Unlimited Game Works
Magi

Contents

  1. Einzbern
    2.
  2. Emiya
    3.
  3. Matou
    4.
  4. Tohsaka
    5.

Magi is the term for a human practitioner of Magecraft, the magical science, as opposed to a Magician, who is capable of bringing forth true miracles that are impossible to be reenacted at the current scientific stage. In ancient times, the term magi was used for both the users of Thaumaturgy and Magic, but with the advancement of science that made past miracles possible and the decline of the overall power of Magecraft, the differences between the two became clearer. At the modern age, there are only five Magicians left. A wizard, just like a magi, has a long life. If one uses life-prolonging magic, it wouldn't be impossible to live a few hundred, a few thousand years either.

The very first magi were merely scholars that studied the supernatural, and the present level of Thaumaturgy was attained thanks to the accumulated knowledge and bloodline history started by them. Magi are frequently, but not necessarily, descend from old magical families, as affinity to sorcery is something transmitted through blood relations.

More than just a name, the term "Magi" define a whole set of beliefs and lifestyle. A magi dedicates himself to the study and refinement of Thaumaturgy while driving himself apart of the values of common people in the process. He searches for the greater truths of the universe not to answer existential questions, but just for the sake of knowing. Ideally, a magi would render his own self transparent while still retaining his ego. In reality however, most magi, especially those of the Mage's Association, are often caught up on petty power struggles. On another hand, those who openly deviate from the way of magi, such as Kiritsugu Emiya and Shirou Emiya, are perceived as heretics that do not deserve to be called a magi.

Einzbern

The Einzbern, a bloodline that once wielded the Third Magic but lost it at some point of time. For such an old lineage, they surprisingly have no branch families. Their Sorcery Trait is Wish-Granting – Spellcasting without possessing the knowledge of the spell itself. They skip the thaumaturgical process altogether and recreate miracles just through the use of magical energy but they are still bound to the limitations of the Magic Circuits.

Illyasviel von Einzbern

The Magecraft of the Einzbern family, which follows the Thaumaturgical School of Alchemy, is based on the creation and refinement of substances and the focus of their studies lies solely in the structural manipulation of precious metals. They know healing magecraft, but as alchemists this is used not for the sake of recovering the flesh of injured people, but rather to lessen the great burden felt by a subject who received an organ that was tempered with magical power and help his body get used with the newly transplanted organ. Because with the craft of the Einzbern magical energy becomes easily dispersible, buildings that sealed off with soil or stone are the ones most desired by them to install a workshop.

The Einzberns are well known for being excellent producers of homunculus. Even the ones that are regarded as failures by their creators are still superior to even 100 magi. The Einzbern homunculi have their functions determined during the design stages and are born with bodies and minds optimized to perform their purposes.

The current head of the Einzbern family is called Jubstacheit von Einzbern (or simply "old man-Acht") and is the eighth person to rise to the position. He has been around ever since the time of Second Heaven's Feel thanks to methods of life prolonging and it has been said that under his leadership, the Einzbern changed its goals from "seeking the Holy Grail" to "winning the Grail War". He has a close relationship with the Talbot farm of early autumn Darjeeling and for years its tea has been only served to special guests.

Known Members:

Emiya

Emiya Shirou

The Emiya, a lineage dating back a few centuries that focused on 'Time Manipulation' in their quest for Akasha. Accelerating or slowing the flow of time inside a Reality Marble free from the world’s interference is the thaumaturgy of the Emiya family. But after investigating it thoroughly, in a Bounded Field that was minimized until resistance was almost zero, the flow of time could be accelerated without limit, and reaching the Root would be possible, right before observing the universe’s end. Although the theory itself was very promising, finishing the experiment would still require several hundreds of years. The fourth family head, Norikata Emiya, was a genius who was Sealing Designated, bringing ruin upon his family for researching into vampirism.[11] As a result, the Emiya family was wiped-out by the Church and Magus Association. His son and immediate successor, Kiritsugu Emiya, was a freelancer who did not care for the ways of the magi and his own lineage, and died without passing on the Emiya Crest.

Shirou Emiya is Kiritsugu's adopted son and apparently not considered a true successor.

Known Members:

Matou

The Makiri, later known as Matou, a lineage that dates back over 500 years ago, were chased out of their homeland in Russia. They eventually took refuge in Japan, where they changed their name to Matou. Around 200 years ago, the Makiri began to decline and their offspring started to lose their capacity to manifest Magic Circuits. Although they covered up with the excuse that they were incompatible with the spiritual land of Fuyuki, the true reason behind this sudden fall of their bloodline was never explained.

Sakura Matou

Their fall finally culminated in their last heir, Shinji Matou, having no Magic Circuits at all; Shinji's paternal uncle Kariya Matou had been the last known member of the family to be naturally born with Magic Circuits, but had expressed such disgust towards the family's practices that he left the family before learning any of the Matou's Magecraft. With the practice of passing down their Magic Crest among the family members being ceased since generations before, everything that is now left of their mystic heritage is simply knowledge in the form of books of Magecraft. Their only choice to continue with their line would be to take in pupils from other families, but because of their history of being overly prideful, nobody would willingly go to them. That in mind, Zouken went to the Tohsaka while recalling the past pact of friendship between the two families. As a result, Sakura Tohsaka was adopted into the Matou.

The Magecraft of the Matou works around the concept of "absorbing" or, from another perspective, "to bind something to one's self". Their method of teaching of Thaumaturgy is not by letting the mind absorb the knowledge through study, but by literally carving it into the body through the use of Crest Worms. Despite the torture-like aspects of the process, it seems to be remarkably efficient.

Among their accomplishments include the establishment the Servant system of the Heaven's Feel and created the Command Spells for the Masters. They possess a considerable amount of monetary resources, which were accumulated during the time that they researched Thaumaturgy.

Known Members:

Tohsaka

The Tohsaka, a lineage with a history worth about 200 years, were once Hidden Christians that lived inside a then foreigners-intolerant Japan. Their first head, Nagato Tohsaka, was considered the least promising of Zelretch's pupils. But by six generations after, the time of Rin and Sakura, the family had improved to the point of reaching the second place. They possess good connections in both the Mage's Association, due their relationship with Zelretch, and the Holy Church, thanks to their faith.

Rin Tohsaka

The Tohsaka are experts in the use of Jewel Magecraft and a secret style of Chinese kenpo, the latter due Nagato's emphasis in the training of not only Magecraft, but also martial arts. Thanks to the sudden and relatively recent progress of their mastery of Jewel Magecraft, as well as the introduction of the Gandr into their magical repertory, it is believed that the Tohsaka lineage was able to incorporate the Edelfelts' knowledge of Magecraft into their own through the younger Edelfelt twin that was supposedly defeated during the Third Heaven's Feel, for the members of that family (such as Luvia) are well known for being very capable in the use of both. It is unknown if the Tohsaka gained the abilities from the Edelfelt twin marrying with the head of the Tohsaka family of that time or simply by having her Magic Crest stolen.

Back when the Tohsaka were developing the ritual of the Heaven's Feel along with the Makiri and the Einzbern, Nagato's daughter played a greater role in the completion of the Holy Grail War system than her father. The Tohsaka role in the Heaven's Feel is to provide the use of their spiritual land to the ritual.

It is known that one of Tokiomi's parents was a foreigner.

Known Members: