Spiritual Land

Spiritual Lands (霊地, Reichi^?) are local areas of high spiritual value.

Characteristics

Spiritual Lands are mystical grounds where strong leylines of mana can be found, places that increase the power of magecraft, where spiritual power is distorted and gathers easily,^[1] and, in the case of those of top class, where Magic can be activated.^[2] This type of land is valuable and vital to the experimentation and practice of magecraft, one of the three pillars of what makes a successful magus.^[1]

In order to maintain control over the strongest leylines, the lands controlled by magi often avoid dense urban areas, and lands with dense greenery are rather common.^[3] Since the land is so important for magecraft, it was common sense, in the past, for magi, kings, and other kinds of nobility to attempt to acquire land for themselves, to the point some magi had been kings themselves.^[4]

Currently, the Mage's Association has the ownership of most of the high quality Spiritual Lands around the world, but, for practical purposes, actual administration of the land is left to a local lineage of magi that is related to the Association.^[5][6][1] Oversight of a classroom in the Clock Tower is linked to the overseeing of lands;^[7] for example, the Valualeta family hold classrooms which are among the best Spiritual Lands in the entire Clock Tower.^[8] Rogue and landless magi have no choice but to borrow land from the Association in exchange for a monthly donation, essentially being worker bees slaving away for the top of the Association.^[1]

Lands administered by magi are surrounded by two types of Bounded Fields: one to detect intruders, and one to siphon magical energy from the land.^[9][10] The latter consists of Pivots (支点, Shiten^?, localized as "Sigils") carved into the earth to gather and properly cycle the magical energy of the land and its people.^[9][11] After some manipulation of the mana flow, this power within is directed to accumulate at the magus' Magical Workshop.^[9] When someone attacks an owned land, the natural strategy is to neutralize the landowner's advantage by stripping them of the protection offered by the land by wounding the land itself, which disrupts the natural flow of magical energy.^[12] Without the power of the land to back them up, they are forced to fight back against their invaders on equal ground, with only their own innate abilities to protect them.^[10] If all Pivots are forcibly removed, the landowners effectively lose ownership of the land,^[9][10] and the land rights can be transferred to the new owner.^[10] For this reason, usually, the enemy threatens to break the Pivots to lure the landowner out, then things are settled there and then with a duel between Magi. It's much faster to take out the landowner and, as long as they can decipher the formula, seize the Bounded Fiels and land afterward.^[10]

Among the Spiritual Lands of Japan, the one under the care of the Aozaki family is the only location where Magic can be activated.^[2] The Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars, however, were created as an excuse to concentrate the necessary amount of magical energy needed to enable activation of Magic on the Spiritual Land of Fuyuki City. In the Heaven's Feel route of Fate/stay night, it is successful and the Third Magic is activated. Although the Second Magic is also activated in the Heaven's Feel route, it is irrelevant to the Spiritual Land of Fuyuki, due to use of the Jewel Sword Zelretch.

References