"A stream too clear is avoided by fish, thus a King must have some darkness in him or else he cannot control it in the hearts of his people."
True Name: King Mark
Epithet: "The Hound of the Sea"
Region: Britain (6th Century AD)
Hidden Attribute: Earth
Alignment: True Neutral
Likes: Family, Horses
Dislikes: Betrayal, Witches
Talents: Hunting, Sailing
Natural Enemy: King Arthur
Rider takes the form of Mark (he prefers to be called "Cunomorus" though), the King of Cornwall during the reign of King Arthur. At first glance the two may seem similar as stoic yet charismatic monarchs, but in reality they are polar opposites. Mark holds his position as royalty in the highest esteem, believing that as such he, Artoria and the others were born differently from the lower classes which is made obvious in his insistence of calling himself and his fellow nobles by their Latin names to emphasise their descent from a Roman Emperor. Because of this classist attitude, Mark takes a realpolitik view of kingship in which he would coldheartedly burn down a village of peasants if it meant destroying an enemy force that occupied it. Thus while Mark's subjects respect his decisive and effective command, they do not love him for it. Indeed, Sir Tristan eventually left the Round Table when he felt that Artoria's behaviour was becoming all too similar to Mark's.
When the squire Gareth asked why Lancelot called Mark the "Fox King" her mentor quipped that "everything he says is true, and false thereunder" before elaborating that while Mark is an honourable man who speaks the truth and keeps to his promises, he is a master of omission and framing in order to spin the narrative to make himself look favourable even when he is the one at fault. Therefore you can never blindly believe what he says and dealing with him can be both laborious and annoying. Though for all his faults, Mark has an understanding of people and his hobby of disguising himself as a wandering knight allows him to walk unnoticed amongst his subjects and to hear their honest opinions and desires. This allowed him to grasp their needs and as king keep them appeased to avoid a potential Mordred situation of a rival starting an insurrection to overthrow him. Despite what it may seem, Mark is not completely heartless as he deeply loves his family and would do anything for them, he is also can be moved by other people as when he was incognito he witnessed the tragic deaths of Sir Lanceor and Lady Colombe, he buried their bodies and erected a rich tomb for them out of pure sympathy. It was these positive traits that meant Tristan could not bare himself to go against his uncle and depose him.
In a Holy Grail War, Mark is all too aware that despite his military successes, he is not the invincible warrior-king that Artoria is. Therefore it is his imperative that he avoid combat with a foe of unknown strength until he is confident he has a high chance of victory. Even then Mark is uneasy with fighting on foot and greatly prefers using his loyal steed to fight a cavalry battle even though using a Noble Phantasm so brazenly risks exposing one's identity and is an unnecessary waste of mana resource. When it comes to his Master, Mark will immediately try to assert his dominance and will not take orders from anyone he deems inferior. While this can make him tricky to deal with, Mark is very unlikely to turn on a Master that shows both virtue and loyalty to their partnership.
His Wish upon the Grail? He deeply regrets not acting on his suspicions regarding Tristan's problems and Mark would do anything to prevent the tragic deaths of both his nephew and Iseult even if it meant never marrying her himself.
Skills
Class Skills
Magic Resistance - (C)
The protection granted against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether. As a military leader during the age of sorcery and dragons, Mark has a decent immunity to magical effect but as shown in his encounter with the witch Dahut, he has his limits when faced with a master of the craft. As such he naturally cancels spells with a chant below two verses but he cannot defend against magecraft on
the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals.
Riding - (A)
A Class Skill of Rider and Saber class Servants, denoting the ability to ride mounts and vehicles. As an avid horse rider both in hunting and cavalry battles, as well as commanding fleets of ships in naval warfare, Mark has a plethora of experience in a multitude of different vehicles and as a Servant all machines and all creatures but those of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast-rank can be used as a temporary mount - even vehicles that did not exist in the time period Mark was alive in, for they are no exception.
Personal Skills
Beast Slayer - (C)
The ability to unleash a special attack towards magic beasts and wild animals. Mark had a great passion for hunting and many of the legends surrounding him are dominated by it. As a result this has endowed him with a vast amount of experience in handling animals and by observing them he is able to perceive where the best place to strike in order to immobilise them. Now as a Servant, when fighting against enemies with the "Beast" trait, Mark is able to increase melee damage to them by 1.5 times be they natural animals, familiars or even Servants.
Master of the Fleet - (A)
A composite Skill that combines the powers of Charisma and Military Tactics into one ability. Mark was more than just a Minor-King and vassal to Artoria, he was a renowned seafarer and in charge of Britain's naval defence and had full command over fleets of ships. For this Mark had to exert his presence as not just a King but as a General whose orders cannot be questioned and whose judgement is unfalsifiable. In battle, it maximises the capabilities of Mark's allied units with an additional boost if they are facing an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.
Powerless Shell - (C)
A Skill that makes the user difficult to perceive as a Servant. Mark was fond of going in disguise as a lowly wandering knight in order to walk among his people and hear their honest opinions. By exerting mental control over his aura, Mark is able to forcibly suppress his Personal Skills, reduce all Parameters, and project a completely different persona of a normal human - making his presence difficult to recognize and even if directly observed hard to identify as a Servant.
Noble Phantasm
Morvarc'h Black Stallion of the Moonless Night
[Type: Anti-Unit], [Rank: B], [Maximum Range: 400 Metres], [Maximum Number of Targets: 2~3]
By snapping his fingers, Mark's trusty steed once again returns to serve its master. A Phantasmal Beast that was said to be born of a siren and an undine, offered by a genii to the King of Armorica. How Mark came across it is a "trade secret" according to him. The horse has a darker than black coat, shining silver shoes and flames exuding out of its nostrils with every breath - giving it an otherworldly appearance that puts the fear of death into all those Mark chases after whilst riding into battle.
Morvarc'h served as Mark's mount in both wartime and when leisurely hunting, a horse that boasted speed beyond all others - even with Mark onboard Morvarc'h would not leave marks on the ground when running at top speed. By riding Morvarc'h, Mark transforms himself from a rather slow Servant into one faster than most Lancers. Now the enemy Servant must stay vigilant as Mark can easily flank and strike them from behind and even if they manage to lock swords with him, they still have to worry about Morvarc'h who can bite, kick and breath fire at the enemy. But the true power of Morvarc'h is displayed when chasing down its prey as the stallion is so fast and light that it can effortlessly run across water as if were normal road and can even dance on the wind in order to glide through the air, all with seemingly limitless stamina.
Naturally the steed is not invincible and as a trade-off for its speed, it has to forgo any kind of armament and is thus vulnerable to attacks. Indeed, it was said that the stallion was ultimately struck down by the powers of the witch Dahut during Mark's encounter with her. As a result, Mark has to be careful of when and where to use Morvarc'h as he is irreplaceable - both as a Noble Phantasm and as a trusted friend.
Lore
Once upon a time there existed a Kingdom within the island of Britain known as "Cornwall". It was a sub-kingdom that existed under the umbrella of King Arthur's overlordship and Mark ruled it as Artoria's vassal since they were cousins. Yet the pair were complete opposites of each other as whereas Artoria was a benevolent and graceful monarch, Mark was a remnant of the kings of old who ruled with an iron fist and placed the lives of nobles above that of the peasants.
By his side was Mark's nephew Tristan who acted as the enforcer of his will. Mark ended up raising Tristan as his own son after both of the boy's parents died shortly after his birth and Mark came to love him dearly as a surrogate father. Nevertheless Mark did desire an heir of his own and so he made a marriage proposal to Iseult the princess of Ireland and sent Tristan to escort her to Cornwall so that they could be married. However tragedy struck when Tristan and Iseult accidentally consumed a magic potion that made them fall deeply in love with each other. However Iseult had already vowed to to be Mark's bride so the pair buried their feelings deep inside, yet the pain was too much and Tristan was forced to leave Mark's court for Artoria's under the pretence of increasing his uncle's standing with her. Mark suspected something was wrong, but let his nephew go free.
From then on Mark ruled over Cornwall relatively quietly outside of an occasional skirmish with a member of the Round Table. It was after Tristan departed the Round Table that his tragic fate came to its conclusion. Tristan had been poisoned and only the physician Iseult knew how to cure him and upon hearing the news she could not resist her love for him and left King Mark to save her beloved. But it was too late as when she arrived she found Tristan had succumbed to the poison and Iseult herself died of a broken heart. After learning what happened Mark arrived and took the pair to give them a proper burial and because of his mourning for the two people he loved the most Mark was unavailable for the Battle of Camlann as it happened. Since he was a blood relative of Artoria, Mark tried to assert his dominance in the civil war that followed but despite his best efforts he could not restore order in the years that followed and died in battle with one of his rivals that was in vain anyways as the Anglo-Saxons moved to take control of the country thereafter.
Relationship
Artoria/Arthur - "Lord Arturus, it would be my honour to fight alongside you once again."
Francis Drake - "Oh, it is nothing. For a second there I mistook you for the witch Dahut."
Julius Caesar - "I guess it is true what they say about never meeting your heroes..."
Lancelot - "Yes, I remember you, the troublemaker from the tournament."
Merlin - "I must thank you once again for dispelling that evil witch's curse upon me."
Mordred - "Such anger in your heart, if it weren't for the face you would be the spitting image of Vortigernus."
Nero/Gray - "Hmm!? Did Arturus have yet another bastard child?"
Tristan - "Drustanus, I raised you like my own son. Perhaps if I had made you officially so you would have been spared a life of despair..."
Creator's Notes
The FaceClaim is Lord Shimura from "The Ghost of Tsushima", and if you didn't already realise then that character pretty much dominated my vision of how Mark ended up - especially when it comes to the relationship with their respective nephews Jin/Tristan. Just ignore the fact that Shimura is a Japanese Samurai and he's practically what I wanted visually speaking.
It is interesting how TM decided to portray Mark - at least what we know of him so far from Tristan's perspective anyways. They ditched the comically evil depiction of the later Romances and instead returned to factory settings with him being a sympathetically antagonistic figure to Tristan. I tried to reflect that as best I could.
As usual, all comments and criticisms are welcome~
Last edited by Skull; March 31st, 2022 at 10:53 AM.
"Here's a bangin lil' tune about takin' on The Man!"
(Check out my Super Special Awesome Servant Compendium here)
I never looked deeper into Jack the Ripper, but werent there a bunch of suspects that could be Jack and werent confirmed? Like the guy with elephantiasis? If that wasnt already done, perhaps a phantom fusion Jack that is made of the different suspects we have in the real world.
I doubt I would make a Servant like that rn, so if anyone is interested take it.
As the resident Jack fanatic, bizarre suspects both thought of in real life and in other works I can remember off the top of my head are - Prince Albert, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, Lewis Carroll, Alice Pleasance Liddell, a possessed razor and...Florence Nightingale.
Yes, I am dead serious on that last one.
As the resident Jack fanatic, bizarre suspects both thought of in real life and in other works I can remember off the top of my head are - Prince Albert, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, Lewis Carroll, Alice Pleasance Liddell, a possessed razor and...Florence Nightingale.
Yes, I am dead serious on that last one.
wait Florence that Florence were one of the potencial Jack the Ripper identity candidates !? hm could open when yes some interesting Alter Ego or Alter servant Options hm..
have you seen my Wiliam Walace please tell me your oppinion Anju ?
As the resident Jack fanatic, bizarre suspects both thought of in real life and in other works I can remember off the top of my head are - (...) and...Florence Nightingale.
Yes, I am dead serious on that last one.
What does expletive mean and what is Jack Stan crown means ?
He is using the word expletive instead of saying [FUCK]. Expletive usually means a swear word.
Stanning is some K-POP culture thing, I think. He's making a joke about obsessing over Jack the Ripper.
Originally Posted by Morg van Destro
We talking 'bout Nobunagun?
Yup. One of my old favourites. Great show.
Originally Posted by Lambda-Nu
Excuse me, what the [expletive]?
Big Brain Theory
T'was a weird anime.
Originally Posted by DelRey
Oh no, Anju vs. Lambda, the fight for the biggest Jack Stan Crown
I proudly wear that crown. In fact, I'm going to sig this.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by DelRey
