I know is rom some days ago but wizard's little red riding hood really caught my attention. I can stop imagining what a encounter betwen her and my Gerda would look like.
Grand Saber: King Arthur or some Japanese super-swordsman. Yamato Takeru might also be a good pick since he wields Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
Grand Archer: having it be Gilgamesh would be boring. I agree that it'd be Hou Yi or someone Indian. I'd be great if it were Arjuna, but Nasu is too much of a Karna fanboy to do that.
Grand Lancer: no Irish, please. I want Sun Wukong, damn it. I always had the idea that his staff is one of the towers that act as the pillars to pin the Textures to the planet's surface.
Grand Rider: Genghis Khan will probably never happen.
Grand Berserker: I'm not sure why I don't care since many of my favorites are in this class.
True Name: Líng Zhèn
Epithet: "Pyrotechnics Unit Commander of the Liangshan"
Origin: Literary
Region: China (Circa 12th Century)
Hidden Attribute: Earth
Catalyst: A Copy of The Water Margin
Armaments: Firearms
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Likes: Discipline, The Sound of Explosions
Dislikes: Corruption, Rowdiness
Talents: Archery, Pyrotechnics
Natural Enemy: Politicians
Ling Zhen takes the appearance of an above averagely tall man with jet black hair and piercing black eyes. During his time as an outlaw, his hair started to grow out and so he often combs it back. As a (former) army officer, he wears a standard military uniform of the time, though he wears a beige cloak over it to camouflage it and blend into the marsh.
For long range sniping, he fires a powerful rifle. But if pushed into close range combat, he'll dual wield a pistol and a revolver - one in each hand.
Personality:
Ling Zhen is a straightforward man as expected of a military officer, his idea of being steadfast and disciplined didn't change even after becoming an outlaw which makes him come off as stoic and aloof. In particular his bluntness when speaking to others can rub a lot of people the wrong way even if he doesn't mean anything wrong by it. Despite his standoffish personality, he is a man of his word and won't ever think of betraying his Master unless he truly saw them as "evil". Immediately after being summoned he'll want to do two things, first to acquire a steady source of firearms and ammunition (most likely by "liberating" them from the Yakuza) and secondly to survey the area so he obtains reconnaissance details on all the best sniping spots. Coming from an violent era where "might makes right", Zhen will expect his Master to be able to take care of themselves (outside of fighting Servants) and so he'll use his Independent Action Skill to its fullest to keep his distance from his Master and will refuse to come out from a sniping spot unless his Master is truly about to die. He favours using a rifle for long range shooting, but will also keep a pair of handguns on his person if the opponent manages to close the gap and tries to engage in hand to hand, the enemy will be surprised at Zhen's skill in martial arts whilst still firing his guns in rapid succession.
His Wish upon the Grail? Doesn't really have one. In his own words: “The moment any truth is passed on, it starts turning into fiction. The problem is, fiction inspires people more than facts.” This is because despite "The Water Margin" being based on historical events, most of its characters were fictional and Ling Zhen is no exception. Any wish he might have had would be meaningless as it wouldn't be changing history, just the pages of a novel.
Skills:
Class Skills
Independent Action - (B)
The ability to remain independent even when rejecting the Magical Energy supply from one's Master; the ability that allows for action even in the absence of the Master. At higher ranks, it is also possible to remain for extended periods of time in this world without an established contract. At this Rank, it is possible for a Servant to stay in the world for two days without a Master. However, this is the ideal value achieved by maximally conserving mana and avoiding battle and Noble Phantasm usage.
Magic Resistance - (D)
Grants protection against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether. Zhen was not a mage and had very little experience of magic outside of the Taoist spells that fellow comrade Gongsun Sheng utilises. As a result, he can only cancel out Single Action Spells other than Taoist magic which he has a marginally higher resistance to.
Personal Skills:
Assisting Star - (A)
A Skill denoting Ling Zhen as one of the 108 Stars of Destiny, who were 108 demonic overlords who were made to repent by being reborn as heroes on earth to serve justice. As the "Assisting Star" who always had his comrade's backs in their battles, Ling Zhen grants a moderate boost in performance to anyone in his party - whether that be his Master or any allied Servants. However, as a former Demonic Overlord, Ling Zhen accumulated an awful lot of negative karma which automatically halves his chances in any Luck Checks.
Close Quarters Combat - (A)
A composite Skill of Chinese Martial Arts and Marksmanship. A particularly nasty surprise for anyone who dares get into close combat range, Zhen has learned multiple martial arts from his fellow outlaws in the Liangshan and has combined it with his genius marksmanship to create a combat style which allowed rapid alternation between armed and hand-to-hand combat while engaging enemy personnel. Zhen can even go as far as blend the two together and still keep firing his pistols even whilst preforming complex martial arts movements and strikes.
Conceptual Improvement - (C)
The special right and unfair advantage of improving any tool, from any given time or place. A bow becomes stronger, a sword becomes sharper, an axe becomes heavier, etc. After the Grand Assembly of the 108 Stars of Destiny, Ling Zhen was put in charge of the manufacturing of firearms for the Liangshan. Upon being summoned into the Grail War he will immediately seek out a source of firearms and start working on improving them so that he can use them against Servants.
Subversive Activities - (B)
The talent to reduce the enemy forces in the preliminary stages before going into battle. However, the higher the ranking of this Skill, the more one's spiritual status as a hero declines. Zhen's main role in the Liangshan was to use his artillery to clear out enemy forces and make way for the infantry and the cavalry to advance. At this Rank it is possible to disable nearly 30% of the total military force before the enemy advances. In a Holy Grail War it's used less of a direct attack against Servants and more for things like thinning out the familiars of a Caster or of a Army type Noble Phantasm.
Noble Phantasm:
"The Thunder that Shakes the Heavens"
[Type - Anti Unit/Army Attack], [Noble Phantasm Rank - C], [Maximum Range - 1000 Meters], [Maximum Number of Targets - Variable]
Ling Zhen's ultimate technique is the devastating bombardment he unleashed on the Usurper King - Fang La's army, the vibrations of which could be heard throughout China and said to rock even the Heavens themselves. It completely decimated the opposing line of infantrymen and allowed the Liangshan to swiftly penetrate their defences and bring a swift end to the Coup d'état. As a Noble Phantasm, Zhen is able to one by one "Set" his trusty cannons hidden in strategic locations, typically under the ground and preferably before combat has even started. The cannons will stay deployed in their hidden spots for up to two days without being disturbed and even if Zhen moves a sizeable distance away. Then when the time is right he will activate them and they will rise up and open fire on the enemy. The type of attack can vary depending on the opponent being faced - a wide scale bombing to clear out multiple enemies to a concentrated volley to target a single foe to even creating an explosive "screen" to dampen the effect of oncoming Noble Phantasm attack.
The beauty of this technique is that despite each individual shot not being very strong, Zhen can set a sizeable number of the cannons across various locations as they are very cost effective to deploy in terms of mana. They can also be fired independently of Zhen via remote use as long as he has the enemy in sight so he can continue attacking himself even if the cannons miss their target. It's all about slowly and carefully chipping away at the enemy's defences. The only real weakness is that the cannons themselves aren't terrible sturdy and will break if attacked by a Servant or even a decently strong mage.
Lore:
A long time ago, in a faraway place there was 108 Demonic Overlords who terrorised Heaven and Earth. But the almighty Supreme God Shangdi used his power to seal the spirits of the Demons away in a temple for centuries. Then one day during the Song Dynasty, Grand Marshal Hong Xin was sent out on a mission by the Emperor of China to find the Celestial Master - a Taoist sage who could deal with the plague ravaging the country. During his search for the Master, Marshal Hong visited the temple where he was said to reside and searched it from top to bottom, eventually stumbling upon a secret chamber. Curiosity got the better of the man and he opened the forbidden chamber and in doing so broke the seal Shangdi had put and the souls of the 108 Demonic Overlords burst out to be scattered across the land and be reincarnated as humans.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and under the new Emperor's watch, his government has become infested with corrupt officials oppressing the people. But legend tells of 108 men who will stand up to the injustice and purge the land of evil - each one's destiny tied to a particular star in the night sky. These "Stars of Destiny" are indeed the reincarnated Demons now mortal men and several of them had become outlaws stationed at Liangshan Marsh (the titular "Water Margin"). Disturbed by the outlaws (called the "Liangshan" after their headquarters) who were worshiped by the people as heroes, the Emperor ordered his Marshals to destroy the Liangshan. However this was easier said than done as their HQ is deep within the marshes and the outlaws' knowledge of the area makes it difficult for soldiers to attack. The Grand Marshal is forced to write a letter to his superiors, asking for top artilleryman Ling Zhen to be sent from the capital to aid in crushing the Liangshan.
And so in came Ling Zhen, bringing along his arsenal of the latest firearms and long-range artillery. His constant well placed bombardments of the enemy camps threw the Liangshan into disarray and he nearly captured their leader - Song Jiang on one such occasion. Just before Jiang made his retreat he sensed something, turned back to see his aggressor's face and as he stared into Zhen's eyes he saw a Star of Destiny in him. Not wanting to fight against a fellow Star, Jiang called up the group's chief strategist Wu Yong to bring Zhen to him. And so in the middle of the night the Liangshan infiltrated the military's camp and sabotaged all of the artillery before deliberately raising the alarm. Zhen called for a counterattack but the Marshal's were too afraid of the enemy who got so close to their sleeping quarters and so Zhen angrily charged after the saboteurs by himself into the marsh. But it was clearly a trap and his boat was capsized by swimmers hiding under water. The Liangshan then dogpiled onto Zhen, disarming him and forcing him to surrender. He was then brought before Song Jiang who explained at length the group's goals and ideology. Having noticed the rife corruption within the military himself, Zhen decides to swear allegiance to the Liangshan but only insofar as he'd help against people who had committed "sin" - his loyalty ultimately remained to the government and he would return to them once the corruption had been purged.
Zhen was then blessed as the "Assisting Star" and made the Pyrotechnics unit commander of Liangshan for his knowledge on both explosives and firearms. Assisting his new comrades with a mixture of planted explosives and well timed bombardments they targeted all the wrongdoers in the government until eventually the Grand Assembly occurred where all 108 of the Stars of Destiny had gathered together for one final battle with the evil Grand Marshal who out of options tried to invade the marsh with his army but suffered a humiliating defeat and was captured. Despite calls to execute the Grand Marshal, the leader of the Liangshan - Song Jiang stated that would not be the path of justice and turned him over to the Emperor where the Marshal confessed his crimes and was disgraced.
The Liangshan are granted amnesty by the Emperor and Ling Zhen returns to his post as a military officer, though he would continue to help out his fellow Stars when they were called upon by the Emperor to fight evil such as repelling the invasion of the Liao Empire and later supressing the coup d'état of the Fang La rebel group - the latter of which cost around two third's of the Stars' lives. Ling Zhen was one of the lucky few to come out alive and he continued to loyally serve the Emperor for the rest of his days.
Relationships:
Billy the Kid - "Hmph, a bandit that lives without a code of honour is no better than a common criminal."
Robin Hood - "You remind me a lot of another man, he too was obsessed with bringing the rich and corrupt down whilst helping the poor."
Tristan - "D-Did you just shoot with your eyes closed!?"
Yan Qing - "I always wondered which would be superior, your fists or my shot. Shall we test it out old friend?"
Creator's Notes:
Took a break from my endless Arthurian Sheets to return to my love affair with China. Ever since Yan Qing showed up in FGO, I've been meaning to do some of the heroes from the "Water Margin" - though I figured since I've already done multiple martial arts Servants that I'd try something a little bit different, hence going with Ling Zhen and his gun fetish. I suspect I'll end up making at least one Star of Destiny Servant for each Class (barring Assassin which has already been done in canon with Yan Qing) as there's easily a couple of picks suitable for each of the seven Classes. You could even have an entire Holy Grail War with just the Stars of Destiny! XD
If you're a fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, then you'll probably get the whole CQC reference. Fun fact, I've been trying forever to find an appropriate use for that awesome shot of Ogata Hyakunosuke being awesome but I always discard gun based Servants as I can never get them right.
Last edited by Skull; January 7th, 2019 at 01:35 PM.
"Here's a bangin lil' tune about takin' on The Man!"
(Check out my Super Special Awesome Servant Compendium here)
Ling Zhen: Awesome sheet. I don't know if it's what you had in mind, but I totally imagine him doing all kinds of crazy gun-kata style maneuvers like striking the opponent with the butt of his pistol and firing it at the same time.
The FC doesn't show up properly though (not that it really matters since you described his appearance anyways). Might want to fix that...
Ling Zhen: Awesome sheet. I don't know if it's what you had in mind, but I totally imagine him doing all kinds of crazy gun-kata style maneuvers like striking the opponent with the butt of his pistol and firing it at the same time.
The FC doesn't show up properly though (not that it really matters since you described his appearance anyways). Might want to fix that...
It was more of a mixture of CQC from Metal Gear Solid combined with Shinobazuhō Ikasazukorosazu from Katanagatari. I mainly just didn't want to boringly use "Chinese Martial Arts" yet again so I thought about how I could change it up whilst still being in character.
FC seemed fine on my end, might have been an issue of different countries and whatnot. Nevertheless I switched it out for something hopefully everyone can see.
Originally Posted by King of Padoru
No dialogue with Nobbu?
Didn't really know anything about Nobunaga so I couldn't think of anything. Sorry.
"Here's a bangin lil' tune about takin' on The Man!"
(Check out my Super Special Awesome Servant Compendium here)
I'm in no position to talk about excessive edginess when I once thought about a Lancer Lazarus-Longinus that wanted to kill Jesus because he wanted to die yet was revived, but wtf
I'm in no position to talk about excessive edginess when I once thought about a Lancer Lazarus-Longinus that wanted to kill Jesus because he wanted to die yet was revived, but wtf
Then why Arent you post him here ,padoru your Lazarus?
Please tell me any thoughts or suggestions you may have.
The edge on this Sheet is like...Shadow the Hedgehog level.
That is not a level you want to be on. EVER.
I say that as both a Christian who non-ironically enjoys Shin Megami Tensei and someone who thought up the bizarro idea for a HomunculusGenderbent!Jesus Sheet who had Third Magic and was the original Einzbern Ancestor.
Also, EIGHT Personal Skills? EIGHT!?
Woo boy...
Pronouns - She/Her
Winner of the Legendary Jack-Off
TRANS LIVES MATTER
Originally Posted by King of Padoru
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