Caster - Ariadne / Arachne
“By the call of the grail, I answer your call. What, were you expecting some grand, great hero? *Sniff* Sorry kid, this isn’t a saturday morning cartoon, and there’s nothing pleasant or heroic about Greek Myths or Heroes.”
Appearance (warning if you don’t like spiders or find spiders or part spiders humans scary turn back now)
Human Form:
https://www.wallpaperflare.com/pixiv...allpaper-harorImage Source
https://www.wallpaperflare.com/searc...xiv+Fantasia+TImage Author
Spider Form:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/541135711475870461/Image Source
https://www.pinterest.com/crescojeff/Image Author
Characteristics
Other Qualified Classes (as Arachne): Berserker, Avenger, Foreigner
Gender: Female
Height / Weight: 153 cm (157 cm) / 51.7 kg (98.7266 kg*)
*To see how this number was calculated see attached Dev notes
Alignment: Lawful Neutral / Neutral Evil
Home: Greece
Origin: Thesus and the Minotaur / Ovid’s stories
Equipment: None / None
Personal Information
Attribute: Sky / Earth
Likes: Weaving, honesty, classical music / Weaving, animals, seeing “heroes” fall
Dislikes: “Heroes”, the gods, her family / “Heroes”, The gods, most humans
Talents: Weaving, telling stories
Natural Enemy: Theseus, Odysseus, Heracles, Achilles, Jason, etc. (pretty much all classical greek heroes who served the gods)
Lore
A Princess in Greek Myth, the daughter of Minos who in turn son of Europa with Zeus and Pasiphaë who was the daughter of Helios and the ocean nymph Perseus, who was hailed as a self proclaimed goddess of divination and skilled practitioner of witchcraft and potions. However ,as it was proclaimed by an oracle that one of Minos’s children would overthrow and betray him even when he was asked he refused to return the sacred white bull gifted by Poseidon as a sacrifice and thus the Minotaur was born. He then proceeded to trap the beast in the labyrinth alongside the daughter he determined through his wife’s divination of dreams would betray him in the labyrinth. Shocked by her parent’s betrayal of her Ariadne sided with Theseus and using a thread mystic code she wove out of a sheet on the bed given to her in her home within the labyrinth was able to use it to divine a way out of the maze. However, Theseus cared not for her, his heart was that which yearned for adventure and questing, and having a wife would only tie him down, as such he abandoned her.
Heartbroken, Ariadne nearly died of grief when Dionysus as a young god (he had yet to claim his throne on Olympus or gain renown for his status) discovered her and moved with pity and took her in as his own. He then took her to Argos and told her that he still had to complete tasks his father Zeus willed before he could claim his throne as a god said that he would return for her. However, on one particular occasion Dionysus was delayed in his return and so hearing that the great monster slayer Perseus was in the area she endeavored to seek his aid to find her husband. But upon making her plea Perseus claimed that hat he never heard of such a person (Dionysus) and that if they did they would merely abandon her as “betrayal and deceit is the nature of all people” (For context he had just returned to Argos restored his brother to the throne then after his brother accused him of lying of besting the Gorgon accidentally killed him with it’s head fulfilling the oracle’s prophecy, which made him a little bitter and in a bad mood at the time (and he genuinely didn’t know who Dionysus was, as he wasn’t well known as a god yet)).
Horrified, Araidne was then confronted by the truth of the matter, that she was considered a traitor to her country, someone who Theseus had deemed unworthy, and was alone in a city with nothing and nobody. Falling into despair Ariadne went to a tree and hung herself, thus that day Perseus’ actions claimed two lives. Upon learning of his wife’s death and Perseus’ actions Dionysus beseeched his father who then cursed Perseus to wander the land for 10 years without speaking to anybody. When Araidne was taken to the underworld she was judged by both her father and his brothers. For her acts of betrayal and leading to her half-brother’s death her soul was deemed impure, and was sent to be punished. However, upon Dionysus’ pleas and arguments of her innocence Hades relented if only in part. Ariadne's soul would be divided in two, ½ containing the good and her memories would be given to Dionysus as his wife, the other half would be reincarnated and live on earth. Should this half live a good life, then it would be allowed to reunite with the other half of her soul in Olympus.
This other half would live a humble life, yet be haunted by dreams of a life filled with torment and cruelty. Due to her great skill in weaving this attracted the attention of the goddess Athena who challenged her. In the end the two fought, the goddess creating a tapestry illustrating the power and majesty of the gods and their champions and Arachne making a great tapestry showing the gods and their champions in all their cruelty and evil. For both her insolence and enraged that her own work was nearly if not as good as her own Athena killed her, yet taking some pity, she then changed Arachne into a spider and thus she became the ancestor to all spiders in the world with her rage towards the gods and heroes becoming her venom and her own loom become her thread and web, a great net to capture and reveal the truth of what heroes are. Perhaps it is only ironic that Arachne/Araidne who was preyed upon and treated cruelly by both men and gods alike would become a species with traps and preys upon those who would fall into her web.
PersonalityAs Araidne her personality is mellow and somber, she cares for Dionysus. However, she also isn’t willing to even forgive him as even he at times would act behind her back and act just like those accused “heroes” she so despises. She genuinely believes that the idea of the “classical greek hero” is that of a joke and believes that irony extends to other groups like that of many other mythologies and such which pertain to the gods. In Araidne’s mind the gods are that which has corrupted and done ill to the world for generations. Almost anyone who would be extolled as worthy by their standards is likely little more than a humanoid reflection of the gods; That is to say a bloodthirsty, semi-insane, murderous, conniving, and/or manipulative person. If she were summoned in the grail war it’s more likely she would get along with supposed villains like Medusa, Medea, or the Minotaur than she would fellow greek heroes due to her own disdain of them. She genuinely believes at her core the pursuit of heroism is an oxymoronic idea as what it means to be a hero is to do what others want you to do, not to do that which is inherently right, and even those who do horrible acts, as long as they have any one trait worth admiring will be called heroes rightly or wrongly.
If brought to the topic of her family Araidne will refuse to elaborate on the matter or will deny any relation by blood to them, that which was prophesied indeed has come to pass, due to, not in spite of her parent’s choices. As Arachne her personality is a little hard to nail down as she generally doesn't speak to humans due to her mad enhancement (and even as avenger she generally wouldn't speak to you unless you proved different from most humans). However, if she could it would likely be nailed down as that of what she never was in life, a mother. One who cares deeply about her children and despises both gods and heroes alike, if Ariadne scorns them with her tongue, yet is willing to remain civil, then Arachne would be one who thoroughly despises them and won’t even dare consider them as an ally. Seeing Heroes and Gods exposed their faults and truths of what they are beneath their armor of ideals and embellishments on their legends murderers, liars, and thieves alike laid bare. To her that is the greatest joy.
Were Ariadne to have a wish she would likely not answer to her master what it would be, but for Arachne the wish would be clear to understand “To strip away the deception and delusions of grandeur which line the throne and reveal that heroes are people who sat in positions of glory, carved from the suffering of those they defeated and destroyed in life” (essentially she wants any servant summoned from the throne to be constantly forced to accept and conform with the actions they did in life, if king Arthur and his knights could be said to have unified Britain and repulsed the saxons, she would have them forced to accept their failure to save the kingdom they built, that the lives they ruined and the men they killed were all for a kingdom which didn’t even last 50 years, and that they honestly were only thought of as heroes as they defended the homeland, to the Saxons they were monsters who butchered them simply for doing what they knew as part of their way fo life).
Relationships
Greek Heroes: Yes and what of it, what of your "Trojan war," what of your "Odyssey", what of your myths and legends. Were they not filled with betrayal? Were you not all puppets to the gods, mere pawns to their wills? Did it never occur to you that doing as you did, you merely prolonged their rule? that you extended their tyranny over men to last another day? And for what did you seek? Glory? Power? Revenge? Love perhaps? Or was it redemption? What a joke, as if any of your blacked hearts could be redeemed, every act you did in the journey for what you sought rendered you unworthy of the reward you desired in the first place. Perhaps not all of you were bad and perhaps not all gods were wicked, but would you ask a child to pick an apple from a bin where 99 are rotten merely because 2 or 3 are good?
Medea: Another victim of the cruelty of the gods, trust in me, abandon their ways, all that those powers could ever bring is torment and hardship. At least those ages are over, now man lives in an age free of the heroes of old, free of the gods of yore. It may not be perfect, but at least things are better without them, if only a little.
Medusa: Athena claims another victim, the goddess of men, bound to the same failings as her children. Glory, arrogance, pride, and foolishness four great follies of the goddess who condemns and creates both monsters and heroes alike.
Minos/Pasiphaë: (No comment).
Asterios: I'm sorry, you were a victim of them too. If I had known then perhaps I would have ...
Tamamo-no-mae: Wait, a goddess? A goddess who would wish to walk among men? I don't get it. Why would you even care?
Arash: You are interesting, I cannot condemn you, but ask yourself this. Did you really achieve anything, the knights of the round couldn't save Britain, Charlemagne and his fellows couldn't unite Europe, even Gilgamesh couldn't halt humanity's corruption. Peace is nothing but a lull, a break between war, to fight to kill, for their "glory", for their own selfish desires, because of their differences, that is humanity's nature. Those like you are wasted on this wicked world.
Karna: So you see it too, what they are, what they do. In the end even your brother, he who was called their greatest hero, nothing but a pawn to his own tainted heart, a monster hiding in human flesh.
Monstrous heroic spirits: Then you are them, those who mankind rejects, those struck down as beasts as monsters. Well make yourselves at home, I have no place to judge nor have I any intent to condemn.
Heroic Spirits who have scum to Madness: In the end, what was it you said? You fought for the people, for your country, to destroy monsters? Hah, it matters little anymore, in the end no matter what the only difference between you and the demons you fought is that they never lied about what they were.
Avengers: Revenge huh, personally, I can't say I care much for it, but her. Well I won't bother stopping you, heaven knows at least you understand that this whole "heroic spirit" business is a sham.
General Function
As Ariadne; The caster of the two serves as the main producer of mystic codes and is the most capable at creating a workshop. With her skill she is able to heal powerful venoms and brew Dionysus’ wine which if distilled to nearly pure alcohol can harm divine spirits at a cost and if given enough time and mana. Although not ideal for combat ,she is able to bind servants with the vines granted to her through her connection to Dionysus which she can summon with mana (which is also why she can make his wine anyways). However, this requires exposed earth, if there is anything covering the ground like snow, or asphalt or stone, then it doesn’t work, and even though they are strong against B rank strength they won’t last forever and against A rank strength or anything above B rank level they will likely only last for a second or two at best. Her familiars are more for use in spying than combat and she is more skilled with magecraft.
As Arachne; The berserker of the two, she serves as the more capable fighter with her high speed and endurance and her average strength. However, don’t be deceived by her appearance she is far from stupid, she is more animalistic than purely insane, and as a result she still can think well enough to be dangerous. She may use burrows to ambush prey or fight them in close quarters or an area they aren’t familiar with but she is, using her venomous saliva she may coat her hands or legs in it in it so that if they draw blood it slightly envenoms/curses the target (this wouldn’t be too bad for heroic spirits who aren’t weak to venoms or curses, but for most humans this would be bad), she is able to use positions like the ceiling and such to get the drop on foes (although she doesn’t have presence concealment so more savvy foes could find her), she is unwilling to target foes who haven't been weakened or aren’t in a favorable situation out of knowledge of her limited strength, she can use her legs as extra arms to bind foes alongside her thread (which is about as strong as Caster’s vines, but can be produced using her mana allowing for use anywhere).
She can and will target humans and masters trying to bite them to envenom them and get an advantage through the knowledge given by the grail that “a servant without a master is weakened” therefore; servant - master = easy prey in her mind. However complex strategies which aren't normal to spiders or that she cannot understand are unlikely to be well understood or make sense to her. Overall, she can be dangerous, but she still isn’t truly sane or has a human mind, so that gives one an advantage over her. Given her nature if the prey is too strong she will likely retreat and try again. Due to her own hatred of humans she is very likely to eat them for mana (this may include her own master if they aren’t careful) to allow her to birth more familiars which she can command (spiders versus Ariadne’s snakes) and they too possess a small amount of her venom, however at most she would likely be able to have them spy on other foes and unless their master was smart enough to direct them (a hard task given Arachne’s district of humans and her love of her children), they would be unable to use them to strategically attack other masters and envenom them.
Parameters Ariadne / (as Arachne with demon of mutation) *Arachne with demon of mutation and mad enhancement*:
Strength – E / (C)
Endurance – E / (C+) *B+*
Agility – D / (C+) *B+*
Mana – A / (C)
Luck – C / (D)
Noble Phantasm – B / (B)
Class Skills
Item construction [B+]- Denotes the ability to create objects, as a master weaver in both her “lives” Ariadne is able to make clothing or material (primarily silk strong enough that it surpasses steel (much like spider silk which she has a connection to)), she also is able to create webs of this material to trap or impede foes (which she also can do in her other form), serve as a early warning sign if they are broken (by running magical energy through them she can sense if the “circuit” is broken) and use magical energy to control and manipulate them to bind foes or make them strong enough to tear through armor (small near invisible threads cutting you apart or pulling you to pieces).
Due to Her husband’s blessing she also in this form can brew his wine (which requires time and a lot of grapes and magical energy, but is so potent even smelling it could make a human drunk). The only skill she will use from her family is the preparation of magical potions her mother taught her. However, even then she isn’t as skilled in them as her mother, cannot grant limited immortality, and mostly focuses on using them to heal or strengthen others (potions which heal poisons and venoms, potions which grant more strength, speed, and endurance, and potions which can weakened curses or remove the sensation of pain temporarily). This skill is lost if Ariadne transforms into Arachne.
Territory Creation [B]- At this level Caster can create a workshop, which is specialized in textiles, thread, poisons (she was originally a snake and weaving goddess to the people of Crete and her husband was the goddess of alcohol, a type of poison (as a goddess Caster may possibly have been equated to Athena and Medusa’s predecessor the Minoan snake goddess or the Mycenaean version of Athena, or even the Egyptian Neith who may have derived from the same Proto-Indo-European myths which lead to the rise of Athena, and Medusa)) and botany. Remains as Arachne perhaps due to the habit of spiders weaving their own webs (albeit lowered one rank).
Mad Enhancement [C-]- Exclusive to Arachne, a status which denotes those who have fallen to madness. At this rank all physical parameters are boosted, at the cost of normal speech and normal human thought (she still is smart enough to use her silk thread to trap foes, to use ambush tactics like a spider, to only deal with weakened foes, and to cover things in her venom to accommodate for her lacking strength), however the ability to command animals hasn’t been lost, although now it is more due to her power over them rather than magical aptitude.
Personal Skills (Ariadne)
Divinity [A]- As the descendent of Zeus from her father’s side, Helios on her mother’s side and having been equated with the goddess, having ties to both Athena, Medusa, and having risen to become a goddess after her death (part of her) she would normally have goddess’ divine core, yet her half of her soul which holds Arachne’s monstrous self weakens this skill. At this rank she has reached the throne if the gods and can break through powerful skills like protection of faith and enlightenment of the sacred fig and boasts unrivaled aptitude with divine spirits.
Surgery [C]- Denotes the ability to perform surgical procedures, as a magus whose family specialized in experimenting with animals and humans (alluded to in myth by the role of animals in her families’ fate (her mother, brother and father) as well as her own myth) Caster is skilled in techniques like organ removal, patching wounds with skin or hide, and especially sewing shut wounds. At this level in terms of modern surgical techniques caster would be among the levels of the most talented in the world (in spite of not always looking visually appealing).
Magecraft [A-]- As the child of the skilled magus Pasiphaë, Caster has expertise in the field of potion making, familiar creation and manipulation, and divination through dreams. However due to the rift which has formed between he and her family that which caused her alongside her betrayal to abandon the divine tongue, she is reluctant to use her family arts, specifically their specialty of dream divination, but if forced she will do it.
But is isn’t as powerful or accurate as her mother’s which would surpass the likes of the dream cycle in the grail war. However, in contrast her abilities in the creation of mystic codes are arguably higher than that of her mother’s own. In terms of her skills unless accounting for Affection of the god which grants her offensive potential with her ability to create vines, her familiars generally lack the power needed to damage does heavily unless she is using poisons, and she is more talented as a healer than a offensive mage.
Affection of the God [B]- As one who was beloved by Dionysius, Caster has a resistance to poisons, the ability to control and make vines (particularly ivy or grape, but thorny vines also work) from the exposed earth (they roughly can bind up to A rank strength servants very briefly (like for a moment or two), but would be able to bind B rank strength servants a bit better, and for those with C rank strength without a command seal or something to buff or escape them they would have no means of escape from their binds), and the ability to brew his wine (which can drive people mad if they drink it (and don’t die) and into a frenzy.
If distilled and in it’s pure form the wine is so potent if it serves as a poison just below the likes of Eitr or hydra meat (which could hurt divine spirits), and is very dangerous even to servants, (especially those without divinity, poison resistance, or monstrous blood to help them cope better even in small amounts (if they drink it or are forced to)). However distilling the wine is very difficult to do and requires both a large amount of time (on the order of a month) and a large amount of mana, as well as a dedicated workshop and several ingredients to do so.
Personal Skills (Arachne)
Demon of mutation [C]- As a part of the soul which comprised Ariadne, Caster was transformed into a monster by Athena. However, perhaps due to her soul also existing elsewhere as a god, and her not being the dominant personality this skill has weakened. Still by using this skill one is able to reinforce their endurance and Agility for a time (originally this would boost strength and agility, however as Spider’s aren’t known for their strength (unless you are talking about their thread) this instead boosts agility and endurance).
Monstrous strength [X]- Due to spiders not being typically associated with strength and her being weakened to start with, this skill (which at base was at max maybe D or E rank), has been lost.
Animal communication (spiders) [A-]- Due to her transformation into a spider, Arachne is able to speak to and command them. However, due to her mad enhancement most of the ability to form complex plans and use them as familiars has been fully lost.
Dignity [E-]- As half of the soul of Ariadne who became a goddess and had divine lineage, she hold this. By having become a monster due to the curse of a goddess (although in a way it was her saving her life, yet also punishing her) and scorned the gods this has decreased to a very low rank.
Arachne’s Venom [B] - A skill which if summoned as berserker would manifest as a noble phantasm. This skill embodies the madness of Arachne, one whose arrogance caused her to challenge the gods and whose hatred and vitriol for her life overflows like venom. It was said that from Arachne’s curse she became the mother of all the world’s spiders and as such she both gifted them their great skill in weaving and their deadly venom. In ancient times Tararnism was a condition believed to be caused by the bite of the Lycosa Tarantula spider whose form (along with that of the Black widow spider) has influenced Caster. Perhaps it could be said that as a result a conceptual curse, a curse of madness, murder, and rage is possessed within her venom and her maw.
As such being bitten by her teeth (her human teeth, or coming into contact with substances lathered or in contact with her saliva can lead to one being cursed. This curse is such that it drives the user into a berserk rage much like mad enhancement. However unlike those who possess the skill there is no benefit to any physical ability. All that would result in this rage is based on one’s resistance to poison either weakening them, them being unable to focus to cast magecraft, or their death. If used as a noble phantasm it is likely this would be at a higher rank. However due to serpents or reptiles being more iconic with the idea of venom in greek myth it would not likely be as deadly as the likes of the hydra or gorgon’s blood (although it still would be more than enough to kill most mages and weaken or effect heroic spirits, monstrous species, and homunculi).
Arachne’s Loom [A]- A skill which under Avenger or Foreigner class would qualify as noble phantasm. Arachne whose life had known naught but that which she earned with her own hands had taken upon herself, filled with the dreams of a life filled with cruelty to spinning her loom. One day she challenged the god Athena and for her insolence was severely punished. This noble phantasm exists as a relic of that contest. It is said that which her loom spins is that which rises from her dreams and thus forges a life of tragedy, one which shatters the illusion of the gods’ grandeur and glory. This skill is especially powerful against greek heroic spirits, and if allowed to be a noble phantasm would have greater power.
The mental effect of this is such that it could drive most to despair or even perhaps even drive them to madness or sucide. And even against the likes of celebrated heroes like Hercules they would have their own parameter’s and glory revealed for what it is, a legacy of worship based upon a life filled with bloodshed, madness, and tyranny. As heroic spirits are those admired as the ideal beings of human imagination, which guide humanity, that which would be woven would be “a bitter truth which exposes to the collective unconsciousness the fraudulence of their idols”. A spirit exposed as such would have both their noble phantasms weakened (or in the case of those lille Perseus who gained the Pegasus through distortion of his myth, may lose it entirely) alongside their parameters and class skills being weakened.
The major limitation upon this is that she is only able to weave a loom if she knows who she is weaving and although her ability to derive spirit’s identities through develing into dreams to see their threads (the threads of fate) can give hints, that only give brief snapshots of the major moments of their life and doesn’t normally allow for a perfect tapestry. Moreover this takes time to do (generally like the dream cycle she can only see so much in 1 night) and requires materials as authentic as possible to complete the work and it takes a fair bit of time even with her skill to complete this (a week or more (possibly 2) dependent on their legend), also it can only affect any 1 heroic spirit at a time.
If used as a noble phantasm this skill would have anti-divine attributes which could allow it to strip away divine blessings and boons gifted upon a heroic spirit (such as all of Peseus’s equipment as everything was given or provided to him by the gods), a bunch of Achilles’ stuff (like his armor, his skin, and his shield), and Heracles’ Godhand (as it is a blessing by the Olympians (and even if it weren’t totally removed it would be weakened either in not granting total immunity to things which killed him before, not giving as many lives, or not requiring A rank attacks to kill him; or some combination of the three)). Were Arachne to be summoned as a foreigner this noble phantasm would have a far more devastating effect and power.
As this legend would mix with that of “The Spider God” she would have the ability to potentially merge the conscious with the unconscious thus granting her more power and influence in the realm of dreams, and potentially the ability to do two powerful feats A) to remove any sense of human individuality by overwriting the collective consciousness of the local area (or possibly if given enough power the world) with that of the Collective Unconsciousness of Humanity (essentially turning all of humanity into an extension of Alaya) and/or B) literally making it so a Heroic spirit cannot be summoned in a world anymore and if they were summoned they would rapidly fade away (unless the effect is reversed or they manage to do something to engrave themselves once more in the collective unconscious of the world before they die).
The way the ladder feat works is that humanity’s minds and lives, that is also by extension their souls, shapes the realm of dreams, the collective unconscious, by modifying or editing the collective unconscious that alters the life of all those within the world. Heroic spirits exist as recollections of figures of history, whose existence is confirmed by the world and affirmed by the root as having existed. They are given strength and allowed to manifest if they are in accordance with the world and if their lives hold mystery. Mystery as such is that which “might be”, that which lies within the realm of science and loses mystery, and that which cannot be or people are ignorant of cannot exist within a given realm as mystery as ignorance like acceptance is in denial of mystery.
As such, if the collective mass of humanity and by extension their unconscious (or perhaps the reverse) are to deny knowledge of a particular figure, of their myths influence and existence, then even if the root confirms their existence, humanity has rejected the possibility that “they may have been” and renounced their worship of them. This strips them of their mystery and removes their ability to functionally manifest or have any significant power in said world. It should be noted Foreigner isn’t altering the root, what she is doing is altering mankind’s memory and belief in a specific figure thus rendering them obsolete and thus unable to act. However, functionally using either of these skills would be heavily costly in terms of mana and almost certainly draw the ire of both Gaia and Alaya so she would wish to refrain from doing such. Thankfully doing this would require several weeks (as in at least a month) or possibly over a year to do, so in a normal grail war it is highly unlikely to be able to be pulled off.
Noble Phantasms
Ariadne’s Thread, the guiding path which grants one exodus – B+
A Noble Phantasm of Ariadne's which allows her to escape a location. Specifically if used when trapped in a location (like a place like Atlas, a castle, a maze, or any other location which could be called labyrinthine) then it will provide one with an accurate way out of the maze. Even if the maze is of a nature that it always shifts as one moves through it, this thread cannot be lead astray and will constantly adjust to give on the way out of the maze. The major advantage of this is if used in a maze with no exit like a reality marble (Ozymandius’ temple or the labyrinth summoned by the Minotaur as a servant) then the thread will make an exit to the maze and guide the user to it.
This is because Ariadne’s myth is that with it she escaped the horrors of the labyrinth as such it manifests that myth. As such it could be called similar to Sherlock Holmes’ Elementary noble phantasm. Even if there is no answer, clues will manifest in the world to lead one to the answer. Just as there cannot be a puzzle which Holmnes cannot complete if he tries due to his myth, there cannot be a maze which Araidne cannot escape with her thread due to her myth. In another way this noble phantasm could be symbolic of her own hope, trapped within that labyrinth she was determined that someone would save her and with this thread she found a way out of her prison.
Anti-Labyrinth
1 labyrinth/castle/prison/maze
Arachne, the beast borne of a shattered heart - B
A Noble phantasm which lets Ariadne switch herself to her other half and utilize her abilities and such, by using this noble phantasm again as Arachne she can revert back to normal. However, due to being summoned as Ariadne being the main force controlling the saint graph, she has the most power, and her alternate form doesn’t even have a noble phantasm when switched to. Additionally, if Caster were to run out of magical energy or be commanded by a command seal to do so she would revert back to her normal form.
Anti-Unit (self)
1 person
Dev notes
Body consists of human upper half and spider lower half, therefore weight distribution should be 50.8 % (trunk (chest, abdomen, and back)), 9.4 % (neck and head), 5.4 % (upper arms), 3.2 % (forearms), 1 % (hands) of human body weight (~69.8 % of total weight as a human (for caster this would be 36.0866 kg) in addition to weight of spider components (which I couldn’t find good estimates for, considering that they have most of their organs in their abdomen and their legs are fairly large, I’m going to guess a conservative 75 to 80% of the weight goes there). Now using the Lycosa tarantula as a base for the design of the lower body (what most people think of as a tarantula which would be native to Europe, most people think of tarantulas when they think of spiders, and is one of the largest spiders they have there) and weighs 7 grams for the largest organisms, and has a max length of 4 cm, and guesstimating (as I couldn’t find good numbers on this) at max their height is no more that ½ their body length they have a max height of 2 cm.
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-weig...age-human-body
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycosa_tarantula
https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?scr...92009000100008
Given a head height of 20.8 cm (1 cm below average for women) and a height as a human of 153 cm, then Caster is 7.356 heads tall. Given in proportion (see link below for details) a human’s lower body up to the top of their hips is 4 heads, cut out 83.2 cm from the 153 cm height to get a height of the upper body at 69.8 cm. Therefore the lower body must account for the remaining 87.2 cm height. This means that the lower part of the body scaled up will have to be 43.6 times larger than normal height and length as such its body length would be roughly 174.4 cm.
http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13541/publ...Validation.pdf
https://66.media.tumblr.com/1aeefa33...rtqb70_540.png
Credit to https://kaenith.tumblr.com/post/1306...ic-proportions
Now accounting for all that we now have to take into account the square cubed law which dictates that as we double the size of something, we octuple the weight (as we are doubling in the X Y and Z directions (thus 2^3=8)) now this isn’t perfect and has problem when you deal with anything (especially animals), however given mystery and phantasmal beasts care little for the laws of physics, let’s just use the simplified method. However given the issues of scale and the fact that wolf spiders are rarely anywhere near as big as we are estimating, Instead of dealing with the aforementioned scale factor of 46.6, we should also consider an alternative scaling factor in case ours isn’t great.
Now the Goliath Bird Eater isn’t all too closely related to the Lycosa tarantula, but it does provide better scaling due to its size and weight giving it likely a highly different body structure in terms of bone and muscle formation. As such it weighs up to 170 grams, and is up to 30 cm and based on the ½ rule earlier has a height of around 15 cm max. As such it would need to be scaled up a mere 5.8133 times it’s own size to reach the required size needed for our calculations. This would also make its total length 174.4 cm so I’ll guess that’s an accurate measure of body length, that would also make it.
https://worldbuilding.stackexchange....ale-up-animals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_birdeater
Lycosa tarantula estimate: (58.133333^3)* 7 grams/1000 grams = 1375.225 kg (788.546 kg/m)
Goliath Bird Eater: (5.8133333^3)*130 grams/1000 grams = 25.54 kg (14.644 kg/m)
Contextual Scale comparison, the Smooth Fronted Caiman size to weight ratio 2.3 m = 36 kg (15.65 kg /m), 1.6 m = 20 kg (12.5 kg/m) then on average the kg/m ratio should for animals designed to be this size be in the range of this although given differences in biology (warm versus cold blooded, different phylum, one evolved naturally to grow that big the other didn’t, etc.) this estimate is every rough at anything within this range is questionable. More accurate rangers could be guessed at anywhere from 25 kg/m to 200 kg/m. So a slightly better comparison may be needed here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth-fronted_caiman
Putting into a slightly better context a human, the average human male is 1.778 meters and ideally should weigh 79.83 kilograms. That gives a ratio of 44.898 kg/m, based on this and accounting for the fact that spider’s aren’t meant to normally be this big, I’m going this estimate as muscles, and organs needing to be stronger and more robust than anything else I’ve found, and Arachne is part spider part human.
https://www.healthline.com/health/me...ound-the-world
https://www.bannerhealth.com/staying...n/ideal-weight
Now considering the earlier approximation that a spider’s body minus the head weighs 80% it’s normal weight that means that Caster’s spider half should weigh 62.64 kg or around 140 pounds. Based on the earlier calculation of the weight of her human upper half being 36.0866 kg that brings her total weight up to 98.7266 kgs.
Author's notes
Well this took a lot longer than I expected, Well what's done is done. Yeah I don't exactly dig the whole bleached version of Greek Myth and legend a lot of the Nasuverse purports. I want to try and show some of the heroes for what they are, and with Greek mythology that happen to be a lot of very very morally questionable people.
Compare and contrast the original Odysseus a man who was called one of the great womanizers of Greece with the version in Nasuverse and who actually was hated by Ajax the great who refused to see him in the afterlife, and genuinely was a very terrible person) or just people whose stories are a lot darker than normally shown (Ajax's father yeah Heracles threatened to murder the dude just cause and only relented cause the dude built a stone temple to him (which may have been the temple that the Einzbern family used the strong from to summon Heracles and make his axe in the 5th grail war)).
Yeah when they say that Cu Chulainn is the Irish version of this guy, they aren't kidding. Read some of Cu Chulainn's myths (specifically the one about his sword and shield) they parallel a lot with Heracles. Anyways I kinda considered making Arachne as a Foreigner but I decided against it, maybe I'll do one eventually if I can find an idea I like. However the whole bit about the familiars and the connections between Goddess and stuff may not align with the new lore perfectly, but what can you do.
As for the idea of combining the two together honestly that was just a thought I came across at the time while I was going through the writing process. Either way as always leave a review if you have any question or comments and I'll get to them when I can. I am working on a few other servants and should at least one done this week (also sidetone I never want to have to try and calculate weight for animals and such which have no real human counterpart ever again as you can see in the Dev notes, it was a nightmare).