The Clock Tower, London 2016 CE

It had been over a decade since the last Holy Grail War had carved upon the face of Fuyuki City a conflict that would never been known by most, but which would rest forever upon the minds of those who had fought it. It had been a bloody, terrible, and all around awful experience for all involved, and sowed seed in the minds of many that, perhaps, these Grail War things just were not a very good idea. At the head of this righteous movement was one Velvet Waver, survivor of the fourth war, and current professor at the Clock Tower, an institution of magical instruction that had once favored the elite but now, due in no small part to his own push for talent over tradition, welcomed a more diverse student body then it ever had in ages past.

But one does not simply dismantle an artifact of ultimate power. Rather it had taken a nearly decade long battle to convince those who still sought the Root of all things that the Grail was more dangerous then useful, and that it should be destroyed before a repeat of the disasters of war's past could claim anymore innocent souls. Through tooth and nail he fought, against bureaucracy, against those who sought power at any cost, and even against the mountainous paper work it often took to get the attention of many of the elder magi who remained from ages past. But with just a bit of help of the last surviving heir to the glorious tradition of the Tohsaka family line, he had managed to achieve his end in the most glorious of fashions, and personally oversaw the dismantling of the Grand Grail that lay beneath Ryudo Temple with his own two eyes. It was a moving display, and an end to a history of bloodshed and violence that had gone on for far to long.

And on that day, not so many years ago, all involved had thought that the legacy of the Grail War would then be consigned to history and legend as a stark reminder of the bountiful evils that men of magic often pursue in their quest for knowledge and prestige. But even with the Grail dismantled, the ritual for its use relegated to obscure texts, and no one left to participate either, those in charge could not simply let one of their most powerful tools go unused. Thus this day, in the autumn of the year 2016, Velvet Waver sat at this office desk with a rather disgusted look on his face. In his mouth was an unlit cigar, and his hand a document with great length and heft that upon its head read "Grail War Re-purposing Plan: A proposal to use the Heaven's Feel as a means to train the next generation of magi."

As Waver flipped through the lengthy document, the sour look on his face grew ever more severe, as if the entirety of his being was disgusted with the words written upon the plain white page before him. "What the hell are these idiots thinking?" he muttered to himself as he read on. "The last time we held one of these things it damned nearly caused the end of the world."

By the time he had found his way to end of the text, he found attached a sticky note who's bright pink coloring belied that it had been written by someone besides the usual old men who traditionally came up with these sort of schemes. Thus his eyes trailed down across the page slowly, a dread brewing in his the pit hof his stomach that no good could come of such a note. And his worst fears were soon realized as his eyes finally came locked upon the rather efficiently written text that lay upon that tiny note. Yet he did not rage, nor swear, or even raise his voice in anger, but rather Velvet Waver, vanguard of the current generation of magi and favored professor of most students at the Clock Tower, simply put down the paper for a moment, lit the cigar that currently lay in his mouth, and sighed deeply. For on that gaudy note was text that read as follows:

"Hey, Waver, I think this could be a good way to earn some money for "our" research and get the old guard over your back for awhile. So if you could whip up some rules for this thing so that we can get this off the ground as soon as possible, that would be great.

-Rin Tohsaka."

"I should have known she was behind this." Waver rolled his eyes as he took one last drag of his cigar, then, rummaging through his desk for a moment, he withdrew a pen and pad of paper and got to work.

Among the favored graduates of the Clock Tower in recent years, recent for such an old institution being roughly five hundred years or so, was one Rin Tohsaka. The only living member of the once great Tohsaka bloodline, she was best known as a magus of gems, survivor of the Fifth Holy Grail War, and, at the present moment, Velvet Waver's personal assistant. The two of them had been instrumental in disassembling the Grand Grail in the first place, but when it came to money or the prospect of making it, there was little the last Tohsaka would not do, which seemed to include reviving the very ritual she had fought to end for the sake of a plan that went, as per that accursed document, as follows:

With the Grail dismantled, there was no chance that the vile thing contained within in it would ever be born in the first place, making the ritual of the Heaven's Feel itself, were it to be carried out again on a smaller scale, perfectly safe. Thus, the document asserted, and Rin backed, it was the perfect proving ground for those with unrefined and untested magical aptitude. They'd simply round up seven or so promising youths, have them each summon a servant, and then fight it out over the course of a week or so. The event could be streamed live on the internet, and made into a form of entertainment that would be sure to draw attention to the Clock Tower from all over the world. Of course, this also meant putting together a set of rules to make sure these kids just didn't kill each other over the promise of glory and gold, and it was upon the shoulders of Velvet Waver to come up with them.

So he had sat for many hours, a pen in one hand and pad of paper on his desk, trying to piece together a logical system that could possibly make such a ridiculous exercise palatable to those not blinded by the promise of mountains of cash and research funding, and what he had come up with, though it may have been a rough draft, was at least more coherent then the free-for-alls that the fourth and fifth wars had been.

"All right, lets review what we've got so far:"

-Wars will be held once a year in a place with proper leylines.

To many Grail Wars would ruin the specialness of it all, and the usage of leylines in a neutral territory meant that no particular servant or master would have an overwhelming advantage. Even if an event like this might not have been equally fair, given the almost random nature of summoning servants in the first place, it was his job to make sure the event at least maintained an illusion impartiality.

-Entrants must be between the ages of 18 and 30 and not currently enrolled at the Clock Tower.

Old enoug to go off to college, but young enough to at least have a clue what they wanted to do with their lives, this was the best possible age range for prospective masters.

-There will be seven Masters and Servants per war, no more and no less.

Sometimes tradition is for the best, and it would match the number of masters and servant classes without the possibility of abnormalities.

-The entrants will be chosen by a panel of five members of the Clock Towers staff. Myself (Velvet Waver) and my assistant will always have a seat on said panel, while the other three seats will be filled by a rotating series of professors and other staff.

"Someone has to keep a leash on this chaos." Waver muttered to himself. "So it may as well be me."

-Servants will be summoned without catalysts as to make things fair for everyone.

"Again we've got to make sure it at least looks like this is a fair fight."

-Fuyuki's rules regarding the Assassin class do not apply.

"Those skull-faced weirdos would get boring after a little while. Best to make it a bit more interesting for anyone watching at home."

-Anyone caught killing another Master, whether directly or indirectly, will be immediately ejected from the Grail War and barred from entry to similar affairs for the foreseeable future.

"Obvious, we can't have a bunch of psychopaths butting heads this time around."

But one problem remained, if the Masters would be chosen by people associated with the Clock Tower, how would they invoke that feeling that anyone could possibly enter the contest and through sheer talent alone gain entry to the war and then possibly the Clock Tower itself? In a flash of brilliance, Waver had a very simple solution, and wrote down his stroke of genius with lighting speed, nearly igniting the paper aflame as he did.

"The last two Masters will be chosen by lottery from among a pool of promising candidates based on their magical aptitude."

Waver then smiled, this was going to be good, he thought to himself.