"For the sake of my prince, I will do anything. I will become anything. I will do so gladly. I will do so joyously. Even if I am to become a witch! Even if I am to become the devil! Even if I am to become all but falsehood! My loyalty will always be true! My love will always be true! That alone is genuine. That alone is all I need. My prince... no matter what... I will find my way to your side once more. And this time, I will remain by it to the very end."
True Name: Boye
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Attribute: Man
Class: Alter Ego
STR: D
CON: C
AGI: C
MGI: A
LCK: C
NP: C+
Class SkillsDivinity: E
A Skill that denotes the measure of one's divine nature. Alter Ego possesses resistance to attacks rooted in demonology and can subjugate low ranking evil spirits and demons, but is vulnerable to interference of a holy nature, such as the rites of the Church. Alter Ego has been granted this Skill due to being frequently written about as being of demonic origins, with some even suggesting she might be the Devil in disguise himself. She has additionally been associated with the sorcery of Lapland, known to entail the ritualistic possession of practitioners by the demons and spirits in service to them.
Personal SkillsMan's Best Friend: B+
A Skill that denotes the unconditional loyalty and devotion of a domesticated canine towards humans. A hunting dog with greatly enhanced senses, Alter Ego is able to see through low-ranking illusions and doggedly pursue quarry through even difficult terrain. Committed to being ever at her Master's side, she is especially skilled at determining their location and optimally making her way there. Even magical concealment of her Master from her will typically be seen through by her tracking skill. Alter Ego is also highly resistant to any mental interference that might turn her against her Master, or that would afflict her with fear or despair. There is nothing save her Master's own betrayal that can sever her unwavering faith. Finally, when taking action in direct defense of or service to her Master, there is a small chance of Alter Ego receiving a Rank-Up to all parameters. If it is for her Master, it is possible for her to push beyond her limits.
The profound loyalty domesticated dogs bear towards humans has long been recorded in myth, history, and literature, with numerous stories and anecdotes such as that of Odysseus's dog Argos attesting to their incredible devotion. Alter Ego in life was no exception, ever at the side of Prince Rupert of the Rhine. A skilled hunting dog, a rare authentic account records her helping her master take down a deer during a hunt. She faithfully accompanied her master to the battlefield on enough occasions so as to become infamously associated with him. During the Battle of Marston Moor, perhaps somehow sensing her master was in peril, she escaped from where she had been tied up at camp and made her way to the battlefield to find him, perishing in the process. Aside from this genuine truth, Alter Ego was also alleged to have kissed Prince Rupert in public and slept in his bed, her faithfulness insinuated as being the pernicious desire of a witch's familiar.
Innocent Monster: A
A Skill denoting an attribute possessed by Servants whose true history and existence have been distorted by the monstrous reputations and gossips they accrued across the course of their life and thereafter. This Skill is something like a curse and cannot be removed. Alter Ego's abilities and appearance have been completely transformed. She has been granted human form, language, and intelligence, the Skills Divinity and Witchcraft, her Noble Phantasm, and virtually all of her ability and qualifications as a Servant. To an extent rare in a Servant that truly lived in history, the near entirety of Alter Ego's Saint Graph has been provided by Innocent Monster, with her Skill Man's Best Friend remaining its only mostly genuine part. In that regard, perhaps it could be said there is nothing but merits.
Alter Ego possessed an almost incomparably notorious reputation in life, to the extent of being by far the most infamous dog in England at the time. That reputation was falsehood, the result of a war of satire and slander waged during the English Civil War. Pamphlets were endlessly written by Parliamentarians and Royalists alike, either to cast Alter Ego in a negative light or mock the beliefs and efforts of the other side. Allegations included that she was bullet proof, could turn invisible, could find treasure, could predict the future, was a witch's familiar, was of demonic origins, was a shapeshifting witch, and so on and so forth almost endlessly. Despite much of it being written without serious intent, a superstitious general populace typically took it for granted, only enhancing Alter Ego's infamy.
Witchcraft: B
A Skill that denotes the usage of a system of witchcraft, in this case that believed endemic to to the witches of Lapland. Alter Ego is able to utilize a variety of versatile spells. She is capable of shapeshifting between human and canine form, ward away projectiles such as bullets and even take control of their trajectory, confer upon herself invisibility, detect hidden treasure, and discern deception and treachery. She can additionally utilize a limited form of divination, equivalent to that of even famous soothsayers, allowing her to see potential paths the future might take.
One of the most constant allegations levied against Alter Ego was that she was a witch of Lapland, infamous for its sorcery in the 17th century. Many of the magical abilities she was said to possess also fell under the English notion of a Lapland Lady. In truth however, the witches of Lapland were an invention of English literature. Sorcery in Lapland historically was restricted to men, and defined by the usage of spirits and demons for divination and curing the sick. These spirits never appeared to women or entered their service, leaving there no such thing as Lapland witches.
Noble PhantasmA Devil Without DoubtElegy of Loyalty - Propaganda Overtake
Rank: C+
Type: Anti-Unit (Self)
Range: 0
Maximum Targets: 1
Alter Ego's sole Noble Phantasm, one inextricably intertwined with her existence as a Servant.
Boye the poodle held no especially remarkable qualities in life; her notoriety began solely with her owner, Prince Rupert. He was the famed and heroic cavalier of the Royalists, the bane of the Parliamentarians, who held an invincible reputation. Perhaps it was only natural, only inexorable human nature, that the dog that loyally accompanied him into battle would share in his fame and infamy alike. Perhaps it was only the natural course that an ignorant animal unable to protest would be made use of as humans saw fit. Boye became an innocent tool taken advantage of not only the enemies of Prince Rupert but his allies to push forward their own agendas, to mock, satirize, and slander each other. A simple dog became a living piece of propaganda, serving as the catalyst for endlessly multiplying rumors, falsehoods, and allegations. She was made into a witch, a devil, a sorceress, to stain her master's reputation, to mock those staining her master's reputation.
Alter Ego's Saint Graph is composed almost entirely of malignant information; she is in some sense what might be called a 'Dead Face', born of the infinite propagation of negative emotion through her. She is an entity that exists for the sake of small-minded egotism, a piece of 'fake news' maliciously spread to further the agendas of some and to fool others. She is an Alter Ego created by the wishes and desires of humans to satisfy their grudges against each other, to hurt one another, to mislead one another. She is an accumulation not of something as true as hatred, but endless little grievances. Her Noble Phantasm is the embodiment of this nature, a constantly active type that could be said to be her herself.
Merely by Alter Ego existing, the flow of negative discourse becomes directed through her. Though her Noble Phantasm is primarily classified as Anti-Unit (Self), it bears characteristics of an Anti-Mind type in this regard. Those who bear witness to her, be they human or Servant, will without mental resistance be subtly influenced to make use of her to satisfy their own negative emotions. Rather than even mental interference, she simply brings out the natural human tendency to take out their feelings on others, to attribute sins to others, to mock the beliefs of others. Any major action or sin of a Holy Grail War may be somewhat attributed to her, but of course only at the behest of her Master with an inevitably stained reputation. Any agenda rooted in malice, any negative emotion needing release, however small or petty, may utilize her.
Her mere presence can impact relationships, engender discord between Master and Servant. It becomes easier for people to blame each other, to mockingly disbelieve each other, to want to get one over each other. If summoned in the presence of digital media, her prominence can multiply like a virus. Without information suppression, it would be possible for her within a week or two to have two major political parties satirizing each other over her, for conspiracy theorists to spread warning of her malign union with a celebrity to millions of people gullible enough to believe it, for the smugly self-aware to joke of her as the root of all sin, or at least that's what the crazies think. In comparison to a certain Avenger, rather than truly herself being a scapegoat, she is a means for humans to make scapegoats of each other through her.
The malignant information born of Alter Ego, that flows through her, feeds directly back into her Saint Graph. Her magical energy, similar to the effects of Self-Replenishment (Mana), will generally be recovered once per turn to a varying amount. Likewise, any wounds she incurs will regenerate to a degree dependent on the output of malice she generates, sometimes even near instantaneously with sufficient output. It is even possible for her to essentially never exhaust her magical energy or recover from what would otherwise be a mortal wound if a truly extreme amount of malignant information is being produced because of her. At peak performance she is almost akin to a perpetual motion machine for negative emotion, endlessly generating falsehoods that endlessly maintain her.
If the rumors and slander and satire and falsehoods and mockery and malice reach peak volume, if hundreds of thousands or millions or yet more believe her the devil, then the full activation of her Noble Phantasm becomes possible, warping her Saint Graph beyond her limits. Her form and mind will be twisted into that of a false demon, an unstable cacophony of mankind's indifferent cruelty. Her individuality burned away by the endless negative feelings of man, she will truly take on the semblance of a Dead Face, a seething mass of malignant information dyed a sickly black and purple.
The plurality of her parameters receive a Rank-Up to no less than Rank A, her Divinity and Witchcraft likewise Rank-Up to Rank C and Rank A respectively, her Man's Best Friend is sealed, and her regeneration and magical energy replenishment become instantaneous. Her claws and teeth and spells are now imbued with curses, malice leaking out of her body to deliver wounds difficult to heal and amplifying negative feelings. The unstable negative energy stitching her form together can even be simply unleashed, a direct torrent of curses that can even rip through lower degrees of mental resistance. Even having become a vortex of grudges however, lashing out against the world, she remains able to heed her Master's directives and keep from hurting them. No matter what she becomes, her loyalty will never waver.
Her Noble Phantasm is not without significant drawbacks. Her Master's reputation will invariably be stained for one, regardless of their innocence. Even low ranking mental resistance can easily negate her subtle influence, and just as she represents the pettiness of human ego, she can be surmounted by the ability of humans to rise above their negative emotions and believe in each other. It can be difficult to begin with depending on where and when she is summoned for her to create sufficient allegations and falsehoods, sometimes leaving her unable to even fully activate her Noble Phantasm. Finally, even if she manages to partially or fully activate her Noble Phantasm, the strain it places on her Saint Graph is immense. It cannot be maintained in perpetuity, and will inevitably deactivate after a short period of time. And if she puts all she has into bearing it even so, its usage will inevitably end with her quiet collapse and death.
When Boye the poodle died, her significance to the war of propaganda immediately ended with little fanfare, and she became only a historical curiosity. So too is it when Alter Ego dies, whatever influence she has had, whatever war is being waged through her, will abruptly come to an end. For better or worse, human malice is fleeting.
BackgroundWhen the famed Prince Rupert of the Rhine was imprisoned in Austria during the Thirty Years War, the Earl of Arundel took it upon himself to provide him a companion to keep him company in confinement. That companion was a white hunting poodle to be famously named Boy or Boye, though it was likely the dog was actually female. Boye was in fact one of two poodles given to Prince Rupert; her counterpart, a black poodle, would perish shortly thereafter and be forgotten.
Boye would accompany her master, the dashing and gallant cavalier of the Royalist faction, into many battles against the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. Prince Rupert's fame and infamy alike meant he was the subject of a great deal of propaganda, and eventually his dog would be utilized for that purpose as well. Thousands of pamphlets from both sides would be published, some alleging Boye had magical powers to stain the reputation of Prince Rupert or because of genuine superstition, some mockingly echoing or exaggerating those allegations to point out how ridiculous they were.
On July 1, 1644, Rupert would go into battle at Marston Moor and face his first true defeat, being shot off his horse and forced to take cover in a field. Though tied up at the allied camp, Boye would manage to escape and went to the battlefield in search of her imperiled master. Never making it to him, she was shot and killed by an enemy soldier, though Prince Rupert managed to escape the battle alive.
A Dog's Elegy, or Rupert's Tears, was the best known of the many pamphlets written about her and covered her death. Here in her end she was depicted as a black dog of Satan, and she was mockingly purported to have been responsible for the Armada, the Gunpowder Plot and Prince Henry‘s death, and the poisonings of James VI and I. With that her significance reached its end, and she essentially had no further place in the public consciousness of the 17th century.
CharacterLikes: Prince Rupert, loyalty, hunting
Dislikes: Abandonment, propaganda
Talent: Swimming
Natural Enemy: Mephistopheles
Alter Ego is in many ways what one might expect of a devoted hunting poodle granted sapience; she is bold, direct, without much regard for personal space, and energetic. Though she is reasonably alright at keeping calm and quiet at times, she's an active go getter that prefers to be up and about. She can be a bit aloof and introverted when it comes to meeting people for the first time, but once she gets used to them she can be quite personable and even somewhat talkative. In fact, it would be fair to say she has no thought mouth filter at all whatsoever. She'll absolutely blithely express whether she likes or dislikes someone, whether she thinks something is fun or boring, whether she's hungry or wants to play. Though, she does try to speak and carry herself with the dignified bearing of a prince's dog... to some extent.
Quite sociable, she greatly prefers to be around people rather than be alone. Indeed, she gets lonely easily and will often express great displeasure at being left behind. Disarmingly cheerful much of the time, she'll just as quickly start pouting and whining if something isn't going her way. She's delighted at the prospect of playing physical games, even roughhousing, and will join in on sports and the like whenever possible. Her greatest passion is hunting, and unless told otherwise she will absolutely strike out on her own to terrorize waterfowl and strike down deer.
Of course, she's no puppy devoid of restraint. Even if she's not especially good at social interactions, she's capable of reading the room and keeping silent if necessary. She's highly trained and highly obedient, capable of following even relatively complex instructions to the letter. She protests no order and will snap to attention to follow them; it would be fair to say she treasures obedience over her own pleasure any time. Indeed, so long as she's been given proper instruction, she's no trouble at all whatsoever, as far as her playful and oblivious canine tendencies go.
Loyalty is of the utmost importance to her, and she takes great pride in it. Though she will acknowledge any given Master as her 'current owner', and devote herself utterly to them, her ultimate master will always be Prince Rupert. It would be fair to say that her beloved prince occupies her mind and emotions near constantly, and any action she puts thought into bears the consideration of how it might impact his reputation, how it might live up to him, whether or not he would approve of it. While much of her talking is often just simplistically saying whatever comes to mind, she makes an active effort to praise and extol the virtues of Prince Rupert whenever possible. She will take any given opportunity to express her pride in him as his dog, to smugly proclaim that she alone was his treasured companion, and to tell warm stories of the two of them. This high regard extends to a lesser extent to her Master; she is deeply loyal to her Master precisely because that is the sort of loyalty and devotion she must demonstrate as Prince Rupert's companion. Naturally personable, she will with time typically grow nearly as genuinely fond of her Master as her prince, and of course loudly begin to brag about what a fine owner she has and what a well trained and effective partner to them she is.
All of the above seems in stark contrast to Alter Ego's nature as a Servant, to the way she naturally furthers people's negative emotions via herself, to the malignant falsehoods that compose her. Alter Ego certainly isn't fond of it. She bristles with unbridled rage at any insult or offense or mockery of her prince or her Master, and will often be deeply apologetic and shameful if their reputations are stained because of her. Aside from that however, to some extent she genuinely doesn't care. She may be amiable, but she is at her core an animal bred to hunt. Some humans are friends, and some humans are prey like any other to be ruthlessly cut down. If anything, she doesn't mind at all embodying her vicious reputation in the hunt and upon the battlefield. She'll relish doggedly pursuing her quarry and ripping their throat out, take unabashed delight in destroying the enemies of her Master. After all, the simple unconditional loyalty of a dog towards their master means the enemies of their master might as well be pure evil. She has no qualms whatsoever about doing whatever her Master asks of her. Rather than actual moral considerations, she only cares if her Master might be displeased.
But of course, she understands it. That to be branded as a devil and a witch is no good. That to be branded as evil is a dishonor upon most Masters she might have, and dishonor upon her beloved prince. She understands it is better to be regarded as a good girl than a bad girl, and she understands that the malice born from her tears away at her pride. She understands that not just enemies of her Master but innocent people who might otherwise pet her, might otherwise praise her and the owners she loves by extension, might be brought to ruination. While she will strike against the enemies of her Master happily, she has enough empathy to not want to cause pain unnecessarily, to not want to further the grudges of humans. And of course, she doesn't truly want to be consumed by falsehood, to be made into something she isn't. Her cheerfulness belies the existential terror of being overwritten, of being made into a monster. All she wants, all she ever wanted, is to happily be at the side of the masters she loves.
But even so, Alter Ego will gladly become a devil.
If it is for the sake of her Master, if it for the sake of her prince, if it is for the sake of being useful to them instead of being a hapless little dog, if it is for the sake of someday meeting her prince again, if it for the sake of someday being at her prince's side again... then she will gladly subsume herself in sin. She will gladly allow her memories to be tainted, her heart to blacken, her joy to fade away. She will gladly bear the weight of human malice. So long as her loyalty remains, so long as her love remains, so long as even the tiniest fraction of her is genuine, that is enough for her. That is more than enough for her. That is more than enough for a wretched dog used to stain her prince's reputation, that ignobly died without being able to help him at all. So long as her love remains true, she will gladly become anything.
At least, that's what she tells herself.
RelationshipsPrince Rupert of the Rhine
It would only be redundant to speak of him too much again. Her life's purpose is to meet him once again, and this time to be at his side to the very end, to be of far greater use to him... but truth be told she has some fears about seeing him again. She cannot truly grasp the veracity of her love, the genuineness of her love, despite how fervently she clings to it. A dog will remain loyal to their owner long after they have died, waiting patiently at their grave. But the same does not go both ways. Prince Rupert lived a great many years after her, and it is said the happiest years of her life were those near the end, not those with her. He might not be able to accept the purity of her love... and she might not be able to accept after all her suffering that he was completely happy without her.
Mephistopheles
They are both false devils prone to loneliness, one devoted to devotion and one devoted to treachery. She who so highly values loyalty ought to despise him and hold him in contempt, and certainly that's what she outwardly indicates. But at the same time, she cannot help but wonder at his existence so opposite to hers... and wonder at his laughter. Is he happy, being what he is? Can he accept himself so brimming with falsehood? She wonders even now.
Ushiwakamaru
"A false dog! Owner, pay her no mind! Unlike this human pretender, I am the genuine article! It is I most deserving of head pats and ear rubs and cuddles, not this affection seeking charlatan! Her loyalty is no doubt deception; she is definitely trying to deceive you and gain your trust! I am definitely not jealous of her or anything! I definitely do not feel that my position as your number one dog is threatened by her! Such would truly be a false allegation!"
Hessian Lobo
"Splendid! Oh great wolf, he who yet bears the form of my ancestors, I cannot forgive your trespasses upon the humans that I treasure so! But even so, I cannot help but admire you! Such splendid loyalty to your mate! Such fierce power you hold! Perhaps if I held your primal strength... perhaps I could have done so much more."
Tamamo Cat
"... That is a fox. Why does she call herself a cat? Why does she bark like me? Does she have rabies? Owner, I think it best to stay away from her. She might try to bite you. What? I bite you? I do it playfully!"
Unsinkable Sam
"... A cat, hm? As the high class dog of a kindly prince, I shall generously overlook your incredible flaw of being a cat. But what I cannot forgive is your lack of swimming prowess! As a trained water dog, destroyer of many a waterfowl, I shall have to instruct you that you may live up to the dignified reputation of our Owner!"
Lucifer
"... Why? Why is it that humans made me of you, made me into you? All I wanted... all I wanted was to be my prince's dog."
Bond CEIndelible Hunt
It's my most treasured memory.
There are others I love more.
There are others more joyful.
But this is the one I know to be truest.
My one memory shared with the world yet untainted.
There is no falsehood here.
No lies, no mockery, no satire, no allegations.
No magic, no devilry, no propaganda.
I went out hunting with my prince.
Together, we took down a deer.
That was it.
That was all.
I must have done so many times, but this time...
History recorded it, but did not darken it.
But perhaps, now that I think of it.
No matter how much more false I become...
Because I am here with you, I can keep making true memories like this.
Author's Remarkspupy, and also I consulted You's excellent Harambe since they're quite similar in some aspects (and hopefully significantly differ enough in others), totally go check it out.
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Originally Posted by BnEl15
