Servant/Project Idea Thread, "The Womb"

[StormBringer207]

I might be late to the conversation and I don't mean to jump in too suddenly, but if you're still looking for an "evil" moon spirit, there's a common trope in the creation myths that were created in modern-day Philippines. I'm not really a master on the topic. I know more about how the geography of the Philippines influenced its mythologies than I do the mythologies themselves, but the trope goes:

The personification of the Moon is a greedy and jealous person who envies the Sun. The Moon does a crime which offends the Sun or a greater deity, is defeated despite being the one to start the conflict, and loses some of their power. Sometimes, the lost power turns into the stars in the night sky or falls down to create islands. The Moon is much dimmer than the Sun because of the lost power.

All of this is certainly a gross oversimplification, but the story isn't consistent throughout the area so there'd be a lot to cover. I can share more, I just don't want my first post in the thread to be too long. Is this the kind of moon spirit you were looking for?

[DelRey]

thank you, I appreciate it! I actually found another spirit I can depict as morally detestable so it is a bit late, but do not worry.
Just goes to show that the archetype of "moon commits something bad and is therefore dimmer" is strong across the globe. The crime thing reminds me of my candidate, but also of the anecdote of Tsukiyumi and the Tecciz-something from Aztec myth

[Tabris]

anything really. give it all to me

Very well.

Yīftāḥ, as unfortunate a father as he is a son
Ešba‘al/ʼĪšbōšeṯ/Yāšoḇəʻām, a man with a... tampered history, I guess
'Avner, son of Ner (and of the witch of Endor, if later rabbinical literature is to be believed), general under Saul and his son, slayer of Joab's fleeting brother, and slain by Joab
Min Mahagiri, in life a blacksmith named Maung Tint De, in afterlife the foremost of the so-called Thirty-Seven nat spirits of Myanmar, people who in life were said to have died violent deaths (though the medieval Burmese seem to have a... different view of violent death than what is now the norm), excepting a guy named
Indra, a god brought quite low as time passed and the Human Order proceeded apace
Taungbyone Brothers, in life twins named Shwe Hpyin Nyidaw and Shwe Hpyin Naungdaw, really lazy superhuman twins, sons of the similarly superhuman younger twin of a shipwrecked Muslim trader who ate the body of a dead Buddhist monk and his ogress lover, killed by having their cojones crushed after refusing to contribute to the construction of a Buddhist temple
Go-Toba, the emperor immediately following the ill-starred Antoku, guy of many talents, instigator of the Jokyu War (he lost that one, hah), really passionate about swordcraft for some reason
Go-Daigo, last Japanese emperor to hold any real power before the Meiji Restoration
Tlacaelel, a guy with a Servant sheet somewhere here, architect of the Triple Alliance between Tenochtitlan, Tezhcoco, and Tlacopan, the eminence grise behind several decades' worth of huey tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, and apparently the main organizer of the sacrificial bloodbath of 1484, done to celebrate the seventh reconstruction of the Templo Mayor -- oh, and also reported to be a bit too fond of human flesh, make what you will of that one
Diego de Landa Calderón, Franciscan priest, burner of Mayan codices, preserver of a select few nuggets of Maya history and myth, and just really ardent about stamping out idolatry, if you will
Lope de Vega, duh (sigh)
Dharmakara, a guy who apparently (in a world way different from this one, if the Wiki is to be believed), is destined to become Amitabha, according to the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra
Šćepan Mali, a guy who was maybe Peter III? maybe not? well, anyway, he was absolute ruler of Montenegro and luckiest of little guys (and whose Badass of the Week page I feel fully comfortable in linking, hah)
Chevalier de Saint-Georges, composer, violinist, conductor, and champion fencer, who crossed rapiers with a rapidly-aging Chevalier d'Eon, who should've been in FGO and not d'Eon whyyyyyyyyy, and the leader of France's first all-black regiment
Tenskwatawa ("the open door"), birth name Lalawethika ("noisemaker"), also known as the Prophet, younger brother of Tecumseh, founder and fulcrum of a religious revival that in time fueled the last significant conflict between the natives of the eastern United States and the US Army
a potential, vastly weaker Ishtar -- let's call her Ishtar (Old) -- who stayed on this Side of the World long after whatever happened as BCE turned to CE, just like Poseidon, and who endured the steady loss of worshippers and an increasingly lonely exile in the remoteness of northern Mesopotamia, till the last embers of her cult died out, sometime during the eighteenth century
Orrin Porter Rockwell, "the Destroying Angel of Mormondom", one of Joseph Smith's oldest friends, one of the first baptized Mormons, veteran gunslinger, and deputy US marshal
Lee Miller, fashion model (and how!), pioneer Surrealist, Man Ray's sometime paramour, and (eventually shellshocked) war correspondent and photojournalist during World War II -- oh, and avid gourmand, postwar

[RoydGolden]

Very well.

Yīftāḥ, as unfortunate a father as he is a son

Huh, I'd toyed with doing a sheet for him in the past. The main idea I could come up with was giving him Mystic Eyes of Sacrifice (his gaze basically becomes a laser-pointer for holy fire from heaven that comes down to consume the "offering") based on how he swore that whatever he saw when he came back from war would be offered up to God. Because of that he'd have to keep his eyes covered up with a cloth Medusa-style, which he also accepts as penance for his rashness. Maybe he'd have an NP that powers him up temporarily in return for sacrificing his closest ally after the battle. Overall I couldn't find enough to flesh out a full sheet of the guy.

[Ismail2002]

That last NP sounds like the one belongs to Cheng Gong

[DelRey]

that is an ambitious list and i have never heard of any of them. i get my education in eastern history and mythology from you folks

[Alexcoene]

Very well.
Šćepan Mali, a guy who was maybe Peter III? maybe not? well, anyway, he was absolute ruler of Montenegro and luckiest of little guys (and whose Badass of the Week page I feel fully comfortable in linking, hah)

Man, with Dimitri of Russia and Annastasia, what's with all those russian royals getting impersonators?

a potential, vastly weaker Ishtar -- let's call her Ishtar (Old) -- who stayed on this Side of the World long after whatever happened as BCE turned to CE, just like Poseidon, and who endured the steady loss of worshippers and an increasingly lonely exile in the remoteness of northern Mesopotamia, till the last embers of her cult died out, sometime during the eighteenth century

Also, what is this based on?

[Tabris]

Can't find it now, but apparently Ishtar's worship endured in certain parts of northern Mesopotamia till the 18th century, or was it the 17th? Anyway, given the goddess' entire raison d'etre is to strive, it's not much of a stretch to give her a variant of Poseidon's end, only she fades away in time, instead of becoming Drake's roadkill. Hell, she might just say something like "Hah! With me, age is just a mountain!"

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that is an ambitious list and i have never heard of any of them. i get my education in eastern history and mythology from you folks

"Ambitious"? "Presumptuous", more like.

[Tabris]

Huh, I'd toyed with doing a sheet for him in the past. The main idea I could come up with was giving him Mystic Eyes of Sacrifice (his gaze basically becomes a laser-pointer for holy fire from heaven that comes down to consume the "offering") based on how he swore that whatever he saw when he came back from war would be offered up to God. Because of that he'd have to keep his eyes covered up with a cloth Medusa-style, which he also accepts as penance for his rashness. Maybe he'd have an NP that powers him up temporarily in return for sacrificing his closest ally after the battle. Overall I couldn't find enough to flesh out a full sheet of the guy.

Meh, not a fan of doling out Mystic Eyes like some authorial Oprah -- best I could come up with was him unable to use his Noble Phantasm unless he takes an oath to part from something near and dear to him at the time of his summon, with the use of the NP itself destroying his Spirit Core in a parallel to his short stint as judge... but I didn't like that one either.

[Kamera]

Very well.

These are some really great selection, thank you. Let's see what I can do.

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I might be late to the conversation and I don't mean to jump in too suddenly, but if you're still looking for an "evil" moon spirit, there's a common trope in the creation myths that were created in modern-day Philippines. I'm not really a master on the topic. I know more about how the geography of the Philippines influenced its mythologies than I do the mythologies themselves, but the trope goes:

The personification of the Moon is a greedy and jealous person who envies the Sun. The Moon does a crime which offends the Sun or a greater deity, is defeated despite being the one to start the conflict, and loses some of their power. Sometimes, the lost power turns into the stars in the night sky or falls down to create islands. The Moon is much dimmer than the Sun because of the lost power.

All of this is certainly a gross oversimplification, but the story isn't consistent throughout the area so there'd be a lot to cover. I can share more, I just don't want my first post in the thread to be too long. Is this the kind of moon spirit you were looking for?

The myths and folklores of the Philippines sounds pretty interesting, but I'm not sure where to start with these. Do you have some recommended reading on the Philippines Mythology?

[StormBringer207]

The myths and folklores of the Philippines sounds pretty interesting, but I'm not sure where to start with these. Do you have some recommended reading on the Philippines Mythology?

I've only been reading up on the mythology myself for about two weeks. My favorite current resource is called the Aswang Project. The whole mission of the project is to share Philippine mythology and folklore. I've found some papers written by college students too, but a college thesis is much more troublesome to sort through than an article. The Aswang Project tends to do a better job keeping it concise and also generally has more respect for the different cultures in the Philippine area. It has a list of heroes, creatures, and deities (though the list of deities at that link is for only one of the regions).

It may be a bit verbose, but that's the Philippine Mythology Starter Kit, as pieced together by someone who doesn't fully know what they're talking about.

[Kamera]

It's surprisingly way more diverse than I expected, kind of overwhelming actually. Nonetheless, I found it pretty fascinating. Thank you.

[BnEl15]

Here's another project I just dropped. Rhydderch Hael and Gwenddydd summoned together as a double Servant. Saber-Class, due to Rhydderch being the one summoned and Gwenddydd just tagging along. Originally I planned on them being a wholesome Ryoma/Oryo style couple, between the chivalrous King Rhydderch and the inhuman-being-trying-to-be-human Gwenddydd, but I... kinda hit a brick wall on the lore.

For Rhydderch, he easily has the magical flame-sword Dyrnwyn as an NP, even if his historical feats are pretty average. For Gwenddydd, though... one wall I'm facing is her relationship with her brother Merlin. At first I envisioned her to just be an annoyingly tsundere but well-intentioned sister looking out for her brother, being concerned over his grand role in Camelot, while she herself chose the simple human life. However...

1) I just can't reconcile the differences between the Arthurian Merlin and the Welsh Myrddin Wylt, which appeared in Gwenddydd's legend. The former is our lovable dick wizard. The latter is a feral wild man who lived in the forest. Looks like our Merlin had a mental breakdown at some point and turned into a Berserker.

2) Apparently according to one version, Myrddin killed Gwen's children? Then they somehow made up a few years later? That puts a dent in the dynamic I planned for them, but overall, her lore is just so vague that I can't even fill in the blanks with fanfic anymore.

For anyone interested, feel free to take this off my hands.

[Tabris]

I've only been reading up on the mythology myself for about two weeks. My favorite current resource is called the Aswang Project. The whole mission of the project is to share Philippine mythology and folklore. I've found some papers written by college students too, but a college thesis is much more troublesome to sort through than an article. The Aswang Project tends to do a better job keeping it concise and also generally has more respect for the different cultures in the Philippine area. It has a list of heroes, creatures, and deities (though the list of deities at that link is for only one of the regions).

It may be a bit verbose, but that's the Philippine Mythology Starter Kit, as pieced together by someone who doesn't fully know what they're talking about.

Well, hell's bells, I didn't know there was such a resource on our myths anywhere on the Web.

Must. Consume.

Nom.

[Tabris]

Anyone have a handy guide to obscure minor snake (and snakelike) gods of Asia Minor? Now that I've tabled my Alexander/Glycon sheet for the time being (I really wanna see FGO flesh out its roster of Pretenders), I'm now working on a standalone Alter Ego Glykonos sheet. I already got Illuyanka and Hedammu, but they're real... light on details?

Plus Illuyanka's an eel god. Ew, eels.

[Kabalisto Koga]

Anyone have a handy guide to obscure minor snake (and snakelike) gods of Asia Minor? Now that I've tabled my Alexander/Glycon sheet for the time being (I really wanna see FGO flesh out its roster of Pretenders), I'm now working on a standalone Alter Ego Glykonos sheet. I already got Illuyanka and Hedammu, but they're real... light on details?

Plus Illuyanka's an eel god. Ew, eels.

i like to point out that Illuyanka were no Eel it was a Dragon similar like the Leviathan belonges to to the Chaoskampf motive . About that would also other creatures in serpent or dragon form in the naear east be included ?

Also that reminds me on that picture here

[Tabris]

English eel, the second part of Latin anguilla, and the first part of Illuyanka are cognates; that is, they share the same common Proto-Indo-European root. In fact, anguilla and Illuyanka are just each other flipped, as the first part of the first term and the second part of the second are also similarly related to one another.

[Kabalisto Koga]

English eel, the second part of Latin anguilla, and the first part of Illuyanka are cognates; that is, they share the same common Proto-Indo-European root. In fact, anguilla and Illuyanka are just each other flipped, as the first part of the first term and the second part of the second are also similarly related to one another.

Hoh i didnt know that you such in detail going you are Tabris .

[Bugs]

Agonizing pretty hard over whether I want to do something tried and true, or do something different just for the sake of it.
The issue is I like the former but it's already been done and done well, so making essentially the same sheet but with my name on it seems redundant. Not sure if I should just nut up and do something wacky anyway.

Forgive me for being too vague, it's for the Secret Santa.

[BnEl15]

I did something pretty wacky and relatively OOC for my Secret Santa as well, and while a large part of it felt like a chore, I'm satisfied with the end result. I say so long as you have the time and motivation, go for the wacky option.

Or if you have even more time and motivation, you can always do both.