Makiri Zouken

August 21, 1790

Makiri Zouken was a force of nature, and he would not be stopped here.

The world was deranged, broken, tainted by the darkness that lives in man's heart. So long as man existed as he did now, so too would evil. Evil existed, yes, and how it flourished! How the ugly broken masses bled curses and poison! How the magi, sequestered in their towers, hated them! How evil spread, like blood overflowing the mouths of the peasants and flooding the rotten streets! And yet, Zouken knew that there was good, too. He was not blind: he had found it in his Justizia von Einzbern. Whereas most would be too cowardly to face the truth, she did not flinch from reality. Where so many had been drawn into the darkness they witnessed, Justizia rebuked it. She was perfect. Together, they two had the power and the control to create glory in a world of sacrilege.

Now it fell to them to find a third whose abilities would match theirs. Zouken just had to sell it to this man, and they'd have what they need.

"Look at it this way," continued Zouken. "Magic, as far as we've ever been able to understand, has been the manipulation of two subcomponents of the same force. Two faces of the same coin, if you're feeling glib. On one face is the seen element, which manifests as and is consumed in the form of Prana. On the other face is the unseen element, which can be approximated as Knowledge, or Information. Each requires the other in order for magecraft to happen. Prana alone does not a spell make, nor does knowledge. The two in conjunction, however…"

Zouken paused and took a long look across the coffee table at their target.

"... well, let's just say that we both know what can be accomplished. The ground can be split, fire burst from ashes, the exaggeration or the destruction of weakness or strength. Anything that we can imagine, we can do. And that's just our limitation, isn't it? Yes, there is power in magecraft, but there is also knowledge. That's why the two of us are seeking someone like you."

Their target, a man named Tohsaka, laughed.

"And why should this involve me?" asked the Japanese magus. "For all your talk of energy and information, I don't see where I fit in, or even why I should feel motivated to help you. I have spent a lifetime carefully developing my magecraft, and as you say, information and power are two sides of the magecraft coin. It's clear we can collaborate, yes, but you have not made it clear why we ought to. This bores me! I extended this interview to you on the assumption that I would be, if nothing else, entertained. So: why should I be interested?"

Zouken frowned, but managed to bite back his snappy retort. He'd prepared for far too long to let his temper get the better of him now. Tohsaka Nagato was a proud, reckless man, and loved to needle his collaborators and enemies alike. He would have to tread carefully to protect this man's ego. The last two transfer specialists had both been unwilling to help. Tohsaka was the only remaining magus outside of the domain of the Church and Association with the expertise and morals to qualify him as a potential third partner. He had to make this happen.

"You should be interested, my colleague, because we seek what you seek. We want your help because, jointly, we can reach Akasha." Zouken paused for a moment to observe, and for the first time during the discussion, Tohsaka looked surprised.

Justizia von Einzbern jumped into the momentary lull of the conversation. "We can do it, we three. Our individual magecrafts, combined, can create something beyond that imaginable by any mage before or beyond this moment. Together, we can devise a joint ritual that reaches past this mortal realm and into the next, outside of time and space."

"You- you know how to open a path to the root?" asked Tohsaka.

Zouken had to admit, he put on a good front. You almost couldn't see through the mask of bafflement and amusement to the greed in his eyes.

Justizia laughed. "Of course not. If I knew how to do that, why would I be here with you? No, I know how we might create a device that would reveal that to us. Each of us specializes in a different branch of magecraft that together might be used in its creation. The Einzbern family magecraft is artifice and generation, the Makiri family magecraft is interaction, interface, and control, and the Tohsaka family magecraft-"

"-is transfer and congealment of energy," finished Tohsaka, waving his hand lazily as he regained his composure. "I see it now. You'll create an artifact to shape power, I'll fill it using the Ley Lines of my city and my transfer abilities, and Zouken will wrestle it to our will and control using his magecraft. The three of us together would be able to wield more raw energy than any individual magus- no, more than any group, regardless of size, ever has before. We would tap directly into Mana, push it through a sieve and a funnel, and bind the flow to our wills. A clever weapon."

Zouken smiled. "We need to work far away from the western powers, as both the Church and the Mage's Association are disrupting any productive activity in the West or the New World. Only here is there the stability we crave, and you are the greatest transfer magus. Together, we could-"

"Right, right," interrupted Tohsaka. He sighed, and pushed his free hand against his forhead. "You two should know you constitute the fourth group to approach me in as many years with something like this. What a pain. You all have this plan for a great magecraft that would make lesser men tremble, and you need my help to bring this dark ritual into the sunlight. Only I can do it, we can combine our powers, I get it. None of you actually understand what I want, though. I'm not all talk. I'm the real deal."

"I'm not here to make lesser men tremble. That's what all you dreamers don't realize. This project doesn't interest me at all. I don't see how this ritual would open a path to Akasha. Lack of power isn't actually the problem with reaching Akasha. This device would make a wonderful weapon, I'm sure, but Akasha is beyond space, not a particular fortified space. I'm not researching a change in scale, I'm looking for a change of kind, of type. More information or more infotime as you outlined before lunch won't do this for me. It is outside time, not some greater time or even the greatest time. It's not one of your control problems to be solved, or a shape you need to fill with an artifact. You cannot punch through to Akasha, you can only create a truth for it to populate. My own work towards perfection of form have shown that this is the only way."

"You misunderstand our goal," said Justizia. "Although this ritual will shape Mana, it will also shape the other side of the coin, Information. The artifact will absorb massive amounts of information-with your help, that is- and with my help, it will shape that information into a form a human mind can touch. The Makiri magecraft of control will generate an interface with which we can communicate in a meaningful way. Yes, this will be a device of great power, but it will be more than that: it will be a device of great knowledge. I describe not a difference of scale, but of scope. Hmm, how could I explain this…"

Zouken coughed politely. "Let me handle this. Tohsaka: consider any unanswered question, one that would take a thousand sages a thousand years of contemplation, or a thousand wandering poets a thousand experiences of song to really understand. Surely you know the sort of thing I'm talking about. Let us start with the simplest sort of the problem. There is an entire classification of problem that defies deconstruction by maginformatic spells. For example, many novices are taught a maginformatic rhyme-recognizing chant. The one I learned was Rygaz. With a simple flow of prana and the right incantation and shaping, Rygaz will inform you whether or not the presented lines rhyme."

"I don't see how this responds to my objection," interrupted Tohsaka. "Rygaz spells aren't even in the same classification of problem as my interests."

As Tohsaka took a sip of his tea, Zouken cracked a wide smile. Any response from the man was good. Keeping his interest here was key.

"Ah, well now you see it, don't you? Rygaz is what we call a verification or answer-checking rank maginformatic spell. In fact, almost all maginformatic spells are verification-rank. For example, consider the rhyme-generating spell that you likely tried to build after learning Rygaz. Like us, you probably found the task nearly impossible. Isn't it curious, how much easier it is to check these things than to generate them with magecraft?"

At Tohsaka's nod, Zouken pressed on.

"I went further than most magi in pursuit of this 'rhyming spell' and actually got something fairly serviceable. No, don't look surprised, it's not what you think. I created an energy-intensive spell with the information for a large number of words built in. My spell rapidly compares words fed to it to generate rhymes, effectively running a massive number of Rygaz checks. In fact, when used in conjunction with Rygaz, it does acceptable job of producing basic rhymes that Rygaz confirms as compliant. Effectively, I had to create a vessel to fill with logic and prana, and after filling it, it was able to quickly narrow down the possibilities. The only limit was the size of the field I was willing to work with, and the prana input. With a large enough vessel, though, there's no reason this would be limited to rhymes. We can shape the Mana and information travelling into the vessel, command it ourselves, and get a perfect answer to any question."

Tohsaka somehow managed to look unimpressed. Zouken pinched his nose at the silence. Just a raised eyebrow from the haughty man? Does he not get it, or is his poker face just that good?

It was time to press the issue. Zouken leaned forwards. "Surely, you see how this will take us to Akasha, don't you? You could find the perfect state of mind, or the perfect instructions for a ritual, with a device like this. This device would be Divination turned Sorcery, the eyes of God made flesh, a Divine Grail the likes of which our world has never seen. We don't need to and probably can't build a device that will discover the path to Akasha, but we could build a device that can check if a path leads to Akasha, and feed it so much information that it finds it for us. Think about it! We can reach outside of time, Tohsaka Nagato. We can create the paradise beyond any imagining- beyond any possible imagining- of Man."

Though his body was stiff, Tohsaka's fingers twitched around his teacup. Moreover, his eyes gleamed with avarice. I've got him now, thought Zouken. I just need to reel him in...

"Justizia and I have been looking for someone with the moral character and the magical talent necessary to help us. We come to you not because you are strong, though you are; but also because you are righteous. With your land, your powers, and your moral compass, there is no-one better suited for the task than you. We offer you an equal partnership, as we know you would accept no less, not in a task of this greatness. Of course, there's more to the outline than just that. I don't want to bore you with the details… not if you have other matters to attend to."

Tohsaka set his cup down with a clatter. "Don't worry about taking up my time. I'll clear my other appointments for the day. Keep talking: I'm listening."

Justizia frowned at Zouken as Tohsaka spoke with a servant. Had he pushed too far again? No matter. It was worth it, and Justizia would forgive him another transgression of manners in pursuit of their mission.

Wise Up!

The Divine Grail

The product of three powerful magics, The Divine Grail is the ultimate manipulator and computer of prana and data. It was built centuries ago by the Tohsaka, Einzbern, and Matou families. The Tohsaka magic of Transfer and Storage allows the Grail to rest on ley lines and gather energy and information over long periods of time. The Einzbern magic of Artifice created the physical vessel and provided a structure and skeleton for the grail to be fleshed out. The Matou magic of Programming and User Interface allows for a mortal to control the grail in a meaningful way. Every sixty years, The Divine Grail builds up enough energy and information to activate. In its active form, it can answer any question..

The Divine Grail manifests some of its data and energy to mark seven Magi as Masters, who will use its power to summon Servants to do battle for the right to ask their questions. The last Master-Servant pair standing is victorious. The original purpose of the artifact was to learn how to reach Akasha, but it has never been used that way.

Wise up!

Divined Seals

Each Master is granted three Divined Seals by the Grail. Each seal is a tiny portion of the Grail's power, a miracle made mundane: power and information congealed into a single mark. A Divined Seal can control a servant, or exercise a miracle of knowledge and information on the spot.