Victorsan12345: actually Marbles Phantasms are canonically 100 times rarer than a Reality Marbles. Only True Elemental Entity and True Ancestor can use it. As the user is a part of nature, it can change the world at will BUT only within the limited scope of nature (no violation of the natural order). Marbles Phantasms are a more efficient modification of reality than Reality Marbles. Reality Marbles can only change ONE aspect of reality (UBW is only a desert with swords) but the interior of a Marble Phantasm is connected to the will of its creator (The Marble Phantasm of Arcueid Brunestud materializes in the form of wind blades, an ocean of chains or a magnificent castle... In Melty Blood, she even uses it to bring (temporarily) Night of Wallachia back to its state of "mere vampire" as it was before its rise to the rank of Death Apostle Ancestor).
Special
This is not a chapter, but an attempt to answer all the questions I received in French and English. I have personally replied, either by PM or at the beginning of each chapter, but some remarks have come up several times.
I also want to apologize for not writing a chapter last week, but I started a new series. The beginning of a new series requires more work than the continuation of a text that has exceeded twenty chapters and I did not find time to work on Fate/ Dragoncrown.
To start, let's go around the characters of the series:
FATE/ STAY NIGHT:
Masters:
Shiro Emiya:
The Shiro Emiya of Fate/Dragoncrown was sent to the Universe of Elders Scrolls because of the wish he and Saber make at the end of the Fate/Stay Night road. However, although he seems to be 17 years old, he is in fact 34 years old (he was reincarnated seventeen years ago). Because of this, and because of the hardships he has endured since his arrival on Tamriel, he is much more mature than the F/SN Shiro.
Since the age of eight, he has been trained in the art of arms handling by the Blades (the bodyguards of the Emperor of Tamriel) and magic by the Guild Magi.
It also has the advantage of having intact Magic Circuits that it controls perfectly.
At the moment it does not perfectly control Unlimited Blade Work and cannot materialize its Noble Phantasm because of the barrier that surrounds the world of Nirn, keeping the Daedras away.
Shiro stored in UBW all the NP he saw used during the 5th Grail War. Among others: Caliburn, Excalibur (which he cannot use), Avalon, the stone sword of Berserker, Gae Bolg, Rule Breaker, Kanshou and Bakuya... as well as all the weapons used by Gilgamesh in front of him (at least one hundred different Nps including Dáinsleif, Durandal, Gram, Harp, Houtengenki... as well as nameless NP like the dagger Gilgamesh uses to freeze Saber's arm during their first fight). Let us note nevertheless that Shiro remains unable to copy divine constructions like Ëa and Vajra... as the artifacts of the Daedras princes.
Recently, Saber had the idea to show Shiro the Noble Phantasms that she sees during her life as during the previous Grail War. He added Gyllellfawr to his collection. During the months that have since passed, Saber has shown many other NP to Shirou: her two shields, her spear, her dagger as well as the weapons of her knights like Excalibur Galatine, Arondight... But also the weapons of her opponents like the two spears of Diarmuid.
If we add all the ordinary or magic weapons that Shiro has placed in UBW since his arrival on Nirn his arsenal is not inferior to the Shiro of F/ SN: Unlimited Blade Work... and he spent years training with them
Shiro's personality has not fundamentally changed. He is always a boy too nice, always ready to help and to fly to the rescue of the last person who asks for it... even if it means taking crazy risks. However, his primary goal is to stay with Saber and make her happy.
The strangest development of this character, once on Nirn, is that his ability to materialize around him his inner universe qualifies him as... daedric prince.
Do not doubt that this will lead to interesting developments later on because a Daedra prince is a god! And yes, Shiro is on the way to Apotheosis.
Rin Tohsaka:
Shiro's wish (to offer a second chance to all the victims of the Grail War) reincarnated Rin on Nirn. She was born into a family of wealthy merchants from Torrent in the Kingdom of Menevi. Sakura Matou was born a year later into the same family.
The two sisters embarked on the study of magic as practiced on Nirn and the elder quickly excelled there. The tradition of the Guild of the Magi that a new Mage can register under the name of his choice: Rin registered as "Rin Tohsaka", she had until then a normal Breton name.
You may have noticed that Rin uses runic magic a lot. Her knowledge of it is canonical; the Gandr shot is - after all- a runic curse. But on Earth, runic magic was greatly weakened by the end of the Age of the Gods. It is also a survival of the system that existed before the creation of the Magic Circuits (yes, they are artificial). A magus of the earth is hardly affected by runic Magecraft. If he is under the influence of a spell, he simply activates is Magic Circuits. The flow of prana will dissipate the effects of the spell. Except that on Nirn, the Age of the Gods did not end and the inhabitants do not have Magic Circuits, which makes the runes very effective.
The specific Magecraft of the Tohsaka is the Jewel Magecraft. It is a matter of pouring a little blood on a gem to fill it with prana. The gems that have bathed in the bowels of the earth for thousands of years are close to the "spirits of nature". They can, therefore, be used as "prisons that stop time". Or to put it more clearly, it is a question of transforming precious stones into batteries to power powerful spells.
In spite of the efficiency of this Magecraft, it is expensive magic because every precious stone falls into dust after one use!
However, on Nirn, Rin discovered that the magi were making magical objects or feeding permanent spells with morpholiths. These are crystals belonging to different subfamilies; the most common are Soul Gems. These are spiritual cells capable of capturing the soul of an animal or monster.
Rin quickly understood that morpholiths could replace gemstones because they are cheaper and easy to load (just capture the soul of a wolf). All houses of the Guild of Magi sell them and even the smaller ones (completely discharged by the Jewel Magecraft) can feed quite powerful spells. While the most powerful gems can be used to launch a Class A spell.
The combination of Jewel Magecraft and morpholiths gave Rin the power of a Caster-class Servant.
Sakura Matou/ Tohsaka :
In her new life, Sakura was born as Rin's sister, which she was in the previous life, before being adopted by the Matou.
It should be noted that Rin still does not know what she suffered at the hands of Shinji and especially the "training" of Zouken.
Sakura has only made two brief appearances so far, but she will have an important role afterward.
Shinji Matou:
Shinji was finally able to fulfill his dream of becoming a real Magus. Only this did not improve his behavior. Born in Torrent like the Tohsaka sisters, he spent his childhood jealous of them... because he did not have the tenth of their talent. So he turned to Angra Mainyu who - we shall see how- gave him powerful necromantic powers. As in F/SN, Shinji is an opponent of the heroes of the series.
Atrum Galliasta:
Reincarnated into the family of the Duke of Verandia, Atrum murdered his brother and dedicated himself to Angra Mainyu, helping him spread disease and misery. Nevertheless, he remained a second-rate Magus. In this life as in the previous one, he is the first Master to perish.
Other Masters:
ALL masters of Fate/ Stay Night have been reincarnated (including Bazett Fraga Mcremitz- the original Master of Lancer).
Servants:
All the Servants have been reincarnated. Let us insist heavily on this point, they were born by the ordinary method, grew up and arrived after a while in adulthood. They have a body of flesh and blood... yet they have retained some Servants abilities.
And that's probably the hardest part of Fate/Dragoncrown.
Servants are part of the soul of a Heroic Spirit incarnated in a Container that maximizes some of their abilities but deprives them of others. Embodied in Saber, Artoria does not have its spear or the ability to use it. Embodied in Lancer, Cú Chulainn is deprived of his ability to embody knowledge... which is instead the heart of his incarnation as Caster.
The reincarnation of the Masters is a classic of the Isekai. It gives them additional abilities.
The Servants, it is more complicated. A Servant is not strictly speaking an individual, but an "incarnated legend". The Lancer of the Fifth Grail War is not Cú Chulainn, it is the legend of Cú Chulainn cropped to make it enter the container "Lancer" and therefore deprived of all that did not fit.
Have you figured it out so far?
As legends, even physically incarnated, they remain Servants. They, therefore, have access to the abilities of their legend (as limited by their class).
There are two cases of figures, plus one exception (Saber):
1°) The Servant's Noble Phantasm is an innate ability. Summon the pegasus Bellerophon (Rider) God's hand (Berserker). In this case, the Servant reincarnated has the control of his NP at his birth... I pity the parents of "Baby-Berserker".
2°) The Noble Phantasm is an object. In this case, it was also sent to Nir, and the servant will have to find it to be able to use it. This is the case of Saber who was forced to look for Excalibur.
Saber (Artoria Pendragon):
As explained above, Servants are Heroic Spirits. That is dead heroes, who have been summoned from the Throne of Heroes in the form of a class that actually materializes only one aspect of them.
Except that Artoria is NOT a Heroic Spirit... she is not dead, and her soul has not been welcomed into the Throne of Heroes. She owes her ability to be invoked in the Grail Wars to a pact it made with the "world" (Gaia?). However, she does not have all the abilities of the other Servants. She cannot dematerialize herself, feels hunger and sleep.
So her reincarnation on Nirn is a special case.
Like the other Servants, she is limited by her class aspects. She does not have her lance, nor the ability to use it (although...).
However, her reincarnation made her more human than the other Servants. She has lost all the class abilities she had (such as magic's resistance and the innate ability to ride any nonsupernatural animal, or conduct planes and cars).
Saber reincarnated is weaker than the Servant Saber.
Reincarnated Artoria is less versatile than King Arthur.
And since she didn't have Excalibur in the first chapters, she suffered...
EMIYA (Archer):
Like Shiro, EMIYA cannot materialize its version of UBW because of the barrier that isolates Nirn. Nevertheless, it has its entire arsenal and other abilities (as well as the ability of the Archer class: "resistance to magic"). Once again having a body of flesh, he is weaker than the Servant Archer, needs to eat, to sleep and obviously can no longer dematerialize himself.
To tell you the truth, Archer is the character that embarrassed me the most. It embarrassed me so much that I even thought for a time not to add it to Nirn's world... with the excuse that it was a copy of Shiro!
I also imagined giving birth to him as Shiro's twin brother!
As fun as the idea is... Archer would have strangled his "brother" in the cradle.
Archer embarrassed me because I didn't know how to get him to act on Nirn.
So I spent some time thinking, putting myself in his place, while rereading the information about his abilities and his character.
And I realized he had no reason to hate Shiro in Fate/Dragoncrown. He finally left Alaya's slavery and thanks to Shiro, after all.
What are his goals?
He spent centuries fighting monsters and his most recent memories are fighting for Rin. Since his "Clairvoyance" ability allows him to predict the future (not with a 100% certainty) he joined his former Master to protect her from Angra Mainyu and fight this monster... EMIYA hardly loses the good (bad?) habits of playing the hero.
In the end, I gave Archer a major role... but a role that doesn't give him much opportunity to shine. EMIYA contains the army of Orc at Wayrest. Without him, Avenger would have already won the game.
Other Servants:
All the Servants that appear in F/SN are reincarnated including Sasaki Kojiro (Assassin) that we do not see in F/SN (the game) but that was indeed invoked by Caster in this route.
Merlin? Right now I won't answer any questions about him... I have my reasons.
THE ELDERS SCROLLS :
Fate/Dragoncrown is a crossover between Fate/ Stay Night (the game, not its adaptation in anime) and the game The Elders Scrolls 2: Daggerfall.
The characters of Fate are reincarnated in the world of TES and their presence (especially that of Angra Mainyu) radically changes the scenario of Daggerfall. In the game, a character called the Agent is sent to solve the enigma posed by the presence of the ghost of King Lysandus who haunts his former capital. Why does he shout "vengeance"?! He is supposed to have died heroically in a battle...
The role of the Agent is more or less given to Shiro except... that the events of Fate/Dragoncrown take place 14 years after the normal course of events of the Daggerfall's game... and that the cursed king has still not been delivered and that the Illiac Bay is literally the prey of a succession of disasters: wars, epidemics, assassinations, usurpations, even the dead who leave their graves... as if All the World Evil is at work.
The following is a short story between chapters 23 and 24.
Discussion
Rin Tohsaka looked at the white-haired man. Legends did not describe him like that... nor books.
Feeling fixed, he stood up with a little charming smile that irritated the young Magus:
- What can I do for you, Miss Tohsaka?
- So you are Merlin.
The magician's smile increased:
- The only one, you want an autograph?
- No!
The immediate and dry response seemed to hurt the magician who carried a hand to the heart. As he was about to embark on another of his ridiculous little games, Rin asked the question that had been burning her lips since Saber's former mentor had appeared on Koeglin's pier:
- Why did you do that to Artoria?
Merlin looked for a moment at Rin, and gave up his playful air:
- What do you mean?
The young Magus in red threw one of her twintail over her shoulder, and crossed her arms:
- Why did you throw her like a piece of meat in the middle of this arena filled with mad dogs knows as "the Kingdom of Britain"... she was only fifteen years old! Getting Caliburn out of the stone had absolutely not prepared her to be alone all her life, without even being able to use her real name, hiding her gender.
- That's what she wanted, replied Merlin calmly.
- No, she wanted to save Britain. But that was never on the agenda, was it?
Merlin seemed surprised:
- Why do you say that? I warned her that it would be difficult and that she should sacrifice her humanity...
- Yes, and because she sacrificed her humanity because King Arthur did not understand her knights and her people she ended up alone on the red hill of Camlann, betrayed by her own son, her sister, Lancelot, Guinevere and almost everyone. Your advice caused her's fall. You are a prophet, you could not ignore it.
Merlin sat down, holding his staff between his legs. He looked thoughtful and serious:
- Rin Tohsaka, do you know that she is the difference between a seer and a prophet?
- A seer sees the future; the prophet receives inspiration from a higher being... a god generally.
The magician agreed:
- I have no powers of divination. Simply, my ability to travel in the world of dreams has often made me meet beings who have shown me glimpses of the future. I worked for centuries. I was already there when Emperor Constance Chlorus sent a general named Caraufius to fight the Franks and Saxons who were razing the coasts of Gaul and Brittany. Caraufius won several victories but was richly rewarded by the locals. Constance Chlorus also had him condemned to death. An effect of my manipulations...
Rin looked at the magician with narrow eyes: "Why?"
Merlin shrugged his shoulders:
- The Roman Empire was dying, I wanted to protect my country. He needed a powerful and good warrior king. I chose Caraufinus and crowned him king of Armorica. He governed this country for a few years before he died and passed his charge to Allectus, which was also the result of my intrigues. I had prepared this young man for this role, I hoped... so...
Merlin crossed his fingers and nodded:
- As Allectus's advisor, I pushed him to bring the first Bretons to Armorica to develop uninhabited land. Subsequently, part of the Armorica was given to Conan Meriadek by Magnus Maximus. A tyrant who had proclaimed himself king of Britain.
Merlin glanced at Rin, warning of her intervention:
- Yes, I was the one who maneuvered for him to be made "master of the Gauls"... a very bad choice that I still regret. I helped him scramble the Scots and the Picts to go to war with each other. I was hoping that this would offer enough peace for Brittain to rearm. Alas, Magnus Maximus withdrew the two legions present in Britain and walked toward Paris. After his death, Scots and Picts resumed their attacks on Romanized Britain. I then pushed the Bretons to immigrate to Armorica. After the fall of Maximus, Conan Meriadek was confirmed as king of Armorica by Emperor Theodosius.
The magician stopped then, to Toksaka's great surprise, he began to sing in Breton:
"Abaoe 'z eus kozh amzer (bis)
Pa veze Arvorig he anv ar vro-man (bis)
A pa vuen du-hontn breman, 'm bije un istor all, pe un istor, pe'm bije ket istor ebet
An dud kaezh a veve diwar un netraig a bede hon doueou kohz hag a oa eürus
Konan Veriadeg oa roue kurunet war enez Preden (bis)
Uhelek ha mezv e benn gant an holl deñzorioù a biaoue, ne voe ket e Walc'h ren war bPreden...
Hag E lakaae soñj, 'n e galon zroukyoulet, yeviañ holl vroioù Galia (bis).
Evit seveniñ e vennoz, e vodas holl varc'heion an enez hag eñ da baraman tinñ ur yoc'h a listri hir
Hag an holl dud armet-se a bignas e-barh, nag i war vor war-zu aodoù Arvorig.
A-vec'h chlestret setu ma krogont da stourm ouzhar C'hauaned a veve aman...
E Lanrivoare; e bro-Leon, seizh mil seizh kant seizh sant ha seizh-urgent, lazhat gant Meriadez an Tiern, den a feiz hag a vrezel, zo kousket da viken darzh bered ar Sent !
... Haz an amzer o vont hediou da'n eñvor...
Leun a glod haz a drec'h, trenet eo Meriadez, an an Tiern meur... peoc'h d'e anaon ankeniet !
Graelen, ur baron feleun dezhañ, zo bet galvet da war e lerc'h Graedlen ! Graelen Veur !" (1)
Merlin sighed:
- Another bad choice, more blood spilled for nothing... In 406, the Roman soldiers stationed on the island of Brittany elected a certain Constantine as emperor. A few years after a Roman general of barbaric origin, Geronce raised Gaul with his troops of Vandals, Alans, and Suebi. Feeling completely abandoned by Rome, the Bretons drove out the Roman magistrates and established Conan Meriadek as a great king... under the laws and authority of the Roman emperor. However, Britain's island was now under constant attack by the Picts, the Scotts, and the Saxons. The Bretons asked Emperor Honorius to help them. But he replied that he could not and that they had to fend for themselves. It was, therefore - in 418 - the second wave of refugees in Armorica.
Rin was now completely silent, listening to Merlin's history lesson.
In 419, Rome recognized the independence of the Bretons and gave them the status of feodari (allies).
Conan died in 421.
His grandson Solomon succeeded him. He married the daughter of the Roman patrician Flavius. Solomon died in 435. In seeking to correct the laws, he provoked a revolt.
It is said that the main person responsible for his death was his successor Gradlon Veur. The emperor Valentinian III thought so anyway and ordered Count Littorius to avenge Solomon. So there was a war between Gradlon and Littorius. At first, the Roman gained the upper hand, but Gradlon allied with the Baguaudes, a rebellious Gaulish tribe, and with the Franks. Gradlon overthrew the conflict and captured Tours in 444. But Aetius took over the city the following year. Gradlon died in 445.
- Aetius? The winner of Attila?
Rin's question attracted a simple nod of Merlin's head which continued his account:
- Let us back up a moment, to Britain's island. The problems with the invaders had only increased. In 429, there was a conflict between Bretons over the Pelagius heresy. His supporters were defeated. This is the beginning of the decline of Britain. Instead of ganging up against the invaders, the Bretons plundered each other and ripped off the little that the barbarians had left. The country was completely ruined. The survivors abandoned the Roman cities to hide in the forests and mountains where they lived hunting. The Bretons finally chose to ask the Romans for help and sent them the following message: "Barbarians push us to the sea, if we want to avoid being slaughtered, we are swallowed up by the waves and not to perish in the depths we fall into the hands of our most cruel enemies. Finally, we find death on some sides that we turn". Aetius could only reply to them that he could not do anything for them.
Rin sat in a chair leaning against the other wall: "What have you done?"
- Oh, a lot of things. I gave advice, replaced rulers and tribal leaders. I thought I was picking good men, and after a series of robberies and murders, they ended up slaughtered by their own people. Without the help of the Romans, the island Bretons turned to the Bretons of Armorica. Audren, Gradlon's successor, sent 2,000 men under the command of his brother Constantin... but Aetius asked King Eotharic of the Alans to attack Armorica! The war turned to the detriment of the Bretons and it was necessary the intervention of Saint Germain d'Auxerre to stop the conflict.
Merlin smiles bitterly:
- Happy Hollywood End... Except that arrogance mingled with it, barely the Bretons recovered from the invasion; here they are pushing back the demands for reparation of the Romans! They reply that they are now independent and although they no longer count on the empire! It is true that at present, the Romans feared the Alans, a federated people becoming too powerful and too greedy... moreover, they lose one province after another. So in 447 the two Bretagnes are now completely freed from the Roman Empire.
Rin nodded, wondering why the magician was explaining events that had taken place centuries before the birth of Artoria.
A new war broke out between Bretons and Alans, but this time the Bretons won and occupied a large part of Gaul.
Riotchime succeeded his father in 464. But the following year, Euric, king of the Visigoths, invaded Gaul. Riotchime and Euric clashed at Bourges. The battle was undecided for a long time, but finally, the Visigoths won. At the same time, what remained of the Roman forces in Gaul, led by the Counts Gilles, was at war against the Franks of King Childeric and suffered one setback after another.
During his troubles, Riotchime died (of natural death) and Eusebius was his successor. He ruled a short time. He died in 490 and was replaced by Budic, Riotchime's younger brother. He lived on Britain's island and was forced to return to the continent with his wife and children to take over his kingdom. He saved Nantes, which was besieged.
Since 481 Clovis was king of the Franks. He defeated in 486 Syagrus, the last master of the Roman militias. Baptized in 496, the Franc king attacked the Armorica where he faced Budric. But the fight dragged on and the Bretons showed great value. Clovis chose to settle the matter by an alliance cemented by a marriage. The great advantage of this alliance was that the last Roman garrisons, blocked in the country, gave themselves to one or the other. This was the end of nearly six centuries of Roman occupation.
Peace, however, was only fleeting. After the death of Clovis, the Frissons (vassal people of the Franks) attacked the Armorica and plundered it from an end to another. In fact, she was briefly conquered as the bishopric of Leon was founded by Frank's King Childebert.
Merlin rose to dust the bottom of his mage dress:
- The rest of the story is better known Vortigern, Ambrosius Aurelianus, Uther Pendragon... the kings who succeeded each other in Britain was either incapable or tyrants. And the few times they were neither, they would die young. Artoria, the last of them, was the only one who could have succeeded. Yes, I picked up a 15-year-old girl and threw her like you said: "into an arena full of rabid dogs".
He looked at Rin with sorrow:
- I did what I could with what I had on hand. I tried, tried, still... again... and again... I fought fate and lost.
(1) Translation:
Since a long time ago (bis)
When Armorica was the name of this country... (bis)
If I were there now, I would have another story or an old story, or I would have no story at all.
The poor inhabitants lived with a little, prayed to the gods, and they were happy.
Conan Meriadec was crowned king of the island of Britain. (bis)
Proud and drunk of all the treasures he possessed, he did not have his content to reign over Britain...
And he decided in his covetous heart to submit the land of Gaul to the yoke. (bis)
To carry out his plan, he gathered all the knights of the island and began to arm a bunch of warships...
And all these armed people went up there, and into the sea towards the coast of Armorica. As soon as they landed, they began to attack the Gauls who lived here...
In Lanviroaré, in the land of Leon, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven saints, killed by Prince Meriadec, a man of faith and war, are lying forever in the cemetery of the Saints!
And time passes along the memory...
Full of glory and victory, Meriadec the great prince passed away...
Peace to his anguished souls!*
Gradlon, one of his faithful barons, was called upon to succeed him.
Gradlon! Gradlon the Great!
*It's a literal translation, but I think the meaning is: "Peace to the anguished souls of the saints murdered by Conan Meriadec".