Nasuverse Info Packet - The Basics

There is a lot of confusing information about the Nasuverse , further muddled by bad Fanon. The Type Moon wiki can be a useful resource, but it's not always ( almost never) correct or up-to-date, though it's been getting much better in recent times. Beast's Lair, the premiere forum for Type Moon fans and information, is elitist and less accessible than the wiki, but more accurate with the information, and the compendiums made by members (such as Seika's collected guide, which contains translations of important quotes and answers for a lot of questions) are hard to find as a direct result.

This a Primer made by copy pasted information from various sources for clearer immersion in my story.

Any speculated or theorized thought will be highlighted.

I won't be going in-depth into a lot of things u, such as what exactly Excalibur does or how Ea works or the weight of Gilgamesh's soul unless it is important to the story. Those things are things that people can look up on the wiki, if they want to expand their knowledge or will be brought . This primer is just to get you started and give you a direction to start looking in.

Unless unstated or it is story related, it is all here.

HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS

(My specific explanation or my way of explaining it)

So the thing here is that the entire Type-Moon universe isn't actually based on a single universe structure or idea , but two intersecting universe structures that give rise to what we think of as the type-moon universe. There's the physical and rational universe that largely resembles normal reality and operates on fundamental laws, quantum physics, all that jazz-and then there's an entire alien reality that operates on an entirely different set of fundamental principles that are utterly alien to anything we would understand.

Concepts and Ideas.

The planet sort of exists right along a crack in this union where portions of the physical universe and metaphysical universe diverge enough to seemingly live semi-independently. That's why physical laws can be so flexible when it comes to the common sense of sentient beings and why things like Types can exist even though physically there should be no reason for them nor even a point of origin.

( From a Doylist Perspective)

So one of the key differences between the material universe that we all know and understand and the intersecting metaphysical universe that allows for magic in other universes , espcesially the Nasuverse is the nature of information; In the material universe, the real universe, it doesn't truly exist.

Information in our universe is merely the actions and reactions of matter/energy that at best can be ascribed a pattern, which is where the whole 'subjective universe' thing comes in as sentience allows for the comprehension of the concept of patterns and thus gives rise to the idea of information. Technically all this text you're seeing is merely photons arranged in a specific matter in reaction to electrons reacting in a specific manner to components in your computers.

Information as an actual existence rather than a subjective ideal simply does not exist in this matter/energy based universe.

(At least , that is what we know/believe)

In the metaphysical universe intersecting with the material universe to produce the Nasuverse, it does. In point of fact, just as information can be thought of as a consequence between specific arrangements of matter and energy in our universe, matter and energy can be considered as a consequence of specific arrangements of information in that metaphysical universe.

Mind Over Matter is literal.

The fundamental laws blend in strange ways that functionally allow for matter/energy and information to become interchangeable under certain circumstances.

This where stuff like the "collective unconscious of man" or "living legends" shit come into play.

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MAGECRAFT AND MAGICAL FOUNDATIONS

Well, the first thing I should cover is naturally the most basic of the basics of the Nasuverse: magic, or magecraft, and how it works.

No, it's not as simple as waving a wand and spouting a bunch of nonsensical words. Well, okay, on the surface, it kinda is, but there're deeper workings at play than just speaking a silly incantation and making a fireball. See, all magic works on what is basically mana manipulation and the principle of what're called "Magical foundations," which is essentially a school of wizardry ("school" meaning "discipline" or "field of study" or "way of thinking" rather than a place where people are taught) carved into the structure of the world.

Take, for instance, voodoo. You know, the common Western conception of the idea, sticking needles into little dolls made to look like a person you hate? Using hair or a piece of a person's clothing or whatever and casting a curse from a distance? Those sorts of things? Yeah, that's a school of magic. So was the Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, and Chinese mystic arts, and shamanism (contacting the spirits of the dead or the spirits of nature, etc.), and Alchemy, and basically just about any form of magic you can imagine that follows a discipline separate from other schools of magic is its own separate school.

So, by following these schools of magic, by ingraining them into the culture itself (at least back in the old days, when magic was believed in and widespread), it becomes engraved onto the fabric of the world itself. This is a magical foundation, a guiding principle that dictates what it's possible to do in a school of magic and how a magus casts his (or her) spells. Each different school of magic has its own magical foundation, and the influence and strength of any particular foundation will depend upon how widespread its practices and culture are.

For example, basic Western magecraft stretches over most of the world, because Western cultures and ideas have spread that far, so a mage from London will find his spells just as powerful and just as potent in Boston. He will always do best in his own workshop, of course, but that's something to discuss at another time.

As another example, the Sacraments used by the Holy Church are powerful everywhere, because Christianity has spread to the four corners of the globe. A Church Executor (more on those later) will be just as effective in Japan as he is in France, because the magical foundation that supports his "holy miracles" covers just about every continent on the planet.

Of course, the reverse is also true: if a mage goes to a place where his magical foundation is weak or nonexistent, then his spells will either weaken (because he's outside of his school's power base) or not work at all. This is why Matou Zouken went from a handsome, youthful-looking man during the first Grail War (he was actually over 200 years old by that point) to the old man we see in Fate/stay night: he moved away from his base of power and into a place where he had no power, and as a result, he deteriorated, whereas most first rate magi can extend their lifespans up to 1000 years or more and still look to be in their twenties or thirties.

(Plus his fight with a fucking Demon God in FGO but that is for later.)

There are, of course, some magical foundations which are close enough in nature that the swap between them won't be quite as dramatic, and there are some spells that translate across foundations flawlessly or near flawlessly (like Projection, also called Gradation Air), because they're ubiquitous enough across foundations that nothing needs to change, but generally speaking, moving between foundations is hard on a magus.

So, getting back to where we started: magic, and how it relates to magical foundations. This is where things start to get a little more wonky. See, magic, or magecraft, isn't as simple as speaking an incantation and waving a wand. Rather, the process is actually much more complicated, because the mage himself is not the one casting the spell.

Confused yet?

When a magus channels Od or Mana through his Magic Circuits (more on those later) to refine it into Prana, he then injects this Prana into the magical foundation he's accessing, and between his incantation and the magical foundation, his intent is translated for Gaia, who then makes the spell happen.

Now, you're definitely confused. But that's okay. You don't need to totally understand this whole process, just the basics of it. So, a magus wants to cast a fireball; he gathers the necessary energy, refines it into Prana using his Magic Circuits, speaks his incantation (which will vary by individual preference), injects the Prana into his chosen magical foundation, the magical foundation translates the spell into something Gaia can understand, then Gaia makes his fireball for him. To the magus, however, the only parts he really sees or notices are the ones he's directly involved in, so from the mage's perspective, he gathers the energy through his Magic Circuits, says his incantation, and his spell forms.

NOTE

During the AoG magecraft used the Gods as Foundation.

Solomon was the first Magus who created a Foundation not based on the Gods. This was the finishing blow to the AoG.

Around year 0 True Ether completely disappeared from Earth. Magi were about to give up on magecraft and simply preserve the lore when Ether was discovered.

Modern magecraft is born thanks to the discovery of Ether and the creation of new Foundations using Solomon's method.

The First Magician create the First Magic, this lead the Magi to their Root seeking mentality.

Now this is the important part, the Human Order grow in strength with human knowledge and understanding. The stronger the Human Order become the more the Laws of Physics as humans understand them become firm and things that go against it and/or draw their strength from Mystery and Fantasy get hit with the Nerf Bat or the Ban Hammer.

MAGIC AND TRUE MAGIC

So now that we've covered magecraft and how spellcasting works, what's the difference between regular magic and this True Magic stuff? Because there is a difference, and it's a very important, very distinct difference.

Well, the answer to that gets into the nature of how magecraft works. See, anything that can be repeated with enough time, effort, or resources is something that magecraft can do. If someone else can do it, if you aren't the only guy in the world capable of performing a particular type of magic, then it's automatically magecraft (not counting effects that are said to be "on the level of True Magic").

True Magic, however, or Sorcery or whatever variation you prefer, is something only one person in the world can do. It's something that can't be replicated by another person, and you're the only guy who can do it. Period.

By the modern era, there are five recognized forms of True Magic. By necessity, that means there are five True Magicians (or Sorcerers), each of whom can only perform his (or her) specific True Magic. That means there are only five disciplines that are so exclusive that only one person each can do them.

Of course, we don't really know what each of these is. We know the Second True Magic, held by Zelretch, is Operation of Parallel Worlds, and that he can hop, skip, and jump between realities whenever he pleases and even do such things as exchange energy between them.

The second True Magic operates via acknowledgement of the Universal Simulations stored within Akasha and, operating on the fundamental law that the metaphysical universe is composed entirely of information, the temporary manifestation of those simulated universes as 'real' existences to either extract information, matter, energy, what have you. It's the Operation of Parallel Worlds. It's complicated.

===SPOILER===

Quantum particles interacting with being observed by anything , e.g a conscious mind; they would literally collapse into definite particle states where moments before they existed as probability waves. The 2nd True Magic makes you, the user, the sole deciding factor between quantum states rather than any given observer. The user's sight and opinion now utterly outweighed others on a quantum scale, and in a very real way could control reality on a particulate level.

Take care; their gaze has an impossible weight, and their thoughts affect more than yourself.

Theoretically, The nature of quantum control has achieved something truly 'impossible'. A quantum constant- One could instigate rules and fundamental laws-concerning oneself at *least*-that were absolute values even on a quantum level.

e.g

If you dodged left then you'd always avoid an attack, or if you punched just like so then you'd always hit a vital area. Across all realities.

For example:

As shown in Strange Fake , He can remove alternative realities / possibilities similarly like how quantum mechanics works with observations .

===SPOILER===

We know that the Third True Magic is Heaven's Feel, which allows you to make yourself (or others, theoretically) into a transcendent being that can exist as a soul without a body (see Lugh Beowulf for an example of what that's like).

(My explanation to the viewers)

The Third True Magic operates on manifesting one's consciousness as pure information in the material world; this makes it so that their soul is utterly untouchable via magecraft as it no longer exists in a realm where magecraft can effect, and makes it utterly inviolable in the material world as it doesn't exist as either matter or energy but instead exists purely as an information construct. This allows for said soul to also use their own nature as an information construct to 'rewrite' aspects of themselves in such a way that it seems as if they can enact spells backed via infinite prana and reshape their forms as they please, among other benefits.

The biggest examples of possible uses are the manifestation and use of Servants in the Holy Grail War ( both normal and Mooncell) and Rayshifting .

We know that the Fifth True Magic (held by Aoko) deals with manipulation of time and timelines, and that the way it does these things is different from the time travel that can be accomplished with the Second.

(My Explainaition)

The Fifth True Magic is the realization that your particular instance of this intersecting universe has already been simulated, rewriting aspects of that simulation, then taking advantage of the information nature of the metaphysical universe and forcing the material universe to comply with the changes as if you'd literally changed the universe itself. It could be called a form of time manipulation, but also a (another) form of reality manipulation-and each instance of using it risks the user collapsing their consciousness into the 'parent' simulation and thus not only permanently losing that True Magic but forever existing in a predetermined universal simulation...if they hadn't already.

===SPECULATION===

It can be possibly the manipulation of entropy or causality.

===SPECULATION===

However, we only have vague guesses for what the First and Fourth do. And no, despite what "A Different Path" might have you believe, the Sixth True Magic is not simple reality warping — in the first place, it's not imaginative enough to be a True Magic, and all True Magic is a form of reality warping, anyway.

What really separates magic and True Magic, however, is how it is accomplished. Magic, or magecraft, is enforcing your logic and will onto the world itself, utilizing magical foundations to dictate to Gaia what you want done. True Magic, on the other hand, is reaching into the fabric of reality itself, into the vast Akashic Records, the Swirl of the Root, the Wellspring of Creation, and changing reality itself to suit your desires. To use a computer analogy, if magecraft is executing a program, then True Magic is rewriting the Operating System.

How do you get True Magic, if it's so rare? Well, it isn't easy. You have to do the impossible. You have to become so amazing at a discipline, reach through a school of magic so completely, and not only discover, but retrace the path it takes from your reality back up to its origin — Akasha, or in a more Western, Christian sense, God, with a capital G.

But once you find the path and follow it back to Akasha, you can't touch Akasha. You have to reach it, come oh-so-close to the origin of all life and the repository of all knowledge of everything past, present, and future in all realities, and then…walk away. The pathway will remain open, you can go back and change things (depending upon which True Magic you got out of the deal), you've become a True Magician, and because each path (and therefore each True Magic) can only work for one person or be passed down from one master to one apprentice, you'll be the only guy who can do that particular True Magic, congratulations.

Now, Alaya, the collective will of mankind, hates you.

True Magic is only True Magic as long as it's unique. The minute it becomes something others can do, it's no longer True Magic, it's magecraft. But there's a price to True Magic: you're standing in the way of progress. As long as Zelretch is hoarding the Second Magic, no one else can travel to parallel worlds — not, that is, without an omnipotent wish-granting device. Similarly, as long as there is a Third True Magic, the "future" of mankind as beings of energy and information rather than flesh and blood is blocked off.

There are, however, ways of tapping into that power without being a True Magician, but those are really hard, too, and require special circumstances or devices (see: Gem Sword Zelretch and the Dress of Heaven). It took a first rate genius like Tohsaka Rin, a blueprint of the original version, transplanted memories of the original, and a specialist with the unique ability to recreate swords down to the skill with which they were wielded and the strength of the original owner to recreate the Gem Sword.

Heroic Spirits

There is a person who performs a great deed. Perhaps he slays a terrible dragon that is tormenting a town, perhaps he is a great warrior that holds off an entire army singlehandedly, or perhaps he is a demigod who had many great adventures. Whatever his history and pedigree, if his actions become legendary, told far and wide, and he and his deeds are immortalized in song, verse, or prose, if he becomes an object of admiration and worship that remains long after his death, then he is elevated to a status of godhood, and his deeds and his famous armaments become divine instruments.

These "Heroic Spirits" are removed from the cycle of transmigration and seated upon the vaunted Throne of Heroes, located outside of normal time and space (Akasha? Nobody really knows, but it would make a degree of sense).

These are the Heroic Spirits, removed from the cycle of transmigration that most souls go through and seated upon the vaunted Throne of Heroes, located outside of normal time and space. Perfect, absolute existences that lend power to people through either inspiration or direct influence (such as shamanistic possession), they are complete from the moment they ascend, and every attribute and Noble Phantasm they will ever have is already catalogued when they become Heroic Spirits.

As far as where, exactly, the Throne of Heroes is located, no one can say for sure, but "Akasha" might be a legitimate answer. Of course, that's mostly just logic and guessing, so take it with a grain of salt.

Legendary figures who once existed, like King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Hassan-i Sabbah, Francis Drake, Richard the Lionheart, Charlemagne, and others of that kind, as well as those who were ""only"" ever legends, such as Medusa and Herakles,( they exist within the Nasuverse, this is a meta comment) are all recorded on the Throne and reside there after death. Those with great fame and inflated legends may have more power than they ever did in life, and deeds, traits, or artifacts which did not originally belong to them may be awarded or appended by later belief or conflation of myths. Each one, even the weakest, has power far surpassing that of an ordinary human and can perform feats such as casually crushing a person's skull, running at several times the speed of sound, and evade attacks too fast for the human eye to follow.

They are human gods.

However, humans are not the only ones who can become Heroic Spirits. Even ordinary animals, when worshipped as great companions or noble beings, can become Heroic Spirits, often tied and associated with the Hero they accompanied. Such distinguished steeds as Sigurd's Grani or Sir Gawain's Gringolet can achieve such fame and praise as to become Heroes. As long as it was not a pure spirit of Gaia, such as an Elemental or a fairy, if it was worshipped or praised by humans before or would be after it died, then it can become a Heroic Spirit upon death.

As far as Heroic Spirits go, though, heroes of the modern era don't actually exist. That is to say, because guns and such are devices which anyone can learn to wield well with minimal training, there can't really be a Heroic Spirit wielding a modern weapon as a Noble Phantasm, because Heroic Spirits are "the one and only," which is (nearly) impossible in a world with so many "users." Furthermore, deeds that were once so remarkable, such as saving the world, have become common place in the modern era, where a person can "save the world" simply by recycling.

On the other hand, the only real requirement for a Heroic Spirit is fame. Any hero who does something incredibly remarkable and worthy of praise can become a Heroic Spirit, as long as he is acknowledged as a hero, even if he is an antihero. In that case, it is also possible that cultural icons widely recognized, such popular figures like Harry Potter, Cloud Strife, Superman, and others who have garnered a great deal of fame and regard, may be exalted, as well. They lack what may be a crucial component — namely, belief in their existences as real people who accomplished real deeds — but since Nasu cannot legally confirm their existence as Heroic Spirits because of copyright issues, there is no way to say so for certain.

Noble Phantasms

When a hero is elevated to the status of Heroic Spirit, his armaments, the curses or blessings synonymous with his name, and even certain feats he performed will be elevated as well, becoming divine instruments capable of extraordinary power. Famous weapons such as Excalibur or Durendal, feats such as Herakles' slaying of the Hydra, blessings akin to the impenetrable skin of Achilles, even buildings like Camelot, and the crystallization of deeds into armaments (such as the taming of a dragon or magical beast into reins or chains) are all the sorts of things that would classify as Noble Phantasms.

It is important to note that, in the case of weapons, shields, armor, and such, the armament itself isn't really the Noble Phantasm. Rather, the Noble Phantasm is (almost always) the feat or deed accomplished with that tool: though the name of the spear may be Gáe Bolg, the Noble Phantasm is the feat of reversing causality to stab the enemy's heart.

There are many classifications of Noble Phantasm, but the main five are Anti-Unit, for Noble Phantasms that affect a single target, Anti-Unit (Self), for Noble Phantasms that target their owner, Anti-Army, for Noble Phantasms used against an enemy host, Anti-Fortress, for Noble Phantasms that are used against castles or forts, and Barrier, for defensive Noble Phantasms that protect the target by erecting some form of barrier. There are others, such as the rare Anti-World that targets reality itself, but those are the main five, and the vast majority of Noble Phantasms will fit into one of those five categories.

Noble Phantasms are also ranked according to power. Starting at E-Rank and going up from there, the highest quantifiable ranking is A+++; the EX rank is used to classify Noble Phantasms that are so powerful or have effects so exotic that they cannot be measured according to the standard system, and it is therefore pointless to compare them to other Noble Phantasms in terms of power.

Furthermore, the + modifiers do not work as a linear system, but rather multiply the base rank: + means double, ++ means triple, and +++ means quadruple. With E-Rank as 10 and A-Rank as 50, an A+++ Noble Phantasm would have a numerical value of 200.

Ranks (and the numbers they symbolize) do not measure in megatons or any standard damage capacity, but are rather a measure of a Noble Phantasm's potency. For example, Excalibur, an A++ Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm, is capable of destroying a mountain, and has a destructive potential in megatons or gigatons; however, its destructive potential is a function of both its ranking and its category: an A++ Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm would have the same attack potency, but could never obliterate a mountain or destroy a castle, because that is not its purpose.

Alaya

The will of mankind to keep living. The protector of the status quo. The correcting force which ensures that mankind will continue to survive, no matter what. As long as there is a living human being, Alaya will continue to exist and continue to ensure the survival of the human race.

There are two main aspects to the correcting force. The first, the primary Counter Force, is the little voice in the back of a hero's head. It acts through nudges and gentle shoves to place actors on the path to prevent a catastrophe, ensuring that they have just enough strength to accomplish the job. In this unobtrusive form, it is difficult to say how or how much the Counter Force has acted. When things go right, no one can be sure it has done anything at all.

It is literally plot given sentience.

The secondary aspect of the Counter Force are the Guardians. Those who act in service to Alaya, those who offered their afterlives to it in exchange for a miracle, are called in to take care of problems that have rampaged out of control.

However, this form of response is indiscriminate: in order to ensure that the problem has been handled, anyone and everything connected to it is annihilated without care or concern. The destruction of Pompeii and the sinking of Atlantis* were two such situations.

As another example, in the main storyline of Fate/stay night, if that dark god were to be born and go on to rampage, Alaya would not directly intervene until the cascade of human life lost started to get out of control. Fuyuki, Tokyo, Kyoto - many millions of lives would be lost, and only then would the Guardians be called down, destroying the entirety of Honshu or even all of Japan.

That is the nature of the Counter Force: protecting mankind's future by excising cancerous growths and utterly destroying all threats that come out of the woodwork.

* Remember this especially.