Title: The Lioness of Stormwind
Author: Vahn
Rating: M
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Status: WIP
Fandom: Fate Stay Night / Warcraft
Pairings: None, so far.
Words: Story one - 64 k, Story two - 50k
Summary: Fate Stay Night Spin off, Saber is reborn on Azeroth after her death at Camlann, can she make a difference?
Link: ff.net

I am not going to lie, this is a Saber wank fic. Pretty much everyone constantly is amazed by her awesomeness and sheer force of personality/charisma, and it would have been annoying with every other character but with Saber, it works. At least for me. Sure, it's not particularly sophisticated writing in that regard, to have almost everyone be super impressed by Saber but then again, we are taking a mythological heavy hitter whose legend was doing just that and inserting her in another fantasy setting full with similar people. Especially since the source material has charisma that affects people like that as a mechanic of the magic system.

So story is pretty basic. After Fate Stay Night happened, Saber being back again in the past, dying, she (and a few of her knights) get transported to Azeroth and reincarnated there (although everyone placed there is reincarnated in a different place, in a different time, so when Saber was born, a few were already running around for years, if not decades, others were still not born)

Thus, Arturia is born as a normal villager in a small town, where she lives with her family for a good 15-16 years, until the first Orc attack in Azeroth happens. Arturia, having all of her memories and most of her skills (albeit none of her weapons/equipment), participates in the defence, which, with her there, naturally, goes a lot better and that's really where the big change in the Warcraft lore first happens and things snowball from here.

Arturia, being freaking King Arthur, rises in the ranks, reunites with old friends and wages war, defending her new kingdom.

Again, it is a wank story but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy every single second of it. The writing is competent, the dialogue fun and in character, I like the battle scenes, and well, seeing that I had the Saber signature for years, just as a Saber avatar, I am a rather huge fan and so, I really enjoy a story where we just see her shine in her natural environment, as the King of Knights, leading troops.

Best thing? No Shirou whatsoever, only Arthurian characters from the Fate series.

So, yeah. First story was finished, second one is roughly 50 k words in, but apparently the author has to go on hiatus as he has personal/financial difficulties for a while. He also is seemingly updating a few other stories as well, so, updates, if they happen, would be irregular.

Still, worth checking out.

It reminded me how fun the Warcraft setting and magic system is, and how much I like Saber when she is not constantly pushed aside to build up stupid Shirou.

4/5

 

So I've spent the last 4 days binge reading Vahn's stuff. You'll probably be familiar with his other crack work, the FSN/ASOIAF cross A Throne that Nobody Wants. By the looks of it, he's been around a long time, with fics going back to 2000. He has a lot of Ranma crossovers - really enjoyed Warp Realities (Ranma/SM/Oh My Goddess/Flames of Recca/Bastard crossover) and Having a Wild Time (Ranma/Majikoi crossover).

What he writes well is that characteristic Ranma fandom sort of fic - cracky, fun, lighthearted and full of absolutely bizarre sorts of relationship dynamics (eg, the bizarre Arturia/Dany/Mordred/Sansa/Lancelot incest, gender bent harem relationship in A Throne Nobody Wants). It's the fanfic equivalent of junk food. While reading it, you really enjoy it and then wake up the next morning wondering why you wasted your time.

What I don't think he writes well though are serious fics - whether romance or plot driven ones. And I'd say Lioness of Stormwind is a good example. A lot of the aspects are similar to A Throne Nobody Wants, but without all the crack that made that fun. What you instead read is a plot that tries to take itself serious and the result is just cheesy and uninteresting, hitting all sorts of poor tropes. Events just sort of happen and it lacks any sort of enjoyable atmosphere, energy, emotion or plot complexity.

Reading about Arturia as a young girl was the only part I really enjoyed. Apart from that, I just don't think this even qualifies as a guilty pleasure for me. 2.5/5, rounded down to 2/5. You gotta be really bored or really in the mood for something like this.

Would recommend trying some of his Ranma crosses though.

 

Huh, for me it was the opposite. His Game of Thrones crossover was just too crackish and bizarre to take seriously and enjoy, all the characters there were really one dimensional and it really forced the plot powered acceptance of the bizarre things the characters did.

Whereas this story had some grounding and it helped that the world of Azeroth is less serious than GoT and thus, the way Arturia and her innate abilities and personality mashed a lot better with the local populous.

As in, there are auras that increase willpower and mana regen and whatnot in the warcraft world, the charisma of Arturia is not out of place there.

It is telling an altered version of the king Arthur story, with her quick rise in ranks and whatnot, (re)forming her knights of the round table. It would have been even cheesier with anyone else but it just worked for me here. After all, Arthur became the head of his own faction just after pulling out a sword, and king after winning a battle or two, so, let's not pretend the original myth had this huge build-up.

 

Except for a story that tries to take itself seriously, there is absolutely no struggle, conflict or anything really.

She doesn't struggle against the Horde. She doesn't struggle to win allies over (since all her former subordinates have taken up very important positions in Azeroth in the various factions). The story doesn't even seem to focus on those aspects either. Battles are breezed over as unimportant details. Scenes like her meeting with important people from the various factions. There's no real drama in her relationships. Instead, all we get a lot of light hearted interaction with the various people close to her - but there's no real comedy in there either.

Basically it feels like a lighthearted humour fic, without the humour.