Getting off my rear to move this forward. I am sorry it has taken so long to do this.
Vote tally: ##### 3.19
[X] (Shirou) …encountered a recruit to Iskander's army his own age that took most of the year for them to warm up to each other. No. of votes: 1 o3o
[X] (Illyasviel) …spent a large amount of time working with the immigrant leaders to insert herself into Uminari's immigrant politics. No. of votes: 1 Zaratustra
[X] (Illyasviel) …spoke with Yggdmillennia about how the Fuyuki Grail was corrupted. No. of votes: 3 veekie, wingstrike96, LostDeviljho
[X] (Illyasviel) …spent a large amount of time working with the immigrant leaders to insert herself into Uminari's immigrant politics. No. of votes: 1 Zaratustra
...Ah, it seems I've come across a problem. While most of the tally is fine, I can't make heads or tails of Hayate's focuses for the year, and those pieces that I can make sense of lead to more ties than I can work with.
...Ah, it seems I've come across a problem. While most of the tally is fine, I can't make heads or tails of Hayate's focuses for the year, and those pieces that I can make sense of lead to more ties than I can work with.
Well, Hayate's did say to pick 6. Looks like the initial tally has at least one Magecraft Theory and at least one Arithmetic locked in for her and a ton of ties for the other 4 slots. Dibs on breaking that, I'll edit this post in a few minutes, after I decide.
Preference would have been to go triple on Magecraft theory, but I guess I'll go for having her teach some cooking basics to the other non-Shirou members of the family.
First Obrigatory " IT LIVESSS !!!!" and let's hope that this time it stay alive.
Second, @justinkal could you maybe elaborate why you favor doubling down on Magecraft (Which she probably won't be using much in the short term) over guns and thus giving her some degree of self-defence ability ?
First Obrigatory " IT LIVESSS !!!!" and let's hope that this time it stay alive.
Second, @justinkal could you maybe elaborate why you favor doubling down on Magecraft (Which she probably won't be using much in the short term) over guns and thus giving her some degree of self-defence ability ?
I'll post the results within a few days, but I must warn you: unless I can come up with more information somewhere, one action that was chosen did not go as well as you might have hoped.
The year was a relatively quiet one for your family. At least, compared to some of the noisier years you have had recently.
Maiya remained in prison for most of the year, while you split your time between guarding Minaka (or a body-double of him at times, depending on how paranoid he was that day) and teaching Moonlit Classes to the masses in one of the MBI buildings that Minaka had generously provided for that purpose, while Irisviel worked on a manga specifically requested by the JSDF while working on researching a cure for Hayate's failing body.
While Yggdmillennia got themselves settled in Uminari, Illya spoke with their leader, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia, about the Fuyuki Grail. The man had been looking forward to the next Grail War, but Illya's warnings made him decide to send a few members of the Clan to check the Grail.
The sent members instead sent a few homunculi to do the actual examination, the members of the clan staying in a nearby hotel to take the reports that homunculi were supposed to bring back. No homunculi returned with any reports, raising more eyebrows from the heads of Yggdmillenia.
While the details were uncertain, what they had learned was that something was up with the Grail. With the news, Darnic relented that there might be something wrong with the Grail, in that it might be tainted, but he'd have to get an actual report of the Grail from his men before he took action. Yggdmillenia would be investigating the matter further at Prestone's insistence at later dates.
The JSDF was very pleased with the manga that Irisviel put out on their request. Moonlit World: Thus the JSDF Fought There, while not a bestseller, proved interesting and relevant enough to make a profit. The manga described how a fictional version of the Japanese Self-Defense Force fought against a magus who had received a Sealing Designation for turning himself into a Dead Apostle, and how the JSDF stopped his plans enough that he was forced to flee.
In between cooking lessons and drawing the manga, Irisviel started researching ways to try to fix Hayate's limited lifespan. The girl seemed to originally have no circuits, but experiments from the now dead Mrs. Nakamura had granted a few dozen circuits to Hayate at the cost of Hayate's health and lifespan. Thanks to a series of events, those circuits were made unable to channel prana. The TSAB and Mid-Childa have methods of replacing limbs with artificial armor limbs, but in order for those to work, one would need a working source of prana for the user. Purely mechanical limbs reverse-engineered from the Mid-Childa armor may allow the user to walk without problems, but those were still a couple years away at least.
Of course, the real problem was with her body rather than her limbs. Despite Irisviel's research, she discovered no ways meant to help deal with this problem of Hayate's that could actually work. The only way that would work and wouldn't cause people to point at Hayate calling her a monster would be convincing the Puppetmaster to give Hayate a puppet body for her to use.
Doing said convincing, on the other hand, would cost you a lot out of your stretched pocketbook; the price she set on such a body was likely set to see you hyperventilate, and would probably require years of investment you don't have.
Maiya, once she was finally released from prison, was unable to get employment in most places. Lacking options, she went to work as an English translator, translating printed media from the language to Japanese and vice versa. Irisviel gave Maiya something to do by having her translate the manga she was working on, enabling Irisviel to reach more audiences at a lower cost. This enabled the United States in particular to read it, whom desperately needed a moral boost after their setbacks against Nix.
With the children, Illya spent some time explaining magecraft to Kuro and Miyu. While she refrained from teaching her two youngest sisters how to use it, she did inform them of common mysteries magi used. Illya also spent time speaking to several prominent community members, despite the increase in hostility against magi, and continued her research into understanding key elements of the moonlit world, especially factions that might turn against Uminari in a moment if a single slip up occurred.
Shirou took up Kendo again, getting into a backup for his school's Kendo team. He almost made it into their Kyudo team instead, but feeling that he had mastered Kyudo to the point where he couldn't improve any further, he dropped out of the Kyudo club, ruining the team captain's dream of a first place team in the school district the very day he was set to ask Shirou to join them.
Hayate seemed to be in a difficult position throughout the year. Her intelligence put her amid those older than her, and due to being adopted into a magus family, few people wanted to speak with her. Compounded with her disability, she would have spent all of her time outside of school at home if Shirou hadn't gone with her and took her to meet a few members of the community. On one of those trips together, they ran into a recruit to Iskander's army, a girl their age by the name of Sayaka Miki.
Hayate was amused, but Shirou and Sayaka really grated on each other's nerves.
Because of the similarities between Sayaka and Shirou, Hayate made a loose friendship with the girl, while Shirou and Sayaka had difficulties getting along.
At home, Hayate listened to Illya's lectures on magecraft to both Kuro and Miyu, even taking a look at the magecraft books your family possessed. While tensions between your two elder daughters are starting to rise, mainly on Illya's side, Hayate did learn some from her, and even returned the favor by teaching the household as best as she could how to use the stove.
Sadly, you seem to be unable to cook anything, while Irisviel learned the basics. You finally have an adult cook in the house, even if she seems happy to leave it to others.
In college, Taiga continued her studies in English, but an incident on her campus caused her and Ruby to divert some attention from her continuing education. On the bright side, Ruby seems to be getting to be put to use, contrary to Sapphire, which just seems to sulk in Illya's hair.
World-wide, the magi of the world started to make significantly more strides against the mundane governments. The Kingdom of Nix claimed several more chunks of the state of California away from the United States, expanding as more magi seeking freedom from mundane meddlers immigrated to it. Officially, the captured sections are still part of the United States of America, while unofficially, the remaining parts of the United States are using the Kingdom as a training ground for their military… which are suffering surprising losses against the magi due to many clever combinations of mysteries. The United Nations is starting to debate whether or not to recognize Nix as their own country, and, if so, whether to welcome them to the United Nations or to keep them out.
In London, the Clock Tower lost patience and broke through the United Kingdom's army lines, claiming not only lives on both sides, but also claiming six months of field rations, five supermarkets worth of food, a significant amount of bottled water, and, surprisingly, twelve-dozen fluorescent lights and a few dozen potted berry plants before the remaining magi of the Clock Tower retreated back underground with their spoils.
Egypt was completely taken over by Atlas with the use of a powerful mystic code they found, and then quickly put up walls to keep people from entering or leaving the country. Atlas held no further interest in expanding further, content to be left alone to continue to try to avert the end of the world.
An end of the world they claim you sped up.
In a stunning move, Altrouge Brunestud, the Ninth of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, went on a rampage against the Russian government in Moscow after Russia used a series of six nuclear weapons on itself to kill Primate Murder, the First of the Dead Apostle Ancestors. Two of the weapons missed entirely due to faulty information, and millions of people died, but four nuclear weapons were able to finish the target off.
The downsides: not only does Russia now lack a central government, it now appears that the White Princess is now known as the 'Radioactive Princess'. There is also the growing fear of faster climate change.
Japan is relatively untouched in this World War so far, mainly because no one seems to want to provoke the sleeping giants laying in wait. Iskander continues to recruit men and women for his army, encouraging recruits to divert some of the funds from the day jobs of those recruited to help supply the army. The JSDF, bound by treaties to only act in self-defense, slowly continues to grow, with orders from several of their heads to stay out of Uminari unless they had a reason to be there (in fear of Iskander stealing the force). And the TSAB is more concerned with making sure the immigrants are protected and don't cause any problems for the locals.
Closer to home, late in the year, Yuuno came to you with a problem. The Command Seals he possessed from the last Grail War had become active again, and with the disappearance of the Yggdmillenia homunculi scouts, he believes that the next Grail War will be nothing like the one he participated in. While he has picked up a few new tricks with demon summoning, he feels he needs more advantages for the next war, preferably a class and catalyst that won't put him one step behind everyone else in power.
Then you received a message from Kyoko Sakura from Misaki. According to her, the Incubator that you had warned her about years ago had been spotted in Misaki, and was likely to target both her own sister and Fate. Kyoko wanted to know if you had a method to not only convince both her sister and the girl adopted by the Tsuikimura family to not take the Incubator's deal, but also to make sure it didn't bother them again.
And then the TSAB contacted you to see if you would be interested in doing a small favor for them. One of their top scientists had gone rogue, stole a valuable artifact from Mid-Childa, and disappeared with all of his research. You'd be paid with whatever resources they could scavenge from what remains of Mid-Childa, though they wouldn't be complain if you took out the Cross that was crossing over the entire planet.
Time was running out for yourself; you were nearly out of Grief Seeds, and numerous problems were appearing that had to be dealt with. It wasn't your responsibility to deal with them all, but, like Shirou, you wanted to help everyone.
Heh.
At least you could be realistic about it compared to your son.
Total Costs this Year: 8 Resources, 1 Time
Total Results: +2 Resources (Kiritsugu's Moonlit Classes), +6 Resources (MBI Employment), +4 Resources (Propaganda Manga), +3 Resources (English Translator)
Hayate Yagami and Shirou Emiya are best friends.
Sayaka Miki and Shirou Emiya are unfriendly with each other.
Hayate Yagami and Sayaka Miki are loose friends.
Hayate Yagami and Illyasviel von Einzbern are unfriendly with each other.
Currencies: 7 Resources, 1 Time
Expected Upkeep: 10 Resources, 1 Time
Local News
Iskander Continues to Recruit
-JSDF and TSAB Limit Contact with Uminari
Emiya Named as Cause of Speeding World's End
Moonlit News
Nix Continues to Grow
Fuyuki Grail Corrupt?
Russia Kills Primate Murder!
Clock Tower Reinforces Position
Atlas Takes Over Egypt
Global News
Russian Government Collapses
Japan's Economic Turnaround!
TSAB Expresses Interest in Purchasing Uminari
Egyptian Government Takeover
Moral World Losing to Magi?
And then the TSAB contacted you to see if you would be interested in doing a small favor for them. One of their top scientists had gone rogue, stole a valuable artifact from Mid-Childa, and disappeared with all of his research. You'd be paid with whatever resources they could scavenge from what remains of Mid-Childa, though they wouldn't be complain if you took out the Cross that was crossing over the entire planet.
Then you received a message from Kyoko Sakura from Misaki. According to her, the Incubator that you had warned her about years ago had been spotted in Misaki, and was likely to target both her own sister and Fate. Kyoko wanted to know if you had a method to not only convince both her sister and the girl adopted by the Tsuikimura family to not take the Incubator's deal, but also to make sure it didn't bother them again.
Because the police arrested Maiya for forging imigration documents for extraterrestrial refugees, the Enforcers of the Mage Association were about to wipe our home off the map, and I've never seen a Nasu quest or fic in which the masquerade gets completely broken worldwide.
I'm extremely hard pressed to believe that Primate Murder is actually dead. This is the thing that requires a whole team of Counter Guardians just to restrain.
I'm extremely hard pressed to believe that Primate Murder is actually dead. This is the thing that requires a whole team of Counter Guardians just to restrain.
I completely agree with this, Say what you will about nuclear power, Primate Murder is simple to high level a creature for him to even register non-magical damage. Double so because it doesn't make sense for him to perish and the Astrouge survive.
In a stunning move, Altrouge Brunestud, the Ninth of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, went on a rampage against the Russian government in Moscow after Russia used a series of six nuclear weapons on itself to kill Primate Murder, the First of the Dead Apostle Ancestors. Two of the weapons missed entirely due to faulty information, and millions of people died, but four nuclear weapons were able to finish the target off.
Thats...not how it works. Sure, I can imagine Altrouge getting pissed and marching off the kill all of Russia for throwing weapons on her dog, but Primate Murder is in the tier of creatures that are too damn alien and powerful to be harmed by any conventional weapons and meaningfully harmed by most magical means. Just keeping the thing in one place requires the equivalent of an entire Grail War's worth of heroes, all manifested with virtually unlimited fuel backup from the Counter Force itself and no class-based restraints that nerf them like the Servant system.
Suspension Of Disbelief has been broken pretty darn hard.
Thats...not how it works. Sure, I can imagine Altrouge getting pissed and marching off the kill all of Russia for throwing weapons on her dog, but Primate Murder is in the tier of creatures that are too damn alien and powerful to be harmed by any conventional weapons and meaningfully harmed by most magical means. Just keeping the thing in one place requires the equivalent of an entire Grail War's worth of heroes, all manifested with virtually unlimited fuel backup from the Counter Force itself and no class-based restraints that nerf them like the Servant system.
Suspension Of Disbelief has been broken pretty darn hard.
Maybe it isn't actually dead? Maybe nuclear weapons have Anti-World properties? Maybe a bunch of patriotic magi enhanced the nukes for the sake of the glory of great mother Russia?
Right then, I made a mistake. Don't let it be said that I don't listen when enough people call out.
In this case, Primate Murder wasn't killed, but the world thinks that he was due to disappearing off the map after getting hit with the fourth weapon that hit him.
Maybe it isn't actually dead? Maybe nuclear weapons have Anti-World properties? Maybe a bunch of patriotic magi enhanced the nukes for the sake of the glory of great mother Russia?
1. If it turns out that it survived and people just assumed it was dead, that'd be a sufficient saving throw from the author. However, the magical community at large knows better than to believe even for a moment that a killing machine on the level of Type-Mercury was so much as scratched by a plethora of nuclear bombs.
2. That would require magi to know how nuclear weapons/physics work, as well as dabble in mixing their mysteries with technology. Doing so is anathema to them and literally violates traditions they have been raised to follow for centuries.
