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Thread: The Type-Moon Miscellaneous Thoughts Thread

  1. #35221
    改竄者 Falsifier Petrikow's Avatar
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    The guy asking clearly wanted to get answers about Preggo Arc, but instead we got lore. Thanks for that. Remember to always horny post.

    Interesting that its specifically about Human/DA or Human/TA intermixture though. I suppose then the implication would be that Altrouge was born from a human and TA parent... and that made her a kind of half-Dead Apostle? Dunno

  2. #35222
    世はまさにパンテオン Comun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Petrikow View Post
    Arash's injection
    Arash is an expert in shots, but not this kind.

  3. #35223
    改竄者 Falsifier Petrikow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Comun View Post
    Arash is an expert in shots, but not this kind.
    My illiteracy in English bleeding through.

  4. #35224
    死徒二十七祖 The Twenty Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Nanaya's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Petrikow View Post
    The guy asking clearly wanted to get answers about Preggo Arc, but instead we got lore. Thanks for that. Remember to always horny post.

    Interesting that its specifically about Human/DA or Human/TA intermixture though. I suppose then the implication would be that Altrouge was born from a human and TA parent... and that made her a kind of half-Dead Apostle? Dunno
    It's talking about the new Arc pic we just got. They were right, it's really Shiki and Arcs kid. Nasu planned it out all along. But really if it is Alt he's referring to here then I don't even. Oh also the idea about what Roa's technique. I hope so, cause that just makes him more goat.

    Also those forum posts were pretty interesting.
    Last edited by Nanaya; June 24th, 2022 at 03:24 PM.

  5. #35225
    Tell me about your best girl, and why she is Sakura Matou. Best Girl's Avatar
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    >Are the vampires in Tsukihime (True Ancestors and Dead Apostles) able to reproduce with humans?
    >So far, there appears to be only one successful instance.
    The "so far" makes it seem like it is already an established or yet-to-appear character.

    It could be Arc's kid, if Arc is preggo and she doesn't know it yet.

  6. #35226
    死徒二十七祖 The Twenty Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Nanaya's Avatar
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    Spoiler:

  7. #35227
    Tell me about your best girl, and why she is Sakura Matou. Best Girl's Avatar
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    The speed at which you can find this and post it disturbs me.

  8. #35228
    改竄者 Falsifier Petrikow's Avatar
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    Looking through CM real quick for the mentions of 霊長
    These are both from the Notes section, obviously.
    Seems he had settled on the definition by this point (2006).
    Last edited by Petrikow; June 24th, 2022 at 03:41 PM.

  9. #35229
    祖 Ancestor Ideofago's Avatar
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    Is the shiki and arc stuff from the new doujin or is it old
    Call me 想φαγω.
    Spoiler:
    Quote Originally Posted by Mooncake View Post
    I get this vague feeling from your posts that you're looking down on people who don't share your view, which is what it is, but at least take a moment to snort some common sense between those hits of pretension.
    Quote Originally Posted by Spinach View Post
    My opinion is better than your opinion, so it isn't up for debate.
    Quote Originally Posted by Comun
    Telling us that you're rich is not going to make anyone stop laughing at you for believing in self-insert NTR.
    Quote Originally Posted by ResidentSeagull View Post
    You seriously underestimate the human potential for wanting to fuck stuff, my dude.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dullahan
    Welcome to BL, new user. Don't forget to fate/stay mad


  10. #35230
    改竄者 Falsifier Petrikow's Avatar
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    It is truly ancient.

  11. #35231
    祖 Ancestor Ideofago's Avatar
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    I mean the artstyle is old as fuck as is the scan quality, but I thought about the possibility they drew it like that just because

    - - - Updated - - -

    Though Comiket hasn't happened yet so what the fuck am I thinking

    - - - Updated - - -

    Actually when does comiket happen
    Like is it august this time
    Didn't the takeuchi announcement say it was like some day in july
    Call me 想φαγω.
    Spoiler:
    Quote Originally Posted by Mooncake View Post
    I get this vague feeling from your posts that you're looking down on people who don't share your view, which is what it is, but at least take a moment to snort some common sense between those hits of pretension.
    Quote Originally Posted by Spinach View Post
    My opinion is better than your opinion, so it isn't up for debate.
    Quote Originally Posted by Comun
    Telling us that you're rich is not going to make anyone stop laughing at you for believing in self-insert NTR.
    Quote Originally Posted by ResidentSeagull View Post
    You seriously underestimate the human potential for wanting to fuck stuff, my dude.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dullahan
    Welcome to BL, new user. Don't forget to fate/stay mad


  12. #35232
    世はまさにパンテオン Comun's Avatar
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    Summer Comiket is always on the weekend closest to August 15th.
    Winter Comiket is always on the last weekened of the year.

  13. #35233
    祖 Ancestor Ideofago's Avatar
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    So it begins on August 12?
    Call me 想φαγω.
    Spoiler:
    Quote Originally Posted by Mooncake View Post
    I get this vague feeling from your posts that you're looking down on people who don't share your view, which is what it is, but at least take a moment to snort some common sense between those hits of pretension.
    Quote Originally Posted by Spinach View Post
    My opinion is better than your opinion, so it isn't up for debate.
    Quote Originally Posted by Comun
    Telling us that you're rich is not going to make anyone stop laughing at you for believing in self-insert NTR.
    Quote Originally Posted by ResidentSeagull View Post
    You seriously underestimate the human potential for wanting to fuck stuff, my dude.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dullahan
    Welcome to BL, new user. Don't forget to fate/stay mad


  14. #35234
    死徒二十七祖 The Twenty Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Nanaya's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Best Girl View Post
    The speed at which you can find this and post it disturbs me.
    Glad to be of service.

    E: Man, this thread just makes me want more vampire and gaia stuff. So many big questions that need to be answered in tsuki land.
    Last edited by Nanaya; June 24th, 2022 at 04:42 PM.

  15. #35235
    Spoiler:
    Source JP EN
    Notes 亜麗百種 [a-ray]

     星の資源を使いきった人類が生み出した次世代の霊長類
     かつての星に現存していた各生物種をモチーフにしたもの。荒廃した星でも生存可能であるように生態を大き く改良・強化されたもの。その系統樹は様々で、大きく分類して百種にわたる。一から十までの位である亜麗は 単一種であり、群体ではない。
     中には人間としての遺伝子を含み、人間と似た形態の亜麗も存在するが、やはり大部分は様々な 生命種と霊長類とが融合、進化したものである。
    Hundred Subspecies [a-ray]

    Next generation primates that were created by the human species who used up all the planet's resource.
    They were modeled after the living things that used to exist on the planet. They were modified/enhanced in order for them to survive on the corrupted planet. There were numerous branches to the A-rays, and they were categorized into about 100 major species. From 1 to 10 consists of only one type of A-rays each and not a mass.
    Some carry the genes of humans and they look like us, but a large part of them are mix/evolved form of various creatures and primates.
    Tsukihime 「むーっ! チエルに言われたくないー」
    ―――うっちゃっておいて!
    「きゃー、ぼうりょくはんたいー」
     とりあえず覚悟を決めて、遠野くんだけでホテルを探検してみてください。
     中は動物王国まっさかり。
     霊長類の代表として、ケモノどもに目にモノ見せてあげましょうねー。
    `"Heeeeyyy! I don't want to hear that from Chiel!"
    ` ---Abandon her!
    `"Kyaah! No violence!"
    ` Anyhow, please prepare yourself to explore the hotel alone.
    ` Inside, you'll find a whole animal kingdom.
    ` As the representative of mammals, let's show the beasts what we've got.\
    ibid 「何いってるのよ。その天敵っていうのは紛れもなくあなたたち人間の事よ」
    「────? 天敵って、俺たちが?」
    「そう。もうずっと昔、人間は様々な魔術、神秘学、式典儀礼をもとに組織体系を作り、人間以外 の霊長類を排除しはじめたの。
     その最たる物が基督教───法王庁が誇るエクシシストの集団よ。
    カトリック
    旧教
    は昔っから『人間でないモノ』を徹底的に淘汰してきたけど、その中でも吸血鬼に対する敵視はどうかしてるわ 」
    「世界中のどんな宗教をみたって、カトリック以上に吸血鬼を敵視している宗教はない。
     あれはね、すでに憑かれてる。病的すぎてわたしでさえ彼らには関わりたくないぐらいだもの」
     はあ、とアルクェイドはため息をつく。
    `"What are you saying? Their natural enemy is without a doubt you humans."
    `"-----? Natural enemies, us?"
    `"Yeah. Starting from a long time ago, humans used many kinds of magic, the occult, magical ceremonies to create an organization and started to eliminate primates other than humans.
    ` The greatest of these is Christianity---the pride of the Vatican, the Exorcists. The Catholic Church always viewed "nonhumans" as impurities, but vampires are considered the most dangerous."
    ` "There are many religious groups in the world, but the Catholic Church looks at vampires with more hostility than the rest.
    ` You know, it's almost an obsession. They are so insane, I don't even want to mess with them."
    ` Arcueid lets out a sigh.\
    ibid 「でもさ、それってつまり仲間ってことじゃないのか? その埋葬機関っていう連中も吸血鬼退治が目的なら、 一緒に吸血鬼を探せるかもしれない」
    「―――だめよ。連中は吸血鬼であるのならなんでもいいの。
     彼らにとって、ヒトではない霊長類はそれだけで『悪』なのよ。人間の血を吸おうが吸うまいが関係ない。
     そのエクソシストだって、この街に巣くった吸血鬼じゃなくて、わたしを封印するためにきたのかもしれない わ」
    `"Then aren't they like us? If this Burial Agency is a group whose purpose is to hunt vampires too, can't we search together?"
    `"----That won't work. For them, it's enough that someone is a vampire.
    ` To them, non-human primates are just "Evil". It doesn't matter if they suck blood or not.
    ` This exorcist may have even come here just to seal me rather than fight the vampire who lives in this city."
    Kagetsu Tohya 「――――――よいぞ。続きを申せ」
    「つまり貴方の寿命が尽きかけていたという事です。寿命という観念のない真祖にとって、死とは外的要因によ るモノでしかない。
     貴方は敵が多すぎた。
     通常、真祖は自然霊の一種として容認される。故にアラヤの怪物も、霊長の敵対者である筈の真祖においそれ と手を出さなかった。
     ……真祖は霊長の敵対者である前に、自然との調停者でもありますからね。我々の無意識は真祖という化け物を否定しつつ容認 している故、アラヤの怪物は真祖を抹消対象に捉えなかった」\
    "---Continue."
    `"It means that your life is reaching its end. To the True Ancestors, who do not have a predetermined lifespan, death is something that results from an external event.
    ` You had too many enemies.
    ` Generally, the True Ancestors are accepted as a spirit of nature. That's why the beast of Alaya won't oppose them.
    ` | The True Ancestors are more than just an enemy of the human race. They are the keepers of nature as well. Our subconsciousness both accepts and denies the monster called the True Ancestors, so Alaya's beast does not recognize them as a target of elimination."\
    ibid “魔”のルールにそぐわず、純粋な人間として異能を保有するモノ。それらはヒトという種が無意識から生み出 した抑止力とも言われている。
     抑止する対象は、無論、霊長類として頂点に立つヒトにあだなすモノタチである。
     それらの能力を持つに至った人間は魔術という後天的な技術を学ぶ必要もない。
     自然干渉法―――陰陽の理を無視した、自然から独立した人間種が持つに至った最果ての能力が超能力である 。
    ` They don't follow the rules of 'Demons' and carry inhuman powers as pure humans. Some say that this is a suppressing power that was born from the unconsciousness of mankind.
    ` The targets of the suppression are, no doubt, ones who are threat to the humans, who're the highest primates.
    ` People who achieved these abilities don't need to study an out-of-date technology like sorcery.
    ` Ignoring the principle of Yin and Yang, the interaction with nature, psychic ability is an extreme power achieved by the human race, who became detached from nature.\
    ibid 二十七祖シリーズ。
     1/プライミッツマーダー
     霊長の殺人者。白い獣。魔犬としてアルトルージュにのみ従うガイアの怪物。
     死徒ではないが、アルトルージュを真似ている為に人の血を飲むようになった。
     ヒトに対して絶対的な殺害権利を持つが故に最強の一つとして数えられる。
    27 Dead Apostle Ancestors Series
    1/Primate Murder
    Murderer of primates. White beast. The monster of Gaia that follows only Altrouge in the form of a demonic hound.
    Although not a Dead Apostle, it developed a taste for human blood in imitation of Altrouge.
    Considered one of the strongest because of its absolute authority over the killing of humans.
    Kara no Kyoukai
    わたしたち
    霊長
    は複雑になりすぎた。万能を求めるあまり、色々な能力を付属させた結果だ。人間を構成する情報である遺伝子 は、たった四種類の塩基にすぎない。けれどその四種類の塩基が折り重ねる単純な螺旋が、際限なく積み重ねら れる事によって計測不可能になる、なんていう矛盾に陥おちいってしまった。故に解析する事はできない。大元 に辿り着く事は、現代の人間からでは不可能なんだ。
    We
    The pinnacle of creation
    has become too complicated. Probably as a result of being invested with too many abilities after pursuing omnipotence. The genes that are the data which form a human are nothing more than four different bases, but the simple spiral formed by stacking those four types of bases has fallen into the paradox that, by being piled up till it was impossible to measure, it really has become impossible to measure.
    ibid 「───太極の中に太極を取り込んだのか。本気で根源に近付こうという心意気は認めるが、抑止力が働くぞ。 世界か霊長、どちらが動くかは判らない。だが過去一度として、アレを
    しりぞ
    退
    けた魔術師はいない。自ら破滅するつもりか、アルバ」
    "--- Trapping a Taeguk inside a Taeguk? I truly understand your desire to get closer to the origin, but Opposing Power will come into play. The world or mankind, I don't know which one will move. But in the past there hasn't been even one mage who has been able to defeat it. Are you planning to destroy yourself Alba?"
    ibid 「───そうかもしれない。

     抑止力というのはね、我々にとって最大の味方でもあり、同時に最大の敵でもある〝方向の修復 者〟を指す。

     私達人間は死にたくない。平和でいたい。

     私達のいる星だって死にたくない。長生きしたい。

    抑止力というのはそれだ。霊長という群体の誰もが持つ統一された意識、自分達の世を存続させたいという願望。我を取り外してヒトという種 の本能にある方向性が収束し、カタチになったもの。それが抑止力とよばれるカウンターガーディ アン。

     そうだな、例えばaという優れた人間が独裁を行なったとしよう。彼は正義の人で、その統治は理想的であっ たとする。人間が人間として見た道徳性の限りでね。しかしaの行動がひとりの人間としてではな く、霊長全体の視点から見て悪、つまり滅びの要因となる場合、抑止力は具現する。

     コレは霊長の世を存続させたい、というaさえ含めた人類の無意識下の集合体だ。人類を守る為に人類を拘束するこの存在 は、誰も知らないうちに現れ、誰にも観測される事なくaを消滅させる。人々の無意識下の渦が作り上げた代表 者は、やはり無意識であるが故に意識されない。

     とはいっても、何もカタチのない意識が呪いになってaを殺す訳ではない。抑止力は、たいてい媒体となりう る人間に宿り、敵となるaを駆逐する。媒体になった人間はaを倒す為だけの能力を持つが、それ以上の能力は 与えられない。aにとって代わる事ができないようにね。抑止力という霊長全体の意志を受けとめられる受信者、そういった特殊なチャンネルを持つ人間というのは稀に存在する。歴史は 、これを英雄と呼んでもてはやすんだ。

     だが近代になってこの呼び名は使われないな。文明が発達して、人間が自分達自身を滅ぼすなんて事は簡単に なってしまった。どこぞの企業の会長が全財力を傾けてアマゾンの森林の伐採量を増やせば、一年後にも地球は 終わる。ほら、いつでもどこでも地球のピンチだろ? 抑止力に衝き動かされて誰も知らないうちに世界を救っ ている、なんて
    やから
    はごまんといるんだ。英雄は一世代に一人だけ。世界を救う、なんて程度の事じゃあ現代では英雄とは呼ばれな い。また、このaが人間の手におえない場合、抑止力は自然現象となってaもろとも周囲を消滅させる。大昔、 どこぞの大陸が沈んだのもこいつの仕業さ。

     ……こう話すと人類の守護者そのものなんだが、こいつには人間としての感情がない。時には万人を幸せにす るという行為の前に立ち塞がる事もある。厄介なのは、こいつが結局人間そのものの代表者だとい う事だ。

     我々がそれを認識できなくても、抑止力は最強の霊長なんだ。過去幾度となく、ある実験に挑戦した魔術師の前にはコレが現れ、魔術師達はことごとく 惨殺された」

     ……橙子さんの話は、とにかく長い。

     でもそれと似た話を、僕は高校の授業で聞いた覚えがある。

     アレはどの科目の、どんな内容だっただろう。人間はみんな別々だけど、どこかで繫がっているという話だっ た。

     ……それとは別に、僕は今の話でオルレアンの聖女を連想した。ただの農民の娘が神の啓示を受けて戦った、 という昔話。実際は当時の騎士達が
    ひきよう
    卑怯
    げせん
    下賤
    さげす
    んでやらなかった戦法を採っただけというけれど、それも何かに後押しされた結果ではないだろうか。突然人が 変わったように活躍する誰か。その時だけ別人格となって悪者と戦う誰か。それが抑止力という、霊長の守護者というモノ。
    "--- You may be right.
    You see, that Opposing Power refers to the 'Restorer of Direction' which is at once our greatest ally, and our greatest enemy.
    We don't want to kill humans. We want to live in peace. This planet that we live on doesn't want to die either, it wants to live for a long time.

    The Opposing Power is like that. The collective unconsciousness of all those who belong to the whole of the dominant species, their desire to see that the world continues to exist. It is the fundamental wish of the human species that has gathered and taken form, the Counter Guardian that we call the Opposing Power.

    Okay, let's take an example and say an extraordinary person A has conquered the world. He is a just person, and his rule has been exemplary. Within the limits of human morals that is. But in the case that you don't look from one person's point of view, and person A's actions are taken as evil by the whole of the dominant species, in short a cause for extinction, the Opposing Power will be realised.

    This is the collective body of the unconscious desire of all members of the dominant species including A to keep the world as it is in existence. To protect the race this existence that composes the species appears without anyone realising, and without anyone noticing, destroys the existence called A. The representative created by the maelstrom of humanity's unconscious mind is also a part of that unconsciousness and is not picked up.

    Even so, it's not to say that a formless consciousness becomes a curse and kills A. The Opposing Power generally hides within a human who can become a link, then drives out A who is the enemy. The person who has become the link has enough power to topple A, but no more, in order that they cannot replace A. Receivers who can accept the Opposing Power comprised of the whole of the dominant race's will, humans with special channels like that are few and far between. History calls them heroes and praises them.

    But in modern times that title isn't being used. Civilisations progressed to the point where it has become quite simple for humanity to destroy itself. If some company's chairman invested all his money into expanding the amount of logging in the Amazon rainforest, the world could end in a year. See, the Earth is in danger wherever and whenever. There are countless numbers of people who are being incited by the Opposing Power that save the planet without anyone knowing it. There is one hero per age. Such a thing as saving the world is no longer enough to get you called a hero.

    Also, in the case that A is too powerful to topple with a human's power, the Opposing Power becomes a natural force and destroys the area including A. Long, long ago, the sinking of that continent was due to this bastard too. If you talk about it like this it seems like some guardian of humanity, but this thing has no human emotions. There are times when it blocks acts that would make everyone happier. The aggravating thing is that in the end this nuisance is the representation of humanity itself. Although we can't comprehend it the Opposing Power is the ultimate form of the dominant race. Time and time again in the past, this thing appeared in front of mages who attempted a particular experiment, and the mages were all massacred."

    ... Touko-san's story, it's really long.

    But I remember hearing something similar during a class in high school. What topic was it, in what subject. It was something along the lines that all humans are different, but connected in some way.

    ... Separate from that, in this story just now I imagined the Saint of Orleans. The old story of how a common farmer's daughter received the command of God to fight. They say that in reality all that happened was that she used tactics that the knights of that time didn't use out of contempt and honour, but wouldn't that also be because she was instigated by something. Someone who acts like they have suddenly become a different person. Someone who only turns different for that moment to fight with some evildoer. That this was the guardian of the human race that they called the Opposing Power.
    ibid 確かに、私は死の数ばかりを追っていた。何万という異なる人間の異なる死を経験すれば、その中に根源に通じ る魂の拡散があると信じていた。だが、それでは大元には到達できない。それで辿たどり着けるのはその人間の 『起源』だけだ。霊長という総体の起源には辿り着けない。 It's true that I was only pursuing the number of deaths. I was certain that if I experienced tens of thousands of different deaths among different people, I would be able to find a spiritual diffusion that led to the origin. However, with just that alone, I cannot reach the origin. The only thing that you can come close to with that is humanity's 'origin'. You cannot reach the origin of that totality known as the dominant organism.
    ibid だがどうやってだ。魔術的な結界を張らずに自分が魔術師ではないと証明したところで霊長の意志は欺けない。近代的な技術による結界で誤魔化せるのは同じ魔術師だけだ。たしかにこの建物なら道は開 く。太極図の具現だからな、間違いなく穴はできるだろう。だが、その穴から真っ先に出てくるの は霊長の守護者だ。我々は我々である以上、アレには絶対に
    たちう
    太刀打
    ちできない」
    But, how? Even if you don't set out a magical ward to testify that you aren't a mage, you can't fool the will of the dominant race. The only ones you can fool by using a technological ward are other mages. If you use this building a path will definitely open. Since its the realization of the Taeguekdo, a hole would certainly appear. But the first thing to come out of that hole will be a [-----] Counter Guardian. As long as we are who we are, there is no way we can stand up to that."
    ibid では、ならば何故、根源に到達しえた者がいるのか。答えは単純だ。到達しうる方法があるのではない。単に到 達しえる人間がいるだけなのだ。いかなる
    えいち
    叡智
    を学ぼうと、所詮魔術は後から付属した後天的な物でしかない。才能とはそういう事だ。生まれついた時点で持 っているか持っていないか。選ばれているかいないかの違いなのだ。生まれついた時からすでに根源と繫がって いる人間。複雑化し、種類を増やし、根源である大元から離れすぎてしまった霊長だが、
    まれ
    に根源から直接生まれついた者がある。「 」に繫がったまま生まれ落ちた無色の魂。それこそが唯一大元へと 辿り着ける存在だろう。ならばそれを探しだすのみであり──こうして見付けだすのに、十年の歳 月を要した」
    In that case, why are there those who reached the origin? The answer is simple. There is no way of reaching it. There are just humans who have reached it. No matter what branch you study, magecraft is nothing but a descendant that was attached later on. Ability is like that. You have it from the moment that you are born. It is the difference between being chosen and not being chosen. A humans who is connected to the origin from the moment they are born. We are a dominant organism that has digressed too far from the first great element that was our origin by becoming complicated and diversified, but there are rarely people who are born from the origin. Colourless souls who are born connected to 「 」. That is probably the only existence that can reach the original source. In that case all that remains is to find it. In finding it, I spent ten years of my life."
    ibid 「聞こう。急げ、あと数秒も保たん」

     自分で殺しておいてそれもないものだ、と橙子は毒突く。ともあれ、ここは彼の言うとおりだ。彼女の体は、 もう唇しか満足に動かなかった。

    「…………アカシックレコードに触れようとする事で抑止力が動きだす。おまえのように人間を憎む者が全能と なれば、世界の終焉が起きる確率が高まるからだ。この抑止力というものには二種類ある。

     一つは霊長である人間が、自分達の世を存続させたいという無意識の集合体。

     そしてもう一つは、この世界そのものの本能だ。……この両者は目的が同じだが、その性質は微妙に異なる。 世界そのものの本能がアカシックレコードに触れる者を律するのは、たんに今の地球を支配しているのが人間だ からにすぎない。人間の文明社会が崩壊するという事は、この天体の〝成長の終わり死〟に直結する可能性があ るからだろう。故に世界の意志が作り出した救世主は、英雄と並んで人間の世の崩壊を防ぐんだ」
    “Speak. . . And hurry, few seconds remain.

    “. . . When one makes contact with the Akashic Record, the Counter Force begins to move. When one such as you turns to hating humanity, the chances of the world ending go up. The Counter Force has two types.

    The first is for humanity, a force that preserves our world subconsciously in an aggregate form.

    There is one more type, the true form of the Counter Force on this earth. . . Both have the same goal, but this variety has one key difference. It takes the shape of the Akashic Record. The Counter Force mandates that one who touches the Akashic Record shall control the world. The end of civilization, or in other words, a celestial end to all progress becomes possible. Therefore if the world consciously produces a Messiah, such an individual would be a Legendary Hero who would defend the world from destruction.”
    ibid 「世界───? 違うよ、荒耶。今回おまえを阻んだのは霊長の抑止力なんかじゃない。おまえは本当にうまくやった。抑止力は働かなかった。荒耶宗蓮を破滅させたのはた だ一つ。おまえはさ、臙条巴という、たった一人の人間の、くだらない家族愛に負けたんだよ」

     荒耶は認めない。

     世界全ての、現存している人間全ての意志を敵にまわしても打ち勝ってみせよう、という自分が、あのような 若造につまずいたなどと、誰が───。

    「仮にそうだとしても。ヤツを後押ししたのは霊長の世を維持しようとする有象無象の下衆どもだ。本来の臙条巴では、あの行動は不可能だ。ヤツを動かしていた のは家族を思う心などではない。そんなものは人間にはない。ヤツラにあるのは自分が生き残りたいという願望 のみだ。ヤツは、その醜い本心を隠す為に、家族愛らしき装飾をかぶっていたにすぎぬ。自分が生きていたいか ら、他人を守る擬態をするのだ」

     アラヤの言葉には、憎しみしかない。

     人間を汚いと罵るこの男を、橙子は正しいとは思わない。荒耶宗蓮は長く生きすぎて、もはや一つの概念と化 している。思考の方向性が変わらぬものは、すでに人ではない。

     無駄と知りつつも、彼女は呪いの続きを口にする。

    「───ひとつ、いい事を教えてやろうか荒耶。おまえは知らないだろうけれどね、有名な心理学者が定義した 集合的無意識というものがある。全ての人間の意識の最下層はみな同一の湖にいきつくという考え。もと仏僧で あるおまえには馴染み深い思想でなくてはいけないものだ。これはつまり、ガイア論的ではない方の抑止力── ─霊長の無意識下での同一意見だ。

     これをね、宗蓮。一般にはアラヤ識というんだ」

     な、に、と息を呑む声がする。

     橙子はかまわず続ける。魔術師は以前、彼女の問いにこう答えたのだ。自分の敵は霊長の想念、救いがたい人間の性である、と。

    その呪いが────今、ここに一つの形を成す。
    The world---? Not quite, Araya. What thwarted you this time wasn't the Counter Force of the dominant species. You had done well, so it did not interfere. What defeated you - the one thing that spelled Araya Souren's doom - was a single person's - Enjou Tomoe's trivial love for his family.

    Araya rejects that.

    That he, who was determined to prevail against the will of the entire world - of the entire human race - had been foiled by such a child-----

    "Supposing so, he would be compelled by those dogs of creation that seek to maintain the world of the dominant species. The original Enjou Tomoe could not have acted like that. It was not his feelings for his family that drove him, as humans possess no such things. All they have is the desire to survive. He is merely hiding his unsightly true feelings under the guise of familial love, pretending to want to protect others because he wants to stay alive.

    There is nothing but hatred in Araya's words.

    Touko does not think this man who decries the vulgarity of humans is right. Araya Souren has lived so long he has already become a concept. Those whose thoughts cannot change direction have ceased to be human.

    Aware of the futility of it, she carries on with her curse.

    ---Let me tell you something good, Araya. You may not be aware of this but a famous psychologist once coined the term 'collective unconscious'. The idea is that at the bottom of every single person's subconscious lies one and the same pool. As a former Buddhist monk, this might be familiar territory for you. That is, plainly put, the Counter Force that does not derive from Gaia's will---the consensus deep in the unconscious of the dominant species.

    And this, Araya, is what we call Alayashiki.

    Wh.....at, he gasps.

    Touko continues, paying him no mind. The magus had once answered her thus: my enemy is the idea of 霊長, the irredeemable human nature.

    That curse-----takes shape here.
    ibid 神は人類という種が分かれるようにと人々を区分けしたんだ。肌の色や体質からではない。もっと分かりやすく 根本的な部分、つまり言葉でだ。人と人の意思疎通において、最大の壁は髪の色や瞳の色ではなく、その言語の 違いだろう? それこそが最も巨大な断絶だ。分かり合う事ができなければ、人々はバベルの塔のような巨大建 造物は建てられない、と当事の神さまはふんだのだろうね。しかし、結局人間は地球上で最も栄え 、霊長となり、言語の壁さえもとっぱらってしまった。 God divided people so that the species called humanity may itself be divided, not by the colour of its skin or its physical make-up, but through a more fundamental partition - that is, language. The greatest barrier in communication between two people isn't the colour of their hair or eyes but the difference in their language, right? That is the vastest of gaps. The God in question must have reasoned that people couldn't build a gigantic structure like the Tower of Babel if they couldn't understand each other in the first place. However, humans eventually flourished above all on the planet, becoming the dominant species, and even the barrier of language was broken down.
    ibid  人々の意志は独立しているけれど、〝霊長の意志〟という大きなくくりの中で独立しているモノだと、橙子師は言った。だからその大きなくくりを観測で きる技術があるのなら、独立していて孤独している人々の意志や記憶に溶け込む事ができるとも。 Mistress Touko had said that although people had their own independent wills, they are still independent within the greater cluster of "the will of the dominant species". Therefore, if we had the means to observe that greater cluster, one could merge into the wills and memories of independent, individual people.
    Fate/stay night わたしは勘違いしていた。英霊、サーヴァントと呼ばれる使い魔。
     ……その中でも『守護者』に位置づけられる霊長の抑止力。
     彼らはあらゆる時代に召喚され、人の世の破滅を防ぐ。
     けど、彼らが呼び出される条件は“人間の手による破滅”だけ。
     自然、外的要因による破滅は、
    にんげん
    霊長
    がんぼう
    抑止力
    ではなく、世界の抑止力が解決する。
    I was mistaken.
    Heroic spirits, familiars called Servants.
    ...Humanity's power to control called the "guardians".
    They are summoned into every age to prevent humanity's extinction.
    But the only condition for their summoning is "destruction brought on by humans".
    Naturally, destruction brought on by an outside factor is solved not by
    human power
    霊長's Counter Force
    , but by the world's Counter Force.
    ibid 「守護者とは、“霊長の存命”のみを優先する無色の力だ。
     力は高き処にありて、人の世が滅亡する可能性が生じれば世に下る。
     ……ソレがただの奴隷である事は知っていた。
     死後、己が存在を守護者に預けたモノは輪廻の枠から外れ、無と同意になるのだと」
    "Guardians are a colorless force that places "humanity's survival" before anything.
    The powers are in the heavens, and the guardians appear in this world only when there's a chance of human extinction.
    ...I knew they were just slaves.
    I knew that people who become guardians are removed from the circle of reincarnation and become like nothingness."
    ibid 「先ほども言っただろう? 自己で補えないのなら、余所から奪ってくるのがヤツラだと。
     聖杯を満たす最高純度の魔力。
     守護者とも言える、“霊長最強の魂”こそが、ヤツラが求めたものだ。七人のサーヴァントとはな、もともと聖杯にくべられる生け贄の事 らしいぞ?」
    "I told you earlier, right? They are ones that take away from others if they cannot supply it themselves.
    The purest magical energy to fill the Holy Grail.
    The 'greatest souls of humanity', the guardians, are what they sought. The seven Servants are sacrifices they prepared."
    Complete Material 間が霊長から転落した理由の一つに、大気に満ちたジンを扱えず、吸い込めば死に至るという事がある。 ジンという新しいエネルギ ーに拒絶された時点で人間はもっとも弱い生物になったが、ブラックバレルはその欠点を逆転させた兵器と言え る。 One of the reasons why humans fell from the crown of creation was that they could not deal with the grain that filled the atmosphere, and would be fatal if inhaled. This new energy called grain refused humanity and as a result, humanity had become the weakest living organism on earth -- but the Black Barrel is a weapon that suddenly reverses this flaw.
    ibid 死した星の上で、次なる霊長の座をかけて楽しく仲良しく内ゲバしていたのだが、おまえたちどっちもそろそろ死になさいよ、とばかりに謎の物 体・アリストテレスたちが宇宙からやってきたのであった―。 The story takes place on a dead planet, where people are happily fighting over who will be the next leader.
    However, a mysterious object called an Aristotles and his friends came from outer space and told them that it was time for both of them to die.
    Melty Blood Actress Again 「その通りだ吸血鬼。私は二十七祖の一角だが、吸血鬼ではない。」

    「生き延びる為に同族の血など必要としない。そもそも、生き延びるという選択を選ばない。」

    「私はこの国を知る前のシオン・エルトナム・アトラシア。」

    「タタリになど関わらず、ありのままの姿でアトラスの長に辿り着いた、霊長の未来を守護するアトラスの巨人。」
    Precisely, vampire. Though I am one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, I am not a vampire.
    I don't need the blood of my own kind to live on. I haven't even chosen to continue living in the first place.
    I am the Sion Eltnam Atlasia who did not come to know of this country.
    In spite of TATARI, I became the leader of Atlas as I was. I am the titan of Atlas who will protect the future of the Primates.
    ibid 「そうだ、アトラスの錬金術師としての私ではオシリスに堕ちる。」

    「なら今の私……吸血鬼になったシオン・エルトナムこそ、霊長の未来を憂いるに相応しい。」
    Yes...The version of me that is an alchemist of Atlas has fallen to Osiris.
    Then my current self...as the Sion Eltnam that has become a vampire, it befits me to lament the future of Primates.
    ibid 「この風景ビジョン―――星の終焉。すべてが砂に却かえった、滅びきった未来の姿か……?」

    「そうだ。ようこそ朱い月。ここはかつて貴女が呼び出した未来像。私が望む、最後にして最高の 救罪法だ。」

    「―――何かと思えば、ワラキアの夜の後継機か。この滅び。あらゆる生命の絶えた星の姿が、そなたの言う救 罪だと?」

    「然り。滅びは避けられない。どのような手段をもってしても、霊長の自滅は防げない。」

    「故に、私はこの解答に辿り着いた。滅びが避けられないのなら、より良い、速やかな滅亡を実行 する。」
    "This vision - it's the end of the world. A ruined future where everything has returned to dust...?"

    "Yes, it is. Welcome, Crimson Moon. This is the vision of the future you once summoned. The ultimate, final salvation that I desire."

    "---You must be the Night of Wallachia's successor. This destruction....the extinction of all life on the planet is what you call "salvation"?"

    "Yes. Mankind cannot escape this fate. No matter what measures they take, their self-destruction is inevitable.

    Thus, I have arrived at the following solution. Given that their fate is unavoidable, I will help them meet it in the fastest, cleanest way possible.“”
    ibid 「それは限界まで生存し、その果てに滅びを受け入れた者のみが選ぶ最後の光だ。」

    「自ら滅びを早めるなど、そなたが記録しようとする霊長の歴史への冒涜に他ならない。」
    ”Only those who survive until the end and accept their own destruction have the right to make that choice.

    To hasten their end would do nothing but desecrate the very history [----] you are trying to preserve.”
    ibid 「私は冥界の鳥。死に絶えるオシリスの砂。霊長を救う、最後のアトラスである。」 I am the Bird of Hades. The dying Dust of Osiris. The last Atlas that will save the Primates.
    ibid 「そうだ。私はオシリスの砂。錬成した賢者の石を以て、霊長の守護を達成するもの。 Yes. I am the Dust of Osiris. With the Philosopher's Stone I have created, I have attained mankind's ultimate salvation.
    ibid 「? 不可解だ。アナタなら私を理解できる筈。共に霊長を滅亡から救う為に死徒となり、祖となった。そのアナタがなぜ。」 ? Perplexing. You should be one of the few who understands me. We both became Dead Apostles, Ancestors in order to save the Primates. So, then why?
    ibid 「……やはり私を破壊するか。共に霊長の守護を語りながら、我々の手段はあまりにも違う。」

    「貴様はおぞましい、際限のない存在を。私はむなしすぎる、採算すべき終末を。」

    「……その為にこだけの数の賢者の石を錬成した、か。」

    「星が冷えきった後。人々が死に絶えた後も生存しているという仮定を想い続ける回路。」

    「それが貴女の“結論”ってワケ?」

    「そうだ。賢者の石を飲んだ演ヘル算機メスは永遠に活動する。」

    「死を知らず、冥界で飛び続ける箱船の鳥。それが貴様とは違う、霊長の語り部である。」
    "...So
    Aoko
    you
    do plan to destroy me. While we both speak of protecting humanity, our methods differ too greatly. Yours is repulsive, seeking a limitless existence. Mine is born of futility, seeking a beneficial conclusion."

    "...and that's why you've formed so may Philosopher's Stones, huh? A circuit that continues to hypothesize mankind's existence after the planet freezes and they die out. That's your 'conclusion'?"

    "Yes. Hermes, having consumed the Philosopher's Stones, will remain active for eternity. An undying bird, an ark that is forever leaping free of the underworld. It shall be a storyteller for the tale of mankind....unlike you."
    ibid 「その認識は間違いだ。私は望んでこのカタチになった。」

    「シオン・エルトナム・アトラシアの目的は未来の守護。回避できぬ破滅から霊長を守る為の未来予測と、その救助法の確立だ。」

    「私はその為に成長した。私はその為にタタリを拝命し二十七祖となった。」

    「私は冥界の鳥。私はオシリスの砂。霊長を保存する、アトラスの巨人である。」
    "There is a mistake in your recognition. I became like this because I wished for it. Sion Eltnam Atlasia's goal was to protect the future. It was to see what the future held, and establish a way for the Primates to avoid extinction.

    That is why I have grown. That is why I took command of TATARI and became one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors.

    I am the Bird of Hermes. The dying Dust of Osiris. The last Atlas that will save the Primates."
    ibid 「では幕を引くとしよう。我が
    からだ
    自転
    を休め、地表の文明を一掃する。 人の子よ。創世の地獄の中でなお生き残るのなら貴様らの勝ちだ。憚る事な く霊長の世を謳うがよい。」
    Then let us draw back the curtain. I shall arrest my
    body
    rotation
    and wipe civilisation off the face of the earth. O children of men! If you yet survive within the hell of creation, victory will be yours. Hesitate not to proclaim thy reign of primacy.
    Mirai Fukuin いいかい。人間は様々な文化、知識体系を築き上げて霊長の頂点に立った。身体機能のみならず、脳の使い方も進化させたという事だな。だが進化というのは、その環境にあっ たカタチに適合する、という事だ。使わない機能、生存に負担をかける機能は削られていくんだよ。より安いコ ストで代用がきくのなら、優れた機能であろうとフタをするのが生命だからね。未来視はそういった、安全の名 のもとに消え去った"人間が本来持ち得た機能"の一つにすぎない。 Listen. Humans stand at the peak of the primates, a peak built upon their various cultures and bodies of knowledge. They have evolved not just in bodily functions, but also in the usage of the brain. But, evolution is the process of conforming to the shape of the environment. Functions which are useless or which would burden the act of survival are cut off. If there is a working substitute with a lower cost, then even an excellent function will be stoppered - that's life. Precognition is nothing more than one of the 'functions originally possessed by humans' which had disappeared in the name of safety.
    Mahoutsukai no Yoru 魔術とは歴史の研鑽。
    人の手による業と、星の元に巡る命だ。
    けれど魔法は天の外の神の摂理。
    人にも星にも含まれない業を、一体地上の誰が、どうして、奇跡と讃え尊ぶものか。
    明白な罪科。
    魔法とは、人類の敵そのもの。
    故に新たに魔法を宿したものは、その赤い影に殺される。
    「聴け、万物の霊長
    声は高らかに、冬の空に響き渡る。
    空間そのものに走る断裂。
    周囲の風景が軋んでいく様は、伽藍の崩壊を思わせる。
    Magecraft is the studying of history.
    The works of man, the circle of life of the planet.
    But magic is the providence of a god beyond the skies. Why would anyone on this earth call a feat not of man not of the planet and the planet a miracle?
    It is an irrefutable crime.
    Magic is the enemy of humanity.
    And that is why those who have newly acquired magic are killed by that red shadow.
    “Hear me, Lord of Creation.”
    Her voice loudly echoed in the winter sky. Cracks ran across the space itself. The creaking of the surrounding landscape invoked images of a collapsing cathedral.
    Fate/Extra CCC 大したものです。この状況でまだ行動理由を捻出できるなんて。貴方がた人間がなぜ霊長類の座を守り続けたか、ようやく理解しました。 That's amazing. That you can contrive of a reason to work in this situation. I finally understand how you humans have continued to protect the position of primates.
    ibid 遡ること四千数百年。
    人間の文明は、一度目の過渡期を迎えようとしていた。
    多くの古きモノが力を失い、わずかな新しいモノが芽吹き始める。
    ヒトの知恵の発達と共に満ちていた神秘は減少し、この星における宇宙の
    のり
    は少しずつ今ある物理法則に移行し始める。
    大地の在り方が確かな物になると、神獣、幻獣たちは地上での活動が困難になった。
    大気の理を担っていた神々は、指向性を失い純粋な自然現象に戻りつつあった。

    即ち、霊長類の時代、その始まりである。

    神々が地上から去り、大地は人間が統べる事になった。
    何人もの王が生まれ、滅び、その度に文明は進んでいった。
    言ってしまえば、人間がはじめて
    ちち
    から離れ、ひとり歩きを始めた黎明期。
    ……そう。
    それまで自然を敬い、恐れていた人間が、
    ・・・・・
    人間として
    思うままに振るまい始めた
    狂乱の幕開け。
    Four thousand and some hundreds of years ago.
    The human civilization was on the cusp of its first transition.
    Many of the ancient began to weaken;a handful of the new began to burgeon.
    The mystery with which the land had once brimmed dwindled as human knowledge advanced, and the laws of the universe on this planet began to shift little by little towards the physical laws of today.
    As the state of the earth became defined, it became difficult for Divine and Phantasmal Beasts to roam freely.
    The gods who had borne the principles of the atmosphere lost their directivity and were beginning to return to pure phenomena.

    In other words, this was the beginning of the primatial age.

    The gods left the land, and it became so that the humans ruled the earth.
    Many kings lived and perished, and as that happened civilization progressed.
    It was the dawning of the age where humans for the first time strayed from
    father
    the gods
    , and walked on their own legs.
    ….Indeed.
    The dawning of frenetic turmoil, where the humans who had until then venerated and feared nature, began, as humans, to do what they wished.
    The commencement of manic delirium.
    Garden of Avalon 「失礼。次に聖槍の話だ。こっちは外敵を倒すものではなく、惑星を安定させるもの…というより 、星の
    いかり
    だ。 
    先ほどキミは妖精郷と言ったけど、妖精郷は何も違う世界にあるワケじゃない。キミの足の下。薄皮一枚隔てた 世界の裏側にあるものだ」

    「…私の足の下 …地面の下、ですか?」

    「そう思ってもいい。ようは”キミたちの世”という土台の下に”妖精郷”という隙間があって、 その下が
    ほし
    惑星
    の地表というワケだ。妖精郷もキミたちの世界も一枚の皮、
    テクスチャー
    織物
    にすぎない。どちらも
    ほし
    惑星
    の地表に張り付いた”外観”なのさ」

    「…
    テクスチャー
    織物
    …このブリテンが、ですか?」

    「ブリテンだけじゃない、キミたち人間の世界すべてがだ。むしろブリテンはちょっと特別だね。
     アルトリア。目に見えるものだけが全てじゃない。妖精たちはキミたち人間が霊長の座についた時、この
    ほし
    惑星
    の在り方が変化していく事を読み取り、受け入れた。
     
    ほし
    惑星
    というのはその地表で活動する生命によって物理法則を変えていく。かつて神秘と魔力が満ちていた時代は、キ ミたち人間が最大勢力になる事で終わりを迎え、徐々に衰退していった。人格を持っていた
    かみ
    自然
    はただの自然現象になっていき、大気中のエーテルは霧散した。
     魔術の王ソロモンが没してから神秘の減少は加速していった。そして五百年前、ついに神代は完全に終了した 。
     この
    ほし
    惑星
    は自然から独立した、自然のサイクルから離れてもなんとか自分たちだけで生きていける動物たちのものになっ た。
     うん、分かりゃすくいうとキミたち人間の事だね。人間が獲得した知性の方向性……精神性は”不確かな法則 ”という闇を照らす事を望んだ。結果、
    ほし
    惑星
    のルールが”人間が生きる為に最適化した法則”に変化した、というコトさ。竜も妖精も、キミたち人間のルー ルでは反則なんだ。だから彼らは自分から世界の裏側に移住した。この地上をキミたちに譲り渡し た」

    そして、移動するだけのカがなかったものと、自らの終わりを認められないものたちだけが地上に 残った。
    前者は害は無いが後者は人間にとって害惑になる。
    強力な個体は大気中の魔力が失われでも生存できるため、おそらくむこう何百年間は棲息し続け、人類を脅かす かもしれない。

    「とにかく、キミたちはこの
    ほし
    惑星
    の代表になった。でもそんなものは薄皮一枚でベロリと
    めく
    りあげられるものだ。風で飛んでしまいそうな布がある時、キミはどうする?放っておくかい?おかないだろ。 剥がれてしまうのなら、剥がれないように縫い付ければいい。キミたち人間が住む世界の
    テクスチャー
    織物
    。それをこの
    ほし
    惑星
    に固定する錨が聖槍―――最果てにて輝く槍、霊長を守る柱、聖槍ロンゴミニアドだ」
    “Oh excuse me. Now, let me tell you about your holy spear. It isn’t meant to overcome external threats but to keep the planet in place, or rather, it’s its anchor. You just spoke of Avalon, but Avalon isn’t so much as a different world. It’s beneath your very feet. On the other side of the world, separated by a thin layer.

    “Beneath my feet…below the ground you say?”

    “So to speak. Below the foundation that is ‘the world of your kind’ is the gap that is ‘Avalon’, and below that is the surface of the planet. Avalon and your world are but layers, its texture. Both are “outer appearances” sticking to the surface of the planet.

    “….Texture…you mean Britain?”
    “Not just Britain, but the entire world of mankind. Britain, actually, happens to be a bit unique. Artoria, the world you see with your eyes is not everything. The fairies knew the moment your species ascended to the seat of the Prime Ones that the nature of the planet was changing, and they accepted it. What had once been an era filled with mana ended by you humans becoming the greatest of forces and gradually declined. Personified gods was reduced to mere natural phenomenon, and the ether in the air cleared. The decline of mystery accelerated since the demise of Solomon the King of Magic. And then five hundred years before today, the age of gods ended completely.
    This planet became the possession of animals who could survive on their own even when they’re no longer apart of the cycle of nature.
    To put it simply, I mean you and your species. The intelligence that humanity gained, their mentality strove to illuminate the darkness of ‘uncertain laws’. And because of that, the laws of the planet changed to laws most suitable for humans to live.
    The dragons and the fairies weren’t compatible with those rules. That’s why they moved to the other side of the world on their own. They left this land to your people.”
    And what remained in this land were those who didn’t have the power to move and those who could not accept their end.
    The former were harmless but the latter would be dangers to humanity. The powerful ones could live even without the mana in the air, so it was likely they would continue to dwell for hundreds of years and threaten humanity.

    “In any case, your species have become the representatives of the planet. But that can be undone with just a peel of a layer. When a piece of cloth is going to be blown away by the wind, what would you do? Would you leave it be? Of course you wouldn’t. If it looks like it’s going to come off, you’re going to sew it back. The texture of the world you live in, the anchor that is going to keep it to the planet is your holy spear----the spear that shines to the ends of the world, the pillar that protects the Prime Ones, the Holy Spear Rhongomyniad.”
    Tsukihime Remake 「お、さっすが人力だけでピラミッドを建てちゃう霊長類!堅実かつ誠実ね。いいわ、じゃあ今夜は吸血鬼講座中級編、吸血鬼社会の仕組みについてお話し ましょう!」 "Ooh, as expected of the 霊長類 who build the pyramids using only human effort! Steady and honest on top. Alright, then tonight let's have an intermediate vampire lecture and talk about the structure of vampire society!"
    ibid 「世界に数多くいる吸血種の中でも霊長類、ホモサピエンスの血液を糧とする異物を、わたしたち聖堂教会は吸血鬼と呼称しています」
    「吸血鬼は大きく真祖と死徒とに分類され、 アルクェイド・ブリュンスタッドは真祖であり、この街に巣くっ ているロアは死徒となります」
    「上級の死徒たちはみな特殊な異能を持っていますが、ロアはその中でも異端扱いされている特例 でした」
    "Among the many bloodsucking species in the world, the corpses that feed on 霊長類 - on the blood of Homo Sapiens - are called vampires by our Holy Church. Vampires are broadly divided into True Ancestors and Dead Apostles, of which Arcueid Brunestud is the former and Roa, the one lurking in this city, is the latter. All superior Deadl Apostles have special abilities, but Roa was a special case that even they considered a heresy."
    ibid  死徒は子供を産めない。
     死徒は異能を継承できない。
     自らの遺伝子を伝えられない。
     彼らは生き物として致命的な欠点を持っている。
     人間を超える彼等が霊長類にカウントされない最大の理由がこれである。
     つまり、死徒は死徒の子を作る事ができない。
     死徒の呪い……祖にいたっては世界と対峙するほどの呪いは、それを保有する個体が消えれば消失してしまう 。
    Dead Apostles cannot give birth to children;
    Dead Apostles cannot pass on their powers;
    They cannot propagate their own genes.
    They are critically flawed in terms of being alive.
    This is the biggest reason as to why they, who are otherwise so superior to humans, do not count as Primoids.
    In short, Dead Apostles cannot birth their own children.
    The Dead Apostle curse... enough to oppose the world itself in the case of the Ancestors. But even so, should the individual possessing it disappear, then so too would it.
    ibid 「むっ……! なによそれ、わたしの思考の雛型は
    にんげん
    霊長類
    と同じなんだから、志貴とたいして違ってないんですけど!ネコとネズミぐらいの違いなんですけ ど!」
    "Muuu....! What do you mean, my thinking patterns are the same as those of
    humans
    霊長類
    , so it's not like I'm that different from you, Shiki! We're like a mouse and a cat!"
    ibid 「――― 天敵って、俺たちが?」
     為す術なく食料として殺されるのに……?
    「もうずっと昔、西暦が始まったばかりの頃。
     人間は様々な魔術、神秘学、式典儀礼を基に組織体系を作り、人間以外の霊長類を排除しはじめた。
     その最たる物が聖堂教会―――普遍的、という名を掲げた欧州の一大宗教よ。彼等は昔から“人間でないモノ ”を徹底的に淘汰してきたけど、その中でも吸血鬼に対する敵視はどうかしているわ」
    "-----by natural enemy, you mean us?"
    Even though we are forcible hunted as food...?
    "Long ago, when the Common Era had just began, humans devised systems of organisation based on various magical, mystical, and ceremonial rites, and began the elimination of 霊長類 that were not human . The greatest of those was the Holy Church---the premier religion of Europe that calls itself "universal". They have been thoroughly eliminating "inhuman things" since long ago, but the enmity they have towards vampires is something else."
    ibid 「そのノエルって代行者が今まで何もしなかったのは、わたしと死徒を同時に始末する機会を窺っ ていたんでし ょうね。埋葬機関にとって、人間ではない霊長はそれだけで“悪”だから」 Why this... Executor Noel一or whatever she was called一has until now not done anything, is probably because she's waiting for a chance to take care of me and the Dead Apostle at the same time. You see, for the Burial Agency, just being a Primate who isn't human is enough for them to consider you evil.
    ibid 人間の知恵を嘲笑う、獰猛な自然のカタチ。
     そこはもうビル街ではなかった。
     自然に侵食され、廃墟になった文明の跡地でもなかった。
     もっともっと過去の世界。
     人類が発生する前―――何億年も昔の、太古の地球の姿だった。
    『そうだ。これが惑星の霊長に知的生命体を設定しなかった場合の、地球本来の植物の尺度だ。
     真祖にとって外敵への対応はこのようなもの。』
    The savage form of nature that scoffs at human intellect.
    No longer was there a built-up city.
    Not even the ruins of a collapsed civilisation, taken over by nature.
    This was a world from a very distant past.
    The face of the primeval Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, before the emergence of mankind.

    "Correct. This is the original scale of the Earth's vegetation at a time when intelligent life hadn't established itself as this planet's 霊長. Such is the proper response to external threats for a True Ancestor."


    The appearance of 霊長(類) in as many materials as I had available and could easily CTRL+F through, in relative chronological order. The translations are presented for reference and context, not necessarily accuracy. I am aware that there are numerous examples of such things as gods, mammoths, fairies, and others being referred to as 霊長 in FGO, as well as mentions of humans falling from the 霊長の座, and while these instances round out the overall hypothesis I have no wish to track them down myself.

    Now for some comments:

    • To begin with, as the oldest materials KnK and Notes may not necessarily reflect the final form of the concept in Nasu's mind. That said, in KnK the term 霊長 is synonymous with mankind/Alaya, and Araya's anthropocentric focus while using the term cements this. Meanwhile, the overall biological angle of A-Rays makes it possible that "primates" in the biological sense was the intended meaning. However, the distinction of 生命種 and 霊長類 as well as one of the subspecies being Angels hint at the possibility that at this point 霊長類 generally denoted creatures that were literally "supernatural". Consider also the Aristoteles as the 最も優れた個体 of their planets - would they be the 霊長類 too by the definition of Notes?
    • Primate Murder might have been a case of literal translation. Otherwise a mixed bag. Ciel jokes about how 霊長類の代表として、ケモノどもに目にモノ見せてあげましょう, while 霊長類として頂点に立つヒト sounds more modern. Would the True Ancestors have been 霊長の敵対者 at a time when humanity wasn't yet the planet's 霊長 (with a conventional dating of their creation before 2000 BCE)?
    • F/SN continues in the same vein as KnK. However, two years later Charamat drops 霊長から転落した and 霊長の座, marking a definite shift towards thinking of 霊長 as a status or title denoting primacy over the other species on the planet.
    • 万物の霊長 - Lord of Creation; the dictionary sources a definition of "万物のなかで最も霊妙ですぐれたもの。すなわち、人間。人類。". Then again what the hell else would it be irl.
    • Garden of Avalon and the aforementioned alt history FGO stuff, plus Tsukihime Remake talking about the rise of intelligent life to 霊長 status in the order of millions of years, delineate the modern definition.
    • It seems most probable that 霊長 is a title denoting a position of ontological superiority on this planet at least. There are mentions of rising to and falling from this status that coincide with periods of an exceptional species' rise or catastrophic decline, including species that cannot even generously be called primates. We can only assume that the prevalence of anthropomorphism among them is an external product of the genre, but I can see an argument otherwise.
    • The real interest for me lies in the extent of the exceptionalism regarding humans, 霊長 or otherwise. It seems logical to argue that a 霊長 is marked by the ability to exert influence upon nature as an independent entity that isn't subservient to Gaia's order, rather than an abstraction of pure powerlevels like the TYPEs of old, and yet only humans have, to my knowledge, been spoken of as this singular existence that stands outside of nature, to the extent that the planet itself reacts against it. This primacy as a species - the ability to force our will onto nature, enact change and protect the interests of our species as a whole, is embodied by the Counter Force of Alaya, so emblematic a manifestation of the will of humans as 霊長 that half the uses of the term refer to it. Did the other 霊長 beyond humans have a Counter Force as well? Did they stand in conflict with Gaia as humans do? And if they didn't, what defines a 霊長, and is the existential sum of humanity greater than such a title?

  16. #35236
    世はまさにパンテオン Comun's Avatar
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    The biggest question in my mind with this is whether 霊長 is an Earth thing or if other planets have their own. If the latter, it's easy to surmise that the condition to make a Type is a planet and it's dominant species not being in conflict.

  17. #35237
    死徒二十七祖 The Twenty Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Kirishima's Avatar
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    I didn't ever think about it but does that imply that the other planets, the moon and the oort cloud would living being and even multiple species?

    Maybe having zero dominant species technically makes what Comun mentioned stand.

  18. #35238
    闇色の六王権 The Dark Six OnesFleetingGlory's Avatar
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    Since Gaia is a thing, when a planet is its own dominant species, can't it generate its own Type? An offshoot that acts as extension of its will?



  19. #35239
    祖 Ancestor Ideofago's Avatar
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    Man I'm really not sure if I'm glad that notes is just an obscure short story, because if this sort of imagery was used in a shounen anime it would spread like wildfire
    Call me 想φαγω.
    Spoiler:
    Quote Originally Posted by Mooncake View Post
    I get this vague feeling from your posts that you're looking down on people who don't share your view, which is what it is, but at least take a moment to snort some common sense between those hits of pretension.
    Quote Originally Posted by Spinach View Post
    My opinion is better than your opinion, so it isn't up for debate.
    Quote Originally Posted by Comun
    Telling us that you're rich is not going to make anyone stop laughing at you for believing in self-insert NTR.
    Quote Originally Posted by ResidentSeagull View Post
    You seriously underestimate the human potential for wanting to fuck stuff, my dude.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dullahan
    Welcome to BL, new user. Don't forget to fate/stay mad


  20. #35240
    Quote Originally Posted by Leftovers View Post
    Spoiler:
    Source JP EN
    Notes 亜麗百種 [a-ray]

     星の資源を使いきった人類が生み出した次世代の霊長類
     かつての星に現存していた各生物種をモチーフにしたもの。荒廃した星でも生存可能であるように生態を大き く改良・強化されたもの。その系統樹は様々で、大きく分類して百種にわたる。一から十までの位である亜麗は 単一種であり、群体ではない。
     中には人間としての遺伝子を含み、人間と似た形態の亜麗も存在するが、やはり大部分は様々な 生命種と霊長類とが融合、進化したものである。
    Hundred Subspecies [a-ray]

    Next generation primates that were created by the human species who used up all the planet's resource.
    They were modeled after the living things that used to exist on the planet. They were modified/enhanced in order for them to survive on the corrupted planet. There were numerous branches to the A-rays, and they were categorized into about 100 major species. From 1 to 10 consists of only one type of A-rays each and not a mass.
    Some carry the genes of humans and they look like us, but a large part of them are mix/evolved form of various creatures and primates.
    Tsukihime 「むーっ! チエルに言われたくないー」
    ―――うっちゃっておいて!
    「きゃー、ぼうりょくはんたいー」
     とりあえず覚悟を決めて、遠野くんだけでホテルを探検してみてください。
     中は動物王国まっさかり。
     霊長類の代表として、ケモノどもに目にモノ見せてあげましょうねー。
    `"Heeeeyyy! I don't want to hear that from Chiel!"
    ` ---Abandon her!
    `"Kyaah! No violence!"
    ` Anyhow, please prepare yourself to explore the hotel alone.
    ` Inside, you'll find a whole animal kingdom.
    ` As the representative of mammals, let's show the beasts what we've got.\
    ibid 「何いってるのよ。その天敵っていうのは紛れもなくあなたたち人間の事よ」
    「────? 天敵って、俺たちが?」
    「そう。もうずっと昔、人間は様々な魔術、神秘学、式典儀礼をもとに組織体系を作り、人間以外 の霊長類を排除しはじめたの。
     その最たる物が基督教───法王庁が誇るエクシシストの集団よ。
    カトリック
    旧教
    は昔っから『人間でないモノ』を徹底的に淘汰してきたけど、その中でも吸血鬼に対する敵視はどうかしてるわ 」
    「世界中のどんな宗教をみたって、カトリック以上に吸血鬼を敵視している宗教はない。
     あれはね、すでに憑かれてる。病的すぎてわたしでさえ彼らには関わりたくないぐらいだもの」
     はあ、とアルクェイドはため息をつく。
    `"What are you saying? Their natural enemy is without a doubt you humans."
    `"-----? Natural enemies, us?"
    `"Yeah. Starting from a long time ago, humans used many kinds of magic, the occult, magical ceremonies to create an organization and started to eliminate primates other than humans.
    ` The greatest of these is Christianity---the pride of the Vatican, the Exorcists. The Catholic Church always viewed "nonhumans" as impurities, but vampires are considered the most dangerous."
    ` "There are many religious groups in the world, but the Catholic Church looks at vampires with more hostility than the rest.
    ` You know, it's almost an obsession. They are so insane, I don't even want to mess with them."
    ` Arcueid lets out a sigh.\
    ibid 「でもさ、それってつまり仲間ってことじゃないのか? その埋葬機関っていう連中も吸血鬼退治が目的なら、 一緒に吸血鬼を探せるかもしれない」
    「―――だめよ。連中は吸血鬼であるのならなんでもいいの。
     彼らにとって、ヒトではない霊長類はそれだけで『悪』なのよ。人間の血を吸おうが吸うまいが関係ない。
     そのエクソシストだって、この街に巣くった吸血鬼じゃなくて、わたしを封印するためにきたのかもしれない わ」
    `"Then aren't they like us? If this Burial Agency is a group whose purpose is to hunt vampires too, can't we search together?"
    `"----That won't work. For them, it's enough that someone is a vampire.
    ` To them, non-human primates are just "Evil". It doesn't matter if they suck blood or not.
    ` This exorcist may have even come here just to seal me rather than fight the vampire who lives in this city."
    Kagetsu Tohya 「――――――よいぞ。続きを申せ」
    「つまり貴方の寿命が尽きかけていたという事です。寿命という観念のない真祖にとって、死とは外的要因によ るモノでしかない。
     貴方は敵が多すぎた。
     通常、真祖は自然霊の一種として容認される。故にアラヤの怪物も、霊長の敵対者である筈の真祖においそれ と手を出さなかった。
     ……真祖は霊長の敵対者である前に、自然との調停者でもありますからね。我々の無意識は真祖という化け物を否定しつつ容認 している故、アラヤの怪物は真祖を抹消対象に捉えなかった」\
    "---Continue."
    `"It means that your life is reaching its end. To the True Ancestors, who do not have a predetermined lifespan, death is something that results from an external event.
    ` You had too many enemies.
    ` Generally, the True Ancestors are accepted as a spirit of nature. That's why the beast of Alaya won't oppose them.
    ` | The True Ancestors are more than just an enemy of the human race. They are the keepers of nature as well. Our subconsciousness both accepts and denies the monster called the True Ancestors, so Alaya's beast does not recognize them as a target of elimination."\
    ibid “魔”のルールにそぐわず、純粋な人間として異能を保有するモノ。それらはヒトという種が無意識から生み出 した抑止力とも言われている。
     抑止する対象は、無論、霊長類として頂点に立つヒトにあだなすモノタチである。
     それらの能力を持つに至った人間は魔術という後天的な技術を学ぶ必要もない。
     自然干渉法―――陰陽の理を無視した、自然から独立した人間種が持つに至った最果ての能力が超能力である 。
    ` They don't follow the rules of 'Demons' and carry inhuman powers as pure humans. Some say that this is a suppressing power that was born from the unconsciousness of mankind.
    ` The targets of the suppression are, no doubt, ones who are threat to the humans, who're the highest primates.
    ` People who achieved these abilities don't need to study an out-of-date technology like sorcery.
    ` Ignoring the principle of Yin and Yang, the interaction with nature, psychic ability is an extreme power achieved by the human race, who became detached from nature.\
    ibid 二十七祖シリーズ。
     1/プライミッツマーダー
     霊長の殺人者。白い獣。魔犬としてアルトルージュにのみ従うガイアの怪物。
     死徒ではないが、アルトルージュを真似ている為に人の血を飲むようになった。
     ヒトに対して絶対的な殺害権利を持つが故に最強の一つとして数えられる。
    27 Dead Apostle Ancestors Series
    1/Primate Murder
    Murderer of primates. White beast. The monster of Gaia that follows only Altrouge in the form of a demonic hound.
    Although not a Dead Apostle, it developed a taste for human blood in imitation of Altrouge.
    Considered one of the strongest because of its absolute authority over the killing of humans.
    Kara no Kyoukai
    わたしたち
    霊長
    は複雑になりすぎた。万能を求めるあまり、色々な能力を付属させた結果だ。人間を構成する情報である遺伝子 は、たった四種類の塩基にすぎない。けれどその四種類の塩基が折り重ねる単純な螺旋が、際限なく積み重ねら れる事によって計測不可能になる、なんていう矛盾に陥おちいってしまった。故に解析する事はできない。大元 に辿り着く事は、現代の人間からでは不可能なんだ。
    We
    The pinnacle of creation
    has become too complicated. Probably as a result of being invested with too many abilities after pursuing omnipotence. The genes that are the data which form a human are nothing more than four different bases, but the simple spiral formed by stacking those four types of bases has fallen into the paradox that, by being piled up till it was impossible to measure, it really has become impossible to measure.
    ibid 「───太極の中に太極を取り込んだのか。本気で根源に近付こうという心意気は認めるが、抑止力が働くぞ。 世界か霊長、どちらが動くかは判らない。だが過去一度として、アレを
    しりぞ
    退
    けた魔術師はいない。自ら破滅するつもりか、アルバ」
    "--- Trapping a Taeguk inside a Taeguk? I truly understand your desire to get closer to the origin, but Opposing Power will come into play. The world or mankind, I don't know which one will move. But in the past there hasn't been even one mage who has been able to defeat it. Are you planning to destroy yourself Alba?"
    ibid 「───そうかもしれない。

     抑止力というのはね、我々にとって最大の味方でもあり、同時に最大の敵でもある〝方向の修復 者〟を指す。

     私達人間は死にたくない。平和でいたい。

     私達のいる星だって死にたくない。長生きしたい。

    抑止力というのはそれだ。霊長という群体の誰もが持つ統一された意識、自分達の世を存続させたいという願望。我を取り外してヒトという種 の本能にある方向性が収束し、カタチになったもの。それが抑止力とよばれるカウンターガーディ アン。

     そうだな、例えばaという優れた人間が独裁を行なったとしよう。彼は正義の人で、その統治は理想的であっ たとする。人間が人間として見た道徳性の限りでね。しかしaの行動がひとりの人間としてではな く、霊長全体の視点から見て悪、つまり滅びの要因となる場合、抑止力は具現する。

     コレは霊長の世を存続させたい、というaさえ含めた人類の無意識下の集合体だ。人類を守る為に人類を拘束するこの存在 は、誰も知らないうちに現れ、誰にも観測される事なくaを消滅させる。人々の無意識下の渦が作り上げた代表 者は、やはり無意識であるが故に意識されない。

     とはいっても、何もカタチのない意識が呪いになってaを殺す訳ではない。抑止力は、たいてい媒体となりう る人間に宿り、敵となるaを駆逐する。媒体になった人間はaを倒す為だけの能力を持つが、それ以上の能力は 与えられない。aにとって代わる事ができないようにね。抑止力という霊長全体の意志を受けとめられる受信者、そういった特殊なチャンネルを持つ人間というのは稀に存在する。歴史は 、これを英雄と呼んでもてはやすんだ。

     だが近代になってこの呼び名は使われないな。文明が発達して、人間が自分達自身を滅ぼすなんて事は簡単に なってしまった。どこぞの企業の会長が全財力を傾けてアマゾンの森林の伐採量を増やせば、一年後にも地球は 終わる。ほら、いつでもどこでも地球のピンチだろ? 抑止力に衝き動かされて誰も知らないうちに世界を救っ ている、なんて
    やから
    はごまんといるんだ。英雄は一世代に一人だけ。世界を救う、なんて程度の事じゃあ現代では英雄とは呼ばれな い。また、このaが人間の手におえない場合、抑止力は自然現象となってaもろとも周囲を消滅させる。大昔、 どこぞの大陸が沈んだのもこいつの仕業さ。

     ……こう話すと人類の守護者そのものなんだが、こいつには人間としての感情がない。時には万人を幸せにす るという行為の前に立ち塞がる事もある。厄介なのは、こいつが結局人間そのものの代表者だとい う事だ。

     我々がそれを認識できなくても、抑止力は最強の霊長なんだ。過去幾度となく、ある実験に挑戦した魔術師の前にはコレが現れ、魔術師達はことごとく 惨殺された」

     ……橙子さんの話は、とにかく長い。

     でもそれと似た話を、僕は高校の授業で聞いた覚えがある。

     アレはどの科目の、どんな内容だっただろう。人間はみんな別々だけど、どこかで繫がっているという話だっ た。

     ……それとは別に、僕は今の話でオルレアンの聖女を連想した。ただの農民の娘が神の啓示を受けて戦った、 という昔話。実際は当時の騎士達が
    ひきよう
    卑怯
    げせん
    下賤
    さげす
    んでやらなかった戦法を採っただけというけれど、それも何かに後押しされた結果ではないだろうか。突然人が 変わったように活躍する誰か。その時だけ別人格となって悪者と戦う誰か。それが抑止力という、霊長の守護者というモノ。
    "--- You may be right.
    You see, that Opposing Power refers to the 'Restorer of Direction' which is at once our greatest ally, and our greatest enemy.
    We don't want to kill humans. We want to live in peace. This planet that we live on doesn't want to die either, it wants to live for a long time.

    The Opposing Power is like that. The collective unconsciousness of all those who belong to the whole of the dominant species, their desire to see that the world continues to exist. It is the fundamental wish of the human species that has gathered and taken form, the Counter Guardian that we call the Opposing Power.

    Okay, let's take an example and say an extraordinary person A has conquered the world. He is a just person, and his rule has been exemplary. Within the limits of human morals that is. But in the case that you don't look from one person's point of view, and person A's actions are taken as evil by the whole of the dominant species, in short a cause for extinction, the Opposing Power will be realised.

    This is the collective body of the unconscious desire of all members of the dominant species including A to keep the world as it is in existence. To protect the race this existence that composes the species appears without anyone realising, and without anyone noticing, destroys the existence called A. The representative created by the maelstrom of humanity's unconscious mind is also a part of that unconsciousness and is not picked up.

    Even so, it's not to say that a formless consciousness becomes a curse and kills A. The Opposing Power generally hides within a human who can become a link, then drives out A who is the enemy. The person who has become the link has enough power to topple A, but no more, in order that they cannot replace A. Receivers who can accept the Opposing Power comprised of the whole of the dominant race's will, humans with special channels like that are few and far between. History calls them heroes and praises them.

    But in modern times that title isn't being used. Civilisations progressed to the point where it has become quite simple for humanity to destroy itself. If some company's chairman invested all his money into expanding the amount of logging in the Amazon rainforest, the world could end in a year. See, the Earth is in danger wherever and whenever. There are countless numbers of people who are being incited by the Opposing Power that save the planet without anyone knowing it. There is one hero per age. Such a thing as saving the world is no longer enough to get you called a hero.

    Also, in the case that A is too powerful to topple with a human's power, the Opposing Power becomes a natural force and destroys the area including A. Long, long ago, the sinking of that continent was due to this bastard too. If you talk about it like this it seems like some guardian of humanity, but this thing has no human emotions. There are times when it blocks acts that would make everyone happier. The aggravating thing is that in the end this nuisance is the representation of humanity itself. Although we can't comprehend it the Opposing Power is the ultimate form of the dominant race. Time and time again in the past, this thing appeared in front of mages who attempted a particular experiment, and the mages were all massacred."

    ... Touko-san's story, it's really long.

    But I remember hearing something similar during a class in high school. What topic was it, in what subject. It was something along the lines that all humans are different, but connected in some way.

    ... Separate from that, in this story just now I imagined the Saint of Orleans. The old story of how a common farmer's daughter received the command of God to fight. They say that in reality all that happened was that she used tactics that the knights of that time didn't use out of contempt and honour, but wouldn't that also be because she was instigated by something. Someone who acts like they have suddenly become a different person. Someone who only turns different for that moment to fight with some evildoer. That this was the guardian of the human race that they called the Opposing Power.
    ibid 確かに、私は死の数ばかりを追っていた。何万という異なる人間の異なる死を経験すれば、その中に根源に通じ る魂の拡散があると信じていた。だが、それでは大元には到達できない。それで辿たどり着けるのはその人間の 『起源』だけだ。霊長という総体の起源には辿り着けない。 It's true that I was only pursuing the number of deaths. I was certain that if I experienced tens of thousands of different deaths among different people, I would be able to find a spiritual diffusion that led to the origin. However, with just that alone, I cannot reach the origin. The only thing that you can come close to with that is humanity's 'origin'. You cannot reach the origin of that totality known as the dominant organism.
    ibid だがどうやってだ。魔術的な結界を張らずに自分が魔術師ではないと証明したところで霊長の意志は欺けない。近代的な技術による結界で誤魔化せるのは同じ魔術師だけだ。たしかにこの建物なら道は開 く。太極図の具現だからな、間違いなく穴はできるだろう。だが、その穴から真っ先に出てくるの は霊長の守護者だ。我々は我々である以上、アレには絶対に
    たちう
    太刀打
    ちできない」
    But, how? Even if you don't set out a magical ward to testify that you aren't a mage, you can't fool the will of the dominant race. The only ones you can fool by using a technological ward are other mages. If you use this building a path will definitely open. Since its the realization of the Taeguekdo, a hole would certainly appear. But the first thing to come out of that hole will be a [-----] Counter Guardian. As long as we are who we are, there is no way we can stand up to that."
    ibid では、ならば何故、根源に到達しえた者がいるのか。答えは単純だ。到達しうる方法があるのではない。単に到 達しえる人間がいるだけなのだ。いかなる
    えいち
    叡智
    を学ぼうと、所詮魔術は後から付属した後天的な物でしかない。才能とはそういう事だ。生まれついた時点で持 っているか持っていないか。選ばれているかいないかの違いなのだ。生まれついた時からすでに根源と繫がって いる人間。複雑化し、種類を増やし、根源である大元から離れすぎてしまった霊長だが、
    まれ
    に根源から直接生まれついた者がある。「 」に繫がったまま生まれ落ちた無色の魂。それこそが唯一大元へと 辿り着ける存在だろう。ならばそれを探しだすのみであり──こうして見付けだすのに、十年の歳 月を要した」
    In that case, why are there those who reached the origin? The answer is simple. There is no way of reaching it. There are just humans who have reached it. No matter what branch you study, magecraft is nothing but a descendant that was attached later on. Ability is like that. You have it from the moment that you are born. It is the difference between being chosen and not being chosen. A humans who is connected to the origin from the moment they are born. We are a dominant organism that has digressed too far from the first great element that was our origin by becoming complicated and diversified, but there are rarely people who are born from the origin. Colourless souls who are born connected to 「 」. That is probably the only existence that can reach the original source. In that case all that remains is to find it. In finding it, I spent ten years of my life."
    ibid 「聞こう。急げ、あと数秒も保たん」

     自分で殺しておいてそれもないものだ、と橙子は毒突く。ともあれ、ここは彼の言うとおりだ。彼女の体は、 もう唇しか満足に動かなかった。

    「…………アカシックレコードに触れようとする事で抑止力が動きだす。おまえのように人間を憎む者が全能と なれば、世界の終焉が起きる確率が高まるからだ。この抑止力というものには二種類ある。

     一つは霊長である人間が、自分達の世を存続させたいという無意識の集合体。

     そしてもう一つは、この世界そのものの本能だ。……この両者は目的が同じだが、その性質は微妙に異なる。 世界そのものの本能がアカシックレコードに触れる者を律するのは、たんに今の地球を支配しているのが人間だ からにすぎない。人間の文明社会が崩壊するという事は、この天体の〝成長の終わり死〟に直結する可能性があ るからだろう。故に世界の意志が作り出した救世主は、英雄と並んで人間の世の崩壊を防ぐんだ」
    “Speak. . . And hurry, few seconds remain.

    “. . . When one makes contact with the Akashic Record, the Counter Force begins to move. When one such as you turns to hating humanity, the chances of the world ending go up. The Counter Force has two types.

    The first is for humanity, a force that preserves our world subconsciously in an aggregate form.

    There is one more type, the true form of the Counter Force on this earth. . . Both have the same goal, but this variety has one key difference. It takes the shape of the Akashic Record. The Counter Force mandates that one who touches the Akashic Record shall control the world. The end of civilization, or in other words, a celestial end to all progress becomes possible. Therefore if the world consciously produces a Messiah, such an individual would be a Legendary Hero who would defend the world from destruction.”
    ibid 「世界───? 違うよ、荒耶。今回おまえを阻んだのは霊長の抑止力なんかじゃない。おまえは本当にうまくやった。抑止力は働かなかった。荒耶宗蓮を破滅させたのはた だ一つ。おまえはさ、臙条巴という、たった一人の人間の、くだらない家族愛に負けたんだよ」

     荒耶は認めない。

     世界全ての、現存している人間全ての意志を敵にまわしても打ち勝ってみせよう、という自分が、あのような 若造につまずいたなどと、誰が───。

    「仮にそうだとしても。ヤツを後押ししたのは霊長の世を維持しようとする有象無象の下衆どもだ。本来の臙条巴では、あの行動は不可能だ。ヤツを動かしていた のは家族を思う心などではない。そんなものは人間にはない。ヤツラにあるのは自分が生き残りたいという願望 のみだ。ヤツは、その醜い本心を隠す為に、家族愛らしき装飾をかぶっていたにすぎぬ。自分が生きていたいか ら、他人を守る擬態をするのだ」

     アラヤの言葉には、憎しみしかない。

     人間を汚いと罵るこの男を、橙子は正しいとは思わない。荒耶宗蓮は長く生きすぎて、もはや一つの概念と化 している。思考の方向性が変わらぬものは、すでに人ではない。

     無駄と知りつつも、彼女は呪いの続きを口にする。

    「───ひとつ、いい事を教えてやろうか荒耶。おまえは知らないだろうけれどね、有名な心理学者が定義した 集合的無意識というものがある。全ての人間の意識の最下層はみな同一の湖にいきつくという考え。もと仏僧で あるおまえには馴染み深い思想でなくてはいけないものだ。これはつまり、ガイア論的ではない方の抑止力── ─霊長の無意識下での同一意見だ。

     これをね、宗蓮。一般にはアラヤ識というんだ」

     な、に、と息を呑む声がする。

     橙子はかまわず続ける。魔術師は以前、彼女の問いにこう答えたのだ。自分の敵は霊長の想念、救いがたい人間の性である、と。

    その呪いが────今、ここに一つの形を成す。
    The world---? Not quite, Araya. What thwarted you this time wasn't the Counter Force of the dominant species. You had done well, so it did not interfere. What defeated you - the one thing that spelled Araya Souren's doom - was a single person's - Enjou Tomoe's trivial love for his family.

    Araya rejects that.

    That he, who was determined to prevail against the will of the entire world - of the entire human race - had been foiled by such a child-----

    "Supposing so, he would be compelled by those dogs of creation that seek to maintain the world of the dominant species. The original Enjou Tomoe could not have acted like that. It was not his feelings for his family that drove him, as humans possess no such things. All they have is the desire to survive. He is merely hiding his unsightly true feelings under the guise of familial love, pretending to want to protect others because he wants to stay alive.

    There is nothing but hatred in Araya's words.

    Touko does not think this man who decries the vulgarity of humans is right. Araya Souren has lived so long he has already become a concept. Those whose thoughts cannot change direction are no longer human.

    Aware of the futility of it, she carries on with her curse.

    ---Let me tell you something good, Araya. You may not be aware of this but a famous psychologist once coined the term 'collective unconscious'. The idea is that at the bottom of every single person's subconscious lies one and the same lake. As a former Buddhist monk, this might be familiar territory for you. That is, plainly put, the Counter Force that does not derive from Gaia's will---the consensus deep in the unconscious of the dominant species.

    And this, Araya, is what we call Alayashiki.

    Wh.....at, he gasps.

    Touko continues, paying him no mind. The magus had once answered her thus: my enemy is the idea of 霊長, the irredeemable human nature.

    That curse-----takes shape here.
    ibid 神は人類という種が分かれるようにと人々を区分けしたんだ。肌の色や体質からではない。もっと分かりやすく 根本的な部分、つまり言葉でだ。人と人の意思疎通において、最大の壁は髪の色や瞳の色ではなく、その言語の 違いだろう? それこそが最も巨大な断絶だ。分かり合う事ができなければ、人々はバベルの塔のような巨大建 造物は建てられない、と当事の神さまはふんだのだろうね。しかし、結局人間は地球上で最も栄え 、霊長となり、言語の壁さえもとっぱらってしまった。 God divided people so that the species called humanity may itself be divided, not by the colour of its skin or its physical make-up, but through a more fundamental partition - that is, language. The greatest barrier in communication between two people isn't the colour of their hair or eyes but the difference in their language, right? That is the vastest of gaps. The God in question must have reasoned that people couldn't build a gigantic structure like the Tower of Babel if they couldn't understand each other in the first place. However, humans eventually flourished above all on the planet, becoming the dominant species, and even the barrier of language was broken down.
    ibid  人々の意志は独立しているけれど、〝霊長の意志〟という大きなくくりの中で独立しているモノだと、橙子師は言った。だからその大きなくくりを観測で きる技術があるのなら、独立していて孤独している人々の意志や記憶に溶け込む事ができるとも。 Mistress Touko had said that although people had their own independent wills, they are still independent within the greater cluster of "the will of the dominant species". Therefore, if we had the means to observe that greater cluster, one could merge into the wills and memories of independent, individual people.
    Fate/stay night わたしは勘違いしていた。英霊、サーヴァントと呼ばれる使い魔。
     ……その中でも『守護者』に位置づけられる霊長の抑止力。
     彼らはあらゆる時代に召喚され、人の世の破滅を防ぐ。
     けど、彼らが呼び出される条件は“人間の手による破滅”だけ。
     自然、外的要因による破滅は、
    にんげん
    霊長
    がんぼう
    抑止力
    ではなく、世界の抑止力が解決する。
    I was mistaken.
    Heroic spirits, familiars called Servants.
    ...Humanity's power to control called the "guardians".
    They are summoned into every age to prevent humanity's extinction.
    But the only condition for their summoning is "destruction brought on by humans".
    Naturally, destruction brought on by an outside factor is solved not by
    human power
    霊長's Counter Force
    , but by the world's Counter Force.
    ibid 「守護者とは、“霊長の存命”のみを優先する無色の力だ。
     力は高き処にありて、人の世が滅亡する可能性が生じれば世に下る。
     ……ソレがただの奴隷である事は知っていた。
     死後、己が存在を守護者に預けたモノは輪廻の枠から外れ、無と同意になるのだと」
    "Guardians are a colorless force that places "humanity's survival" before anything.
    The powers are in the heavens, and the guardians appear in this world only when there's a chance of human extinction.
    ...I knew they were just slaves.
    I knew that people who become guardians are removed from the circle of reincarnation and become like nothingness."
    ibid 「先ほども言っただろう? 自己で補えないのなら、余所から奪ってくるのがヤツラだと。
     聖杯を満たす最高純度の魔力。
     守護者とも言える、“霊長最強の魂”こそが、ヤツラが求めたものだ。七人のサーヴァントとはな、もともと聖杯にくべられる生け贄の事 らしいぞ?」
    "I told you earlier, right? They are ones that take away from others if they cannot supply it themselves.
    The purest magical energy to fill the Holy Grail.
    The 'greatest souls of humanity', the guardians, are what they sought. The seven Servants are sacrifices they prepared."
    Complete Material 間が霊長から転落した理由の一つに、大気に満ちたジンを扱えず、吸い込めば死に至るという事がある。 ジン という新しいエネルギーに拒絶された時点で人間はもっとも弱い生物になったが、ブラックバレルはその欠点を 逆転させた兵器と言える。 One of the reasons why humans fell from the crown of creation was that they could not deal with the grain that filled the atmosphere, and would be fatal if inhaled. This new energy called grain refused humanity and as a result, humanity had become the weakest living organism on earth -- but the Black Barrel is a weapon that suddenly reverses this flaw.
    ibid 死した星の上で、次なる霊長の座をかけて楽しく仲良しく内ゲバしていたのだが、おまえたちどっちもそろそろ死になさいよ、とばかりに謎の物 体・アリストテレスたちが宇宙からやってきたのであった―。 The story takes place on a dead planet, where people are happily fighting over who will be the next leader.
    However, a mysterious object called an Aristotles and his friends came from outer space and told them that it was time for both of them to die.
    Melty Blood Actress Again 「その通りだ吸血鬼。私は二十七祖の一角だが、吸血鬼ではない。」

    「生き延びる為に同族の血など必要としない。そもそも、生き延びるという選択を選ばない。」

    「私はこの国を知る前のシオン・エルトナム・アトラシア。」

    「タタリになど関わらず、ありのままの姿でアトラスの長に辿り着いた、霊長の未来を守護するアトラスの巨人。」
    Precisely, vampire. Though I am one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, I am not a vampire.
    I don't need the blood of my own kind to live on. I haven't even chosen to continue living in the first place.
    I am the Sion Eltnam Atlasia who did not come to know of this country.
    In spite of TATARI, I became the leader of Atlas as I was. I am the titan of Atlas who will protect the future of the Primates.
    ibid 「そうだ、アトラスの錬金術師としての私ではオシリスに堕ちる。」

    「なら今の私……吸血鬼になったシオン・エルトナムこそ、霊長の未来を憂いるに相応しい。」
    Yes...The version of me that is an alchemist of Atlas has fallen to Osiris.
    Then my current self...as the Sion Eltnam that has become a vampire, it befits me to lament the future of Primates.
    ibid 「この風景ビジョン―――星の終焉。すべてが砂に却かえった、滅びきった未来の姿か……?」

    「そうだ。ようこそ朱い月。ここはかつて貴女が呼び出した未来像。私が望む、最後にして最高の 救罪法だ。」

    「―――何かと思えば、ワラキアの夜の後継機か。この滅び。あらゆる生命の絶えた星の姿が、そなたの言う救 罪だと?」

    「然り。滅びは避けられない。どのような手段をもってしても、霊長の自滅は防げない。」

    「故に、私はこの解答に辿り着いた。滅びが避けられないのなら、より良い、速やかな滅亡を実行 する。」
    "This vision - it's the end of the world. A ruined future where everything has returned to dust...?"

    "Yes, it is. Welcome, Crimson Moon. This is the vision of the future you once summoned. The ultimate, final salvation that I desire."

    "---You must be the Night of Wallachia's successor. This destruction....the extinction of all life on the planet is what you call "salvation"?"

    "Yes. Mankind cannot escape this fate. No matter what measures they take, their self-destruction is inevitable.

    Thus, I have arrived at the following solution. Given that their fate is unavoidable, I will help them meet it in the fastest, cleanest way possible.“”
    ibid 「それは限界まで生存し、その果てに滅びを受け入れた者のみが選ぶ最後の光だ。」

    「自ら滅びを早めるなど、そなたが記録しようとする霊長の歴史への冒涜に他ならない。」
    ”Only those who survive until the end and accept their own destruction have the right to make that choice.

    To hasten their end would do nothing but desecrate the very history [----] you are trying to preserve.”
    ibid 「私は冥界の鳥。死に絶えるオシリスの砂。霊長を救う、最後のアトラスである。」 I am the Bird of Hades. The dying Dust of Osiris. The last Atlas that will save the Primates.
    ibid 「そうだ。私はオシリスの砂。錬成した賢者の石を以て、霊長の守護を達成するもの。 Yes. I am the Dust of Osiris. With the Philosopher's Stone I have created, I have attained mankind's ultimate salvation.
    ibid 「? 不可解だ。アナタなら私を理解できる筈。共に霊長を滅亡から救う為に死徒となり、祖となった。そのアナタがなぜ。」 ? Perplexing. You should be one of the few who understands me. We both became Dead Apostles, Ancestors in order to save the Primates. So, then why?
    ibid 「……やはり私を破壊するか。共に霊長の守護を語りながら、我々の手段はあまりにも違う。」

    「貴様はおぞましい、際限のない存在を。私はむなしすぎる、採算すべき終末を。」

    「……その為にこだけの数の賢者の石を錬成した、か。」

    「星が冷えきった後。人々が死に絶えた後も生存しているという仮定を想い続ける回路。」

    「それが貴女の“結論”ってワケ?」

    「そうだ。賢者の石を飲んだ演ヘル算機メスは永遠に活動する。」

    「死を知らず、冥界で飛び続ける箱船の鳥。それが貴様とは違う、霊長の語り部である。」
    "...So
    Aoko
    you
    do plan to destroy me. While we both speak of protecting humanity, our methods differ too greatly. Yours is repulsive, seeking a limitless existence. Mine is born of futility, seeking a beneficial conclusion."

    "...and that's why you've formed so may Philosopher's Stones, huh? A circuit that continues to hypothesize mankind's existence after the planet freezes and they die out. That's your 'conclusion'?"

    "Yes. Hermes, having consumed the Philosopher's Stones, will remain active for eternity. An undying bird, an ark that is forever leaping free of the underworld. It shall be a storyteller for the tale of mankind....unlike you."
    ibid 「その認識は間違いだ。私は望んでこのカタチになった。」

    「シオン・エルトナム・アトラシアの目的は未来の守護。回避できぬ破滅から霊長を守る為の未来予測と、その救助法の確立だ。」

    「私はその為に成長した。私はその為にタタリを拝命し二十七祖となった。」

    「私は冥界の鳥。私はオシリスの砂。霊長を保存する、アトラスの巨人である。」
    "There is a mistake in your recognition. I became like this because I wished for it. Sion Eltnam Atlasia's goal was to protect the future. It was to see what the future held, and establish a way for the Primates to avoid extinction.

    That is why I have grown. That is why I took command of TATARI and became one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors.

    I am the Bird of Hermes. The dying Dust of Osiris. The last Atlas that will save the Primates."
    ibid 「では幕を引くとしよう。我が
    からだ
    自転
    を休め、地表の文明を一掃する。 人の子よ。創世の地獄の中でなお生き残るのなら貴様らの勝ちだ。憚る事な く霊長の世を謳うがよい。」
    Then let us draw back the curtain. I shall arrest my
    body
    rotation
    and wipe civilisation off the face of the earth. O children of men! If you yet survive within the hell of creation, victory will be yours. Hesitate not to proclaim thy reign of primacy.
    Mirai Fukuin いいかい。人間は様々な文化、知識体系を築き上げて霊長の頂点に立った。身体機能のみならず、脳の使い方も進化させたという事だな。だが進化というのは、その環境 にあったカタチに適合する、という事だ。使わない機能、生存に負担をかける機能は削られていくんだよ。より 安いコストで代用がきくのなら、優れた機能であろうとフタをするのが生命だからね。未来視はそういった、安 全の名のもとに消え去った"人間が本来持ち得た機能"の一つにすぎない。 Listen. Humans stand at the peak of the primates, a peak built upon their various cultures and bodies of knowledge. They have evolved not just in bodily functions, but also in the usage of the brain. But, evolution is the process of conforming to the shape of the environment. Functions which are useless or which would burden the act of survival are cut off. If there is a working substitute with a lower cost, then even an excellent function will be stoppered - that's life. Precognition is nothing more than one of the 'functions originally possessed by humans' which had disappeared in the name of safety.
    Mahoutsukai no Yoru 魔術とは歴史の研鑽。
    人の手による業と、星の元に巡る命だ。
    けれど魔法は天の外の神の摂理。
    人にも星にも含まれない業を、一体地上の誰が、どうして、奇跡と讃え尊ぶものか。
    明白な罪科。
    魔法とは、人類の敵そのもの。
    故に新たに魔法を宿したものは、その赤い影に殺される。
    「聴け、万物の霊長
    声は高らかに、冬の空に響き渡る。
    空間そのものに走る断裂。
    周囲の風景が軋んでいく様は、伽藍の崩壊を思わせる。
    Magecraft is the studying of history.
    The works of man, the circle of life of the planet.
    But magic is the providence of a god beyond the skies. Why would anyone on this earth call a feat not of man not of the planet and the planet a miracle?
    It is an irrefutable crime.
    Magic is the enemy of humanity.
    And that is why those who have newly acquired magic are killed by that red shadow.
    “Hear me, Lord of Creation.”
    Her voice loudly echoed in the winter sky. Cracks ran across the space itself. The creaking of the surrounding landscape invoked images of a collapsing cathedral.
    Fate/Extra CCC 大したものです。この状況でまだ行動理由を捻出できるなんて。貴方がた人間がなぜ霊長類の座を守り続けたか、ようやく理解しました。 That's amazing. That you can contrive of a reason to work in this situation. I finally understand how you humans have continued to protect the position of primates.
    ibid 遡ること四千数百年。
    人間の文明は、一度目の過渡期を迎えようとしていた。
    多くの古きモノが力を失い、わずかな新しいモノが芽吹き始める。
    ヒトの知恵の発達と共に満ちていた神秘は減少し、この星における宇宙の
    のり
    は少しずつ今ある物理法則に移行し始める。
    大地の在り方が確かな物になると、神獣、幻獣たちは地上での活動が困難になった。
    大気の理を担っていた神々は、指向性を失い純粋な自然現象に戻りつつあった。

    即ち、霊長類の時代、その始まりである。

    神々が地上から去り、大地は人間が統べる事になった。
    何人もの王が生まれ、滅び、その度に文明は進んでいった。
    言ってしまえば、人間がはじめて
    ちち
    から離れ、ひとり歩きを始めた黎明期。
    ……そう。
    それまで自然を敬い、恐れていた人間が、
    ・・・・・
    人間として
    思うままに振るまい始めた
    狂乱の幕開け。
    Four thousand and some hundreds of years ago.
    The human civilization was on the cusp of its first transition.
    Many of the ancient began to weaken;a handful of the new began to burgeon.
    The mystery with which the land had once brimmed dwindled as human knowledge advanced, and the laws of the universe on this planet began to shift little by little towards the physical laws of today.
    As the state of the earth became defined, it became difficult for Divine and Phantasmal Beasts to roam freely.
    The gods who had borne the principles of the atmosphere lost their directivity and were beginning to return to pure phenomena.

    In other words, this was the beginning of the primatial age.

    The gods left the land, and it became so that the humans ruled the earth.
    Many kings lived and perished, and as that happened civilization progressed.
    It was the dawning of the age where humans for the first time strayed from
    father
    the gods
    , and walked on their own legs.
    ….Indeed.
    The dawning of frenetic turmoil, where the humans who had until then venerated and feared nature, began, as humans, to do what they wished.
    The commencement of manic delirium.
    Tsukihime Remake 「お、さっすが人力だけでピラミッドを建てちゃう霊長類!堅実かつ誠実ね。いいわ、じゃあ今夜は吸血鬼講座中級編、吸血鬼社会の仕組みについてお話し ましょう!」 "Ooh, as expected of the 霊長類who build the pyramids using only human effort! Steady and honest on top. Alright, then tonight let's have an intermediate vampire lecture and talk about the structure of vampire society!"
    ibid 「世界に数多くいる吸血種の中でも霊長類、ホモサピエンスの血液を糧とする異物を、わたしたち聖堂教会は吸血鬼と呼称しています」
    「吸血鬼は大きく真祖と死徒とに分類され、 アルクェイド・ブリュンスタッドは真祖であり、この街に巣くっ ているロアは死徒となります」
    「上級の死徒たちはみな特殊な異能を持っていますが、ロアはその中でも異端扱いされている特例 でした」
    "Among the many bloodsucking species in the world, the corpses that feed on 霊長類 - on the blood of Homo Sapiens - are called vampires by our Holy Church. Vampires are broadly divided into True Ancestors and Dead Apostles, of which Arcueid Brunestud is the former and Roa, the one lurking in this city, is the latter. All superior Deadl Apostles have special abilities, but Roa was a special case that even they considered a heresy."
    ibid  死徒は子供を産めない。
     死徒は異能を継承できない。
     自らの遺伝子を伝えられない。
     彼らは生き物として致命的な欠点を持っている。
     人間を超える彼等が霊長類にカウントされない最大の理由がこれである。
     つまり、死徒は死徒の子を作る事ができない。
     死徒の呪い……祖にいたっては世界と対峙するほどの呪いは、それを保有する個体が消えれば消失してしまう 。
    Dead Apostles cannot give birth to children;
    Dead Apostles cannot pass on their powers;
    They cannot propagate their own genes.
    They are critically flawed in terms of being alive.
    This is the biggest reason as to why they, who are otherwise so superior to humans, do not count as Primoids.
    In short, Dead Apostles cannot birth their own children.
    The Dead Apostle curse... enough to oppose the world itself in the case of the Ancestors. But even so, should the individual possessing it disappear, then so too would it.
    ibid 「むっ……! なによそれ、わたしの思考の雛型は
    にんげん
    霊長類
    と同じなんだから、志貴とたいして違ってないんですけど!ネコとネズミぐらいの違いなんですけ ど!」
    "Muuu....! What do you mean, my thinking patterns are the same as those of
    humans
    霊長類
    , so it's not like I'm that different from you, Shiki! We're like a mouse and a cat!"
    ibid 「――― 天敵って、俺たちが?」
     為す術なく食料として殺されるのに……?
    「もうずっと昔、西暦が始まったばかりの頃。
     人間は様々な魔術、神秘学、式典儀礼を基に組織体系を作り、人間以外の霊長類を排除しはじめた。
     その最たる物が聖堂教会―――普遍的、という名を掲げた欧州の一大宗教よ。彼等は昔から“人間でないモノ ”を徹底的に淘汰してきたけど、その中でも吸血鬼に対する敵視はどうかしているわ」
    "-----by natural enemy, you mean us?"
    Even though we are forcible hunted as food...?
    "Long ago, when the Common Era had just began, humans devised systems of organisation based on various magical, mystical, and ceremonial rites, and began the elimination of 霊長類 that were not human . The greatest of those was the Holy Church---the premier religion of Europe that calls itself "universal". They have been thoroughly eliminating "inhuman things" since long ago, but the enmity they have towards vampires is something else."
    ibid 「そのノエルって代行者が今まで何もしなかったのは、わたしと死徒を同時に始末する機会を窺っ ていたんでし ょうね。埋葬機関にとって、人間ではない霊長はそれだけで“悪”だから」 Why this... Executor Noel一or whatever she was called一has until now not done anything, is probably because she's waiting for a chance to take care of me and the Dead Apostle at the same time. You see, for the Burial Agency, just being a Primate who isn't human is enough for them to consider you evil.
    ibid 人間の知恵を嘲笑う、獰猛な自然のカタチ。
     そこはもうビル街ではなかった。
     自然に侵食され、廃墟になった文明の跡地でもなかった。
     もっともっと過去の世界。
     人類が発生する前―――何億年も昔の、太古の地球の姿だった。
    『そうだ。これが惑星の霊長に知的生命体を設定しなかった場合の、地球本来の植物の尺度だ。
     真祖にとって外敵への対応はこのようなもの。』
    The savage form of nature that scoffs at human intellect.
    No longer was there a built-up city.
    Not even the ruins of a collapsed civilisation, taken over by nature.
    This was a world from a very distant past.
    The face of the primeval Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, before the emergence of mankind.

    "Correct. This is the original scale of the Earth's vegetation at a time when intelligent life hadn't established itself as this planet's 霊長. Such is the proper response to external threats for a True Ancestor."


    The appearance of 霊長(類) in as many materials as I had available and could easily CTRL+F through, in relative chronological order. The translations are presented for reference and context, not necessarily accuracy. I am aware that there are numerous examples of such things as gods, mammoths, fairies, and others being referred to as 霊長 in FGO, as well as mentions of humans falling from the 霊長の座, and while these instances round out the overall hypothesis I have no wish to track them down myself.

    Now for some comments:

    • To begin with, as the oldest materials KnK and Notes may not necessarily reflect the final form of the concept in Nasu's mind. That said, in KnK the term 霊長 is synonymous with mankind/Alaya, and Araya's anthropocentric focus while using the term cements this. Meanwhile, the overall biological angle of A-Rays makes it possible that "primates" in the biological sense was the intended meaning. However, the distinction of 生命種 and 霊長類 as well as one of the subspecies being Angels hint at the possibility that at this point 霊長類 generally denoted creatures that were literally "supernatural". Consider also the Aristoteles as the 最も優れた個体 of their planets - would they be the 霊長類 too by the definition of Notes?
    • Primate Murder might have been a case of literal translation. Otherwise a mixed bag. Ciel jokes about how 霊長類の代表として、ケモノどもに目にモノ見せてあげましょう, while 霊長類として頂点に立つヒト sounds more modern. Would the True Ancestors have been 霊長の敵対者 at a time when humanity wasn't yet the planet's 霊長 (with a conventional dating of their creation before 2000 BCE)?
    • F/SN continues in the same vein as KnK. However two years later, Charamat drops 霊長から転落した and 霊長の座, marking a definite shift towards thinking of 霊長 as a status or title denoting primacy over the other species on the planet.
    • 万物の霊長 - Lord of Creation; the dictionary sources a definition of "万物のなかで最も霊妙ですぐれたもの。すなわち、人間。人類。". Then again what the hell else would it be irl.
    • The aforementioned alt history FGO stuff, plus Tsukihime Remake talking about the rise of intelligent life to 霊長 status in the order of millions of years, delineate the modern definition.
    • It seems most probable that 霊長 is a title denoting a position of ontological superiority on this planet at least. There are mentions of rising to and falling from this status that coincide with periods of an exceptional species' rise or catastrophic decline, including species that cannot even generously be called primates. We can only assume that the prevalence of anthropomorphism among them is an external product of the genre, but I can see an argument otherwise.
    • The real interest for me lies in the extent of the exceptionalism regarding humans, 霊長 or otherwise. It seems logical to argue that a 霊長 is marked by the ability to exert influence upon nature as an independent entity that isn't subservient to Gaia's order, rather than an abstraction of pure powerlevels like the TYPEs of old, and yet only humans have, to my knowledge, been spoken of as this singular existence that stands outside of nature, to the extent that the planet itself reacts against it. This primacy as a species - the ability to force our will onto nature, enact change and protect the interests of our species as a whole, is embodied by the Counter Force of Alaya, so emblematic a manifestation of the will of humans as 霊長 that half the uses of the term refer to it. Did the other 霊長 beyond humans have a Counter Force as well? Did they stand in conflict with Gaia as humans do? And if they didn't, what defines a 霊長, and is the existential sum of humanity greater than such a title?
    It depends on if alaya's interest and if other primate's interest collides.
    Merlin in garden of avalon states something about humanity's intelligence which made planet change its laws to suit humanity's needs.
    I remember DA was called a counter force of a kind some where. So if DA is supposedly considered other primate species. Then I suppose intelligence constitute together actively unravel the mysteries of the world then they might have their own counter force as well

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