Optimal use of magical energy in relation to the Servant
by Ferdinando Bastini
A feature of the Holy Grail War is the possibility to summon a Servant to fight against other magi who aspire to fulfill their wishes. Summoning a Servant is very complicated and requires a minimum of magical energy and knowledge of Magecraft, a relic connected to the historical or mythological character you want to evoke (and those are difficult to find), a magic circle for the evocation and a formula of enchantment that allows the transmission of mana from the magus to the relic; by doing so the magic circle will activate and shape the Servant. The external form of a Servant can vary depending on the type of magic circle or depending on the relic used. What matters in a Servant, however, is not form but substance. The form can change but the substance always remains the same. An inherent example may be the change of clothing used in battle or the change in the appearance of a Noble Phantasm.
The Servant is like a leech, needs magical energy to stay in the world and feeds on that of its Master (who's presumed to be an average magus). The consumption of magical energy varies according to what a Servant does, consider magical energy as a substitute for calories:
- If the Servant doesn't fight and performs daily activities, it can consume from 1% to 16% of the Master's magical energy (in simple terms enough to physically tire the Master who will have to sleep a lot and eat a lot if they want to keep the level of magical energy high);
- If the Servant fights, it can consume 45% to 100% of the Master's magical energy (i.e. the magus could risk passing out, getting sick and on rare occasions dying);
- Ferdinando Bastini is an Elder member of the Coven who works as a historian of magic and as a philosopher. He's a fan of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Giordano Bruno and is the head of the Archive of Relics. -
Discourse on love and Servants
by Matthieu Legrand
I often hear one of my students ask me, during familiars summoning lessons, whether or not it's recommended to have sex with the aforementioned. Young teenagers with their hormones love to fantasize about a love life with the woman of their dreams summoned with Magecraft and totally devoted to them. It's possible to have sex or love affairs with summoned familiars, such as a Servant, but it's not recommended for several reasons that I will now illustrate.
- Number one: the love relationship will not last. Summoning a familiar is an account but keeping it in this dimensional plane requires a huge effort, it's a continuous consumption of magical energy, especially if it's a Servant who has special abilities that make it particularly difficult to maintain. Eventually the familiar will disappear because sooner or later the magical energy will run out; and having a love relationship with a Servant is highly discouraged because when the Grail stops transmitting mana, the Servant can no longer be kept in the human dimension and therefore disappears, this could lead the magus to suffer from unnecessary pain;
- Number two: having sexual intercourse with a familiar can produce an orgasm and can be exciting but remember that the consumption of magical energy will be higher. I'm sorry to put it down this way but it's the magus (or the Master) that keeps the familiar (or the Servant) in the world thanks to their magical energy. Imagine doing physical activity but exploit twice as energy. There's a double consumption of magical energy. Of course, the problem doesn't stand if you have a fairly high amount of magical energy;
- Number three: it's not an absolute truth that the Servant, in particular, reciprocates that love. The Servant is not submissive to the Master, it's not like a common familiar. Calling a Servant a "familiar" is an understatement. The Servant has the conscience and thoughts of the historical or mythological character to which it refers. The Servant is bound to the Master but is not submissive to them unless the Master uses Command Spells to order the Servant to do something, but I don't think this approach is recommended considering that it wouldn't be so different from rape and that's repulsive;
- Number four: Servants and familiars are first and foremost weapons to fight, they're not pastimes. I realize that for someone it's difficult to accept this truth, especially considering that these appear with human aspects, generally, but despite this they remain weapons that have the purpose of killing. Treating them differently means pretending that they're something they're not;
- Number five: there are those who would like to start a family with the perfect woman but it cannot be done with familiars and Servants since their body is de facto non-existent. It's not a real body, it's partly physical and partly spiritual.
- Matthieu Legrand is a professor who teaches evocation at the Association des Mages et Philosophes de la Magie. He studied cabal for years and is a supporter of eurocommunism and is esteemed by many scholars for having devised a magical system based on Hegelian theories. -
Evocation of a Servant
by Federico Alpi
Is it possible to summon a Servant without a Grail?
If a Servant is no different from a familiar this means that it can be summoned without the use of the Holy Grail and therefore anyone can summon a Servant. This reasoning is not entirely wrong. It's understandable why many stumble upon this simple question. But one thing must be understood: when you summon a familiar, you only rely on your magical energy (your own mana) and a common familiar is not a complex entity, on the contrary, it's a simple spiritual entity. But the Servant possesses special abilities and an autonomous mind, the function of the Holy Grail is that of a "mana supplier" to the Servant, it's as if the Grail built the spiritual foundation for the evocation and maintenance of the Servant; what the magus does, when they summon the Servant, is to "work" on those foundations.
A Holy Grail War begins when the Holy Grail manifests itself in the world (directly or indirectly) and "opens roads" connections, lays the foundation for the evocation of the Servant. This means that during a Holy Grail War, innumerable Servants could be summoned but it's decided to evoke a limited number only on the basis of the agreements between the various organizations but this will be discussed again.
If a Servant is no different from a familiar this means that it can be summoned without the use of the Holy Grail and therefore anyone can summon a Servant. This reasoning is not entirely wrong. It's understandable why many stumble upon this simple question. But one thing must be understood: when you summon a familiar, you only rely on your magical energy (your own mana) and a common familiar is not a complex entity, on the contrary, it's a simple spiritual entity. But the Servant possesses special abilities and an autonomous mind, the function of the Holy Grail is that of a "mana supplier" to the Servant, it's as if the Grail built the spiritual foundation for the evocation and maintenance of the Servant; what the magus does, when they summon the Servant, is to "work" on those foundations.
A Holy Grail War begins when the Holy Grail manifests itself in the world (directly or indirectly) and "opens roads" connections, lays the foundation for the evocation of the Servant. This means that during a Holy Grail War, innumerable Servants could be summoned but it's decided to evoke a limited number only on the basis of the agreements between the various organizations but this will be discussed again.
- Federico Alpi is an Elder member of the Coven, advocate of liberalism and opponent of the socialist and communist currents, he has become famous among his colleagues for having argued that every magus should be free to use Magecraft even in front of ordinary people. -
Understanding a Servant
by Leonardo Montagnola
There are nine Servant classes in the Holy Grail War of Yggdrasil in total: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Caster, Rider, Berserker, Specter and Devourer. Each class has its own particular representative symbol consisting of three Command Seals that appears on the Master's chest during the summoning and is the symbol of the pact between the Master and the Servant. Each Master has three Command Spells which are special orders that force the Servant to do something, when all three are used, the link between Master and Servant is broken and the Servant disappears.
The symbol acts as a glue between the Master and the Servant, it's the guarantee that the Servant will always have the magical energy available since it's from there that the mana passes.
Here's a quick introduction to the classes:
The symbol acts as a glue between the Master and the Servant, it's the guarantee that the Servant will always have the magical energy available since it's from there that the mana passes.
Here's a quick introduction to the classes:
SABER
The Servant class that welcomes swordsmen of all ages who owned legendary swords or who fought with the sword when they were alive. This class is the most renowned because of its balanced parameters and because of its ductility.
The Servant class that welcomes swordsmen of all ages who owned legendary swords or who fought with the sword when they were alive. This class is the most renowned because of its balanced parameters and because of its ductility.
Has an advantage against:
Lancer, Caster, Assassin, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Archer, Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
ARCHER
The Servant class that welcomes archers of all ages who owned legendary bows or who fought with a bow when they were alive, there's a possibility that heroes who used firearms instead of bow and arrows are inserted in this class.
The Servant class that welcomes archers of all ages who owned legendary bows or who fought with a bow when they were alive, there's a possibility that heroes who used firearms instead of bow and arrows are inserted in this class.
Has an advantage against:
Saber, Lancer, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Caster, Rider, Berserker, Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
LANCER
The Servant class that welcomes spearmen of all ages who have owned legendary spears or who fought with a spear when they were alive.
The Servant class that welcomes spearmen of all ages who have owned legendary spears or who fought with a spear when they were alive.
Has an advantage against:
Assassin, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Saber, Archer, Caster, Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
ASSASSIN
The Servant class that welcomes killers of all ages. The heroes of this class have secretly killed, have used tricks to succeed in eliminating their objectives and have always remained in the shadows.
The Servant class that welcomes killers of all ages. The heroes of this class have secretly killed, have used tricks to succeed in eliminating their objectives and have always remained in the shadows.
Has an advantage against:
Caster, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Saber, Rider, Lancer, Berserker, Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
CASTER
The Servant class that welcomes magicians of all ages who possessed particular knowledge or who were wise men, writers or renowned philosophers. These are brilliant people who changed the course of history with the use of the intellect rather than with the use of the sword.
The Servant class that welcomes magicians of all ages who possessed particular knowledge or who were wise men, writers or renowned philosophers. These are brilliant people who changed the course of history with the use of the intellect rather than with the use of the sword.
Has an advantage against:
Archer, Lancer, Rider, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Assassin, Saber, Berserker, Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
RIDER
The Servant class that welcomes riders of all ages who have owned legendary steeds or who fought on horseback when they were alive. The class also includes those whose steed is only metaphorical for example heroes who have relied on the people to achieve their goals or those who have relied primarily on the ego, the "workhorse" is only a metaphor in their case .
The Servant class that welcomes riders of all ages who have owned legendary steeds or who fought on horseback when they were alive. The class also includes those whose steed is only metaphorical for example heroes who have relied on the people to achieve their goals or those who have relied primarily on the ego, the "workhorse" is only a metaphor in their case .
Has an advantage against:
Archer, Assassin, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Berserker, Caster, Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
BERSERKER
The Servant class that welcomes the renegades and madmen of every age who have been exiled, who have betrayed heroes or who have committed atrocities. Berserker is also a Servant who has lost its way, perhaps a hero who was first good but then became evil. It's not said that the Berserker is crazy and that it cannot speak but it can become crazy and lose the ability to communicate.
The Servant class that welcomes the renegades and madmen of every age who have been exiled, who have betrayed heroes or who have committed atrocities. Berserker is also a Servant who has lost its way, perhaps a hero who was first good but then became evil. It's not said that the Berserker is crazy and that it cannot speak but it can become crazy and lose the ability to communicate.
Has an advantage against:
Archer, Assassin, Caster, Rider, Specter (only if the Servant has Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Devourer, Specter (only if the Servant hasn't Divinity)
SPECTER
The Servant class that welcomes demons and angels of all mythology. They're not gods but their proximity to mankind made them candidates for the Holy Grail War. These Servants are demonic or angelic beings who can be praised or feared by man and are generally very powerful.
The Servant class that welcomes demons and angels of all mythology. They're not gods but their proximity to mankind made them candidates for the Holy Grail War. These Servants are demonic or angelic beings who can be praised or feared by man and are generally very powerful.
Has an advantage against:
Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, Saber (only if these Servants have no Divinity)
Has a disadvantage against:
Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, Saber (only if these Servants have Divinity), Devourer
DEVOURER
Very little is known about this class but it's assumed that it's made up of impossible Servants who cannot be bound by any human. These Servants have no Masters and are directly summoned from the Holy Grail. They have only one purpose: to destroy. They're enemies of humanity.
Very little is known about this class but it's assumed that it's made up of impossible Servants who cannot be bound by any human. These Servants have no Masters and are directly summoned from the Holy Grail. They have only one purpose: to destroy. They're enemies of humanity.
Has an advantage against:
Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, Saber, Specter
Has a disadvantage against:
One thing must be clear: just because one class has an advantage over another doesn't mean that it will win. I have excluded any variables in drawing up this list.
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| The Command Seals |
- Leonardo Montagnola is a magus exiled from the Coven; he, from what is known, lives as a hermit. -
