#Like Qin Shi Huang’s Lostbelt

[agnerd-bot]

Weird idea but hear me out.

Lostbelt King Florence Nightingale that’s been pushed even further into madness than her Berserker incarnation. She has made a world where death as a concept no longer exists.

This is not a good thing.

[zeravmeta]

I genuinely have not stopped thinking about the comparison that Holmes made between QSH and Olympus because it’s very easy to assume that Holmes is simply stating that Zeus and the gods have managed to create a utopia better than that of QSH which doesn’t erase the free will of the inhabitants nor does it micromanage them to the absurd degree we see QSH do, but really I think Holmes is saying that QSH would be unable to accept Olympus because it wasn’t made by human hands.

The comparisons between China and Olympus are very apparent: Ruled by a mechanical, all-seeing sovereign with total control over the planet who has said control even reach to the stars as they manage the populace to their absolute whim. However, the actual structure and management of these utopia are very fundamentally different because the rulers are fundamentally different. Europa calls out Zeus on the fact that humanity isn’t their companion, but rather their pet, and Zeus entirely agrees. Despite coveting and becoming attached to the names and titles and beliefs that humans have given Zeus and the other machine gods for generations, they still view them as wholly inferior to their own advanced selves. The gods of Olympus themselves are a fundamentally different type of being because things like death and emotions are child’s play for them to manipulate, because they themselves have never had those concepts applied to them. They don’t care how many they slaughter when trying to stop Chaldea because they can simply be revived, they don’t care what kind of pain they make their citizens go through because they can simply drown them in pleasure afterwards. The reason why we beat the gods with the Black Barrel isn’t just to destroy them, but because the Black Barrel inflicts genuine mortality onto these immortal beings. We see Demeter lose herself to her madness and grief because she wasn’t allowed to grieve, and we put her to rest. We see Aphrodite bitter and distant because she’s long lost any genuine meaning to the love she inflicts, and in her final moments is longing of Panhuman History’s Aphrodite who had her love live on past her death. The gods keep themselves intentionally distant from their own people because in Zeus’ own words he doesn't love them, but rather feels pity for them being such small beings, and simply wants them to be unthinking reeds who bend to the will of the gods so that they never have to struggle on their own, and to this end have not only robbed humans of their ambitions, but even of their right to die.

But Qin Shi Huang, at their core, loves humanity. Everything they do has been motivated from a love for humanity and the simple fact that they couldn’t handle the possibility of the humans they love so much coming into needless conflict and slaughtering each other. Their fear of Confucianism doesn’t stem from wanting to eradicate individuality, but rather wanting to minimize all possible conflict that comes from differing ideals. To this end, we see QSH essentially plan out everyone’s lives for them, the people live peaceful happy lives, they never starve or get sick, and always die peaceful controlled deaths. Anyone who is born with any artistic talents or talents in innovation are taken to the capital, where their skills are fully refined and preserved by the Emperor. QSH has continued to optimize and build upon their own immortal body not because they are afraid of drying, but rather are afraid of how humanity might fare if not under their careful planning. Compared to Zeus and the machine gods who settled onto Earth as a temporary base and molded the planet to their own benefit, everything QSH has done is specifically for the sake of humanity. The Lostbelt Depth of Atlantis and Olympus is A+ because it is as far removed from an advancing humanity as possible, but the Lostbelt Depth of China is E because despite the drastic difference, the world is being advanced by a humans hands. Qin Shi Huang see’s themselves as the only human in the Chinese Lostbelt not because they’ve erased the humanity of the people who live there but rather because they consider themselves not a single person but rather the empire itself. All of SIN’s citizens are in their own eyes parts of their own body. The difference in their Lostbelt managements stems entirely from how the Lostbelt kings feel about humans. Zeus doesn’t love humans, but QSH doesn’t trust humans. In essence, Zeus is an irresponsible pet owner letting his pets gorge themselves on treats while QSH is a preschool teacher making sure that their students don’t hurt themselves.

But fundamentally, the people of SIN do not pray. A running theme in Atlantis and Olympus is that the citizens either lived cursed lives waiting for the attention of the gods, or blessed lives where every prayer and minimal want is answered by the gods. People have lost the ability to be ambitious or think for themselves because every prayer they have is answered by the gods, and we see how that devolves into slaughter whenever the gods show their true colors throughout the Lostbelt. When we finally defeat Zeus and the people of Olympus fall and their homes are crumbling around them, they don’t try to help each other, or escape, or even accept their deaths, they only know how to pray, and die with those prayers unanswered. However, the people of the Chinese Lostbelt never pray. They all know that the Emperor is looking out for them, and trust the Emperors decisions. Yet, when QSH starts attacking with meteors when trying to stop Chaldea, they don’t simply stand by and accept it, but rather we see that even with the most blessed lives imaginable, the people of SIN feel fear, feel anger, and have never lost their human drive to survive, even wanting to rebel against the Emperor. Even in having lost their kingdoms do we see the differences shine. When Zeus was defeated, he opened a portal to Chaos because he wanted to take down the remnants of Panhuman History with him. When QSH lost, they accepted a loss with grace. A human can lose, even on their own terms, and learn from their mistakes, but Zeus as a perfect immortal unchanging god could not accept his loss at human hands no matter what. Even in their defeats are they different, because Zeus was defeated by an epic battle of epic proportions, but QSH was defeated because they learned that the humanity of Panhuman History continued to advance even with differing ideals, that almost everyone on the planet has a miniature computer where they share their ideas, struggle together, and advance regardless.

Fundamentally, the difference is that when the people of Olympus looked up to the sky, they prayed. When the people of China looked up to the sky, the Emperor sat beside them and admired the stars.

[nasuversekinkmeme]

jing ke (accomplished hedonist who is "very popular with female servants for some reason") convinces qin shi huang (fundamentally cautious but also too curious for their own good and always gets complacent about their perceived superiority at the crucial moment) to allow her to "explore their body" and "show them some human experiences" which they believe is fine because its not like she can put the fear of death in them a THIRD time (incorrigible hubris) this obviously immediately turns into jing ke blowing their back out with a massive strapon and with qin shi huang's mind equally blown by the vast possibilities of human pleasure and ingenuity behind sex toy development that didn't exist in their lostbelt they're immediately absorbed into developing increasingly outlandish toys for jing ke to use on them and test the limits of pleasure this body can feel until they've looped right back around to a "human experience" that applies to zero normal mortal humans who would absolutely die from the violent fucknasty pervert sex they're having and/or don't even have the holes they're having things stuck into but jing ke's fine with it this time because they're not trying to govern other people about it this time and also she gets to fuck an extremely attractive person like she's trying to kill them on a daily basis. also you can do whatever you want for qin shi huang's genitals or swap equipment midway idc about that i care about shi huang di in their hubris willingly turning themselves into an incorrigible masochist with a crippling addiction to jing ke strap

I think Jing Ke should fuck Qin Shi Huang's usb ports

[300iqprower]

Astrea dead pissed me off with that impartial judge talk in Atlantis,,,, like if you don't wanna help just say that don't hide behind your class, especially if you see someone at a disadvantage that literally goes against what your class is meant for,,, why were you even here if not to info dump and dip?

Which leads to my next point—I hate Ruler Jeanne and Astrea because they use their class to excuse their impartiality in situations where being impartial is fucking useless? Apoc!Jeanne had a little "country girl, will chase you with a sword if you interfere don't fw me" vibe but Fgo!Jeanne is the most flavorless mf on the planet that you forget she exists outside of Jalter.

Which is sad because I like the idea of Jeanne being the embodiment of what people thought she was, someone far removed from human error and so saintly that the idea of being friends feels wrong, like your actively tainting her by breathing in her direction which leaves her lonelier than she should be....

I have nothing to say about Astrea as a character simply bc I don't care for pseudo servants that aren't treated like the vessels of the Gods and just an excuse to say "Hey look it's a fate character that's outside of fgo!"

Bazette should've been summonable without the need to bullshit and grab a celtic god.... she has a noble phantasm as a normal human she might as well have a slot in the Throne for that.

Agreed Bazzett got screwed by pseudo garbage

can't speak for Lady Reines event and whatever pseudo crap was going on there but I can 110% speak for the Atlantis Astraea bit, so

I am now going to have a very long discussion of what the Ruler class is and how it is fundamentally misunderstood - TLDR, Ruler servants are not supposed to be likable or even benevolent. It's not a matter of hiding behind a class, it's a matter of the class's inherent disposition being one of stagnation, the same way madness is inherent to the Berserker or suffering to the Avenger.

Remember when I responded to this ask about about why Avenger-adjacent characters are so compelling? To restate and directly jump off from it:

"Astraea the impartial god, Qin Shi Huang the mechanical 'one true human', Jeanne the inhumanly pure Saint, even Sherlock who is so rational in his thinking that it goes from sensible to a lack of empathy, all of these are examples of how the Ruler is marked by an explicit lack of humanity that directly results from them lacking the most human quality there is: Desire. The ability to want something, to strive towards something, to truly care about something for reasons beyond cold logic, to act in a sense of being morally right or wrong, is a concept antithetical to the class itself."

And I guess now I have an excuse to elaborate on this. I'll use both Astraea and Jeanne as case studies, starting with Astraea (Or at least her only canon role of Olympus; haven't done Reines but given it's status as focusing on Nasuverse OCs rather than the actual servants, it shouldnt matter)

Astraea is our enemy in Lostbelt 5. She may claim otherwise, but she is our enemy, not our ally or "guide". She is vain, unfeeling, and inhuman. Why do I say that? Because her priority is maintaining impartiality at all costs. Despite her human host, despite not being a proper lostbelt servant, despite having every reason to help us, she refuses to do so directly on the ground of "impartiality". She is an obstacle in our way, because she would rather be opposed to everyone to allied to anyone, all in the name of her "role".

Compare this to Jeanne at the start of Apocrypha. Familiar, isn't it? The "Protector" who regulated bloodshed. The "Rebel" who adhered to a corrupted system. The "Saint" who would watch Children die. (#AtalanteDidNothingWrongTM). Jeanne, until Sieg came along, was a villain. A slave to the Holy Grail. A lie concocted to enforce rules unquestioningly. The Ruler Class is not one of justice, but one of arbitration, and none embody that more than Jeanne, whose only motive at first was to uphold a status quo even though her life was devoted to the exact opposite. Key words, at first. But what caused her to change? Was it Amakusa's interference? Was it the requests of the servants under her watchful eye? Was it her sense of justice seeing the potential for disaster if Amakusa or Darnic succeeded? No. No. And No. It was a random innocent life completely removed from all matters servant-related being swept up into the events of the grail war that made her question herself. Only when something so pure a blank slate began to suffer did she so much as question herself, and even then she could not accept that until Shakespeare completely broke her with ease. Shakespeare who was described as the worst possible opponent for Jeanne. Do you know why that is? Because he is everything she is not. He seeks emotions, he seeks plot twists, he seeks performances, he seeks the greatest story ever told, he seeks change. Jeanne is exactly the kind of person he can play like a fiddle: A fool dancing on strings. Because that's what the ruler class is, a puppet to the grail's sense of order. A slave to the status quo. Devoid of emotion for the sake of keeping up this idea for impartiality.

I want to highlight something you said

"they use their class to excuse their impartiality in situations where being impartial is fucking useless"

That's exactly the point. That's why the Ruler class is antithetical to humanity. It is the concept of balance regardless of what the balance achieves. But in life there is no absolute good and absolute evil. There is no universal set of rules you can apply to everything - life is too unique and too nuanced. But the Ruler class revolves around the idea of absolutes, of a set of rules you can never break under any circumstance, a sense of perfect order. But you cannot be an arbiter in a system that is inherently arbitrary. Look at the list of ruler servants. Not only are there noticeably a LOT of them by extra class standards, but the majority of non-gag event characters who qualify are very explicitly villains. Out of Jeanne D'arc, Sherlock Holmes, Astraea, Qin Shi Huang, Amakusa, Karl der Große, Young Moriarty, Zeus, BB, and Morgan, all but the first 3 of those are major villains. Now look at ALL of them. Ruler Moriarty and his obsession with academic rigor, Zeus and his stagnation, BB's role of judge jury and executioner in a programmed system, Karl's goal of complete unity at the cost of free will, Amakusa's desire for much the same, (Even some gag examples such as Quetz's godly inability to comprehend humanity through anything but physical exertion!) Qin Shi Huang discarding his humanity for complete order, etc.

And that's what it all boils down to. A lack of any humanity, living as a drone for their role. That's why the Ruler is opposite the Avenger, because if the Avenger is an embodiment of pure humanity, than the Ruler is defined by their lack of true humanity.

[chaoticcherryblossombear]

Some art I did of Lanling Wang for My AU

The program I used was Clip Studio Paint. Anyway, here is a character profile/description of the character from my Deviantart here (from the colored one here) https://www.deviantart.com/sakuraofchaos/art/Lanling-Wang-Character-Sheet-LB3-fix-it-fic-AU-967151274

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This character belongs to Type Moon and Kinoko Nasu. If anyone wants to know why I made a few design changes here: -The hairstyle: the character was originally supposed to have long black hair and the real Prince of Lanling didn't cut his hair due to the Confucian belief of a person's body being a gift from their parents. It meant that men wore their hair as long as women. If you cut your fingernails or shaved your body hair, it had to be with you at all times (yes, weird I know, but they did invent nail clippers and facial and body hair removal in the Han Dynasty and still stuck to those rules). I know historically, he would've had his hair tied in a top knot, but my AU is inspired by MXTX and a good chunk of her male characters have ponytails. Also, I gave him a hair tie in purple but a different shade from his mask tie. -The mask: it was too hard to draw honestly, but I stuck to as close as canon as possible and made some changes. -The overall outfit: his first ascension looks more comfy but I gave him the belt from his second ascension. I did remove some glove detailing as hands overall are hard for me to draw. -The character overall: He has a different master as Akuta/ Yu is his fake master. His true master is Qin Shi Huang (the one from proper human history) who was able to manage to get his real body in the Lostbelt without changing it thanks to the help of Ashiya Douman. Akuta/Yu was originally his master yet QSH stole him away from her. Despite that, he is able to age normally somehow due to the Lostbelt shortening his life by making him only live for 23 years. Through that time, he managed to have a wife through an arranged marriage by QSH named Lady Zheng and a son named Gao Yue thanks to the help of the Lostbelt's technology. Many of which was founded through his adoptive mother, Gao Meiying. -His personality: Despite everything, Gao Changgong is known for being cold and cruel like his younger brother Gao Yanzong. The main difference is that Changgong is less arrogant and more aloof yet insecure due to the fact that QSH favors Yanzong over him. He wears a mask to hide the "ugly face" that QSH refers to often because he takes everything QSH says about him to heart. Yet he is not allowed to wear it in court because QSH wants his many followers to belittle his "abuser." It has lead QSH to get others to scar both his forehead through stoning and his back through whipping. Gao Changong can be kind at times like his canon counterpart, yet he hides it as he is not allowed to act kind to others because of his master. Yet he does show that side but only to his few family members which he trusts. Mainly his wife, mother, and son. He is still capable of murder and has murdered over 500 people (including women and children) in the hands of Qin Shi Huang for his (the emperor's) selfish pleasures of immortality.

[lunarlagomorph]

I finished lostbelts 3 and 4 btw im on the middle of 5

Lostbelt 3 was just a more interesting version of lostbelt 2. Like they tried thr "central figure keeps humans in a happy but ignorant state and theres one all powerful leader at the center of it" again but this time it wasnt boring.

The allied side wasnt all that interesting aside from koyanskaya joining for a bit. but qin shi huang was a fun villain. and i enhoyed the true ancestor x ancient robot romance.

I wish yu mei ren had gotten to stick around a bit more, being the second (?) true ancestor alive today, but them both ascending to the throne of heroes was a nice ending.

Oh yeah i guess this is alao when sion first appeared. Obviously her and nemo are great. I love the neminions (term i made up).

-

Lostbelt 4 was my favorite lostbelt so far. Most interesting world concept and the best servants overall.

Ganesha was an obviously a favorite for me since shes me. Lakshmi also great. Arjuna alters hot but i knew that already. And i rly did love the god's skyvoulder stuff. Though they kind of flubbed the emotions of it at the end when shes like actually im just fine.

Also as much as i liked yu mei ren, pepe is definitely my favorite crypter. Which is not what i expected from someone named Scandinavia Peperoncino. But theyre like yeah i hate my parents and changed my name and am of nondescript gender. So what am i supposed to do.

[duskoon]

Fate Grand Order Masterlist + Characters list:

Anything related to Fate Grand Order would be listed here. Like always, If there is character not mentioned here you can always request for them. Note: Some characters are based on historical figures. So when writing for them, I write for the character themselves not their real life counterpart. Characters in bold means I am mostly invested in them, but that doesn’t mean I won’t write for the others. If there is any character not listed below, you can request for them and I'll add them (There is like 300+ servants, so I'm bound to forget some ^^’) Also, you can request for Crypters as well. Seeing I had finished playing the lostbelts.

Mashu Kyrielight

Artoria Pendragon

Artoria Pendragon (Alter)

Nero Claudius

Siegfried

Altera

Chevalier d’Eon

Okita Soji

Mordred

Ryōgi Shiki

Rama

Lancelot

Gawain

Bedivere

Elizabeth Bàthory

Miyamoto Musashi

Arthur Pendragon (Prototype)

Suzuka Gozen

Frankenstein

Sigurd

Queen Medb

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

Lanling Wang

Lakshmibai

Jason

Astolfo

Dioscuri

Tomoe Gozen

Saitō Hajime

Watanabe no Tsuna

Ibuki Dōji

Karna

Senji Muramasa

Barghest

Charlemagne

Roland

EMIYA

Gilgamesh(Archer + Caster)

Robin Hood

Atalanta

Euryale

Arash

David

Nikola Tesla

Arjuna

Tristan

Tawara Tōta

Chloe von Einzbern

Ishtar

James Moriarty (Archer / Ruler)

EMIYA (Alter)

Asagami Fujino

Chiron

Napoléon

Aśvatthāman

Osakabehime

Calamity Jane

Nightingale

Super Orion

Sei Shōnagon

Baobhan Sith

Anastasia

Jeanne D’ Arc (Ruler)

Zenobia

Minamoto no Tametomo

Cú Chulainn(Lancer + Caster)

Musashibō Benkei

Leonidas I

Romulus

Hector

Scáthach

Fionn mac Cumhail

Tamamo no Mae (Caster / Lancer / Berserker)

Kiyohime

Vlad III

Jeanne d'Arc (Alter) 

Enkidu

Medusa

Minamoto no Raikō 

Parvati

Nezha

Ereshkigal

Valkyrie

Qin Liangyu

Bradamante

Nagao Kagetora

Mysterious Alter Ego Λ

Caenis

Romulus-Quirinus

Utsumi Erice

Consort Yu

Vritra

Percival

Sakamoto Ryōma 

Medusa

Georgios

Boudica

Ushiwakamaru

Martha

Francis Drake

Iskandar

Sakata Kintoki

Ozymandias

Quetzalcoatl

Ivan the terrible

Achilles

Leonardo Da Vinci 

Carmilla

Mandricardo

Europa

Odysseus

Tai Gong Wang

Dobrynya Nikitich

Constantine XI

Kyokutei Bakin

Medea

Zhuge Liang (Lord El-Melloi II aka reliable waver )

Paracelsus von Hohenheim

Solomon

Irisviel (Dress of Heaven)

Xuanzang Sanzang

Nitocris

Merlin

Scheherazade

Queen of Sheba

Shuten Dōji

Murasaki Shikibi

Asclepius

Miss Crane

Charlotte Corday 

The Old Man of the Mountain

Charles-Henri Sanson

Cleopatra

EMIYA (Assassin)

Fūma Kotarō

Gray

Henry Jekyll & Hyde

Jing Ke

Katō Danzō

Kiichi Hōgen

Koyanskaya of Light

• Koyanskaya of Dark

Li Shuwen (Assassin/Lancer)

Mysterious Heroine X

Okada Izō

Phantom of the Opera

Sasaki Kojirō

Semiramis

Yan Qing

Lu Bu Fengxian

Beowulf

Cú Chulainn (Alter)

Heracules

Mysterious Heroine X (Alter)

Hijikata Toshizō

Penthesilea

Atalanta (Alter)

Arjuna (Alter)

Mori Nagayoshi

Salome

Kijyo Kōyō

Brynhildr (Berserker / Lancer)

Galatea

Morgan Le Fay

Kriemhild

Amakusa Shirō

Sherlock Holmes

Shi Huang Di

Astraea

Edmond Dantès

Angra Mainyu

Gorgon

Antonio Salieri

Demon King Nobunaga

Kama (Avenger/Assassin)

Sesshōin Kiara (Alter Ego /Moon Cancer)

Archetype: Earth

Okita Sōji (Alter)

Kingprotea

Ashiya Dōman

Manannán mac Lir (Bazett)

Mysterious Heroine XX

Yang Guifei

Oberon

Hephaestion

Tiamat

Goetia

Beast III/R

Kadoc Zemlupus

Ophelia Phamrsolone

Scandinavia Peperoncino aka Chad™️.

Kirschtaria Wodime

Beryl Guts

Daybit Sem Void

[kiwikipedia]

So this definitely brings up the question of is the Ivan we Summoned the Ivan from the Lostbelt or Our Human History’s Ivan fused with that one’s. Because theoretically shouldn’t Ivan know why he’s like. A mammoth?

If all Servants retain the memories of their life upon summoning, why wouldn’t this Ivan who is a lostbelt servant technically, not know why he’s a demonic beast fusion? Or do the lostbelt servants only have the memories of the figures from our Human History instead because they were summoned through the System and not through a lost belt again?

We see Li Shuwen in a similar situation, where he essentially asks why the hell he would ever work for Qin Shi Huang.

I just think this is an interesting part because some of the other lostbelt servants seem to remember their Lostbelt Past (Qin Shi Huang does for sure actually, but I don’t have any of the other LB kings to confirm the rest).

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

...You know, I kind of want a fic about the moth emperor before their Lostbelt diverged from Proper Human History, beginning from the historical Qin Shi Huang’s birth in Zhao after the Battle of Changping, and detailing the life he lived with his mother, abandoned by his father in an enemy state’s capital, the power struggle between himself and Lu Buwei, the rebellion led by his mother’s lover, his execution of said lover and the two children she had with him... Considering how wild this guy’s life was from the beginning and how wild it remained at least into his young adulthood, I can totally see how it would shape someone like Lostbelt Qin Shi Huang

[smokeybrandreviews]

Too Much of a Good Thing

I've been on this FGO grind for a few months now and it has been absolutely ridiculous. The speed that I've been leveling up does not match the pace of difficulty in this game. Like, i finally got my Mordred and have already leveled her to ninety-two, maxed out her attack and health, sans the limit break because f*ck the drop rate for those Solaris and Meteor Fous. Those things are the real Holy Grails in this game because, yeesh. My Mordred is nowhere near the powerhouse she used to be but the grind is progressing along just peachy. I'll get there, eventually, but it's going to be a goddamn problem because, holy sh*t, where are all the goddamn Servants?

It's been around four months or so since i decided to dip my toes back into this hellscape of a game and i still lack firepower in a big ass way. I've probably spent around two hundred bucks on it,which is a far cry from what i spent on my first account, and i have next to nothing to show for it. Sure, i got my Mordred but that was a gift. You get the opportunity to pick a single, five-star Servant after you complete one of those levels. I think the USA one but i can't remember. Either way, of course i picked Mordred and the rest of my roster has been at the mercy of the gacha and these motherf*ckers have not been kind. I mean, they have, to an extent, but, like, in an awkward as way. Almost every other mobile game I've played, the gacha has been relatively forgiving with a pity system. Some are better than others (Azur Lane is borderline agreeable) but Fate/Grand Order is not. These motherf*ckers almost never drop a five-star and all of the four-stars are SUBSTANTIALLY weaker. It's not even a joke.

More than that, all i f*cking pull is Sabers! Look, Saber is my favorite Class, Mo-chan, but let's be real right now: You can't win this game with an army of Sabers, even if they are strong as f*ck. If an Archer is even close to a Saber's level, that Saber is going to die a dog's death and, guess what? The first fight in Camelot, exactly where i am right now, are f*cking Archer class Evil Eyes! I have no gold Lancers, whatsoever. None. That means the highest level Lancer i have is a goddamn three-star and that ain't sh*t. I've been making a run at the Banners whenever i can and all i got was f*cking Craft Essences. That's where all my five-star pulls went, to support cards. How ridiculous is that? I have some of the strongest support cards in the game, laughably overpowered buffs like Noble Phantasm charged at eighty percent plus a solid attack boost, and no goddamn servants worth equipping them to outside of Mordred, Cleopatra, and goddamn Altira! The f*ck, dude?

Seriously, once you count those three, toss in an Oberon, Osakabihime, Berserker Vlad III, and Qin Shi Huang, the rest of my five-star Servants are Sabers! All of them. I pulled a Sigurd and an Okita Souji. Of my nine five-stars, four of them are goddamn Sabers! Are you kidding me? Spread the goddamn love, yo! Like, i have two, five-star Assassins and no Casters! The strongest Caster i have? Four-goddamn-stars! I'm glad i pulled Cleo, she's arguably the strongest Assassin I've ever popped outside of King Hassan, but what the f*ck? Anastasia exists and i can't even attempt to to pull her because she's locked behind Lostbelt progression and i don't have the strength to even attempt those goddamn stories yet! Archer is even worse. I alluded to it earlier but the strongest Archer i have is a goddamn three-star! Literally, so many on my roster are three-star trash, i can't even cope. How am i supposed to beat this game with garbage like this? I swear to god it's on purpose because the only way to make any of this better is to hit those Banners hard and, with these pathetic drop rates, you absolutely have to spend loot to get the necessary Saint Quarts. Fate/Grand Order is a whole ass scam and I can't even stay away. I always find my way back to this sh*tshow because I adore Type-Moon that much.

[smokeybrand]

Too Much of a Good Thing

I've been on this FGO grind for a few months now and it has been absolutely ridiculous. The speed that I've been leveling up does not match the pace of difficulty in this game. Like, i finally got my Mordred and have already leveled her to ninety-two, maxed out her attack and health, sans the limit break because f*ck the drop rate for those Solaris and Meteor Fous. Those things are the real Holy Grails in this game because, yeesh. My Mordred is nowhere near the powerhouse she used to be but the grind is progressing along just peachy. I'll get there, eventually, but it's going to be a goddamn problem because, holy sh*t, where are all the goddamn Servants?

It's been around four months or so since i decided to dip my toes back into this hellscape of a game and i still lack firepower in a big ass way. I've probably spent around two hundred bucks on it,which is a far cry from what i spent on my first account, and i have next to nothing to show for it. Sure, i got my Mordred but that was a gift. You get the opportunity to pick a single, five-star Servant after you complete one of those levels. I think the USA one but i can't remember. Either way, of course i picked Mordred and the rest of my roster has been at the mercy of the gacha and these motherf*ckers have not been kind. I mean, they have, to an extent, but, like, in an awkward as way. Almost every other mobile game I've played, the gacha has been relatively forgiving with a pity system. Some are better than others (Azur Lane is borderline agreeable) but Fate/Grand Order is not. These motherf*ckers almost never drop a five-star and all of the four-stars are SUBSTANTIALLY weaker. It's not even a joke.

More than that, all i f*cking pull is Sabers! Look, Saber is my favorite Class, Mo-chan, but let's be real right now: You can't win this game with an army of Sabers, even if they are strong as f*ck. If an Archer is even close to a Saber's level, that Saber is going to die a dog's death and, guess what? The first fight in Camelot, exactly where i am right now, are f*cking Archer class Evil Eyes! I have no gold Lancers, whatsoever. None. That means the highest level Lancer i have is a goddamn three-star and that ain't sh*t. I've been making a run at the Banners whenever i can and all i got was f*cking Craft Essences. That's where all my five-star pulls went, to support cards. How ridiculous is that? I have some of the strongest support cards in the game, laughably overpowered buffs like Noble Phantasm charged at eighty percent plus a solid attack boost, and no goddamn servants worth equipping them to outside of Mordred, Cleopatra, and goddamn Altira! The f*ck, dude?

Seriously, once you count those three, toss in an Oberon, Osakabihime, Berserker Vlad III, and Qin Shi Huang, the rest of my five-star Servants are Sabers! All of them. I pulled a Sigurd and an Okita Souji. Of my nine five-stars, four of them are goddamn Sabers! Are you kidding me? Spread the goddamn love, yo! Like, i have two, five-star Assassins and no Casters! The strongest Caster i have? Four-goddamn-stars! I'm glad i pulled Cleo, she's arguably the strongest Assassin I've ever popped outside of King Hassan, but what the f*ck? Anastasia exists and i can't even attempt to to pull her because she's locked behind Lostbelt progression and i don't have the strength to even attempt those goddamn stories yet! Archer is even worse. I alluded to it earlier but the strongest Archer i have is a goddamn three-star! Literally, so many on my roster are three-star trash, i can't even cope. How am i supposed to beat this game with garbage like this? I swear to god it's on purpose because the only way to make any of this better is to hit those Banners hard and, with these pathetic drop rates, you absolutely have to spend loot to get the necessary Saint Quarts. Fate/Grand Order is a whole ass scam and I can't even stay away. I always find my way back to this sh*tshow because I adore Type-Moon that much.

[bbnibini]

Qin Shi Huang, my blorbo. I didn't even whale for him. He just kept coming home and I spoiled him rotten (I ran Arts based teams, so he fit in immediately)

And I love seeing your blorbos ☺️ They deserve love.

I genuinely miss the game sometimes, but my phone refuses to run it again without freaking out. I hope it's a possibility when I upgrade. I do miss the less... insane combat. I was genuinely into the story (including the early chapters that people complain about) and would like for it to not be as... difficult to get through. I'm not good at the strategy of it all nor do I really want to think about 10+ things at once. I just want to enjoy the joyful angst of the lostbelts.

For context, I stopped just after India came out (never played it).

Ooh! The LB3 Ruler, right? From my own runs with him, he's really fun and a really good solo/CQ choice!

I'm F2P in Fate GO too. I only ever spent SQ in GSSRs because tbh spending money on SQ here isn't really worth it unlike in say...Genshin where there is a guarantee you will get who you want.😅 Even the new safety net Fate GO introduced is really steep and not accessible to F2P.

I got my Arthurs from saving SQ for several months and grinding pretty much every free SQ I can get! I saved up around 500ish SQ by the time his banner came up and managed to snag 3 copies! And with the current banner he has going right now, after two painful tenpulls, I finally have four! I want to roll more but there's so many good servants coming this year (CASTORIA RERUN! OBEROOOOON!😭💕) so I'm holding back and coping with the mana prism tickets.

I personally struggled in challenge quests and some annoying nodes on Gilfest/Nerofest. But from what I saw in LB6 beyond, the gimmicks seem really annoying/tedious ><! (The LB7 gimmick is just...wow. for spoiler reasons I won't elaborate but it really forces you to raise ALL your servants).

I do remember them giving us those revival cubes(?) In JP where you can continue the battles and revive your units with full NP charge without spending SQ or command spells. Wait lemme check my JP...

It's this one I think? I didn't check if NA already has it cause I already cleared the available main stories.

And no shame on that! I haven't properly read the main stories lately too (only have enough brain power to read the event ones cause it's not as serious) and stopped around LB2. From there I just read summaries and translations of the LBs from Reddit and wiki. I suggest reading through summaries from translators if you still wanna read the lore! (That's what I did when I didn't have the phone to play the game at the time 🥲) They condensed the info into manageable pieces so it isn't too overwhelming.

[nasuversekinkmeme]

Weekly Roundup: prompt reminders

It turns out Gray’s dislike being seen as a pretty girl and constant dysphoria ends up being a mundane gender thing just as much as a ‘my physical appearance and identity have been slowly and painfully overwritten by a long-dead woman’s by the hands of fundamentalists’ thing. Ideally, additionally include Waver and Reines being supportive and going out of their way to help find means to present more masculine even with the unique issues of a magically 'frozen’ body.

gudako becoming a ceo and joining the kengan association after retiring as master, not because they need money or have any interest in running a business/fight ring but because the kengan tournaments are the only place they can find dick from insane men who love to beat the shit out of each other close the level of what they had at chaldea

age gap, I come humbly asking for mash/morgan. specifically i want mashmorgan with an emphasize on the age gap. Mash is SO young and inexperienced compared to Morgan, barely even just reached adulthood by human standards. You get an extra kiss on the forehead if you play it as corruption, specifically as MASH corrupting Morgan, trying to get Morgan to fuck her good even if it can't be a good idea.

Guenivere falls for Lancelot because he's horribly vanilla and she just couldn't get into Artoria's huge raging knotted dragon dick no matter how much she tried.

smut, bestiality, Lobo and Hessian double-team Guda with lots of primal feral sex. Lobo keeps knotting Guda so they can't get away even if they want to. They don't want to.

smut, jing ke (accomplished hedonist who is "very popular with female servants for some reason") convinces qin shi huang (fundamentally cautious but also too curious for their own good and always gets complacent about their perceived superiority at the crucial moment) to allow her to "explore their body" and "show them some human experiences" which they believe is fine because its not like she can put the fear of death in them a THIRD time (incorrigible hubris) this obviously immediately turns into jing ke blowing their back out with a massive strapon and with qin shi huang's mind equally blown by the vast possibilities of human pleasure and ingenuity behind sex toy development that didn't exist in their lostbelt they're immediately absorbed into developing increasingly outlandish toys for jing ke to use on them and test the limits of pleasure this body can feel until they've looped right back around to a "human experience" that applies to zero normal mortal humans who would absolutely die from the violent fucknasty pervert sex they're having and/or don't even have the holes they're having things stuck into but jing ke's fine with it this time because they're not trying to govern other people about it this time and also she gets to fuck an extremely attractive person like she's trying to kill them on a daily basis. also you can do whatever you want for qin shi huang's genitals or swap equipment midway idc about that i care about shi huang di in their hubris willingly turning themselves into an incorrigible masochist with a crippling addiction to jing ke strap

smut, Caster Artoria is "forced" to go around town stark naked. It's definitely her decision and she totally isn't doing this because she wants to guys.

Gudao gets the most unique dysphoria moment of his life when he summons Jack on one of his ‘feeling like presenting as male’ days and is immediately greeted with ‘mom’ first thing in the morning. 

age gap, Future fic where Rin & Shirou keep getting weird looks from their neighbours because from a normie perspective they're a couple of 40yo fucking Saber, a teenage girl.

smut, castoria should fuck cu alter. it wouldn't fix either of them but I think Castoria can take him + she could use a man who doesn't care if she scratches back.

Xu Fu is forced to work alone with Xiang Yu, and accidentally ends up falling in love with him too

smut, Bedivere being really fucking awkward around Castoria, because she's an incarnation of Excalibur and he sure jerked off with his Excalibur arm back in the days.

AU where Akiha fully becomes Roa's latest reincarnation after killing SHIKI

smut, Guda free use anyone? There are so many servants with carnal desires going around, I think it'd be most efficient if Chaldea had a "anyone can fuck the master anywhere and we'll all turn a blind eye to it" system.

[300iqprower]

I don't know how to explain it—I'm sure someone else made a longer better post about how I feel but....

I really like Patxi. Five Lostbelts in and I still like Patxi. Maybe its the fact that unlike 2,3,4 and possibly 5—they use Patxi (a grown man) as a device to show how horrific the Lostbelts are (or how they've been conditioned to think its normal) the children in the LBs are used as a device to show how bad it is but it feels like they're pandering?

Liek they're using the kids as a way to gain sympathy (multiple dialogue choices and characters mention them being children) and that's all well and dandy but it gets real repetitive when you come across the third kid—Ajai was there but he wasn't at the forefront I'd definitely relate to a man wanting to protect his daughter from getting wiped from existence by excessive praying than the child not understanding why (probably should've worded that better) mostly bc my parent made a lot of sacrifices to make me happy.

Lostbelt 3 didn't even give the kid a name which is something I think is fucked up despite them being a minor character.

I also like Patxi as a person because he's a pos towards cast but slowly warms up to them when they do for him—which is extremely natural given his situation and the fact that we're basically staying in his house for the time being.

I also like his CE because its basically "f*ck you, I'm a Wolfman with a gun!" And it has some utility compared to the CEs you gain from the other LBs (they stopped giving out servants for some reason)

I swear I'm not a furry.

I'M FINALLY READY TO ANSWER THIS. OBVIOUS SPOILERS ARE OBVIOUS UP THROUGH THE END OF ATLANTIS.

POINT 1.

PATXI IS THE SINGLE BEST WRITTEN CHARACTER IN THE SERIES. PERIOD.

Like I know i say that's Goredolf, but i mean that in the sense of Goredolf is the best in terms of ongoing character development. As far as fully written characters go, who have had their big moment, and we've seen it all play out for them? From Solomon to Gilgamesh to Arash to Opehlia to Meltryllis to Jason to Jalter to Orion to Moriarty to Napoleon to Ivan to Salieri to Avicebron to even my beloved Asterios....none of them are as well written as Patxi.

And to explain why, I need to start with why, as you pointed out, the other lostbelt NPCs don't even compare, even when they're also well written.

Let's start with the nameless LB3 kid because I find myself typically playing devil's advocate with that one; I'd argue he's the second best of the lostbelt npcs after Patxi. People are, understandably, quick to think of the kid as throwaway given they're never even named, but I always say who I will refer to as "Kid" being nameless as a representation of what life was like in LB3. In SIN, all life is deemed valueless compared to Qin Shi Huang. They bear the "burden" of being the only "true human" and in the name of that all other humans are seen as meant to live short, productive, content lives of never wanting for anything but never achieving anything. Kid is nameless, but not faceless. Unlike most nameless NPCs, he still has a face and varying expressions. He has a role in the story, accompanying us throughout a lot of it and forming an explicit connection to us, particularly Spartacus. And at the end of the lostbelt, when Qin Shi Huang wanders his dissolving world, who should he meet but Kid, a nameless boy reciting a poem he learned from the emperor's greatest enemy, standing side by side with the "True human", the two brought down to the same level as they both dissolve into nothing. To sum it up, Kid both gives us exposition about the world like the rest of the lostbelt NPCs, but crucially gives us insight into what life is like there. He never had any ambition towards anything until we came along, until Spartacus taught him what it meant to have hopes and dreams, and by the end of the chapter that "nameless nobody" is just as much a person both in the mind of the audience and the context of the world as the "True human" emperor who believed that he was carrying a burden for his people.

Now contrast this with another one I see get treated as a throwaway nobody but I would argue gives us important insight: Timi. Whose name you probably dont even recognize and I sure as hell had to look up. The kid from Lb5.1 who had an almost comically small role and a DEFINITELY (probably unintentionally) comical demise, if only for the looney tunes style "Heel-turn realization followed by atomization". But regardless it establishes what Kid did in the opposite sense. The crux of LB5's obligatory "world destruction guilt trip moral conundrum" thing is that not only is this world devoid of suffering like LB3, but on top of that seems to have the genuinely fulfilling lives that LB3 lacked; these people still have hopes and dreams...But that ends up thoroughly disproven when we realize what those hopes are. We see these established people, a named character and everything, unquestioningly throw their life away for a cultish desire to be so much as noticed by higher beings. In the same way Kid having no name emphasized they are still their own individual, Timi's fully established identity and motivations show us how hollow their "fully realized" existence truly is.

Of course now is the one that's....divisive, to say the least. Or at least that's the case from everything I've seen on Asha. I'm kinda in both camps. On the one hand, they're overly reliant on her being an "innocent child" type character, on the other hand though she's genuinely the most emotionally impactful lostbelt NPC after Patxi IMO, and a fantastic reminder of why no matter how much it may feel like cruelty to kill these worlds, leaving them to continue with their fundamentally warped existence would be an even greater cruelty. That said, her Ajay was underutilized in the name of that "feel bad for the child" schtick and so Asha's writing flip flops between heartfelt/impactful and saccharine/pandering, but that's more a core issue of the scenario's two lead writers than a character-specific issue (just another example of how Lostbelt 4 has everyone's strengths AND everyone's weaknesses from how basically everyone pitched in). At the very least though, she fulfills her role of informing us and getting us attached to the world she inhabits, and providing a new and meaningful perspective when its end comes that reflects why we must keep pushing forward. Yes there's the annoying pitiful child thing, but it's far from just taking the easy way out or skipping on the role that's meant to be filled by the character.

...That'd be Gerda. I really don't think I need to go over why Gerda does not work but I will. Gerda's entire character is "look how cute and innocent I am UwU don't you feel bad about me???" and she tells us nothing intrinsic about the world in which she lives. She's EXACTLY the kind of character I would expect from Sakurai not having any pre-existing material to work off of. Her dialogue is entirely redundant at best, with all her exposition dumps being repeated or told in more detail by Ophelia, NotSkadi, or NotSitonai. In the case of that first one they are flat out told in a far more meaningful way because we actually see Ophelia's traumatized perspective on the whole "Sunday" thing. Then, at the end of it all, Gerda doesn't even really give us insight to what the world fading is like, instead giving the only example thus far of the post-tree scene telling us nothing new and not showing us any consequence to our action, instead simply having it all vanish like a dream with no direct relevance to Gerda herself. Her role is supposed to be showing the naïve and transient life the stragglers of humanity live out under NotSkadi, but the contrast between that perspective and the reality in which they live in is never explored; it's simply stated to be bad as if the reason is self-demonstrating in a way that would not even required Gerda to exist to be conveyed. All of this isn't even getting into her sheer lack of characterization beyond "child." From start to finish Gerda tells us nothing unique about the world in which she lives, and there is no role she has that another character does not fill more effectively.

And it's for all those reasons that Gerda is the exact opposite of Patxi.

Patxi is unique from the rest of the major lostbelt NPCs in multiple ways. He's the only non-human. He's the only non-child. Most importantly, [of the first 5 lostbelts] he's the only one who opposes us at any point. Like you said, whereas the other ones are all children and that makes it feel pandering, Patxi being just some guy eliminates that and makes him feel a lot more real, and that's amplified by once again like you said him being the only one who ever acts antagonistic towards us. A big part of all this ties into why Lostbelt 1 is the perfect execution of a "first lostbelt", how it perfectly sets up the premise and moral dilemma as well as set an incredible standard for what a Lostbelt should even be, and I don't wanna be here for eternity going over all of that so I'm going to hone in on the stuff specific to Patxi. Unlike all of the other Lostbelt NPCs, Patxi is set up and treated as his own character. He's named, has unique portraits, we see his POV frequently, he's fully characterized with his own goals, he plays a major role in the lostbelt's events, and he's given even more focus than most of the mainstays who joined in the same chapter (Goredolf, Chihuahua, etc). None of the other lostbelt NPCs fulfill all those things, heck even if we axe that last and most notable qualifier, Patxi is still unique in that list. Kid has no name and was not present for the latter part of the chapter. Asha had no unique role in the story and existed only to give us a perspective rather than to do something specific. Timi's entire purpose is to be killed off frighteningly quick with no actual role. This isn't to say I think they're all bad - I've outlined why I think all three of them are effective enough characters...but they still very much pale in comparison to Patxi, because Patxi was treated as his own individual who was important to the story. Who is important to the story, because he's the one Ritsuka made a promise to that they still need to keep.

The restate the point of the lostbelt NPCs, they are there to give us insight into the world we're destroying, and conveying that in order for our world to survive, other worlds with people just like us must die. They're there to make the worlds feel alive; Rituska is constantly cautioned against forming attachments because of these reasons, but by their nature Ritsuka inevitably finds people they want to help even if only in the moment. Where this diverges is how most of the lostbelts try to make you care. I say most because one of the many failings of Lostbelt 2 is its inability to make up its mind on this. Lostbelt 3 shows you a stagnant world where people live meaningless but happy lives. Lostbelt 4 emphasizes that it's a world where (supposedly) suffering is systematically erased. Lostbelt 5 is presented as a utopia. Lostbelt 1 is different. There's no unravelling why "this is bad actually." It's shown from the word Go to be a cruel and uncaring world with nothing to live for but another day of survival. There's no attempt to make you care on the grounds on "People seem happy here" and instead a wholehearted commitment to showing you something far more direct: These are people too. The reason you care that people might seem happy in the other lostbelts is that same reason, because they're people too. Rather than just imply that though, or focus on one specific thing wrong with the world, through Patxi we're shown all of it. We're shown what a miserable existence that world is, we're shown why they want to continue living regardless, we're shown how the yaga are people just like us, and we're shown how they came to believe that their life which seems so unbearable to us is still one worth living to them.

"Gerda" could be a thousand other people in fiction There’s only one "Patxi"

[starrymothwings]

in honor of SIN finally launching i really can’t stress how fucking funny the qin shi duwang account on twitter is

[chronologiical]

my lostbelt 4 mvps!