Atlas Institute [Organization]
Commonly nicknamed “The Titan’s Cellar.”
An association of alchemists located in the Atlas Mountains, Egypt. The institute of aggregation and measurement.
They were originally one of the three major divisions of the Mage’s Association, but they are less a group of mages and more a group of superpowered individuals who treat their bodies as man-machines.
A self-destructive foundation that continuously builds weapons capable of ruining mankind in order to prevent the ruin of mankind. Their only precept is not to reveal the results of your research to individuals other than yourself.
However, as mentioned in-story, any method capable of preventing the ruin of mankind has a high likelihood of also being capable of causing it. That is a fundamental problem with the Atlas Institute and all its personnel, and much like their Mage’s Association colleagues from the Clock Tower with their inability to reach the Root being caused by their attempts to, they are also burdened with a hopeless karma.
Needless to say, the Black Barrel, the Logos React, the rest of Seven Superweapons, and their related inventions all share this same nature.
On another topic, unlike the people of the Clock Tower, the alchemists affiliated with Atlas have little to no Magic Circuits. However, one group of families called The Six Sources of Atlas possess special cells that produce magical energy that functions only within their bodies. These abilities called Traditional Features are mere checkpoints toward Atlas’s goal but the families internally develop them in order to awaken the abilities of their bodies. The Etherlight of the Eltnam family, for example, was initially developed as pseudo-nerves for medical purposes and eventually reached the point where people can use them without necessarily being an Eltnam, although with some functions restricted (it’s still a fact that only the family can use it to its true potential). Additionally, Sion Eltnam Sokaris has a power named Transparent Body, but you’ll have to read the story to understand just how compatible with Etherlight that makes her.
Oh, “why do only the members of the Six Sources have these cells?”, you ask? See, the Atlas Institute began with…
Library of Alexandria [Location]
The underwater library used as the setting and the main topic of volumes 4 and 5.
As explained in-story, this is not the publicly known Library of Alexandria, but instead, a building constructed by the combined efforts of a branch of the Atlas Institute during Ptolemy I’s time. In other words, a Lost Number that even the Atlas Institute itself completely forgot about.
Consequently, research results believed to be recorded only in the Pseudo-Spiritron Computer TRIHERMES had been left untouched in the Library of Alexandria.
The story reveals its true roots as the product of a tangled web of secret plots by several groups and individuals, but regardless, its ruins are overwhelmingly precious and a rare find.
Ergo [Person]
The Man Who Devoured Gods serving as the main focus of the Adventures series.
As revealed in Volume 5, his identity is ■■■■■■■■■■. His illustrator, Sakamoto Mineji, was commissioned to draw FGO’s ■■■■■■■ grown into a young adult. He’s closer in nature to his mother than to his father.
The highlights of this series are El-Melloi II’s Rite of God Identification and his divinity manifested in three stages: Divine Core Loading, Divine Case Deployment, and Divine Chaff Entanglement.
The young man could be considered mostly pure and innocent in the first novel, but his nature greatly changes with his each major moment.
Meeting El-Melloi II sparked his curiosity, meeting Ryougi Mana sparked his interest in stories, and meeting Bai Ruolong sparked his competitive spirit, in a way that could only be described as him becoming a new him with each step. This is growth while simultaneously being loss.
Divine Body [Magecraft/Other]
Officially called Preserved God Bodypart. Fragments of a god.
Those items had already appeared in other entries in several different forms, but The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II was the one that gave them main focus. They deteriorate if neglected, but if utilized correctly, they can enable Age of Gods’ magecraft, otherwise impossible in the modern era. However, it’s extremely difficult to operate a Divine Body from a completely different mythology from your ancestry. The main reason why the Clock Tower ignores the eight Divine Bodies allegedly still functional in Japan is that even if they did obtain them, the idea that they could adequately operate them is implausible.
Karmaglyph [Person]
Karmaglyph Melissa Deluc.
“Woah, woah, woah, I know that status-wise I’m the leader of the Neutral Faction, but I’m from the puny Eleventh Department. I cannot be compared to the previous El-Melloi.”
“Hey, El-Melloi II, don’t you think it’s unfair for you to monopolize all the fun of the adventure?”
Lord Meluastea.
Has two attributes: Earth and Ether. He is the Lord of Archeology, and now also the Dean of Mineralogy.
The simplest way to describe him is as a Mage Indiana Jones capable of utilizing the treasures he collected.
He uses Shoot the Moon, a mystic bow normally hidden in his suit. The mystic bow is capable of several different types of shots and can be used for excavation. Aside from its bow form, it can also morph into a hookshot wire or an emergency crane.
He’s actually an Alteration pro.
His touch can effortlessly alter metal into rubber, fire into ice, concrete into mud. In addition to this ability, he also carries concealed in his person a diverse array of treasures he collected as the leader of the Meluastea. The sheer adaptability of this ability combined with his Mystic Codes is enough to place him among the Clock Tower’s top five.
He normally keeps this a secret but his true ability is to overclock his treasures.
Its name is Phantasm Overload.
As someone who has no qualms about altering even his own magical energy with extreme delicacy, Karmaglyph can force a treasure to go beyond its capabilities. Naturally, the treasures burn to crisps more often than not, but until they do, they display power far superior to the Mysteries of the modern era—in some cases superior to their power in the Age of Gods. This couldn’t make for a more horrifying combination with how the Department of Archeology owns quite a few artifacts rivaling the Holy Ark. But obviously, as a lover of archeology, he rarely ever displays this ability.
During the events of The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II, he’s in his late 30s.
While the Meluasteas were famous for being quite the softies despite being Lords, Karmaglyph’s actions are quite ambitious. Money was always necessary for archeology, but come the 20th century, money suddenly became exponentially more needed by everyone. It’s due to this that he managed to steal the position of Dean of Mineralogy, but this also invited major distress.
Stealing a chair from the Aristocratic Faction put him on Barthomeloi’s watchlist.
The Meluasteas were the leaders of the Neutral Faction, but the Eleventh Department was always among the weakest. Their leadership status was symbolic and held together by tradition. Karmaglyph knew that and this was why he was so invested in solidifying his position.
Also, since the Department of Lore keeps exoanthropic artifacts under custody, they keep each other under constant surveillance. Lore is suspicious that Archeology is withholding artifacts belonging to their category, while Archeology wholeheartedly believes Lore is a hoax to monopolize a set range of artifacts. But despite everything, fieldwork often requires each other’s cooperation.
His interest in El-Melloi II is part political and part because he thinks their situations are similar. Because both lack genuine interest in Lord status and have another goal outside their goal in magecraft.
PS: A large sum of his debt is owed to Melvin’s mama.
His name is portmanteau of karma and hieroglyph.
Thought Key [Magecraft/Other]
Thought Magecraft’s version of a Magic Crest.
They are access rights to a vessel—the Thought Foundation.
They are passed down from teacher to student, and unlike Magic Crests, aren’t restricted to families and bloodlines. The magecraft inscribed in this Key is like marks painted in a bowl. The bowl remains unchanged but is observed differently depending on what’s painted on it. Long story short, the whole world can be deceived by this. Just watch out for when the world retaliates.
However, inheriting a Key means constantly taking influence from the “bowl”. One who inherits a top-class Key and succeeds at fully drawing out its abilities is called a Tianxian and is past halfway through a process of fusing with the world. Those who managed to reach this point gain a level of influence somewhat similar to that of a Ghost Liner, but at the same time, struggle to maintain the self-identity necessary to brandish their powers.
Side note: It’s possible to access the Thought Foundation without a Key, but the usable magecraft is limited to the basic spells (It’s still possible to achieve advanced spells by compiling basic spells together). The access rights provided by the Keys are to a form of privileged domain. This is similar to how the spells contained in a Magic Crest are, almost without exception, secret arts directly connected to one’s family.
Thought Foundation [Mystic Code]
The concept which composes the crux of Thought Magecraft. Called “the Disc” for short.
It’s an ultra-giant Mystic Code fused with Earth, and can also be considered the simulation of an artificial deity, or in a sense, an artificial Root. Users of Though Magecraft are connected to the Thought Foundation from beginning to end and use it as the medium to activate their magecraft.
Therefore, the goal in Thought Magecraft is not to reach the Root, but to make this Disc reach the Root’s level of accuracy. Although that act is akin to attempting to fix a long broken plate without having all the missing parts…
Now, despite the name “Disc,” it is somewhat like a path and somewhat like one of those particle accelerators from modern science. It’s the cloud computing of thoughts humans can’t fully utilize, but this Disc does more than only collect the thoughts, it accelerates the thoughts nonstop, and continues to expand to this day… or it’s watching the fantasy where it continued to expand (The changes to magecraft at the end of the Age of Gods reached everyone equally, including Thought Magecraft, and that brought about major losses and minor benefits).
Thought Magecraft [Magecraft]
“In the West, the Clock Tower. In the East, the Luoxuan Guan.”
The main line of magecraft in the Luoxuan Guan, mainly spread through Asia and the Middle East.
Contrary to the Clock Tower’s Western Magecraft connecting to the magecraft foundations, this one is utilized by connecting to an ultra-giant Mystic Code fused with Earth: the Thought Foundation—a sort of artificial Root. Read the Thought Foundation and Thought Key entries for more details.
Japanese Magecraft [Magecraft]
In the magecraft used by the Clock Tower, the caster utilizes magecraft by first using their Magic Circuits to generate magical energy, then in most cases, connecting to magecraft foundations to lead them to spell formulae.
In contrast, Japanese magecraft shares the first step of using their Magic Circuits to generate magical energy, but from there they don’t go into magecraft foundations or spell formulae. Instead, it functions by drawing Authority from their respective contractors, the god worshipped in their organization (in most instances, only a part of it, such as a piece of flesh).
Consequently, the Clock Tower views their magecraft as a sham. After all, while what they do is minuscule in scope, it’s identical to magecraft from the Age of Gods—a completely backward process where they first use a god’s Authority to ensure a result, and then enlarge this result through a chant.
They exploit a god, but how real their faith in their god is varies wildly from person to person.
Incidentally, the idea of every member of the organization sharing a fragment of a god was inspired by the Thought Magecraft in the continent.
“Nega-Keraunos” (Thou, Cosmos-Cleaving Keraunos) [Other]
Ruolong’s trump card.
The black and red usurped Keraunos. In other words, the Typhon Version of Zeus’ Thunder.
A new destruction device created by the Progenitor Dragon Typhon hacking into Zeus’s blueprint. Its output can’t go above Zeus’s restrictions, but that’s actually beneficial for Typhon.
Even with this output limited, using this is as close as humanly possible to self-destruction for Ruolong. A super move that takes mobilizing almost all of his Magic Circuits and magical energy.
He converts half of his Blaze of Etna armor into artillery. Using the elements of flame and wind, he induces charge into particles laced with inverted magical energy. And a bolt of lightning mixed with black and red instantly blasts in the target’s direction.
Ptolemy [Person]
A past hero you may know from Case Files, cheating his way into making an appearance.
He was a vassal of Iskandar and one of the very few winners in the Wars of the Diadochi. The founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt.
He was illustrated by Sakamoto Mineji but originally designed by Morii Shizuki, tying in with how Morii drew him for Case Files Materials.
As alluded to in-story, he is the kind of Servant that had two golden ages in life, so his best Noble Phantasm differs depending on if he’s in his younger or older days. The Noble Phantasm of his younger days is Pharos Tis Alexandreias. It’s the mirror that served as the vital point of the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This mirror that converts all forms of energy into powerful light and heat is something Ptolemy obtained during his expeditions with Iskandar.
Blaze of Etna (Emberglow Armor) [Other]
Dragon Cage Crust: a dragon’s flesh constructed in three stages: Dragon Core Ignition, Dragon Circuit Deployment, and Dragon Cage Incarnation.
Armaments inverting the concept of the Mt. Etna which sealed the Progenitor Dragon Typhon.
It’s used as a device that inverts the seal, holds the dragon’s power in humanoid shape, and restrains Typhon.
In other words, to crush this armor, you’d need enough power to destroy Mt. Etna.
The outer plate of the armor always has magma-like red lines running through it.
It looks like a helmetless mix between a Kamen Rider suit, Final Fantasy Dragoon armor, and Final Fantasy Dark Knight armor. Alternatively s-CRY-ed’s 3rd form or Knight Blazer.
Yakou [Organization]
A Japanese magecraft force in possession of a Divine Body—a living fragment of a god.
The number of people directly contracted to the Divine Body is slightly short of 100, but that only makes them the third biggest magecraft force in Japan at best.
The name Yakou means “night eon.” In simpler terms, it Yakou signifies an endless night. And as this name suggests, their god’s nature is intimate with the Japanese underworld.
To pay respect to their god, all members of the organization generally wear black, be it on a suit or a kimono.
They had deep ties to gambling dens, and because there's little to no need to protect people from fiends in the modern day, managing the gambling houses now became their main activity.
Although limited to a few locations, their Boundaries are extremely vast and they have powerful techniques that can be used only within their Bounded Field, thus giving them unparalleled defensive power.
Incidentally, Japanese organizations never say the name of their gods without reason or use an alternative name known only within the organization. This is an attempt to prevent the deterioration of Mystery by not banalizing the name. The Four Demon Hunter Families of old were believed to have employed this same method.
Yukinobu Yakou [Person]
The wonder child of the Yakou family. A prodigy born in the wrong era. A kind of atavist.
Yukinobu has minimal presence in volume 2 because hiding from the spotlight is what he does every day. Making use of his genius would deprive his whydunnit of its meaning.
As an aside, the Yakou family used Muramasa swords not because of their arcane value but because Muramasa made the most combat-practical katanas. The fact that their arcanity eventually came to surpass their practicality with the passage of the years was a kind of ironic surprise.
Also, his grotesque swordplay resembling a spider is a technique passed down among the Four Demon Hunter Families, not a Yakou tradition.
Black Market Auction [Other]
Karmaglyph, El-Melloi II, Reines, and Melvin participated in a black market auction for mages. Many such underground auctions occur all over Europe and attract all sorts of participants. However, most participants hide their identities for the same reasons why mages usually want to conceal their magecraft.
Mikiya Ryougi [Person]
The deuteragonist of Kara no Kyoukai. You know who he is.
For normal people, he’s a gentle but otherwise unassuming young man. However, for those walking outside the human path, his impossible normality can become a fatal toxin. This nature is in full display in Adventures, as the shock of meeting him was enough to split Yukinobu’s head into 17 pieces. PS: The hardcore fans may have noticed it, but the Shiki that Yakou Yukinobu saw there was SHIKI. Yukinobu himself had subconsciously noticed that, which is why his narration of the moment consistently described Ryougi as “the high schooler” instead of “her.”
During my research trip for The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II, I rechecked the chronology of the events between the end of Kara no Kyoukai and Future Gospel. The essential thing I wanted to verify was who owned Aozaki Touko’s office, Garan no Dou, and the answer was that the owner at the time was Mizuhara Maayu. It’s only a little while after this that a young man stumbled into place and ended up publishing a fairy tale book.
