Saber - Magna Maxima

Magna Maxima is a Saber class Servant summoned by Maelstrom von Einzbern in the Sixth Holy Grail War of Fate/Maelstrom. She is also the Saber of White summoned into the conflict of Fate/Hydra's Heads.

Identity
Saber's True Name is Magna Maxima, a usurper Emperor in the Western Roman Empire during the late 4th century AD. She is credited as the beginning of the Welsh pseudo-history which gave rise to the legends of King Arthur.

Life
Magna Maxima was born into a noble family in the Roman province of Gallaecia, modern-day Galicia in northwest Spain. She was a niece of Count Theodosius the Elder, the father of the emperor Theodosius I. As part of a military family, Maxima was raised to be a soldier and commander. She grew to be a skilled tactician and commander, achieving the rank of general. She served in a number of campaigns under the elder Theodosius throughout the empire. Maxima is believed to have held a junior command post somewhere in Britain in 368 CE.

One of a series of usurper-emperors that came out of Britain in late antiquity, Maxima started her career as a humble soldier from Spain, serving in various campaigns across the Empire.

It was in 368 CE that Maxima aided Count Theodosius to put down the Great Conspiracy (367-368 CE). The Conspiracy occurred when the Roman Garrison at Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain rebelled and allowed a confederation of tribes to enter imperial territory. The invaders included Picts and Scots as well as Saxons and Franks from the Continent. Maxima probably played an important role in helping Count Theodosius fight off the invaders and regain lost territory.

Maxima further distinguished herself as a general under Theodosius in Africa c. 373 CE and on the Danube c. 376 CE. She was eventually stationed in Britain again in 380 CE where she was the supreme military commander of the Roman forces and seems to have put down a rebellion or invasion of Scots and Picts in 381 CE.

Maxima was extremely popular with her troops at a time when the Western Emperor Gratian (r. 367-383 CE), was becoming more and more unpopular. Emperor Valens (r. 364-378 CE) had been killed at the disastrous Battle of Adrianople (378 CE) fighting a coalition of Gothic, Hunnic, and Alan tribes. Following this, Gratian apparently took to using a band of Alan bodyguards and dressing in a similar fashion, alienating his Roman troops.

Acclaimed as a war hero, Maxima was proclaimed empress by her troops in 383 in place of their then-overlord, Western Roman Emperor Gratian. The revolution didn’t take place across all of Rome’s vast territories, but primarily in the west. Once she was named empress, Maxima didn’t rest on her laurels, but invaded Gaul and moved against Gratian.

At the time, Maxima was eager to consolidate her newly found power while Gratian was fighting the Germans, according to Church historian Sozomen. Luckily for Maxima, she had a very loyal general named Andragathos, who tricked Gratian into thinking the latter’s wife was meeting him; under the pretext, Gratian left his camp, but he fell into Andragathos’s hands and was murdered.

After eliminating Gratian, Maxima established a court at Trier, located in modern Germany, and was baptized. This firmly established herself as Western Roman Empress to her counterpart Theodosius I’s Eastern Roman Emperor. At the time, Theodosius had other problems to worry about in his Eastern territories, so he didn’t bother with Maxima. That is, until 388, when Maxima invaded Italy and took the city of Milan, ousting Gratian’s brother, Valentinian II. Maxima had raised an army of “Britons, Gauls, Celts, and other nations,” Sozomen says, under the pretext of protecting Christianity, but really did it to consolidate her power.

While Maxima raised her profile, Theodosius cannily consolidated his own power by marrying Galla, Gratian’s half-sister. Finally, he marched against Maxima, who’d given his little brother so much grief, in July 388. When Theodosius engaged Maxima in battle in August, theologian Paulus Orosius claims that “he surrounded, captured, and killed his great enemy, Maxima, a brutal woman, who had exacted tribute and taxes from the most savage German tribes merely through the terror of her reputation.” Orosius portrays Theodosius triumphing over Maxima because of his Christian piety. After the battle, Maxima was executed; her son Victor was killed, and Andragathos drowned himself.

Despite her failure to liberate the Western Roman Empire from Theodosius’s yoke, Maxima, or at least the memory of her, survived in an unusual place—Wales. The medieval chronicler Nennius placed Maxima in a semi-fictional lineage of legitimate rulers of Britain, also claiming that she brought Britons over to Brittany and resettled the area. Nennius’s Historia Brittonum named Maxima as the final Roman empress to rule in Britain (whether or not that was historically accurate), and this popular text helped popularize the idea that Maxima was somehow associated with the final days of Rome in the British Isles.

By the Middle Ages, legend had transformed Maxima from a post-Roman leader to one of the founders of Welsh history. She supposedly married Elen, one of the patriarchs of post-Roman Britain, and fathered a number of Welsh dynasties. By marrying Elen, the son of legendary King Eudaf, Macsen enmeshed herself in Welsh pseudo-history. She wound up a national hero, to the extent that the medieval kings of Powys and Dyfed, among others, claimed her as their ancestor.

Perhaps the most famous character associated with Maxima was King Arthur himself. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Arthur, when asked why Rome should submit to him, justified his dominion by claiming close kinship with Maxima and Elen’s sons. Admittedly, there were several mythological figures named Elen, whom Geoffrey conflated, but naming himself as the direct heir of a former empress and her royal British husband, Arthur laid claim to rulership of Britain and even Rome!

Legend
In the Mabinogion, Maxima is called “Macsen Wledig” (Lord Macsen). She was “emperor of Rome, and she was a comelier woman, and a better and wiser ruler than any emperor that had been before her.” While on a hunt near Rome, she fell asleep and had a dream about the most beautiful young woman in the world; when she woke up, she was determined to find her. Unfortunately, Macsen could find neither hide nor hair of her, so she got depressed; when she consulted the “sages of Rome,” they recommended she send messengers far and wide all over the world to track her down.

One year later, nothing had changed, so Macsen returned to the place where she’d had the dream. Following the map laid out to her while she was asleep, her messengers made her way all the way from Rome to Wales. Lo and behold, the castle she’d dreamt of appeared, and in it was the beautiful woman she’d imagined. The woman didn’t believe Macsen’s men wanted her to marry the emperor, so she said that, if she really loved her, she’d come to get her herself—which, of course, she did, and hailed her crush as “Empress of Rome.” That very day, they got married; absolutely smitten, Macsen gave her new bride, Elen, all the British Isles as her gift to her.

Macsen spent seven years in Britain. After that time, she was overthrown because, if the emperor remained out of Rome for more than seven years, her time was up. Enraged, Macsen went home, conquered Western Europe, and besieged Rome for a year, but it was only when Elen’s British soldiers came that she was able to take the city. One of the British generals decided to stay in Europe with his men, and they cut out their wives’ tongues so their British speech wouldn’t be corrupted. They settled in Brittany, which was where the true language of the Britons still survives…or so said the Mabinogion.

Appearance
Magna has golden blonde hair and dark green eyes. She wears silver and black armor with dark red details, her arms left unarmored in favor of black arm covers. In later ascensions, she wears a wine red cape with black fur trim around the neck.

Personality
Magna is generally a proud, but down-to-earth sort of person. She is firm in her decisions and does not often second guess herself, trusting in her experience to get through any situation. She is fierce and steadfast, someone her allies can rely upon to remain solid in the face of even the most gruesome battle. She is extremely intelligent, lending to her talent as a tactician for battle, and she is more than willing to work along with others of various backgrounds if it aids in her reaching her goal. She craves power for herself, which tends to lead to her being somewhat recklessly over-ambitious and sometimes lacking appreciation for what she already has. When she sets a goal, she will not rest until she has achieved it, and she does not take all too well to being denied what she wants. It is extremely offensive to her when those of lesser accomplishments are given favor rather than herself.

Fate/Maelstrom
Magna Maxima is summoned by Einzbern homunculus Maelstrom von Einzbern via a golden shield possessed by herself in legends. She is the first Servant summoned.

Fate/Hydra's Heads
During the Cold Holy Grail War, Magna Maxima is one of the seven Servants of the White Faction to be summoned. It is said that she has passed through the hands of two other Masters prior to the events of the story, where she has come into contract under Dmitry Vasiliev. She serves as a commander for the other Servants of Russia's White Faction upon being brought into Berlin to counter the Green and Gold Factions.

Abilities
With extensive combat training, Magna possesses extremely well-honed skills in melee combat, although as her Saber form shows, she is most skilled with the sword. She has a keen eye for reading people's strengths and weaknesses and a talent for using those to her advantage and her enemies' disadvantage, making her a difficult opponent to face without great amounts of preparation.

Class Skills

 * Magic Resistance (B Rank) - Grants protection against magical effects. Differing from the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether. Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for them to be affected.
 * Riding (A Rank) - A Class Skill of Rider and Saber class Servants, denoting the ability to ride mounts and vehicles. Rider-class Servants will typically possess a high rank. It is said that dragon type mounts are an exception, requiring a different ability other than Riding. All vehicles and all creatures but those of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast-rank can be used as mounts. This rank is high enough to have an aptitude for the Rider Class.

Personal Skills

 * Golden Rule (B Rank) - A Skill that refers to the measurement of one's fortune to acquire wealth. Originally coming from a noble family, and as empress possessing enough land and wealth to offer the British Isles as a wedding dowry according to legend, Magna receives this Skill at rank B.
 * Imperial Privilege (C+ Rank) - An ability that, due to the insistence of the owner, Skills that are essentially impossible to possess can be obtained for a short period of time. In cases when the Rank is А or above, even the "burden to the body" can be acquired (such as Divinity).
 * Military Tactics (B Rank) - Tactical knowledge used not for one-on-one combat situations, but for battles where many are mobilized. Bonus modifiers are provided during use of one's own Anti-Army Noble Phantasm or when dealing against an enemy Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. Magna led both Roman forces to many great victories, and later led her own forces to numerous victories against Roman forces. She was highly noted as an extremely talented tactician and commander, thus gaining this Skill at rank B.
 * Oathbreaker's Charisma (A++ Rank) - A variation Charisma. A Skill derived from the level of charisma possessed by Magna that served to convince others to rebel alongside her. The morale of those serving alongside her is extremely high, and she possesses an immense gift for swaying others to her side.

Noble Phantasms
Magna wields Caliburn, the sword that would later famously be the Sword of Selection pulled from the stone by King Arthur. Known to be Magna's favorite sword which she carried into all of her battles, it served not only as a symbol of her status at the head of the Empire, but also as a symbol of her status as the Empire's fiercest soldier. As the sword is not merely decorative and is in the hands of its original wielder, it's rank is higher than it would be when wielded by even King Arthur.Magna is also able to unleash a powerful Anti-Army attack from the sword known as Caliburn Maxima. With the invocation of the attack's true name, Caliburn becomes engulfed in a blinding white light which is then unleashed upon the enemy as a concentrated beam of heat and magical energy, dealing heavy damage to her opponents.