Presented as a curiosity
Servants (サーヴァント, Sāvanto ?) are Spirits summoned by the Holy Grail for the purpose of competing under Masters in the Holy Grail War.[1]
Characteristics
Servants are Spirits made into special Familiars of the highest rank, referred to as Ghost Liners by the Mage’s Association, that are bound to the Master. Typically Heroic Spirits under most systems, they can also sometimes be Divine Spirits, Phantoms, Wraiths, and living people depending on various circumstances.
Pure Heroic Spirits, the “main body” in the Throne of Heroes, can only be summoned by the World, and summoning even one is considered to be a miraculous occurrence. Differing from the normal definition of familiars that can be likened to minor mascots unable to be stronger than their masters, Heroic Spirits are the most powerful of beings with which even the five Magicians would never be able to forge a contract with. Rather than it being a hard process to summon them or the fact that they far surpass magi, it is their intrinsic nature in that they are beings beyond Magecraft.
Magi can perform rituals to borrow their power to mimic them, such as using Spiritual Evocation’s Partial Access[2] and Trance Mediumship,[3] but cannot summon actual Heroic Spirits themselves.[4][5] Even then, the technique to momentarily borrow a part of such a power is extraordinarily hard to do.[6]
Even the Holy Grail lacks the power to summon a true Heroic Spirit, so the process is facilitated by summoning them into one of seven vessels prepared beforehand.[7] The Greater Grail makes a copy using information from the “main body” of the Heroic Spirit, an “emanation”, that returns to them as information, in the form of a soul, upon the death of the Servant. Disconnected from the “main body”, they are able to know of the actions of the Servant through records, as if reading a book.[1]
Similarly as to how daemons require a form invented by humans in order to take shape, Heroic Spirits need a form to exist in the world. The vessels, classes, act as their temporary name and method of existing. Acting like a “passport to the present”, the vessel prepares them for their role as a familiar in advance, allows them to take on that role to help them take form, and brings them forth into the world. Each class identifies only the core skills of the Heroic Spirit because replication of all their abilities is impossible. Their main traits align with the class and are given form, matching the principal nature of the class.[8] Only heroes matching the attributes of the classes are brought forth, allowing them to be summoned into any reflecting their abilities.
Although too powerful to be controlled by humans, they are bound by three Command Spells, representing the Masters’ “right to rule” over them, with obedience towards the Command Spells being the “absolute condition required for materialization.”[7] Due to the prospect of having a wish granted by the Holy Grail, it also serves as an incentive to cooperate with the Master, as well as requiring them for energy upkeep and acting as their anchor to the world. Killing them will normally go against their purpose, but the Command Spells protect the Master from those who would kill them to seek out one who would be more suitable.
Body
Although Servants are beings of Ether that do not get energy from oxygen, they are given forms similar to air-breathing lifeforms, allowing them to “carry out pulmonary respiration as a land type endoskeleton life form.” Though they do not require oxygen to function, the lack of air from suffocation can halt their magical energy cycle. Though they can likely endure more than a human, they will eventually reach their limit if enough time passes.[12] Differing from the normal blood of humans, the blood of Servants is the Magical Energy that drives their Saint Graph.[13]
While some Servants exercise for recreation, their body of Ether is unaffected aside from generating sweat.[14] If a Servant’s body part is severed, it can remain in the world so long as the Servant’s Spiritual Core is intact. If it is given another source of Magical Energy before the Servant fades away, it can remain in the world afterward.[15]
Appearance
Heroic Spirits will most often take the form that represents their golden age at the prime of their lives, but effects like those of a strong curse or a personal attachment to the form can change that to even their selves from just before death.[16] Certain wounds, conditions, and illnesses may remain should they be “something indispensable” for their origin.
Skills like Mad Enhancement, Mental Pollution, and Innocent Monster can influence their forms and personalities when summoned as Servants, changing them drastically depending on how they were perceived in life or after death. The preference of the Master and suitability for certain Servant classes may also affect them. It also may be the case that how history recorded them became distorted, such as Vlad Tepes having traits of both being the national hero of Romania as well as being depicted as Dracula, a vampire in myths and legends worldwide.
Manifestation
In another universe (the fictional world of Type Moon), Servants are beings able to switch between a Spiritual Body and Material Body at will. While in spiritual form, they cannot be easily detected by enemies due to being invisible to the naked eye and most forms of scrying, or be affected by physical interference. They can travel where they please without being impeded by walls, but they also cannot carry anything in that state. Their senses are limited to spiritual sensations, so they must materialize in order to fully experience normal senses when sharing a visual link with their Master. Their upkeep cost is low when not materialized, so many Masters prefer them to stay in spirit form when they are not fighting or doing other tasks that require them to be in physical form to lower the cost on themselves. Depending on the disposition of the Servant or a special case like Artoria Pendragon, such an order may be impossible. It is also hard for them to affect a Material Body in that state, so they must materialize to properly engage in combat.
While they may bleed and take damage to their organs, their true being resides in a Spiritual Core (霊核, Reikaku ?) they obtain upon first materializing. The Spiritual Core is described as “their center, their heart, their CPU” that dictates their every function.[27]
Their Material Body envelopes the core, and damage must be inflicted to it in order for them to be defeated. It gradually diminishes under magical energy expenditure and while sustaining bodily damage, and their expenditure will escalate under such conditions. If it is damaged through powerful Magical Energy, curses, or Noble Phantasms, it will be destroyed, meaning that the Servant can no longer stay materialized. The heart and head are directly connected to it, so they are a Servant’s greatest weaknesses. Sustaining damage will significantly weaken it, with some Servants having it instantly destroyed and some with Skills like Battle Continuation being able to at least temporarily sustain themselves.[28][29]
While they have Material Bodies like humans, the composition is drastically different. They are of a much higher magnitude, so it is normally impossible for portions to be transplanted onto a human. Sieg, a Homunculus, obtains Siegfried’s heart, gaining the ability to transform and have a longer lifespan, yet his body is consumed by memories of Siegfried until it is no longer the same, ending up transforming into a dragon.
Upkeep
Servants must maintain a certain amount of Magical Energy to remain materialized and fight, and they must have an anchor to the world, their Master or another physical being in order to remain in the world. Their current strength is reflected by their current stores of Magical Energy, so they will lose strength as they lose Magical Energy. The Holy Grail itself provides most of the upkeep for Servants during the duration of the Holy Grail War, so Masters, granted Magical Paths to supply Magical Energy, do not need to provide vast amounts of Magical Energy normally.
Knowledge
Those summoned as Servants are given the minimum information required to allow them to fit into any era. No matter how ancient the Heroic Spirit, they should understand a number of concepts that were not known in their time.[40]
Memories
Servants are summoned with the memories of when they were alive but also gain and retain new memories as they continue their existence here. This allows them to learn and gain new skills, abilities and knowledge, as well as grow and mature in this new form.
Heroic Spirit Possession
Heroic Spirit Possession (英霊憑依, Eirei Hyōi ?) is the process of a Heroic Spirit fusing with a human in some capacity. It is possible for a Servant to possess a human, fuse with a human to become a Demi-Servant, and for a human to act as a vessel for the summoning of a Heroic Spirit that lacks a body of its own or possesses Divinity too high to manifest directly to become a Pseudo-Servant.
In the project
- A servant is as the name implies, a servant is a being that serves and assists the master (user) in any and all tasks, but unlike a servitor the servant is a being that possesses an ego, a consciousness that allows them ability to not only fulfil tasks like a program but also exercise their personal judgement in how to achieve maximum and optimal results, and learn/gain new skills + ability over time, allowing them to improve constantly as a real being could. To make it clear, a servant is a ‘real’ being. They are not limited by a small confined programming but can, literally, do anything (or at least attempt to) you request of it.
- A servant is ‘summoned’ or ‘created’ based on historical beings of real history, myths or legends. The summoning is done based on either the user’s perfect affinity where if no specification a random servant will be summoned according to the affinity, or if the user has a specification for the identity of the servant, the servant will be summoned based on the data of that being but the user’s own desires and nature along with the different interpretations or versions of that being will also play a part in the nature of the servant itself. I.E. 2 users may desire to have a servant based off King Arthur but the possess different preconceived notions, understanding and ideas of King Arthur will result in their King Arthur servant being clearly different from each other. The servant’s personality and individualized knowledge, memories and skills will depend on these factors.
- A servant will always prioritize the master’s well-being ahead of their own, as their continued existence is tied to the master’s own. They are able to destroy and absorb the negative and ill-intentioned energetic and spiritual entities around the user and absorb the energy to grow stronger. They are also able to heal the master of all sorts of ailments and negative conditions physical, mental, energetic and spiritual. These are just basic minimums and do not describe the overall ability of servants.
- An absolute clear connection between the servant and master, allow clear mental communication just like being able to audibly hear them in your mind. (can be turned on/off)
- Empathic Link ability to the servant so that we can sense what they’re sensing (seeing what they’re seeing, hearing what they’re hearing, etc including feeling their emotion). (can be turned on/off)
- The servant is has absolute immunity towards any other forms of influence, magic, mind control etc. from any other beings and will only listen to the commands of their specific master. Each individual nft owner will also only be able to interact with and command their own unique servant.
- As the master acts as an anchor for the servant to the world, the servants are able to access via the connection to us, the repertoire of NFTs that we own and replicate their effects, abilities, traits and concepts for their use to benefit us as well.
- The overarching project contains a limitless source of power, infinite in capacity and infinite in regeneration that will do the heavy lifting of supplying the servants with as much energy (mana or prana etc.) as necessary for their continued existence as well as to accomplish specific tasks, but masters act as an anchor for the servants.
- In the event that a master withdraw (sell or trade their copy) they will lose connection with their servant, but the servant will not completely cease to exist and instead return to a place of holding where they will be able to do as they wish. In the event that the master regains their copy in the future, they are able to re-establish their connection with their original servant.
- Demi-Servant: The connection between master and servant allows the master to inherit the memories, wisdom and knowledge that the servant possess via dreams. The master will also transform and improve across all aspects of their being (mind-body-soul) based on the servant, along with inheriting and manifesting any special talents or abilities they possess. e.g. if the servant is Heracles the user will transform based on the blueprint of Heracles, including not just a physical transformation but also gaining traits such as divinity and the blood of Zeus, along with the experience of the 13 labors and the boons he gained throughout his existence or in his lore.
- Everything else i shall leave as space for @El_Capitan_Nemo to include, tweak and organize for the ultimate results given that the master knows the franchise this idea originates from as well. Ultimately this idea is a curiosity that seeks to replicate the franchise’s concept and I will not be able to embody it using a whole list of benefits, rather that will limit the project.
Mandala + Audio (Where the audio acts to bolster and amplify the connection between servant and master, as well as increase the clarity and ease of communication and emphathic link between the two. It also boosts and hastens the Demi-Servant process)
