—Base sequence confirmed to be human genome. —Spiritual Vessel's attribute confirmed to be Neutral Good. Welcome to the museum of humanity's future. This is the Human Continuation Facility, Chaldea.
Full title: "Singularity F - Flame Contaminated City: Fuyuki [Prologue]". Written by Kinoko Nasu.—Announcer
When the Protagonist (canon name: Fujimaru Ritsuka) find themselves within a base in the middle of Antarctica, they learn that they have been chosen to serve as one of Chaldea's Masters to save the world by traveling through time. However, while chatting with Chaldea's head of medical ward Dr Romani Archaman, they're bombed, leaving them as the only capable magus, and while trying to rescue another member they met named Mash Kyrielight, they soon find themselves teleported intended location, an place in time that has been changed, a Singularity.
Known as "Singularity F - Fuyuki", where the Fifth Holy Grail War went horribly wrong, and now only its Caster has survived the corruption of the Greater Holy Grail. Teaming up with Chaldea's director Olga Marie Animusphere and Caster Cú Chulainn, they set out to fix the Singularity, but little do they know that it is merely the start of the Greatest Holy Grail War; The Grand Order.
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Prologue
After a draining tutorial Spiritron-Dive simulation, the Protagonist, a novice civilian Magus, finds themselves napping in the halls of the Chaldea Security Organisation - a secret research organisation of Magi dedicated to the preservation of the human race, held in an underground facility in a snowy mountain 6000m above sea level. They are awakened by an odd squirrel-like creature, Fou, a Privileged Life-Form who freely wanders Chaldea, and meets Mash Kyrielight, a meek junior Chaldea employee, and technician Professor Lev Lainur. They are established as Chaldea's 48th and final Master candidate of its Rayshift experiment, an amateur with no formal Magic training.The three join the Master candidates' Orientation in Chaldea's Central Command Room, hosted by the short-tempered Director Olga Marie Animusphere. However, partway through the Director's speech, the Protagonist falls asleep again from fatigue, and is kicked out (almost literally) of the Orientation, and the candidates' first mission. Mash escorts them to their room with Fou, before she returns to participate as part of Chaldea's A Team.
Inside, the Protagonist and Fou meet Dr. Romani Archaman, or "Dr. Roman", ditzy head of Chaldea's medical department, who is slacking off by hiding in the Protagonist's room after being kicked out by Olga. Roman is called to the Command Room by Lev to observe the Rayshift's commencement, but he delays to explain the history of Chaldea to the Protagonist. Roman tells them of Chaldeas, a perfect planetary model of the world and its timeline, and Sheba, a lens created by Lev able to observe Chaldeas in different time eras, including the future.
Suddenly, an explosion rocks the facility, and an evacuation alarm sounds, warning of a fire in the Central Command Room. Roman heads for the Command Room, followed by Fou and the Protagonist, who is concerned for Mash's safety. Inside, they find the Room in ruins, the epicentre of the explosion, with only Chaldeas intact. Roman leaves to restore the facility's power, deducing the explosion to be deliberate sabotage, but the protagonist remains inside to search for Mash, and finds her heavily injured in the rubble.
Before they can help Mash, they observe Chaldeas unexpectedly changing into a bright-red globe of fire, with Sheba no longer able to detect signs of humanity's future. The Command Room is sealed with them still inside, and the Rayshift automatically continues, selecting the Protagonist as a new Master, and its destination as Fuyuki, Japan, January 30th, 2004 AD - the First Order. As the PA counts down, Mash asks them, her Senpai, to hold her hand - to which they oblige.
The Rayshift begins, and they disappear in a flash of light into a place unknown.
Burning City
The Flame Contaminated City
The Protagonist, Fou and Mash find themselves in Fuyuki, Japan, an average regional city mysteriously consumed in an endless inferno and populated with hostile undead. Mash is healed, clad in armour and wielding an enormous round shield, while referring to the Protagonist as her Master. Mash fights off the surrounding skeletons, showing an incredible amount of strength.
Dr. Roman connects to them from the Chaldea Command Room, and Mash reports their successful Rayshift to Fuyuki - Singularity F. Mash explains her apparent recovery: during the Rayshift, she had fused with a dying Servant assigned to investigate Singularity F, allowing her to survive and gain the Servant's combat power to become a Shielder-class Demi-Servant, a fusion of Heroic Spirit and a human. However, the Servant's consciousness is dormant, and she is unaware of the Servant's True Name or Noble Phantasm.
The Protagonist and Mash are now linked as Master and Servant, the only active pair within the Singularity. Roman tasks them with seeking out a nearby leyline to set up a base camp, before the unstable connection breaks.
To the Spirit Meridian
The three approach the designated point through the burning ruins of Fuyuki. Mash notes that no record exists of the city burning in 2004, and notes the increased Mana density in the atmosphere. Suddenly, the group hear the scream of a nearby woman, and rush over to find, to their astonishment, Director Olga Marie, who is being attacked by undead and calling for Lev's help.After they fight off the undead and rescue Olga Marie, they explain the situation to her. Olga Marie deduces that the Klein Coffins - coffin-like machines set to be used by Masters to assist in Rayshifting - had failed to activate due to a safety failsafe, resulting in none of the other Master candidates Rayshifting. As the four present were outside the Coffins, they had Rayshifted instead.
With Olga Marie briefed and approving of Mash and the Protagonist's contract, they set up a Leyline Terminal using Mash's shield Noble Phantasm (Olga Marie missing the leyline right at her feet), creating a summoning circle and allowing them to reconnect with Chaldea and Roman. Despite Olga Marie's indignance at Roman's presence, Roman explains that only 20 full-time Chaldea staff remain after the bombing. With Lev apparently part of the casualties, to Olga Marie's dismay, Dr. Roman is now acting head. Roman further reports that the 47 other Master candidates are in critical condition within their Coffins, with Olga Marie ordering their immediate cryopreservation.
Dr. Roman is tasked with continuing Rayshift repairs and re-establishing contact with the outside world, while Olga Marie decides to further investigate the Singularity and its cause with the Protagonist and Mash until rescue can be made, to provide results should an inquiry come from the Mage Association regarding the bombing.
Investigate the Bridge
As they reach Fuyuki Bridge, Olga Marie confronts the Protagonist about their sleeping episode in her Orientation. They recall the Orientation, and Olga Marie's harsh demeanour, in a flashback. After fending off more roaming monsters, Olga Marie and Roman help them recall Chaldea's original mission statement:Chaldea's goal had been to ensure the continuation of humanity. With their created technologies - Chaldeas, Sheba, Trismegistus, Laplace, and the Heroic Spirit Summoning System, Fate, they observe humanity's progress 100 years into the future with Chaldeas as an accurate model of the planet.
However, 6 months prior, Chaldeas' light suddenly dimmed, with the future becoming unobservable after 2016 (2018 for NA) - humanity's extinction. Chaldea had since traced this sudden disappearance to an unobservable zone in a Japanese countryside city in 2004 - Fuyuki, designating it Spatial Singularity F. Suspecting the Singularity to be the cause of the anomaly, Chaldea received approval from the UN to enact the Rayshift experiment - sending a human with sufficient magical and Master capabilities through time to alter the past by converting them to Spiritrons: in other words, Time Travel.
The candidates' task, led by Team A, Chaldea's top 8 most trained Master candidates, is to Rayshift into Singularity F, discover its cause, and destroy it to restore humanity's existence. With the Singularity being an unobservable zone outside the normal flow of time, altering the past within it via Rayshift carries no risk of harming the timeline.
The Protagonist subsequently recalls Olga Marie angrily removing them from the Command Room, having discovered their status as an amateur civilian. As they continue to investigate the bridge, battling monsters, Olga Marie further explains the concepts of Servants and Masters to the Protagonist, while Mash explains Chaldea's purpose and connection with the Animusphere family.
While Olga Marie heals Mash, Roman tells the Protagonist of the Director's turbulent youth - originally a Master candidate, she was forced to become Chaldea's director and family head as a student after her father's death 3 years prior, and faced pressure from all sides due to the Singularity's appearance and possessing no Master aptitude, gaining the Protagonist's sympathy.
Investigate the Port Ruin
As the group battle their way to Fuyuki's port, Olga Marie reveals that Laplace had discovered that a Holy Grail War had taken place in Fuyuki in 2004, in which Saber was victorious, matching the time of Singularity F. It was from this Holy Grail War that Chaldea's Heroic Spirit Summoning System, Fate, was based. Olga Marie speculates that the outcome of the War had changed as part of the Singularity, resulting in the city burning. She reveals that 3 Heroic Spirits were summoned to Chaldea - the first by her father, the second the Heroic Spirit fused with Mash, and the third being Leonardo da Vinci.Mash herself laments being unable to use her Noble Phantasm due to not knowing its True Name (while also explaining the concept of Noble Phantasms to her Master). While Olga Marie notes that the Protagonist will be able to view Mash's Servant data more clearly as their connection grows, she voices her intent to replace them with a first-class Master after the Order's conclusion.
Investigate the Church Ruin
The group reach the ruins of the Fuyuki Church. While Olga Marie continues to muse on the nature of the Singularity, Mash and the Protagonist bond as they rest. However, they are suddenly attacked by a more powerful foe - a Rider-class Servant, darkened by a corrupting shadow. In a desperate fight, the group and Mash manage to defeat the Shadow Servant, Medusa. However, detecting more Servant signatures, the group flee the Church ruins, heavily outclassed.Shadow Servant
The group are chased to Fuyuki Bridge by the approaching enemy Servants - Roman hypothesising that they are the Servants from the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, though now corrupted by unknown means. The pursuer, an Assassin-class Shadow Servant, Hassan of the Cursed Arm, attacks them. Mash successfully fends him off, but is forced back by the arrival of a second Shadow Servant, Lancer, Musashibou Benkei.The group is overwhelmed by the pair, with Mash being injured by Benkei. Suddenly, Mash is rescued by the arrival of a Caster-class Servant - Cú Chulainn, who sides with the group to fend off the Shadow Servants, forging a temporary contract with the Protagonist. Together, they defeat the darkened Hassan and Benkei.
After the battle, they explain the situation to Caster, who explains his own - he was part of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, which suddenly transformed partway through. The city was engulfed in flames, with all humans inside it vanishing, leaving the Servants. In the chaos, Saber restarted the Holy Grail War, defeating all other Servants but Caster in their rampage, causing the defeated to become corrupted by black mud. The defeated Shadow Servants and undead monsters search the city for Caster, seeking to kill him to end the Holy Grail War for Saber.
Seeking to kill Saber (and lamenting that he was not summoned as a Lancer instead), Caster allies with the group over their shared goals with a temporary contract. Hypothesising that Fuyuki's Greater Grail is the source of the Singularity, guarded by Saber, Archer and Berserker, Caster leads the way, while seeking to avoid the Shadow Berserker.
Mash's Training
As they progress and battle their way across the city to the Greater Grail, Mash is saddened at being unable to use her Noble Phantasm. Caster offers to train Mash, and inscribes runes of misfortune on Olga Marie to attract monsters for Mash to fight and trigger her Noble Phantasm in a trial by fire.With the battles giving little result and Mash exhausted, Caster decides to train Mash himself, attacking the Protagonist to force Mash to fight. As they duel, Caster unleashes his Noble Phantasm, Wicker Man, which finally triggers Mash's Noble Phantasm, fully blocking the Wicker Man.
Satisfied and impressed, Caster relents. The group note that Mash activated her Noble Phantasm from sheer will alone to protect her Master; she is still without its True Name. Olga Marie gives Mash's Noble Phantasm the temporary name of "Lord Chaldeas", before Caster duels her one final time.
The Dark Cave
The group descend into the caves under Fuyuki's temple, towards the underground Greater Grail. They encounter the Shadow Archer guarding the cave as gatekeeper - EMIYA, who reveals Saber's True Name as King Arthur, the King of Knights, wielder of the Noble Phantasm Excalibur.Caster and Mash fight and defeat EMIYA together, who cryptically references a Mage of Flowers in regards to Mash's Noble Phantasm before disappearing, before the group press on to the Greater Grail.
Facing the Greater Grail
The group stops to rest, with the Protagonist's body overstressed from the sudden Servant contracts. As they camp and recuperate, defeating the monsters within the cave, Olga Marie reluctantly compliments the Protagonist for their work, and they start to open up - resulting in much teasing from Roman and Mash.Grand Order
The party finally arrive at the Greater Grail, confronting the darkened Saber - Altria Alter, who displays curiosity at Mash's Noble Phantasm. Caster and Mash fight Saber in a final Grand Battle, with Chaldea emerging victorious. In one final attack, Saber unleashes Excalibur Morgan, which Mash manages to completely defend with Lord Chaldeas.Defeated, Saber laments that she failed due to staying her hand at the last moment. Before disappearing, she warns the group that their battle - the Grand Order - has only just begun. With the Holy Grail War over, Caster begins to disappear to his dismay, but not before trusting the rest to the Protagonist (and beckoning them to resummon him as a Lancer).
Olga Marie, while unnerved that Saber knew the name "Grand Order", congratulates them for a mission well done. However, before they can collect Saber's Holy Grail - the source of the Singularity, they are confronted by Lev Lainur, alive and well, who takes the Grail.
Showing his true colours, Lev reveals himself to be the true saboteur behind Chaldea's bombing, who also tried to engineer Roman's death by calling him to the Command Room. Olga Marie, unaware of Lev's betrayal, rushes to meet him. Lev reveals to Olga Marie to her horror that she is in fact already dead, having set the bomb directly under her feet - with only her residual thoughts being Rayshifted into the Singularity by Trismegistus. Noting the irony of her only gaining Rayshift capabilities after losing her physical body, Lev further reveals that returning to Chaldea would cause Olga Marie's consciousness to vanish, killing her for good.
Using the Grail's power, Lev opens a dimensional connection to the Chaldea Command Room, showing Olga Marie the reddened Chaldeas. He taunts her with humanity's imminent incineration, before cruelly allowing Olga Marie to be pulled into Chaldeas itself, dooming her to a painful demise akin to being thrown into a black hole/sun as she futilely pleads for her life, lamenting her lack of accomplishments.
The Protagonist and Mash are unable to reach them, knowing Lev is too powerful, and watch in horror as Olga Marie is murdered by Lev. Lev reintroduces himself as Lev Lainur Flauros, tasked to bring about humanity's destruction in the year 2015 (NA: 2017). He gloats that humanity and its future has already been incinerated like Fuyuki City since Chaldeas' reddening, with Chaldea only surviving due to Chaldeas' magnetic field. There is no outside world remaining - when the time passes 2016 (NA: 2018), Chaldea will too be incinerated.
Lev boasts that humanity's destruction is due to them having lost the grace of "our King", before the cave starts to crumble, the Singularity at its limit - he voices his regret at giving the Grail to Saber, who attempted to preserve Fuyuki instead of obeying him. He bids the Chaldeans farewell, abandoning them to die in the dimensional warp as he attends to other matters.
As Roman attempts to perform an emergency Rayshift to save them, Mash and the Protagonist take each other's hand, a glimpse of Fou being the last thing visible...
Epilogue
The Protagonist awakens back in their room in Chaldea, meeting Fou and Chaldea's third Servant and collaborator - Leonardo da Vinci.They head to the Command Room to reunite with Mash and Dr. Roman. Despite the Fuyuki Singularity being destroyed, Chaldea still stands alone in a world that is already destroyed. With no access to the outside world, Roman briefs them on their new mission in place of the late Director:
Scanning the past with Sheba, a new distortion was discovered at a scale that makes Singularity F pale by comparison - seven Singularities, each at different turning points in human history, each breaking a core foundation of humanity's past, the true source of humanity's destruction in 2016 (NA: 2018).
Their new mission - no longer the First Order, but the Grand Order - is to Rayshift to each of the seven Singularities, retrieve the Holy Grails giving them form, and return history to its proper course, to save humanity.
Tropes:
- Animated Adaptation: A TV movie titled Fate/Grand Order: First Order, with the in-game voice actors naturally reprising their roles. The protagonist is Suddenly Voiced, depicted as male, and his (gender-neutral) Canon Name is established as "Fujimaru Ritsuka".
- Arc Villain: Altria Alter is the main threat of the Prologue, though she is not the cause for it.
- Danger Room Cold Open: The first scene forces the player to complete a tutorial.
- Debut Queue: As is the case for a lot of first episodes, many characters who impact the main plot are introduced to the story. Altria Pendragon Alter, and Cú Chulainn's Caster form are added to the summoning gacha after completing the episode.
- Establishing Series Moment: Although the protagonist solves the Fuyuki singularity, Chaldea has been dealt a massive blow and the world seems unavoidably doomed.
- Evil All Along: Professor Lev appears to be a rather affable person if slightly aloof, but seems to care about Chaldea's mission right up till the moment he reveals that he was the one who bombed the central room.
- Final Boss: Altria Alter holds off on stopping the heroes long enough to become this for the Singularity.
- First-Episode Twist: Mash is a demi-servant, humanity is extinct, the term "Grand Order" means something, and Professor Lev betrays and executes Olga Marie Animusphere.
- Foreshadowing: During his rant, Lev mentions that Humanity has lost the favor of “their” king.
- He also mentions that he specifically wanted Dr Roman to be caught in the blast as well.
- Good Morning, Crono: The protagonist was overstimulated by the entrance simulation and falls asleep from exhaustion, leading Mash and Fou to find them in the hallway.
- Last Bastion: Everything outside of Chaldea's base is gone.
- Optional Boss: Shadow Heracles. It's recommended that the player listen to Caster Cú Chulainn and leave him alone for a long while, as he is well beyond the level your Servants are if you've only completed the story and free quests.
- Pilot: Even though it is treated as a prologue, this episode has to be completed before continuing into the next part of the plot and limited-time events.
- Spanner in the Works: The protagonist falling asleep and getting kicked out of Olga Marie's speech means one Master remains in condition to fight the ensuing threat to humanity. Also, them talking to Dr Roman prevents him from being killed by Lev's trap.
- Survived the Beginning: Olga Marie Animusphere is built up as a major character as the director of Chaldea but gets unceremoniously killed off by the explosion and later permanently disposed of by Professor Lev. The fact that The Protagonist is the only available Master that survives it's quite the Plot Point. Only the player character can unravel the mystery behind the explosion, bond with Servants, and accomplish the task Chaldea was built for in the first place.
- Title Drop: Altria Pendragon Alter mentions the Grand Order to Olga Marie's surprise.
- Virtual Training Simulation: The computer creates a simulation of Altria, Arash, and Cú Chulainn to teach the player the gameplay mechanics. This also has the side effect of making the protagonist incredibly tired, much to the director's annoyance.
- Welcome Episode: The protagonist is the last addition to the Chaldea masters program and virtually has no idea what is going on.
- You Wake Up in a Room: The protagonist enters the simulation and promptly falls unconscious after completing it, leading to their confused awakening in one of Chaldea's hallways.
