Originally Posted by
B.B. Rain
I always figured that MGLN folk, or at least the Aces/Wolkenritter, had more raw power then FSN, but FSN made up for it by being just freaky with Noble Phantasms and the fact that their magic is less Energy-Manipulation Science performed by individuals thanks to innate ability but called magic, and more 'freaky shit happens because I've got magic,' even if magecraft is more strongly affected by humanities current understanding of the universe.
And you could make a case for the Wolkenritter being similar to Heroic Spirits, enough to have picked up some metaphysical weight. They've been around for near 800 years, perpetuating their legend across dozens or hundreds of worlds, and multiple inter-stellar/dimensional civilizations, with the TSAB and Ancient Belka. That'd be a hell of a lot of accumulated belief and terror, especially since they keep adding to the body of knowledge and experience every time the book reincarnates.
Plus, since Noble Phantasms are accumulations of belief, including still existant objects (beyond Fragarach), and not just manifestations accompanying Heroic spirits, the Book/Tome and the Wolkenritter's devices might qualify, depending on just how detailed the legends get.
And a fair amount of the Heroic Spirits power comes from how they were living in the distant past, at a time when humanity as a race was lesser in number, with its metaphysical energy allotment spread among less individuals, and thus concentrated, making everyone stronger, tougher, and more powerful in general. Not sure how you'll play that out with other-dimensional humans, but...
Lastly, this isn't a universal thing, but there's some belief that the Wolkenritter aren't built the same as regular humans. I don't just mean the whole 'eternally youthfal, reincarnating, book-created warriors,' thing. I mean that they look human, they eat and breathe and talk and bleed, but they aren't human. Built to a different standard, even without magic they're tougher and stronger and internally unusual.