Cadmus

Class: Lancer
True name: Cadmus
Gender: Male
Source: Greek Mythology
Region: Europe
Alignment: Neutral Good

Class Skills

Magic Resistance: B

Personal Skills

Dragon Sower: B

A skill that originates from Cadmus's act of sowing the teeth of the great dragon he slew, which then grew into Dragon Tooth Warriors. Normally, these warriors can only be created through the Item Construction skill, but as the originator of the myth of the Dragon Tooth Warriors, Cadmus is instead able to produce them through this skill. The amount he can make heavily depends on his own masters magical energy due to Cadmus’s own Magical Power stat being ranked low.

Servant of the War God: C

After slaying a dragon that was sacred to Ares, Cadmus was forced to do penance for 8 Years by serving Ares. This skill is a representation of that service to the War God, granting Cadmus the ability to temporarily increase his strength stat if he dedicates a battle or feat to Ares.

Bravery: B

Nullifies Mental Influence and has the effect of increasing melee damage.

Bovine of Thebes: B

This skill is a representation of Cadmus's being instructed to follow a cow until it collapses, and then build the city of Thebes on that spot. By targeting an animal with this skill, that animal will become a representation of that sacred cow, and lead Cadmus to the destination he most needs to be in that moment.

Noble Phantasm

Glôtta Drakontos (Dragon’s Tounge): Javelin that Pierces the Serpent’s Hide

Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 2-10 Maximum Number of Targets: 1 Person

The spear that Cadmus used to slay a dragon sacred to Ares. A very well made spear that is notably strong enough to pierce through the scales of a dragon, making it an effective weapon against armored foes. The main power of the spear is to grant a damage bonus against dragons and enemies with the dragon trait.

Necklace of Harmonia: Cursed Fate of the City’s Founder

Rank: A
Type: Anti-Unit (Self) Range: -- Maximum Number of Targets: 1 person and 1 weapon

A Necklace forged by Hephaestus that was given to Harmonia, the Daughter of Aphrodite and Ares who married Cadmus. The necklace would grants it owner eternal youth and Beauty, but also contained a curse that would bring misfortune to the families of all who bear it.

This Necklace is a shared Noble Phantasm amongst many of those Heroic Spirits who were part of the house of Thebes that the Necklace brought constant misfortune too. The Necklace manifests different abilities among those different servants, with the only shared ability being to forcefully alter the Servants luck stat to E.

While Cadmus would normally note be able to manifest this Noble Phantasm as he never possessed the necklace in life, he and his wife sharing the same misfortunate fate allows him to manifest it. In the hands of Cadmus, invoking the Noble Phantasm will invoke Cadmus and Harmonia’s fate of transforming into a serpent like the very one that Cadmus slew. As Harmonia is not summoned along side Cadmus, he is able to invoke her transformation by using Glôtta Drakontos as a substitute.

When transforming Glôtta Drakontos, Cadmus is able to enforce some form of control of the serpent, but that control slips the longer the transformation remains in place. For Cadmus, activating the transformation will seal all of his skills and Glôtta Drakontos. Furthermore, as he remains in this transformed state, he slowly loses his human mind and becomes more and more beast like. Staying in this form for long enough will cause his mind to devolve to the point that he can no longer remember that he is human, and can no longer remember how to reverse his transformation.

While in the transformed state, Cadmus and Glôtta Drakontos gain Magic Resistance at the Rank of A, and Madness Enhancement that begins at E and slowly ranks up to A the longer they remain in that state. Both serpents also have a powerful poisonous breath that can be used as a weapon.

Personality

Despite the fate that befell him, Cadmus is a rather optimistic and friendly individual, even somewhat Naïve. Even when faced with eh more cruel aspects of life, Cadmus will focus on the few bright spots that can be found, such as how even though he and his wife were transformed into monsters, they were able to live out the rest of their lives together in peace.

He is also immensely proud of the Thebes itself, and expresses pride in all those who are children of the city, even if they are nor part of his family line.

Motivation/attitude towards master

Cadmus’s disposition make shim someone that can get along rather easily with most people, and so he usually has a perfectly good relationship with any Master that summons him. That being said, particularly amoral masters may find themselves more easily crossing the line of what Cadmus will accept than they will with other heroes of his time, which can lead to more violent ends.

Cadmus highly approves of the Master of Chaldea, and is even somewhat in awe of how they are so easily able to get along with such a large variety of servants. This, combined with the Masters other admirable qualities, has lead to Cadmus declaring himself to be “Master’s #1 fan!”

Historical image and character

Cadmus was the brother to Europa, and was sent on a quest to find his sister after she was abducted, his family not knowing that she had been taken away by the King of the gods. In his wanderings to learn of his sisters whereabouts, he approached the Oracle at Delphi, who gave him instructions to follow a cow with a half-moon marking on it’s flank until the animal collapsed from exhaustion. This, he was told, was the spot that he would begin the creation of a new city.

Cadmus and his companions followed the Oracles instructions, and upon reaching the spot where the cow collapsed, Cadmus made the decision to sacrifice the cow to the gods, and he sent his companion to fetch water from a nearby spring for the ceremony, only those companion would never return. Cadmus would go look for them, only to discover that they had been killed by the guardian of the spring, a ferrous water-dragon. Cadmus would fight the Dragon to avenge his fallen friend and succeed in slaying it. After doing so, Athena appeared before Cadmus and instructed him to take the teeth of the dragon and sow them in a nearby field as though they were seeds. Once this task was done, warriors sprang up from the planted teeth, and they assisted Cadmus in building the earliest parts of the city Cadmus would soon be king of, Thebes.

Cadmus would soon learn that the dragon had been sacred to Ares, and the war god forced him to complete 8 years of penance to earn his forgiveness. At the end of those 8 years, Ares would be impressed enough with the young king to offer his and Aphrodite’s daughter, Harmonia, as Cadmus’s bride. Many gods attended the wedding, including Hephestus, who had forged a necklace to give to Harmonia as a wedding present. Unbeknownst to anyone, Hephaestus had laid a terrible curse on the necklace as a form of revenge on Aphrodite, his cheating wife, and Ares, her lover.

The curse of the necklace brought nothing but misfortune to Cadmus and Harmonia’s family. The founder of Thebes wondered if the tragedies that befell his loved-ones was some fate forced on him by the gods for killing that sacred dragon, and in desperation and confusion, yelled out that if the gods were so enamored with such a serpent, that they may as well turn him into one. Which god was listening to Cadmus that day is not known, but what is known is that one was listening, and they chose to grant this request, turning Cadmus into a beast just like the one he slew. Harmonia witnessed her husbands transformation, and called on the gods to make her share her husbands fate, resulting in her own transformation. The two serpents fled into the wilds, no longer human, but still together.

Character image in Fate/Grand Order

Cadmus’s friendly disposition has allowed him to make many friends in Chaldea, especially since his optimistic nature allows him to almost always see the best parts of a servant, even when they have trouble seeing those parts themselves. Given the many friendships he’s formed, its tough to no where in Chaldea that Cadmus can be found as he could truly be anywhere with anyone. That being said, the does tend to spend most of his time around his sister or any heroic spirits that came from their family line.

General armaments

Cadmus mainly relies on Glôtta Drakontos for battle, and will summon Dragon Tooth Warrior to assist him if necessary. He is reluctant to use the transformation aspect of Necklace of Harmonia due to the draw-backs that transforming himself or Glôtta Drakontos comes with, but he will do so if he thinks it’s necessary.

Connection with Characters

Europa

“Sister? It’s so good to finally see you again! After you disappeared we were all so worried. I see, so that’s what happened. Well, I’m glad to see you again after so long! Ah, Sister, you don’t have to hug me so tight. Real-really, I’m actually having a little trouble breathing…”

Heracles

“The most famous hero of Greece, and even cooler is that he from Thebes! I do wish I could have met him when he was summoned in another class though, I would love to be able to have a proper conversation with him. Oh well, until such a time as that comes, I’ll just have to praise him as the pride of Thebes even harder to make up for it!”

Asterios

“So you’re Europa’s Grandchild? I guess that makes you something like a grand-nephew to me then. It’s actually pretty cool have a grand-nephew as strong as you around!”

Oedipus

“Ah, Oedipus, It’s an honor to meet my Great-Great-Grandson! At least, I think that’s how many great’s should be in there. Did I do the math wrong? Let’s see, If you’re father is my great-grandson then his father would…hm? You thought I’d be ashamed of you? Of course not! Sure, your story has a lot…really bad turns, but your still the hero who saved Thebes from the Sphinx and then ruled as a pretty good king in the years afterwards, how couldn’t I be proud to call you a member of my family?”

Sigurd

“So you’re one of my fellow dragon slayer here in Chaldea, it’s really great to meet you! You must be really strong too, what kind of skills do you have? …Hm, you have a guts skill? There must be an amazing story behind something like that. …You say you have it so you can survive when your beloved tries to kill you with her love? Well, I don’t really get what you’re saying, but I guess what matters is that you two are so happy together.”

Siegfried & Kriemhild

“Master, I have a question about that European dragon slayer and his wife. You see, I was talking to Seigfried when his wife appeared. I made a comment about how you could really tell how much she loves him from the way that she looks at him, but then she started getting all…screechy and yelling at me about not saying things like that before running off. Master, did I say something wrong?”

Romulus

“Romulus, with you being the son of Ares, or Mars I guess, we’re essentially brothers-in-law. I would love to be able to talk with you and get to know you. …Hm, yes, I can certainly agree with you about how amazing Rome is, though I do think that Thebes edges it out just a little bit. Really, you don’t agree? Then how about we set up a competition to decide that.”

Odysseus

“A man that devoted to his wife, such an admirable thing. All that he went through to try and get back to her…Funnily enough, it actually reminds me a lot of Harmonia choosing to become a serpent to stay with me. It’s honestly amazing to fight alongside someone like him.”

Altera

“Huh? You’re the one that stole Ares sword?! He spoke of you when I was doing my penance under him, but you seem so…different to how he described. You seem way nicer and friendlier! Let’s get along, OK?”