Sū Dá Jǐ

Jiǔchí Ròulín

The famed 'Forest of Meats and Lake of Wine' attributed to Dájǐ manifests in her Servant incarnation as a powerful Reality Marble. Those drawn within the confines of the forest slowly are chipped away in mind and spirit, giving away to the carnal desires that most restrain themselves with day to day. Gluttony, lust, sloth, all are laid bare in a humiliating display of sin.    However, the true horror of the seemingly heavenly forest is revealed once the victims have eaten and drank their fill. Once a pair of victims has become satisfactory fed, Da Ji proceeds to eat them alive, granting her a boost in magical energy. The Forest of Meats is nothing more than a hunting ground, and all trapped within are nothing but prey for the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Investiture of the Gods

In legend, it is said that the consort Sū Dá Jǐ was not born a fox spirit, but rather, was possessed by the nine tailed fox sent by Nüwa. Likewise, Dájǐ's Spirit Origin is not confined to the human body she inhabits. Rather, her Spirit Origin is puppeteering the dead body of the original consort to interact with humanity. If her body is at risk of falling apart or being destroyed, Dájǐ can extract her spirit from her body, implanting it within another person's body, allowing her to take over.    This technique is all but useless against Servants, but if she takes over a human, she is able to elevate their abilities to match those of a Servant. The only way to tell if Dájǐ has taken over a body is to use powerful enough magecraft to reveal her fox ears and tail.

Bond Level 1:  Height/Weight: 160cm • 49kg   Source: Chinese History/Fēngshén Yǎnyì  Region: China   Alignment: Chaotic•Insane   Gender: Female    "A fox borrows the tiger's might."    The Nine-Tailed Fox is an entity who does not exist in her own form. Rather, she steals the bodies of those around her, assimilating their minds into hers and using their skin to walk among them. Sū Dá Jǐ, Lady Kayō, Bāo Sì, Tamamo-no-Mae, at one point each of these women had the chance to live normal, ordinary lives. Of course, that all changed when the spirit of the fox happened upon them one day and stole their lives. 
  Bond Level 2:  The Nine-Tailed Fox, despite her gruesome hobbies and mature appearance, is oddly childish in nature. She is as curious and as inquisitive as a child, always asking questions about how this or that works. If one doesn't answer her though, or if their answer doesn't satisfy her, she will always try and find the answer through the only way she knows how: dissection. Cut something open, and you'll figure out what's inside. That's just logic.    She does not care if what she cuts open is a stranger or her own Master. To her, everything is the same. Everything is something to learn from, and everything is something to be cut open. All one can do to avoid death at her hands is to placate her for as long as possible, even if it means sending another to their death in their stead.
  Bond Level 3:  A world of horrors she has amassed.  The road of skulls, she makes her path.  To a chorus of carnage, the dread fox laughs,  And she drinks to the sound of your weeping.    That monster was once entombed in rock,  But now thanks to you, she has been unlocked.  Do you think that she'll ever be stopped?  That company that you're keeping.    She fills your soul with endless dread,  She feasts on your flesh as if it was bread,  There's no point in struggling, you're already dead  When the Fox has begun its reaping.
  Bond Level 4:  Across three nations, a single entity is shared as one of the most terrible monsters ever known. People speak in whispers of her cruelty and love for torture, a monster wearing human skin who relishes in the pain of others. Others speak of how she brought three different kings to disaster, driving nations to ruin as she stalked away without consequence. Others still speak of the dark magics she knew, a demon unparalleled that will destroy everything in her wake.    Looking at the spirit in person, then, is almost absurd at times. The earnest smile she gives to those around her, the genuine adoration as she observes people simply walking about and talking about their day. The endless curiosity as she asks people question after question. Seeing the contrast between Dájǐ the torturer who laughs at other's suffering and Dájǐ the spirit who wishes to understand mankind, one almost can find themselves laughing. at the sheer impossibility of the existence before them. But the two exist, and they are at consensus thanks to one all-encompassing factor.    Love. Overwhelming, all-consuming, unconditional love.
  Bond Level 5:  What must it be like, being a creature who desires humanity without understanding it? What must it be like to look on a loving family, desiring what lay before their eyes while being completely incapable of comprehending what makes that sight before them so beautiful? What must it be like to be a creature who does not understand human concepts such as spite, or empathy, or even pain, and yet still seeks to make those concepts a part of her? What must it like to see humans through the eyes of a creature so completely alien?    Even killers understand the concept of laughter, even gods understand the meaning of pride, even phantoms can comprehend the idea of hatred. But not her. Never her.    So she tinkers. She tears herself apart, looking in at her own heart, only to find a deep, endless chasm. And she does not understand. So she does it again. And again. And again. All to be what she can never be, all to understand what she can never understand.    What a cruel trick of the gods, to force a mirror onto a creature with no face.
  Extra (Clear Interlude "Ever Evolving"):  The essence of humanity is its ability to evolve. As the times changes, so do people, whether it be their appearance, their beliefs, their education, their standing in life. Such is humanity. Likewise, such is nature. Animals and plants also evolve as time goes on, learning and adapting in order to survive the harsh environments they live in. It's simply the survival of the fittest in action.    But something must be different between the way humans evolve and the way animals evolve. There must be a difference in how humans act, how humans think, how humans are that led them to become the way they are. But what? Is it their biology? No, there's very little difference between a man and a mere pig if that would be the case. Is it their ability to use tools? No, a bird or a monkey could do the same thing.    I have to know... I have to know what humanity is! If I do... then maybe I can...

  Eons ago, a little fox was sent by the gods to Earth, to change the path of a king, driving him deep down to the depths of madness and cruelty. Whatever the fox wished, the king would do for her. Slaughter his own people by the dozens, cook up dishes of human flesh, have people cut open and observed all for the sake of an innocent curiosity. The fox then went down in history as a toppler of kings, a seductress of men, an embodiment of evil itself. Such is the way the story goes.    But is that all there is to the story?    The fox, despite her horrible actions, was an envoy of the gods, the goddess who made mankind and mended the heavens, no less. Would a goddess like that so casually have a pupil borne of sin and evil? No, there's more to the story.    For the fox, this was her first time beholding the creature that was mankind. She saw their ugliness, she saw their flaws, she saw their selfishness, their greed, their hatred, their fear, their spitefulness, their lust, their pride, the sum total of human error and suffering was all there for her eyes to feast upon as the king's favored concubine.    And it was beautiful.    The fox had never seen a sight as captivating as that of humanity. She wanted to know it, she wanted to understand it, she wanted to become it. So she sought to find out how humanity worked. She cut men and women open to see how their bodies functioned. She laughed as victims danced atop burning bronze in their desperation to survive. She ate of their flesh to try and absorb the essence of humanity.    Like the Evils of Humanity, the fox committed sinful act after sinful act not out of hatred or rage, but out of love. Even more than that, she did so out of an innocent love. Unlike the Beasts, who seek to change an aspect of man to make them better, the fox saw humans and deemed them perfect from the start. She loved them with all her heart, and never gave a second thought to why people hated and feared her, if she even understood the concept of hatred.    Perhaps that is even more horrifying than a creature of pure evil.    After all...    What has more beauty and terror than innocence?

A manifestation of human cruelty, and a living testament to how love, in its purest essence, can bring an empire crashing down. In the 12th Century BC, the Nine-Tailed Fox was sent by Nüwa to punish the foolish and lustful Zhòu Wáng for the disrespect she showed in her temple, the goddess being unable to intervene herself. Dájǐ soon fell in love with the wickedness of the king and his people, being enraptured by the human experience, and in the process, became a much more horrifying monster than even Nüwa had dreamed of.    The creature known as Dájǐ is a creature who obsesses over humans. She seeks to not just take the shape of a human, but to become a human, in mind, body, and soul. To that end, she took the citizens of the Shang Dynasty apart, learning how they died, understanding how their bodies worked, their horrified shrieks as their lives faded away being nothing more than a symphony to serenade her to sleep. She would even do this to the human body she had taken over, taking it apart and replacing it with new, different parts all to see what would happen. All things come to an end, however, and Dájǐ's own reign of terror would grind to a halt thanks to the work of Jiang Ziya, who helped overthrow the king and forced Dájǐ to flee for her life.    However, the tale of Dájǐ would not end with that single confrontation. While Jiang Ziya drove away the being that terrorized China, the scourge that is the Nine-Tailed Fox still lived and wandered for over a thousand years. As Lady Kayō, she drove Banzoku of Magadha to cut off the heads of 1000 of his own citizens. In the end, though, she was forced to flee once again, this time by the human armies. She would return to China under the name Bao Si, and her heavenly smile would lead King You of Zhou to trick his own allies by lighting lanterns to drive them all to his castle in a panic, culminating in the empire's downfall as their allies wouldn't believe the time for an actual invasion had come, Dájǐ leaving the court amidst the chaos.    Finally, her tale would come to an end as the elegant Tamamo-no-Mae. Exposed by the mystic Abe-no-Seimei, the Nine-Tailed Fox's life would finally come to an end as an army 80,000 strong hunted her down and killed her. But even that wouldn't stop her for long. While her body may have passed away, the spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox still lived, haunting a stone and killing all passerby until the brave monk Gennō Shinshō intervened, stopping the rampage by shattering the killing stone and convincing the fox demon to work towards salvation.    At least, that's how the story goes.    In reality... It wasn't an exorcism that destroyed the killing stone, ending the Nine-Tailed Fox's curse. Nor was she convinced to ascend to the heavens as a penitent soul seeking salvation. In actuality, Gennō did the one thing many never truly did. He listened. He sat down, and offered to lend an ear to the feared demon that was the scourge of three countries.    "You've had a long journey, and so have I. How about we trade stories for the night?"    The Nine-Tailed Fox was left speechless. Why wouldn't she be? After all, this was the first time a human had chosen to approach her rather than the other way around. But who was she to turn down a chance to talk with a human? So the two talked away the night well into the day, exchanging tales of their experiences. While the monk was filled with fear as the fox regaled her stories of carnage and death with a smile on her face, he spoke not a word, instead listening and letting the fox tell her tale. Eventually, Dájǐ's story came to a close, and with it, her body began to fade away. As her spirit passed onto the next world, the monk gave her a mournful look, before bowing his head. It is said that soft laughter could be heard in the surrounding area.    "Ah... this is what I fell in love with, long ago, isn't it? I'm so glad... I was able to have so much fun..."    Such ended the tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
  The other incarnations, the ones who are so very much Dájǐ and yet so very much not, can only look on in horror at her. For Tamamo no Mae, the Caster who once dreamed of being human and was shut away and slaughtered for her dream, she can only see a fool who has yet to learn the error of her ways, yet pities her as she recognizes the genuine love in her heart. Tamamo Cat, the embodiment of the pure love and feral instincts of the Nine-Tailed Fox, she feels fear as she understands the depths of depravity she could fall into in the end. The Tamamos Vitch only feel disgust and vitriol, as even though Dájǐ is an embodiment of human torture and slaughter, they will never come to an understanding, as one loves humanity and aspires to become human, while the others hate humanity with all their heart and soul and wishes nothing more than for them to be destroyed.    As for Jiang Ziya... Like all humans, Dájǐ sees him as something to love. She cannot hate him, even if he is the one who drove her away, even if he is the ultimate enemy who is destined to defeat her, Dájǐ loves him all the same. Why wouldn't she? If Zhòu Wáng gave her a glimpse into the cruelty and wickedness Mankind had to offer, then Jiang Ziya showed her the heroism and defiance Humanity could use to smite the opposition. Yet another beautiful aspect of humanity.

As stated before, Dájǐ is a creature who has fallen in love with humanity, her Master included. However, due to how she displays this love of hers, she is as much a danger to her Master as she is to her Master's enemies. There is no use in trying to come to an understanding with her, as she fundamentally is incapable of truly understanding human emotion. If one isn't careful and uses their Command Seals as soon as she is summoned, they risk being torn apart as another victim of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

I actually had two ideas for this contest entry. The first was a Mordred Alter that took more after Morgan le Fay instead of King Arthur. This would be a portrayal more in line with the villainous depictions Mordred gets in fiction. The other, as you can see here, is Dájǐ, the Nine-Tailed Fox. I actually took a lot of Dájǐ from a story I plan on writing based on the Fate and Record of Ragnarok series. After asking a friend for feedback, he recommended that I go with the fox as a complement to my other Fanservant, given their opposing views on humanity and their respective beliefs on life.    An aspect I feel not many interpretations of Dájǐ lean into is that of her scientific curiosity. Several of her infamous murders, such as cutting open the stomach of a pregnant woman and cutting off the feet of a man who walked on a sheet of ice barefoot, were in the partial pursuit of curiosity of how they worked. So in this case, I decided to lean into the idea of Dájǐ being a scientific character obsessed with learning how humanity worked, as a contrast to Tamamo Vitch's overt sadism and hatred of humanity. Dájǐ holds an almost childlike fascination with humans, wanting to know the ins and outs of how people work, not unlike how some kids enjoy taking apart things like radios or pens to see how they work.    The horror aspect of this being that she's doing this to living people, completely unaware of how people hate and fear her for her actions. After all, she simply wants to learn more about humans, why would they mind? Unlike someone like Gilles, who knows what he's doing is evil and relishes it, Dájǐ genuinely loves and treasures humanity, being incapable of understanding why her actions are evil. I've always been fond of the 'pure is not good' trope. The idea of someone committing unspeakably horrific actions and yet not even comprehending the evil of their actions is a type of monster that is always interesting to explore, especially as a contrast to the established Tamamo lore we have.    This aspect extends to her own stolen body, as the way she fights and her subsequent ascensions would highlight this horrific obsession with seeing the limits of the human body, fighting with parts that would extend out from her body made entirely of bone, She'd stab people with blades made of her femur, spider-like legs would burst out from her back, a cable would shoot out from her stomach, before reeling them in and impaling them on her extended ribcage.    All in all, I hope you like my interpretation of Dájǐ, the Toppler of Empires. It's always fun to try and reinterpret characters for stuff like Fate, and I'd like to think I did a good job of making my own version stand out.