Location: Fuyuki City
Year: 1939 A.D.
Human Order Foundation Value: D
SETTING
A few weeks after the events of the Resurgent Beatific Century Ithavoll, Novum Chaldea is rocked by an explosion from an unknown source. Post-event analysis reveals no structural damage, but several Servants and Unregistered Spirit Origins are confirmed to be missing. Da Vinci later triangulates the position of the missing Servants to a Singularity in Kyushu island, and it's up to Ritsuka to retrieve them. Accompanying Ritsuka to the Singularity is Artoria Pendragon, a Servant of high-class combat capabilities who also happens to be familiar with the Singularity's location: Fuyuki City.
However, everything quickly goes awry from there. Ritsuka is forcefully diverted away from the original landing coordinates at Ryudo Temple and diverted to a residential area several kilometers northwest. This attracts the attention of a shadowy Servant, who chases Ritsuka to an abandoned mansion. With Artoria nowhere in sight, Ritsuka barricades themselves in an old shed within the mansion's courtyard. A blindingly-white light covers the surroundings, and Ritsuka emerges from the shed. The shadowy Servant is nowhere to be seen, replaced by a young man in blue whose only words are--
"I'm Saber. A Creation who'll protect you."
With the summoning of the last Servant Creation, the curtain rises on the First Fuyuki Holy Grail Territorial War.
CONCEPTS
Holy Grail Territorial WarThe Singularity's main diversion from Pan-Human History. A "turf war" encompassing the entirety of modern Fuyuki's Miyama ward. Instead of competing for the Holy Grail, each of the five Creators participating in this war receive a Grail Fragment which allows them to slowly remodel the land of Fuyuki to their liking. Effects can be as simple as ensuring hot water, electricity, and a stable Internet connection within one's domain, to as complex as recreating an entire fantasy world. However, an increase in complexity produces a corresponding decrease in the territory's rate of spread. Securing all five Grail Fragments and bringing them to the heart of Mount Enzo will allow the winning Creator to make a single wish of the Grail, as well as the freedom to reshape the entirety of the Fuyuki City as they see fit.
Creators and CreationsThe term used to refer to the Holy Grail Territorial War's participants and their contracted familiars, analogous to the "Masters" and "Servants" of Pan-Human History's Holy Grail Wars. Catalysts have no effect on the summoning of Creations: their manifestation depends purely on the Creator's personality and oeuvre. The seemingly only exception to this rule is the last Creator, Ritsuka Fujimaru, and their Creation, Saber.
FACTIONS
Fujimura Group
The biggest yakuza group operating in the Fuyuki City of 1939. However, they recently suffered a crippling blow due to the premature death of their head, Daigo Fujimura, leaving his young son, Raiga, as the new family head. Although such a precarious position should certainly have lead the group to extinction, the timely intervention of a foreign youth and their blue-clad assistant soon reversed its fortunes. Backed by the power of a Holy Grail Fragment, will the Fujimura Group reassert their position as the Fuyuki underworld's apex predator?
Capital: Fujimura residence, (Future) Emiya residence
Family Head: Raiga Fujimura
Creator, Senior Advisor: Ritsuka Fujimaru
Creation, Assistant to the Senior Advisor: Saber (Mysterious Hero X)
The protagonists of the Singularity. Although their initial meeting was rocky (Saber and Ritsuka were brought before Raiga as trespassers on Fujimura property), the former two managed to secure important positions within the group thanks to Saber's charisma. Eventually, the three form a strong bond, with Saber and Ritsuka becoming older sibling-type figures for the young Raiga. However, this closeness is exploited by Rider, who kidnaps Raiga to force Ritsuka to hand over their collected Grail Fragments.
Neo-Theosophical Hierarchy
An anomalous faction composed of a distorted Helena Blavatsky and her Creation, Xuanzang. Having lost their territory early on and only barely escaping certain death, what lies in store for this teacher-student combination?
Capital: Toshaka manor
Creator: "Helena Blavatsky"
Creation: Rider/L (Xuanzang)
This faction lost their territory and their Grail Fragment early, thanks to the machinations of Shakespeare and Rider. With nowhere else to turn to, they approached the Fujimura group and offered their services in exchange for protection. Helena, in particular, offered his expertise on the workings of the Territorial War, while Xuanzang became an invaluable asset in defeating the other Creations.
Totally-Rad Kurama Shogunate
A tengu-staffed military government that transformed Miyama ward's economic district into a fortress town filled with impressively strong defenses and impeccably gaudy pavilions. Sei Shonagon tries her best to cram each and every day to the brim with new experiences, dragging her equally-excitable Creation, Ushiwakamaru, along with her. Will a time come when the free-wheeling court poetess and her guardian general add "world domination" to their bucket list?
Capital: Koushuuensaikan Taizan
Creator, Lesser Councilor of State: Sei Shonagon
Creation, Shogun: Lancer (Ushiwakamaru)
This faction, composed of the legendary Heian-era poetess and the shining one of the Genji, is the "middling" team of the Territorial War, in terms of location, motivation, and overall skillset. Because of their moderate stance on the Territorial War, the Fujimura group targets them first, and it is here that Ritsuka first witnesses Helena and Xuanzang's prowess, with the latter defeating Lancer and the former extracting the Grail Fragment from Shonagon, restoring her memories of Chaldea.
Avici Mandala
Less a governed territory and more a serial killer's lair, the area surrounding the future Homurahara Academy has been transformed into an nightmare-filled wasteland, with a ruined version of the school that would stand in its midst decades later in its middle. This appearance is partly due to the personal taste for horror acquired by Murasaki Shikibu, but is mostly influenced by the designs of the distorted Raikou, who claims the area as her hunting grounds.
Capital: (Future) Homurahara Academy
Creator: Murasaki Shikibu (Summer)
Creation: Assassin (Minamoto-no-Raikou (Summer))
The wildcard of the Territorial War. Assassin is the first Creation Ritsuka encounters, and she becomes Saber's first opponent within the Grail War. She becomes a continuous thorn on the Fujimura group's side, so the latter decide to move into the Mandala right after retrieving Shonagon. There, they find not only Assassin, but also her Creator, Murasaki, who barricaded herself within the school due to being both terrified and transfixed by the horrors that filled the Avici Mandala. Eventually, Ritsuka convinces her to hand over the Grail fragment, and Assassin flees into the night, having lost her Creator.
(Provisional) State of Leave-Me-Alone-land
An "undersea world brought to land" which, paradoxically, is the largest yet least-defended of the five territories within the Grail War. At its heart lies a sunken palace whose two sole residents seem to want nothing to do with each other. Will this ill-fated pair finally be able to set aside their differences and win for themselves the Holy Grail?
Headquarters: Mion-gawa Riverside Park
Creator: Hans Christian Andersen
Creation: Archer (Little Mermaid)
Neo-Roman Empire
A territory established by the duo William Shakespeare and Julius Caesar in the forest surrounding Fuyuki City. It transformed the Einzbern Castle and its environs into a picture-perfect copy of the Palatine Hill as it existed during ancient times. However, because of its relative isolation from the rest of the War, this area can be said to have the absolute worst compatibility with its occupants. Will this situation be enough for the tragic duo to finally begin their expansion into civilization?
Capital: Einzbern Castle
Creator, Poeta Maximus: William Shakespeare
Creation, Dictator Perpetuo: Rider/R (Julius Caesar)
Easily the most dangerous faction within the Territorial War. With Shakespeare constantly conducting reconnaissance on the other territories thanks to his The Globe Noble Phantasm, Rider is able to quickly conquer Helena's territory and acquire his Grail Fragment. It is also thanks to Shakespeare's surveillance that they learn of the close relationship between the Fujimura Group's current triumvirate (something Rider feels nostalgic about), which leads them to formulate an assault on the latter's territory to capture Raiga. During the standoff between the two factions, Rider and Saber come to blows, with the former easily outclassing the latter. However, just when Saber is on the ropes, Rider is fatally wounded by a woman with flowing white hair clad in a grey military uniform, screaming--
CONCEPTS
WinterbaumAlso called the "Elimination Chamber". The true nature of the Holy Grail Territorial War: a temporally-compressed "Fuyuki Grail War simulation". Created by Military Uniform Caster using a mind-boggling amount of small and large sorceries stitched together to form a High Magecraft ritual that approaches a Reality Marble, its sole purpose is to give birth to her "ideal story". However, because Caster's "ideal story" uses a historical setting as its base, several restrictions have been applied to the settings and characters it is able to house: in particular, the restriction "there must be two Heroic Spirits utilizing a single Class" allowed for the summoning of both Julius Caesar and Xuanzang as Rider, and the restriction "two of the Servants, as well as their Masters, must be closely related" caused Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon (rivals within the court of Empress Teishi) to summon Minamoto no Raikou and Ushiwakamaru (who are both scions of the Genji).
Despite these peculiarities, the purpose of the Elimination Chamber remains relatively unchanged: once the winner of the War was decided, Caster would have allowed them access to the Greater Grail and given them permission to paint over the texture of Fuyuki City, effectively turning the Singularity into a Human Order Collapse Zone.
FACTIONS
Fujimura Group
Saber attempts to engage the tentatively-codenamed Military Uniform Caster, but finds that he is unable to damage her (which the latter claims to be due to her manifesting within "the story" as a "deus ex machina"), forcing him and Ritsuka to retreat. Back in their headquarters at Fujimura manor, Helena performs several tests that confirm Military Uniform Caster's claim. Ritsuka's mission thus becomes twofold: rescue the last remaining Creator, and find a way to escape Caster's "story".
Ritsuka, Saber, and the rescued writer Servants head to the Riverside Park to find the last Creator, but meet heavy resistance from Assassin and her new Creator, who overwrote the territory thanks to the compatibility between the Creator and the Water element permeating it. While Murasaki, Shonagon, and Shakespeare deal with Assassin, Ritsuka and Saber move forward to find Andersen and his heavily-wounded Creation, Archer. Upon acquiring the Grail Fragment and explaining the situation, Archer declares that she will use her Noble Phantasm to break through the Elimination Chamber.
After Archer unleashes her Noble Phantasm, the team heads back to Fujimura manor to make plans before facing Military Uniform Caster. Ritsuka says their goodbyes to Raiga, and is afterwards approached by Saber. The latter mentions that they have met before, but because of differences with the temporal axis, Saber muses that he may have encountered Ritsuka before their supposed first meeting. The Creation goes on to say that the bond between them hasn't changed since their "first meeting", so he reveals the fact that his Noble Phantasm requires explicit support from the Master in order to be used, as well as his True Name: Arthur Tudor. When Ritsuka tries to press the matter further, Saber replies that he'll explain when he arrives in Chaldea.
The confrontation with Caster quickly goes awry, discounting the fact that she has the backing of the Greater Grail on her side. Saber unleashes his Noble Phantasm, but is unable to wholly defeat Caster. In response, Ritsuka pulls out their trump card: Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm, First Folio, which reveals Military Uniform Caster's true nature and eventually forces her to accept defeat.
Avici Mandala
After Murasaki's rescue, Assassin wandered around Miyama's streets sustaining herself on the souls of unlucky victims. Fortunately for her, a Magus from the Singularity who had been displaced by Rider's earlier conquests was willing to form a contract. Together, they staged an assault on the territory surrounding the Mion Riverside Park, overwriting much of it thanks to the new Creator's elemental compatibility with the terrain. Their newfound ambitions were dashed by the arrival of Chaldea, and Assassin herself was destroyed by Murasaki's Noble Phantasm.
(Provisional) State of Leave-Me-Alone-land
Although Andersen and Archer appear to have the worst compatibility between Creator-Creation pairs, this could not be further from the truth. Archer is aware that she is a vehicle for "the feelings Andersen could not give voice to", so she understands that what he needs most from her is distance. Because of this deep respect for Andersen's feelings and privacy, Archer singlehandedly bears the burden of maintaining and defending their territory, leading her to sustain heavy injuries fighting off Assassin and her new Creator.
Although her indecisiveness at critical moments reared its head after the Chaldean Master explained the Territorial War's true nature, Archer and her Creator eventually come to the conclusion that she is the best means of breaking through the Elimination Chamber available. Buoyed by the wishes of countless children who wished her to have a happy ending, she unleashed her Noble Phantasm, Märchen Meines Lebens, along with her Creator, thus breaking open and surpassing Military Uniform Caster's "story".
Elimination Chamber Festival Administration
Military Uniform CasterTrue Name
Johann Gutenberg. The German inventor, printer, publisher, and goldsmith who introduced printing to Europe using the mechanical movable-type printing press. Although recorded in popular history as a male, she was in reality a female magus of meager pedigree who lived and died in poverty, despite the tremendous contributions her inventions made upon humanity. She was the Servant summoned by the
Master put forth by the Nazis in the Third Fuyuki Holy Grail War. However, the events of the Grail War quickly turned against them, and the Master was forced to use a forbidden Magecraft ritual that fused his soul and Caster's. Thus, this amalgamation's True Name must be corrected to
Prestone-Gutenberg.
Johann Gutenberg's wish to "receive remuneration/acknowledgment for my work" and her nature as one who tells the stories of others were amalgamated with Darnic Prestone's desire to "inaugurate the everlasting prosperity of my clan", forming Prestone-Gutenberg's current wish to "write my own story, one that people will always remember". To that end, she terminated the Fuyuki Grail War by seizing its Ruler and one-sidedly massacring all the other Servants and Masters (save one Zouken Matou). Afterwards, she began the cycle of the Holy Grail Territorial War with the assistance of a certain Apostle. However, because her nature is the diametric opposite of that of a "writer", Prestone-Gutenberg deemed the first seven hundred or so permutations of the Territorial War to be a failure, and triggered the explosions in Chaldea in order to abduct writers that would be able to help bring forth the story she wanted to tell.
She first appeared before Chaldea at the brink of Saber's defeat at the hands of Rider. Summarily defeating the latter, she let the former and his Creator live because she believed that they were most suited to be the protagonists of her story. Because she had bound herself by the rule that "the deus ex machina only happens at the end of the story", she did not intervene when Archer broke through the Elimination Chamber, and instead chose to deal with the escaped Chaldeans herself. Although she had the tactical advantage by virtue of possessing the Grail as well as the Skeleton Key to the door of all sorceries, she lost to Chaldea by virtue of being exposed to her worst traumas through Shakespeare's
First Folio.
RulerTrue Name Amakusa Shirou Tokisada. The Ruler-class Servant summoned by the Einzberns for the Fuyuki Third Holy Grail War. He and his Master made a splendid showing in the early stages of the Holy Grail War, but his contract was stolen by Caster sometime during its latter stages. Put into stasis afterwards, his left and right arms were thoroughly exploited by Prestone-Gutenberg as a means to dominate the Grail War, as well as to create Winterbaum, the Elimination Chamber which would hold the future Holy Grail Territorial Wars.
Neo-Theosophical Hierarchy
Although firmly entrenched in the Chaldean camp by the time of Prestone-Gutenberg's appearance, Helena's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the Elimination Chamber's mechanics as well as Xuanzang's unexplained disappearance after the assault on the Kurama Shogunate's territory cast suspicion on them. This suspicion was proven to be warranted when "Helena" revealed himself as Henry Steel Olcott, Apostle to the God of the Morning Star, right before departing for an unknown location with Xuanzang, the masses of K particles formerly known as "Grail Fragments", and the unconscious forms of Prestone-Gutenberg and Ushiwakamaru.
Author's Notes
Has it already been three years since I first conceptualized this singularity? Wew time rly does fly. S/O to Sunny, to whom I originally pitched this idea, and to DelRey, for being a helpful source of feedback ever since I decided I'd bring this baby to term.
Originally Posted by Kabalisto Koga
when you make a JEanne Alter servant Jdman use that picture \/
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