The Update Bar
12/30
Zero update.
1/3
More Zero.
2/4
Updates here and there. On stuff I don't really remember.
2/10
Updates. Plus, some extra details on Hercules' Nine Lives, fairy letters, Ilya, etc.
4/02
Zero 2 entries beginning.
4/18
Caster vs. Ciel
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. Further, when dematerialized, Servant's perceptive abilities are limited to spiritual senses.
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 (Kotomine lecture 2, hollow ataraxia Caren V). 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. Prana 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.
The third is a reference to 依り代 - yorishiro.
In other words, Masters.
The word can also refer to a specific location, for instance, Sasaki Kojirou was bounded to Ryuudouji instead of Caster.
Physical transmission as a Servant is not always perfect. Physical characteristics of the 3rd Assassin may have been exagerrated.
Generally, amount of Prana 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 storage capacity of some Servants, this too is going to be limited. Contaminated Saber is said to have actually gained more destructive power than her original incarnation in her own time due to possessing a cursed (but "real") body and also having a near-inexhaustible store of energy to draw from.
There are also stat adjustment based on fame in the region the Servant is in. In other words, the spiritual existence of the Servant will become denser. If Lancer, for instance, had been summoned in Ireland, he probably would have faired much better. However, the actual effects are not going to make that much of a difference for a naturally weak Heroic Spirit. Likewise, an already strong hero isn't going to be that much affected that much by lack of fame in the area he is currently in.
Also, no matter how much worship or fame there might be for a hero, if that "hero" was just about the same as a normal person, then he'll be just as powerful as a normal person, as is the case with Angra Mainyu.
Generally to pick up a certain hero, an object that the hero had ties to must be used to draw him in as a Servant. If not, the personality of the summoner himself will be used as the summoning catalyst (filter).
As Servants are made up of Prana, death from severe (but not instant) injuries are an unreliable and secondary means of killing them. A Servant isn't going to die from blood loss or the loss of an arm. And in any case, the time spent in taking out a limb will only be greeted by a fatal hit in return by the Servant. Most Servant fights are going to be working around that idea.
The vessel of the Heroic Spirit. Their temporary name. Whereas oracles and kuchiyose require the spirit to possess the speaker in order for them to temporarily exist in this era (in other words a container), a class is used as the container instead. 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.
Normally, when a Heroic Spirit gains a Servant Class, the one that fits the attributes of that Heroic Spirit is unavoidably determined. However, there are two class exceptions to this that the summoner can determine beforehand.
The first is Assassin. This is because of the special characteristic of
those Heroic Spirits falling into those definitions being one of the
assassins that had taken on the name of Hassan-i Sabbah.
The other class is Berserker as it is a class that allows for almost
all Heroic Spirits to fall into its definitions by just the acceptance
of one additional factor.
The summoning incantation is the same, however, a different arrangement of the incantation (by adding an additional verse) will result in ppredetermination of the aforementioned exceptions.
The ability of cancelling thaumaturgy or reducing its effects. Class
skill for Archer, Saber, and Lancer. (Riders will not have this
normally).
A: Cancelling all thaumaturgy of A or below. In reality, cannot be harmed by any modern magi.
B: Cancelling those spells with incantations of three or less lines.
Even with greater thaumaturgy or ritual curses, inflicting damage is
difficult.
C: Cancelling those spells with two or less lines. Cannot defend against greater thaumaturgy or curses.
D: Cancelling single action spells. Limited to protective amulet level.
E: Unable to cancel. Damage is slightly reduced.
The skill of riding. Will also work on vehicles.
Class skill for Rider and Saber.
A+: Can ride mythical/divine beasts. However, will not apply to dragon races.
B: Can ride on most animals more skillfully than the average rider, but
will not be able to successfully ride on monstrous/holy-ranked
creatures. Can also ride on all kinds of motorcycles, up to
large-models (In Japan, types with cc over 400).
Ability to operate without being supplied Prana from one's Master.
Useful in situations when a Master is wounded and unable to adequately
supply enough Prana or when the Master wants to use a spell that
requires the use of his maximum Prana capacity (note that cut-off supply results in lessenned stats). But as a result of this, putting the Servant under the complete control of the Master is difficult.
Class skill for Archer.
A+: Able to operate without a Master. (Gilgamesh; in Heaven's Feel 4, the rank was at A)
B: Can remain in this plane for 2 days even after losing a Master.
(Archer) Also can stick around for a while even if a spirit core
(heart) is damaged severely (what allowed Archer's arm to be
transferred successfully before he disappeared).
C: Can remain in this plane for 1 day even after losing a Master. (Rider)
Ability to build a field or territory that is advantageous for spell-casting.
Class skill for Caster.
A: Can form a "temple", a type of territory that surpasses the modern workshop. (Caster)
Enhances stats in exchange for sanity.
Class skill for Berserker.
B: Boosts parameters, but most of sanity is gone. (Berserker)
Ability to craft enchanted items.
Class skill for Caster.
A: Can create a pseudo-potion of immortality. (Caster).
Ability to shut off one's aura.
Class skill for Assassin.
A+: Able to conceal Servant aura. Almost impossible to spot if he
conceals himself completely. However, once he moves into an attack
posture, the rank of Presence Concealment will fall greatly. (True
Assassin)
D: Able to conceal Servant aura. (Assassin)
Example 1: Assassin sneaking past the barrier of the Emiya residence easily.
マスター
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 Prana is sent from the Master to the Servant.
Normally, the Master is the one providing the energy directly to the Servant because of the construction of the system, but Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, being the genius that he is, was able to modify the system to allow for the energy tank to be a different person while he himself has the rights to the Command Spells of the Servants. The obvious benefits to this is that the Master is free to use all of his resources to defend himself without having to worry about weakennning the Servant.
Best support role is for providing healing during battle (can be done afar as well).
Also equipped with the ability to see the parameter status of other Servants. Yeah. The status menu in the game.
令呪
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), although those that are abnormally powerful (like Rin) can at least cause something to happen (lowered stats if Archer disobeys her).
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.
Generally the form is going to be a reflection of the thaumaturgy special trait of the magus.
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 Prana being sent from Master to Servants will be split between the two, meaning lowered stats.
Illyasviel's command spells are different from the others since she's a Grail. They're engraved on her entire body.
May also have some offensive traits against enemy Servants; Kotomine specifically (mentally) mentioned unused Command Spells from the previous war as being possible help against True Assassion.
黒化
What happens when a Servant gets into contact with what's inside the
Holy Grail. A curse that (usually) warps the Servant. In exchange for a
negative inversion of personality, the Servant receives a physical body
and hence becomes even more powerful. But as they have received true
flesh, they can't return to their spiritual bodies. Of course, the anime seems to forget that. Hence, normal weapons can affect them. Of course, breaking through the shadow is going to be a little tough....