Just found this and I admit I very much look forward to catching up on the chapters.
I must say I'm disappointed we couldn't choose Charlemagne as Servant, because he was nothing like he was described in chapter one, but a very forward thinking and secular monarch. To give two examples, he allied with iberian saracens and the Pope was forced to crown him by surprise to assert any sort of power on him.
About that part... it's actually a debated event. In fact, it's quite possible that the Pope was the one to surprise Charlemagne with the crowning, or at the very least, surprised him by being the one doing the crowning - indirectly showing that the Pope was the one with the power to say who was Emperor. (and also a way for him to give the Byzantines the middle finger). All in all, the whole 'emperor' thing might have been a Leon III idea far more than Charlemagne's.
About that part... it's actually a debated event. In fact, it's quite possible that the Pope was the one to surprise Charlemagne with the crowning, or at the very least, surprised him by being the one doing the crowning - indirectly showing that the Pope was the one with the power to say who was Emperor. (and also a way for him to give the Byzantines the middle finger). All in all, the whole 'emperor' thing might have been a Leon III idea far more than Charlemagne's.
Irregularities with the German summon. Not good. Irregularities are something you never want in your grail war.
[X] Sophia Archleonore has all the arrogance and power of a Clocktower brat, a heady, intoxicating mix, which turns downright explosive when confronted with someone whose pride matches her own.
I would rather schrodinger up a prideful enemy than a mysterious one.
I'm been binging all the Omicron stuff I could find, so here's an overly enthusiastic comment about this fic !
[X] The Polish unknowns take you a long time to track down - until they get into a fight with someone just as mysterious as they are. Only the remains of the battle give any indication as to what happened and why.
This quest has an amazing premise, by the way. The Cult of Reason? Amazing!
I'd have voted for the Terror and not Vercingetorix, but her plotline brings up interesting questions about France's history and origins that I love and really should have seen coming. It fits surprisingly well with the more current issues you depict in this story, and the quest's underlying themes, and argh I just love all of this to bits.
Oh, and obviously I'm invested in the actual Grail War plot, even though it hasn't gotten very far yet. All those interesting flashbacks setting the scene have been excellent, but haven't really allowed for that much War progression just yet.
You nod, not fully listening. You take a piece of the confit out of your plate and taste it… It's strange. Good, but strange. Like so much of the food you eat with Dumarais, it feels under-spiced. Not bland, exactly, but rather like someone spent incredible time, effort, and skill, figuring out how to make a combination of bland things into a delicious whole, when it would have been so much easier to simply use proper spices, and then spend the rest of the effort making the meal even better.
Ouch.
This is honestly the most hard-hitting criticism of France in this entire quest. And considering some of the other ones you wrote, this is saying something!
This story has entire chapters about the way french universalist values can be used to legitimize racism, and about the theft of ancient artefacts and monuments. You even bring up the difficulty of "integration" and whether or not it's a desirable end-goal. And while you did a great job with all of those, I've gotta say that it was the food angle that hits the hardest. It's as accurate as the others, but also really unexpected to me!
The American Agent chapter featured them deliberately avoiding that look, which makes this remark even better.
Regarding the Louvre chapter: Wow, that was a tense fight scene. I spent the whole chapter wondering if they'd accidentally burn down the Louvre, and the repeated mentions of pyromancy didn't help my nerves.
Oh, and obviously it was an excellent piece about the restitution of stolen historical artefacts. Great job there.
But I can't help but wonder if returning a deadly golem to a war-torn region will end up causing another moral dilemma for everyone later... After all, one of the big elements of french neocolonialism that gets criticised today are the endless arms shipments/sales which do nothing but further destabilize already war-torn regions, making money for our arms industry and allowing our businesses and diplomats to more easily make downright exploitative deals with the locals. Who'll believe that the French "accidentally" released a tough and deadly golem into a Middle eastern warzone in which our military industry is trying to make sales? The Cult had better hope that Mehdi proudly gets his story out, because the truth merely makes the Cult's internal security look bad, which is better than suggesting that they're using their magical resources to further the most well-known morally dubious elements of french foreign/trade policy. Not great for your image, that.
Well, "there was no good way out for Mademoiselle" was the theme of this chapter, so this theory fits right in!
And IMO having Mehdi escape with the tablet was honestly the best outcome here, even if my wild speculation is correct.
On another note, @Omicron : I know nothing about Fate whatsoever, and yet I've found this quest very understandable and enjoyable. The author's note at the beginning was reassuring. Can I read your Bleach quest despite knowing very little about Bleach, or does it require actual canon knowledge?
On another note, @Omicron : I know nothing about Fate whatsoever, and yet I've found this quest very understandable and enjoyable. The author's note at the beginning was reassuring. Can I read your Bleach quest despite knowing very little about Bleach, or does it require actual canon knowledge?
I have read Number None like three times and I never watched Bleach. Having basic familiarity with the characters makes it easier, especially later on, but it's not required.
On another note, @Omicron : I know nothing about Fate whatsoever, and yet I've found this quest very understandable and enjoyable. The author's note at the beginning was reassuring. Can I read your Bleach quest despite knowing very little about Bleach, or does it require actual canon knowledge?
Thanks for the compliments! I'm always glad to know that my weird story about French wizards actually resonates with other French people.
As for the question outlined in the quote: obviously it's hard for me to tell since I started writing NN with full knowledge of Bleach canon, but I have been told by several of my readers that they hadn't read/watched Bleach before and found it very understandable. In case it isn't, there's a Bleach wiki where you can quickly look up 'who the hell is that dude.' Or have fun comparing the canon fate of some characters who are core cast in NN and basically unimportant in canon Bleach.
Also, this Quest is not dead, just on hiatus. I know where I'm going with this but my focus is scattered these days.
Oh, and obviously it was an excellent piece about the restitution of stolen historical artefacts. Great job there.
But I can't help but wonder if returning a deadly golem to a war-torn region will end up causing another moral dilemma for everyone later... After all, one of the big elements of french neocolonialism that gets criticised today are the endless arms shipments/sales which do nothing but further destabilize already war-torn regions, making money for our arms industry and allowing our businesses and diplomats to more easily make downright exploitative deals with the locals. Who'll believe that the French "accidentally" released a tough and deadly golem into a Middle eastern warzone in which our military industry is trying to make sales? The Cult had better hope that Mehdi proudly gets his story out, because the truth merely makes the Cult's internal security look bad, which is better than suggesting that they're using their magical resources to further the most well-known morally dubious elements of french foreign/trade policy. Not great for your image, that.
Well, "there was no good way out for Mademoiselle" was the theme of this chapter, so this theory fits right in!
And IMO having Mehdi escape with the tablet was honestly the best outcome here, even if my wild speculation is correct.
I will say that the Cult's unusual for how involved it is in non-magical policy. Most Mages really don't give a shit except insofar as it effects them and their research.
look, your reincarnation gets positive points if you update this quest, so you are literally causing your future self to suffer by keeping this quest on hiatus
I will say that the Cult's unusual for how involved it is in non-magical policy. Most Mages really don't give a shit except insofar as it effects them and their research.
The US has its mages outright under government purview and whose goals are the advancement of their country. Even the Clock Tower has an entire department that is all about that and has contacts in both the MI5 and Scotland Yard.
The Cult is actually not that unusual all things considered.
The US has its mages outright under government purview and whose goals are the advancement of their country. Even the Clock Tower has an entire department that is all about that and has contacts in both the MI5 and Scotland Yard.
The Cult is actually not that unusual all things considered.
That said, the degree to which the Cult seems to have... infiltrated? Became symbiotic with? The French govt. apparatus seems fairly unique. Policies is interested in MI5 and SY in asmuch as it lets them fulfil their goals, which are preservation of Mystery and advancement of the Clocktower. Magic CIA (even dumber than regular CIA) are straight up just another arm of the US' Alphabet Soup agencies.
And your average CT magus isn't that interested in mundane politics, comparative to the Cult, which is super deeply enmeshed in them.
That said, the degree to which the Cult seems to have... infiltrated? Became symbiotic with? The French govt. apparatus seems fairly unique. Policies is interested in MI5 and SY in asmuch as it lets them fulfil their goals, which are preservation of Mystery and advancement of the Clocktower. Magic CIA (even dumber than regular CIA) are straight up just another arm of the US' Alphabet Soup agencies.
And your average CT magus isn't that interested in mundane politics, comparative to the Cult, which is super deeply enmeshed in them.
I would argue against American mages being simply an agency. They had enough funding to build their own city, have a direct line to at least one US Army general, and want the Grail for the glory of America. Even the Cult has an actual ideology, rationality and Enlightenment, and isn't solely pan-Europeanist, while the Americans are just nationalists and seem way more politically involved.
I would argue against American mages being simply an agency. They had enough funding to build their own city, have a direct line to at least one US Army general, and want the Grail for the glory of America. Even the Cult has an actual ideology, rationality and Enlightenment, and isn't solely pan-Europeanist, while the Americans are just nationalists and seem way more politically involved.
The Cult's competence just reflects poorly on them, huh. By the third day, the Cult has identified the likely participants in the Holy Grail War with only one pair being unknown elements, and they won their first battle significantly injuring the opposing party.
By contrast, the Americans lost 5 out of their 6 planned Masters, one Master was a vampire who got in somehow, and his Servant tried to kill him and now roams the city trying to stop the ritual. And that's all on the first day. The following days see a Servant speaking on national television, a fight in the desert visible from space, a sentient plague kidnapping people, members of the Senate and Congress being killed by a Servant, and a supernatural hurricane heading to the city.
Say what you will about the Cult, but at least they got their shit together.
The Cult's competence just reflects poorly on them, huh. By the third day, the Cult has identified the likely participants in the Holy Grail War with only one pair being unknown elements, and they won their first battle significantly injuring the opposing party.
By contrast, the Americans lost 5 out of their 6 planned Masters, one Master was a vampire who got in somehow, and his Servant tried to kill him and now roams the city trying to stop the ritual. And that's all on the first day. The following days see a Servant speaking on national television, a fight in the desert visible from space, a sentient plague kidnapping people, members of the Senate and Congress being killed by a Servant, and a supernatural hurricane heading to the city.
Say what you will about the Cult, but at least they got their shit together.
Fair point, but consider this: a thing like false rider should not be possible unless you were actively trying to fuck up. Even the most incompetent mages got servants who were at some point either a person or a caricature of a person.
To clarify my original point was that the fate strange fake grail war we've been talking about is actually a competently run event because things don't go this wrong unless you're trying, which the american government is in this situation.
Fair point, but consider this: a thing like false rider should not be possible unless you were actively trying to fuck up. Even the most incompetent mages got servants who were at some point either a person or a caricature of a person.
As long as it doesn't turn out that Dumarais and co. brought in a body-jumping serial killer who eats people with a mouth on her stomach, we should be fine, then. Regular - relative to a Grail War - levels of fuckery going on.
(Yes, that is who the Magic CIA brought in to help them recreate an already highly volatile magical ritual. See what I mean about them being even dumber than the regular CIA?)
To be fair, in this story the CIA seem to be unexpectedly competent.
Their initial reaction to the whole plan was "we'll stand WAAAAAAAAAAAAY over here outside the blast zone and shout helpful advice to whoever we want to win, but hell if we're getting directly involved. Don't stick it in crazy. And if you absolutely MUST stick it in the crazy, use a missile, from over the horizon."
Fair point, but consider this: a thing like false rider should not be possible unless you were actively trying to fuck up. Even the most incompetent mages got servants who were at some point either a person or a caricature of a person.
To clarify my original point was that the fate strange fake grail war we've been talking about is actually a competently run event because things don't go this wrong unless you're trying, which the american government is in this situation.
