The Drifting Rider

"Ethereal laughter."

- The Drifting Rider

Drifting Rider (漂流ライダー) is the Rider-class Servant unwittingly summoned by Matthew Folken to participate in the Magician's Theater of the Vodnyisad War. An inexplicable phenomenon that has been pushed away by humanity, its existence is closest to that of a sentient Reality Marble that summons forth mysteries from the Mirrored World.

Identity
Rider's identity is Fata Morgana (蜃気楼), The Grand Veil. Born from the madness of sailors as they first left their rivers and bays and ventured into the open seas and bearing the original name of a famous sorceress, it is from her that the myths of ghost ships and imaginary islands derive their identity. An existence that came to be dismissed by humanity as hearsay and tricks of the light, she was not a true fairy and could not return to the heart of Gaia and instead faded into the Mirrored World. Lacking a proper sense of self, she does not seem to realize that she has slipped between worlds, and exists as an endless carnival that continuously drifts along the seas of the Mirrored World. In a sense, her existence can be most accurately likened to a living Reality Marble - The Sleeping Jester points out, however, that Rider cannot wholly lack a sense if identity if she chooses to appear as a faerie girl rather than as the faerie castle itself.

In Data Records Unearthed it is suggested by The Sleeping Jester that the powers of the Fata Morgana are somewhat dependent on the form that she takes, and that identities such as Tam Lin and Titania are amongst her possible personas. She also seems to prefer forms that are driven to interact with humans, and will almost always attempt to raise her fairy castles adjacent to civilization and emulate the old Anglo-Saxon relationship between the kingdoms of man and the lands of the fae. It is also implied that she possesses the capacity to utilize the Enchant skill to grant the boons of the fae to human beings. While in the guise of Morgan le Fay, however, she lacks this ability. Were she to be summoned by an individual with a connection to old magicks such as Maria Trevor, her ability to swap personalities would allow her to take on the roles of multiple Servant classes.

Appearances
Rider's true form is indeterminate, governed only by the need for three specific parts: a boundary at the very limits of its influence, a structure that functions as its castle, and a central body within that area that contains the prana core. During the Vodnyisad War, these parts appear respectively as the hedges of thorns that appear around the city, an island in the sky with a white tower upon it, and the juvenile form of Morgan le Fay when she was still a young girl. Dressed in the wispy attire of the fae, she is impossibly thin and pale and possesses an alien beauty. She is always barefoot, and her hands and feet are often covered with dirt and bits of flowers from playing outside.

Personality
Like her abilities, Rider's personality is largely dependent on the form that she takes. During the events of the Vodnyisad War, she appears whimsical and childish, idling her time playing and doing whatever she wants because she sees it as a game. Though not overtly malicious, she does possess the spritely mentality of a trickster spirit, and will interfere in the affairs of others purely for the sake of stirring up trouble. Her temperament is naturally cheerful, but when driven to anger she throws a tantrum in the fashion of a child, and stubbornly refuses to communicate with anyone around her, even her Master. Likewise, she has no knowledge of the Holy Grail save for the brief moments in which the personality of Morganna le Faye surfaces and divulges her own knowledge about the historical artifact. Rider herself has no interest in pursuing the Grail, and simply acts for her own amusement or to protect Matthew.

However, she rationalizes Servants in a completely different fashion. Likening them to adventurers, the likes of which would set out across the seas to seek fame and fortune, she has an innate desire to mislead and trouble powerful individuals. People who she likes would be invited into her castle to be whisked away to Faerieland, but those she deemed unworthy are destined to be sunken into a nameless sea that mortal instruments cannot find. Most notably, she seeks out The Dreaming Stranger because she recognizes her as a faerie, and seems quite pleased to have found her. Despite knowing who she is and her superior rank, however, The Drifting Rider refuses to stand down when she asks her to, and appears deeply upset that The Dreaming Stranger will not help her fight against the other Servants. Upon her defeat, a number of Rider's personalities surface and speak to the Stranger, the final one being that of Morganna le Faye, who asks if she is still welcome back in Faerieland.

Development
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Seventh Overture
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Another Story
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Data Records Unearthed
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Abilities
An abstract entity that possesses the emotions and memories of the dozens of faerie folk and illusory lifeforms who came to be identified with the phenomenon called “Fata Morgana”, Rider’s identity at any given moment is dependent on whichever one of its personalities can assert dominance over the others. Upon awakening in the Mirrored World and confronting its lack of personal identity in the world defined by Gaia, it became self-aware and constructed a body of its own based off of the faeries whose identity had been subsumed into its own. Closer resembling a sentient phenomenon than an actual lifeform, its ability to perform empirical reasoning is extremely limited; lacking the ability to fully comprehend emotions or reason, it gave itself a juvenile and flighty personality and became a nameless faerie child. Ironically, this is a form particularly well-suited for learning, if only it could interact with humans properly.

Unconsciously, Rider suppresses the numerous personalities dwelling within its psyche in order to preserve its own individuality. However, whenever it performs any sort of complex action, any personality that possessed noteworthy ability in that area will manifest. The most common of these transformations is the body and mind of Morgan of Faye when she was a fae child; a spritely girl with trailing violet hair and trails of rubies inlaid along the left side of her body. Due to the sheer number of identities it can assume, it is virtually impossible to put Rider at a disadvantage, as it will immediately respond with a personality that can respond to the situation. The personalities and bodies that it manifests cannot be considered simple templates derived from an understanding of the figures that it emulates. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that the Fata Morgana is itself a vessel through which the authentic beings can emanate, somewhat similar in effect to the Holy Grail itself.

The Fata Morgana itself is a threefold existence, the body housing the dominant personality functioning as its core. Beyond that core is the manifestation of the faerie castle – a structure that corresponds to the nature of whichever identity the core has taken. Rider’s personal identity manifests an ivory tower upon a floating island as its castle, but the persona of Morgana le Faye causes the tower to disappear and become replaced by a lake at the center of which juts out a great shard of emerald and star metal, the spindly architecture of the faerie folk dotting the surrounding landscape. The outermost piece of the Fata Morgana is its barrier – a boundary marked by twisting vines and brambles that stands at the outermost limits of Rider’s power. Within that barrier, the Fata Morgana has absolute control over atmospheric conditions such as temperature and weather, and in a similar fashion to a Bounded Field, the barrier prevents any energies from passing through it in either direction.

Its own magical ability is not inconsiderable; even without relying on one of its personalities, it possesses the ability to freely express any magic that could be produced through knowledge of ‘’’Fairy Letters’’’, and within the boundaries of its barrier, it can easily invoke phenomena such as creating vacuum blades from the atmosphere or twisting the localized functions of gravity. Under the influence of its Morgan le Faye persona, Rider can elevate itself to an almost-unrivaled level of magical prowess so long as the spells it creates can be rationalized within the limitations of its barrier. The Dreaming Stranger theorizes that the only reason that Fata Morgana does not manifest the identities of Titania or Queen Mab is because the most powerful faeries possess the aptitude for the Ultimate One skill which calls upon the acknowledgement of Gaia, and the planet cannot recognize the Fata Morgana, who exists as a feat of the Mirrored World. Had the Fata Morgana been able to manifest either of these royal fae, Stranger states that it would have been able to mobilize an entire faerie court within its barrier.

Paramount amongst the manifestations in Rider’s possession, however, is its Noble Phantasm: Henllef Llong Rhith, a paradoxical power that reaches beyond the Mirrored World to draw upon the collective unconscious of the inhabitants of Gaia. Assimilating into itself the fears and illusory terrors of the night that humanity chose to rationalize as tricks of the light, the Fata Morgana is capable of consuming all of the fame that humanity would have supplied each of its personalities if the planet were capable of recognizing it. Rider’s barrier becomes a column of mist as wide across as a large town, and within the mist a violent thunderstorm blackens the sky and sends down sheets of rain. Ethereal streams of water twist through the sky like serpents, and down from the storm descends the most dreaded and famed of the illusions named “Fata Morgana”: The Flying Dutchman. A spectral ship that possesses the function of annihilating any vessel, The Flying Dutchman is a mobile superweapon that takes the place of Rider’s castle and exists solely to destroy the constructs of humanity. Matter and spiritual energy annihilated by the ship are removed from Gaia’s register, instead absorbed into Rider’s identity which exists solely in the Mirrored World.

Skills
Riding: A

The expertise of one who is capable of bringing out the maximum performance from mounts, both animal and vehicle. Experience with this skill permits the handling of complex vehicles from outside of the Servant's own era or creatures up to the highest levels of the Phantasmal Races. Only those of the Dragon type are not possible to command.

Abstract Body: B

Possession of a body that lacks a definite shape, and is therefore hard to destroy through conventional means. At this rank, damage done to the body degrades extremely rapidly, with the damage taken from an attack decreasing by one rank per round of combat. Destruction through purely physical methods is no longer possible.

Charisma: D

A representation of natural talent with social abilities, increasing the morale of allies or impacting the morale of one's enemies. A rare talent, this is a literal power that exists within the speaker's words, representing absolute conviction capable of affecting those who choose to listen. For Rider it is not merely her abllity to sway people with words, but also to properly emulate the fairy whose identity she has assumed.

Enchant: D

The ability to strengthen the bond forged by the contract between Servant and Master, therefore lending additional strength to one’s partner when facing a dangerous opponent. Higher ranks allow not only greater degrees of power from the contract itself, but also permits the Master to draw upon the resources of the Servant itself.

Mental Pollution: A+

The result of a severe distortion of the forces that constitute mental balance, this is quality of one whose mind is beyond the reach of conversational means of thought. The quality of inhuman thinking, it severely inhibits communicative ability and the capacity to apply common knowledge towards the completion of complex knowledge while at the same time making it nearly impossible to interfere with their thoughts. In severe cases, it can permit access to impossible powers or feats that defy the laws of the world by applying fictional "truths".

Protection of the Faeries: D

A blessing from the Elemental Kind that twists the natural fate of mortal beings, increasing Luck in the face of danger or contest. Typically limited to feats of arms, the strength of the blessing is increased by proximity to regions that correspond to the fae.

Noble Phantasms
Because it struggles to maintain some degree of personal identity, Rider is only able to manifest its personal Noble Phantasm during the events of the Vodnyisad War, whereas it should be able to at least summon the powers of Morgan le Faye. Hunllef Llong Rhith is the truest manifestation of Rider's self as a phenomenon rationalized by humanity as impossible imagery and unexplained disappearances at sea. Possessing consciousness but lacking a physical form, Rider appears as rainbow streaks of light in the sky, and the shapes that the Noble Phantasm takes are not its personal form, but data values enforced by the Holy Grail so that Rider can be rationalized in the terminology of Gaia and its inhabitants. In truth, Rider becomes an abstract awareness that most closely resembles a True Demon or a certain mythos that became popular during the twenty-first century, but and can only approximate human values in a similar manner to the fae.

The world as far as Rider can see becomes its domain, the laws of Gaia eroding away to be replaced by Rider's own logic, and lifeforms who possess the Ultimate One skill will be robbed of their powers. Streams of rainbow light fall from the sky as a briny sea and a storm of spectral wind consumed the world up to the horizon. An enormous war galleon with tattered sails descends from the sky, the devil-ship that became known as The Flying Dutchman. Embodying the terrors of the ocean and the world beyond the horizon, it is the antithesis of The Wild Hunt and a vessel that has the capacity to annihilate any fortification. Rider's consciousness madly seeks paragons of humanity and as a result can only be defeated by such lifeforms. Even if the ship is destroyed, the rainbow lights with reconstruct it instantly, and Noble Phantasms that erect defenses or call upon external powers are almost useless against Rider.

Rider's existence is paradoxical, and its core must be struck singularly. Targeting a wide area will do no damage even if the entirety of the world were to be targeted. The power of an individual is required, and individuals like Sasaki Kojiro or Li Shuwen who hit a single target with the absolute expression of their power are the only ones who can hope to defeat Rider. Due to the nature of the Noble Phantasm, phenomena such as the Wild Hunt will be eradicated instantly, and Rider cannot be drawn into a Reality Marble while it is active, though the user of the Reality Marble can still summon fragments of their personal reality into Rider's domain, as the identity of Gaia has been stripped away. Within the Mirrored World, where Gaia's influence does not properly exist, Rider is able to become much closer to its nature. Supplied with adequate power, it could have become a lifeform on par with a True Demon.