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douglysium · 2 years ago

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Fan-Servant Inspirations(Yasuke)

So I’ve designed my own fan-servant for the Fate series and it’s my first time doing so. After finishing the design I figured people may have questions regarding my design and choices so I’ve decided to go over every one of them here. This is also potentially a nice way to learn a bit of history trivia and it helps me notice any mistakes in the servant profile. Obviously, if you have not seen my fan-servant you can view her here- Demon Saber: Yasuke. Also, I will refer to the real Yasuke as he/him and my fan-servant as she/her just for the sake of clarity and to avoid confusion.

Servant Profile

Let’s start with the servant profile itself. Some attentive readers are probably going to be quick to point out that technically Yasuke isn’t this figure’s birth/real name but rather a name Nobunaga gave him. Now first off, I am kinda bummed that we don’t know his real name due to how much history is erased, altered, or just ignored when it comes to black people sometimes. However, in the context of Fate servants, it doesn’t really matter if that’s his real name or not. You see, in Fate not all True Names are just a servant’s real name. A prime example of this would be the Archer Class servant Robin Hood(The one that first appeared in the Fate/Ex series). We know that the idea of a “Robin Hood” is more like a title that multiple figures have taken up in the Fate universe and that this Robin Hood probably had an actual name but simply chose to hide his identity while acting as Robin Hood and thus become known by a majority of people as such. Another example would be the Jack the Ripper(Berserker) that shows up in Fate/Strange Fake. Although I should mention that in said case Jack explicitly doesn’t remember what their name was before becoming a Heroic Spirit but my point still stands since there’s no guarantee that his name was Jack or anything similar. There is also Queen of Sheba who explicitly mentions that she has a real name but which does appear in her profile as “??? (*sold separately)” but so does “Queen of Sheba.” Needless to say, this servant’s true name ending up as Yasuke was an inevitability really.

Now as for Yasuke’s class, a samurai wielding a sword is pretty common imagery. There is also the fact that Yasuke was given a katana by Nobunaga so in my servant design her being in the Saber Class also references that aspect of his history.

Basically, all of Yasuke’s listed nicknames and titles have pretty simple reasoning but I will go over them all anyway.

Yasufe, Yisake, and Isaque are all some names that have been theorized to be Yasuke’s real name at one point or another, but the credibility of these guesses varies. Weapon Bearer comes from the job Yasuke was given by Nobunaga. From what I understand, the job is like that of an arms-bearer or armor-bearer since they basically carried weapons for someone else. The job of being a Weapon Bearer is a pretty big deal especially if someone as high ranking as Nobunaga wants you to be their Weapon Bearer. So I figured it was a big enough deal to put in Yasuke’s profile. Meanwhile, Demonic Weapon Bearer was chosen for the same reason above and because Nobunaga has been likened to a demon and was straight up known as Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. This demonic perception of Nobunaga is something the Fate version really likes to lean into and I decided to give Yasuke some of that demonic association in her design due to Nobunaga kind of rubbing off on her and just their general proximity to each other. The demonic imagery also helps anyone reading the profile or looking at her design more likely to make the connection that Yasuke and Nobunaga are connected somehow and that they are probably part of the same, or similar, factions. Obsidian Samurai honestly just comes from a title Gaijin Goomba had referred to Yasuke in his video covering the historical figure(Which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GORBC5OZqlA&t=1s&ab_channel=GaijinGoombahMedia). The reason I decided to include it is that it makes a good reference and from the very start of the design I was planning on having Yasuke don some sort of black or extremely dark-colored armor in some form so I felt it fit. The “Hand of Innovation” is in reference to how Fate refers to Nobunaga as a “King of Innovation,” in reference to the innovative methods of fighting she managed to achieve by assimilating western weaponry and tactics into them. As a Fate servant, I wanted to give the vibe that Yasuke was sort of a representation of Nobunaga’s innovative nature since she didn’t reject Yasuke based on whether she was a foreigner or looked different but chose her solely based on skill. Also, having a foreigner being turned into a samurai at the time was a big deal and not something that occurred often. Yasuke can also be considered Nobu’s “hands” because she is her bodyguard and has fought in battles for her sake. Yasuke was also the first, or at least the first recorded, instance of a black samurai which I sort of used to enhance the idea that Nobu as a character is not afraid to try new things or shake up the established order of how things work in order to achieve victory. It also helps play up the imagery of Yasuke acting as one of Nobu’s “right-hand man” type of personnel. “Demon Saber” and “Demonic Saber” both come from the fact that Nobu is often referred to as “Demon Archer,” which helps draw more parallels between the two. It also helps make it easier to see how Yasuke could probably pass off as a pretty convincing Nobunaga in most Holy Grail Wars in order to hide her identity as long as she completely covers herself up and doesn’t reveal the true name of her Noble Phantasms. Especially, when considering that Nobunaga did have a famous sword so if Nobu did show up as a Saber Class servant at some point in the future.

Characteristics

Her listed species are Heroic Spirit and Human. This is just because the real Yasuke was a human and thus my Yasuke design was also just a normal human and she became a Heroic Spirit when she died and ascended to the Throne of Heroes.

Now as with like 90% of all Fate characters the inevitable question one may ask is “Ok, so why the gender-bend though?” I actually thought about if I should make this fan-servant a girl or not before drawing her and I ultimately decided to go with yes because Fate’s Nobu was turned into a girl and I thought that genderbending in a similar manner would help the audience become more likely to group them in the same category or state of existence in their heads. I also elected her to be fine with he/him pronouns as a nod to the real-life Yasuke being a man.

Her, I could totally dunk on you, level of height comes from an account of a retainer describing Yasuke’s height to be about 6 shaku and 2 sun(which is equal to about 6ft. 2in, or 188cm). I also some sources say he was about 6ft and others say he was closer to 6ft 5in and while these are all still in about the same ballpark and in agreement that Yasuke was at least as tall as 6 feet I decided to choose a happy medium and go with 6 feet 3 inches(or about 190.5 centimeters). Her weight comes from me just looking at the average BMI of a 6-foot 3-inch tall woman and then adding a bit to that by trying to estimate her lean, considerably muscular, body type.

Her Blood Type, Birthday, and Age are all unknown because all those points regarding the real Yasuke aren’t for certain, although many hypotheses and educated guesses do exist. Her place of origin is for a similar reason, although, many speculate that Yasuke was from Mozambique but I was unable to find strict confirmation or evidence of where he was from outside of speculation. I considered making her Place of Origin one of the places Yasuke is thought to have come from but ultimately I decided that it worked better for the character to make it unknown unless I knew for absolute certainty so I just left a mystery with the caveat that it was at least in Africa, since that’s the thing everyone is in agreement on as far as where Yasuke is from.

Personal Information

I chose to have Yasuke address herself as Watashi(私 in Kanji and わたし in Hiragana), Boku(僕 in Kanji and ぼく in Hiragana), Ore(俺 in Kanji and おれ in Hiragana), and/or Ware(我 in Kanji and われ) when speaking Japanese. Watashi is considered a gender-neutral form of I and women tend to be more likely to use it from what I understand. Either way, I figured it was a good fit for Yasuke due to her gender and also the words gender-neutral nature. I choose Boku because it is a form of I that is usually used by young men and I felt that was another good way to reference how the real Yasuke was a man and how the fan servant is ok with being referred to with He/Him pronouns. Ore is a more informal form of I that is often used by men with people they are close to, which was picked for the same reason Boku was. I imagine Yasuke would usually use this when talking with a majority of the members of the Oda family. Finally, there’s ware which is yet another reference to Nobu, specifically how she addresses herself, and from what I understand ware is usually very old fashioned and very formal. It also sort of shows that Yasuke didn’t become fluent in Japanese until after Nobunaga so some of Nobu’s dialect may have have rubbed off on her(My Japanese is frankly atrocious and I don’t know a lot about the pronouns and stuff so please correct me if I’ve made any mistakes).

The likes I gave her are wrestling, sword techniques, innovation, telling stories, Oda Nobunaga, and gag manga/comics. The love of wrestling comes from the fact that apparently Nobunaga likes sumo wrestling and there is a piece of art that was made in 1605 by an anonymous artist called “Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu'' depicting a dark-skinned man sumo wrestling with someone else in the presence of a noble samurai(and Nobunaga was a samurai). Also, apparently, Nobunaga was a fan of sumo wrestling which seems to be where the speculation that this piece is probably depicting Yasuke wrestling as Nobunaga watches come from. I decided to have wrestling be something that Yasuke grew to enjoy and I expanded her love of wrestling to all forms and gave her proficiency in a broad, and nebulous, range of martial arts due to her travels around the world, previous fighting experience/training and her largely unknown personal history and backstory. Her love of swords is a reference to the sword Yasuke was given to by Nobunaga and also my way of translating the idea that Yasuke was a good fighter and samurai while also leaning into the stereotypical image of a samurai. Her love of innovation is tied to Nobu being a King of Innovation and how Nobu threw away the status quo and some of the old ways of thinking and focused purely on Yasuke’s skill. Both telling stories and listening to/reading stories come from the fact that apparently Yasuke and Nobunaga talked a decent amount and Nobunaga apparently listened to stories that Yasuke told him about his travels, other places, and the like. I feel like the reason for the inclusion of Oda Nobunaga in her likes is pretty self-explanatory. Now, this version of Yasuke isn’t meant to be a gag or joke character but at the same time you were an utter fool if you thought I wouldn’t find a way to work a GudaGuda reference into this servant profile, said reference is where her love of gag manga and comics comes from.

Her listed dislikes are traitors, having to deal with sneak attacks, and outdated traditions. Her dislike of traitors comes from what Akechi Mitsuhide pulled by betraying and attacking Nobunaga which ultimately lead to the death of Nobu among other things. Having to do with sneak attacks is honestly just bodyguarding things™(with stereotypical threats like having to worry about assassins) and also ties into Akechi’s sudden betrayal of Nobunaga. Her dislike of outdated traditions ties into the fact of Nobu being a King of Innovation, and thus has an emphasis on progress and improvement, and how Nobu has a way of thinking that is not bound by common sense and by extension not bound by outdated social norms that would have normally prevent Yasuke from reaching such a high position.

The talents I chose for Yasuke are swordsmanship, bodyguarding, combat strategy, martial arts, and learning new things. The swordsmanship is relatively clear, she is a proficient fighter, had a sword given her to by Nobunaga, and has a lot of archetypal samurai traits such as being good with a sword. The bodyguarding thing comes from Yasuke being a bodyguard for Nobunaga and I combined that with her combat prowess. Her talent for combat strategy comes back to her combat prowess, talent, and training along with Nobu potentially rubbing off on her. Also, Nobunaga and Yasuke apparently talked to each other a lot so I leaned into the idea of Nobu occasionally asking Yasuke for her opinion on strategies and stuff. I already covered both martial arts and wrestling earlier when I covered wrestling in her likes section. To briefly summarize, Nobunaga was apparently a fan of sumo wrestling and there’s a famous piece of art called “Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu” from 1605 that many believe depicts Yasuke in a sumo wrestling match while Nobunaga watches. I expanded wrestling to include martial arts due to Yasuke’s combat prowess and training. The learning part comes from the fact that Yasuke apparently learned Japanese fairly quickly.

Her natural enemy being Akechi Mistuhide comes from the fact that A. he betrayed and was basically what caused Nobunaga to die and B. later ended up capturing Yasuke. I came across a few different accounts of what he did after he captured Yasuke. The best-case scenario is that Akechi let him go at some point because he didn’t consider him a threat and the worst-case scenario is that he sent Yasuke back into slavery, but more on that later. Suffice to say, no matter how you slice it a Yasuke servant is probably going to have some major beef with Akechi, to say the least.

The Image color of red, black, and dark green comes from the red highlights, black armor, and dark green uniform I gave her once I finished drawing her design. The red is based on Nobu’s color palette while the green color comes from me using the ceremonial uniform of the Japanese Ground Defense Force uniform. The dark green also pairs really well with the red and black of her palette. Her armor being black was something I had imagined from the beginning and it paired nicely with the red coloration from Nobu. Ultimately, these three colors ended up becoming the most prominent colors in Yasuke’s design so I just decided to use them for her image color.

Affiliations

Her listed affiliations are the Oda Clan, Oda Nobunaga, and Oda Nobutada. Oda Nobunaga is once again pretty self-explanatory and Yasuke also fought under Nobunaga along with acting as a bodyguard and/or weapon bearer at one point or another. I chose to give Yasuke an allegiance to the Oda Clan because the real Yasuke spent a lot of time with Nobunaga’s family too and even ate meals with them. I also chose to add Oda Nobutada, who is Nobunaga’s son, as a reference to a rumor where he delivered Nobunaga’s head to him and even barring that Yasuke fought under his command after Nobunaga died.

Family Members

Yasuke’s family members are unknown so I made the servant version’s family members unknown. Maybe her story could be fiddled around with so you could have the Nobunaga Clan listed as her adopted family or something, but nowhere did I hear Yasuke was that would just be some fun spice to add to the character and I decided not to include it.

Servant Stats

Her servant type is Heroic Spirit because I didn’t see a reason for why such a figure would be an anti-hero unless she was summoned as an Avenger. There is also no reason Yasuke would be a divine spirit or anything like that, and I feel like Yasuke has enough qualifications to be a full-on normal Heroic Spirit and not a phantom or wraith.

Her source is Historical Fact because Yasuke is someone who actually existed.

Her region is Japan because that’s where Yasuke’s “legend” took place and him being there is a big reason for why he’s famous. It’s also where he met and served Oda Nobunaga along with most of what’s recorded about his life is from when he was in Japan.

Her alignment is True Neutral. I actually flipped back and forth on what her alignment should be. I wanted to create a character who understandably hangs around the Nobu we see depicted in Fate/Redline but one who isn’t nearly as ruthless. I originally went with Lawful Good but that didn’t seem right. The character I created seemed a bit too self-concerned as a default to be Lawful Good, that isn’t to say she doesn’t care about others. I then went with Lawful Neutral to match Nobu’s alignment but after a while, I felt the Lawful alignment didn’t really fit Yasuke either. The main thing that changed my mind on that front was that when Nobunaga was cornered he was forced to commit seppuku, a type of ritual suicide, in order to die an honorable death. In some version of what happened between Akechi and Yasuke, Akechi said he might respect Yasuke if he committed seppuku but he chose not to. So I felt that more leaned to a True Neutral character inspiration rather than a Lawful one.

Her hidden attribute is Man because Yasuke was just a normal human.

The armaments I chose for her are a wakizashi, a katana, a matchlock pistol, and armor. The wakizashi and katana are a standard samurai sword combination, with the shorter wakizashi being used to help take care of extremely close ranged opponents. The matchlock pistol is based on the fact that Nobu wields matchlock rifles. Although, I chose to go with a smaller low-profile matchlock gun as opposed to a matchlock rifle because it helps connect the two while also showing that Yasuke’s gun is a sidearm and not her main method of fighting as a Saber Class servant. I’ve already mentioned what her armor is based on, a mix of a uniform and samurai armor, and I felt that Yasuke was iconic for being a samurai warrior so I had to find a way to work the armor in. The armor also helped show her defensive bodyguard nature thanks to its protection and hints are a more close-range fighting style since it would probably allow her to take a hit or two. The armor, along with its mask, also helps hide her true identity, because I feel like if you just saw a black person walking around in armor you could probably narrow it down pretty quickly if you even had a vague idea of who Yasuke is.

Her known summoning catalysts are a piece of an old painting and a piece of her helmet, specifically the crest on its front. The piece of the painting is a reference to “Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu” and I just thought the crest would make a cool-looking catalyst in the world of Fate. It is also not too large.

Qualified Servant Classes

Yasuke’s qualified classes are Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Berserker, Shielder, Avenger, and Gunner. I’ve already gone over why see is eligible for Saber at the very beginning of this writing. I will add that part of the reason I chose the Saber Class was also to embody the common imagery of a samurai, and a sword is probably the most iconic weapon of a samurai. Now onto the Archer Class.

The Archer Class qualification is due to her battle prowess and me playing around with the status of being a weapon bearer giving her the chance to use and/or learn about some of Nobu’s weapons(such as her guns). A bow is also a weapon commonly used by samurai and the flaming arrows is just a cool visual and a slight reference to how Nobunaga had a habit of burning buildings down during some of his famous battles I read about and how Nobunaga died as the Honno-Ji temple was on fire. Having the bow have mechanical enhancements of some sorts ties into the themes of innovation Nobu and Yasuke have. It can also be seen as Yasuke incorporating some of Nobunaga’s famous strategies into her fighting style. The fact that she can’t make the matchlock rifles she wields as an archer float shows that she hasn’t mastered them in the same way Nobu has with the Noble Phantasm. There is also a bit of a joke with Nobu giving her guns as a gift since as a servant she has an endless amount of them.

The Lancer Class qualification also comes from her battle prowess and her status as a weapon-bearer giving her the chance to use and learn about some of the weapons Nobunaga owns. The idea here is that Nobu had a lot of influence and managed to get her hands on a lot of weapons even if she didn’t use them all, and some of which she would let Yasuke use or have. The fact that the spear resembles a spine comes from Nobu’s demonic association and by extension, some of Yasuke’s demonic motif. They also both have a slight skeleton motif, with a skeleton literally looming behind Nobu in her stage 1-3 art and the fact that Yasuke has a skull that is meant to symbolize her task of protecting Nobu’s head with Ranmaru. The spear’s ability to bend comes from the fact that spines, in general, can bend and its ability to extend is just based on a cool visual motif of the segments of the spear’s “spines” separating from each other to gain more reach.

The Assassin Class qualification comes from the idea of her combat prowess/training, martial arts skills, and largely unknown backstory(but mostly the martial arts skills since being good enough at such things like hand-to-hand combat tends to place a servant in the Assassin or Berserker Classes.

The inspiration behind the Berserker Class qualification is largely the same as her Assassin Class qualifications with the addition of leaning into the sort of demonic imagery from Nobu and Yasuke. Also, in the context of Fate, I can totally see someone like Yasuke being in at least one battle where they went berserk or were filled with a massive amount of bloodlust, to the point of going berserk in a battle(the final battle Yasuke had while serving under Oda Nobutada could work as a potential example of this. As I can see it as a fight where Yasuke was overcome by rage at the death of Nobu while in battle). The emphasis on her being a wrestler comes from the sumo wrestling inspirations I’ve mentioned earlier and I decided to make her embrace being a “heel”(which for those who don’t know is basically a wrestler who acts as a “rule breaker” or “bad guy” in contrast to the more heroic and protagonist “faces”). This heel motif is simply me leaning into the “evil” demon theme of Nobu and the demonic themes of Saber. So as a wrestler style Berserker Yasuke wouldn’t be evil more so just doing a bit and hamming it up as much as possible.

The qualification for the Shielder Class comes back to her combat prowess/training and being a weapon bearer. It also comes from me wanting to play up her identity as a bodyguard and the defensive aspects of her fighting style. I had the number of people she could protect restricted to 1 or 2 to show that the shield is not her ideal weapon and how Yasuke was a bodyguard tasked with protecting specific people and thus wouldn’t have some sort of inherent ability to protect massive amounts/groups of people at once.

Her qualification for the Avenger class is inspired by two things. The first is the idea that she really really wants revenge on Akechi due to how hard he wronged Yasuke. Thus she really wants to avenge both her and Nobu. This is also meant to embody the stereotypical wandering and vengeful ronin with something like a cursed sword by their side. This is also why I had the bit about her wandering around Japan and the world. I remember reading that there were potentially other black samurai who served minor lords in Japan but information regarding this is blurry since the lords they served were minor to the point of not really having a lot of records regarding them along with other things leading to a lack of information. Of course, some people suspect that at least one or more of these alleged sightings was Yasuke.

Her qualification for the Gunner class comes from her proximity to Nobu, her status as a weapon bearer, and the idea that she is incorporating one or more of Nobu’s innovative techniques into her fighting style. I decided to give her the ability to make guns float in a similar manner to Nobu to strengthen the connection between them and further differentiate her abilities from that of her Archer Class counterpart. I figured the floating would be a good way to show the emphasis on the use of guns specifically. I put a limit on how many guns she could use to show that it wasn’t on the level of how Nobu uses them and I upgraded her pistol to a weak Noble Phantasm to show that she would be using it way more and that it’s more powerful when she is a Gunner.

Parameters

The parameters I gave to Yasuke are an A in Strength, A in Endurance, B+ in Agility, D in Mana, A- in Luck, and an E - EX in NP. The A ranked Strength is inspired by Yasuke being described as notably extremely strong and the A-ranked Endurance is a sort of extrapolation on this along with her being a bodyguard that can be vigilant and defend people for long periods of time. The B+ Agility comes from the idea of Yasuke being a good fighter that can move and act quickly. Her speed fluctuates a bit depending on how hard she is pushing herself and whether she is actively attacking someone or actively defending so I gave the stat + to represent potential increases in its effectiveness in that department. I made her Mana rank a low D rank because I didn’t have any reason to make it high(she’s not a caster, a mage, or someone who uses Magecraft). I considered making it E but I bumped it up to D because Nobu’s Mana stat is B. The A- in Luck is based on Nobu’s luck being listed is A- in Koha/Ace and I figured making their luck the same was a good way of tying them together and representing how the downfall of Nobu affected Yasuke while also giving the vibe that their successes are linked to each other. I should also mention that in Redline and most other Fate material Nobu’s luck is B ranked. However, I elected to keep Yasuke’s luck at A- to represent the idea that in the servant version managed to survive after Nobunaga died and then wandered the world so it still makes sense that it may be a bit higher sometimes. Her NP is ranked E - EX because one of her Noble Phantasms allows her to utilize Nobu’s Noble Phantasms, and Nobu’s NP is ranked E - EX.

Class Skills

Now for the class skills which are Magic Resistance at B-rank and Riding at C-rank. The skills were chosen simply because they are the class skills of the Saber Class and I had no reason to add extra class skills or make an exception for Yasuke. Her Magic Resistance is B because Yasuke’s largely unknown history allowed me to add the bit about having her have encountered some weak or low ranking mages but Yasuke isn’t famous for slaying dragons nor are they from the Age of Gods, so giving them A ranked Magic Resistance didn’t feel right. I’ve considered making it B+ and giving her an advantage against Magecraft, as opposed to true magic, or something.

I gave her Riding at C-rank because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for her Riding skill to be super high since Yasuke isn’t famous for riding anything but I can believe Yasuke could’ve probably ridden a horse and the fan-servant version is skilled enough at learning to have the skill be at a high enough rank within the Saber Class to give her the ability to quickly learn how to drive a car in the like.

Personal Skills

For Personal Skills, I gave Saber Guardian Knight at C-rank, and E- ranked Presence Detection, Reduced Earth at E-rank, Protection from Arrows at D-rank, Mind's Eye (True) at a rank of C++, and Charisma that is also of the C++ rank.

The inclusion of the Guardian Knight skill is me just playing up Yasuke’s role as a bodyguard and the focus on defense I gave her. I decided to make it C because she doesn’t have holy or magical powers like someone like Saing Georgios has. Although, I didn't have the skill to be so low that it didn’t really matter in combat. I also felt it helped add the air of a mysterious samurai.

Her Presence Detection is me leaning on her mysterious past, combat prowess, and upping her nature as a bodyguard. I made it a low really E- rank to show that it’s something she’s picked up but not mastered and to restrict her being more defensive in order to add into the more defensive aspect of her fighting style and bodyguard role. Along with it being helpful when detecting something that’s about to harm her or someone she wants to keep safe. She also doesn’t have some sort of powerful magic or supernatural aspect about her to warrant it being really high ranked.

The E-ranked Reduced Earth is a way for me to lean into the martial arts and combat prowess theme I ended up giving Yasuke and I also felt it lent her more of an air of mystery too while also making her come off as more of a surprising threat in a fight. So I guess you could say I was leaning on Yasuke’s largely unknown backstory once again. I decided to make it E+ rank because I didn’t see any reason to make it as high as Okita’s or anything and it helps show that as a Yasuke hasn’t mastered it and I gave the rank a + to show that it’s more effective when she is using it in a defensive manner, which leans into the bodyguard theme.

Giving her Protection from Arrows was kind of just a way of playing up the defensive part of her fighting style. Although, I didn’t see any reason to make it super high rank so I put it at D-rank and made it more of something she can use to stay in a fight for longer periods of time against an opponent who’s at a distance rather than something that just allows her to easily avoid most projectiles. It also isn’t super high-ranked because I leaned into the idea of it being a little trick she learned in some way using her own skill but not something she completely mastered. I imagine this skill could also pair very well with her Mind’s Eye(True) and if she was defending someone, her Guardian Knight. There’s an argument to be made that she should probably have the Bulletproof Treatment of Protection from Arrows in order to lean into the gun motif she and Nobu have.

The inclusion of the Mind’s Eye skill was a way of showing me that Yasuke was a really good expert combatant and strategist. I chose to make it Mind’s Eye(True), instead of Mind’s Eye(False) to show that it’s something she had to learn and not some sort of sixth sense or innate ability she was born with. I gave it ++ to show that it fluctuates depending on if she is fighting someone who is wielding a sword, someone who is using hand-to-hand combat, and/or when she is protecting something. The sword bit plays into her combat prowess, strategy, and stereotypical samurai imagery, the martial arts bit plays into the wrestling trait I mentioned earlier and the protection bit plays into her being a defensive bodyguard.

I decided to give her the Charisma skill as a reference to Yasuke’s high-ranking status and combat prowess. It also references how apparently people flocked to see Yasuke when he was out and about with Nobunaga. Some sources I read went as far as to say there were riots caused by people trying to catch a glimpse of him but idk if it happened to that degree. But the main thing that remains consistent is there were a lot of people who wanted to see him to the point where massive crowds formed sometimes. I didn’t make the Charisma B-rank because servants with B-rank have it because they can use it to rule a country and I wanted to convey that Yasuke isn’t the King/Queen/Emperor/Empress type of person who feels like ruling a country for any reason.

In Yasuke’s first draft she had Hiken - Tsubame Gaeshi(False). Lightless, Three-Stage Thrust(False) and/or Style Recognition(Sword)- B as personal skills. The idea is that they would play into her being a swordmaster and mysterious combat genius by having skills we have seen other servants have. However, she would not have fully mastered them and they would have been inferior versions of the skills. Tsubame Gaeshi(False) would have been like the Tsubame Gaeshi Sasaki Kojiro uses except it only has two slashes in it and would have a big enough opening that any servant with a high enough agility stat could escape it. Lightless, Three-Stage Thrust(False) would have been like the one Okita uses except it only produces two simultaneous strikes instead of three and it would be unable to pierce through even low ranking Noble Phantasms. Style Recognition(Sword)- B would have been a skill that acted as an inferior version of Izou’s Settlement Sword, allowed her to recognize any sword technique sees as well as accurately guess where it comes from and calculate potential weaknesses but she would be unable to copy them like Izou can, and Izou would have just been a natural counter to this skill since he could copy a multitude of skills and techniques to throw Yasuke off.

Noble Phantasms

Hasebe II: The Powerful Cutter is named after the famous sword of Nobunaga,

Heshikiri Hasebe, and helps further connect Yasuke to Nobunaga. From what I understand Heshikiri Hasebe means either powerful cutter or powerful slash which is how I came up with the Noble Phantasm’s epithet. Which also happens to end up alluding to one of the abilities of Noble Phantasm revolving around sound slashes or injuries inflicted with it. Hasabe II was originally just a placeholder name I used for the Noble Phantasm while I ironed out its mechanics and identity but I couldn’t think of a name and I found Hasebe II to be a fitting name. The fact that it was originally meant to be a placeholder name is where the joke of Yasuke being unable to come up with a final name before the placeholder name stuck for the sword came from. Its low rank at D- is meant to show that it’s meant to be more of a ceremonial sword and is a reference to the fact that the katana Nobunaga gave Yasuke in real life was more ceremonial in nature. I decided to make the sword a weak demonic sword in order to play into the demon imagery present throughout this entire design process and that Nobunaga/Nobu has a demon-related title. I made it explicitly weak though to tie into it being a ceremonial sword and to make its demonic nature something that characters in-universe could easily miss if they weren’t paying attention, super talented, or had experience with such things. The fact that the sword symbolizes her status and relationship with Nobu as her weapon-bearer, bodyguard, and a retainer is due to the fact that Nobu gave it to her and its ceremonial, and thus symbolic nature. I extended this idea to make it boost her Strength, Endurance, and Agility stats along with her Eye of the Mind(True) when she is defending someone to play into her status as a samurai and bodyguard. However, it decreases her luck in order to convey that at the end of the day it is a demonic sword and it does have a sort of double-edged curse like nature. The ability for it to harvest souls is based on the demonic nature I gave it but I limited this to being a temporary boost in order to show that the sword is not a powerful demonic sword. It also shows that while Yasuke is a bit ruthless when fighting she is not heartless or without standards. The ability for it to extend into a full-length katana when its true name is released is me once again leaning into common samurai imagery but I decided to make the blade more beam or laser-like to give it a Noble Phantasm feel close to that of something like Artoria, Mordred or Siegfried, said beam is also red because red is a big part of Nobu’s color palette. The ability for this sword to leave marks on the opponent that can become wounds at any time is based on the common trope of a samurai or swordsman striking an opponent only for there to be a delay before the wounds and gushing blood appear. I used this to help fit Yasuke into more of an archetypical samurai vibe. Its Anti-Unit status comes from the fact that it’s a sword and this Yasuke would usually only be stabbing or cutting one person at a time. Although, she could set wounds on more than one target. The Anti-Unit(self) comes from the buffs it gives Yasuke when she is defending someone.

The design of the sword itself is specifically meant to resemble a shorter version of the one Archer Nobu uses. I also embroidered it with jewels to make it appear more ceremonial, symbolic or fashion over function in vibe. As well as being a representation of her high-ranking status in society. The colors of the gemstones on the hilt were chosen because I felt they looked good with the red and the diamonds on the guard are red because of Nobu and Yasuke’s color palette while the pearls on the bottom of the hilt and guard are white because I felt the color added a good contrast while not looking too out of place. The scabbard is also embroidered with pearls for the same reason and to give it a look of being fancy or expensive. The sword has gold in its design from Nobu’s sword and to make it look more valuable.

Nyuyoku Buredo: Wash away Their Facade is a reference to a moment where apparently Nobunaga wanted to see if Yasuke had inked his skin, as opposed to it being naturally dark, and had him scrubbed to see if any ink would wash off. I questioned if I should even make this a Noble Phantasm since if I wasn’t careful it could easily lean into racist imagery but in the context of the Fate version, the idea would be that the bath was some way of revealing if Yasuk’s true form or if she was lying and/or hiding something. I wanted to create the idea of the water being used to reveal if someone was hiding something, thus it could reveal all of an inflicted target’s stats and profile. I also tied it to bladed weapons as a reference to the sword-wielding samurai that I had set up and as a reference to Yasuke being a weapon-bearer. I also made it a sort of water cutter to further lean into the water imagery and tie into the blade aspect of it. The fact that it is not tied to a specific weapon is because it was an event rather than something tied to a physical object, or at least that was the idea anyway. The fact that she can use it to make a normal weapon look like a Noble Phantasm is just her being an expert strategist and a way of using her proficiency with weapons to her advantage. Nyuyoku Buredo translates to something like “bathing blade” or “bath blade” and the “Wash away Their Facade” epithet is meant to lean into the idea of it revealing something’s true nature or true form. The fact that its Anti-Unit is tied to the fact that it’s usually going to be used to slash or attack one person at a time, in the same way, a sword would, and there’s honestly isn’t much of a reason for it being C+ other than the fact that it can deal decent damage and can reveal everything about a servant.

The Head of Nobunaga: The Battle has Yet to End is a reference to a rumor or story that Yasuke was tasked with making sure Nobunaga’s head didn’t fall into enemy hands. Although, in most of the versions I came across Ranmaru was tasked with it but I opted to combine them in order to try to create something more unique. I decided to make it a symbolic skull instead of a literal head because that would be a little much, and it also ties into Nobu’s skeleton motif. I made the head look more demonic due to Nobunaga’s demon-based epithets. The red coloration comes from Nobu’s color palette and the fact that its eyes erupt in flames when its active ties into Nobu’s hell theme, which can be seen in her Demon King of the Sixth Heaven Noble Phantasm among other things. I chose to make the fire as being blue instead of red or orange in order to make it stand out more against the rest of the skull and color palette. Asking someone to take care of your head after you kill yourself is a major sign of trust, so the head’s ability to allow Yasuke to utilize Nobu’s Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms is a representation of just how much trust Nobu put in her. The fact that Yasuke’s version of the Noble Phantasms tends to be more limited is to show that they ultimately aren’t hers forever and she is supposed to deliver the head to someone else. So when she does “deliver” the head, via sacrificing it, she can use one of Nobu’s Noble Phantasms in its entirety for one time in order to show that she has completed her mission, and has gained a reward in a sense. Its ability to only draw upon one Noble Phantasm or skill at a time is for balance reasons and the fact that it announces things in Nobu’s voice helps reference Nobu and give it more of a cursed, unnatural, or demonic vibe. The fact that its rank ranges from E to EX is a reference to how Nobu’s Demon King of the Sixth Heaven ranges from E to EX and since this Noble Phantasm gives Yasuke the ability to use Nobu’s various differently ranked Noble Phantasms and skills the rank of the skill would depend on whatever skill or Noble Phantasm Yasuke is currently using it for. The epithet of “The Battle has Yet to End '' represents Yasuke’s goal of not letting Nobu’s head fall into enemy hands even after Nobunaga had died at the battle. Thus, the idea that the battle continues on. The fact the Noble Phantasm will not if Nobu is around is because conceptually it hinges on Nobu being dead or not around and the Nobu entrusted Yasuke to carry it AFTER she died. Its Anti-Unit(Self) nature and the maximum number of targets being 1(the person wielding it) ties with how it is specifically granting the person who uses it the ability to use Nobu’s Personal Skills and abilities. Thus, it is targeting said person. Originally Yasuke was only going to have two Noble Phantasms with the sword giving her the ability to use Nobu’s Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms, with the idea that the sword would act as a symbol for her being a weapon-weapon bearer for Nobu but then I heard the story about the head and implemented that as a Noble Phantasm instead.

Misc

The wakizashi is simply a standard sword that many samurai used as a backup or for short-ranged combat and I gave it to Yasuke to help her embody being a samurai. Its design is not as regal as Hasebe II’s because it leans more towards being more functional over fashionable despite not being a Noble Phantasm. I gave it more of a homemade style to show the more pragmatic, and less flashy, side of Yasuke’s personality and fighting style. It also shows that it is less valuable both literally and symbolically to Yasuke than Hasebe II. Her throwing it is just something to catch people off guard and ties to her strategic and combat prowess.

The matchlock pistol was me wanting to give a toned-down version of Nobu’s association with guns in the form of a sidearm. The fact that it’s not any sort of Noble Phantasm ties into Yasuke’s normally close range fighting style and the fact that she doesn’t heavily rely on it. Its design is based on just a generic matchlock pistol and the pistol that Oda Nobukatsu wields in order to help tie them into being of a similar faction, or allegiance and highlight their connection to Nobunaga. I also gave it a more function over fashion feel similar to that of the wakizashi by giving it a more put-together look so it would come off as something that Yasuke has maintained for a long time. I originally had Yasuke’s gun holster on her side with a more standard gun holster on her hip instead of the strap over her chest I gave her. I went with the strap because I felt like it made her stand out more and that’s

The uniform aspect of Yasuke’s armor is vaguely modeled after the ceremonial Japanese Ground Defense Force suites. This is what the color of her uniform is based off and it helps connect her to Nobu, who also wears a military uniform. The dark green also pairs nicely with her color palette and helps contrast the red in her design very nicely since it is a complementary color of red. It also doesn’t clash with the black of Yasuke’s armor in a bad way. I chose the suite instead of an active combat military uniform in order to help represent Yasuke’s high ranking and symbolic status. However, this is contrasted with her combat-oriented samurai armor which shows that she still is a warrior and knows how to fight. Also being a samurai is pretty important to why Yasuke is famous so having visible samurai armor was a must. I ended up blending her helmet with a common type of military hat for the reasons mentioned above. The cloak is also a reference to the large red cloak Nobu wears and the cloak in combination with a samurai mask helps hide her true identity. Since there is, unfortunately, not a lot of famous black samurai that I could see being servants, so not having a way for her to hide her identity in a Holy Grail War would make her extremely easy to recognize. It also helps show the strategic side of her personality and fighting style. The brim part of her helmet is more triangular than the brim of Nobu’s hat. I was using shape language to try to make it come off as more aggressively shaped and someone who would get more up in your face during a fight.

Her ability to pretty accurately guess the identity of servants that were either around during her time or from before her time was a way of me giving her a mysterious air while also referencing the idea that she has been to many places around the world and has many parallels with the wandering samurai who has a mysterious backstory archetype. It also helps show how smart she is.

Background

The fact that much of Yasuke’s life is wrapped in mystery and that she refuses to divulge what happened for most is simply because we don’t know a lot about the real Yasuke either. The fact that she moved around a lot and doesn’t remember when she was born is based on two things. First, is the many speculations about where Yasuke is originally from and second that Yasuke was a victim of human trafficing and slavery, and thus probably got moved around a lot. I mentioned Mozambique as one of the places Yasuke spent a lot of time in as a reference to a popular theory about where Yasuke is from, and all the other listed places are areas where people speculate Yasuke to be from. The fact that my Yasuke has been to so many places is also meant to embody this idea that she became a wandering samurai after Nobu died.

When it comes to Yasuke making her way to Japan I had her acting as a bodyguard for Alessandro Valignano. The most common version of Yasuke’s story I heard was that he was a slave or indentured servant of Alessandro but I also found some evidence that points to the possibility of him being some sort of shipmate or bodyguard rather than a slave. So I went with the bodyguard account because I felt it helped give Yasuke as much of her own agency as humanly possible. It also ended up helping highlight how talented she was and her previous combat experience. I also just really didn’t want Nobu buying a slave or something if I’m able to avoid it. THis also ended up highlighting Nobu’s more positive traits and making it more understandable why Yasuke would really like Nobu. The fact that she excels at learning new things is a reference to the fact that apparently, Yasuke picked up Japanese very quickly, and eventually became fluent in it.

Her meeting and impressing Nobu is based on Yasuke meeting and impressing Nobunaga. I then mentioned Nobu as the King of Innovation to show having a foreigner at the time was unusual but given that Fate’s version of Nobunaga is explicitly stated as being innovated and not bound by common sense I felt it helped highlight part of the reason she would elevate someone like Yasuke to such a status. There’s also the fact that due to Yasuke’s travels she would probably be aware of many different western military strategies which ties into Nobu.

Yasuke and Nobu exchanging stories is based on how Nobunaga reportedly loved listening to Yasuke’s stories regarding the places he had been to. Nobunaga did also apparently give Yasuke his own house along with the katana I mentioned earlier which is where the idea of Nobu giving Yasuke various gifts comes from. I already mentioned where the name of Hasebe II came from in the Noble Phantasm section. The rebellion against Nobu by Akechi Mitsuhide happened in both history and the Fate version of the character. Now the part where Yasuke and Ranmaru are entrusted with Nobunaga’s head is interesting. The common consensus seems to be that while Yasuke it was Ranmaru who had but there is a really muddy gray area regarding information of Nobunaga’s seppuku. I guess that’s not completely impossible, not to mention that apparently what happened during that moment outside of some key figures seems very muddy. But Fate loves to blend fact and fiction together to create more interesting or unexpected designs(just look at Salieri) anyway. Fate seems to be going with Ranmaru being the one that was given Nobu’s head but I still think that there is enough space for Yasuke to fit into the picture. In the backstory I had Nobu entrust her head to both of them, with Yasuke acting as a bodyguard for Ranmaru and the head. The reason Yasuke considers the act such a big deal is because it would have been one of the greatest signs of trust at the time. Yasuke not being 100% sure if Nobu told her to hold on to it because she considered her friend/family or for purely pragmatic reasons shows a bit of the character’s self-doubt and gives any writer more time to decide the reasoning for why Nobu did it. Yasuke also doesn’t bother just asking why Nobu did it because she considers it an honor either way. Yasuke did fight under Oda Nobutada after the death of Nobunaga.

Which brings us to what happened with Akechi after he had captured Yasuke during one of the battles. So I actually came across like three slightly different versions of what happened. The first one is Akechi simply let Yasuke go because he did not consider him a threat without a leader and the second one is Akechi kind of just sent him to a church to let westerners deal with him which either lead to Yasuke being put back into slavery or he still maintained his freedom. Also, from my research, he may have given Yasuke the chance to commit seppuku and die an honorable death, which Yasuke chose not to do and thus Akechi didn’t respect him or saw him as someone with no honor, and in some other accounts. There were also some accounts were Akechi was either really racist and/or really xenophobic and called him an animal for being a black man and sent him to a church because of that, but I have seen sources disputing the specifics of what happened or how likely this specifically this version occurred but its also the most prevalent. Unfortunately for me, when I make fan-servants I try to craft them in such a way that they are believable within the world of Fate and since Akechi is already a character we have seen part of how he acts ended up being determined by what we have already seen of him within Fate. They really play up on him being cold, calculating and deceitful so in Yasuke’s backstory I leaned into this and had him ask if she would commit seppuku and when she said no he really just didn’t care what happened to her after that because he had already achieved his goals. Although, I will say that if he did do that whole black dog speal then fuck Akechi.

Yasuke keeping her freedom and wandering the world is first and foremost just me not wanting a sad ending, because even someone like me has a shred of humanity left. Also, it’s based on the speculation regarding what happened to Yasuke after the whole Akechi situation since there are many records of what happened afterwards so there is some debate of what happened, with some arguing that he became a ronin. I leaned into this idea of Yasuke being a ronin and then expanded it into Yasuke wandering around Japan, probably looking for a way to kill Akechi, before wandering around the world.

Yasuke’s quote about being more loyal to Nobu than Japan was just a way of me helping give people reading the profile a better feel for her character and to highlight that she is not necessarily bound by made up tradition or concepts about what people think you should or shouldn’t care about, like being loyal to a country. She finds personal relationships more meaningful and fulfilling.

Appearance

I already went over the inspiration for her armored uniform twice and already covered her height, although her armor is based on that of Tosei Gusoku samurai armor. The mask she wears is, of course, a samurai mask(based on a type of Sōmen mask(ie one that covers the entire face) which is a category of Men-yoroi, or facial armor). Because of the fact that these masks are not only meant to provide protection but also potentially frighten the enemy, I tried to make the mask a bit scary. The eyes glowing red was also an attempt to make it intimidating and while it doesn’t look that scary in the flats and sketches the images of seeing some tall figure in the darkness, possibly standing over the corpse of an enemy or dying servant, with glowing red eyes sounds frightening. The red tips on her hair are also a reference to Nobu’s color palette. Of course, Yasuke is lean/muscular because she is physically strong and a powerful warrior. Her taking off the mask in order not to scare children shows that she is not completely heartless, even if she leans more towards pragmatism.

I also incorporated a lot of rectangular and triangular shapes into her design to make her appear both sturdy and defensive as a bodyguard but also dangerous and kind of ruthless in a fight. Her shoulder guards make her shoulders appear wider and her cape also makes her silhouette appear bigger.

Personality

Her usual manner of respectful speech is kind of just me leaning into the stereotypical honorable side of being a samurai. However, she isn’t beholden to tradition so if for whatever reason she loses respect in someone she doesn’t care if she comes off as crass or rude. Her tendency to dislike most traitors comes from Akechi.

Her quick learning is inspired by the comment that Yasuke picked up Japanese relatively quickly. Her love of talking is inspired by Yasuke trading stories with Nobunaga and her choosing not to talk without purpose comes from the idea of Yasuke and Nobu trading stories and that she is very smart. Her intelligence also ties into her asking questions, educating people, and giving advice.

While she does hold some respect for the hierarchy and tradition she doesn’t care about it enough to try to always follow it. Her flexibility being compared to Nobu is yet another connection between the two that helps the reader understand why they got along but I put the caveat that Yasuke tends to be more bound by common sense in order to show that Nobu still has an extremely odd way of thinking.

Her being someone who doesn’t go out of the way to attract attention plays into the strategic and pragmatic sides of nature but the fact that she “isn’t one to waste the spotlight” shows that a part of her does enjoy the attention and is inspired by the same things that lead to me giving her Charisma as one of her Personal Skills, ie her status and publicity.

The fact that she prefers to stay by her master’s side during a Holy Grail War ties into her nature as a bodyguard and her defensive fighting style and her willingness to just try to kill an opposing master instead of their servant is indicative of her more combat-oriented and pragmatic side. This also applies to her incorporation of helpful modern tech and use of terrain. Her love of comedy and gag manga/comics is a reference to GudaGuda.

Servant Interactions

Nobunag(Archer): Her referring to Nobu as “Lord Nobu chan” is meant to convey some form of personal connection or endearment. I also thought that it would stand out when she is speaking because I would consider it a cute nickname. Notably, I chose to have her refer to Nobu with chan honorific to show that while she greatly respects Nobu as a Lord and trusts her judgment, at the end of the day, she is still close enough of a friend to have a casual conversation and relationship with Nobu and she does consider Nobu some sort of equal. She also finds Nobu endearing on some level

Nobunaga(Avenger)- There have been a lot of different versions of Nobu in Fate and I also felt that having a line like “I’ve served many Nobunaga and they all have such interesting stories to tell” added an air of mystery and ambiguity. Like is Yasuke being figurative or is she being literal? Only time will tell.

Nobunaga(Avenger) Third Ascension: This interaction is just a joke pointing out how much taller Avenger Nobu is compared to her normal form.

Nobunaga(Berserker): This is kind of just embracing that this version of Nobu is a joke character and that there isn’t really a reason for her to be wearing a swimsuit while swinging a guitar.

Mori Nagayoshi: He’s part of the Oda family.

Mysterious Ranmaru X: Ranmaru was involved with Nobu’s seppuku and was there when she died. Apparently Mysterious Ranmaru X is not from proper human history but from the Servantverse and is like a fusion of all her versions or something.

Okita Souji(Saber): Okita and Nobu are almost always showing up together in most of the Fate media they appear in, they are also the ones who “host” a lot of GudaGuda’s gags. Okita also appears in Redline and fights against Nobu and it's been mentioned throughout Fate that Okita is a natural counter to Nobu.

Okita Souji Alter: I’m gonna be 100% honest I just couldn’t think of any funny or witty voice lines so this is what you’re stuck with. It ties into Yasuke’s analytical nature though so there’s that.

Okita Souji(Assassin): Using Yasuke’s strategic nature to make a somewhat comedic moment between her and a joke/summer character.

Oda Nobukatsu: Nobukatsu is a member of the Oda family and both he and Yasuke probably don’t take too kindly to someone disrespecting Nobu in any major way.

Chacha: She is related to the Oda family, and Yasuke has many stories that are probably helpful for a child falling asleep.

Master Swordsmen: Yasuke’s strategic nature in combination with her swordsmanship

Sakamoto Ryoma: I felt like Nobu and Yasuke’s themes of innovation and incorporation of western tactics paired nicely with Sakamoto Ryoma’s history in both Fate and real life and how he was involved with a major reformation. She does find his way of doing things tends to be less pragmatic though. This can be seen in Redline when he offers a deal with an opposing master with basically no strings attached.

Oryou: Oryou hangs around Sakamoto and the fact that she’s just a godlike dragon strolling around kind of scares Yasuke(who is just a normal person). She does trust Sakamoto’s judgment though.

Okada Izou: Servant interactions were like one of the last parts of this servant profile I was working on and as I went along I kind of realized that Yasuke was a character who could probably have an interesting interaction or relationship with Izou. Also, I wanted to toss Izou a bone. Yasuke isn’t his friend but she does put up with him and sees him for more than what he lets on to be. Also, I'm sure there’s some potential slapstick here with Izou doing something rude and Yasuke reprimanding him for it.

Akechi Mitsuhide: Akechi is the reason Nobu died.

Muramasa: Yasuke likes swords and Muramasa makes swords.

Samurai: Yasuke is a samurai and she has thoughts about other samurai.

*Hang Tuah, Julie d’Aubigny, Damarchus and Oryou(Avenger) are all fan-servants created by MochiBoni, Omegazplayer and Bantiarna respectively. You can check them out on Twitter. And here are the profiles for each respective servant

Hang Tuah- https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mjNkmjnhIIeLgGRvSlVVLhRQqWd4cbEDygfQHSLPCg/edit,

Julie d’Aubigny-https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416650069206573057?s=20

Damarchus- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jArzQOnAWnvSv8MRelYSl1x5DZj-gUndaBmPtO74icw/edit

Oryou(Avenger)- https://twitter.com/_bantiarna/status/1350992486882299909

Hang Tuah: Now I don’t include other fan-servants in interactions for no reason. If I did Omegazplayer’s fan-servants would literally take up like 98% of the list alone. As a designed Yasuke I kind of realized she has a decent amount of stuff in common with Hang Tuah. For one they both have a style of fighting that revolves around protecting their master and they feel uncomfortable leaving said master alone for any considerable amount of time and they are both pretty loyal to at least one figure they greatly respect. Hang Tuah also overlaps with the martial arts theme I gave Yasuke. Yasuke also has sort of a complex about being able to protect people due to what happened to Nobu which kind of aligns with how Hang Tuah feels bad about failing his king. Also, like just imagine both of them sitting around talking about how amazing their bosses are.

She would consider Hang Tuah a bit naive though and thus would see the value Taming Sari adds and understand that Taming Sari is trying to help him. Yasuke also definitely has less of a righteous vibe than Hang Tuah. Also, the idea of Hang Tuah doing something and both Yasuke talking with an exasperated, but extremely caring, Taming Sari is pretty funny. Also, the idea of Yasuke and Hang Tuah traveling around the world in a Lostbelt or Singularity is also a fun one.

Julie d’Aubigny: The overlap between Julie and Yasuke comes from their swordsmanship but also their respective charisma and popularity. If Julie were to draw attention to herself or Yasuke she definitely wouldn’t complain about it. Julie is definitely more free-spirited than Yasuke.

Damarchus/Karna Santa: Yasuke has a bit of martial arts theme which is also extended to boxing and that’s where the overlap with Damarchus and Karna Santa comes in.

Damarchus: Both of them can box and Damarchus has a werewolf form that would probably easily let him win a boxing match between the two if he used it.

Oryou(Avenger): I felt like I kind of had to have an interaction with Banti’s version of Oryou because of the interaction I gave between Yasuke, Ryoma, and Oryo. I also felt that Yasuke is someone who would understand the importance of interpersonal relationships.

Martial Arts Users: She knows martial arts and there are plenty of servants that also know martial arts. Also, it plays into her analytical nature.

Wrestlers: She likes wrestling

Quetzalcoatl: She really likes wrestling and likes acting as a heel in contrast to Quetzalcoatl usually has a more face or good style persona.

Miyamoto Musashi- They both have that wandering samurai vibe going for them. Also, they are both samurai and skilled sword users. I originally wanted Yasuke to have a unique comment about each and every samurai in FGO but I got lazy. I’ll probably add more dialogue overtime to her profile.

Dialogue examples

“Class Saber, True Name Oda Nobunaga... Oh, you’ve already met her? Then I am Yasuke.”- shows the craftier side of her personality and that she is close enough to Nobu to consider impersonating her until Yasuke knows she can trust the summoner.

“Get behind me, Master.”- She’s a bodyguard.

“How about Lighting Cutter, No. That doesn’t make any sense.”- Trying to come up with names for her sword.

“Damn, all the good sword names have been taken.”- Still trying to come up with names for her sword.

“These remind me of that time where… Actually, I’ll just tell ya later.”- Likes telling stories but would rather wait for the right time and/or place to do it.

“Alright you piece of shit, you’ve officially lost all fucking respect from me!!!”- Shows her more crass nature towards someone she doesn’t respect.

Death Line

“Stay safe Lord Nobu chan...”- She doesn’t want Nobu to die again.

“Please run… Nobunaga”- Her goal as a bodyguard is to keep Nobu safe.

Wish for the Grail

She considered Nobu very smart, although Nobu’s unorthodox way of thinking makes it very hard for Yasuke to know what she would use the grail for. Hence, she would just give it to her. Her desire to have been able to save Nobu comes from a part of her feeling like she failed at her duties.

Fun Facts

She would be a 4 star because she doesn’t feel quite enough like a heavy hitter to be a five-star.

The Head of Nobunaga would act as a skill in FGO because a servant can only have so many Noble Phantasms in that game.

Both Yasuke and Kiritsugu have a similarly ruthless use of any means necessary to win a fight but Kiritsugu takes it an extra step farther. Yasuke would have probably not shot Kayneth after he made the deal and signed the magic contract.

As a bodyguard, having to protect someone like Shirou would be her worst nightmare.

Her MtG alignment being center Blue-Red-White and secondary Black would be because she uses Black’s philosophy of any means necessary to achieve Red-White goals. She is Red and White because she does have morals, is extremely loyal but values close relationships, and wouldn’t just put others over herself unless she knew them personally. However, she is willing to fight for greater causes though. Also Blue because progress and innovation.

She’s pansexual because I am the captain of this ship now and I will rule it with an iron fist.

Expressions

I wanted to give Yasuke’s expressions a sort of stalwart feel for the most part. She’s not someone who would burst out laughing or sobbing. However, when she is angry I gave her a bit of that demonic look and feel a lot of Nobu’s expressions from Fate/Redline have. I really loved how Ryouji Hirano really leaned into the idea that yeah Nobu is ruthless and the perception of her as a demon has really affected her as a servant. They have this cool distortion affect on Nobu’s iris and pupils sometimes so I chose to also distort Yasuke’s eyes when she’s mad, but it ends up looking quite different from the distortion Hirano gave Nobu. Also the tips of Yasuke’s hair and eyes light up with the same red Nobu has. I originally had Yasuke’s angry expression with hair that was alight or smoking but I decided to tone it down a bit. I also wanted to show that Yasuke isn’t emotionless and that when she does show emotions like fear she uses things such as her cloak and mask to hide or compensate for them in order to not let the enemy know what she is thinking or feeling. She definitely tries to intimidate her opponent.

Other

This section is just for random stuff regarding the design process. The main thing being that Yasuke is a fan servant that was meant to be for Blacktober. However, I vastly underestimated the amount of time it would take to design a fan-servant. Of course, since she was made for Blacktober, part of the inspiration for creation is me wanting to see more black historical and mythological figures in Fate and to show that many of the ones that are already in Fate could be handled way better quite frankly.

As you can tell this Yasuke design is meant to embody the archetypal samurai. I wanted her to be a character with a mysterious past that you could watch walk into some dinky town sit down at the bar and order a drink before getting bothered by two goons and defeating them before learning from someone about some crime boss from someone defeating said crime boss in an epic duel and then travelling off into the sunset for their next journey.

I do have a list of other figures, including a lot of black ones, that I think could be interesting servant designs for the future and someday I’ll try to get through all of them to show that there is room for more interesting and well handled black servants within Fate but it’s probably going to be a while before I get through even like half of them.

Until then I hope you enjoyed this servant design and I hope it sparked your imagination about potential forms Yasuke, or other black figures, could take as a servant. If this inspired fan-servants you created feel free to leave it as a reply to the tweet that links to this document or @ me.

If you somehow read through even a majority of this holy shit this thing is like fucking 22 pages so thank you for bothering to read any of it and I apologize for any grammatical errors, this was very long and I can only reread it in its entirety somany times before I overlook something or just feel like pulling my eyes out of their socket.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/asia/black-samurai-yasuke-africa-japan-intl/index.html

https://377.medium.com/the-cursed-of-samurai-muramasa-blades-3c47a7907869

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48542673

https://time.com/6039381/yasuke-black-samurai-true-story/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/02/the-real-yasuke-is-far-more-interesting-than-his-netflix-show/

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/102905/legend-yasuke

https://screenrant.com/yasuke-death-after-show-what-happened-real-life/

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/05/yasuke-the-african-samurai/138929

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/02/13/fact-check-yasuke-african-expatriate-became-16th-century-samurai/4438335001/

http://captaindacosta.com/event/yasuke-the-black-samurai/

https://web.archive.org/web/20201101144729/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48542673

https://historycollection.com/african-slave-became-first-non-japanese-man-become-samurai/2/

https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/shop/product/heshikiri-hasebe/#:~:text=Ever%20since%20its%20origin%20during,to%20have%20owned%20this%20sword.

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Oda_Nobunaga

https://explorethearchive.com/yasuke-black-samurai

https://www.kcpinternational.com/2021/06/yasuke-african-warrior-japan/

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=52005

https://youtu.be/GORBC5OZqlA

https://www.swordsofnorthshire.com/yasuke-the-first-african-samurai

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/24142

https://yasuke-san.com/the-japanese-childrens-book-on-yasuke-%E5%BC%A5%E5%8A%A9/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1a-YHHHnF4&ab_channel=GaijinPerspective

https://www.wa-pedia.com/language/japanese_personal_pronouns.shtml

https://maggiesensei.com/2011/08/05/request-lesson-%E7%A7%81%EF%BC%8B%E8%87%AA%E5%88%86-watashi-jibun-first-person-singular-pronoun/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pronouns

https://maggiesensei.com/2011/08/05/request-lesson-%E7%A7%81%EF%BC%8B%E8%87%AA%E5%88%86-watashi-jibun-first-person-singular-pronoun/

https://kintaro-publishing.com/blogs/news/yasuke-the-african-samurai-in-japan

https://historydaily.org/yasuke-first-african-samurai-shogun-bodyguard

https://time.com/6040614/yasuke-lesean-thomas-flying-lotus-interview/

Demon Saber: Yasuke (Full Profile)

*Note that all information in this profile is subject to change at any time.

Class: Saber

True Name: “Yasuke(弥助)”

Nickname(s): Yasufe, Yisake, Isaque, Weapon Bearer, Demonic Weapon Bearer, The Obsidian Samurai, The Hand of Innovation, Demon Saber, Demonic Saber

Characteristics

Species: Heroic Spirit, Human

Gender: Female(Is fine with male pronouns though)

Height: 192cm/1.9m(6ft 3in)

Weight: 82kg(180lbs)

Blood Type: Unknown

Place of Origin: Unknown(Somewhere in Africa)

Birthday: Unknown

Age: Unknown

Personal Information

Addresses self as: Watashi / Boku / Ore / Ware

Likes: Wrestling, Swords, Innovation, Telling Stories, Listening to/Reading Stories, Oda Nobunaga

Dislikes: Traitors, Having to deal with sneak attacks, Outdated Traditions, Akechi Mitsuhide

Talents: Swordsmanship, Bodyguarding, Combat Strategy, Martial Arts, Learning new things

Natural Enemy: Akechi Mitsuhide

Image Color: Red, Black, and Dark Green

Affiliations

Oda clan

Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobutada

Family Members

Unknown

Servant Stats

Type: Heroic Spirit

Source: Historical Fact

Region: Japan

Alignment: True Neutral

Hidden Attribute: Man

Armaments: Wakizashi, Katana, Matchlock Pistol, Armor

Known Summoning Catalysts: A piece of an old painting, A piece of her helmet.

Qualified Servant Classes

Saber

Obviously, Saber is Yasuke’s most natural and preferred class. “What kind of samurai doesn’t know how to use a sword?” In this form, she wields a sword gifted to her by Nobunaga.

Archer

Considering what Yasuke is known for, having her be eligible for the Archer class is quite surprising to many. As Nobunaga’s weapon-bearer and an expert warrior, she has had the opportunity to learn how to use many different weapons. Nobunaga even gave her some of her guns at one point as a gift “As much as I appreciate the sentiment even I have to admit that giving someone like me guns is… an interesting choice for a present to say the least. Although, they ended up coming in handy, so at the time I just didn’t understand the full picture.” As an Archer she dual-wields two of Nobunaga’s guns as Anti-Divine and Anti-Mystery Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms that deal extra damage to servants with higher divinity and/or mystery. However, she is unable to make them levitate or summon a near endless amount in the same way Nobunaga can. She also wields a special mechanized bow that fires flaming arrows.

Lancer

“Being both a weapon-bearer and a handpicked warrior can come with perks every once in a while.” Turns out a spear was also gifted to Yasuke as a weapon at some point. It resembles a spine in appearance and can both bend and extend in length.

Assassin

“I’ve mastered many different styles and seen many forms of combat.” She considers Assassin to be an awkward class to be summoned in. As an Assassin, she mainly relies on her martial arts skill.

Berserker

Interestingly, as a Berserker Yasuke, despite using a sword, favors hand-to-hand combat. Her fighting style is that of many different forms of martial arts and she uses various wrestling techniques at any given opportunity. Her fighting style consists of using her sword to get close to or disarm an opponent before fighting them in hand-to-hand combat. Once she has beaten them she will usually try to finish them with the sword or go for another round.

Many of her moves are famous wrestling moves and she gladly takes the role of a heel. “If I serve a demon then I must be a heel.” Despite the Madness Enhancement, she can be pacified by turning on a wrestling or martial arts program, but this only works if there are no foes left to fight.

Shielder

At one point Yasuke learned how to use a shield in order to be the best bodyguard she could be. Although, it is definitely not the weapon she is most competent with and she is restricted to protecting one or two people at any given time. She considers it unwieldy

Avenger

As an Avenger she manifests as a time in her life in which she was a ronin or a wandering masterless samurai. She wandered not only Japan but also the world.

Gunner

“Well, of course, I can be a gunner if I wield some of Lord Nobu’s guns.” In this form, she can actually make the matchlock rifles she has float in a similar manner to that of Nobunaga. However, she still has way fewer guns being limited to ten. Her matchlock pistol also becomes a weak Noble Phantasm.

Parameters

Strength: A

She has been described by many as incredibly strong, as strong as ten men even, so it is only natural that she has a high strength stat.

Endurance: A

“I must be able to keep vigilant for as long as possible.”

Agility: B+

Her reaction speed and agility when on the defensive are decently high.

Mana: D

Luck: A-

NP: E - EX

Class Skills

Magic Resistance: B

Cancels spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for them to be affected. She has apparently fought a few mages on a couple of occasions. However, it was nothing too powerful, at least according to her. She is capable of blocking spells that are A-rank and below with her katana Noble Phantasm if they have a small enough radius. It does not completely protect her from any explosions or similar sorts of aftershocks that result from the spell, however. This aspect of her Katana pairs well with her defensive fighting style.

Riding: C

At C Rank it allows her to manage beasts and vehicles if she has received the proper training and adjustments. Most vehicles and animals can be handled with above-average skills. However, she cannot ride the likes of Phantasmal Species such as Monstrous Beasts. Due to the fact that she does not have an anecdote of riding anything special or worth mentioning, she receives a lower rank in this Skill for a Saber. She is a quick learner though.

Personal Skills

Guardian Knight: C

A rare skill that grants the Servant a temporary attribute bonus if acting in the defense of others. In Yasuke’s case, it grants her a boost in her defense and reaction speed when protecting someone she has tasked herself with defending. “A bodyguard’s greatest threat is an impeccable defense?”

Presence Detection: E-

A somewhat unusual skill for someone like Yasuke to have. At such a low rank it only allows her to detect when a servant is attacking her or someone nearby and when a magic spell is targeting her or someone nearby. Although, it does not tell her where the assault is coming from, forcing her to rely on her other abilities to avoid such an attack. It also nullifies any Presence Concealment that is of equal rank or lower. In some sense, it can be considered a form of insurance against mages and assassins. Its rank is higher when she is summoned as a Shielder.

“When you’re a bodyguard you have to be ready for all kinds of sneak attacks.”

Reduced Earth: E+

“I’ve picked up a few martial arts tricks.”

It is a technique that cuts down the distance between opponents instantly. However, at such a low rank it only allows her to move a “few extra steps” or meters. So she mainly uses it to throw opponents off during battles or to essentially “jump” short distances. It’s effectiveness seems to increase when she is moving in to protect someone or something.

This skill would be a much higher rank if she was summoned as an Assassin.

Protection from Arrows: D

A skill that grants an increased defense against ranged attacks by predicting the projectiles’ trajectories through exceptional means. In Yasuke’s case, it allows her to dodge slow moving projectiles and helps lessen damage she would take from projectiles she can’t avoid by either catching them or ensuring they don’t hit any of her vital organs. Apparently, this skill is one of the tricks she picked up on her travels.

Mind's Eye (True): C++

A skill that allows for a calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deduces an appropriate course of action after considering most possibilities of how to escape from a predicament. In Yasuke’s case, it is leagues more effective when dealing with a sword-based attack or opponent and it’s somewhat more effective when dealing with someone utilizing hand-to-hand combat. It also becomes more effective when she is considering how to protect someone or something.

Charisma: C++

A skill that increases the ability of allies during group battle. In Yasuke’s case, it is at C++ Rank because of the status Nobunaga granted her and the apparent popularity she had. It is at its strongest when concerning defensive formations and stances. It also seems to gain strength if she is the center of attention.

Noble Phantasms

Hasebe II: The Powerful Cutter- D- - A(Anti-Unit and Anti-Unit(Self)), Maximum Number of targets 1

A short katana that was gifted to her by Nobunaga. It was a sword that was eventually used as a ceremonial one before being given to Yasuke. She ended up naming it after Nobunaga’s sword after being unable to come up with a completely original name after thinking about it for a good week. To this day she still spends time trying to come up with cool sword names and will run them by her Master on such occasions.

An unmentioned fact is that it is actually a demonic sword, albeit one that is normally very weak. It is also symbolic of Yasuke’s status as Nobunaga’s weapon-bearer, bodyguard, and retainer. Thus it boosts Yasuke’s Strength, Endurance, and Agility stats along with her Eye of the Mind(True) by one rank at the cost of decreasing her luck by one rank when using the sword to defend someone. If she kills someone with this weapon it becomes more powerful for a period of about 24 hours by temporarily harvesting the soul of the one she has killed. During this time the Noble Phantasm becomes one rank stronger at the cost of lowering Yasuke’s luck stat for the duration of this period. It also causes the blade to become bigger. Which can make it awkward to move in enclosed spaces. It maxes out at A-rank(requiring four souls to reach that level). However, this factor of the sword rarely reaches its full potential in battle since Yasuke doesn’t like to go around killing random or innocent people just to make it stronger. It can still give her some sort of advantage when fighting one opponent after another. Due to being a ceremonial sword, its rank has a somewhat low starting point.

By releasing the sword’s true name it becomes a full-length Katana with a blade made of a red “beam” energy. While in this form the gemstones on the sword and its scabbard glow. It has a special ability that allows Yasuke to actually withhold any damage the sword might deal in this form until later. This means that Yasuke can strike an opponent and then wait until the time is right before choosing to have the wound take effect. When someone is struck by this sword without being damaged any cuts or stabs that would normally appear manifest as seemingly harmless glowing marks instead. Also, the sword’s True Name cannot be unleashed on Nobunaga herself. If she were to attempt to hurt Nobunaga with the blade it would simply pass right through her(not that she would even dream of doing such a thing anyway).

“Behold the manifestation of my status and skill. Hasebe II!!!”

Nyuyoku Buredo: Wash away Their Facade- C+(Anti-Unit), Maximum Number of Targets- 1

This Noble Phantasm can be described as the recreation of a very famous moment. It is a Noble Phantasm that is tied to Yasuke herself and thus it can be used with any blade or sufficiently sharp object she is wielding, no matter the quality. Although, it is more effective if the blade is well built.

When the true name is released it covers the blade in a vortex of water that acts like a high-pressure water cutter. It boosts the sharpness and effectiveness of the blade to that of a Noble Phantasm if it is not one already.

However, its true purpose is that when an enemy has their actual body physically struck by the blade they will be forced to reveal their True Name, Parameters, skills and Noble Phantasms, and Yasuke will immediately be made aware of all these things even if she is in a situation where she can’t hear them for whatever reason.

This Noble Phantasm can be used to make it seem like her Wakizashi is a Noble Phantasm unless the enemy is paying close attention.

“With this water, I will wash away anything that covers your true self. Nyuyoku Buredo: Wash away Their Facade!!!”

The Head of Nobunaga: The Battle has Yet to End- E-Ex(Anti-Unit(Self)), Maximum Number of Targets- 1(Self)

Before Nobunaga died she entrusted Yasuke and Ranmaru with taking her head and delivering it to her son, in order to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Yasuke considered it the ultimate form of trust and believed she would not fail as long as Nobunaga was with her. This Noble Phantasm is a manifestation of that.

Luckily it manifests as a red crystalline skull, as opposed to a literal head because according to Yasuke “That would be too creepy, even for me.” It resembles a demonic skull, and when active its eye sockets are filled with an illusionary blue fire while allowing Yasuke to gain one of Nobunaga’s Personal Skills as long as this Noble Phantasm is active. She can use this to catch an opponent off guard or temporarily gain new abilities.

By releasing this Noble Phantasm’s true name she can summon any of Nobunaga’s weapons, be they Noble Phantasms or not. However, she is limited to only being able to summon one weapon at a time and she cannot do things like make guns float. So her use of these Noble Phantasms tends to be much more limited in scope.

This Noble Phantasm’s final ability allows Yasuke to recreate the act of safely delivering her friend’s head with Ranmaru by sacrificing the Noble Phantasm. By doing this Yasuke can recreate any one of Nobunaga’s Noble Phantasms in their entirety, with potentially floating guns and all. However, this can only be done once since the sacrifice of the Noble Phantasm is a must. This Noble Phantasm is not restricted to just the abilities, weapons, and Noble Phantasms of Archer class Nobunaga, rather it can utilize these things from any class that Nobunaga would be eligible for under normal circumstances.

Whenever the skull is used it will announce the name of the ability, weapon, or Noble Phantasm Yasuke is drawing upon with Nobunaga’s voice

Oddly, this Noble Phantasm will not manifest if Nobunaga is currently summoned or “alive” in any way. So if both Yasuke and Nobunaga were to be summoned into the same Holy Grail War, or if Yasuke was summoned in an era where Nobunaga was still alive, Yasuke would have the Noble Phantasm sealed away until Nobunaga dies.

“As long as Lord Nobu san is with me I will not… no... I CANNOT fail. BEHOLD THE HEAD OF NOBUNAGA”

Misc

Wakizashi- Yasuke wields a Wakizashi and will sometimes dual-wield it with Hasebe II. Unlike Hasebe II it is not a Noble Phantasm but it’s much heavier than a normal sword and its sharpness and quality easily surpass that of any normal weapon. On rare occasions, Yasuke will throw this weapon to catch enemies off guard.

Matchlock Pistol- She tends to only use this weapon to catch opponents off guard, deal with non-servant opponents, distract opponents or draw the attention of opposing servants. It is not a Noble Phantasm and while it is leagues above a normal pistol it isn’t too effective against most enemy servants and has to be reloaded when it runs out of ammo.

Armor- Yasuke wears samurai armor that resembles a strange blend of armor from the Sengoku period and that of a ceremonial Japanese Ground Defense Force uniform. The mask she wears is helpful for hiding her identity. It is also capable of altering her voice as long as she wears it.

One thing of note is due to her many travels and love of stories she is pretty good at determining the identity of servants from many parts of the world. She usually needs to at least see a servant’s Noble Phantasm to even begin to make an educated guess and even hearing the name of someone a servant met may be enough of a clue to help her narrow down the identity. However, she is still fallible and one can trick her into coming to the wrong conclusion about a servant’s identity or they can simply keep their identity and life details under tight wraps. She would also have no way of guessing the identity of any servant that came after the time period in which she was alive. So she would be unable to guess the identity of any servants that are modern enough or from the future.

Background

A lot of Yasuke’s background is wrapped in mystery due to a major lack of proper records when concerning her life before serving Nobunaga. Whenever asked or pressed about most of the gaps in her life she usually just says “That doesn’t matter. Not anymore at least.” What is known is that she did have some sort of sufficient combat experience and training before meeting Nobunaga. There is much speculation about where she is from and she admits that she doesn’t remember where she was born. Although, she refuses to say anything about where or who she was raised by. When it comes to the many speculations surrounding where she was born she simply says “If you can name it I’ve probably been there at least once.” She is someone who has definitely traveled to many places, and she says out of all them when excluding Japan she spent the most time in Mozambique “but that isn’t saying much.” She has also been to places like South Sudan, Ethiopia, and many others.

Yasuke was brought to Japan as a bodyguard and former slave tasked with protecting an Italian Jesuit priest named Alessandro Valignano in 1579 and excelled in learning new things, such as the Japanese language, very quickly.

She eventually came into contact with Oda Nobunaga. She went on to quickly impress Nobunaga with her strategic mind and fighting prowess and was thus made a samurai, bodyguard, and weapon-bearer. While making a foreigner a samurai-like this would normally be odd, to say the least, Nobu, as a King of Innovation, was not bound to traditions or tactics she considered needless.

Yasuke and Nobunaga had many talks and Yasuke often regaled her with stories and experiences from all around the world, and as they grew close Nobunaga granted her many things such as houses and the like. One of Yasuke’s most treasured presents from Nobunaga was an ornate ceremonial katana. This katana was surprisingly a relatively weak demonic sword and it lacked a name. When asked about the gift’s name Nobunaga simply shrugged it off and said something like “Name it whatever ya want.” After about a week of being unable to come up with a new name she eventually just decided to name it Hasebe II after one of Nobunaga’s swords. The name was meant to be a symbolic placeholder but it ended up sticking. To this day Yasuke is still trying to come up with a cool name that’ll knock Nobunaga’s socks off. Yasuke went on to hang out, and sometimes even eat, with Nobunaga and various members of the Oda family

Everything changed however when Nobunaga was betrayed and attacked by an army led by one of her retainers Akechi Mitsuhide. Yasuke valiantly fought against Akechi’s forces. However, it was clear they were going to be overwhelmed. Nobunaga was eventually defeated and committed seppuku with Mori Ranmaru acting as her kaishakunin by cutting off Nobunaga’s head. Before her death, she tasked both Ranmaru and Yasuke with returning her head to her son after she died while Ranmaru was given the task of burning the rest of Nobunaga’s body and Yasuke with protecting both Ranmaru and the head as they made their way to Nobutada. This would prevent Akechi and/or his army from obtaining her head or body and it was a great sign of trust. To this day Yasuke considers it one of the greatest signs of trust she has ever received. She is not absolutely sure if this trust stemmed from some sort of friendship or a strictly pragmatic trust in her abilities but to her, it doesn’t matter.

“Let me put it this way. If the first option is true then that means I was a good friend until the very end and if the second option is true then it means that she actually understood my abilities, and knew the place I came from didn’t matter.”

She managed to follow through on her promise to Nobunaga and delivered her head to Nobunaga’s son. She ultimately chose to fight with Nobunaga’s heir, Oda Nobutada and fought alongside his forces during the final battle.

After the loss, Yasuke was captured by Akechi who considered Yasuke a foreigner unworthy of being killed. He went on to say that he would at least think about changing his mind about the statement if Yasuke died with dignity by committing seppuku. Yasuke refused and Akechi decided to send her “back to that temple of barbarians,” with the said temple being a Church. Akechi did not care what happened to her after that.

The records of what happened are lacking but Yasuke fills them by saying that she managed to escape after losing her sword, becoming a ronin that wandered around the world.”

“I am loyal to lord Nobu and care about Japan because she cares. You should make sure you have an actual connection to people and aren’t just serving a transient country for no reason.”

Akechi would eventually be defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi but Yasuke still wants a chance to get her revenge on him.

Appearance

Usually clad in an armored uniform and a large red cloak that helps obscure her true identity. Although, she does take her mask off on occasion when relaxing, taking a breather, or when she is dealing with kids since many people find the uniform’s mask menacing.

Even when her mask is off she is constantly vigilant and on guard, not letting herself lose focus for even a second.

When not wearing her uniform she is extremely tall, has dark skin, and has a lean body type. She has short dreads that have red tips.

Personality

By default, she talks in a respectful manner but will swear and talk down to someone for whom she has lost respect. Most traitors fall under this category but she does not automatically hate all people who choose to abandon their allegiance to someone nor does she inherently hate all acts of betrayal. “There just needs to be a reasonable justification for it and not hurt those I care about.”

She is a quick learner of most things and adapts to new situations quickly. She loves to talk but “does not talk without purpose” and can thus come off as quiet when she has nothing to add. When she begins to talk a lot she is usually asking questions, educating someone, giving advice, or telling a story of one of her adventures. She is also just as fond of listening to the stories of others as she is telling her own.

While she does hold some level of respect for laws and power structures she is always questioning them and will not follow them without thought. If they do not hold up to scrutiny or serve no purpose she does not usually care to follow it or what other people think of her ignoring it.

While for the most part, she will follow any orders a superior gives her, she will ignore any order that puts her, her master, or friends in danger. However, if she has a strong enough attachment to someone or deems it strategically necessary she may be willing to risk her life for them.

While she doesn’t go out of her way to attract attention she is not one to “waste the spotlight.”

Yasuke’s ways of thinking are about as flexible as Nobunaga’s but more bound by common sense. Despite that, she still trusts Nobunaga’s judgments and when asked to do unusual things will just say “I suppose I just can’t see the full picture yet.”

During a Holy Grail War Yasuke is uncomfortable with leaving her Master’s side unless absolutely necessary. She considers Masters to be too strategically important to be left without any means of protection. “Besides, it plays to my strengths as a bodyguard.” Likewise, she will gun directly for other enemy masters if given the opportunity. Yasuke is also unafraid of incorporating or utilizing modern technology to her advantage and using all aspects of the terrain to gain an edge.

She enjoys reading comedy and gag manga/comics in some of her free time.

Servant Interactions

Nobunaga(Archer)- She has great respect for “Lord Nobu chan” and trusts her judgment. She enjoys spending time exchanging stories with her and is willing to fight for her at a moment’s notice.

“Lord Nobu, with your long-range attacks and me staving off close-ranged attacks we’ll be almost unbeatable.”

Nobunaga(Avenger)- Yasuke seems to have great respect for each of the different versions of Nobunaga.

“I’ve served many Nobunaga and they all have such interesting stories to tell.”

Nobunaga(Avenger) Third Ascension- “You got taller...”

Nobunaga(Berserker)- “A swimsuit? ...Maybe I just don’t understand the full picture yet…”

Mori Nagayoshi- “Lets show any traitors the full power of our wrath.”

Mysterious Ranmaru X- “I know you’re not quite the same Ranmaru but… thanks for the help… I owe you one.”

Okita Souji(Saber)- She is in awe of Okita Souji’s swordsmanship. “It’s kind of strange that such a natural counter to Lord Nobu is always showing up around her.”

Okita Souji Alter- “The story of how you came to be is interesting.”

Okita Souji(Assassin)- “If I had a jetpack like that I could perform all-new strategies and techniques thanks to the aerial mobility it provides. I just have to figure out how to get my hands on one of those.”

Oda Nobukatsu- They are both willing to give it their all in support of Nobunaga.

“Just so you know Nobukatsu. I can also protect you if need be.”

“If anyone disrespects Lord Nobu they will have to answer to both of us.”

Chacha- “If you ever need help sleeping I can regale you with one of many stories.”

Master Swordsmen- “Those movements… I wonder if I can incorporate them into my style”

Sakamoto Ryoma- She respects him as someone who embraces innovation and doesn’t limit himself to useless or self-defeating traditions. Although, she does find his outlook a bit overly optimistic at times.

Oryou- She’s a bit nervous about the fact that Oryou is a powerful dragon from the Age of Gods. if she’s friends with Ryouma she must not be a monster or anything.

Okada Izou- “I put up with you more than I should…”

Despite not outright saying it, due to not wanting to deal with any negative reactions he might have, Yasuke sees a bit of herself in Izou. As someone, she could have become her life gone a little differently, a warrior who can only kill. Not everyone seems to understand the tragedy of a warrior who can only kill but she hopes that one-day Izou can find his own “Lord Nobu.” Due to all this, she is more willing to put up with Izou’s bad attitude than most other people are but occasionally has to draw the line when his manners get too atrocious.

Akechi Mitsuhide- “Eat shit and die...”

She is waiting for the perfect moment to strike him down.

Muramasa- “If you get the chance do you think you could upgrade my wakizashi into some sort of Cursed Sword or something. Oh and if you can give it a cool name too, like god slayer, or something…”

Samurai- “Your skills are befitting of your status”

Hang Tuah- She has great respect for his loyalty and sees a bit of herself in him. She considers him a bit naive, however.

“This is a servant who understands the importance of not leaving their master unguarded.”

“I say we should defend to the best of our abilities, with your invulnerability and my bodyguard skills, Master could be almost untouchable.”

“You’re lucky to have Taming Sari with you.”

Julie d’Aubigny- “Well I’m not one to waste the spotlight either…”

“Her charisma reminds me of the good ol’ days.

Damarchus/Karna Santa- “Y’know I know a thing or two about boxing too. Just don’t take my head off please.”

Damarchus- “I’m willing to spar with you if you refrain from using your wolf form.”

Genghis Khan- “The sheer effectiveness of your battle tactics reminds me a bit of Lord Nobu’s. I can see why you guys get along.“

Oryou(Avenger)- “A world where one doesn’t have the other sounds quite scary for multiple reasons.”

Yasuke does seem to have an understanding of this version of Oryou’s plight due to her understanding of the importance of “human” bonds.

*Hang Tuah, Julie d’Aubigny, Damarchus, Genghis Khan, and Oryou(Avenger) are all fan-servants created by MochiBoni, Omegazplayer and Paisen respectively. You can check them out on Twitter. And here are the profiles for each respective servant

Hang Tuah- https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mjNkmjnhIIeLgGRvSlVVLhRQqWd4cbEDygfQHSLPCg/edit

Julie d’Aubigny-https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416650069206573057?s=20

Damarchus- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jArzQOnAWnvSv8MRelYSl1x5DZj-gUndaBmPtO74icw/edit

Genghis Khan- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BbeM2KDRc1h2ti3xgzD52pTQXJZiL7B6FVIfuC19WFg/edit

Oryou(Avenger)- https://twitter.com/_paisean/status/1487720881124085762?s=20&t=VKNtelIYD5mRXWxflaC-iA

Martial arts users- “Hmmmm, we should spar sometime. I could definitely learn a thing or two from you.”

Wrestlers- “I know a thing about wrestling too. Don’t be afraid to go all out against me.”

Quetzalcoatl- “I’m happy to play the part of a heel if you need one.”

Miyamoto Musashi- “I’ve been to many places… but going to a whole nother world is far beyond me.”

Dialogue examples

“Class Saber, True Name Oda Nobunaga... Oh, you’ve already met her? Then I am Yasuke.”

“Get behind me, Master.”

“How about Lighting Cutter, No. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Damn, all the good sword names have been taken.”

“These remind me of that time where… Actually, I’ll just tell ya later.”

“Alright you piece of shit, you’ve officially lost all fucking respect from me!!!”

Death Lines

“So this is what it’s like to die in combat...”

“Stay safe Lord Nobu san...”

“Please run… Nobunaga”

Wish for the Grail

“Well if Lord Nobu was there then I would just trust her to make the best wish so I would let her have it… but if she wasn’t there I would wish that I was strong enough to win that final battle for her…”

Fun Facts

If she was playable in FGO she would be a 4 star servant.

In FGO the Head of Nobunaga would act as a skill that would increase her defense and give her a random buff based on Nobu’s Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms at random.

She would have good compatibility with a master like Kiritsugu Emiya. However, she would not be among one of his most compatible servants.

She would have terrible compatibility with someone like Shirou Emiya since protecting him would put an immense amount of stress on her.

Her Magic the Gathering alignment would be center Blue-Red-White and secondary Black.

If she was in the Epithet Erased universe her Epithet would be Armory.

If she was in the Hunter x Hunter universe her nen type would be Conjuration and her hatsu would be similar to Knov’s and revolve around storing and summoning various types of armor and equipment.

She is pansexual.

Her overall servant rank is around B+.

Ranmaru also has access to Nobu’s head as a Noble Phantasm(at least they would if I designed them).

She carries Hasebe II with her at literally all times.

Her favorite Pokemon are Kabutops, Golisopod, and Samurott.

If she had a Pokemon type she would be Fighting and Dark.

If you want to see my thought process and inspirations behind Yasuke’s design you can see it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pt-paxkKpp7jrJv05aqC4luS-4LRpjTv3M2r_3SzUKA/edit

Visual References

#yasuke #fgo #fanservant #fate #fate grand order

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