Playable Caster (Fate/Extra)

Caster (キャスター) is the Caster-class Servant available to be chosen by Hakuno Kishinami in the Moon Cell Holy Grail War in Fate/Extra and Fate/Extra CCC

Identity
Caster's identity is (玉藻の前), a woman of astonishing beauty that served the retired  the end of the  (794-1185). She is publicly known as a (狐) that was said to be the catalyst for a rebellion within the Imperial Court.

Tamamo no Mae is a soul created from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and she is a unique facet of the goddess rather than a mere Earth Spirit. She is believed to be a, however strictly speaking she is a which is often mistaken as a fox. She is frequently mistaken to be one of the many and is thought to be a. She is associated with tantric deities such as and. Incidentally, in the is transmitted how  seized political influence through prayers that made use of this Dakini Deva's power.

Her fascination of humanity began when she left for. Observing those who worship her, she became curious about the lives of mortals. From an divine being perspective, they're beyond inconsequential like a human view on ants and cockroaches. Humanity and Divinity are always inequality. As she looks down on mankind, part of her wanted to know more about human condition. Her fixation came from a weird sense of justice. She wanted to use her powers to scold and punish those of evil acts. As she watched humanity, her curiosity grew more intense. To her, humans are depressing and weak little creatures yet they are happy and smile. Though humans can't see her, they still worshiped her with their body and soul. She had an epiphany, humans are devoted to her and she wanted to serve someone. She became driven by curiosity, she desired to be human which was against her divine providence and made an enemy of nature. But it was a mistake, proclaiming herself a delusional child goddess who admired humans too much and should have stayed in the.

She was incarnated as a young human girl known as Misukume (藻女), losing all of her memories as a goddess in the process. As a child, she was said to be the human form of a white-faced, gold-furred nine-tailed fox. She started to serve the court at the age of eighteen, Emperor Toba fell in love at first sight. She later became a lady-in-waiting of Toba, under the name Tamamo no Mae. She became the favorite of Emperor Toba due to her beautiful face and great knowledge. One day, she woke up noticing her fox ears and was able to hide them for a month.

The exact accounts vary, but her identity as a fox was later exposed by an Onmyouji. In Caster's accounts, it was (安倍晴明) who was investigating the cause Toba's illness at the time. According to Caster, Abe no Seimei was described as a handsome man with shifty eyes and has a soul black as the underworld. It is unknown whether Mizukume led the emperor on or her love was real but countless variations of the tale have been told.

She fled from the inner sanctum of the Imperial Court. They sent hounds after her and it was the first time in Japan's ecosystem that a fox had been hunted by Hounds. She fled and cried in the fields of (那須) because she was hunted by those who claimed to love her. Foxes gathered around her. "You have come a long way." "What a rough journey you had." She wished the foxes to understand her feelings and hoped they would encourage her instead. It was then she realized who she truly was when the fox comforted her. "Aah, what a fool I was." She was betrayed and hunted by human who feared her. She did nothing wrong, she only tried to help them prosper. She was forced to flee the village simply because she wasn't human. Her infamy grew at the plains of Nasu after fleeing from the court, and eighty thousand man army was dispatched at the order of the retired emperor to kill her. The soldier came screaming "kill the fox demon!", she tried to apologize to them but nobody listened. She fought back "All right, let's do this!" and killed everyone.

The second encounter against the force, she regretted her actions and tried to reason with them. It rained arrows for three straight days and night and nothing seemed to register with them. Standing in a hail of arrows covered in blood, "I wasn't trying to fool anyone. I'll leave now so please just forget all about me." The assault continued from the human filled with hatred, she realized humans were fragile and their lives were precious. They were narrow minded, filled with hatred and self righteous. She was wrong from the beginning, much like the humans and religion. Her perspective influenced her belief. Even though a goddess, she was a fool and she didn't realize her mistake until her final moments. No matter how much humans respected god and through priesthood try to understand and be one of them, their efforts are wasted. "There is no way for a human to become a god.", Tamano no Mae died screaming when shot by an enchanted arrow. She was hunted and killed as an enemy of mankind. She doesn't want revenge because there are things that even a goddess can't do.

Her corpse was said to have become the Killing Stone (殺生石), which released a problematic cursed poison that killed approaching people and animals until it was shattered by the monk Gennou Shinshou and its fragments dispersed to three places in Japan named. Furthermore, the remnants that were scattered at that occasion became Osaki Kitsunes and Inukamis and said to have been turned into familiars by many Magus from various places.

She cannot be called a human-spawned Heroic Spirit as the facet of a goddess, but she willingly embraces the role in order to "become a good wife." Accepting the limits inherent in the role of a Servant, many of her original powers have been sealed away. Even before becoming a servant, she killed untold numbers of people, possibly holding the world record for murder.

Personality
Caster is sometimes comic relief, being a goofy, silly, and cheerful young fox girl. Her cheerful personality at times is a brave face she puts on to hide her loneliness. Occasionally, she takes the battle and the situation each week of the game seriously. She doesn't think too much about the consequences of killing.

She become infatuated easily and she can't help liking the person she serve. She devoted herself to Hakuno and stood with Hakuno until the very end. To stand by her master until their spirit transcends reincarnation is all she wishes for. She falls in love with Hakuno, placing herself in the role of their wife regardless of their gender. She doesn't need the Holy Grail as her wish is to be a devoted wife of Hakuno. She expresses that the most important thing over anything else is love. Her affection towards love came from observing humans, stating it was strange that that they were so happy in worshiping her personification of Amaterasu. Seeing so many people fawn over her, she wanted to do the same for someone else. Drawing from her own fate and the actions she took, she believes the intent of person is always important. She will only serve those whose intentions and actions are ultimately good. While stating she would be fine with serving anyone in general, Caster states the person would ultimately need to be good or have good intentions to obtain her service. It doesn't matter if they are male or female, child or adult, or even a saint or sinner, only their intentions matter. That's is one principle she'll never betray. Regardless of her notoriety, she wanted to serve someone with content. She likes to cook but not the actual food itself, she enjoys providing meals for her partner and watching them eat it. She also likes to receive presents from her partner but frowns upon cheap gifts.

Caster is easily jealous, citing frustration over Hakuno's relationship with Rin/Rani and refusing to lose to them. She is often quite suggestive to Hakuno and can make some crude remarks. When angered or insulted, she can become quite harsh, throwing vile insults and threats to enemies who insult her and Hakuno. She was quite surprised with Rani's level of astrology that surpassed her and wished to meet her professor.

It is said that Caster would get along with Arcueid Brunestud because they share the same basic origins. When Assassin calls Caster as Daji, Caster was offended by his statement, she calls Daji an "evil, sadistic mongrel". There is a moment where Caster felt relatable to Lancer, as someone who is also misconception as a monster "how you love too much, nobody can understand you anymore. And what people don't understand, they fear".

Fate/Extra
Caster is one of the selectable Servants in Fate/Extra along with Saber and Archer. She is described as a magical fox girl. She responded to Hakuno summon because she heard Hakuno's calling. She claims it was like an arranged marriage since there was no spiritual connection between the two.

It is revealed that she was once the servant of the game's final antagonist Twice H. Pieceman before he gained Saver. Twice keeps losing and respawning in the war, eventually he lost Caster.

Caster sympathizes with Dan Blackmore because he prays for his wife's soul in the church. Caster mocks Archer for being a hero hiding in the shadows and speaks bluntly how Archer is becoming more like Dan Blackmore. Archer was flustered from Caster's response and almost unleashed his Noble Phantasm.

When Caster faces Gawain, she doesn't get along with Gawain as they both have the sun domains. She claims that Leo is a cool prince but that that is not necessary for a great king. She compares him to Toba and believes Hakuno will win over Leo.

After re-encountering her former master, Twice asked Caster her opinion about his plans. She claims that the Twice she once knew is gone and she refused to change sides.

Though she isn't the chosen Servant of Hakuno Kishinami in the manga version, she does appear in the omake chapters. She does however make an appearance in Twice H. Pieceman's flashback when he tells Hakuno, Saber and Rin of his backstory.

Fate/Extra CCC
Caster is again selectable as one of the servants for Hakuno Kishinami.

In the prologue, Hakuno hears Caster's voice begging Hakuno to wake up and remember her, but Hakuno has no memory on who the voice belongs to. Once Hakuno is devoured by BB's shadows, Hakuno once again hears Caster's voice and reaches out to her. Caster breaks the barrier to save Hakuno and took Hakuno to the new school. When she reached to the Far Side of Moon Cell, she wore her new costume.

In Chapter bad end, BB separates Hakuno from Caster. Hakuno travels to the World of Logo to search for her. Hakuno eventually regains Caster, unseals her noble phantasm and they both face BB's shadow Requiem.

She develops a rivalry relationship with Elizabeth. In chapter 7 Hakuno enters inside Caster's Innercore Harmonics. Hakuno temporary formed a contract with Elizabeth, they fought against the Zero Model of Caster.

In Caster's ending, Hakuno returns to the the Moon Cell Holy Grail War as seen in Fate/Extra.

The past versions of Twice H. Pieceman and Caster appear as a bonus boss fight. Twice's Caster attempts to act more seriously and has different hairstyle.

Fate/Extra CCC Fox Tail
In Fate/Extra CCC Fox Tail, Caster is the main heroine and Servant of Hakuno.

Abilities
All of Caster's parameters are at a low E rank due to her Master's lackluster ability. Her strength and endurance have a slow growth rate, her agility has a medium growth rate, her luck has a fast growth rate, and her mana has a very fast growth rate. The eight other tails of her original form have also been granted Servant bodies. With her Origin Form, she becomes capable of feats like moving faster than light and the reversal of time. She can reduce the distance from the Horsehead Nebula back to the original galaxy to zero to instantly cross the distance. Compared to an A rank Servant, she has nine percent of its power with a single tail. If she were to increase in tails, each one would increase her power exponentially by nine. She is weak as a Heroic Spirit but in the case that she is revived as an evil spirit (悪霊), she will undergo a transformation into a large monster that can turn that can defeat even 100 heroes. It is not just for show that she is called one of the Japan's Three Great Monsters. She is able to fool Moon Cell's surveillance and jam Twice's observation signal to avoid revealing Servant's data.

"This time there is only one due to the constrains of the Moon Cell, but originally I could produce a million troops from my multiple tails!"

- According to Caster's own words

She fights with her Noble Phantasm mirror called Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu on the Weight Stone under the Sunlit Watery Heavens (水天日光天照八野鎮石). She is capable of fighting close range combat with her mirror. The mirror levitates around Caster in battle, and she uses it to hit enemies in close combat. The Mirror is a symbol for sun and water, for life and death. It is a blessing of energy or blessed energy. There are other forms of this Noble Phantasm but this particular form fits her best. It doesn't have value as a single strike but is excellent in a long engagement.

Her class skill Territory Creation (陣地作成) is the skill to build a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a magus. Because it seems that her personality is not suited for it, Tamamo no Mae has difficulty in manufacturing even a Workshop allowing her to create minor amulets and other types of low-level talismans.

Witchcraft
The Witchcraft (呪術) that Caster uses is all physical phenomena performed with her own body. While common Magecraft is a program that "recomposes what exists around", Witchcraft is a program that "recomposes the raw materials in one's own body." It is related to heavenly methods, and includes methods to discern one's time of death, secret arts to obtain influence, methods to attain status and fortune (for men) and methods to gain the favor of influential individuals (for women). Due to a number of very harsh lessons impressed upon her in the past, Tamano no Mae no longer makes use of her still formidable skills in these areas.


 * Curse: Fiery Heaven (呪相・炎天) - A fire attack that uses 30MP. Inflicts magic damage and Stun against BREAK.
 * Curse: Frigid Heaven (呪相・氷天) - An ice attack that uses 30MP. Inflicts magic damage and Stun against ATTACK.
 * Curse: Chaos Heaven (呪相・密天) - An air attack that uses 30MP. Inflicts magic damage and Stun against GUARD.
 * Charm: Spirit Theft (呪法・吸精) - It absorbs energy from the enemy. In game, it absorbs enemy MP when using BREAK and requires 20MP.
 * Curse: Void Cleft (呪相・空裂) - It is a skill that Caster uses when she was Twice's Servant. A Void magic attack.
 * Mantra: Aphotic Cave (呪層・黒天洞) - A self applied skill that lowers damage and absorbs energy from enemy. It lowers damage and absorbs MP from enemy Skills and it requires 40MP. Decrease damage taken to 10%.
 * Mantra: Bestial Sky (呪層界・怨天祝祭) - Her magic ability greatly increased for one move. It boosts magic damage to 250% on her next move and it uses 30MP.
 * Mantra: Merciful Sky (呪層界・怨天祝奉) - Magic ability greatly increased for one move. This Skill replaces Mantra: Bestial Sky and uses 50MP. Boosts magic damage to 400% on her next move.
 * Distant Land of the Torn Blossom, is a Skill that involves the use of the Red Spider Lily Killing Stone (彼岸花殺生石). In the game, this Skill gives magical damage to the enemy while also causing a Poison status. However, it can only be activated when Caster's HP is below 30%.
 * Charm: Gyokutenhou (呪法・玉天崩) - A series of powerful kicks that were referenced in the English Fate/Extra as "Polygamist Castration Fist" (一夫多妻去勢拳). It critically strikes against male enemies.
 * Tamamo-chan increase (増えるタマモちゃん) - The value of experience after battle is increased by 5%.
 * Breath of the Soul (魂息吹) - Slight MP restoration at the end of battle. Restores 10% of Caster's total MP after battle.

Development
In the planning stages of the Fate/Extra CCC game, Caster was planned to have Saber as her own personal rival until they decided all Hakuno's Servants would have Elizabeth as the rival. However with the release of Fate/Extra CCC Fox Tail, it will explain the background between Tamamo no Mae and Amaterasu, and the plot includes planned elements for CCC that were cut from the game.

Creation and Concept
Nasu Kinoko claims that Caster was the last character to be picked out of the three playable characters, at that time Nasu already decided to have Red Saber and Archer for Fate/Extra. It was thanks to Kazuya Niinō who helped Nasu design the character, he said to Nasu "I hope Caster is a very cute girl with Japanese style furry ears". Nasu thought it would be a good occasion to debut a character with cute animal ears for the male players. Nasu further explains that if he wrote Caster, she'd become a character with a lot of neurotic attributes, so he decided to pass it along to other writers to write. However Nasu gave Caster the top priority to start scripting because Archer already has a high popularity in "Fate" but his role was weak.

Takeuchi Takashi was the character designer for Caster and it was Arco Wada who refined the final design. Arco Wada didn’t expect a character with fox ears to come to life like she did, so Arco was very surprised about that and personally thinks Caster is an adorable character.

Reception

 * In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Caster was ranked 18th.