“‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe... Hmm? Oh, of course. Servant, Alter Ego. I’m afraid if you were hoping for much more than a Knave you might be a mite disappointed... but then again, there’s no greater weapon against a drearily frumious world than a touch of nonsense. Haha...”“You could have joined the tea party, taken your seats! You could have left the hateful world of reason out there and had fun here! All I wanted to DO was make her a place where her story didn’t have to end so badly, and you won’t even allow her THAT? Then there’s no place for you in my Wonderland! One two, one two, and through and through, the vorpal blade goes snicker-snack...!”
Class: Alter Ego
True Name: "Knave of Hearts"Lewis Carroll
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Origin: Historical Fact/Lostbelt
Attribute: Man
Height: 180cm
Weight: 58kg
Traits: Humanoid, Male, Servant
Catalyst: A page from one of his missing diaries
Parameters:
STR: D
END: E
AGI: C
MGI: B+
LCK: B
NP: EX
Lore (False)The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer day:
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!
So go the charges against the rascally Knave of Hearts. The accused who stands in the Queen of Hearts’ court on the charges of the taking of the tarts, it’s the Knave’s trial which dedicates the true absurdity of Wonderland’s philosophy. In a trial hinged on the concept of “sentence first--verdict afterwards,” neither of the witnesses can produce any actual evidence, the Hatter being far too nervous under the monarchs’ regal gazes and the Duchess’s cook’s elaborations on the recipe for tarts proving... unenlightening.
Neither can the Knave defend himself very well. Though his condemnation is an obvious farce, he denies his penmanship of a letter that enters evidence under mysterious circumstances despite already knowing it isn’t signed.
The most curious thing about the Knave, though, is that if one is to look closer at Tenniel’s illustrations in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Knave in question seems to be wearing clubs. The ultimate nonsense of Wonderland is that despite the Knave being unwilling to defend himself and clearly guilty, the Queen does not even have the right man standing trial. The man they assume committed the crime is utterly innocent, but they have failed to produce him and are incorrectly accusing the actual culprit of being the man who didn’t do it in a court that works backwards in the first place.
However...
This factoid is more than an amusing insight into the spiral of illogic that Wonderland operates on. Because as the Master of Chaldea becomes more desperate to find his way through the rabbit hole of the Wonderland Lostbelt, and both the Queen of Hearts and Alice herself prove to be themselves innocent of being the Lostbelt’s King, the subject moves to a curious ponderance.
Because if there is no true Knave of Hearts...
Then just who is the man claiming to be him?
Lore (True)Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was a mathematician, photographer, inventor, logician, Anglican deacon, and writer of children’s fiction. He is most well known for penning the famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark.
He was born in the parish of Daresbury on the 27th of January, 1832, to archdeacon Charles Dodgson and his wife Frances Jane Lutwidge. Third of eleven children, his early childhood betrayed the interesting individual he would mature into: it was said he made pets of snails and toads, counting them amongst his most treasured friends. Dodgson would show an interest in writing from a very early age, penning his first magazine at the age of 13-- a collection of poetry for his younger siblings.
He would go on to be awarded a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, an association that would continue for some time despite his rebellion against the strict rules of academia that he seemed ever determined to push against-- becoming a lecturer in mathematics only a year after his graduation, taking holy orders in the Anglican church as a condition of the permanent station. It was here that, a year after his appointment, he would meet the dean of Oxford’s daughter-- Alice Liddell.
Pan-Human History recalls well the consequences of the two meeting. But it is here that the course of history travels through the looking glass...
Name: Senseless Reversal of Fantasy: Wonderland
Subtitle: Her Immemorial Golden Afternoon
Lost Depth: D+
Origin: 1864 A.D.
Location: Britain
King:Queen of HeartsAliceLewis Carroll
Crypter: ???
Fantasy Tree: Butterfly
History: ...?Alice Liddell lay on her deathbed and there was nothing he could do.
The young girl had fallen ill with some description of illness that the finest doctors Oxford had to offer could find nary an explanation for. It was tearing her father apart, though that was to be expected-- but Charles was equally bereft. Though many had speculated on his preference to keep the company of children, the truth was innocent-- or more accurately, innocence. Dodgson had suffered from an eternal crisis of faith all his life, seeing himself as lacking the piety and indeed the talent that he ought to in any of the many fields he was so respected in by others. Children were innocents-- they were without blame to judge his sins, without knowledge to judge his works. Around children, he could be free of the constraints society shackled him in and see the world as brightly as they did. Alice was the epitome of that for him, his muse of childhood and dear friend, and he could not tolerate a world which would damn her to such a cruel fate.
When medicine failed, Dodgson turned to the church which he had put his faith in all his life. Simple prayers alleviated none of the weight on his spirit as they showed no dividends, Alice continuing to ail. Was he not pious enough? Was his spirit too weak? He had never considered himself worthy of something like priesthood, but was God truly so unmerciful as to take her from this world despite all his pleading?
It would not do. He would not stand for it. If he were a sinner so grave God would deny him but a wish to save an innocent life, then he would let himself be a sinner to save that very life. He would turn to the forbidden if he had to damn himself for her.
He was an intelligent man, and with some standing in the church he had heard the beginnings of whispers that there was more to the faith than met the common eye. A layer beneath the front for the Christian masses, one that dealt with a hidden world, tasked with collecting holy relics and expunging heretic mages.
This was what he had sought.
Considering his position, it was easier to come across this information than it would be for most. He made connections and uncovered secrets, camouflaged by the mask of a man coping with tragedy by hurling himself deeper into faith so that the Holy Church would let him ever deeper. But in truth, he had his own mission, and soon it would bear sweet fruit.
He would soon come across forbidden doctrine, files on a ritual created by a group of mages that would supposedly manifest nothing more than the Holy Grail. The notes dictated it an obvious falsehood, but... Reading on, Charles found inspiration. He found hope. And as he scavenged the archives in secret while still presenting as nothing more than just another holy man, he discovered magic. Magic he would cultivate, until he would steal away one night with a collection of holy and confiscated artifacts, and with this he would begin his plan.
What followed next, by rights, should have been impossible for a man who had effectively taught himself bootlegged magic with half-formed notes and jury-rigged Mystic Codes. But Impossibility was the very thing that defined Lewis Carroll’s inner self. It was, succinctly, his Origin. And with it, he would do some Impossible Things, the first of which would be to summon his first Servant.
It was a weak existence-- a phantom. Indeed, at first, it appeared as little more than a book. But books were his speciality. A collection of Nursery Rhymes served him as well as a grimoire, especially as he was able to command its power to become his own. He would take the Servant to Alice that night, and he would perform his second Impossible Thing. Alice’s ailing body, her withering soul, would be restored if only he could gift her this power. And with a spirit so malleable, why couldn’t he? To a man whose power was beginning to blossom as it was, it was only logical. And so of Alice Liddell and the Caster servant he had found he created a Demi-Servant.
But the power was, of course, unstable due to her fragile nature and his inexperience. It would restore her, but it would also burn through her along with the disease if not kept in check. Healing Alice was not the answer he sought-- and why should it be? Why restore her to her full potential in a world that only seemed fit to punish them both for dreaming of something more fun? It made no sense. Indeed, a land of nonsense may as well make more sense than this.
So Lewis Carroll would perform his third Impossible Thing. With the Noble Phantasm of the Servant he had summoned along with his own magic, he would conjure something he had barely read anything of even in his own notes. He would release his inner world and create a Reality Marble-- a land where the rules were his to pen, where an eternal teatime would reign and Alice may adventure forever free from the ravages of age and illness, where her spirit could be held in a stasis of paradise. He drew power he did not understand from everything he could grasp, and England became dreary England no longer.
It became Wonderland.
Of course, the World could not stand this blatant outrage against its own rules. And so the tale of Wonderland would close almost as soon as it began. But had history taken a different path, perhaps Wonderland would still reign, under the eye of Carroll... and perhaps something with far more sinister intent for his Elysium of childhood.
Description:A jaunty rascal, Alter Ego really does embody the concept of a Knave. Wit as sharp as a razor, ever-ready with a quick interjection or to thumb his nose at someone he perceives as dull or overly authoritarian... though he seems to have a slight complex of religious guilt that prevents him from overly flouting any authority that comes from a place of true piety. When asked about this, he only responds “I am only a knave, Master-- little better than a sinner, no matter how beamish my intent.” Still, he’s never crude even when engaging in his whims, wrapping his taunting up in equal layers gentlemanly manner and confusing gibberish. Lesser-tempered Masters might find his vocabulary infuriating after a while.
He fashions himself as a rebel mind, constantly dancing through loopholes for no more reason than to prove that his methods are not only possible, but equally valid to the ‘established’ method. Even in battle, despite possessing a balance of physical and magical offensive and defensive abilities, Alter Ego’s tactics focus far more on confusion and seemingly random manoeuvres which serve to mislead and conceal than direct combat. No greater joy seems to exist for Alter Ego than proving the impossible possible, no matter how slight the margin...
...except, perhaps, the innocence of children. Around children or childlike existences, Alter Ego drops his overly theatrical charades entirely. His dealings with them seem far more genuine as they are drawn to him also, and he reveals himself as a man who derives purpose from bringing honest smiles to the young. He loves the fantastical way they see the world, and it’s easy to distract him by drawing him into a game or story meant to entertain. To look upon him entertaining youngsters is to know one is beholding a man who finds nothing more sacred than the boundlessness of childhood, when any dream seems to be accomplishable no matter how absurd, and who fights to preserve that spark of whimsy in the world-- and in the hearts of those who admire his antics.
Likes: Children, wordplay, nonsense, annoying the overly uptight
Dislikes: Adulthood, his own ‘sins’, people implying he likes children too much
Talents: Doing the impossible, telling stories
Natural Enemy: Gilles de Rais
Class Skills
Magic Resistance
Rank: C+
Grants protection against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether. Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals. Due to Game of Logic’s effects on the laws of magic, this skill receives a bonus modifier.
Increases own debuff resistance by 15.5%.
Territory Creation
Rank: EX
A skill originally belonging to the Caster class. It is the Skill to build a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a magus, such as for the purpose of collecting mana. Alter Ego’s Pan-Human History self would only possess this skill at a rank of C, creating a Study for himself in which to spin his tales. However, now that the ultimate fantastical dream has been realised...
Increases own Arts performance by 12%.
Presence Concealement
Rank: D
A skill originally belonging to the Assassin class. It is the capacity to hide one's presence as a Servant. Suitable for spying. A low ranking of Presence Concealment unbecoming for an Assassin to the level that a Servant can infer one's presence at once. However, for Alter Ego, it serves his purposes by allowing him to appear much weaker than he truly is, cementing his presented identity as nothing more than a humble Knave.
Increases own critical star generation rate by 4%.
Nonsense Enhancement
Rank: EX
An id_es skill derived from Madness Enhancement, skill of the Berserker class. Traditionally, it raises basic parameters and strengthens physical abilities in exchange for diminishing mental capacity and sapping reason. However... for someone like Alter Ego, who created the codifying work of ‘nonsense literature’, a genre subverting logical reasoning and convention, madness is simply the basis for a new form of logic. This skill grants a boost to his magical capabilities by allowing him to operate on an entirely alien mindset, unfettered by what is ‘possible’.
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Increases own Buster performance by 12%.
Gains 2 critical stars every turn.
Personal Skills
Meanwhile...
Rank: EX
"Sailing with a merry crew, the journey ahead is full of tales.
Are childish wonders ahead or withered reality?
Well, anyway, you must be curious about the things that are there.
Other people’s memories are only dreams of scattered flowers. So, then... let me invite the Reverse Side of the World here!”
Charges own NP gauge. (30%-50%)
Recovers own HP. (1000-2000)
Removes own debuffs.
Game of Logic
Rank: A
A hypothetical game devised by Alter Ego to demonstrate the basic components of logical reasoning. As a skill, this quantifies Alter Ego’s ability to tamper with enemy Skills and Noble Phantasms by manipulating the logic they operate on.
Take, for instance, a certain Irish Lancer’s spear that reverses causality to assure a fatal strike. This works based on its ability to invert cause and effect, so that the effect of “the opponent’s heart being pierced” happens as a result of “the lance being thrust.” However, this power is useless against Alter Ego’s ability to edit its logic: for instance, an inversion of causality cannot occur when the connection between “cause” and “effect” is severed entirely, shifting the conceptual inertia to entirely different phenomena. Alternatively, the heart may be pierced, but logic need not dictate that this means the blow is automatically fatal. If Alter Ego decides that it can be deemed reasonable by nonsense logic (different from a complete lack of logic, notably) that one can live without one’s heart, then piercing it will have no effect.
This ability suffers from two drawbacks-- one, it is not permanent, only affecting a target as long as Alter Ego holds concentration When the alteration wears off, if, by the same example, the heart has still been annihilated, then surely the target will snap back to the rules of traditional logic and expire. Secondly, Alter Ego has to actually comprehend the logic behind an effect to edit it. Though he is quick to comprehend such things as a result of his Nonsense Enhancement, managing to veil a technique’s workings to him before activating it against him will counter his ability to twist it. This means he’s also vulnerable to sneak attacks, being unable to counter something he doesn’t know is occurring.
Chance to seal one enemy's NP for 1 turn. (80%-100%)
Decreases their debuff resistance for 3 turns. (50%-100%)
Storyteller
Rank: A-
A Skill that displays one's amazing eloquence with verbally narrating tales and legends. It is completely different from the written craft of literature, and adapts to the mood and mental state of the listener by selecting the most appropriate way of reciting the story, a storytelling ability specialized in improvisation.
Though Alter Ego was most well known for his written works, his greatest accomplishment was born from a tale he wove to entertain the children on that fateful afternoon. His abilities all come from his skill at weaving a fictional reality around himself. Additionally, he was a famed lecturer on subjects including mathematics, conferring to his oratorical ability. However, this skill receives a penalty due to his penned works being more well known, as well as the fact that in life he was known to suffer from a stammer. It isn’t debilitating to his taleweaving, but does confer a rank down to its effectiveness.
Chance to reduce one enemy's NP gauge by 1. (60%-80%)
Increases own Arts performance for 1 turn. (10%-30%)
Noble PhantasmWonderlandDescription:
Kingdom Down The Rabbit Hole
Type: Anti-Logic
Rank: EX
Range: ???
Targets: ???
Alter Ego’s dream of a world where nonsense reigns, where reason is twisted to his means and where his golden afternoon never has to end. Wonderland is nothing less than his greatest story to Alice, crystalised into the form of the Reality Marble that forms the basis of his Lostbelt.
Upon Wonderland’s activation, Alter Ego manifests his Wonderland over the world. The fantastical kingdom that lies beyond the rabbit hole and through the looking glass, it could be said that due to its nature as a total incursion of fantasy onto reality, it is the inversion of the Reality Marble’s dominion into the Reverse Side of the World, where Alter Ego’s stories become tantamount to the will of the World. The manifestation of Wonderland grants several abilities to Alter Ego.
Firstly, the effects of Alter Ego’s Game of Logic skill are spread across the entire Reality Marble. Whatever he decides is logic in Wonderland is enforced across the entire kingdom, twisting the rules of magecraft, physics, and fundamental reality.
As an addition to this manipulation, Alter Ego can enforce the concepts of his characters on those inside Wonderland. A world with such iconic denizens as the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and the Cheshire Cat must of course be populated by those characters, and therefore those within it must be the very same. This boils down to nothing less than granting Alter Ego the authority to apply his warping of logic to other’s Saint Graphs. This is the ability which makes him an Alter Ego in the first place-- to fill the role of the Knave of Hearts, to camouflage himself amongst his creations to make sure nothing can interrupt a young girl’s dream, all the trappings of such a Servant were grafted to him. This effect can apply to others as well, altering not only their Classes, Skills, Noble Phantasms, but their memories and identities themselves are sublimated, edited, inverted and exaggerated to better fit the nonsense world that has claimed them as its denizen. Alter Ego has forged himself a Vorpal Blade to augment his combat skills using this ability, fashioned out of malachite and enforced with the concepts of similar legendary blades to create a Mystic Sword roughly on the level of a C++-rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm with a variety of lesser abilities.
Lesser entities, akin to Phantoms, Wraiths, Familiars, Phantasmal Beasts and other similar entities can also be summoned to fill such roles: examples include the numerous Card Soldiers or the dreadful Jabberwocky. Comparisons to a certain ‘champion of the innocent’s’ capabilities can certainly be drawn, and raises the question of what the relationship between the two might be.
Perhaps one of Wonderland’s greatest benefits, though, is its relationship with time. As it is known in the story, the Hatter once sang so awfully at the Queen of Hearts’ celebration that she proclaimed him to be “murdering the time.” As punishment for his disrespect, Time himself halted the Hatter eternally at six in the afternoon-- an eternal tea time. Now Time’s punishment extends to all of Wonderland and those who would trespass in it. Time does not flow straight in Wonderland, and any abilities that rely on the passing or manipulation of time will find themselves extremely hampered if not otherwise unusable. Of course, due to the nonsense logic of the Reality Marble, it’s entirely possible that some things that should be linked to an ordinary timeframe simply aren’t. Suns and moons may still pass in the sky... or they may not. Just like with the rest of Wonderland, there’s no way to truly tell what effects it will have outside the whims of its user and the frame of utterly disconnected “logic” he prescribes to. All that matters is that time shan’t pass and one little girl can have an eternal dream of adventure, full of stories and free of an end.
Wonderland’s power is only amplified further by the incorporation of the Phantasy Tree Butterfly into its projected world-- of course, this great and towering structure from beyond human understanding is what allowed Alter Ego to achieve his dream and paint Wonderland over reality, so to him, it will forever be a part of his Wonderland. This allows it to supply some of its own mana as the World is forced to recognise it as part of its own texture, at least temporarily, making the technique far more resilient than most Reality Marbles. The only way to truly defeat Wonderland is to out-think it-- trap Alter Ego in a loophole of his own world’s rules. The only problem is that it’s a little difficult to out-absurd the King-- not only of the Lostbelt and the Reality Marble, but of Nonsense itself.
Deals damage to all enemies.
Removes their buffs.
Seals their skills for 3 turns.
<Overcharge> Reduces their NP damage for 3 turns.
RelationshipsNursery Rhyme:
“Alice...! Oh, my dear, it’s so very good to see you here too. You’re feeling well, I trust? Good, good. Well, then, shall we see what nonsense we can find here? But first... there’s always time for tea.”
Children Servants:
“Ah-- another story? I believe that must wait till next time-- Hm? It is next time, you say? Oh, well, then... I suppose it just can’t be helped!”
Gilles de Rais:
“...Utterly despicable. Not only would you disgrace your faith so flagrantly, but you would use it as an excuse to harm children? I might be a sinner, but you... you are nothing more than the lowliest demon.”
Edward Teach:
“...I... don’t know how to feel about that man. He says that he truly loves children, and that his... unique proclivities... are unrelated to that sincerity, but... I can’t help but feel like if I hang about with him people will start assuming the worst of me. I assure you, I’m not like that!”
Hans Christian Andersen:
“He and I share quite a lot in common. If only I could look so young and innocent as I once did... Ah, but I can’t say I agree with his grumpy outlook. What’s the point in being a child again if you aren’t going to see the world like one? Shame... and those endings, too.”
William Shakespeare:
“Ah...! That’s...? Is this the kind of thing you would call ‘Senpai’, Master...? In any case, I must speak with him at once!”
Red Hare, Tamamo Cat, Atalanta Alter, Ivan the Terrible:
“Talking animals, how wonderfully nonsensical! I already feel right at home. I always preferred the company of beasts and children. They’re so... pure compared to dreary adulthood, don’t you think?”
Atalanta:
“Oh, how absolutely frabjous! You love children too... and another talking animal, to boot! Why, you don’t mind if I call you the Cheshire Cat, do you? No matter! Come, Cheshire, we’ve little ones to entertain!”
Jeanne d’Arc, Saint Martha:
“I’m not sure I’m worthy to show my face in front of saints like that. Why? Ah... I’m nothing but a knave, you know? A natural sinner. It’s a fitting title for me.”
Astolfo:
“I don’t know what everybody’s talking about. You seem quite sensible to me! Now, tell me more about your visit to the moon...”
Edison:
“Ah, of course. That makes perfect sense!”
Max Bond Craft Essence
“In gentler tones Secunda hopes “There will be nonsense in it!’--”
I know I am a sinner.
It may be that for all my efforts I am damned. That all I have done is condemn her.
But why, then, would this world make so little sense? Why must its rules be so harsh?Why must the question “Why?” go unasked?
That’s why... children enjoy nonsense so.
Growing up is such a miserable affair. To fetter oneself with the rules of reality, to be forced to abide by what one must do or be cast into sin.
If this is what ‘sense’ is, then...
Why is it so wrong to want a world without it? It if will preserve her dreams, then why should the world NOT go mad?
If only it was as easy as telling a story...
If only that afternoon sunset could last forever.
When equipped on Lewis Carroll, increase party’s NP generation rate by 10% while he is on the field and grant party Debuff Immunity (1 time).
Creator's NotesAnd that's my debut, right in the nick of time! I hope it's up to scratch, and that I didn't mangle Type-Moon lore TOO badly. This concept originated as the final boss of a Wonderland Lostbelt I devised for a Fate TTRPG campaign I'm writing-- masquerading as the Knave of Hearts, he'd blend into the background as players search for the real Lostbelt King. They'd assume it's the Queen of Hearts, then Alice when that fails, and upon that proving to be a dead end Carroll would reveal his true identity and promptly go Final Boss Mode. It's meant to be a little OP in that sense but I tried to balance it.
Since I'm an FGO fan, too, I decided to incorporate those elements and try to give him a cohesive kit. He's meant to be a debuff monster, locking down difficult enemies so the damage dealers (especially Arjuna Alter, oof) could sweep in and sweep up.
I thought he fit the prompt appropriately: I can only hope you agree (and that my first tussle with this formatting doesn't immediately crash and burn on me). Make sure you find the click-through info!
Image source is Twisted Wonderland.