Rider

OOC Information:
Name: Peter
Are you over 15? As of ten years ago.
Contact: Email (peter [at] spatula [dot] ca), AIM or plurk at pikabot

IC Information:
Name: Her preincarnation name was Rider, and her true name was Medusa. Yes, that Medusa. Her name when reincarnated will be Alexa Vasko.
Canon and medium: Fate/Stay Night, visual novel.
Age: Her preincarnation age was...sort of thousands of years old, but a lot of that was spent disjointed from the time steam so...really flippin' old, is the point. Reincarnated, she is twenty-six years old.
Preincarnation Species: Goddess/Gorgon/Heroic Spirit/Servant...she's worn a lot of hats over the years.
Preincarnation Appearance: Usually she looks like this, with her mask off like this, but she also has a more normal look.
Any differences: She'll look pretty much exactly like her civilian look linked above, except with brown hair of a more reasonable length. Still long, just...not all the way to the floor.
Preincarnated History: NOTE: Her full backstory prior to being summoned for the Fifth Holy Grail War is related in a sequel VN, Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. Unfortunately, this has not yet been fully translated. What I have here is summarized from a wiki summary, but the Fate wiki is notoriously unreliable. Therefore, I'm marking it as headcanon even though it comes from a canonical source, for the time being.

In life, Rider was the monster Medusa from Greek mythology, although the Fate/Etc. universe's version of the myth varies from the original it's based on. Medusa, along with her sisters Stheno and Euryale, were born out of a desire for idealized Gods to worship, as opposed to the flawed and selfish Olympian pantheon. Unlike her sisters, however, Medusa was mortal, and cursed with Mystic Eyes of Petrification, which froze any who perceived her and were within her field of view. Because of this, Medusa was teased and bullied by her sisters. At some point she was given a Pegasus by Poseidon.

The real troubles began when Athena, jealous of their beauty, convinced their worshippers to attack them, likely sexually (given both the nature of the classical Medusa myth and that it's implied that her backstory is strikingly similar to Matou Sakura's). They were forced to take refuge on the Shapeless Isle, where Medusa grew colder and more hateful towards humanity, and began to take pleasure in killing the men who invaded to try and get her sisters. Her name became an object of terror throughout the land, and just as the people's wishes had given birth to the Gorgon sisters, their fear of her twisted her into a monster, amplifying her bloodthirst and warping her appearance. Her sisters, aware that though their bullying of her had partially caused this, regretfully allowed her to consume them both. Medusa, now the Gorgon of legend, rampaged until she was killed by the demigod Perseus, who approached her with a magic mirror to protect against her Mystic Eyes and cut off her head.

Upon death, Medusa is classified by the world as a Heroic Spirit, one who has accomplished great things and is worthy of preservation. Instead of reincarnation into another mortal life, her soul is stored in the Throne of Heroes, a spiritual dimension outside of the normal flow of time, to be summoned as needed for the preservation of the world. Meanwhile, on Earth, thousands of years pass.

Two hundred years ago, in Fuyuki City in Japan, three families of mages come together to perform a ritual that would produce for them the legendary Holy Grail, which can grant any wish. The Tohsaka family provide the land on which to perform the ritual, the Einzbern family the vessel for the Holy Grail, and the Makiri family provide the binding spells necessary. The ritual summons into the world seven Heroic Spirits, bound to seven different mages. Because the power required to summon even a single Heroic Spirit directly would possibly be beyond the capabilities of the Grail itself, these seven Spirits are housed in special vessels similar to character classes from an RPG, which constrain and modify the Heroic Spirit's power: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. Thus formed, these summoned spirits are called Servants, and their respective mages Masters. But although seven pairs of Masters and Servants are involved in the creation of the Holy Grail, only one of them may acquire the legendary cup. And so the ritual became known as the Holy Grail War, with Servants and Masters battling to the death for possession of the Grail.

Four of these Wars take place, each time without result; two hundred years pass without any mage managing to acquire the Grail. During that time, the Makiri - now Matou - family fall onto hard times, with magic being essentially bred out of the family line. The only members of the family able to work magic are an estranged son who wants no part of the family business, and Makiri Zouken, the very same man who laid the foundations for the War two hundred years ago, kept alive artificially through dark magic. Zouken, having no intention of letting his family line run out, convinces the head of the Tohsaka household to adopt one of his daughters, Sakura, into the Matou family, as is common practice among mage families. Zouken then forces Sakura to undergo grueling training and horrific modification in order to serve as a true heir to the Matou magic. This process traumatizes her deeply, as does the regular physical and sexual abuse she endures at the hands of her adoptive older brother, Shinji.

When it comes time for the Fifth Holy Grail War, Zouken makes Sakura summon a Servant and serve as the family's representative. The Heroic Spirit she summons is Medusa, as a Rider. Because of Sakura's unwillingness and noncombative nature, however, Zouken agrees to Shinji's demands to act as the Matou Master, and detached one of the Command Spells that gives a Master control over their Servant from Sakura's body, letting him command Rider.

While he commands her actions, however, he commands neither her loyalty nor respect. As tends to be the case, Sakura summoned a Servant similar to her, and so Rider was immediately extremely sympathetic and loyal towards her. This only made her distaste for her ersatz Master thicken. It is also strongly implied by the text that Shinji took advantage of his power over her for sexual gratification. Despite this, as he held a Command Spell and she had been ordered by her proper Master to obey him so long as he held it, she has no choice but to rigorously obey his orders.

Shinji's Mastership presented practical problems as well: Normally, a Master is supposed to provide their Servant with a supply of magical energy with which to fight and maintain their existence. However, with Shinji in command, her connection to Sakura is distorted, and even if she could draw power over the ad hoc contract with Shinji, he has no magical energy to give. The result is that she is able to fight with only a fraction of her true power, and has to take steps to acquire her own supply of magical energy; namely, by using Blood Fort Andromeda (see abilities) to attempt to melt down a whole school's worth of people and convert them into magical energy.

In two of the three routes, this is about as far as Rider's story goes. In Fate route, she confronts the protagonist, Emiya Shirou, and his Servant, Saber, several times, culminating in her defeat and death at Saber's hands. In Unlimited Blade Works, she is killed moments after activating Blood Fort Andromeda, her head exploded by a surprise attack from behind by Souichiro Kuzuki. However, in the final route, Heaven's Feel, she plays a much more significant (and interesting!) role, and so it is from there that I will primarily draw.

In this timeline, Saber defeats Rider handily near the beginning of the war. However, she is not killed. Instead, after Shinji tries to force her to fight while badly wounded, Zouken appeared and burned the book that represented his control over her, allowing her to shift into spirit form and escape to heal. Rider is later dispatched by Sakura to protect Shirou (the protagonist), who Sakura does not want harmed. Here, answering commands from her rightful Master, she exhibits power and grace far exceeding her previous appearances, shocking Shirou as she quickly wounds and drives off the spirit Assassin.

However, Shinji is not content to sit on the sidelines. He forces Sakura to yield another one of her Command Spells to him, creating a new book and placing him in command of Rider again. After just sort of lurking around and not doing much for a while, he abducts Sakura and uses her as a hostage to pull Shirou out of his house and to the school alone. Then he has Rider activate Blood Fort Andromeda, trapping Shirou inside and forcing him to find and confront Shinji. He then holds Sakura at knifepoint, while using Rider to slowly beat Shirou to death.

Rider, however, does not like this one bit. She rankles at Shinji's control, certainly does not appreciate him threatening her true Master, and knows that it would hurt Sakura if Shirou were to die. So, while she cannot not resist his orders entirely, she twists them, arranging things so that Shirou can break free and get Sakura away from Shinji. Shortly after he does, Rin arrives with Archer and wounds Rider. Shinji again tries to force Rider to fight, but Sakura, finally driven to action, intervenes and destroys his book/Command Spell. With it destroyed, Rider reverts to Sakura's control once again. She is instantly healed by the influx of magical energy, and Sakura is revealed as the true Master and successor to the Matou family's magic. Shinji tries to force her to grant him another book, but she could not use her final Command Spell in that way, as the previous two only worked because her contract with Rider was still in effect, and using her final Command Spell will break that contract. He then tries to force Sakura to fight in his place, but she refuses. Finally, he breaks her earring, splashing a poison planted within it (designed to control her) over her face, and runs.

There's a lot of really technical and frankly pretty repulsive stuff describing exactly what's going on in Sakura's body at this point, but I won't bore/repulse you with the details. The point is, that poison sets her body off, and now she needs to feed on magical energy to survive. Blood Fort Andromeda's effects only intensify with Sakura in charge, and Rider declares her intention to save her Master's life by feeding her Shirou and Rin. Rider and Archer clash, with neither able to gain a clear upper hand, until Rider removes her mask, revealing her Mystic Eyes of Petrification and with them, her identity. All three - Rin, Archer, and Shirou - are frozen stiff by the sight, and are left at Sakura's mercy. Sakura unconsciously lashes out with a powerful tendril of magic, attracted to Rin (who is by far the stronger of the two mages), but Shirou manages to move just enough to push her out of the way and take the hit instead. Shocked, Sakura manages to reassert control over herself and shut herself down, collapsing to the ground and needing intense medical care in order to survive the night.

For the next part of the story, Rider plays little role. She is present, but mostly watches over Sakura in spirit form, materializing only when absolutely necessary, as any use of her requires magical energy from Sakura - energy she can scarcely afford to give. She is sent out by Sakura to protect Shirou when he's walking into the mouth of the lion at one point, but is by and large an invisible presence. Her most important scene in this period is when she asks of Shirou whether he will be on Sakura's side and protect her, no matter what. This is a question of no small import, because Sakura's illness will eventually lead to her losing control again, and when that happens probably a lot of people will die. In fact, a lot of people are dying right now, as Sakura's shadow is wandering into town by night and casually hoovering up people, all of which she remembers only as nightmarish dreams. (It's not clear how much of this Rider is aware of - nobody else (except maybe Ilya) does, including Sakura herself.) Shirou is unable to answer the question.

When Shirou does become aware that Sakura is the shadow that's been hoovering up innocent people, he made his way to her bedside, intending to kill her while she slept, in order to prevent the coming tragedy. If he tries to actually go through with it, Rider kills him immediately. If he cannot bring himself to go through with it, she reveals herself to him, confirms that she would have killed him if he had chosen otherwise, and reaffirms that despite the cost involved, she is still loyal to Sakura - and still dedicated to keeping her alive.

With the last of her sanity ebbing out, Sakura summons Rider to her side and uses her last Command Spell to command her to protect Shirou from harm. Although this technically ends their contract, Rider still continues to act as her Servant, obeying even the frankly humiliating order of pretending to be her in bed while Sakura snuck out, and then of preventing Rin from following her once the deception was discovered.

Speaking of Sakura sneaking out, that's the exact point at which Sakura goes totally nuts and gives in fully to her dark side. She returns to the house, does a bunch of nasty stuff, and almost kills Shirou, but Rider, obeying Sakura's final command, intervenes and rescues him. Ilya convinces Sakura to take her and leave instead of killing them, and Rider takes Shirou and Rin to the church to be treated. Rider vanishes from the story at this point, presumably watching silently over Sakura as she goes about her plans to yadda yadda yadda you get the picture.

She reappears as Shirou is making preparations for the final assault on Sakura's makeshift fortress at the heart of the grail system. She is still serving as Sakura's protector, but Sakura is nearing the point of self-destruction. When Shirou answers her earlier question by saying that he intends to save Sakura, not kill her, and that he is on Sakura's side until the end, she agrees to form an alliance with him. Together, they make a plan to overcome Saber Alter, Sakura's formidable guard, who would otherwise frankly grind Rider down into dust.

Shirou, Rin, and Rider make their way under the mountain. Saber Alter appears before them, allowing Rin to pass but not the other two. Rider and Saber fight, and Saber has a clear advantage: she is stronger, more durable, and her wounds heal almost instantly. With the near-infinite mana supply from Sakura, Saber Alter seems all but invincible. Rider's only advantage is in her speed, but even that is quickly decreasing as she tires. Finally, she sinks to her knees, seemingly defeated...except that this was a fake-out. When Saber moves to finish her off, Rider wraps her legs in her chains and thrusts her daggers into the ground, trapping her while Rider retreat all the way across the cavern. Saber is only bound for a few seconds, but that moment is enough. Rider activates Bellerophon, summoning her mount, and prepares to charge. Saber, seeing it coming, prepares her own Noble Phantasm, a blackened version of Excalibur. The two meet in a clash of brilliant light and overwhelming shadow. The victory should have been clearly Saber's, but Shirou, who until this point had simply stood and watched, intervened according to their plan. He projected Rho Aius, Hector's unbreakable shield, and protected Rider with it. It was only an imperfect copy, but it served to offset Excalibur's dark light enough for Rider to penetrate and connect. Both Servants were thrown backwards, heavily wounded. Shirou made his way over to where Saber was already in the process of healing her injuries, and finished her off. He goes on ahead while she recovers fromt he fight.

When she catches up, Shirou's solved everything, and but Sakura and Rin are lying unconscious on the ground. She agrees to take the girls and get out, while he destroys the Holy Grail and what's inside of it. She says that she will return to get him as well, but they both know that he's going to be dead by then.

In the epilogue of the good ending, Rider has been living with Sakura and Shirou ever since the end of the Grail War. Sakura is keeping her in this world with her magic, and they live all live a pretty normal existence together. Rider does not appear in the pretty-good-but-not-the-best ending. And that's all, and if you've actually managed to read this far without crossing your eyes and weeping, I congratulate you. Fate does not lend itself well to summary.

Reincarnated History: Alexa is the child of second-generation Greek immigrants. Her grandparents came to Locke City as laborers, and by the time of her grandfather's death he had managed to establish a carwash business, which he then passed on to Alexa's father. Alexa's father had worked in the family business most of his life until then, and taking the reins only made him work more tirelessly than before, almost to the point of spending more time at the car wash than with his family.

Alexa's mother came from the same Greek community, and they met in high school. They began dating in grade twelve, and continued doing so after graduation, when he went off to work in the family business, and she went to college. Unfortunately, her degree was cut short when, midway through her third year, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant with Alexa. The two were hastily married, and when Alex awas born her mother chose to stay hom with her, rather than returning to finish her degree. She was always talking about going back to school and finishing, but never seemed to be able to find the time for it, even after Alexa was out of the house, and Alexa strongly suspects she never will.

Alexa was their only child, and was always a quiet, bookish girl. She took to reading at a young age, and would quite happily sit around the house all day with her nose in a book. Her shyness and her unusual height, however, made her a prime target for bullying, which occurred throughout most of middle school and much of the way through high school. This wasn't anything extreme or Lifetime-Channel-Movie-worthy, but it only made her more withdrawn and shy.

After high school, her parents paid for her bachelor's degree at LCU, but were disappointed (moreso her father than her mother, but it's true of both of them) when she chose to major in Classics, pursuing a lifelong love of Greek and Roman literature instead of Business or something else that could be useful in the family business, since her father expected her to come back and work in it afterwards. Unfortunately for him, she never had any interest in it, and their relationship deteriorated badly during this time. Her father was not a bad man, or an unfeeling one, but he expected a lot of her - demanded a lot of her - and those expectations were very specific. Her relationship with her mother is only slightly better: her mother does not actively pressure Alexa the way her father does, but always seems to quietly side with him when the issue is raised, and Alexa always leaves their conversations feeling vaguely guilty and worthless. As a result, she's drifted away from both of them.

With her bachelor's degree finished, Alexa had to decide how to proceed with her life, and without her father's financial support. She considered pursuing a Master's degree, but her middling grades made that a difficult path to follow. Instead, she went back to school and got an associate's degree in library technology, and found work as a technician at LCU's library. Today, she lives alone in a small one-bedroom apartment, working her job and trying to pay off her student loans.

Because of her experiences, both as the subject of bullying and with her family, she mostly lives a pretty solitary life. To a certain extent she's naturally introverted, but her life has fostered both shyness, making social situations awkward, and a desire to simply be left alone. She has casual acquaintances, but few friends she speaks to on a regular basis. And that's honestly how she likes it! She doesn't want to climb the ladder at work, she doesn't have any big dreams, she just wants a nice, quiet, slightly lonely life where she has plenty of time to read.

First Echo: She got her first echo during childhood, while she was being bullied by her classmates. They had her pressed against a wall and were mocking her for being so freakishly tall - and in the process, used wording strikingly similar (allowing for translation) to something Medusa sisters had said when they had likewise pushed her against the wall. She recovered a scrap of memory of that event in her past life.

Preincarnation Personality: Note: I have marked things here as headcanon where they are my interpretation of her character, rather than explicitly established facts or simple observations. None of this, however, is unsupported speculation. All of it emerges from my analysis of the text, and I have supported it with examples. if this is not included in what you consider headcanon, simply disregard the italics in this section.

On first appearance, she seems cold, machine-like, a comparison Shirou makes several times in her first scenes. She responds only when spoken to directly or issued an order, and otherwise stands stock still. Almost the moment she is away from Shinji, however, she behaves differently, asking questions unbidden and even giving him a small smile. The truth is that although Rider is very emotionally reserved, she behaves in this fashion only when around Shinji, and it seems to part of her resistance against his command of her.

Her overriding motivation is loyalty and devotion to her Master. It seems to me that in Sakura, she sees a kindred spirit, someone who was as hated and harmed by the world as she was, and possessing as strong of a hatred for the world, both the parts of it that actively hurt her and the parts that simply failed to protect her, even if in Sakura's case that hatred is consciously suppressed. Rider expresses at several points a disdain for humanity, suggesting that although she is no longer the rampaging Gorgon, the hurt and anger at the world that drove her to that point is nonetheless still part of her character. And the way this expresses itself is empathy for and loyalty to Sakura, who has been likewise hurt. You could go so far as to argue that her fierce devotion stems from wanting there to be someone on Sakura's side, in a way she never had anybody on her side. This is supported by her asking Shirou whether he would be on her side until the end, as thought she was looking for more allies.

This devotion overrides any and all appeals to morality. She knows full well that allowing Sakura to live means allowing her to consume hundred if not thousands of lives, but she stands beside Sakura nonetheless. Although she does not appear to harbor any particular ill will towards Sakura or Shirou, she is only too willing to harvest their lives in order to preserve Sakura, and discusses it as if it were only natural. She continues to obey Sakura and act as her Servant after their contract had lapsed. And although she does eventually ally with Shirou and Rin against Sakura, she only does so if Shirou's intention is to save Sakura, not kill her. She acts against Sakura, but in Sakura's best interest, as she can see that Sakura is currently following a self-destructive path that can only end in her death.

I would argue that this final decision betrays regret on Rider's part about becoming the destructive Gorgon she did in life. There is a significant parallel between Medusa's transformation from ideal goddess to legendary monster and Sakura's descent into madness and shadow. Both were a gradual process steeped in pain and reflexive hatred, resulting from isolation against the world. Both came about becasue of the consumption of human beings. But, notably, she does not oppose Sakura's transformation into the shadow until after it is all but complete. She protects Sakura's life, but takes no steps to prevent her from stealing the lives of the townsfolk, nor to slow her transformation. However, once Sakura has followed in her footsteps and completed a similar transformation to her own, she has a change of heart. If she wished only to preserve Sakura's life from self-destruction, she would have acted much sooner. Furthermore, she acts to protect Shirou against Sakura in the very first scene in which Sakura has gone full shadow. One could argue that this is only a reflection of Rider obeying Sakura's final Command Spell, which ordered her to keep Shirou safe. However, if this is the case, it is strange that she allowed Sakura to attack and drain Shirou for as long as she did. It takes longer than you would expect for her to intervene, suggesting that her intervention is a conscious decision made after consideration. I would argue this suggests that seeing the final result of such a change is what made her rethink it, and due to the strong parallels between Sakura's life and transformation and her own, it implies that she regrets or has come to regret becoming the Gorgon, and allowing herself to be so consumed with hatred, having seen from the outside how it looks.

That much of this is interpretation rather than concrete fact emerges from Rider's emotional reservation. Although not the unthinking machine she seems to be while under Shinji's command, she is always soft-spoken and seemingly detached, speaking in short, factual statements that reveal little about her emotions or state of mind. She is capable of dry humor, but it is always of the variety of passive-aggressive mockery so light you're not sure it's even occurring. But all of this should not be taken to indicate true to detachment from events, or an uncaring nature. If that were the case, she would not fight so passionately on Sakura's behalf. Rather, it should suggest that Rider hides her true motivations behind a wall of half-truths and feigned coldness (Shirou comments several times that although she appears cold, that there is a hidden side to her). She does this for much the same reason her Master dissembles about her own motivations: to hide her pain, to suppress that which she cannot bring herself to express, as a defense mechanism agaist a world that seems to be out to get her. She cannot afford, in her mind, to demonstrate any weakness, and so she hides her vulnerability away, and with it her true thoughts and feelings. That Sakura hides it behind a wall of kindness and generosity while Rider erects a barrier of coldness and emotional deadness is only a detail.

In conclusion, I would characterize Rider as the product of trauma, someone in pain whose pain has long been ignored, and is angry and bitter at the world as a result. Accessing her true feelings is difficult, as she defensively hides them away. But as she watches someone she is utterly devoted to follow in her footsteps, she comes to regret those same footsteps, and in the epilogue seems to be moving towards a healthier state of mind.

Any differences: The major difference is that she's simply more mundane. Rider is a goddess-turned-monster with all the power and confidence that comes with it, whereas Alexa is simply an ordinary woman who is in possession of neither. While Rider is emotionally distant, Alexa is simply shy. Alexa has trouble talking to people she doesn't know, but once speaking is a lot more friendly and open than Rider ever is. Alexa is, on the whole, in better shape emotionally. She has little of Rider's trauma, and none of her generalized antipathy towards the world in general.

Less notably, Alexa also has a love for books and reading, which is certainly not something Rider ever exhibits. And she does not, at least as yet, have anybody she has utterly devoted herself to, nor is she ever likely to.

Abilities: Okay, here we go. Some term definitions first:

Heroic Spirit: Just as it sounds, a Heroic Spirit is the spirit of a hero. Someone who performed great deeds and left a lasting impression on humanity. What they actually did is less important than how they are thought of and to what extent their cultural legacy endures, and so figures one might not generally think of as 'heroic' like Medusa, Jack the Ripper, or Gilles de Rais are included in this. Instead of being reincarnated, these souls are stored in the Throne of Heroes, a dimensional pocket that exists outside of the flow of time, and are summoned as needed by the world for it's own protection. Heroic Spirits are incredibly powerful.

Servant: A Heroic Spirit summoned to take part in the Holy Grail War. Because of the difficulties involved in summoning Heroic Spirits directly (namely, that it's impossible), seven vessels are prepared instead, each of which will contain an image of the heroic Spirit in question. These seven vessels each correspond to a different Class, as one might see in an RPG: Saber, the knight of the sword; Lancer, the knight of the spear; Archer, the knight of the bow; Rider, the cavalryman; Caster, the magician; Assassin, the...well, the assassin; and Berserker, the mad warrior. Each of these classes come with a set of base statistics governing speed, power, magical ability, magical resistance, etc. They also have a set of skills built into them. The servant, then, is a composite: the abilities and statistics of the class, modified by the abilities and skills of the Heroic Spirit that inhabits it, along with the weapons and abilities they had in life (see Noble Phantasm, below) and also modified by the amount of magical energy the Servant can recieve from its Master.

Servants are incredibly dangerous foes in a physical confrontation. There are people who can take them in a fight, but they are few and far between, and even they are unlikely to survive a second confrontation. For anyone even remotely approaching the description of 'normal human being', fighting even the weakest Servant is all but suicidal. In general, the only ways to fight a Servant is to either have a Servant of your own, or to kill their Master. Servants are spirits that should not exist in this world, and so are being constantly rejected by the natural systems of the world. The only way for them to remain stable is to be anchored to something real and permanant - namely their Master. Once their contract with their Master is broken, they have only a day or two at most to find a new Master or win the war before they dissolve.

Servants are thus bound to the Master who summons them, and must obey their commands. If they resist their Master, their Master can use up one of the three Command Spells that symbolize their contract in order to enforce absolute obedience (these can also be spent to strengthen a Servant when the Servant is obeying an order willingly). However, once all three Command Spells are used up, their contract is over.

Noble Phantasm: Servants come into this world in possession of the powers they had in life. This means, naturally, that they must have the tools they were famous for using. A spear that pierces the heart without fail. A golden sword embodying the promise of victory. A treasure room containing all the world's riches. A grimoire that can summon lovecraftian horrors. These are called Noble Phantasms, and are a Servant's strongest trump card. Although weapons and armor are common types of Noble Phantasms, some are more abstract: for example, Alexander the Great, summoned in the fourth Holy Grail War, can access a pocket dimension (reality marble) containing his loyal army, every one of them a Heroic Spirit in their own right. The point is that a Servant's Noble Phantasms symbolize and embody the strength they held in life, as well as what they were best known for.

Although every Servant has at least one Noble Phantasm (and most have more than one, despite what certain people in canon say), they are used only when necessary, for two reasons: first is secrecy. Servants are almost always protective of their true identities, hiding them behind their class names. The reason for this is that all Heroic Spirits have well-known strengths and weaknesses; knowing who your enemy is allows you to plan to nullify their strengths, and take advantage of their weaknesses. It is thus a matter of simple strategy to keep your name a secret. However, Noble Phantasms are distinctive weapons that clearly identify the wielder. What's more, most Noble Phantasms must have their name spoken aloud in order to unleash their true power. As such, Noble Phantasms are only to be used when you are certain of killing your opponent, or when you simply are left with no choice. If you fail to kill your enemy with it, it is certain to be less effective the second time you try to use it against them.

The second reason is simply that as powerful as Noble Phantasms are, they're a real power-hog. Activating and using a Noble Phantasm takes a colossal amount of magical energy, and the more powerful the Phantasm is, generally the more energy it consumes. Since you only have so much energy available to you, it makes sense to carefully conserve it.

Okay, vocab session over.

Rider is a Servant, which means that physically, she is bad business. Her power varies depending on whether she's serving her rightful master or if Shinji has control over her, but in both cases it's so far above a normal human's capabilities that there's really no comparison. Her most notable physical capability, though, is her speed: she can attack and retreat so quickly that her hair streaming behind her seems like a snake striking. In terms of sheer strength, she's no great shakes among Servants, but again that still places her well above normal human capabilities.

As a Servant, she can sense the presence of other Servants, and also take on a spirit form, becoming invisible and immaterial. In this form she is still detectable via magical means. This seems like something that should be useful tactically, but I can't find a single example in the history of the franchise of anybody actually doing so, so...maybe not?

As a Servant, she also has a set of class skills (those gained from being summoned as Rider), personal skills (those inherent to her), and Noble Phantasms. I will address each of these in turn.

For class skills, she has Magic Resistance and Riding. Both of these are essentially what it says on the tin: her Magic Resistance cancels out spells directed against her that are insufficiently powerful to overcome it. This ability is never really tested in the course of the game, but Saber has the same skill at a higher rank, and is essentially invulnerable to modern magecraft. It is reasonable to assume, then, that Rider can only be harmed by unusually powerful magic. Riding allows her to command any mount or vehicle instinctively, as if she had been trained to ride it her whole life. As Rider has the highest possible rank of this skill, she is able to even control phantasmal and divine beasts - magic creatures such as Pegasi or Unicorns. The only exception are Dragons, which in the Fate/universe are a special and extraordinarily powerful class of magical beasts. It is reasonable to assume that dragons from a series where dragons are not considered especially powerful or important creatures could be ridden, but such canons are few and far between.

Her personal skills are inherent to her as a Heroic Spirit and derive from her background. These are Divinity, Independent Action, Monstrous Strength, her Mystic Eyes, and her Pegasus. Divinity is essentially what it says on the tin: she used to be a Goddess, and was recognized by the world as such. This granted her authority over the functions of the world and gave her greater leeway to bend or break its rules. However, her divinity has been badly degraded by her transformation into the Gorgon. It has hardly any effect, except that any effect that identifies, targets, or has special effects towards gods will recognize her as such. Independent Action allows her to remain in this world for a full day without a contract with a Master or recieving magical energy from them. Monstrous Strength is an ability gained from her monstrous transformation, and allows her to boost her strength for temporarily. However, the longer she uses this, the more she will transform into the Gorgon.

Her final and most significant skills are her Mystic Eyes of Petrification and her pegasus. The eyes freezes all living subjects within her field of view, with speed of petrification varying depending on one's proximity to her and their magical ability. Those with very strong reserves of magical energy can resist the effect, although even they will be slowed down. The effect is strongest when one first sees her unshielded eyes: on subsequent uses, the effect will take effect more slowly. Note that although it is 'petrification', there is no indication that the targets actually turn to stone, but are instead frozen in place, unable to move. Note as well that simply looking away from Rider is not enough to protect you from the effects. Perceiving Rider in any way while in her field of view will activate the mystic eyes' effect, including seeing her with your mind's eye (ie being aware of her position from memory and sound). Rider can dispel this effect at will. The pegasus is a mount that can be summoned at anytime through a summoning circle formed of her own blood. Rider stabs herself in the neck, and the blood that spews forth creates a magical circle in the air, from which emerges her faithful pegasus. Pegasi are always powerful divine beasts, but this one has been alive for an unusually long time, which only makes it stronger. It is all but immune to harmful magical effects, and even the buffets of wind from its wings are enough to damage the surrounding area.

Finally, she has three Noble Phantasms. The first is Bellerophon, which is a golden bridle that allows for complete control over a divine beast like her pegasus. Once attached to the beast, it increases its power in every way, and gives it the ability to put all of its magical and physical power into a single charge. When performing this function, her pegasus seems more akin to a comet, or an enormous arrow of light than a horse. She can either have the pegasus fly forward on its own, or ride it as a mount.

Her second Noble Phantasm is Blood Fort Andromeda, which is a representation of the field of death that surrounded her temple on the Shifting Isles after she went full Gorgon. It is a magical field that dissolves living things caught inside it, converting them into magical energy for Rider herself. Once placed on an area (in game it is used to encompass a high school campus), it takes several days to complete itself before it is ready for activation. Magically aware characters may perceive the area inside the unactivated field as having a listless air, or seeming like the belly of a carnivorous plant. Activation of the field can be delayed by finding and destroying the magic circles that are forming it, which are scattered mostly randomly throughout it, but this is only a delay. Once activated, all humans without magical ability are instantly incapacitated, and begin to slowly melt. It is a gradual process, and if the field's effect is lifted quickly, many of those affected can get away with only muscle loss akin to malnutrition and a brief stay at the hospital. Stronger effects include melting of skin, blindness, scars, and oxygen deprivation. Those with some degree of magical ability can resist the effect and are not incapacitated, but suffer nausea, discomfort, difficulty breathing, and lightheadedness. If the field is not lifted, all those inside will eventually be melted entirely into blood and consumed by Rider as magical energy. Rider can turn off the field at any time, and if she is killed it will last until her body vanishes.

Her final Noble Phantasm is Breaker Gorgon, and it is the leather blindfold she wears. This mask completely shuts off her Mystic Eyes, so that she does not affect those around her unwillingly. Unlike most Noble Phantasms, it is constantly activated, and she must consciously de-activate it and remove it in order to utilize her Mystic Eyes. Since the mask's power of 'sealing all magical properties' is not specific to her, she could instead use it to incapacitate somebody else's magical abilities (but never does to our knowledge).

As Rider spends most of her time with Breaker Gorgon on, which prevents her from using her eyes in any way, she is essentially blind. However, she can use her senses of sound, touch, smell, and magical detection to percieve the world around her as well or possibly even better than she could with her eyes.

In addition to her Noble Phantasms, Rider wields a pair of daggers as weapons. They seem more like oversized nails than true blades, and have long chains attached to the ends of them. Although these are not Noble Phantasms, they seem to possess some kind of magical properties, as they are extremely difficult to remove once stabbed into something, even by Servants, and the chains attached to them appear to be of variable length and can be used to constrict enemies' movements. These chains, too, are difficult to damage.

In the epilogue, she also has a pair of Mystic Eyes killing glasses, which are special glasses which suppress the power of her Mystic Eyes.

Roleplay Sample - Third Person: Rider moved across the cavern floor like a striking serpent, hair trailing behind her. She was nothing more than a blur of motion, hardly perceptible to the unaided eye. A streak of vivid purple across the dimly lit space, like a comet too quick to catch or tame.

But not too quick for her opponent.

The black swardswoman stands solidly, answering each attack in turn. Her sword flicks to the left and the right, catching her daggers and turning them aside. She is not as fast as Rider, no - but her blade moves on instinct, anticipating every strike before it was ever launched. What's more, even her parries are strong enough to make Rider wince as pain ran up her arm.

Against any other enemy her wild offense might seem reckless, but there is no other choice. She is outclassed in every way, except one. Her speed is her only weapon, and so she has no choice but to keep pressing the woman in black, keep poking at her defences, keep dancing on the ragged edge of death, knowing that a single counterattack, a moment's carelessness, would be all it would take to end both the battle and her life. When she tires, slows down enough for the woman in black to catch her, it will all be over.

She knows this. She knows how futile this battle is, how her legs are already aching from the stress of constant movement, already beginning to slow. She cannot defeat this woman, not here. The only sane choice would be to retreat, fight her on more favorable ground.

But that isn't an option. Her opponent is merely a sentry, and will not leave her post. And she is barring the only way through, the only way to reach Sakura. Rider's Master.

It was Rider's fault this had happened. When she had seen her Master feeding, she thought to herself: "Good. Let her take her vengeance, just as I once did." She had protected Sakura throughout, had not stopped her from going out at night to feed on human lives, had stood by and let her complete her transformation into her darker self. And only now, when it was all but too late, did she hesitate.

Images of her own past pour through her mind as she ducks beneath a horizontal slash, and dashes off to the side, trying to catch her opponent unprepared. The taste of blood in her mouth. The fear in their eyes. And finally the end, cut down for the good of the world. It wasn't until she had looked into Sakura's eyes and seen none of the girl that she had devoted herself to looking back that she had realized how much she had lost, how much pain she had caused. Only then did a creeping regret take hold of her.

She would not let it happen again. It's too late for her to be saved, but Sakura still has a chance. And so she had no choice but to keep pressing forward, though her body screams for rest and her legs feel like dead weight, to trust in the young man standing behind her and in his plan. Even if it meant her own death, she would protect Sakura from that future.

Roleplay Sample - Network: [Video - Written in frost on front door window]

[Alexa looks pretty embarrassed about something - she keeps looking down at the ground, and it's a few seconds before she actually manages to say anything.]

Excuse me, um, I'm sorry to bother you all, but, well, I had one of those...echo things, and well - hey!

[Suddenly, a white horse's head enters the frame from the right. It crosses and starts nuzzling against Alexa, who tries to fend its affections off.]

Hey, wait, hold on! Umm...

[After a moment of flailing on her part, she manages to pull away enough to address the network again.]

...yeah, uh, this happened! I don't know how to keep a horse, and I have an upstairs apartment, and um. Well. Help?

[She looks helpless as the horse starts licking the side of her head.]

Any Questions? If you need to clear up any lingering questions or concerns, here's the place to do it.