Homunculus

is a term for an existence created through an alchemical method to produce fully functional lifeforms from sperm and other elements without the use of a womb.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 13: LAST TALK - Gift
==Characteristics==
Homunculi are born with mature bodies and all necessary knowledge and reasoning given to them the moment they are born. They never become older, so the concept of "age" is meaningless for them. As an example, despite their mature appearance and personalities, Leysritt and Sella have lived for little more than two years.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Other - Einzbern Castle - Ghost Gossip Glamorous On the other hand, Mordred, Yui Shousetsu, Illyasviel von Einzbern are examples of homunculi born as babies due to various circumstances, although only Yui grew normally, while Mordred grew up at the abnormal speed and Illya ceased growing at pre-pubescent stage. Since Homunculi have no accumulated experience like humans do, their souls are young, pure, and sturdy like an infant's. As such. they won't be dyed by anything, and their bodies can endure any kind of transformation,Fate/Apocrypha Volume 2: Round Dance of Black / Festival of Red - Chapter 3 like being possessed by a Heroic Spirit or by a Divine Spirit.Fate/strange Fake Volume 3 - Prologue IXFate/strange Fake Volume 6 - Chapter 18: "As Dream and Reality are Both Illusion I"
A perfect Homunculus is essentially a man-made artificial extension of nature that, external factors aside, will not die for as long as the planet is healthy and has Mana left. However, the price of being given life through such artificial means is that the Homunculus will invariably have some sort of physical defect (small stature, short lifespan, lower intellect or lack of reproductive capabilities are just a few examples). Even with their potential longevity, they are below humans when it comes down to their strength as life-forms.
Despite having the same form and cognition as humans, Homunculi are ultimately different beings due to their possessing a powerful Magic Circuit. Regardless of how fragile they are, their Magic Circuits makes it possible for the Homunculus to achieve powers that are beyond an ordinary human's. Fundamentally different than the Magi that are humans with Magic Circuits, Homunculi are better defined as "Magic Circuits with a human form". Not "something made to be a Magus", but rather "something made to be a Magic Circuit".
It takes special means to create Homunculi, so even a talented Magus like Zouken Matou cannot create one as needed.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 15 - limited. - Interlude 15-1: Succeed from deep
==Variations==
===Einzbern Homunculi===
The Homunculi of the Einzbern are created from the knowledge passed down by Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, known as the "Master of Northern Alchemy", and Kiritsugu Emiya claims that none can match her descendants in the process of creating artificial humans. Created through cultivation tanks, they are of a high quality.
The Homunculi created by the Einzbern, even those regarded as failures, have enough Magical Energy to pose a threat to the Enforcers of the Mage's Association.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Heaven's Feel - 1/ Heaven's Feels Backnight I Also, their knowledge of Magecraft comes from being branded with a standardized reverse-type Magic Crest. The models based on Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, such as Irisviel von Einzbern and Illyasviel von Einzbern, share the memories and personality of the original. In a way, they're the same being. Illya herself is a very special case and her very existence can be considered a miracle in itself. She was “birthed” through conventional means by her mother, Irisviel, although she was put through several magical treatments while still in the womb. Said treatments made her body become even more unlike that of a human being than other Homunculi and caused her poor growth.
*Einzbern Master - The representative of the Einzberns in the Third Holy Grail War.
*Philia - The Einzbern Representative in the False Holy Grail War.
*Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern - Justeaze was the head of the Einzbern Family 200 years before the events of Fate/stay night. She later became the basis for the standard Einzbern Homunculus.
*Irisviel von Einzbern - Irisviel was developed to have all the functions of a human body, Magic Circuits far surpassing normal Magi, and a "standardized reverse-type Magic Crest" branded onto her as the "starting default." She is born as the "vessel of the Holy Grail", an organic body which has had the inorganic Holy Grail broken down and fused with her organs. Her highest priority has been designated as self-preservation for the safety of the vessel.
*Illyasviel von Einzbern - Illya is considered to be a being with "all great achievements of Alchemy gathered within her", born from the womb of her mother, Irisviel, and conceived with the sperm of a Magus, Kiritsugu.Fate/Zero Volume 4: Flames of Purgatory - Act 13 Part 4 -37:02:47 Differing from her mother who is "covering" the Holy Grail within her, Illyasviel is born with the ability that her physical body itself is capable of becoming the vessel. With even greater self-defense mechanisms, the secrets of the Holy Grail were implanted into the embryo, and she was given Magic Circuits to her exterior. She is an experimental specimen for the Dress of Heaven.
*Leysritt - One of Illyasviel's maids.
*Sella - One of Illyasviel's maids.
===Frankenstein===
Frankenstein's Monster was an artificial life made after the basis of the "ideal human." Although she wishes for a mate of the same kind as her, she sees herself as being fundamentally different from other Homunculi.Fate/Apocrypha Volume 1: Apocrypha: Great Holy Grail War - Chapter 3 Mordred says she is similar to a Homunculus in the original novel, while she remarks the opposite in the same scene of the anime version.Fate/Apocrypha Anime - Episode 10: "Scattered Flower" 
According to Romani Archaman, Fran and other creations of Victor Frankenstein are closer to an than Homunculi; the difference being that while Homunculi are created with Magic Circuits as a base body, Frankenstein's creations are made out of human body parts, and are corpses powered by Magical Energy. According to Victor Frankenstein, such Artificial Humans have degraded souls that are inferior to regular Human souls, due to not being made from magic circuits like normal Homunculi.Fate/Grand Order - Frankenstein Interlude: The Events of a Lonely Night in November
===Mephistopheles===
Mephistopheles is a Homunculus created by Georg Faust. Dr. Faust, with his gifted engineering, has advanced Homunculus technology several generations ahead of his time, but due to his strange nature and sense of aesthetics, he strengthened the Homunculus' ego. A Homunculus that is exceedingly quite human ——— that is the key part of "Mephistopheles" Fate/Grand Order material I- Mephistopheles, p.317
===Orlocke Caesarmund's Homunculus===
Orlocke Caesarmund made a homunculus out of his own blood and semen, planning to transfer his personality into the new body through his Magic Crest.Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Volume 1: case. Adra Castle Separation - Chapter 5 Part 1
===Paracelsus's Homunculi===
Paracelsus von Hohenheim made it possible for over 10 Homunculi to share their senses using some special method. They feel like a colony partly because none of them acts spontaneously. Paracelsus coins the female-type ones making up the absence of the Reiroukans' servants in Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver.Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver Volume 2: Best Friend Arc - Act 3 Part 2
====Homunculus====
====Proto Homunculus====
====Mini Paracel====
 are small Homunculi stylized after Paracelsus. Rather than fully autonomous beings, they are more comparable to robots made to carry out a single task efficiently.
===Yggdmillennia Homunculi===
Yggdmillenniahomunculi.jpg|Male combat Homunculus.
Yggdmillennia creates Homunculi using techniques stolen from the Einzberns and other great Alchemical houses, but their level of expertise is menial compared to that of an expert. They consider that sufficient enough for creating soldiers, servants for their castle, and living Magical Energy batteries for Servants.
Those created as soldiers are built to be able to wield large halberds and use powerful Magecraft, potent enough to easily match an average Magus. Created as disposable soldiers meant to overwhelm in numbers, their lifespans amount to only two months due to being born with various defects.Fate/Apocrypha Volume 1: Apocrypha: Great Holy Grail War - Prologue
However, unlike other Homunculi created by others, all Homunculi crafted by the Yggdmillennia are connected, however weakly, by pathways similar to that between Masters and Servants. One of the results of their mass production, possibly – as while they had a critical lack of individuality, they could all receive important information such as one another’s survival from anywhere without any need for conscious efforts such as telepathy. Of course, such data was not necessary to them precisely due to their sameness; the death of another Homunculus was just one more number in the grand calculation.
*Althea
*Sieg
*Toole
==Known homunculi==
*Althea
*Einzbern Master
*Philia
*Illyasviel von Einzbern
*Irisviel von Einzbern
*Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern
*Koharu F Riedenflaus
*Leysritt
*Mephistopheles
*Mordred
*Nameless Yggdmillennia Homunculus
*Rani VIII
*Sella
*Shanon
*Sieg
*Toole
*Toole IV
*Yui Shousetsu
==References==
it:Omuncolo
vi:Homunculus
Category:Magecraft
Category:Magecraft terminology‎
Category:Magical tools and artifacts
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Category:Life
Category:Characters by species
Category:Terminology in Fate/EX
Category:Terminology in Fate/Zero
Category:Terminology in Fate/stay night
Category:Terminology in Fate/Apocrypha
Category:Terminology in Fate/strange Fake
Category:Terminology in Fate/Requiem
Category:Terminology in Fate/Grand Order
Category:Terminology in Lord El-Melloi II
Category:Terminology in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA
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