Ritsuka Fujimaru's advancement to Cause.
The Magi of the Clock Tower of the Mage's Association are each assigned a Rank (階位, Kaii?, localized as "Grade"[1]). Some Magi are also granted a separate Color Rank (色の称号, Iro no Shōgō?).
Rank[]
Ranks are assigned according to each Magus' ability,[2] and Magi lineages as a whole are also ranked.[3] While they are two different rankings and typically align, large gaps between personal rank and familial rank have given rise to tragic results.[3] For a Magus to be considered qualified to obtain even the lowest rank, they must be recognized by the Clock Tower as a "legitimate Magus." They do not consider self-taught Magi or unassociated with the Clock Tower to be Magi, so they are considered outsiders.[3]
Of the seven ranks, Grand is rare even in the entire history of the Clock Tower.[4] It is the peak of what a Mage can reach. Any one Grand rank Mage is a monster capable of taking down a whole nation on their own.[5] The very appearance of a Grand at a Magi-related event is large enough of an announcement to cause fervor.[4]
Due to the Grand rank's rarity, Brand, the rank at which most of the Lords of the Clock Tower peak, is often considered the actual highest practical rank.[4] Brand rank Mages are vaunted geniuses, some of which have abilities comparable to a Grand.[5] Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald was the youngest to ever reach Brand, and Verner Caesarmund the second youngest.[6]
Families of the rank of Pride without suitable successors from either the main or branch family will seek out to adopt excellent Magi from the common families.[3] After undergoing promotion to the rank of Pride, Magi undergo some amount of ceremonies in the Department of General Fundamentals.[7] Even among Prides it is rare for someone to obtain the rank when younger than twenty years old, but Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald and Svin Glascheit are two rare examples of Magi who reached Pride in their teens.[8]
The Fes rank differs from the normal rankings in that it is granted as an honorary title for skills and achievements, such as awe inspiring unusual abilities outside of the purview of ordinary Magi, separate from the normal assessment of their rank as a Magus. The abilities of those of the Fes rank vary across the spectrum of Magi, Lord El-Melloi II only possessing the ability of a Cause or Count, some even having abilities exceeding those of the Brand rank. Accomplishments like being a God's Holder, mastery of Magic Crest restoration, and the high assessment of a large number of students are some examples of those who hold the rank of Fes.[4]
The rank of Cause is most often the limit for Magi whose lineage reaches five hundred years, even with hard work. They also must have "created some sort of magical foundation and stabilized it" for the Clock Tower to recognize them as sufficiently talented.[3] The lowest ranks are Count and Frame.[4]
Magi can advance ranks through growth, accompanied by an official ceremony at the Clock Tower.[9] The specifics vary, but the ritual is themed around death and rebirth for everyone reaching the rank of Pride.[10] Had he not died, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald is estimated to have possibly been able to reach the level of Grand.[4] Due to his teaching style, many of Lord El-Melloi II's students reach the Brand and Pride ranks at an unprecedented level.[11] Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia is seen as having the potential to grow from Frame to Cause, possibly even further beyond.[12] Ritsuka Fujimaru is granted the rank of Cause for their involvement in restoring the Human Order.[13]
Within the world of Fate/Apocrypha, there was a phenomenon in which the overall number of Magi sharply dropped due to the rapid occurrence and proliferation of the Subcategory Holy Grail Wars. Almost every one of the Magi who survived the wars was granted a promotion in rank as consequence of the declining overall number. This also allowed Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia to use his political power to be granted the Grand rank, but it is “the Grand rank as an honorary position different from the proper Grand rank in commemoration of his achievements to the Association, even though ability-wise he is not at Grand rank.” While not a proper designation that other Grand-rank Magi would acknowledge, it proved helpful to further his own machinations.[14]
| Rank Number | Rank Title | Magus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand: Crown (冠位, Kan'i?) | Touko Aozaki Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia (Fate/Apocrypha only) |
| 2 | Brand: Color (色位, Shikii?) | Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia (All other worlds) Rufleus Nuada-Re Eulyphis Inorai Valualeta Atroholm Verner Caesarmund |
| 3 | Pride: Law (典位, Ten'i?) | Zouken Matou Nigel Saward Svin Glascheit Amleth Wotan |
| 4 | Fes: Festival (祭位, Saii?) | Lord El-Melloi II Lev Lainur Flauros Melvin Weins Bazett Fraga McRemitz Geryon Ashborn |
| 5 | Cause: Open (開位, Kaii?) | Ritsuka Fujimaru |
| 6 | Count: Eldest Child (長子, Chōshi?) | |
| 7 | Frame: Youngest Child (末子, Masshi?) | Ayaka Sajyou Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia |
Color Rank[]
Color Ranks are separate from the other ranks, special titles granted to great Magi or people of exceptional talents. Red, Blue and Yellow, representing the primary colors, are the highest rank. Combined colors of Orange, Purple, Green, and Black, listed in descending order of rank, are of lesser importance. There exists no rules that each color is limited to only a single Magus, and the Association does not hesitate to give out the titles to deserving people.[2]
| Colored Title | Magus | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Red (赤, Aka?) | Touko Aozaki | Title obtained by Touko is described by Faldeus Dioland as a “shade close to "Red", but not even the actual primary color.” Further details are unknown. |
| Blue (青, Ao?) | Aoko Aozaki | |
| Yellow (黄, Ki?) | ||
| Orange (橙, Daidai?) | ||
| Purple (紫, Murasaki?) | ||
| Green (緑, Midori?) | ||
| Black (黒, Kuro?) |
Development[]
Lord El-Melloi II was originally described as having many students of the Grand rank, but it was later changed to Pride and Brand.[11][15]
Touko Aozaki is said to have reached Master Class (マスタークラス, Masutā Kurasu?) as a Magus in her twenties, but Satsuki Kurogiri managed the accomplishment at fifteen. It is unknown if the terminology correlates to the Clock Tower ranks.[16]
References[]
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order - Solomon: The Grand Temple of Time, Epilogue
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
[] Fate/complete material III: World material - Theory of Magic - The two great forces in the Thaumaturgy world: Mage's Association, p.051 “Clock Tower”, the Highest Institute of Magic
The Clock Tower, the core of the Association and in fact what could also be said to be the Association itself, is based in the British museum of London. Magi from all over the world gather and devote themselves day and night to the study of magic, while at the same time, are busily tripping over and being tripped over by other factions and competing for power and budget. The organization is anything but harmonious and has a complicated bizarre structure, but the magical research there is without doubt the leading edge.
Below the building, there is the magi’s research area which includes studies and archives. It is only a venerable museum to normal people of course, but at the deepest part, there is a special area (prison?) called the “Bottom of the Bridge” where the Association confines many sealing designated magi deemed to be “dangerous because their talents were too outstanding.” Also, apparently the Gazamy the “Evil Spook”, treated as the number one disaster in the Association, is locked up at the bottom of the London tower.
The person of highest position in the Clock Tower, the “Director” has been the same person for the 2000 years since the founding of the organization, and because of this is thought to be something more than human.
The organization handling patents relating to magic is also the Clock Tower, and the current finances of the Tohsaka family is being by covered by the patent royalties that are being transferred to their account.
Ranks of Magi
A magus is given a “rank” that matches his ability. The highest is said to be Crown (Grand), but details on it are unknown. Note that Lord El-melloi II, lecturer at the Clock Tower who has produced many Grands among his pupils, is stuck in the mediocre “fourth rank” for some reason.
Color ranks
Separate from the normal ranks, color-based titles are given to those that have become special.
The highest are red, blue, and yellow based on the three primary colors. After that, there are the combined colors of orange, purple, green, black, and so on. The further down you go, the less your rank is. Note that there is no rule about only one person for each color. The Association will, without any stinginess, award a color to you if you’re a magus of great stature or one with an unusual talent.
Sealing Designation Enforcers
If you receive a “sealing designation”, you will be confined and even your magic research will be gone, not to mention your freedom. Thus, the person given that designation will of course desperately resist that and won’t stop fighting. To forcefully retrieve magi who were qualified enough to be given a sealing designation, the Association dispatches “Enforcers.” There are around 30 of them total, and Bazett is one of them.
Lords, consuming their time in power struggles
In the Magic Association, no rather, the Clock Tower, there are a number of families that hold sway. They are called Lords and are the objects of fear. There are three major families of Lords and about 20 families of relatives. These families are well-known even in normal society. The history of one family is at shortest 500 years and the longest is over 2000 years. They have been plotting and plotting since a staggeringly long past.
The Sea of Estray, together with the Atlas Institute, is an organization called the original form of the Magic Association.
Among the founders of the Magic Association, there had been many heretical magi who were exiled from the Sea of Estray and the Atlas Institute and had no place left to go.
The base of the Sea of Estray is in Northern Europe. This base, with the nickname of the Moving Stone Coffin, is itself a moving mountain range. Normally it is wandering at sea as its name suggests, but sometimes it comes up on dry land.
It seems they research mainly body alteration, but the specifics are unknown.
*What is an alchemist?
One who studies the flow of matter. That is what an alchemist is. The alchemists of the Clock Tower created products like the homunculi of the Einzbern by merging with western magery.
However, the ultimate goal of the alchemists of the Atlas Institute is set even closer to the original ideology, as the "transformation of events". The often spoke-up "transformation of base metal to gold" in alchemy is, to the members of the Atlas Institute, mere "transformation of matter" and is nothing more than a primitive art far removed from their ideals. Their alchemy is an advancement of the metallurgy of ancient Egypt, the root of the discipline, and has not been influenced by western magery like the alchemy that the Clock Tower magi handle. - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4
[] Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material: Secret File -File 01: Clock Tower: Ranks of magi, p.020 Ranks of magi
The lowest rank is Frame, but to obtain that rank the Clock Tower must recognize you as a "legitimate magus". A self-taught or unassociated magus is not "magus" to the Association, merely an outsider.
For a pleb with about five hundred years behind them doing their very best, Cause rank is the limit.
However, unless they "created some sort of magical foundation and stabilized it" they would not be recognized as having the sufficient ability for this rank.
Those marked as Fes are in a special slot. This rank is awarded as recognition for abilities outside of the normal: a special skill or achievement. For example El-Melloi II. Conversely a comparably high leveled magus can trapped be in Fes rank. Furthermore, although not the target of much gossip, ranks are given to lineages too. Normally a magus' rank and his family rank are in agreement, however in many cases a large gap calls upon tragedy.
Pride families where both the main and branch families do not have suitable successors will adopt and usher in an excellent magus from more common stock. Currently there are many houses with their eyes on El-Melloi classroom students魔術師の階位
最低位は末子だが、これを取得するためにも、時計塔で「正規の魔術師」と認められなくてはならない。在野のはぐれ魔術師や独学の魔術師たちは、魔術協会にとって「魔術師」ですらない余所者である。
おおよそ五百年程度の平民出身では、よほど頑張っても開位が限界。もっとも、これにしたところで「何らかの魔術基盤をつくり、安定させた」という功績がなければ認められない階位なので、十分な実力の持ち主といえよう。
※印がついている祭位は特別枠である。通常の能力とは別に、何らかの特技・功績を認められた場合、この階位をいただく事がある。エルメロイⅡ世がまさにこの例だが、逆により高位に匹敵する魔術師が、祭位にとどめられることもあるという。
また、あまり取りざたされることはないが、こうした階位は家柄の方にもつけられている。たいていの場合、最終的には魔術師の階位と家柄の階位は一致するのだが、大きく開きがある場合悲劇を呼ぶことが多い。
このため、典位の家柄だが、分家含めてふさわしい後継者がいない……などという場合、優秀な平民出身の魔術師を養子として迎え入れることもある。現在はエルメロイ教室の生徒たちに目をつけている家も多いとか。 - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Volume 2: case. Twin Towers of Iselma (Upper) - Chapter 1 Part 3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Nahui Mictlan: Golden Sea of Trees Travelogue - Prologue
- ↑ Fate/strange Fake Volume 7 - Bridge Chapter: "Beginning of the End"
- ↑ Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Volume 4: case. Mystic Eyes collection train (Upper) - Chapter 1 Part 1
- ↑ Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files Volume 4: case. Mystic Eyes Collection Train (Upper) - Prologue
- ↑ Lord El-Melloi II Case Files: Grace Note - Episode 13: The Clock Tower, Usual Days, and the First Step Forward to the Future ~Glory lies beyond the horizon – Challenge it because you know it to be unattainable.~
- ↑ Fate/strange Fake Volume 6 - Chapter 19: "As Dream and Reality are Both Illusion II"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Fate/strange Fake Volume 1 - Prologue VII: Visitor & _____
- ↑
[] Fate/Apocrypha material - Encyclopedia: Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia [Person's name], p.181-182 [T] Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia [Person's name]
A Master of the Black Camp. The current head of the Forvedge family. Due to the Magic Circuits in both her legs being deformed, she lost the ability to walk. Her latent skill as a magus luckily exceeds Darnic, and she would definitely rise from Frame (youngest child) to Cause (open rank) once she grows up. And her outstanding talent is so great that she was expected to rise even further.
However, she herself doesn’t know anything besides magecraft and is truly a researcher-type magus. She’s so ignorant of the rest of the world that she seriously asked in confusion, “The Net? You mean some kind of netting?” However, by contrast, she has great curiosity and badgered Caules over his cell phone and got him to buy one for her too.
Her skill as a magus is undoubtedly first rate, but because she was too exceptional, she never confronted the actual work of a magus at all. An obvious example is her memories of that stray dog. Fiore never forget her memory of it and continued to face it without ever shelving it away. She understood that it was something absolutely unneeded to a magus (especially for a magus in the Spiritual Evocation department), but she wasn’t able to throw it away, a sentiment that is far too much like that of a proper and decent human being.
She treats Caules as a cute little brother and in fact half-depends on him—but she isn’t self-aware of this at all and tries to act like a dependable older sister. Caules never boorishly points this out, which makes her all the more delightedly absorbed in being an older sister.
She uses Spiritual Evocation Magecraft, but she doesn’t communicate or have herself possessed by spirits directly, instead favoring Mystic Codes made of mechanical parts which have several animal spirits inserted into them.
After giving up the path of a magus in the novels, she tackles the struggle of rehabilitation for her legs. After that, her life will likely be quite stimulating for a girl who knew nothing but magecraft until then. Of course, her continued regret over giving up magecraft will also remain for her whole life, though.フィオレ・フォルヴェッジ・ユグドミレニア【人名】
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order - Solomon: The Grand Time Temple, Last Episode
- ↑
[] Fate/Apocrypha material - Encyclopedia: Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia [Person's name], p.174-175 [T] Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia [Person's name]
A Master of the Black camp. The one who stands at the top of Yggdmillennia. He has the highest rank of Grand, but this is an unusual occurrence that only happened in the “Apocrypha” world. This is because the number of magi in the “Apo” world is sharply dropping due to so many subspecies Holy Grail Wars having occurred. As a consequence of this, almost all the magi who have survived them have slid up one rank higher than their original rank. Darnic, who is at Pride rank, didn’t let this chance slip away and used his skilled forked-tongue to reach “the Grand rank as an honorary position different from the proper Grand rank in commemoration of his achievements to the Association, even though ability-wise he is not at Grand rank.” What’s with this trend that’s like chilly oil which was popular for a certain time? …It’s only natural, though, since Old man Darnic’s Grand rank isn’t something that a true Grand-ranked magus would ever acknowledge.
Darnic himself wasn’t especially concerned with the honor or fame either. He only sought it out because he simply deemed that possessing the Grand rank would be more advantageous for him when acting independently.
However, that doesn’t make Darnic weak; rather, it’s the exact opposite. Fiore also possesses noticeable talent, but she can’t compare to Darnic in terms of tenacity, talent and experience together as a whole. In a normal Holy Grail War or a battle between magi, Darnic would definitely be the winner. The Master of the Red Camp might be able to beat him if they cooperated together, but even that is an uncertainty.
He mainly researched human souls and even managed to succeed in fusing with the soul of a Heroic Spirit in the end. Of course, it was an emergency measure, and his true final goal with it was to raise the accuracy and precision as much as possible and create a “magus who possesses the power of a Heroic Spirit while maintaining the mind of Darnic”.
Also, he is first-class as a magus, but he is first-class as a politician as well. There is an American term used to mock lawyers called Ambulance Chasers, those who follow ambulances and try to get victims to make a lawsuit, but Yggdmillennia was similar to that as well. Apparently, Darnic immediately brought magi who had been crushed in the subspecies Holy Grail wars into his faction and steadily increased the clan’s power and influence behind closed doors.
He isn’t the type of person to extend great effort by choice, but you can glimpse his extraordinary vindictiveness in the way he worked to bring about his revenge for being belittled over the course of many decades. He also feels some slight sympathy for his clan as the head of Yggdmillennia, so the “tenacity of magi who have been driven away to the far corners of the world” may have accumulated within Darnic as a result.
If he never managed to get a hold of the Holy Grail and had simply lived as an ordinary magus, the personality of “Darnic Prestone” would have completely diluted away after living for two hundred years, until only a steel-like magus with the name “Yggdmillennia” was left.
…Even if that happened, Darnic wouldn’t have hesitated in following that path as long as he was able to get closer to the Root as a result. However, would the “personality of Darnic who was diluted away by a massive quantity of souls” have been alive or dead at that point, and would Darnic have been happy even if he managed to reach the Root after all that? That is something he never knew.
Incidentally, he apparently went through a quite a fierce battle against old man Matou during the Third Holy Grail War.ダーニック・プレストーン・ユグドミレニア【人名】
- ↑
Fate/strange Fake Volume 1 - Afterword Nasu: “I once said that all of El-Melloi’s disciples achieved the rank of Grand, didn’t I? That was a lie.”
Narita: “Gyaaaaaaah (Read: Character Materials)!” - ↑ Kara no Kyoukai Volume 6: Oblivion Recorder (Kurogiri Satsuki)