideal, or rather, a hero's birth. A target that gets grabbed by an arm would see themselves getting swarmed by more and more hands, as if the land itself has found its target of vengeance. With each arm that latches on, a specialized mental interference attack is launched against them, dealing more damage proportionate to how famous their target it. To the likes of the King of Heroes or King of Knights, to bring up examples, surely this Noble Phantasm would deal tremendous mental damage to them, potentially leaving them crippled and reducing their stats sharply as their very Graph are shaken by the weight of the collaterals they accrue in their story. Conversely, relative nobodies would experience dulled pain and a minor reduction to their stats instead.

As a side note, as this Noble Phantasm relies on both physical contact by the conjurations and mental attacks, Servants with resistance against mental interference or Servants that can avoid being caught in the first place could easily resist or even negate the effects of this Noble Phantasm.

真名熔解

Aku

I Am But A Wild Animal

Anti-Unit, A+

---
"I am but a wild animal, exiled from his own pack.
Even as bullets pierce my skin, I will still strike in rage.
Wounds and poison, I take as I run.

...

RUN.

UNTIL THE PAIN LEAVES.

AND I WILL CARE EVEN LESS.

I wANt tO LiVE a tHOuSaND MOrE yeARsー!"
---

Pretender's True Noble Phantasm, the crystallization of his very essence, or rather how Pretender approximates himself to be based on the views of other on himself; a complete, alien enigma, able to morph into anything and use anything to achieve his goals, regardless of actual values or honor. After Pretender sheds any of his false identities and reveal his True Name, then chants the titular poem, his visage slowly melts into the air, leaving a smoky, twisted image of a man; ever-changing and pervasive. yet still somewhat recognizable as something familiar. Pretender's tentative True Self, so to speak.

"If my time has come, I don't need anyone to beg.
... Not even from you.
I don't need that sniveling!"

In itself, this Noble Phantasm does absolutely nothing except increasing Pretender's resistance against physical attacks by a considerable amount, but the real value of this Noble Phantasm reveals itself once Pretender manages to fell an opponent in combat. In this form, Pretender can subsume the very existence of anyone he killed, consuming their very essence and making their appearances and even abilities his, up to and not limited to Noble Phantasms. Pretender also have quite the freedom on which parts of his victim does he want to subsume in himself, handpicking skills that he deems to suit his needs.

The more Pretender consumes with this Noble Phantasm, the more his 'True Self' gets monstrous and twisted, as repeated consumption of Saint Graphs takes quite a toll on his own stability. Pretender couldn't care less, though. If it would further his goals to reject the status quo and to stave off his borrowed time, even if for just a split-second, he would do it in a heartbeat.

Aku does have limitations besides that, however. Pretender can only gain abilities that they have seen or have known, and those abilities would only work as far as how Pretender understands and perceives it to work, therefore there are cases where Pretender couldn't use a Skill or Noble Phantasm to its fullest potential, or even missing out on crucial Skills entirely. There are potential that Skills he takes in might conflict with existing Skills in himself, making his already unstable existence even more shaky.

Lore

CasterPretender's True Name is Archibald MacLeish, an American poet and writer that not only have created great works on American exceptionalism such as 'Conquistador', but also the major restructuring of the Library of Congress' extensive catalog at the time. His works have been noted to be a 'reconciliation of the old world and the new world', bridging the ideal with the realistic through his exploration of his own experiences.

... Of course, this is but a ruse. Pretender's True Name is Chairil Anwar, an Indonesian poet of the Independence era of 1940s, and is lauded as one of the great poets of Indonesia. Regarded as one of the major influences in modern Indonesian language, his writings are not unified by a single theme, but rather all have different, independent themes that is spread across his works, said to be a reflection of his state of mind at the time. This ranges from existentialism, individualism, death, and all of them are up for interpretation, inciting critics and readers to think that 'the true Chairil Anwar is an enigma'.

His works include 'Aku' (Me), a very allegorical take on self identity that is still debated until this day to what it actually means, as well as 'Karawang BekasiHole-ridden Section of the Moon' (a place in West Java), which detailed the nameless soldiers that died for Indonesian independence, which has been debated to be either a celebration of these nameless heroes, or a lamentation of how an individual is treated as expendable in the name of a grander ideal.

He died on 1949, pitiful and remain unknown, even to himself. After he died, it was discovered that some of his works, particularly 'Karawang Bekasi', was actually 'heavily influenced', if not plagiarized, from many other poets and writers. In 'Karawang Bekasi's case, it was found that it is eerily similar to Archibald MacLeish's 'The Dead Young Soldiers', although his critics also pointed out that he transformed enough of the so-called plagiarized work to be its own thing.

Personality

CasterPretender is an affable personality, although he'd rather perfect his craft and be lost in his own thoughts rather than entertain people. Thus, he often can be seen contemplating in secluded places, a pen in one hand. He has a very communal way of thinking, prioritizing the success of the Master-Servant pairing or any alliances he strikes as a whole, rather than easily sacrificing one to the benefit of all other.

Once he sheds his facade, however, Pretender is an uncaring, selfish, callous sociopath, easily dismissive of anything that he deems 'mainstream' (which at the time, was works that exhibit the general air of selfless patriotism) and is just generally rude. He has an air of haughtiness in his own skill, giving off a very standoffish smugness as he thinks no one truly understands him... And to a certain point, he is right. His existence as a human being is largely shaped by what others have perceived him as, and he himself constantly seeks to know himself through continued and transformative expressions of his soul through poetry, and therefore have no idea what 'Chairil Anwar' truly is.

While he would easily use poetry as a means to survive, among many other, he does have a fondness to the media, claiming it to be the most 'natural for him to explore himself, and to see the world as what it is'.

Summoned as a Pretender, he is pretty content on simply picking off anyone severely weakened enough to be consumed, or to just watch and observe how everyone unravels from a distance. Once he activates Aku and reverts to his 'True Self', however, Pretender regresses to a feral, dangerous beast, single-mindedly hunting his target with sadistic and manic glee.

---

Threw my hat in for funsies. Enjoy.

[BnEl15]

Not sure if this one fits Pretender or Faker, leaning towards the latter. Then again, qualifications for the Pretender Class is still vague anyways. All that said, gotta admire more Indonesian Servants, hell ye, especially from the 20th century besides obvious candidates like Soekarno and Soeharto. That true NP is a simple but horrifying interpretation of the poem.

Edit: If I have to find fault in it, that MGI parameter sounds absurdly high for a 20th century poet, and his "true" lore and personality could use more elaboration.

Edit 2: Whoops, nevermind, missed the collapse text as well. The other point still stands, though.

[RoydGolden]

I'm not familiar with either of these guys but it sounds like a writer disguising himself as a different writer for some reason? It's interesting but I feel like there should be more hidden text in his Lore and Personality sections. As is there's no explanation of his "true" identity beyond the second NP.

[MehKitteh]

Not sure if this one fits Pretender or Faker, leaning towards the latter. Then again, qualifications for the Pretender Class is still vague anyways. All that said, gotta admire more Indonesian Servants, hell ye, especially from the 20th century besides obvious candidates like Soekarno and Soeharto. That true NP is a simple but horrifying interpretation of the poem.

I blame having to analyze his poems for three years back in school.

I'm not familiar with either of these guys but it sounds like a writer disguising himself as a different writer for some reason? It's interesting but I feel like there should be more hidden text in his Lore and Personality sections. As is there's no explanation of his "true" identity beyond the second NP.

As in the justification as to why he is summoned as what he is?

[RoydGolden]

As in the justification as to why he is summoned as what he is?

Yeah, as to why he takes on MacLeish's identity when summoned and what his "true" personality is like underneath.

- - - Updated - - -

Nevermind, I missed the collapse-text since it was hidden in the period at the end. I've read it now. Redact the second complaint, but I still don't really get why he impersonates MacLeish in particular.

[NINE-lives]

Faceclaim don’t show up for me.

[Drangle]

I think i'm gonna make a whole post outlining what I think are the distinctions between Pretender and Faker as well as the requirements.

[NINE-lives]

I think i'm gonna make a whole post outlining what I think are the distinctions between Pretender and Faker as well as the requirements.

My opinion is that the faker class consists of servants that pretend to be other more famous servants. Pretenders are servants that are straight up threats to mankind that could destroy the human order if let loose.

[BnEl15]

My opinion is that the faker class consists of servants that pretend to be other more famous servants. Pretenders are servants that are straight up threats to mankind that could destroy the human order if let loose.

Gotta agree with this definition so far, though I have nothing against those with different creative takes on the class.

[Drangle]

My opinion is that the faker class consists of servants that pretend to be other more famous servants. Pretenders are servants that are straight up threats to mankind that could destroy the human order if let loose.

I mean this is pretty much the short version of what i was typing out lol. Some other points that are somewhat more opinion/HC based:

• Fakers have very little substance outside of their impersonation abilities, and usually cannot manifest in any other class
• A Pretender's surface identity is usually a figure with a certain amount of ambiguity if they normally existed
• Pretenders have separate NPs for being in and out of "disguise", with different effect
• A Pretender's surface and true identities had no connection in their actual legends, but may be thematically linked and should bear at least plausible resemblance to one another (eg. ethnicity, sex)

I agree that Pretenders need not be evil, but they do need to represent a threat to the world to such an extent that the summoning system basically forces them to dilute themselves with another identity.

[Tabris]

I agree that Pretenders need not be evil, but they do need to represent a threat to the world to such an extent that the summoning system basically forces them to dilute themselves with another identity.

Unless, of course, you're Bonnie and Clyde, ahem.

[WhiteFrenzy]

Unless, of course, you're Bonnie and Clyde, ahem.

The way I see it, they represent the spirit - because it's only when you love that you develop a "soul". We are born with instincts - Freud Id's turf - but this isn't love. That's why they call themselves "the beggining and the end of a soul". It's just that they're a super lax couple that holds no contempt over humankind (thankfully).

Also THERE'S SO MANY GREAT ENTRIES. I'll definitely comment on them sometime this week, cannot wait to share my love for them.

[Comun]

My key headcanon here is that Pretenders have a true name under their disguises and Fakers don’t.

[BnEl15]

My key headcanon here is that Pretenders have a true name under their disguises and Fakers don’t.

This is true if we go by canon mats so far, though it does leave a gap for named figures who are known for impersonation and does not qualify for any other class, but does not have enough justification to qualify as a Pretender.

[DelRey]

My interpretation is that Fakers actually pretend to be a Hero
While Pretender actually become the hero by partially summoning them into themself.
Contrary to the others I do not believe that the threat to humanity status is a core aspect and just unique to vortigerns legend. When i did Freud Id the threat to humanity part came on a whim and they were a beast candidate anyway

[Kamera]

The devil in gentleman clothing in the Pretender class card gives a pretty good picture of what its supposed to be actually.

[NINE-lives]

My interpretation is that Fakers actually pretend to be a Hero
While Pretender actually become the hero by partially summoning them into themself.
Contrary to the others I do not believe that the threat to humanity status is a core aspect and just unique to vortigerns legend. When i did Freud Id the threat to humanity part came on a whim and they were a beast candidate anyway

Isn’t one of the pretender class skills literally called “anti-human order”?

[NMR-3]

IMO the difference is that a Faker lies to the Master or themselves, a Pretender lies to the world.

Honestly, I'm probably staying out of it until we have another Pretender. I presume it'll be December's F/GO chapter or New Years' Servant but who knows.