The story takes place in an ordinary Japanese town, Fuyuki City. Hidden from society, there has been a deadly war going on in this town. Seven sorcerers known as "Masters" summon a powerful familiar called "Servants" and they all fight each other till the last one. The last one is said to attain the Holy Grail which will grant them a wish. Only a few knows when this War started and what the Holy Grail is, but the war was about to begin again this year.
The main character is Emiya Shirou, who lost his parents in a fire and was adopted by a man who called himself a sorcerer. Admiring his step father, he has been training himself to be a sorcerer. However, he had no talent and he could barely use one type of sorcery. His step father has already passed away, and today he's a sorcerer without any skills or knowledge. He is involved in the War of the Holy Grail when he accidentally summons Saber, who is said to be the strongest servant of all...
War of the Holy Grail, The Rules
- The servants could be any of the 7 classes: Saber, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Lancer, Caster, and Assassin. Not only do they carry powers specialized to that class, all the servants have a power of their own. The servants were initially legendary heroes or warriors in the history of mankind. That is referred as their "True names" and they need to hide it from their enemies, the other masters and servants. This is because if they know their true names, it means it will also reveal their strengths and weaknesses. Also, they each have a special weapon of their own, the Noble Phantasm. It could either be in a form of a physical object or an ability. Even though it has a power to instantly kill their opponent, they need to hide this weapon till the right moment because if they dodge it or another enemy sees them, it would put them at a disadvantage. The combination of the heroes and the classes are random, but those who are skilled in that class are chosen. In other words, this war is a dream battle between the strongest human figures that ever existed, and each of them have unbelievable powers like their legend.
- The sorcerers can choose which servant they want to an extent, by having an artifact related to that servant. They use this artifact in the ritual to summon the servant. All the process of summoning servants is assisted by the almighty Holy Grail. Without it, it is impossible to summon and control something so powerful as the "heroic spirit" of the servants.
- The servants also wants the Holy Grail themselves, that's the reason why they are cooperating with their masters. The servants have the personality and past memories of when they were humans, and that's where that desire comes from. There's something they wanted to, but couldn't do in their life time.
- The masters has a magical tattoo on their arm that will allow them to control their servants. They have a total of 3 tattoos to force and make the servants do some kind of powerful acts that are normally impossible. This is their last resort. If they use up these 3 tattoos, their contract disappears and the servants are free to betray them if they choose to.
- If a master dies, they are obviously out of the race. That's why some masters want to let the servants fight on their own and hide their own identity. However, even if their master dies, their servants remain in the world till their mana runs out. The servants are alive in this world because the masters supply them with mana, which is like food to them. The servants who lost their master can choose to make a contract with a new master...
- If a servant dies, the master is still in the race, but they have nothing to protect them. They can either make a new contract with another servant who lost his master, or run to the manager of the War and seek protection.
- The manager of the war is to manage, and to hide the existence of this war from public. The Mage's association fear their secrets leaking out to society. The manager this time is Kotomine Kirei. Also, the War of the Holy Grail is a sorcerer's ritual, but the Church doesn't think too good of the mages using the power of a "Holy Grail". That is why the manager is a member of the Church.
- There was another War 10 years ago. This war is held periodically in the same town, but only a few knows how it originated. The details of the Holy Grail is also a mystery. It is just said to be almighty and the winner of the War gets to grant a wish with it. All the sorcerers and masters, following the simple rule of hiding the existence of the War from public, just need to find each other and defeat everyone else.
Credits: Evospace (2005)
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More additional info: Saber herself is King Arthur of Camelot and her deadliest opponents is Previous Archer: Gilgamesh, Persian god hero and Berseker aka Hercules, Greek's demigod.
The Church here is same organization that sanctioned Shingeshutan Tsukihime's Ciel Burial Organization, hence Kotomine have same skills as Ciel does.
The mages here also respected and feared Shiki Tohno's mentor, Aoko Aozaki, one of the Five also known Miss Blue Gunner in Tsukihime world. She is the one who gave Shiki the mystic spectacle which block his death lines of perception in the game and anime story.
Jewel Master Zeltrech who is seen in Tsukihime's Prologue Poetry witnessing the birth of Arucied, is also the Headmaster of Sorcery School in Fate/Stay Night. He is also one of the Five.
http://www.typemoon.com/fate/
