la pυcelle тacтιcѕ

Name: Saya
Door: door pass/sub

Canon: Blood+ (will be using anime, light novel series, and "Blood+ Adagio" manga)
Canon Point: post-Adagio

Age: appears ~16-ish, is actually just over ~80
Appearance: link

History: link
Personality:

» » » compassionate(+)
- Saya’s compassion is chiefly a result of her closeness to humans throughout her life.
- Although she herself is not human, owing entirely to chance she experienced a loving, somewhat spoiled upbringing as the daughter of the man who first discovered her (Joel). While in reality Saya was almost certainly an “experiment” to Joel, his kind treatment of her was enough for her to think of him as her “father”.
- Joel’s later death at her younger sister Diva's hands starts a pattern that we see happen over and over again for Saya, through the many generations she is alive: she forms special bonds with humans, becomes saddened by their deaths (usually caused by Diva or her followers), and desires to do whatever she can to prevent further unnecessary pain and death.
- As stated in the anime, her goal is to create a world where no one else has to get hurt.
- Saya is, at her core, a soft individual. She dislikes violent fighting, although ironically she is the only true weapon humanity has to combat the Chiropterans. Witnessing her fully transformed Chevalier Haji decimate a group of men fills her with enough fear that he conceals most of his Chiropteran attributes from then on. She is initially reluctant to cooperate with the Red Shield, and during the events in Adagio, murdering humans-turned-Chiropterans literally reduces her to tears.
- Even if she's experienced so much pain, Saya is still optimistic, friendly, and hopeful. She longs for companionship and peace, due in no small part to her feelings of isolation as a true Chiropteran Queen (progenitor) among humans. Saya wants to feel like she belongs, like she's accepted—because why she is what she is remains a mystery to her, too.
- Throughout the series, she regularly makes easy friendships with others, including young women who appear to be around her age.
- It's also the case that if someone is kind and accepting towards Saya, she tends to trust them back with time. This is shown with everyone from Haji to eventually her most recent adoptive family—George, Kai, and Riku.
- Saya can come to sympathize with her supposed enemies. It all depends on how these individuals act and what their underlying purposes are. A good example is her developing friendships with the Schiff—manmade Chiropterans who were attacking Saya for her blood. Once Saya discovers they need her help to survive a fatal disease, it doesn't take long for her to give her blood freely. Later, the last existing Schiff Lulu becomes friendly with Saya to the point of sharing TV time with her.
- Saya possesses compassion for what her twin sister Diva and some of her Chevaliers have went through, too. Mostly this illustrates that her psyche is not as impervious as she'd like to pretend it is. Karl is misunderstood. Solomon professes that he loves her and she rejects him gently, but appreciates his efforts on her behalf. Saya is nearly heartbroken when Diva dies before her, just as puzzled as her sister is that they aren't dying together and screaming for her to "Take me with you!" She acknowledges her sister's horrendous treatment by Joel and her wish to have a family. In fact, she calls Diva "my other self".

» » » black-and-white thinking(-)
- Saya's ultimate mission for the entirety of the series is killing her younger sister, Diva.
- Later, she decides that she will die after taking Diva's life. She forces Haji, her constant follower and Chevalier, to promise that he will kill her with his own hands after the final battle.
- Saya is motivated by a belief that her race, the Chiropterans, are "bad" and therefore deserve to be annihilated completely. This was instigated by her stark differences with humans that the loved ones around her couldn't help but notice—for example never aging, healing instantaneously, and drinking blood. Diva and her group's later murder of countless humans, including people desperately important to Saya (like Joel), deeply ingrained it.
- This type of rigid thinking obviously prevents Saya from facing the understandable reasons for some of her foes' actions. To use Diva as just one example, focusing on killing her because she's "bad" helps ignore Joel's inhuman treatment of Diva from birth and the possibility that Diva's Chevalier Amshel is manipulating her for his own ends.
- In a way, looking at everything in an "all-or-nothing" manner works for Saya like a coping mechanism. With the constant pain, death, and terror that she's forced to deal with on a regular basis, as well as the stress of carrying the well-being of humanity on her shoulders, it's natural that she would need a way to make herself function. Cutting down on the details and focusing on broad rules—kill Diva, Chiropterans shouldn't exist—help her take any action to attain her goal of a peaceful world.
- The reverse of Saya's belief that "all Chiropterans are bad"—all humans deserve to live—also holds true. We see early on in Red Shield's history that David tells Saya killing Chiropterans is fine, as if their lives don't have the same worth as human ones. (The irony of this is that Red Shield depends on two Chiropterans, Saya and Haji, to succeed.) Saya never intentionally sets out to murder a human being, and she is consumed by grief when she kills people who had not transformed into Chiropteran monsters. While humans certainly manipulate the Chiropterans for their own gain, she doesn't give this as much weight as the misdeeds of Diva and her Chevaliers.
- Actually, she believes that if the Chiropterans were eliminated, humans would have no reason to destroy themselves over them. It's twisted if you consider that both humans and Chiropterans are species native to Earth who have an equal right to live.
- Saya's inflexibility is present in other ways, too. Rather than a character like Kai, she usually assumes people are set in their beliefs and, for example, that if they attack her once they will always be her enemies. That sometimes makes sense because her sense of self-preservation must be high to compete with Diva and Saya repeatedly suffers when her enemies exploit her lenience. But it can also be ridiculous; if talking can solve an issue instead of fighting, it's better to do that.
- Saya's tendency for this trait is a direct result of her experience. People who are more open-minded but still reasonable—like Kai, Lulu, Mao, and Haji—can persuade her to be less set in her ways. With enough explanation and support, she relents. The reverse is also true; in times of grief and overwhelming negative emotion, she shuts down and commits to the very basic beliefs she needs to keep functioning.

» » » depressed(-)
- Saya's suffering goes hand-in-hand with what she has experienced throughout her life.
- While at the beginning she was a spoiled, rich young woman who had almost her every need met, Saya's picturesque life quickly turns dismal once her younger sister murders her adoptive "father" Joel and massacres his birthday party.
- Suddenly she has to deal with Diva—her sister, a force who seems dedicated to hurting others—and her own intense self-guilt. Diva would never have been able to escape if Saya hadn't released her from her tower in the first place. Saya has no one to blame but herself for the greatest threat facing humanity. She is aware of that.
- At her core, Saya dislikes unnecessary and violent fighting—basically anything that puts people in pain. She abandons her carelessness quickly, but it can also be said she feels some emotions too deeply or takes on more of a burden than she is due.
- It is because she tends to linger in her negative emotions that Haji defines her as almost a different person after she turned him into a Chevalier—whereas before she was lighthearted and happy, now she's morose and depressed.
- Saya acts in self-harm in Adagio out of her grief, stabbing herself in her own hand with her sword. Making a promise with Haji to die shortly after she kills Diva—in effect planning for her own death—is also something she wouldn't be compelled to do unless she was quite depressed already.
- Some of Saya's more explosive behaviors earlier on in her life can be addressed to underlying depression. In Adagio, she shouts at Haji, is pouty and distressed, and takes her failings, along with her successes, personally. Granted, that's not hard to do when her "success" is murdering a bunch of people-turned-Chiropterans.
- Saya possesses a healthy dose of self-hatred. During the later part of Adagio in particular, she almost seems to hate her own blood more than the man who forcibly ingested it, once it makes him burst into a gory mess.
- It's definitely shown that Saya struggles with the contradictions present in her own being and what she does. She seeks family, but is determined to kill her only true sibling; she sees Chiropterans as bad while she herself is one; she reluctantly begins working with the Red Shield while wanting to return to her old life. The fact that her identity is itself something unforgivable for her leads to despair for Saya.
- She doesn't do especially well with processing violence, death, and the kind of graphic horror that Chiropterans tend to cause on the loose—arguably, no one really would. Saya's lot in life is to face traumatic events repeatedly, often with no prior warning; she awakens from her 30-year-long hiberation that occurs every 2-3 years to face the same trauma continually. The hardened, battle-focused side of her that we see is more forced out of necessity rather than natural to her.
- Saya frequently lingers on her regrets and apologizes to Haji for making him her Chevalier, although this was done accidentally.
- Saya refuses to ingest blood from methods other than receiving infusions, and she will only occasionally drink even Haji's blood—although consuming blood is necessary for her to keep her strength up especially later in the series.

» » » self-isolation(-)
- It's not surprising, given the above, that Saya chooses to isolate herself from others.
- This tendency begins with her need to protect herself from people chasing after her following the tragedy at Joel's birthday party, and continues through her and Haji's time assisting the Red Shield.
- Saya only really knows and trusts Haji the best, out of most of the people in her life. She also tries to push him away at her lowest points, expressing her regret that he has to suffer (physically and mentally) on her behalf.
- She is quick to see a separation between herself and humans and act on it. The fact of the matter is that whenever Saya is around a group of people, she usually sees those people come in harm's way. It's a result of both the actions of Diva's crew and her own faulty thinking that she keeps a distance from the people she loves.
- There are also few characters, even among Chiropterans, who are capable of understanding all of what Saya deals with. This is naturally isolating and Saya picks up on it, interpreting things as better off with her alone or only with Haji.
- Saya's desire for isolation from others is so strong that she often refuses to ask for help right away, even with simple matters. She has to be reminded by Haji that she can sometimes depend on her friends' kindness to hitch a ride.

Powers and Abilities:

- Saya is a Chiropteran, creatures that are essentially similar to vampires but not completely. Their true appearance is that of monsters, though they can adopt human forms. Chiropterans feed off of the blood of humans and enjoy multiple superhuman abilities, such as: healing instantaneously from wounds, heightened senses, and enhanced fighting capabilities.

- She shares a telepathic link with her younger twin sister Diva.

- Saya has immense skill with handling a sword in combat, especially her katana. Because of her Chiropteran nature, she has great strength, speed, and resilience.

- Saya recovers from most wounds, even very serious ones, with time for her regeneration abilities to heal her body. The one main way of permanently killing her is combining her blood with her sister's, which begins lethal crystallization. Saya's blood is also toxic to Diva, Diva's Chevaliers, and any Chiropterans created with Diva's blood as a base.

- Saya must ingest blood in order to keep up her strength and other abilities.

- Saya is a Chiropteran Queen, which means that her blood can transform humans into something called "Chevaliers"—high-powered Chiropterans just beneath a Queen who are loyal to their respective Queen, and capable of retaining human form.

- Saya does not visibly age, but is stuck in her youthful form.

- Saya is familiar with playing the cello, dancing, fencing, and other pasttimes that a privileged young woman growing up in 1800s France would be able to practice.

Inventory: her katana

Samples: thoughts (partially influenced by event effect of euphoria); dialogue; top-level with examples of both thoughts and dialogue in "lies travel in company"

Name: Jeanne d'Arc
Door: Right - "Sometimes wrong is relative."

Canon: Fate/
Canon Point: Fate/Grand Order, post Serva★Fes 2018

Age: Appears 19
Appearance: x

History: x, x, x, x
Personality:
» » » (positive) optimistic

- Jeanne is a self-proclaimed optimist.
- In many cases where she's faced with negative people or situations, or reminders of how cruel humanity can be, she retains an overall hopeful and kind disposition.
- Jeanne's positivity seems to both come naturally to her and be practiced, to a certain degree.
- With Jeanne Alter, a character in Fate/Grand Order who has the same appearance as Jeanne plus a color palette change, Jeanne is upbeat and sisterly in a "caring older sister" way. It helps that Jeanne Alter isn't actually a representation of Jeanne's own dark side or anything, but even then, it's hard to see how their relationship would be drastically different. Jeanne Alter's threats to kill her are usually met with a smile, and it's rare that she can't find something positive to comment upon or contribute when it comes to her Alter.
- When she's interacting with her contracted Master, everyday people, Servants who aren't antagonizing her, or allies in general, Jeanne's default mode is to be respectful, supportive, and good-natured. She is also appreciative of the simpler joys in life.
- But Jeanne isn't an ever-constant, effortless optimist, either. She's too realistic—familiar with the brutality of war, among other things—to brush aside her concerns and paste on a happy face at times, usually when the situation is dire. Jeanne can be quite conflicted herself, suffering from the same range of emotions and unanswerable questions normal people confront. When other characters show strong emotions, she does not trivialize them.
- Even so, Jeanne well understands that optimism goes a long way towards both helping others and supporting the principles she believes in: for example, that humanity possesses enough good to be worthwhile. Although she never asked for it, there's a tendency for the soldiers she fought with (like Gilles) to place her on a pedestal and have her emotions guide them. Jeanne knows, then, what keeps morale up and how important her own outlook can be. When Sieg is struggling following the defeat of Jack the Ripper, she gives him time to recover, then urges him to continue forward with a smile and a cheerful example.
- She tends to respond to the positivity of others. As mentioned above, Jeanne isn't always confident about a given situation, and being in the presence of characters who are hopeful is something she can bounce off of with her own inner disposition to trust in the good, with enough time.
- In perhaps the most important example of this trait, Jeanne is a Heroic Spirit who's optimistic about the future where humanity is concerned. Her entire role as a Servant is directed by a firm conviction that humanity is worth protecting, and people should be allowed to figure out their lives with only minimal interference from her and other would-be saviors.

« « « (negative) self-sacrificing

- It's sort of the name of the game for Ruler candidates in Fate/, especially one with a history like Jeanne d'Arc. Servants become Rulers specifically because the Holy Grail knows they will fight for the interests of humanity as a whole. They have no wish for the omnipotent Grail to grant and no desire to obtain it. Sacrificing themselves is never off the table.
- Jeanne's abilities as a Ruler class Servant are designed with sacrifice in mind.
- Her Noble Phantasm (think signature, super-powerful attack) Luminosité Eternelle uses her own magical resistance to protect her allies—and actually just about anyone and anything behind her flag, including an entire town—from harm. Because of that, it's most useful when she herself is in the thick of battle. In Fate/Grand Order, this Noble Phantasm is the only one available to Ruler Jeanne, and before being upgraded, it grants her and her two front-line allies invulnerability and other benefits at the cost of Jeanne being stunned—so she's paralyzed for a turn.
- Her other Noble Phantasm, La Pucelle, is defined by its self-sacrificial nature. In return for an attack of immense power that can critically damage (if not outright erase) any threat to humanity, Jeanne dies.
- Jeanne is generally a giving person who thinks of herself last. There are many instances throughout canon that illustrate this: she exchanges her chance at a peaceful village life for jumping onto the battlefield; she drops her weapon to catch an unconscious child when fighting Jack the Ripper; she celebrates Jeanne Alter's accomplishments instead of worrying about her own safety.
- The self-sacrifice, of course, isn't always a good thing. When she insists on fighting or investigating while encouraging others to stay back, she sometimes cuts herself off from very useful support. On a personal level, it's easy for her to brush over and disbelieve her own feelings.
- It's also a direct embodiment of the guilt she feels that is associated with her legend; Jeanne is praised as a saint and Holy Maiden, when she's only too aware her actions in the past resulted in the deaths of French and English soldiers.
- Jeanne's enduring legacy is based on themes of sacrifice. She sacrificed her chance at a normal, happy life. She sacrificed her chance for a long life, period. She gives prayer and devotion to God. In fact, Jeanne is willing to sacrifice just about everything she has for God, including the only remaining possession she can offer Him at the end—her body, burned at the stake.

« « « (negative) decisive

- Jeanne's typical role within Fate/ is as a "Ruler"—a class of Heroic Spirit designed specifically to mediate large-scale Holy Grail Wars that have a much greater chance of affecting the world.
- By her very nature as an impartial Ruler, it's expected that Jeanne make serious decisions, often (and ultimately) with solely her own judgment to depend upon.
- These decisions have consequences and risks. They also may have rewards, among the most beneficial of which are provided through Jeanne's unique privileges as Ruler.
- Essentially, Jeanne is equipped with a variety of factors that let her compel others to follow along with her decisions. Fortunately, she is not the type of person to exploit this. Jeanne operates on a strict set of principles with respect to the Great Holy Grail War and most other conflicts. This is partially influenced by her faith and bond with God, but consists of commonalities even the non-religious would recognize are important: protecting humanity, allowing humanity freedom to live as it will, doing away with evil presences and prioritizing the greater good.
- It's also true that when Jeanne makes a decision in her role as Ruler, there are no take backs; just as the lion's share of responsibility falls on her in executing her own judgment, it's up to her to direct (and possibly control) other Servants in do-or-die battles.
- Jeanne may not always appear comfortable with the weight of the choices she has to deal with. However, she accepts her decision-making burden and never treats it with anything less than the importance it's due. This is true even as she naturally acknowledges she is neither infallible nor a "saint" in everyone's eyes.
- Outside of her role as Ruler, Jeanne continues to be characterized by choosing a course of action and following through with it, dealing face-on with the consequences. The best example of this is the crux of Jeanne d'Arc's story: a peasant girl hears the voice of God, and decides to do what he asks despite the unrewarded death she knows she will have. Jeanne expresses that she has never had any regrets about making this decision, but it did have major ramifications for her comfort and well-being.
- That she is "decisive" shouldn't be taken to imply Jeanne is always the quickest decision-maker. This makes sense; it would be a bad thing to rush through it when humanity is on the line. In other cases, it's a detriment to her. Jeanne struggles with difficult issues in which multiple possibilities play to her principles—in Fate/Apocrypha, she contemplates Amakusa Shirou Tokisada's plan for salvation several times, mainly because ensuring humanity a safe, pleasant existence obviously appeals to her. She is very lost when deciphering her own feelings of romantic love.
- Even with tricky human feelings, though, Jeanne is assertive once she finds her answer. It can be said that her constant questioning of her emotions and actions towards Sieg are a pursuit of a choice to make, or the actual choices she is making along the way. Once she meets him again at the end of Fate/Apocrypha, she does not tell him "I love you", but "I am in love with you."
- It's important to note that Jeanne's decisions can be quite controversial, depending on the circumstances. She does not deal just with good versus bad, but the greater good over the lesser good, which sometimes means her actions are still problematic (and this is the reason why she doesn't think of herself as a saint). A heartbreaking example of this is how Jeanne dispels the multiple vengeful spirits of children making up Jack the Ripper; although there's more to it than "killing kids", Atalanta isn't exactly wrong when she screams, "You killed children!"

« « « (negative) self-denying

- Jeanne refuses to acknowledge herself as a holy saint, but holds herself up to the impossible standard of one anyway. She can appear composed, dispassionate, and otherwise absent strong emotion—this is often crucial to her role, seeing as it's not hard for Holy Grail War participants to become emotional and irrational.
- It's not unusual for her to try to swallow down her sadness, uncertainty, or other emotions, especially if (she believes) the circumstances are better served by her being the harsh yet fair Ruler. But Jeanne isn't perfect, and her true feelings end up leaking through in some way.
- When other characters make this obvious and "catch" her in a moment of emotion she would have preferred to conceal, she's understandably flustered.
- In Fate/Grand Order Jeanne remarks how she gave up the joys of a typical woman's life, such as marrying and having a family. Instead she donned armor to lead the French forces. While Jeanne's lack of regret is true, she admits she wonders what it would've been like had she chosen a different path. Part of her clearly values the simple pleasures these experiences offer—like falling in love.
- Jeanne's feelings towards Sieg in Fate/Apocrypha are perhaps the best single example of her self-denial.
- She doesn't even understand what she's feeling for a significant amount of time. Jeanne guilt-trips herself about her worry over Sieg and how she keeps him involved in the Holy Grail War, without realizing much of what she thinks and does in relation to Sieg stem from her feelings of love for him.
- Jeanne eventually decides her growing affection for Sieg is a result of her human host's influence. The truth, as revealed by said human host at the very end of the series, is that her feelings for Sieg were Jeanne's all along.
- Jeanne reacts with confusion, disbelief, and hesitation while she explores the nature of her own feelings about Sieg. Being in love can't be what's actually happening to her (even if part of her knows that it is). It's as if admitting she is in love with someone is impossible for Jeanne to acknowledge, let alone accept.
- And that impossibility shapes Jeanne's reality. In Fate/Apocrypha, Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm is so damaging because it plays on her feelings for Sieg, and straight-up states her love for him is wrong. This breaks Jeanne mentally.
- Jeanne believes emotions like romantic love for one, specific individual are not her right to experience, because as a figure who brings salvation to humanity, she should love everyone equally. This is, of course, not true, but it's representative of the rules she lives her life by nonetheless.
- Basically, Jeanne is prone to downplaying her emotions if they interfere with her role as a Ruler or her image of the type of woman she should be from her legend.
- She's also just plain awkward with some emotions, because they aren't familiar for her. Again, she was off battling and being burned at the stake before she ever went on a date. In Fate/Grand Order, when she gives her Valentine's chocolate to the player Master, she stumbles over her words, admitting she just isn't good at this stuff.

Powers and Abilities:

Here's a general link for Jeanne's powers in canon, and her character info pages for Fate/Grand Order. All powers/abilities are subject to being nerfed!

✞ Servant: Jeanne is a Servant, or Heroic Spirit, which is a heroic figure from human history summoned into the current era. Servants have class names that define their roles and abilities, and they can exist in physical or spiritual form. All Servants need magical energy to exist. Most Servants contract with a magic user they will call their "Master", to both get magical energy and compete in Holy Grail Wars, where the winners get to have their greatest wishes granted. Jeanne will eventually need to contract with a Master of her own in Duplicity.

✞ Weapons/Clothing/Etc.: Servants like Jeanne have the ability to manifest and remove their own outfits, armor, and special weapons, because they're made out of magical energy just like they are. She has a sword (which she never uses) and a flag that she smacks people with.

✞ True Name Discernment: As a Ruler class, she can automatically sense the true name of other Servants (the name they went by when they were living). Because this is usually a closely-guarded secret in canon, I will have an opt-in post for this ability.

✞ Magic Resistance EX: She's really good at blocking even advanced spells and cannot be wounded by most magic.

✞ Command Spells: Her privilege as Ruler gives her Command Spells (~28) tattooed on her back. These are special magical markings that just let her give an order to any Servant and compel them to follow it, even if it breaks the laws of reality for them to do so. For this ability, I will have an opt-in post and obtain permission prior to using it in threads. No uses of the Spells should be gamebreaking.

✞ Luminosité Eternelle: This is Jeanne's more commonly used Noble Phantasm (most powerful ability), associated with her flag. It protects her and anyone/anything behind her with a shield of magical resistance equal to her own, granting them temporary invulnerability. It also heals and boosts her allies.

✞ La Pucelle: This Noble Phantasm will not be used in Duplicity, because it has gamebreaking strength and results in Jeanne's death.

✞ Revelation: Jeanne periodically gets "revelations", which can be thought of as flashes of insight given by God. She has to interpret them herself. This ability will only be used with information reasonably available to players as stated in OOC posts, and for any other ideas that might come up, I'll ask for mod permission!

✞ Persuasion: Jeanne can easily influence people and have them believe her just by saying something. This will be opt-in and included on my opt-in post.

✞ Other Ruler Abilities: Jeanne can sense the presence and location of Servants in a given area and track them down. This will be opt-in and included on my opt-in post.

✞ Archer Class: In Fate/Grand Order, another class available to her is "Archer"—Servants who typically use bows or other projectiles to attack. Her projectiles are dolphins. She also uses a whale in her Noble Phantasm. This Jeanne is a little obsessed with everything summer-related. I would love to have her access her Archer form (minus the humongous sealife) in-game, but I understand if that's not okay!

Inventory: Riese, the dolphin familiar, who can be magically summoned and dismissed; her flag, Luminosité Eternelle; her sword, the Sword of St. Catherine.

Samples: thinking, communication