Create-a-Servant

[SeiKeo]

Out of all the Russians to wank, the random one that I had to think for a few minutes to recognize?

[Enhance]

Background
Tsar Elizabeth, Empress and Autocrat of All the Russians between 1741 and 1761

King Elizabeth?

[NailsInYourFeet]

Guess I said I'd post this. If I may present my own 19th Cenbtury Saber:

Spoiler:

Well this one's been a long time coming. I realise he'd be more suited to being Caster, but I made him Saber as I find things more amusing that way, plus I was getting a bit tired of author Servants being shunted into the Caster class from lack of anywhere else to go (plus plus we hardly need another child-obsessed Caster).

Class: Saber.

True Identity: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better (and preferably) known as Lewis Carroll.

Alignment: Chaotic Good (less due to his relation to authority, more due to the sheer weirdness he's affiliated with).

Faceclaim

Parameters:

Strength (C) ***xx
Endurance (D) **xxx
Agility (C) ***xx
Magic (B) ****x
Luck (D) **xxx


Class Skills:

Magic Resistance (Rank C)

The capacity to, from Rank D and above, completely nullify corresponding levels of magical damage, as gained through a lifetime of going up against the supernatural.

Not as high as it could be due to never directly encountering in his life, living in an era when Magic was well on its way out, being quickly overtaken by the advance of science and industry. However Carroll's closeness to the strange and natural comfort with the bizarre makes his Resistance of a respectable Rank, if low for the Saber class.

Riding (E)

Ability to ride animals and vehicles.

At this low level standard mounts and vehicles are able to be ridden, but not without extreme awkwardness in handling them.


Personal Abilities:

Guardian Knight (Rank E)

Boosts the Servant's fighting capabilities when battling in order to protect someone.

Attributed to him due to his possible role as the White Knight in Through the Looking-Glass, i.e. not much of a qualifier. It's still notable that this skill can be more effectively used by him the younger his protectee is.

Headache Sufferer (Rank B)

A constant infliction on the Servant's health that worsens vitality yet prevents Mental Interference.

Carroll was known for a weak constitution and suffered from several illnesses over the course of his life, including at least two headaches which caused him to black out.

Information Erasure (Rank E)

The removal of knowledge about the Servant within the area and in the enemy's mind after the conclusion of an engagement.

His Rank in this skill is fairly low, mainly symbolic of the missing diaries he wrote. So while the enemy can retain a basic picture of him after battle, they will struggle to remember the finer details. Yet what little aptitude he has for Skill comes in handy when his NP Vorpal Blade is brought into play.

Protection of the Faith (Rank A-)

A mental protection born from faith, it is not the blessing of a higher being but the absolute firmness of one's soul. Yet the higher this Skill is, the more it distorts one's personality.

While Carroll was highly religious in life, turning down the offer of a priesthood not out of disrespect but out of feeling he simply wasn't worthy, and frequently lambasting himself for his believed sins, the term 'absoluteness firmness' is an ill-fitting description of him, hence the minus to this otherwise high Rank.


Noble Phantasms:

~ Vorpal Blade - Sword of Unknown Meaning (Rank ?, Anti-Personnel) ~

His main qualification for this class, a literary creation of his that while not the most famous aspect of his writings certainly seems to have gone down as one of the icoinic swords in people's memory.

While the blade is a strong enough weapon on its own, making up for Carroll's otherwise complete lack of fighting prowess, the true nature of this NP lies not in its strength but in how... nobody knows exactly what its true nature is. The word 'Vorpal' itself to this day has no deciphered meaning.

The exact effect of this NP remains unknown. In battle this allows ito to have numerous random effects, from elemental slashes to entrancing after-images to status ailments inflicted upon impact, as something with no known meaning could very well have any meaning.
Essentiually, the greatest use of the Vorpal Blade is to forever keep the enemy guessing and confused over what ever this NP could be. From all this you could say it is all of Carroll's literary nonsense embodied in a single weapon.


~ Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat - The Nonsense Inherent (Rank E, Anti-Personnel by default) ~

Upon witnessing his opponent's usage anbd true name of their Noble Phantasm, this allows Carroll to fashion up his own 'parodic' version of that Phantasm. However, regardless of the NP being copied, as a parody it will inevitable be of such a dismal Ranking that it alone will have next-to-no usage, except maybe quick laughs.

Yet this is not the full extent of this Noble Phantasm, as the more Carroll uses any of his parody Phantasms the more the original Servant's NP gradually transforms into that parody version. Though the more well-known of higher Ranking the original NP is the slower this transformation will be (so something like Rule Breaker wouldn't take too long to transform, while something like Excalibur would take vastly longer).

This entire NP is based on Carroll's frequent lampoonings of then-contemporary children's rhymes through his Alice series, almost all of which have now gone on to be much more known than what they were originally based on.


~ The Queen's Glass Game - Perpetual Engine: Maiden Empire (Rank A, Anti-Battalion by default) ~

The true power of this Noble Phantasm tied directly to him, by reciting any of the full body of British nursery rhymes, including his own authored ones, it becomes possible to summon anything from within the rhyme out into the world, from monsters of Jabberwocky calibre to memory-sapping Forests that can only be dispelled if one's own name is recalled.

Yet as Saber instead of the more appropriate Caster class that could best handle it, while The Queen's Glass Game remains active and retains its full power, Carroll himself loses control over his own NP as it turns into a rogue maelstrom of randomly occuring summons and scenarios. Yet Carroll remains at the centre of this NP, with it drawing Prana from him and thus worsening his already poor physical composition, and only ever ceasing at the Grail War's climax or his own defeat.


It doesn't look like Carroll has any particular wish for the Grail, or if he does he's reluctant to ever make it, feeling that he isn't worthy of something so great as the Grail's favour. Yet he continues to participate in the War, likely out of concern for his young Master.

[Ximsol182]

Lewis Carroll is Saber? For a while I though he was going to be a Caster like Shakespeare....

[Five_X]

Okay, yeah, this one took a while, but I think it's worth it! Why do I have to spend so much time detailing these biographies, though? Even Holmes got tons of stuff even though his story is pretty simple. >.>

Have yourselves a Lancer!

-------------------------

Servant: Shaka Zulu
Class: Lancer
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Era: 1787-1828

Background: Shaka, commonly known as Shaka Zulu but with the traditional Zulu name of Shaka kaSenzangakhona, was born an illegitimate child of a South African chief, though he spent most of his childhood with his mother.


Since his younger years, he was a Zulu warrior, gaining much experience in his tribe's ibutho lempi. The Zulu warrior groups were structured into age-based ranks, and Shaka's age grade was merged into the military grouping of another chieftain, Dingiswayo, performing well amongst his peers. He was known to have fought with bravery and skill, but he never became a truly distinguished fighter, nor did he belong to any exceptional rank. Dingiswayo was chief of a tribe to which Shaka's tribe was subordinate, and so they effectively held rule over Shaka's tribe.


Dingiswayo, after roughly ten years with Shaka in his army, was deposed and exiled after failing to take his father's position. It was Dingiswayo, though, who began to instill ideas of military organization into the Zulu people, and it's possible Shaka was influenced by the man's thoughts on Zulu society.


The Zulus divided their warriors into the aforementioned ibutho, based on age groupings, and it was actually focused more on traditional labour with fighting as an adopted necessity. The ibutho lempi was a new, organized approach to warfare that the Zulu tribes were unused to, but just like many other pre-professional military systems, its primary use was in local raiding based on seasonal necessities, with the warriors made up of ordinary tribesmen. It was rarely used for common warfare, which could be said to be almost nonexistent in Zulu society.


When Shaka's father, Senzangakona, died, the exiled chieftain Dingiswayo helped Shaka's attempt to seize control. Shaka used the ibutho lempi to harden local political discussion and create alliances beneficial to Shaka's people. He preferred diplomacy, but over time and with threats from other tribes to the north, Shaka had to engage in more warfare than before.


It was the Ndwandwe that lay in the north and pressured the southern Zulus who were lead by Shaka. The Ndwandwe were under the leadership of Zwide, who murdered Dingiswayo. At that point, Shaka swore to avenge his friend's death, chasing Zwide and his warriors across South Afrtica, sparing no one. It is said that, when Shaka instead came across Ntombazi, Zwide's mother, he furthered his vengeance by forcing her to stay locked in a house alongside starved hyenas. When morning came, Shaka saw her devoured corpse, and burned the house to ash.


Yet, that taste of revenge wasn't enough for Shaka, and he continued to pursue Zwide. In 1825, almost ten years after he assumed power, Shaka met Zwide in battle at Phongola, and Shaka claimed victory, albeit at a heavy price. His vengeance was sated, though, and he could more properly lead the Zulu people.


Shaka had little popular influence, but he was greatly respected by the people he led personally. He molded the Zulus into a warrior society, and he taught them to seize power by crushing their enemies, seeing them driven before their eyes, and hearing the lamentations of their women.


Amicable local chieftains were incorporated peacefully into Shaka's domain, but those who were hostile were met with equal hostility. No longer was Shaka a leader who worked on diplomacy and subtle manipulation of force; he understood the value of a strong military, and he used it. It was this military that defeated Zwide, and he used completely new techniques that the Ndwandwe were completely unused to. He incorporated elephants in battles, using them in complex encirclement strategies, and trained his warriors in the “buffalo horns” formation, based primarily on the strategy of encirclement and pinning down the enemy.


The strong centre of the formation would hold the enemy army in check, and the flanks of the central force would quickly rush in and attack the exposed sides of the enemy army, encircling it and leading to its demise. In case the enemies looked to be escaping from the encirclement, there were reserves who would push back any attempts at breaking free. This formation was simple, and communication was efficient. Because of its simplicity, it was easily understood by Shaka's warriors, who were thus quick to adopt the strategy en masse.


This system eventually met modern European rifles and steel; the Zulus often would wait for the European soldiers to fire, and then when they were reloading their weapons the Zulus would charge with incredible speed and then overwhelm the lightly-armoured Europeans. It was in part because of this that Shaka believed European fighting techniques and technologies to be simply worthless in the face of Zulu ideas.


Eventually, though, Shaka's life as a great military leader and strong chieftain came to an end.


Though the colonialists were often hostile to the Zulu, they were not the cause of Shaka's death; the decline of the man began with the passing of his mother, who had greatly influenced his life. After her death, Shaka became irritable and irrational, ordering that crops were not to be planted, milk was to lay spoiled, pregnant women and their husbands were to be killed, and even calves were slain in front of their mothers. Shaka felt that all should be stricken with grief, and he lost the wisdom he possessed earlier in his life. His fall came soon afterwards.


In 1828, three assassins, including two of Shaka's half-brothers, ambushed Shaka when he was away from the armies, who were currently warring with other tribes. Shaka's body was left in a grain pit, and then covered with mud and rocks and debris until the site was unrecognizable.


Dingane, half-brother to Shaka, took power, unravelling many of the changes made by Shaka. This period was met with much strife, but the Zulu people continued to fight and succeed with the strategies taught to them by their most famous king.


Though Shaka appears to wish for the dominance of Zululand over the modern world, he is more interested in seeing his mother once more. He wishes for answers from her, and to ease his heart.


He is an intensely determined man, who is capable of gaining a keen understanding of his opponent's strategies and abilities, then exploiting that to his advantage. Diplomacy is far from unknown to him, but if he is threatened then he will respond with force. He doesn't like holding back his power, and thinks that if he doesn't put all of his effort into every situation, then he can never truly succeed.


Though many of his strengths lay in defeating opponents with technological advantages, he is perfectly willing to negotiate with them just like anyone else.

Appearance: He is a dark-skinned and tall man, with powerful, toned muscles from a life as a tribal warrior. His clothing is minimal, with a grass skirt covering his lower body and a simple crown on his head. Sometimes, he wears the skin of an animal as a cape. On his legs are white furs, right near his ankles. Though the Zulu people wore sandals, Shaka prefers to go without any footwear, even on rough terrain.


His hair is short, black and cropped, almost unnoticeable under his small crown, and his ears are pierced with small beads; similar beads are used alongside animal teeth in a necklace he wears, given to him by his mother.

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance – D+

• Ability to cancel Single-Action spells and reduce incoming damage. This is improved against traditional witchcraft and shamanistic spells.

Personal Skills:

Unorthodoxy – B

• Ability to create new or unexpected strategies in battle. As a man of considerable military fame, Lancer revolutionized fighting styles, becoming a legendary and ruthless conqueror.

Power Succession – C

• Due to a life requiring the extended use of many skills and abilities, from strength of force to a swift, reflexive strike, the Servant is able to freely but temporarily manipulate his basic parameters or skills, to a limited degree. At this rank, Shaka can switch around the ranks of up to three parameters, limited to once every ten minutes, when this effect resets. For example, he could alter his ranks in STR (C), MGI (D) and END (B+), creating STR (B+), MGI (C) and END (D).

Eye of the Mind (True) – C

• A heightened battle sense gained from years of experience and determination. Lancer can easily come to understand enemy strategies, and knows how to counter them; in a sense, this skill makes him a “comeback fighter” that succeeds well in the second round but loses in the first.

Noble Phantasm(s):

Zulu Iklwa – The Washing of the Spears – D-A
Anti-Unit

The spear by which Shaka's armies claimed victory, it helped change the face of African warfare, and with the new tactics brought about by Shaka, also allowed the Zulu Kingdom to fight on even ground with the far more technologically advanced British imperial armies. It is a simple weapon, and less common than the traditional Zulu assegai, a throwing spear, but it was most notably made a tool of Zulu warriors by Shaka's reforms.

Normally the spear itself is fairly weak, matched even by some normal weapons. However, as the technological advantage of Shaka's foe increases, so does the power of the spear, making it hit harder and more accurately; Shaka believed in the superiority of his fighting style so greatly that he dismissed even the finest of gunpowder weapons as inferior.

This Noble Phantasm is, in a way, deceptive: his spear is also paired with the thrown assegai, as well as an oval cowhide shield, which gain the similar bonuses to the iklwa and are also D-rank.

The shield, unlike the regular spear, has a different method for getting bonuses against those technologically superior enemies: its standard for what is more advanced than itself is lower, and thus it will have increased protective power against things such as iron swords, or even arrows tipped with bronze, as well as more recent weapons of war. It can easily stop bullets, and cannon shots may also be deflected, or have their damage reduced.

Due to Shaka's disdain for the traditional assegai, its bonuses are decreased, though it is noted to be able to fly faster and farther depending on the technological level of the enemy faced; if the foe can fire bullets, then the assegai will be as fast and have the range of a bullet.

Legacy of Isandlwana – Like Lions They Fought – C
Anti-Army

Decades after his death, the Zulu people fought as Shaka taught them, and even as their British foes became more powerful the Zulu only won greater victories. They reached their peak at the famed struggle at Isandlwana, the greatest achievement of the Zulus against foreign aggressors.

Invoking the name of this grand battle, the ground begins to shake, and then the sounds of pounding feet and clattering spears on rawhide shields fills the air, phantom imitations of the great Zulu impis of days long past. As the sounds continue to get louder, Shaka fights on harder, keeping equal pace with his enemies. At the very peak of the fighting, when the tempo of the battle is at its very greatest, then the sun is blocked out completely, and darkness covers the land, and the sounds cease completely.

Ranged attacks are made almost worthless, and all foes are forced into close combat with Shaka, who is unhindered by the darkness. His opponent's AGI is decreased by one rank, and if they run from the battle, this deduction is permanent and can only be removed through the use of a Command Seal.

This cannot be used in the first battle Shaka fights against a foe, and its effects are less pronounced if his enemies are less powerful than he is. Due to its wide range, though, it is especially strong against multiple opponents.

Stats:

Strength - C
Agility - A
Magic - D
Luck - B
Endurance – B+

-----------------------

Luckily for him, he got tossed into the Grail War perfect for his style of warfare! Poor Charlotte's machines would be cut like cheese by his spear, and many other Servants also have very technological weapons at their disposal. With his unpredictable fighting style, though, I imagine Shaka could prove a threat even in a regular Grail War. He's got the fortune of being a more physical fighter, hence the higher stats.

A fight between him and Hong Xiuquan would be most interesting; Hong Xiuquan is a formidable fighter even as a Berserker, but is also very predictable.

Shaka would probably hate fighting Holmes, though. He's a slippery one, and is possibly the best Assassin for simply taking out Masters. His Murder Castle is pretty durable, too, being so big and all.

[Daneel Rush]

Out of all the Russians to wank, the random one that I had to think for a few minutes to recognize?

Someone else can do genderbent Ivan the Terrible or badass Catherine the Great for all I care.

And just what do you mean by "random"? That's rude!

[NailsInYourFeet]

Re: Shaka Zulu. Oh I liked him, I think mainly because I've always been fond of those characters akin Gulity Gear's Faust or our own EMIYA, in that their strategy or abilities seems to be whatever you least expect.

We're nearing the final stretch now, I actually think I'll go back to my would've-been original vote for Rider.

[Sunny]

...I admit, Shaka Zulu is one of those historical names that incites a knee-jerk head quirking reaction from name alone, but when you actually read about him he's a pretty interesting choice for one. I like the new Personal Skills, particularly the stat switching one, and his anti-technology spears are pretty neat. Overall I like him, and he reminds me at least a little of a Diarmuid/Monty. Though I wonder how the NP would handle your average Grail War - it gets a pretty big buff from the setting you're making them in, but do magical swords and spears still count as more advanced?

I think I'll vote for Rider this time too, though. I still think it's best saved for last, but I'm getting curious. ^^;

Also, I assume at least part of the purpose of Rulers is to be that OP (because presumably they have to be an admin you can't possibly overpower), so I hand-wave the power level on Elizaveta, per se... but I do wish her second NP felt less like a Gate of Babylon re-tool, even if it acknowledges its own similarity to Gate. She's really pretty and I love Imperial Perogative as a natural Ruler evolution of Privilege, though.

[Daneel Rush]

Well, I did kinda see Shaka Zulu coming. I mean, when you say 19th century and Lancer, it's gotta be Shaka Zulu, huh? While I do like the setup, I'm a bit surprised by his A-rank AGI and I haven't found the context for that plus sign in his END parameter.

@Cyber Angel: While I originally planned to write Elizabeth as a "playable", balanced Servant, the more I read about her the more OP ideas I got, so in the end I went with "better-than-Jeanne". Which kinda makes sense because she was an actual ruler of one hell of a huge empire, unlike La Pucelle. Or at least that's my logic and I'm sticking to it, don't make me think too hard.

[NailsInYourFeet]

Actually, I think the one Servant I'd be interested in more than anyone would be John of Patmos, author of Revelation. Caster or Saver would be obvious choices for him (or even Berserker depending on how you interpret him), though he could count as Rider not due to any of his own mounts but due to things like angelic chariots or the Four Horsemen he could call forth.

[Seika]

The appropriate class for the author of Revelation can only be Stoner.

[G-Man]

@ Daneel Rush - Son, I am disappoint! You had the perfect opportunity to create a Noble Phantasm that justifiably genderswaps every Servant participating in the Grail War and you didn't take it!! That said, I like Elizabeth, I really, really do, but she just feels off. It's like she's a mish-mash of everything that makes Extra-Nero and Gilgamesh amusing.

@ NailsInYourFeet - Lewis was... interesting. I kind of liked him, but I couldn't say exactly what keeps him from being a favorite.

@ Five_X - Realy liked Shaka! He sort of beats out the "Being Lancer is Suffering" curse, doesn't he, or at least he does in this particular Grail War (I'd laugh my @$$ off if his Master is some stuck-up Clocktower Magus; maybe he didn't escape the curse then)? He's not overwhelmingly powerful, but he knows how to fight smart.

And I might as well throw in my vote for Rider as well so we can get to your next profile that much sooner! I'm enjoying this "19th Century Grail War" a lot more than I expected to when you pitched the idea!

[Daneel Rush]

Okay, first of all, I completely rewrote Shoutoku Taishi's Heishi Shourinken here.

Now, I don't remember who said it, but he or she was absolutely right: it is frighteningly easy to find mythological and historical figures to genderbend in the Nasuverse. Seriously, it's almost disturbing.

With that said, this time I went back to the Mesopotamia I'm most comfortable with. This is yet another Servant stat sheet from your friendly provider of loli Heroic Spirits.

...I enjoy this a little too much, really.

*******

ASHURBANIPAL
Class: Archer

Gender: Female
Height: 141 cm
Weight: 34 kg
Three sizes: 74/52/75

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Appearance: A small, young-looking girl with an underdeveloped body. She has large, deep red eyes, already a rarity in the late Age of Gods. Purplish blue hair is fixed in twintails by ornate black ribbons with gold trims. Pointed ears and a tiny nose adorn her round face. Her brown-skinned body is clad in a white linen robe underneath armor of steel scales coated in gold. To avoid revealing her signature weapon, she uses Divine Words to conjure an ordinary-looking composite bow.


Strength D+
Endurance B
Agility B
Magic B
Luck B
Noble Phantasm C+


Class Skills:
* Independent Action: The ability to remain independent even when rejecting the prana supply from the Master. At the higher ranks it is also possible to remain for extended periods of time in this world without an established contract.

A – Can remain in this world for a week even after losing his Master. However, to use Noble Phantasms of great prana consumption, back up from the Master is necessary.

* Magic Resistance: Grants protection against magical effects.

B+ – Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for him to be affected. The Servant is unusually resistant to Command Seals.

Personal Skills:
* Librarian of Stored Knowledge: An ability that makes it possible for a clear recall of knowledge from memory with a successful Luck check, even if the information perceived in the past was not consciously acknowledged at the time.

D+ – Perfect recall of mysteries of her era and earlier, up to the unparalleled masterpieces of ancient Sumer, as recorded in the ancient library of Nineveh.

* Military Tactics: 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.

B – Whether it is a war of conquest, a defensive battle or a pacification campaign, the Servant has proven to have the skill to control the tide of conflict.

* Vitrification: A serene state of mind. A mental protection that nullifies mental interference.

C+ – Unification of mind and body greatly enhances accuracy of attacks.

Noble Phantasms:
*

Šiltaḫ šarrim

Like Dust Your Gods I Scatter

Type: Anti-Unit (Anti-Divine)
Rank: C+
Range: 3-70
Maximum number of targets: 1 person

The mighty composite bow of the god-slaying king, imbued with the blessings of an entire pantheon as shown by the four pristine wings that adorn its black body with gold lines tracing its entire length. The white feathers are adorned with golden cuneiform describing the genealogy and ascension of Ashurbanipal. As the weapon that brought death to powerful ancient Divine Spirits, it carries an innate and very powerful anti-divine effect, inflicting more damage the higher the target’s Divine Spirit aptitude is. Its rapacious disregard for all things divine extends to the inanimate—relics, temples and magical artifacts will find themselves obliterated by the might of the luminous arrows fired by this weapon. Even Noble Phantasms associated with divine motifs, while not destroyed, will be disabled until the next sundown. The arrow’s explosive area of effect will expand to match the size of the target, regardless of the Type denomination above.


*

Utūnu Bābili

For the Traitorous the Flames

Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: C+
Range: 1
Maximum number of targets: 1 person

The brand of absolute loyalty Ashurbanipal demanded of her allies and servants, and the punishment to those who betrayed her expectations. The mystical mark is placed by direct skin-to-skin contact, and it cannot be done with subjugation or subterfuge—the target must accept Ashurbanipal’s touch willingly. The magical tattoo is the equivalent of a magical contract ensuing bidirectional loyalty and trust between Ashurbanipal and the target. In return, the branded subject receives a supernatural boon within the limits of Ashurbanipal’s admittedly extensive thaumaturgical knowledge. Things such as “persistent health regeneration”, “rank-up to a single Parameter”, “transference of knowledge of a single spell” or “limited spellcasting capacity” are possible.

Should the branded individual betray Ashurbanipal’s trust, the curse of retribution will immediately activate, even if she is not aware of the betrayal. The branded will immediately combust and be swallowed by terrible magical flames that jump at anything and everything around the victim, quickly growing into a massive conflagration that knows no end. The flames inflict continuous damage proportional to the subject’s innate magical capacity, but regardless of their potency the flames inflict incredible pain to their victims. As magical flames, they have no regard for the concept of flammability—anything and everything will be swallowed by them. However, just like Ashurbanipal spared Babylon after her brother committed suicide, the curse flames will not harm the inanimate if she so chooses.

Without a more powerful magic-dispelling mystery, the only way to put out the flames is by killing the original tattoo owner. Doing so immediately erases the magical fire, no matter how far it has spread.


Background

Spoiler:

Ashurbanipal (685 BC – 627 BC), the last great king of the Assyrian Empire, daughter of Esarhaddon and granddaughter of that great and most tortured of rulers, Sennacherib. It was she who ruled at the pinnacle of Assyrian ascendancy and her conquests expanded the Assyrian empire to its maximum geographical extension. How did such a small and frail-looking girl become the greatest ruler of her time?

The first lead to the answer was a defining event that took place when the girl that would become King was only four years old. It was in the palace where she spent her earliest years where she witnessed the murder of her grandfather at the hands of her father’s brothers. From that horrendous scene and the succession crisis that followed, Ashurbanipal learned the concepts of greed and betrayal at a very early age, and this would define most of her actions as a ruler.

Naturally, she was never expected to inherit the throne. That role belonged to her eldest brother, Sin-iddin-apli. While the rightful heir was groomed to become the next king, the young Ashurbanipal pursued scholarly fields with a passion. She was an expert in many different skills, including mathematics, protocol, crafts, languages and the ancient thaumaturgy. The extent of her literacy, rare amongst Assyrian kings, is well known even in modern times.

In the year 672 BC, when Ashurbanipal was 13, tragedy struck her family twofold: the loss of prince Sin-iddin-apli in battle was quickly followed by the death of King Esarhaddon’s wife. Troubled by these events and worried about his own fate, the king began to seriously consider the matter of succession. It was more troublesome that his remaining male son, Shamash-shum-ukin, lacked the level of competence expected of the ruler of a vast empire. The answer to his troubles came from the king’s mother, Sennacherib’s mistress Zakutu. It was the aged woman who suggested placing Ashurbanipal on the throne despite her gender, for she was not only well educated but also skilled with bow, sword and steed. King Esarhaddon thus drafted the “Vassal Treaty”, which ensured that should he die before his children became of age, the chieftains under his rule would then ensure the succession of Ashurbanipal. It thus became national policy punishable with death to pretend their king was a male, even if her gender was no secret, if only to give an image of strength to Assyria’s many opportunist neighbors. It would not stop them from trying to make a move against the lady king, really.

On the year 669, King Taharqa of Kush conquered Egypt, including territories belonging to Esarhaddon. The king thus marched towards Africa, but died on the way in unclear circumstances. Early next year Ashurbanipal claimed the throne in a peaceful succession and appointed Shamash-shum-ukin as King of Babylon before focusing her efforts on the Egypt situation. The fundamental tenet of her rulership very quickly made itself clear: she offered utmost loyalty to her allies, and thus utmost loyalty was expected in return. She rewarded loyalty with loyalty, and betrayal was punished most heinously.

Her army defeated the Nubian king, and then the Egyptian vassals who tried to take advantage of the conflict to gain independence from Assyria. The one Egyptian prince who managed to convince Ashurbanipal of his loyalty became the puppet pharaoh while all others were put to the sword. When King Taharqa’s successor Tantamani repeated the feat and retook Upper Egypt, Ashurbanipal sent her armies to vanquish him as well. When Tantamani manage to sneak away and back to Nubia, the Assyrian king took it on his capital, Thebes, which was plundered to the point it never recovered after that.

Another famous episode relates how the Lydian king Gyges was visited by the Assyrian god Ashur in dreams. He was told to submit to Ashurbanipal if he wished to vanquish his hated foes the Cimmerians. It happened just as he was told, and Gyges defeated the Cimmerians after he sent ambassadors with an offer of allegiance to the girl king. However, soon after that Gyges ceased to pay tribute to Ashurbanipal and went as far as to support yet another Egyptian rebellion. The tablet records state that Ashurbanipal reached to the Assyrian gods to inflict terrible retribution on the disloyal king, and Gyges’ kingdom was quickly overrun by the Cilicians. Many successful campaigns followed and Ashurbanipal gained control of many territories and ruled relatively peacefully until the year 658 BC, when the most important of the female king’s conquest wars took place.

Six year earlier Babylon was treacherously attacked by their supposed-to-be allies the Elamites, led by Urtaku. The Assyrian army easily expelled the invaders and the conflict came to an end by the sudden death of the Elamite king. Urtaku was replaced by Teumman, however, many of Urtaku’s former vassals did not approve of him as he was a bastard child and fled to Nineveh, Urtaku’s rightful heir Humban-nikash at their head. When the border province of Gambulu switched sides to Elam, Ashurbanipal was displeased but not particularly surprised—Gambulu laid on the vital trade route providing both Babylon and Elam with valuable metals from the Caucasus and Alborz mountains. Teumman aimed for economic independence from Assyria and free access to the Eastern Anatolian and Kassite caravans. For the sake of protecting her brother in Babylon, the great king Ashurbanipal led her armies personally to utterly subjugate the traitorous Elamites.

The resulting Battle of Ulai was one of the greatest clashes of the Age of Gods, and the Assyrian king stood greatest among all those who drew weapons across the Ulaya river. While humans clashed amongst each other with blades and spells, Ashurbanipal sought not the treacherous Teumman, but the Divine Spirits of the Elamite pantheon. Pushing the Elamite army all the way back to their capital for the decisive Battle of Susa, Ashurbanipal invaded their temples and let the gods taste her powerful arrows. Susa was razed to the ground and the lady king personally obliterated the pagan temples and put the city to the flames. Teumman committed suicide, but nonetheless Ashurbanipal cut his head and took it as a trophy. In Nineveh, when the Elamite ambassadors saw the head they lost control; one tore out his beard and the other committed suicide. As further humiliation the head of the Elamite king was put on display at the port of Nineveh. Ashurbanipal is the reason current-day historians know so little about the Elamite pantheon, for she had almost every record of their existence destroyed after she removed them from this world.

Then, in the year 652 BC, Babylon rebelled.

To Ashurbanipal, it was the ultimate betrayal. The brother whom she valued, cherished and protected had also turned his back to her. It was not somebody else's machination—Shamash-shum-ukin had pointedly made his wish to rule Assyria in written form, declaring himself the true ruler and Ashurbanipal merely the “governor” of Nineveh. Furthermore, he was not alone in his treachery. Malluha, Chaldea, Amurru, even the princes she had defended and then restored to their rightful position in the conquered Elam had taken the rebellious elder sibling’s side. However, when others might have succumbed to their emotions, Ashurbanipal showed unfailing strength of character and unflappable calm in spite of the circumstances. She controlled the development of the war from the first day, carefully routing her army and directing the enemy troops into battlefields of her choosing. Making it so that her brother and his army never made it in time, Ashurbanipal subjugated Shamash-shum-ukin’s allies with almost risible effort, shattering their alliance by breaking the war into a series of one-versus-one skirmishes. Rather than the opposing armies, the big obstacles in her campaign was logistics and managing her empire with limited resources. Regardless, four years later Babylon was besieged and Shamash-shum-ukin took his own life by leaping into the flames of his burning palace. Unlike her utterly merciless grandfather, Ashurbanipal did not destroy Babylon. However, her cleansing of the traitors throughout her empire was legendary in its expedience and bloodiness.

The rest of Ashurbanipal’s rule was peaceful, but this peace would prove to be a curse. Lack of conflict led to decadence and vice, reference of which were crudely and excessively reported by Roman historians. Then again, Diodorus’ words on “Sardanapalus, last king of Assyria” are a mish-mash of references to Ashurbanipal and other local rulers: Sardanapalus’s death obviously relates to Shamash-shum-ukin’s suicide by fire, and the fall of Nineveh took place after Ashurbanipal’s death. However, it is true that Assyria greatly decayed in the later years of the lady queen’s reign, and the subsequent war of succession after her death inevitably led to the collapse of the empire.

Heroic Spirit Ashurbanipal is a beacon of patience in a fast-paced world. She believes in maintaining calm no matter the circumstances. She is a thorough strategist who tries to plan as many moves ahead as possible, yet she is also capable of adapting to sudden changes and finding new alternatives of action in unfavorable conditions. She is self-centered but capable of cooperation, and she values loyalty as the greatest of treasures. To a Master that will not use her as a mere tool, that will work by her side instead of merely unleashing her like some attack dog and will not keep secrets from her, she might offer the world and more. With the sword she is skilled, but the bow is her true instrument. Consummate huntress and god-slayer; she might actually be better at striking moving targets than stationary objects.

Curiously enough, the wish of Heroic Spirit Ashurbanipal is unusually quaint. She only wants the opportunity to build a proper family. While she did have children in her time, her duties as ruler prevented her from being a proper parent and teacher to them, and she believes that, had she imparted her values properly to her successors, Assyria would not have collapsed so readily after her passing. So she wants to build a new dynasty, in which she is not necessarily ruler, but those she raises carry themselves with the poise and attitude of a true ruler.

Keywords
Magical Talent – Ashurbanipal was enough of an accomplished magic user to be summoned as a Caster-class Servant. Even as Servant Archer, she will often rely on her diverse arsenal of Divine Words, and her Strength rank reflects her use of such blessings to enhance her damage-dealing ability.

[G-Man]

Funny thing, so many of Daneel's ancient Mesopotamian Servants are such nice guys/girls, in contrast to Gilgamesh who was a such a massive jerk@$$. Makes me wonder what the hell happened with him, or rather what happened with them to make them so humble in contrast to Gil...

[food]

Funny thing, so many of Daneel's ancient Mesopotamian Servants are such nice guys/girls, in contrast to Gilgamesh who was a such a massive jerk@$$. Makes me wonder what the hell happened with him, or rather what happened with them to make them so humble in contrast to Gil...

Well, Nasu kind of describes Gilgamesh as someone who "does a lot of good, then starts to do a lot of evil after doing enough good, and then, after doing enough evil, he will start to do a lot of good again".

It explains the "chaotic" part, but it does not really explain the "good" part.

[Daneel Rush]

Well, I could stat Sennacherib or Naram-sin or Shulgi. Now those guys were assholes. Assholes to the MAX. Besides, the whole point of Gil is that he was too awesome. And when you're too awesome, well, it kind of gets to your head.

But I promised Seika I'd write Enheduanna some time ago, didn't I? That will be a tough one.

[Apple]

Caster

'The Red Prince'

Spoilered so you don't have to see my shitty artwork and can imagine him for yourself

(untransformed)

Spoiler:

STR: E
END: D
AGI: E
MAG: C
LUK: A

Noble Phantasms

Troika: Grand Motherland Purging
Support
Rank: C+

An absolute command to kill, manifested by the converts of Stalin. It is not a physical attack in itself, but rather a buff that enhances the abilities of his supporters porportionately to how strongly the target opposes him, and his perception of how strongly the target opposes him.

When activated, a shower of ethereal paper is manifested. The spell provides a static increase to all parameters except luck and magic, equivalent to a single modifier when this Noble Phantasm is invoked and a target is assigned. Additional modifiers may be received depending on whether his target actually does oppose him (an additional +) and if he believes the target does, up to a maximum of three levels (+++) in addition to the initial boost. Furthermore, recipients of this buff become inclined to work beyond their normal limits, making it possible for them to fight at full capacity even with grievous injuries or missing limbs.

What makes this Noble Phantasm truly deadly is not the buff itself, but rather the wide area-of-effect, which can be further increased by means of modern communication. However, it is very taxing to maintain the support spell because every unit that is empowered requires a separate prana input, resulting in the total cost adding up very rapidly.

Also, since this is a spell 'enabled by devotion', it may be possible to re-harvest and assimilate the distributed energy in the same way Excalibur draws upon the light of humanity's wishes, then fire it off in the form of a giant ion beam...


Bolshevik: Absolute Deconstruction
Anti-Existence
Rank: A

An absolute command to destroy, manifested in a sea of fire. It is a deadly inferno that annihilates everything that can remotely conceived to be 'records', thereby torching historical information with great efficiency. The immolation is the embodiment of Stalin's ruination of Soviet folklore and history. Furthermore, it also possesses an 'anti-truth' attribute, aggressively over-writing the history of everything that stands in its path.

When a target is touched by the tendrils of flame generated by this noble phantasm, all information with regards to them is wiped from the world- from history books, from the minds of people, and from the very earth they tread upon. However, the physical body does not actually suffer any damage whatsoever.

Servants swallowed within the flame are unharmed, but the nature of their being suffers heavy damage on a percentage basis over time. Because the fire exclusively seeks 'records', it burns directly into the substantiation for the servant's existence- their legends- rather than actually dealing physical damage to the core. As such, there is no actual perceptible injury from the fire, but the servant will slowly wither and die as their legends (and, by extension, parameters) are rapidly turned into ash.

Eventually, it is possible to reach a point at which even the Holy Grail cannot subsist the servant and their bodies will crumble in upon themselves due to inherent structural instability and the effects of the world destroying their existence, which no longer has the backup of mankind's beliefs.
Since the fire targets 'legends', it is pointless to shield against it. Physical evasion is the only course of respite.

Abilities

Territory Creation
B
Territory Creation is the skill to build a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a magus.
Creation of an 'Office', which is the equivalent of a Workshop, becomes possible.

Charisma
B (A)
Charisma is the natural talent to command an army. Increases the ability of allies during group battles. A rare talent.
Suitable for a king of a country. Additionally, bonuses to dictatorship are gained. However, humanity of leadership may be skewed by the servant's personal paranoia.

Cult of Personality
B+
Usage of mass media and other methods to idealize one's image, surpassing that of actuality. Additionally, this skill enables the 'accelerated gathering of followers'.

At this rank, a passive bonus to Charisma is received, and extensive rewriting of one's image allows for masses of people (up to a continent) to be fooled into fighting for a false cause. It is at an aptitude so great that it approaches hypnotic magecraft. However, one's rule lasts only as long as it is maintained, and the death of the servant breaks the spell placed upon his followers nearly instantly.

Background
Magical Boy Joseph Stalin （魔法少年 . ジョセフ　スタリン）. In accordance with his rewriting of history, his tale was substantially altered from the Tyrant of the Soviet Union to that of The Red Prince. He is actually relatively short (only 160 cm) as compared to the other servants of the Holy Grail War.

As the red prince, his powers of persuasion, approaching that of true hypnotism, have been consolidated by the Holy Grail into a staff of immeasurable power called the 'Marx Engels', which grants him the ability to transform into a crowd-awing personality named the red prince.

His catchphrases include the likes of 'To the gulags with you, evil scum!' and 'I am the hero of mother Russia! Take this!'

His dreaded Nemesis is Dark Lord Hitler of the rider class, and he tirelessly fights off giant German beasts and Nazi cronies for the good of the motherland. Incidentally, if he was summoned alongside his good comrade Georgy Zhukov of the Saber class, they could potentially make an unbeatable duo, while simultaneously being worshipped by panty-flinging fangirls in grand mother Russia.

[Seika]

Appearance: You set the ancient, cracked gemshard in the centre of the circle, with the utmost care. This is your catalyst. This is your hope to win the Holy Grail War.

When the summoning is complete, a tall and imposing man appears. Though he is obviously a Heroic Spirit, with an extraordinary power in his presence, you cannot help but think his armament odd. He has a shield and spear of fine make, whilst his helmet (embedded with bright stones that must be the origins of your catalyst) fairly screams of magical power, but he wears no other armour. Instead, his clothes are a thin, white politician's tunic, drawn up so that he can move about freely.

Though – like most Heroic Spirits – his summoned form looks to be in the prime of life, with hard muscles and broad shoulders, his hair is still wisdom-white. It seems as if he must have some mark of his dignity in life, some show that he was the great and sage councillor who led Athens in its golden age.

“I am Servant Lancer, Perikles of Kholargeus and Athens, son of Xanthippos. Art thou my Master?”


Class: Lancer
Master: HYPNOS
Name: Perikles
Gender: Male
Alignment: Lawful Good

Parameters
Strength: B
Endurance: C
Agility: A
Magic: B
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: B+

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance – C: Cancels spells of less than two verses.

Perikles has some experience of magic, and it was even rumoured that the centaur Chiron took him for a pupil. If that was true, however, then the tutor cannot have passed on the magical secrets that he held, for Perikles' magical skills mere suffice for their tasks. Great thaumaturgy is still quite able to strike at him if he is caught off-guard.


Personal Skills:
Charisma – A: Significant bonuses are granted to whole armies or countries under Perikles' control.

Perikles presided over a great flowering in Athens. Its military, its culture and its architecture were the wonders of other civilisations for centuries to come. In no small part was this due to his masterful leadership, which saw him elected as a General for thirty separate years in a row. This inspirational ability notwithstanding, his skill as a military strategist and tactician is also not to be underestimated.


Bravery – C: Reduces the power of morale effects from magecraft or some other source.

Perikles was a politician first and foremost. He preferred to protect his city's people and would rarely enter a battle he did not think they could win. However, when battle was joined he was never hesitant to head himself into the very thick of the fighting. This was no small help when the most respected office in Athens was that of 'General'.

Perikles, no mean wrestler in his youth, also gains a slight bonus to his unarmed damage from this skill.



Noble Phantasms
Αὐτοῖς Τὰ Αὑτῶν ~ The False Gift

Some noted that it was Perikles' habit as a politician to make grand gestures which would, in the end, require no great expenditure on his part. He was the first to create jury pay, to underline the power of the people's juries. Yet it was the public money he spent, though his rival Kimon was opening up his own orchards to the people. He put bribes to avert war on his expense account, and the public ordered no investigation. The greatest of all his feints was the threat to have the Parthenon built with his own money, if the Athenians would not fund it, and then to have all the glory of its construction dedicated only to itself. The Athenians, naturally, succumbed.

Perikles has a link to the old Athenian vaults, filled with silver and gold. Even taking the time to offer some to an opponent grants Perikles a rank-up to a random stat for the duration of the combat. Should the opponent actually accept, they will soon find that they have unaccountably lost the money (Perikles simply summons it back into the vault within a short space of time, though the magic does not allow his victim to realise this). Perikles, meanwhile, will have a rank-up to all his stats if he ever must fight that enemy again.

Rank: C+
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 1-10
Maximum Targets: 1


Κεφαληγερέτης ~ Lightning Called From Olympos' Peaks

The helmet ever-present on Perikles' head, a gift from the Athenian people for his masterful leadership in war and in the Assembly. He refuses to remove it, citing the great honour which the Athenians did him with its presentation and the necessity for a General to be ever-ready (certainly, he must seem to always be ready).

The helmet is of strong iron, washed in gold. Around the rim are set ten tanzanite gems, lighter than the normal shade. Their stark blue calls to mind the cerulean edge of a lightning bolt, and indeed sparks seem to dance within the gems, independent of any light. In truth, this is one of the reasons for Perikles' title of 'Olympian' – with a word, he used to call upon the power embedded in these gems. Lightning is their nature, and their speed is what Perikles lends to his spear and his limbs. This is his qualification for standing amongst the most agile of Servants, the Lancers.

With lightning coursing over his spear, it is a chancy business to even engage him in close combat, since an attack or a parry might lead to the full force of a lightning strike grounding itself through his opponent.

In life, as a general, he would also draw power from the gems to hurl raw lightning into the enemy ranks. In a Grail War, with only the high champions summoned, it seems unlikely that he should need to replicate that greatest feat of his legend, but it is never easy to anticipate the trials of war.

For all the magic gathered in those gems, the helm could not save him from the plague which finally claimed his life, along with so many other Athenians'.

Rank: B+
Type: Anti-Unit - Anti-Army
Range: 1-500
Maximum Targets: 100



Legend:

Perikles was the great statesman of Athens at its height during the fourth century. A cunning politician, he was skilled at balancing the need for popularity with the need for considered and intelligent policies. It was his (carefully unvoiced) belief that Athens might well survive as a democratic state, but only a man of vision and drive could pull the indecisive and uneducated mob forward to make it a great city whose power would be unchallenged amongst all Greeks.

Perikles managed at least a part of his goal. He came into office with the people's support and never really lost it, winning thirty consecutive elections to the high post of General despite occasional unrest. Much as Rome would later find itself nominally a democracy, but under the control of the princeps senatus, the first man of the Senate, so the historians of Perikles' day said that it was “democracy in name, but in fact it was rule by the first man”. His policies would almost always be passed by the Assembly, and even if his blue-blooded opponents still spoke up against him, they rarely carried the day.

Despite his domination of Athenian politics, Perikles was not the sort to actually destroy Athens' democracy. He indeed maintained all its institutions, albeit under his careful overwatch, thinking that to be the best and wisest way of governing such a culture and people. Even when he was put on trial and fined, he was happy to submit, since he knew it increased the common man's confidence whilst doing him no real harm.

However, his benevolent tyranny did not, in the end, fulfil all he wanted of it. Certainly Athens was rich by the time of his death, and well-adorned with new temples and monuments. Her navy was second to none and she held sway over a great league of nations. Yet Sparta and the Peloponnese did not fear her enough to back down, and war had ensued, war which trapped thousands in Athens and led to a great plague. The sickness was vile, ravaging men's bodies with fever, sweat, thirst and every kind of malady whilst sapping also their mental strength. Those few who escaped its grip and survived might not recognise friends, family or their very name. Perikles did not survive.

Notes

1) Going to neaten up the Thucydides sheet in a bit and post it in full, which will help round off my collection of famous Athenians. (Theseus, Sokrates, Thucydides and this one).

2) I'm enjoying taking a narrative approach to my appearance sections. It works well for adding incidental details which I like but couldn't get in otherwise (such as a remnant of the helmet's gems being a catalyst), or even giving the Servant a chance at a line or two of dialogue. Do other people like this method, or have a preferred way to do it?

3) I feel like writing up a little commentary post which would give my opinion on how a good Create-A-Servant post works. (E.g. help in avoiding new posters getting Petrikow's Can't See Shit Captain Award for bad layout, encouragement to do research beyond wikipedia, etc. etc.) Are people amenable to me putting that in this thread?

4) I admit to adding a little word-play in making the NP the rather nicely mirrored Αὐτοῖς Τὰ Αὑτῶν. (Trans. 'To them, the things that are their own', but less clumsy, because Greek does concision better than English ).
The original was didonai tois pollois ta hauton – to give the commoners their own stuff – but I needed something generic and 'them' (αὐτούς) and 'their own' (αὑτούς) are only distinguishable by a breathing mark. Thus I ended up with this happy coincidence (albeit somewhat watered down by the necessities of grammar).

(Incidentally, tois pollois in the nominative would be hoi polloi, the origin of our phrase hoi polloi, and the reason Classicists get upset if you say 'the hoi polloi' – 'hoi' already means 'the'.)

5) Speaking of word-play, Κεφαληγερέτης is very nice. It means head-gatherer, which is a quick allusion to Perikles' big head (the reason, supposedly, why all his images show him with a helmet), whilst also closely punning on an epithet of Zeus, νεφεληγερέτης (cloud-gatherer), and all the mocking comparisons to Zeus that Perikles' grand status had previously attracted. Plutarch attributes the coining of the pun to Kratinos in the play 'The Tutors'.

[G-Man]

@ Apple - WTF did I just read!? I don't know if its awesome or if my head should just explode!!

@ Seika - The Gift NP was too lulzy! What Servant would be dumb enough to accept the offered gold/silver?

I enjoy your narrative intros/descriptions. Really adds some character to the profiles and helps me better envision the Servants. The Sokrates one still cracks me up ("I am a statue, convince me otherwise..."; "Uhhhh...")!

The commentary post would be much appreciated. *gets ready to take notes*

[Apple]

Actually, it's not that far off. Stalin was decent looking in his early twenties.


Which is sad considering he evolved into a potato in his later years. Age really bit him in the ass for his lunacy, although it doesn't treat the rest of us that well either. The point is, he's well known for destroying and rewriting history to his advantage, so the entire thing (him reverting to his younger self while retaining absurdly strong abilities) seemed rather coherent when put together.

Oh, and also contrast him with this guy who always seems to be in a state of eternal lolstache