Years have passed since Lord El Melloi II dismantled the Greater Grail of Fuyuki City. The system was completely torn apart, the pieces scattered across the world on the winds, and the practice forbidden. It was thought the barbaric tradition of the Holy Grail War had finally been put to rest. It would have been nice if that was the truth.
Archwood City, USA. A bustling island metropolis, located somewhere along the coast of California. Something here happened recently. An anomaly. Something that never should have occurred. At least not on its own. A new Holy Grail War has begun spontaneously, with no outside interference. What's worse, the system is irregular. Servants can now be summoned in numbers exceeding the original seven. Normal people and magi alike are being snatched off the street to fill the Grail's need for new Masters. A Servant, Jeanne d'Arc of the Ruler class, has been assigned the role of Overseer, with no prior appointment from the Church. And what's most alarming are the rumors. Rumors circulating that the Grail the Ruler speaks of may in fact be the genuine article.
There's a storm brewing over Archwood City. It will only be by good fortune that anyone is left alive when it passes.
The forum RP meant to succeed the wildly popular Fate/Festival of Epics, Fate oath/alternative is an ambitious project headed by RagnaTheSaviour, and co-GMed by KSPAM and the former head GM of Festival of Epics, daltar. The RP proved to be just as successful as its predecessor, signups filling up quickly. Within two months, the RP had already begun, and reached over 1000 posts.
The RP moves quickly, and new Servants and Masters are always welcomed. Canon Servants are, barring a few notable exceptions, allowed, although OCs are preferred for both Masters and Servants. You can find the signups here.
For any questions, the discussion is open and available to all who are considering/currently participating.
This forum RPG contains the following tropes:
- Abandoned Laboratory: The aptly named Abandoned Mansion, home to a Dead Apostle and the Servant Rider, otherwise known as the Black Death.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The Archwood Underground, roughly based on the real life Seattle Underground.
- Alternate Universe: While never outright stated, it's implied this world is a different one than the one shown in Fate/stay night. This is most likely due to the creators wanting to keep certain conflicting canon details ambiguous.
- Amusement Park of Doom: The area around the Hall of Mirrors, which conceals Evander's Elaborate Underground Base.
- Angst Nuke: The Black Knight, who reduced a McDonald's to smoldering rubble in a fit of rage. Poor McDonalds...
- Break the Cutie: Perseus does this to Jeanne via speech, and The Black Knight does this to Jeanne via Angst Nuke in the middle of the city. Let's just say that Jeanne isn't taking it well.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Not a person, but Jeanne's church doors have been brutalized by every Servant to swing by. And the doors suffer a fatal blow, courtesy of Perseus.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The Black Knight, whose entire purpose as a Servant is to play the role of villain, both in an in-story and meta-perspective.
- The Chew Toy: Spartacus, who has so far been stabbed in the gut, set on fire, flayed alive, slashed deep in the side, speared in multiple places by bloody lances, set on fire again, and smashed in the face with a maul. He's still going.
- Crapsack World: Or at least a crapsack city. Needless to say, with the presence of more than twenty highly destructive nature spirits on very loose and lazily-minded leashes, Archwood is quickly becoming a very scary place to live.
- Establishing Character Moment: Spartacus' first fight, in which we learn the depths of his dedication to his... unique ideology. Also, Jesse gets one when she summons Perseus and immediately follows it up by raping him.
- From Bad to Worse: First the Black Knight causes mass destruction, and then Snake blows up the Atlus spire on the First Day. Things couldn't possible go more wrong, right?
- Cue the morning of the Second Day, where Aaron becomes a Dead Apostle, a large horde of undead are unleashed upon the city upon Kaleb's death, and Jack The Ripper gains a somewhat mortal body. It's also implied that there's even more to come.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Taken literally with Perseus after facing Medusa. Somewhat justified by the fact that when he went to slay Medusa, she was a horror-inducing Eldritch Abomination who's very appearance could lead to Mind Rape. It's a miracle he isn't a Berserker.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Orit, on the spear of her Servant no less. Though he didn't mean to.
- Gorn: Whenever Jack or Kaleb are around people, you can expect this to inevitably happen within the next couple of seconds.
- Kill It with Fire: A side effect of Khan's whip, which is basically white hot razor wire.
- Ley Line: Archwood is covered by a unusually large web of them, and places where they cross are strategically useful in the War. Jeanne lists off a few locations where they intersect, such as Brunestudland, the Abandoned Manor, and Brine Beach. Also, supposedly, the Grail will materialize at the spot where every single line meets.
- Mighty Glacier: Over the course of the War, Shapur the Great has taken attacks from Diomedes, Khan's mongol soldiers and Khan's golden whip. He only felt the last one.
- As of the ghetto melee, he was finally dealt a blow that put him out of a fight, almost for good. Courtesy of Enkidu, of course, which really just serves to show how tough Shapur actually is.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Robin Hood kills Kaleb. To elaborate, it was originally thought that he was the one The Dead were tied to, when they were actually tied into his grimoire. Now that he's dead, the Dead who were all under his control and calmly carrying out his tasks are now mindlessly attacking the city and all its people through pure instinct. To top it all off, Jack The Ripper has also been granted a slightly mortal body.
- Night of the Living Mooks: Genghis Khan can summon groups of undead mongols.
- Shout-Out: A number of locations in Archwood are this to the original Fate/stay night and its prequel, Fate/Zero. Take for instance the seafood restaurant Okeanos or the jewelry store, The King's Treasury.
- Succubi and Incubi: Jesse, who is more than 7/8 succubus.
- Troll: Scáthach as well, who's even gone so far as to outright admit she loves getting a reaction out of people (usually her Master).
- Unskilled, but Strong: Aaron has no fighting skills, but that doesn't matter when he's practically a Dead Apostle. He can throw park benches with little effort and clot his blood in seconds through the use of his biomancy.
- Wham Episode: Midnight of the first day. Up until then, things had been relatively light-hearted. Then Snake bombed the Atlas Spire.
