Fate Stay Night, for DUMMIES
This guide is only the basics. If I receive further questions on how things in FSN work that arn't explained in this guide, I will update it.
The Holy Grail War:
For the past two centuries, seven sorcerers assemble and engage in a Battle Royale, each gambling his or her own life to obtain the Holy Grail, a legendary chalice capable of granting wishes. The past four Holy Grail Wars have typically occurred every sixty years, with the most recent concluding a decade ago, but the fifth war has eerily started prematurely.
These sorcerers, better known as Masters, are aided by spiritual familiars known as Servants, who are the reincarnations of legendary souls from all across time. These resurrected Heroic Spirits (Eirei), in addition to possessing superhuman characteristics, wield powerful artifacts or abilities called Noble Phantasms (Hougu). A Noble Phantasm's hidden abilities may be released by invoking its true name, but casual brandishing of a Noble Phantasm is best avoided, for symbolic Noble Phantasms usually belie a Servant's identity, diminishing that Servant's competitive advantage. Specific legends may be summoned with the aid of catalysts, which are artifacts, ideas, or experiences simmilar or of value to the desired Servant.
The Holy Grail is a spiritual artifact, so only astral entities, such as Servants, are capable of touching it; this restriction forces Master and Servant to cooperate with each another against rival pairs, even if a situation entails fighting to the death. Masters control Servants with three Command Mantra (Reijyu), which are crystallized miracles issued by the Holy Grail that manifest on a Master's hand. When activated, Command Mantra permit a Servant to accomplish an incredible feat, or alternatively provide Masters with the authority to issue an irrevocable and absolute order to a Servant. In the event of a Master's demise, a Servant may choose to bind him or herself to another Master; if a Servant is slain, a Master may ally with a wayward Servant or pursue sanctuary with the Holy Grail War's impartial supervisor, who is traditionally a delegate of the Roman Catholic Church.
Magic and Magecraft:
Some people may think these words are interchangeable, but in FSN, they are not.
Magic:
Miracles.
The arcane laws.
Feats that are impossible with current science. "Results" that can be realized with time and resources are not called magic. A true miracle. In the early days of civilization, the majority of magi were magic-users. Currently, there are only five left.
Magecraft:
The imitation of Magic.
Feats that can be replicated through modern technology.
The Basic Idea of Magecraft:
The basic rule of thaumaturgy((magecraft)). To cause something to appear before you, it has to be taken from somewhere else. Meddling with an existing object to change it into something else. Something created entirely out of images, especially something that doesn't exist anymore, will be wiped out by the world itself as this rule doesn't apply to it.
Current thaumaturgy can only create something with something. As such, something cannot be created from nothing. Of course, magic does just that.
Circuits:
The pseudo-nerves within a magus' body. What produces one's own Mana and the pipeline that moves the system or to be more precise, the pathways to convert life energy into Mana, the pathways that take in and convert Mana into something usable, and the pathways that connect to the high thaumaturgy formula (program) systems. What connects the ethereal body to the material plane.
The number of these are determined at birth. Lineages do what they can to tamper with their blood in order to birth a heir with even just one more circuit. Once opened, these can be turned on and off at one's will.
Circuits are stretched throughout the body like nerves and are broken up into core points and bypasses that connect these points. The bypasses that link the cores are like the synapses of the brain and as such if cut or connected hastily, the core will not change. Strictly speaking, this core itself is the circuit. Also, the actual location of circuits is found in the soul rather than in the physical body. On the other hand, the body's ability to actually express these is pretty important, apparently.
Spells:
The operation to run thaumaturgy. The chanting of a spell. Self-hypnosis rather than statements directed towards the world.
As spells already have predetermined abilities, no matter which magus uses it, the force of the spell won't change. The only thing that differs are the incantations. The incantations of a spell are what activates the thaumaturgy inscribed in one's own body and also illustrates the nature of the magus. This is because as long as the necessary meaning/set keyword are included for that spell, the details of the incantation are up to the magus' personal tastes.
The incantations of those magi that are easily intoxicated with themselves are long. However, by adding more meaning to it, the power of the spell increases. The stronger the self-hypnosis, the better he can draw power from himself (probably in terms of maximizing the power of circuits). It's best to find a good balance between meaningful length (words that would enhance the mind), reduction of rhyme, and quickness of pronunciation.
Single Actions - Requirement is to only pass energy to activate. Gandr shots and mystic eyes are single action spells. Instant spells.
One-Line - Systemizing/stabilizing an event within oneself.
Ten-Count - Instant Contract. A simple ritual. Necessary for high thaumaturgy (rank A spells or higher). Casting time is typically one minute for a fully-trained magus and 30 seconds for one with high speed incantations). Consisting of ten or more lines, which may consist of one word per-line at the bare minimum.
Anything longer than a Ten-Count incantation is probably considered an actual ritual.
Seals:
The inheritence of a lineage. The concentrated knowledge of the generations within a family. Circuits given form. Without it, a person really cannot be considered a magus. Or at least is at a serious disadvantage. While spells are only temporary and instantaneous, seals are a form of thaumaturgy that are long-lasting. In a sense, the mystical embodiment of the research and history of a family line.
A different set of circuits which take form when passing Mana through them. To supplement the practitioner, incantations are performed independently. As long as the spell is recorded, the practitioner can use them just by flowing Mana through it, even without having had to learn the spell.
Once one spell is mastered, that spell can be used easily. In other words, once it passes the region of being a "treated program", that spell that has become a part of oneself will remain with a form. This is, in short, the stamped version of an already systemized (stabilized) mystery. When Mana isn't being passed through them, Seals are not visible.
Just like normal circuits, these are like internal organisms and thus cannot be passed along to those outside of the family. As these are circuits, just by engraving some of these on the body, transplantation rejection occurs. As a result, these are transplanted little by little during childhood. The child is forced to drink herbs and crushed bone in order to build up resistance.
A person will grow used to this as they mature, but seals in the end are part of someone else's body. A family with a history of 500 to 600 years will have enough control over the bloodline to handle this, but one with a history of far less than that (the 200 year old Tohsaka with their mixed blood from foreigners) will have to rely on medicine.
Of course, as only one person can inherit this (and it must be done within the bloodline) it is typical for fights to occur among the family in the situation that there is more than one child within the family. The Edelfelt lineage might be different, however.
Some other characteristics. If a magus is heavily injured, as long as he/she still has Mana, the seal will try to keep the magus alive. Seals can also be used up completely. A more basic and limited form of these seals that aren't found within the body are the jewels that the Tohsaka use.
Elements:
The chemical elements that make up the world, according to the Association.
Wind, earth, water, fire, air (void).
Or
Water, fire, ground, wood, metal.
A magus is normally going to bear one of these. Fire is called normal, wind is called noble.
However, there are those that bear elements that belong to neither of these, but they tend to not be part of the Association or belong to very specialized houses. Alignment can be altered, but it is extremely, extremely, dangerous and painful.
Imaginary numbers are classified as one of the imaginary elements.
Ether - The 5th element (or the fifth substance?) in the Association. Combines with the other 4. Thought to be the necessary medium for gaining form. Formless on its own but without it, thaumaturgy wouldn't work. One of the original theories on the ability of mankind in the age of gods to use powerful mysteries, prior to Kurokiri's theory on the United Language, was that the positioning of the moon and the stars in relation to the world made the world rich with ether.
The Sixth Imaginary Element - Possibly an additional element. Demons. A power that materializes through the wishes of humans. Just as the greater spirits do, they also need images provided by humans to materialize. The retina of Rider's eyes are made up of this. At the same time, it's also been called ether. A different type from the 5th?
Master:
A title reserved for those magi participating in the Fuyuki Grail War.
Slots are reserved for the Association, Einzbern, Makiri, and Tohsaka. The remaining slots are given to outside Masters. Selection of the Masters/distribution of the Command Spells is done by the Greater Holy Grail.
Connected to Servants by a leyline. When in an unmaterialized spiritual body, only the Master can see the Servant via the leyline. The leyline also acts as the pipeline through which Mana is sent from the Master to the Servant.
Command Spell:
Command Mantra. The symbol and requirements to be a Master. Dispatched by the Greater Holy Grail and binds to the circuits of a magus. Only three per Master; actual form may vary. Unlike seals, will be visible. Serves as forced commands to the Servant that can boost an instantaneous action (speed, jumping, etc), teleportation to the Master, or more specific orders (such as impale your own heart, do not kill this person, etc). More general orders will not have the desired effects (such as never disobey me).
As they bind to the circuits/nerves of a magus, attempted removal can result in permanent paralysis and whatnot. Extraction through the spiritual body instead of the physical body will prevent this, but only those with experience in that (such as Kotomine) can do that.
As long as a Master still has one command spell, he can still make a contract with another Servant. This also means he can have multiple Servants. However, the Mana being sent from Master to Servants will be split between the two, meaning lowered stats.
Servant:
Heroic Spirits summoned through the Holy Grail. A type of familiar, if one had to categorize them.
Souls of ultimate purity that are summoned through the preparation of seven classes (cases) and hosts to bind them. When in their spiritual body, they can pass through inorganic objects of low mana-intensity. While as spiritual bodies, they are not subject to normal (material) interference, but because their ability to also conduct intereference in the material plane weakens, it is more advantageous to materialize during a battle.
All Heroic Spirits go to a place called the Throne of Heroes after death. They reside here and live on. This may be confusing, but they never actually leave the Throne of Heroes, even during the Holy Grail Wars.
The Servant system itself is a system that makes use of the already-existing Heroic Spirit system. Whether or not the system actually is drawing upon the main body in the Throne or not is unclear. However, it is clear that the experiences and memories gained from Servants are still not retained. The fact that an event happened will be passed on to the main body as "information" and the unaligned power that was summoned will return to the Throne, however.
Servants are still technically spiritual bodies, not fully resurrected heroes. They're a projection or a copy of the "greater body" in the Throne of Heroes and don't have real flesh. It's not as if they're living in our time. They don't carry any new memories other than the memories they carried with them before they died. Information/records taken in after they died is a different story.
Also as they're spiritual bodies, not ones with true flesh, they can't be harmed by modern weapons. This is the most dangerous part of Servants, as far as us normal folk are concerned. However, Servants can be destroyed. On the other hand, the Heroic Spirit itself is an indestructible phenomenon and will not be wiped out through the destruction of its temporary vessel.
As Servants are unnatural entities, to continue to exist in the world, there are several conditions.
1. Mana must be sufficient.
2. Spiritual cores (located in the heart and the head) must be intact.
3. They must be bounded to something that is naturally existing in this plane of existence. In other words, Masters.
Generally, amount of Mana of the Master will determine just how well the Servant will be able to faithfully make use of the powers (stats) he had back during the time he was alive. However, as there is a limit to the MGI capacity of some Servants, this too is limited and as a result, Servants are generally not going to be as powerful as they were back when they were alive.
Class:
The vessel of the Heroic Spirit. Their temporary name. Only those that fit the definitions of that class are summoned. The descended spirit is also equipped with additional class-specific abilities that hadn't been possessed back when it was alive.
Noble Phantasms:
Crystalized "mysteries". Armaments made using the imagination of humans as their cores and the weapons of Heroic Spirits.
Being legendary, Noble Phantasms are far greater than other weapons. In terms of status, a C ranked Noble Phantasm is the equivalent of an A or A+ ranked normal attack.
Swords, lances, bows are among the more common ones. There are also support-type Noble Phantasms like crowns and rings.
By chanelling Mana into them and releasing their true names, the real power of the Noble Phantasm is unleashed. To that effect, only the true master of the Noble Phantasm can use it. Gae Bolg can't be used by anyone other than Cu Chulainn, etc.
Of course... not all Heroic Spirits have Noble Phantasms that fall under the above definition. EMIYA's reality marble is technically not a Noble Phantasm. Rider's many abilities are more or less abilities she carried on as a divine spirit. Berserker and Angra Mainyu's Noble Phantasms are curses that are treated like armor. However, as they are heroes, they are naturally going to have signature powers that operate as their symbols.
The current number of existing Noble Phantasms (probably best thought of as "epic treasures") is very small, but they still exist in the material world.
Most Noble Phantasms are based on an original.
Back to main page
