Create-A-Servant 3

[MuramasaMachII]

Shah Shuja Durrani: You glorious man, what a sheet. I never thought I needed a Binder who literally assimilates peoples' bodies, but here we are.
Skills work great together, personality is perfect for this style of sheet, and best of all... A Singularity idea? Amazing. Utterly amazing.

Edit:
Huh. And I just realized that with the whole sadistic loving bit, he'd probably get along quite well with my Picasso sheet.

[Bloble]

"If the flower will not wilt, sever it."

Class: Lancer
True Name: Akechi Tama
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Parameters

Strength	D	Endurance	D	Agility	B
Mana	B	Luck	B	Noble Phantasm	C

Skills

Class Skills

Magic Resistance - C
Grants protection against magical effects. At this rank, it cancels spells with a chant below two verses, but cannot defend against magecraft on the level of greater magecraft and Greater Rituals. Lancer's resistance is decidedly average, and she is particularly vulnerable to Church-aligned thaumaturgy.

Personal Skills

Disengage - B-
The ability to withdraw from the battlefield in the midst of combat, resetting battle conditions in the process. At this rank, Lancer can shake off curses, poisons, and restraints with little difficulty. Her ability to avoid certain demise is near-peerless, not as a result of her own talent, but due to an inexhaustible survival instinct that says "it is not yet time". When that time comes, she will know there is no retreat.

Artificial Counter Hero (True) - C
Proof of inheritance of a grand destiny. Allows for a heroic awakening for the purpose of accomplishing a singular objective. Although her normal performance is decidedly average, when facing a Japanese Servant active before the fifteenth century or battling in her territory without possibility of retreat, Lancer's disposition shifts to that of an emotionless 'cleaner' who acts with unmatched ruthlessness and efficiency, pursuing her goal without regard for herself or others. They will accept no less.

Librarian of Stored Knowledge - B
An ability that makes it possible for a clear recall of knowledge from memory with a successful Luck Check, even if the information perceived in the past was not consciously acknowledged at the time. During her time as a patient prisoner, Caster never lost her edge, consuming several libraries’ worth of books on history, religion, and military tactics in preparation for the day they might be used. Whether anything remains of the many magical or literary texts she also read is unclear. With a successful Luck Check, guided by a hand beyond the grave, an 'answer' may appear to the conundrums before her.

Noble Phantasm

mikkatenka

Aria of Sorrow

: Cursed Child of the Sengoku
Type: Anti-Self
Rank: B+

A noble purpose turned inherited grudge. An apparition of a great flaming temple that curses those raised between warring states.

There was once a great era that swallowed up a portion of the world, bathing it in war. The accumulated curses of the dying soaked into the ground where noble lineages found glory. Only one took notice of those curses. Only one acknowledged them, avenged them, and then passed them on to his daughter. Fire and steel would be his end. Fire and blood would be hers, and theirs. Finally, it would be the end of an era.

Holding aloft her naginata, Lancer pries open the jar of malice and sacrifices her flesh and spirit to it, enveloping herself in cursed flame that seeks to devour those who reek of blood. As the flame eats away at her core for fuel it pursues her enemies with even greater vigour, turning a single battle into a death match. Upon using this Noble Phantasm, Lancer's fate is sealed, in exchange for the chance to pass on her curse to her foe as well. Against those specific enemies most despised by the flames, there is no escape at all, and even a single strike will doom them to be devoured in short order.

The girl knew this would be her destiny. She bore her father's burden gladly. Only one man refused, and sought to lock her away from it for her own protection. Even her own heart came to doubt, and began to yearn for freedom. Yet it came for her nonetheless, and she faced death alone.

Background

The man who killed the Demon King of Sixth Heaven had three children. Only one, his daughter, inherited the great karma borne by their father.

Akechi Tama lived a life typical of a young noblewoman in her time. Born near the end of the Warring States era, she was wed to a man called Hosokawa Tadaoki, and would later be known as Hosokawa Gracia, a famous Christian convert and martyr. Her lifelong confinement, strained relationship with her husband, and ultimate demise as a political hostage in Ishida Mitsunari's war against Tokugawa Ieyasu is well known, and many consider her tale a tragic one.

This could not be further from the truth.

Tama was a warrior, just as her father was, and bore the same mission he did, a mission given by the collective unconsciousness of all of Japan: to bring the Warring States to an end, no matter the cost.

She was lax, a single time. She trusted her husband. And so he glimpsed something he should not have.

The man she had been married off to locked her away for protection, both hers and his. For he knew she still lived, the last of her line, only to ensure future peace through the bloodiest of means. Who would she stab in the back? The Shogun? The Taiko? The Emperor himself? He was sure that, no matter how calm and collected and gentle the woman before him was, she would not hesitate when the time came.

And so the sleeper agent was confined in a peaceful library for all of her life, deprived of her birthright of weapons and violence. She took to reading, to writing poetry, to more ladylike past-times. She took to God. She took to wondering, perhaps, whether there might be something else to her life. Perhaps it wasn't needed. Perhaps the war was really over. Perhaps she could move on, and live, and it would not disappoint her paternal line.

Perhaps. What-if. A bud that may have one day bloomed, and let her truly become Hosokawa Gracia, loving and beloved.

Yet war came, in the end. One man would become Shogun. A peacemaker who would drag Japan into a period without war. Only, he could not do so himself. His foe had taken hostages. Families of great generals who would otherwise have fought on another side.

The scent of battle reawakened the will within Tama. She stood, and fetched the tinder. Commanded a man to be her second. Drew the blade once more. Plunged it into her stomach, and in doing so, passed on her curse to the last of the warmongers, dragging them kicking and screaming into their graves alongside her. This was fine. Peace was here, even if she would never see it herself.

Tama only hesitated once. Only wondered once: What if her husband had arrived, and begged her to rely on him instead?

Character Description

At first glance, she appears to be the perfect image of Japanese wife, a Yamato Nadeshiko of the highest caliber. In truth, Akechi Tama wears that label only as a disguise within which a blade is sheathed. She has a visceral hatred of warmongerers and will seek their demise through all the means at her disposal.

Demure and cultured, comforting and calming, sophisticated and poetic, she can behave as such when appropriate, if she so wishes. When she wishes otherwise, she abandons all those affectations in favour of clinical efficiency. But that will not be revealed to just anyone, so for all intents and purposes, the mask is all there is.

God? Ah, yes, she did dally about with that. A good cover to make her appear eccentric and harmless.

Her husband? Perhaps there was some affection, but in the end, marriage is an act of duty, not love.

Regrets? Perhaps. But she cannot distinguish her own regrets from the rest.

Romance novels? No, those aren't hers, not at all, of course she would never read such things.

In truth, Akechi Tama and Hosokawa Gracia are reflections of a singular person, with Tama herself being the Night to Gracia's Day. But it is too difficult to encompass all that she was in a single Servant Container, and so her halves were partitioned into Lancer and Caster. She herself is aware of this incongruity, and does not particularly mind it. After all, saying a bunch of lovey dovey stuff and being a devoted housewife is just impossible for her, no matter how you look at it. It's far easier just to slaughter all the men Dad said to.

Her true disposition is that of an awkward, shut-in nerd who has trouble relaxing and opening up.

Relationships

Brynhildr - Surprisingly, would see her as a big sister. But, the type of big sister one is awkward around.

Iskander - "What a dumb musclehead. Hmph, he's the symbol of the stupidity of men."

Sengoku Servants - Instantly enters Scary Glasses Terminator Mode. Non-violent communication would be difficult.

Tamamo-no-Mae - No comment. Marriage is a chore, like buying groceries or doing taxes. Why get hung up on it?

Tawara Touta - "How manly... eh? No, he doesn't remind me of Tadaoki! I don't like guys with kind smiles at all!"

"Akechi Mitsuhide" - "Who is this buffoon supposed to be? No way is that my dad." (She grows angry around joke characters.)

Notes

A low-tier Servant who is kinda weak, but can be a counter-pick against Japanese heroes from the Sengoku era due to inheriting the noble duty of bringing it to an end and ushering in the Edo period. Against anyone else her lack of experience shows through, and the spirit of her father that guides her is unlikely to be roused from slumber.

Due to being from the Sengoku era herself, her fate is to bring about her own demise as well. Tadaoki was a mediocre guy, so he couldn't change it. There might've been a chance if she were to be reborn as a Christian woman of a new era... but it was slim, and never came to fruition.

She and my Hosokawa Gracia sheet are different sides of the same coin. If combined they'd be pretty potent, but doing so would be rather impossible.

If one wishes to summon Akechi Mitsuhide directly, simply use Tama herself as a catalyst. You monster. And of course, he won't be the guy from FGO.

[RoydGolden]

Funny reading this sheet with Shogun's Mariko fresh in mind. Obviously it's based on RL history, but you definitely emphasized "driven by an overwhelming purpose even as you find yourself wistfully wishing you could've lead a different life" over other Tama/Gracia sheets I've seen, so I wonder if there was some inspiration there. Overall pretty good take on a more obscure figure. Her NP is some usual "dark flames" stuff but the lore helps flavor it a lot. I love the "when the time comes, she will know there is no retreat" line in Disengage.

[Bloble]

Definitely inspired by Shogun. I read the book in the past but the show is on another level. I've long wanted to do a 'flip side' to the Gracia sheet I did years back, since she's such a contradictory person. I just didn't wanna do a cackling villain right out of Makai Tensho or some kinda wacky musou character, so it ended up being like this instead.