Servant/Project Idea Thread, "The Womb"

[Vididii]

I'd go with the second- I think it fits more, and I just like the vibe presented. Mystery lost in exchange of options and possibilites

[NINE-lives]

Hindu servants are incredibly underrepresented here which is incredibly weird given how influential the Mahabharata and Ramayana are and I just feel that the Ramayana cast got done dirty by type-moon.

I feel like you should do some of the Greek gods that were MIA during lostbelt five like Dionysus-zagreus and Hermes as servants. I feel like Dionysus could make a great berserker based on his status as a god of madness and Hermes as a great assassin.

[Vididii]

Hindu servants are incredibly underrepresented here which is incredibly weird given how influential the Mahabharata and Ramayana are and I just feel that the Ramayana cast got done dirty by type-moon.

I feel like you should do some of the Greek gods that were MIA during lostbelt five like Dionysus-zagreus and Hermes as servants. I feel like Dionysus could make a great berserker based on his status as a god of madness and Hermes as a great assassin.

Can you suggest some of yours to look at as inspiration?

[Vididii]

Also, was digging around in my reference material for Mulan stuff, and I actually found the prototype concept headshots for my FG servants from like half a year ago- glad I changed up The Morrigan from Skadi more, that looked way too similar

[NINE-lives]

Hey legendary. I had an idea for a beast class/beast candidate “imperator romanorum”/charlemagne based on the idea of restriction (as in a ruler loving his people so much that he forcefully restricts their choices in life and essentially enslaves them) and the idea of charlemagne as a fanatical tyrant who christianized the saxons on pains of death as a kind of counter to your beast class lucifer. I’m wondering if your interested.

[Legendary Hero of the Chain]

Also, was digging around in my reference material for Mulan stuff, and I actually found the prototype concept headshots for my FG servants from like half a year ago- glad I changed up The Morrigan from Skadi more, that looked way too similar

Going to be honest, don't see the overlap, but I think both look really cool.

Hey legendary. I had an idea for a beast class/beast candidate “imperator romanorum”/charlemagne based on the idea of restriction (as in a ruler loving his people so much that he forcefully restricts their choices in life and essentially enslaves them) and the idea of charlemagne as a fanatical tyrant who christianized the saxons on pains of death as a kind of counter to your beast class lucifer. I’m wondering if your interested.

Hmmm... I wouldn't be against it. While I'd need to find the right series to place him in, Luci using an agent of his opposite as a defense against those trying to stop him wouldn't be out of character. Plus, continues the trend of him putting up the middle finger at god, so I wouldn't be against making it. It will take some time to get to.

Really is starting to get me to join the club of asking why you like Grands and Beasts so much though.

Regardless, I find it funny that I read this message while catching up on some Imperium lore for Warhammer 40K.

[Vididii]

I think Mulan is probably my only other "straightforward" servant other than Gotz for the FG faction. Does she look alright?

Archer of the Heroine's Ballad

Identity: Hua Mulan

Alignment: Lawful good

Armament(s): Bow, cavalry shortsword

Summoning Catalyst: A horsehair whip

History: A legendary chinese folk-heroine, from the aptly-named Ballad of Mulan.
The Khagan is mobilizing the military, and her father is named in each of the conscription notices from the emperor. Her father is old and her younger brother is just a child, so she decides to take her father's place. She buys a fine horse from the eastern market, saddle and stirrup from the western market, bridle and reins from the southern market and a long whip from the northern market.

She bids farewell to her parents in the morning and leaves for the Black Mountain, encamping by the Yellow River in the evening, where she cannot hear the calls of her parents due to the rushing waters; only the sounds of the barbarians' cavalry in the Yan Mountains. She advances ten thousand li to battle as if flying past the mountains. The sound of the sentry gong cuts through the cold night air, and the moonlight reflects off her metal armor. A hundred battles take place, and generals die.

After the ten-year campaign, the stout veterans return to meet the Son of Heaven, enthroned in the splendid palace, who confers promotions in rank and prizes of hundreds of thousands. He asks Mulan what she would like. Mulan turns down the high-ranking position of shangshulang in the central government, and asks only for a speedy steed to take her home.

Her parents, upon hearing her return, welcome her outside their hometown. Her elder sister puts on her fine dress. Her younger brother sharpens the knife for the swine and sheep. Mulan returns to her room, changes from her tabard into her old clothes. She combs her hair by the window and, before the mirror, fastens golden yellow flowers. Her comrades are shocked to see her. For 12 years of their enlistment together, they did not realize that she was a woman.

In response, Mulan offers a metaphor: "The male hare has heavy front paws. The female hare tends to squint. But when they are running side-by-side close to the ground, who can tell me which is male or female?"

Personality: As expected of someone of her particular pedigree, Mulan is a soldier, through and through. Duty and (for the most part) honor-bound, she presents herself politely, in a businesslike manor, sometimes even coming off as a touch passive or lazy. However, that could not be farther from the truth- befitting of a servant of the archer class, she's always thinking, always watching, always preparing for situations that may come her way. One must be crafty to survive a decade of relentless conflict like she did, and it shows in her actions, as well as wry wit when she speaks.
Another aspect of a soldier she possesses is her ability to distance her thoughts of empathy in battle- she's an immensely compatible servant with most masters because of this, provided their actions have at least some sort of method or reason to them. This nonchalant attitude on the subject may come off as a touch eerie towards other servants, so it may be best to keep her away from allies who value life above all else. In her mind, without a compass, the soldier knows no disgrace.

Height: 171 cm
Weight: 182 lbs
Appearance:


Servant Parameters:
Str: C
End: B
Agi: A
Mana: C
Luck: C

Class Skills:
Independent Action: B
A skill signature of the archer class, allowing operation in the absence of the master. Awarded at a B rank to Mulan for her career as a roaming mobile cavalry fighter, and the notable fact mentioned in her story about the repeated deaths of generals, leaving her to often be without any sort of high command, self-reliant.
Magic Resistance: C-
The capacity to resist and ignore magecraft of a certain level. While ranked low, she possesses the skill as an archer class servant, and as a manifestation of her personal preparedness to answer whatever faced her on the battlefield.

Personal Skills:
Tactics C: Tactical knowledge used not for one-on-one combat situations, but for battles where many are mobilized. Bonus modifiers are provided during use of one's own Anti-Army Noble Phantasm or when dealing against an enemy Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. Mulan receives this skill for her decade of warfare, as proven by being offered a high government position by The Son of Heaven. However, as she chose not to take it, this skill is not as high as it could be.
Disengage (Retirement)C: Instead of the normal effect of being able to safely withdraw from battle and reset conditions, Mulan's variant instead activates after her participation in a battle is over, making her presence and retreat much harder to track down, as well as increasing her natural healing ability as a servant
Battle Maneuver (Horse) D: Combat mastery while riding, awarded to her as a cavalry archer of prodigious legacy. However, as equine traits have manifested in her own form, this boon is now constantly available, but would be much higher were she a rider.


Noble Phantasm(s):
Crater's Namesake: B
An anti-army Noble phantasm born from the Crater on Venus bearing her name, of which it was chosen for the legacy of her story. A literal crystallization of her cultural impact, used to create an impact of a different kind. It takes the form of a jade-tipped arrow, that when fired, creates a zone of impact of about 2 km in diameter, a 6th of the size of the one on Venus, often vaporizing most weak material present entirely. Notably, she can create a second out of battle if supplied with a mana surplus, but only one may exist at a time.


Design Notes:
- As she's part of my hypothetical fate fighting game roster, Mulan performs under the gameplay archetype of the Shoto. For this reason, I wanted an archer who would logically be well-versed at fighting at close range, though with a defensive lean
- On the subject of her visual design, Mulan doesn't have a lot of visual homages or inspiration from other characters, as her legend is easy traceable to attribute her and her heritage as being of the Xianbei people of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Because of this, despite (most likely, there are doubts) being a fictional figure, we can look at the clothing and armor she would have likely worn and draw inspiration from it.
- The horse thing is for two reasons- one, she's from a people famed for being cavalry archers, and I wanted to give a nod to that fact without just giving her a horse. Two, when you look at chinese servants, you lsee two weird-ass horse people, Red Hare and Xiang Yu. The prior is the rider form of Lu Bu, his legendary steed becoming personified, and the later manifests in his LB as a rider, which is also one of his possible classes for manifestation. I thought this was equal parts cute and funny, so I included it in her archer design. If she were to manifest as a rider (other classes being saber, lancer, and assassin, with Alter-Ego for an Alter), I think she'd be a centaur of sorts, instead of an Uma Musume-style horse lady.
- While I deliberately designed her with proper battlefield clothing, which is very layered and puffy in some parts, I imagine underneath, despite her retirement reveal as a woman, that she's built as shit. Not like a bodybuilder, but closer to an MMA fighter on the slightly stockier side.
- Absolutely Stacked
- For her NP, it was actually kinda hard to think of something, since her merits are pretty much entirely her own, no magic weapons or anything. Glad I found out about the Crater.
- From a narrative end, she's The Morrigan's main associate, and the recipient of her brand of hero creation, as well as the standing stone NP during their last moments.

[NINE-lives]

She needs some flavour text for her independent action and magic resistance.

[Skull]

I try not to be too critical of self-drawn FC's since being an artist myself I understand the amount of work gone into them...but damn, Mulan looks like she's got her knees bent and both feet turned inwards. For an archer that is poor stance so she looks like the slightest breeze could topple her over.

[Vididii]

She needs some flavour text for her independent action and magic resistance.

Noted and Added

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I try not to be too critical of self-drawn FC's since being an artist myself I understand the amount of work gone into them...but damn, Mulan looks like she's got her knees bent and both feet turned inwards. For an archer that is poor stance so she looks like the slightest breeze could topple her over.

Nah, I’m actually with you on this, I don’t like how it turned out- I’m gonna have to edit it in post when I post the full sheet. It looks a little bit better on the sketch because you could see how I drew the leg, but that’s of course covered. But no worries, I gotta change it regardless.

[DelRey]

Skull is an artist?
What do you art?!

[Legendary Hero of the Chain]

Over all, really nicely done Vididii. I will say I agree with Skull on the stance point, but you're already dealing with that, so no need.

I remember the Mulan crater thing coming up a while ago, and while I really like the concept and wouldn't ask you to change it, I will say that a pure skill type NP like those of Li Shuwen and Sasaki Kojiro would be quite well in line with the fact her entire legend has to do with her accomplishing things through her ability and little else. However, I think the sheet is great in it's current form.

The fighter character archetypes have been really useful to conceptulise fighting styles so far, and the traditional design for the art was a nice touch rather than just throwing something vaguely eastern on it.

Actually, want to ask DelRey something. How would you advise someone whether someone classifies as Voyager or just Rider? Kinda split on which Neil would classify as. Not a big problem since that's not the class I'm doing, but just interested.

[Vididii]

The Stance is mostly fixed!

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Over all, really nicely done Vididii. I will say I agree with Skull on the stance point, but you're already dealing with that, so no need.

I remember the Mulan crater thing coming up a while ago, and while I really like the concept and wouldn't ask you to change it, I will say that a pure skill type NP like those of Li Shuwen and Sasaki Kojiro would be quite well in line with the fact her entire legend has to do with her accomplishing things through her ability and little else. However, I think the sheet is great in it's current form.

The fighter character archetypes have been really useful to conceptulise fighting styles so far, and the traditional design for the art was a nice touch rather than just throwing something vaguely eastern on it.

Eyy, thanks mate- and I fucking wish I could! Like, that would fit fucking perfectly with the overall theme and everything! I just can't fucking find any special technique or something to do it off of.

Also, on Neil, why not both?

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Also, general question- anyone know of any good Ea Nasir sheets?

[Legendary Hero of the Chain]

...Isn't that the guy who is literally famous because of how shitty his product was? Well, there is a pretty nice pretender form of the guy

And yeah, I'll probably list both, just interested to see where people would draw the line.

[Skull]

Skull is an artist?
What do you art?!

I don't art so much these days unfortunately.

I did find a 15+ year old sketchbook the other day and was leafing through it and saw my old drawing of EMIYA and I cringed at how bad I used to be. An art student I was not.

[Calico Overcoat]

continuing on the theme of incredibly obscure little dudes, which i suppose is gonna be my brand; throwing around ideas for a Pretender/Faker Frog Prince | Henri iii of France (/Basilisk?) based on his extravagance and ineffective rule during the french wars of religion, and probably also his fancily dressed twink collection lmao
i really enjoy the idea of a Chaotic Neutral amphibian ruler (er, fake ruler) obsessed with making his actual swamp lands [the most beautiful], rather than... happy or liveable. maybe even with a sort of rapturous Madness Enhancement, based on the Duel of the Mignons? idk it was a very interesting bit of historical record. i have many plans ;w;

[RoydGolden]

continuing on the theme of incredibly obscure little dudes, which i suppose is gonna be my brand; throwing around ideas for a Pretender/Faker Frog Prince | Henri iii of France (/Basilisk?) based on his extravagance and ineffective rule during the french wars of religion, and probably also his fancily dressed twink collection lmao
i really enjoy the idea of a Chaotic Neutral amphibian ruler (er, fake ruler) obsessed with making his actual swamp lands [the most beautiful], rather than... happy or liveable. maybe even with a sort of rapturous Madness Enhancement, based on the Duel of the Mignons? idk it was a very interesting bit of historical record. i have many plans ;w;

Wait, is Henry III connected to the Frog Prince fairytale? Also this hypothetical sheet had better have Frog from Chrono Trigger as the FC.

[KirAcrux]

Hey there everyone! I'm very new to this forum, found it only recently and have been working my way through the create-a-servant thread, and I wanted to try it for myself. The concept is still very vague, and I'm pretty unsure about a bunch of stuff, so any advice is really appreciated.

So my original idea was taking a guy from local history/legend, Heinrich von Hünenberg, a knight who warned the swiss confederacy on where exactly the Habsburgs would attack before a really decisive first battle. Then I realized that this guy essentially does not exist outside of this story, and is effectively unknown outside of the area it happens in, and his actual historical existence is also questionable. This felt a bit weak of a foundation for a heroic spirit, so I thought about doing a Shinjuku-type thing of combining two lesser known spirits into one, with the core concept being the idea of a messenger. The other spirit here would be Philippides, the messenger who delivered the news of the Athenian victory at Marathon from there to Athens, running the 42 kilometers to deliver the news and then dying. This would be a servant who could fight, as both of these two were soldiers in their own right, but his main ability would lie in the swift acquisition and delivery of accurate Information.

One of the things I'm struggling with right now is assigning a class, originally it would have been archer since Heinrich delivered the message by arrow, but in this constellation I'm not sure anymore (is there an argument to be made for rider? does running far distances qualify as "riding" the path you're running on or something like that?). I also wanted to gather some opinions on what level of "being known" you all think is required to become a heroic spirit.

I've not really worked on parameters or skills too much, Independent action feels pretty appropriate but beyond that idk. I was also thinking about his NP, and was thinking of giving him two different ones, one where the message is delivered by arrow, thus removing the need for him to return and not being interceptable, and a second, final one, where he could be sent off with a message and upon delivery, the contents of the message would be accurate no matter what, retroactively altering the events it talks about if necessary, in exchange for the servant dying after the message is delivered. This one feels a bit off tho, both in powerlevel and the theme itself so I probably won't do it like this.

[DelRey]

sheesh, an influx of new faces recently! welcome
servants made a mark in history somewhat. Hunenberg would indeed be Phantom at best. So a Phantom Fusion is a good choice. the athenian runner may not be enough. more could be needed.
in terms of class, you could either make them alter ego because they are merged after all, but "running far distances" does sound like a Voyager.
My idea would be to look up more relevant messengers in history and combine them to embody the concept of 'messenger' and important deliveries that changed outcomes.
Each phantom can grant one personal skill that embodies their legend and a trait one may associate with this image we have of a messenger. The NP combines it all into something conceptual.
One phantom that comes to my mind would be the fella that observed the battle of waterloo for Rothschild.
For inspiration click the extra comp in my signature. In terms of messenger servants we have two voyagers that come to mind, Royds Cher Ami and Nuclears...Santo or something iirc. Both are pretty recent.

[Calico Overcoat]

there is a long-standing literary tradition of comparing ineffectual/hedonistic rulers to frogs who have become kings, for one (most notably nero, actually)! the other joke is, ah, french frogs (which was a stereotype/association that actually started with henri iii and his court’s trips to the elizabethan court.) the pace of three requests followed by an act of violence— in the original Grimm version, at least— releasing the frog from his froggishness also has parallels to henri’s historical assassination!
and while i plan on drawing all my fcs myself, that is a very good frog! his base form may indeed be a little froggy guy of that nature! at some point during his ascensions i want to really push the tyrant king angle, though, which might be difficult if he is still quite that cute ;0;