Magus

Magus (魔術師) 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 magus 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 magus, 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.

Magi frequently, but not necessarily, descend from old magical families, as affinity to magecraft is something transmitted through blood relations.

More than just a name, the term "Magus" defines a whole set of beliefs and lifestyle, the first of which is the desire to reach the "truth". A magus 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 magus 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 magus.

Classifications

 * Faker (複製者) - Faker is used as a term for Shirou Emiya and Archer for their usage of Gradation Air. Rin Tohsaka uses it as a regular term, while Gilgamesh uses it as a term of derision. Faker is also a Servant class, but it has no known connection to this terminology.


 * Houjutsushi (法術師) - Those who exorcise spirits through, prayers and faith. The ones who achieved true enlightenment can draw upon the power of supernatural entities to perform miracles, but those with insufficient training have to fill the gap by adding their own power, just like the Western magi do. In Japan, there is a very secretive organization of Houjutsushi. Currently none of the monks of Ryuudou Temple are Houjutsushi, but there were a small number of them in the past.


 * Shaman/Witch (呪術師) - The practitioners of Witchcraft, through similar in concept they are seen as a different kind from the regular magus. Users include Alice Kuonji and, at first, Ayaka Sajyou.


 * Spellcaster (魔術使い) - The name given to those who use Magecraft without following the way of the magus, such as Kiritsugu Emiya and Flueger who treated Magecraft as just a tool. Usually, their general skill with Thaumaturgy is low, but it is not uncommon for them to be highly proficient in a single field that they choose to specialize at. Also includes mages who lack formal training such as Shirou Emiya and Sakura Matou.


 * Spiritual Doctor (霊媒医師) - A magus that uses Spiritual Invocation to perform medical operations, one who heals not through the flesh, but through the soul. Can also be found among the members of the Church, thus hinting that these procedures are not completely seen as Thaumaturgy. Kirei Kotomine was an excellent Spiritual Doctor who was capable of removing Command Spells from a Master without damaging his nervous system.

Characteristics
Depending on their craft, the appearance of magi may become distorted due to the chemicals with which they work or type of magecraft they practice. Rather than become ashamed over it as a mark of humiliation, it is normal for them to see it as a source of pride.

Many magi look down on those like freelancers who use magecraft to earn a profit, believing it to be solely a field of research that should not be used in such a manner. Only those with more worldly experience or those practicing more controversial magecraft can look past the initial disdain and bewilderment other magi have for such people.

It is possible for magi to obtain magical patents recognized by the Clock Tower, allowing them to obtain money from theories and rituals in the same manner as regular patents. The Tohsaka family earns tens of millions of yen annually from those that they own.

Most magi of long lineages do not find convenience in using modern technology, believing that the comparable magical tools they have possessed since long before the technology was invented will never be inferior. Compared to communication tools that are susceptible to spying and that will stop working with power outages, they feel their own apparatuses like the Tokiomi Tohsaka's implements in place of fax machines and phones will remain superior due to not having such issues. It is rare for there to be magi who are not repulsed by the idea of using such technology, with Irisviel von Einzbern being hard pressed to understand how to properly use a phone and Jubstacheit von Einzbern fervently arguing against Kiritsugu Emiya having a telephone line and power generator installed at the Einzbern Castle. People like Kirei Kotomine cannot truly understand the train of thought, believing that a fax machine that can be used by anyone is more convenient, and Kiritsugu, a magus who frequently uses such technology, finds that the tendency of magi to ignore such technology as a legitimate threat, not understanding what a regular human can accomplish without magecraft, is a blind spot he can exploit in his work as a magus killer. Those of families that do not follow such traditions like Waver Velvet are easily capable of using them to the degree of any ordinary person.

The Association does not base its principals on normal morality, but rather the preservation of the secrets of magecraft. Magi may commit many horrendous crimes, but they will not be targeted so long as it does not become a threat to their secrecy. While many people may perish in the Holy Grail War rituals, the Association only seeks to make sure the media is properly manipulated as to avoid letting it become public and having the Einzbern cover any monetary damage. When hunting those who have been given a Sealing Designation, their greatest priority is ensuring the safety of the results of the designated's research over all else. Competing with the Church in their goal of wiping out all heretical knowledge, they seek most of all to obtain the Magic Crests of the designated as the most precious of a magus' work. In the case of Norikata Emiya and his successor Kiritsugu Emiya, the Association keeps the majority of the crest, and only through negotiations of the one selling it to them, Natalia Kaminski, is Kiritsugu able to inherit a minor portion.

Ainsworth
The Ainsworth (エインズワース) family comes from a parallel world to that of the Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA world. They are a famous magus family, it is uncertain when they decided to save humanity but they continued their journey for more than 1000 years. 200 years ago, the Ainsworth sought the power of the Holy Grail and formed with two other magus family to develop the Holy Grail War and created the Class Card system afterward. They are similar in nature to the Einzbern family, seeking the Holy Grail and creating many homunculus-like servants that they call "Dolls."

Julian claim that their overall goal lies in saving the world from the degradation. His plan is through the sacrifice of Miyu Edelfelt and to transform humans into a species that can survive the environment that will eventually be produced by the world's collapse. They specialize in the magecraft Flash Air.


 * Known Members:
 * Darius Ainsworth (Original head)
 * Zachary Ainsworth (Previous head)
 * Angelica (Eldest child, Doll)
 * Julian Ainsworth (Current head)
 * Erika (Youngest child)
 * Beatrice Flowerchild (Doll)

Animusphere
The Animusphere (アニムスフィア) family is one of the top ten families in the Clock Tower. They are responsible for the Astronomy Faculty.


 * Known Members:
 * Marisbury Animusphere
 * Olgamally Animusphere

Aozaki
The Aozaki (蒼崎) is the family who administers the greatest spiritual land in Japan. For magi of the Clock Tower, this name is a synonym for "trouble". Despite its age, it is not a renowned lineage. A bloodline with a history worth a total of six generations, the head of the third generation was a genius that discovered a path to the Root under his land. After creating the Fifth Magic, however, he sealed this path and decided to wait for someone who had the potential to comprehend the Root. He was the Fifth Magician until he passed on the Fifth Magic to his successor, and was a "magus infinitely close to being a magician" afterwards until his death. By using this path, the successive heads have a high chance of inheriting the Fifth Magic, but going further into touching the Root is forbidden. The current family head is Aoko Aozaki.

In the present generation, the family had the misfortune of having siblings disputing over the position of family head, a tragedy for any clan of magi. The outcome of the conflict was that the younger of the two sisters, Aoko, emerged victorious and became a Magician. At a point of time, both sisters were part of the Mage's Association but eventually they withdrew from it. Aoko left on a whim and became a Freelancer. Meanwhile, the older sister, Touko, ran away after receiving a Sealing Designation after realizing that if she remained with the Association she would never be able to leave later, despite the great chance of her reaching the highest levels of the place.

The Aozaki family never had a history of producing heirs with many Magic Circuits and the numbers were decreasing even more with the passing of generations. By the time of the fifth generation, there were almost no Circuits left. Many though that was the end for the Aozaki lineage, but Touko of the sixth generation surprisingly turned out to be a prodigy with 20 Circuits.

Aoko and Touko's grandfather, the third generation head, used to be called a monster and, in Aoko's own words, is "a no-good old man who stubbornly lived too long". He raised Touko in the way of the magus in his Workshop on the mountains, while Aoko and her parents lived separately. However, when the two girls were 19 and 15 respectively, he suddenly changed the position of successor to Aoko. Eiri Fumizuka killed him during this opportunity. The third generation head still exists in spiritual form in his workshop, having dissolved his sense of self in order to exist longer; this is the reason that he fulfills the wishes of anyone visits his workshop. While he gave the title of family head to Aoko, he believes that his "true successor" who could touch the Root and understand it has yet to come. Soujuurou Shizuki believes that because his standards are infinitely high, a successor will never appear.

About the time of the 5th Holy Grail War, Touko was still hiding herself from the Association, while Aoko was touring around the country without a care in the world.

While Touko is a very versatile Magus, Aoko is good at nothing but destruction, being a user of the 5th True Magic, "Blue".


 * Known Members:
 * Touko Aozaki
 * Aoko Aozaki

Archibald
The Archibald (アーチボルト), a house of nobles from the Mage's Association considered to be elite among the elites and is one of the only families to possess close ties with the Barthomelois. In command of the El-Melloi Lords faction within the Association, the house was almost ruined after the death of its ninth head, the prodigy Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, but managed to recover itself thanks to the efforts of an unofficial apprentice, Waver Velvet. After the situation was cleared, Velvet was rewarded with the title of "Lord El-Melloi II" as a form of gratitude. But the true heir of the Archibald house is actually a little girl in the lowest seat of the clan. Reines El-Melloi Archisorte gave him the title while saying "I recognize your deeds to the Archibald family, but since you were only making up for what you caused in the first place, you better serve me for your entire life", thus literally binding him to her.


 * Known Members:
 * Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald

Archisorte
The Archisorte (アーチゾルテ) are a branch family of the Archibald family.


 * Known Members:
 * Reines El-Melloi Archisorte - The Princess of the El-Melloi family

Barthomeloi
The Barthomeloi (バルトメロイ) is one of the most noted lines of magi within the Association. They are a family of rulers and lords that can be called embodiments of perfectionism and aristocracy. Their lineage is mysterious and old even for the standards of the other Association's magi, and it is uncertain when the name "Barthomeloi" was first written in the pages of history. They first appeared during the construction of the Clock Tower, and quickly became lords with their powerful Blue Blood Noble Magic Circuits and attribute of Almighty. They have reigned at the peak of the Association for centuries, and sought perfection in each generation of their magi. The head of their family does not appear in public until he or she becomes perfected as a magus according to their standards. They are raised only inside the Barthomeloi manor, as having them appear outside while inexperienced appears to be an embarrassment for them. Resulting from this, once the head first steps into the Association, they are immediately ready to act to act as a Department Head. They find great pride in the "Barthomeloi" name, considering it to represent everything they are, while their own given names are simply attachments. All of the Barthomeloi's have an almost obsessive hatred toward the Dead Apostles, possibly due to their dignity as humans or pride as aristocrats, and they spend their time hunting them as if it were completely natural. This obsession may go so far as neglecting any other responsibilities to participate in any vampire hunts available.

They can be considered aristocrats more intense than even the Twenty-seven Ancestors, who believe that even their fellow lords ought to be submissive to even more venerable and excellent blood. The only magus seen as the equal of the Barthomeloi Lord is the practitioner of the First Magic. The current head, Barthomeloi Lorelei, has some degree of friendly relations with the Archibald family, but other information concerning her succession and her background are unknown.


 * Known Members:
 * Barthomeloi Lorelei

Borzak
The Borzak (ボルザーク) are a clan that specializes in the use of Bee familiars.


 * Known Members:
 * Odd Borzak
 * Haruri Borzak

Caesarmunde
The Caesarmunde (シザームンド) specialize in.


 * Known Members:
 * Orlocke Caesarmund
 * Verner Caesarmund

Dioland
The Dioland (ディオランド) are a family of magus that specialize in puppet making, and were involved in United States politics since the country's founding.

Among their members was Assassin's Master in the third Fuyuki Holy Grail War, who recorded mystic memories through the puppets he used in the War, and transmitted them to his family, even to distant relations. Eventually, Faldeus’ grandfather joined hands with United States politicians and military leaders, and developed a plan to hold a Grail War on their own land within several centuries. When Faldeus' father inherited the project, Francesca proposed cultivating a stolen portion of the Fuyuki Grail, which allowed their Grail War to occur in less than a century. Both known members have participated in a Holy Grail War.


 * Known Members:
 * Assassin's Master
 * Faldeus Dioland

Edelfelt
The Edelfelt (エーデルフェルト) is a Finnish lineage that is renowned as being one of the best Gandr users in the world. Known as the most elegant hyenas on Earth. They came into power in the Renaissance Era, and earned that nickname for their shamelessly intervening in conflicts unrelated to them around the world, picking and choosing the most prized examples of magecraft from the ruins for themselves. Possess a Sorcery Trait called Ore Scales that allows them to have two successors for their Magecraft at the same time. The exact mechanics of this Trait are unknown. A mercenary-like aristocratic family, they find great pleasure in battle as shown by the delighted expression that they make when fighting, which got them to be feared by others as "the most elegant hyenas above the ground".

A pair of twin sisters from this family participated in the Third Heaven's Feel and, due the power of their Sorcery Trait, they were to summon two aspects of the same Heroic Spirit as two Servants under the Saber Class. Due their bad relationship, the two split ways early into the conflict. The two used western mansions built on the same forest than the Einzbern castle as bases of operations, which were left to the Association after the Grail War. The older sister's mansion was in the old town, while the younger sister's was in Shinto. By the time of the Fifth Heaven's Feel, both mansions were in ruins and had the reputation of being haunted houses.

In the end, the younger sister was defeated by the Tohsaka's family head of that time while the older sister ran away from the country promising never to come back. These events are the cause of the Edelfelts' prejudice against Japanese people, which is especially strong against the Tohsaka family. Since it is known that the Servants of the Saber Class managed to reach the final match of all Holy Grail Wars, at least one of the sisters was the among the last contestants of the Third Heaven's Feel.

Luvia's father, the previous master of the family, retired early and was succeeded by his daughter.


 * Known Members:
 * Luviagelita Edelfelt
 * Edelfelt sisters

Einzbern
The Einzbern (アインツベルン), 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.

About 1,000 years ago, the Einzberns started a quest to recover their lost miracle but eventually came to realize that they would never succeed by themselves and thus sought outside help. The result was the establishment of the Heaven's Feel ritual 200 years ago thanks to the help of the Makiri and the Tohsaka. They were the ones who built the Great Grail of Fuyuki and also the ones left in charge of producing a new vessel of the Holy Grail for each new Grail War.

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.

Although their members can be dangerous when forced to fight, their single-minded specialization in Alchemy makes them ill-suited for battle. That is the reason why, up to the Third Heaven’s Feel, the Masters of the Einzbern were eliminated early in the battle. For the Fourth Heaven’s Feel, the family hired the services of an outsider, Kiritsugu Emiya, and presented him with the sheath of the holy sword which was excavated from Cornwall to serve as a catalyst to summon King Arthur. The whole family placed their expectations on him, but he ended up betraying them and destroying the Holy Grail.

The Einzbern family have a narrow view of Japan's culture. They live in Germany, in a mountain district near a certain river. The Einzbern castle at their homeland has a chapel and it was there that Kiritsugu summoned Saber. Since their dwelling is in a snowy mountain, the family does not have the custom of raising flowers. The climate of their territory is also not one suitable to produce liquor, but they nevertheless possess a brewery to supply alcohol, which is an ingredient necessary for their Magecraft.

As of the Fourth Holy Grail War, there are practically no true human members of the Einzbern Family, as a majority of the members who are accounted for are either Homunculi, Golems or some other form of Demi-Human or Artificial Human.

In the Apocrypha universe, they didn't become discouraged by the fact that the Greater Grail was stolen in the Third Holy Grail War. Rather, they don't seem to have that kind of mentality in the first place (if they gave up, it would only be when even their greatest creation, Illyasviel, would fail to attain the Third Sorcery), They are doing everything they can with the belief that they might be able to reproduce that miracle and the Einzberns apparently were trying to make a new one. Accordingly, they have come to reluctantly have relationships with other magi despite their insular and unsociable nature, and the Musik family took advantage of their confused state of affairs in order to receive a portion of their homunculi craft. However, what the Einzberns taught was merely the equivalent of giving a toy to a child, so it was not much of a problem for them. The Musik family concealed the fact that they were part of the Yggdmillennia clan, but naturally the Einzberns know about it. However, the Greater Grail was formed by taking apart the only successful Justeaze-model homunculus, so the Einzbern agreed to cooperate with them in case they should manage to activate one. The Einzberns are in the midst of struggling to make a new Greater Grail under the excuse “It was stolen, so we’ll just make a new Holy Grail”. Fortunately, in the “Apocrypha” world, Kiritsugu Emiya won’t end up becoming involved with the Einzberns, so their greatest work Illyasviel will never be born. As long as she isn’t born, the Einzberns will never despair.


 * Known Members:
 * Jubstacheit von Einzbern
 * Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern
 * Einzbern Master
 * Irisviel von Einzbern
 * Illyasviel von Einzbern
 * Leysritt (Homunculus)
 * Sella (Homunculus)

Eltnam
The Eltnam (エルトナム), a fallen noble house of alchemists, they are scorned and feared due their creation and use of Etherlite. The cause of their ruin came when the family head of three generations past, Zepia Eltnam Oberon, became a Dead Apostle around 500 years ago.


 * Known Members:
 * Zepia Eltnam Oberon
 * Sion Eltnam Sokaris
 * Sialim Eltnam Re-Atlasia

Emiya
The Emiya (衛宮), 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. 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:
 * Norikata Emiya 
 * Kiritsugu Emiya
 * Shirou Emiya (Adopted)

Escardos
The Escardos (エスカルドス) is a particularly old lineage even within the Mediterranean Basin. It was rumored to have been active centuries following the dawn of the Common Era, along side the Magician Kischur Zelrecht Schweinorg. No one at the Clock Tower believed it, nor did the descendants themselves--after all, although their family was old, they hadn't produced any worthwhile results. Even their Magic Crest had only age to recommend it. The greater portion of spells were indecipherable, even to the heirs themselves. The crest did, however, contain advanced life preservation capabilities so they managed to just barely cling to their dignity as an old family.

Mocked by the Clock Tower as "moldering antiques" their only wish was for their Magic Circuits to develop. While their circuits remained few down the generations, their Magic Crest had yet to show signs of reaching the end of its lifespan. The Escardos family found this preferable to dwindling like the Makiri and they worked hard to shore up their footing as mages to avoid that fate--even if other mages laughed at their wasted effort.

After a few centuries of that, an "anomaly," Flat Escardos,was born into the Escardos family. He had Magic Circuits unparalleled within his lineage, genius magical energy control, and the originality to combine spells from the past into a unique new magecraft. He was believed to have been the ideal heir, but as his talents began to bud, it became clear that he had entirely lacked the "mental attitude" that could be called a mage's most important attribute.
 * Known Members:

Flat Escardos

Fraga
The Fraga (フラガ), a family with a history that extends itself backs to the Age of Gods. Due to the faithful servitude they showed to the ancient deities in the past, the clan was rewarded with the knowledge of mystic runes and rights over the Noble Phantasm Fragarach. From the Magi's standards they are supposed to be the top-elite, but for some reason decided to remain isolated in a small coastline village. By bloodline alone, they should have been seen as high class, but in truth possess neither money nor fame and just live secretly while passing down their mystical knowledge to their descendants.

The parents of Bazett were against her entrance into the Association.


 * Known Members:
 * Bazett Fraga McRemitz

Frain
The Frain (フレイン), are a family quite well known in the field of doll engineering. It is traditional for the children of the house to be left nursed by Golems from the moment of birth, and until they reach the age when the family crest can be transferred to them, their parents practically never leave the workshop to see them. It was the policy of the Frain family to be raised and not give any love from the beginning. The golems have complete responsibility even for their education. As such, every child of the clan becomes very familiar with golems. The acts and speech of these dolls modelled after human beings—the way they continue to work day and night—becomes what is common sense to them. Having been raised on such an eccentric upbringing, they become magi for whom golems rather than other humans are the norm. They may have forgotten even the faces of their own parents, but they remember the form of every single golem who has cared for them.


 * Known Members:
 * Roche Frain Yggdmillennia

Harwey
The Harwey (ハーウェイ) are a magus family from the world of Fate/Extra. The family owns approximately sixty percent of the real world, whether this is through land ownership, monetary wealth or political influence is unclear. Regardless, the Harwey Conglomorate is a powerful organisation, possessing both great influence and its own team of assassins with which to do away with opposition. The heir to the family, Leo B. Harwey, was conceived between the former Harwey head and Leo's mother Alicia. While Leo is the younger brother of Julius B. Harwey, Julius is an illegitimate son, and after being harshly tested as a child, was discarded as a potential heir. Determining the Holy Grail to be a threat to their regime, the Harweys sent both brothers to the moon in order to claim it: Julius with the purpose of eliminating those that would oppose Leo, and Leo to take the Grail for the group.


 * Known Members:
 * Leonardo B. Harwey
 * Julius B. Harwey (Heir)

Icecolle
The Icecolle (アイスコル) family, were a fairly old bloodline of practitioners of the dark arts. The Icecolle were forced on the run by the devastating witch hunts of the Middle Ages. They escaped from western Europe all the way to Siberia, they lost the foundation of their thaumaturgy and eventually fell into decline. Celenike was the first child to be born of the decaying bloodline in a long time.


 * Known Members:
 * Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia

Iselma
The Iselma (イゼルマ) family has pursued the creation of 'the most beautiful person' for generations. They are dependent on Lord Valuayeta.


 * Byron Valuayeta Iselma

Istari
The Istari (イスタリ) were a family well-noted for their alchemy.


 * Known Members:
 * Heine Istari
 * Rosalind Istari

Makiri/Matou
The Makiri (マキリ), later known as Matou (間桐), 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.

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.

In the Apocrypha universe, the Matou family was not blessed with a successor, so their future as magi has been completely shut.


 * Known Members:
 * Zouken Matou
 * Kariya Matou
 * Byakuya Matou
 * Shinji Matou
 * Sakura Matou (Adopted from Tohsaka; Lacks formal education)

Musik
The Musik (ムジーク) are an alchemy family and were once known to had rivaled the Einzbern in terms of skills in alchemy. As their thaumaturgical blood had already been in decay, the Musik family was absorbed into the Yggdmillennia, during in the Great Holy Grail War. Despite their insular and unsociable nature, the Einzbern reluctantly formed relationship with other magi, which the Musik family took advantage of in order to obtain a portion of their homunculi craft. However, what the Einzberns taught was merely the equivalent of giving a toy to a child, so it was not much of a problem for them. While Musik family concealed the fact that they were part of the Yggdmillennia clan, the Einzberns had already known the truth. Gordes is currently the successor of the house.


 * Known Members:
 * Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia
 * Gordes' unnamed son
 * Gordes' unnamed wife
 * Toole (Homunculus)
 * Goldolf Musik

Sakatsuki
The Sakatsuki (朔月) are an old family tracing back to the roots of Fuyuki with no apparent no ties with the magic world on the surface. In the age where the death rate of child birth is insanely high in Japan, children are revered as the entity that exist between the boundary of gods and humans. They are referred as Child of God (神稚児), with the children possessing Divinity until the age of six. The tradition and culture has been lost in the age of modern medicine, but the Sakatsuki still continue the practice of revering children as divinities.

The Sakatsuki's Child of God can grant the power of wishes unconditionally, though it is uncertain if the Child of God wish granting abilities is based on the age or Fuyuki's magical leylines. The Sakatsuki are very secretive with their Child of God; no one witnesses the birth of the girl aged below six. They set up Bounded field inside their house to block out human thoughts. The Sakatsuki kept their children from other humans, with the children solely raised by their mothers and given limited education. After the girl has aged beyond six, the child of god would become human and would appear in society. To explain the child's appearance and lack of education, they are introduced as having recovered from a chronic illness and then adopted into a relative's family.

The Sakatsuki family was wiped out with the exception of Miyu in the Fourth Holy Grail War.


 * Known Members:
 * Miyu Sakatsuki (Temporarily Adopted by Luvia Edelfelt)
 * Hiyoko Sakatsuki

Sisigou
The Sisigou (獅子劫) family is already in its seventh generation of magi despite hailing from the Far East, where thaumaturgy can hardly be said to be flourishing. The ancestor of the Sisigou family head made a contract in the past which resulted the decline of producing children. Kairi is the last survivor of this extinct bloodline. They once adopted a girl who was compatible with their magecraft and hoped to pass down their legacy by implanting the Magic Crest to her but she died in the process. There is no successor to this bloodline.


 * Known Members:
 * Touki Sisigou
 * Kairi Sisigou

Sophia-Ri
Sophia-Ri (ソフィアリ), a family related to the Nuada-Re (ヌァザレ) lineage, a prestigious clan that is proud of its latent potential as magi and the family of the current Department Head of the Eulyphis – Spiritual Summoning Department of Clock Tower. Around the time that Sola-Ui was born, a power struggle almost caused the family's successor to be assassinated.


 * Known Members:
 * Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri
 * Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri

Tohsaka
The Tohsaka (遠坂), 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.

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.

In the Apocrypha universe, the Tohsaka gave up on the Holy Grail and searched for another method to reach the Root in Fuyuki. They now seek a new path in becoming one with the universe with Chinese Kenpou while learning magecraft.

In the EXTRA universe, the Tohsaka family was mostly destroyed in the 1990s.


 * Known Members:
 * Nagato Tohsaka
 * Tokiomi Tohsaka
 * Aoi Tohsaka
 * Rin Tohsaka
 * Sakura Matou (Adopted by the Matou Family; lacks formal education)
 * Rin Tohsaka (EXTRA)

Velvet
The Velvet (ベルベット) is a three generation lineage. The first generation was his grandmother, who was the lover of a certain magus and picked up the very basics of magecraft from their pillow talk.

The second generation, Waver’s mother, only dabbled as a way to honor her mother’s memory. Waver was the first member of his family to seriously follow the path of magecraft.

Waver Velvet later becomes Lord El-Melloi II after he restores the Archibald family.


 * Known Members:
 * Lord El-Melloi II

Yggdmillennia
The Yggdmillennia: Tree of a Thousand Realms (ユグドミレニア) is a unique family of magi that takes in other families rather than continue a single bloodline. Though they have a long history, they are not a family of Lords. They are speculated to have lost a power struggle with the three royal families of the Association in the past or have been estranged from others due to the poor quality of their magic circuits. They neither belong to or have a connection to any other group, and they are often not recognized as a noble thamaturgical family.

They abandoned the common method of thickening the blood of thaumaturgical potential over generations while mastering the thaumaturgical system chosen by the first generation. They instead took in all magi families with even the smallest connections to them from all over the world. They focused on taking in those with little history and weak Magic Circuits, those with their Magic Circuits on the decline with successive generations, those defeated in power struggles that were forced into ruin, and those with a price on their head as a punishment by the Association.

Though the families had strayed from the core of the Association, they had refused to give up the path to the Root, so Yggdmillennia gave them the chance to leave their blood's legacy and a mark upon history. Their family names are given as middle names to each member of the family, and the Magic Crests of each family are still passed down within each one rather than having a single unified crest for a single successor. This has caused them to develop a broad range of study with each member pursuing a different path, which include Western alchemy, dark arts, witchcraft, astrology, Kabbalah, runology, and the Onmyodo of Japan.

They are considered to be a loose alliance of the new, the weak, and the dying, so the Lords consider them to be trivial. Though they have many in number, average members can usually only reach second-class, and only a few rare case of first-class magi exist. They pose little threat, and only the elder's, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, political finesse allows them to be left alone. It was thought that their only merit was quantity, but the revelation of the Grail has changed that evaluation. They would have had no chance to become Lords in one thousand years, so they instead opt to form a new Association of Magi around their own clan.

In the world of Fate/Strange Fake, the Yggmillennia had withered more than fifty years before the start of the story, implying that the Yggmillennia clan had declined around the end of the Third Holy Grail War.


 * Known Members:
 * Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia
 * Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia (Heir)
 * Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia
 * Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia
 * Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia
 * Roche Frain Yggdmillennia
 * Hyouma Sagara
 * Sieg (Homunculus/Cut Ties)
 * Toole (Homunculus)
 * Althea (Homunculus)

Zepter
An extinct bloodline likely originating from Bavaria in southern Germany. They experimented with perfecting resurrection of the dead. Whilst they did succeed in restoring the body to a perfect semblance of life, even allowing bodies with missing parts to accept foreign organs with ease, they could never achieve perfect retrival of the soul. Having declined for several generations, their final head Heinrich Zepter became a heretic by creating monstrous fusions of man and beast in a fashion none too dissimilar to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. After fleeing to Present Mountain, America, he was hunted down and killed by Natalia Kaminski and Kiritsugu Emiya. The Zepter family's Magic Crest was destroyed at this time, erasing the secrets of their Magecraft.


 * Known Members:
 * Heinrich Zepter

Other Known Magi

 * Michael Roa Valdamjong
 * Merlin
 * Cornelius Alba
 * Souren Araya
 * May Riddell Archelot
 * Gazamy
 * Natalia Kaminski
 * Azaka Kokutou
 * Kirei Kotomine
 * Alice Kuonji
 * Rohngall
 * Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
 * Ritsuka Suse
 * Hishiri Adashino
 * Jiroubou Seigen Tokitou
 * Flueger

Related Terms

 * Archmagus (大魔道師)
 * The title given to a great magus of the past, such as Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern or Caubac Alcatraz.


 * Designer Baby (デザインベビー)
 * A Designer Baby is a child created with artificially modified DNA. With this it is possible even for parents who have completely normal genetics to bear a child who possesses magic circuits. They are similar to a homunculus. Shinji Matou, Julius B. Harwey and Mash Kyrielight are designer babies.


 * Freelancer (フリーランサー)
 * A magus who is not affiliated to any magical organizations and take up jobs from others in exchange of remuneration. Due the nature of their profession, they are constantly at odds with the Enforcers of the Association and the Executors of the Church. Includes mages such as Aoko Aozaki and Natalia Kaminski.