True Ancestor

Only depicted True Ancestor, Arcueid Brunestud.

Unique existences even among the vampires, the True Ancestors (真祖, Shinso^?) are incarnated nature spirits (akin to the Elementals). They are vampiric creatures from birth, however, unlike the Dead Apostles and other blood-sucking species, the root of their bloodlust is psychological rather than physical. Also, because they are part of nature, they can use the power of Marble Phantasm to change the world around them accordingly to their thoughts. They can be classified as a type of Greater fairy and their Foundation is of a Mystery that cannot be reached through magecraft. They are said to be Planet-class Spirits, a rank higher than Divine Spirits.

Origin

At an undetermined point of time in the past, Gaia, the will of the planet, suffered with the indiscriminate corruption that humans caused in the environment. Because at the time it lacked the means to defend itself from humans, Gaia sent a plea to the other celestial bodies for help, on the criteria that only a planet is able to correctly judge another of its kind.

The one who answered Gaia’s plea was Brunestud of the Crimson Moon who offered a pact to the planet: in exchange of being allowed to live on Earth, Crimson Moon would allow the creation of a self-defense mechanism for the planet based on him. From this pact between the Ultimate One of the moon and the will of the Earth the True Ancestors were born as a Counter Force with definite form, created for the purpose of returning the planet to its original state, before the corruption caused by humans.

Despite their origins as anti-humans entities, Alaya does not see the True Ancestors as targets. That is because the True Ancestors are extensions of the world, mediators of nature, before being enemies of the humanity. However, differently from Divine Spirits, they are supernatural beings born from the world without the interference of people. That which is desired by the planet but not by humanity is bound to fade from the observable world and decline in numbers. When Arcueid Brunestud was born in the 12th Century, the True Ancestors had decreased to a mere 100, from which the majority were killed when the White Princess went berserk.

While the birth of a True Ancestor goes along the lines of a natural phenomenon that happens when needed, Arcueid’s case was more of an artificial occurrence premeditated by the others True Ancestors. And yet her appearance is special among the True Ancestors as she was created with a female body which is rare among the True Ancestors, probably because the original Crimson Moon had a male body. Their reason behind this was quite simple: they wanted the advent of a stronger, more perfect existence that would be capable of hunting down their fallen brothers (the Demon Lords) and their renegade children (the Dead Apostles).

Nature

While being born from nature just as any natural spirits, the True Ancestors are fundamentally copies of the Crimson Moon with minds and bodies modeled after humans, the latter done so under the principle that it would be best for them to resemble those who they are supposed to rule over. Because Crimson Moon was their basis, the True Ancestors not only turned to be detached from nature’s desire of protection from humans but also inherited a terrible flaw from the original: Vampiric Impulses (吸血衝動, kyuuketsu shoudou^?).

A purely psychological impulse that pushes them to suck the blood of others, because there is no physical reason behind those impulses there is no definite cure for them. Thus, the True Ancestors need to sleep through their childhood until they are mature enough to have self-control. Normally an Ancestor can not dream, but in Arcueid's case, she must dream a little since her meeting with Shiki Tohno. From that point on, the True Ancestors must use their own powers to keep the impulses in check. That is why, even though they have the capacity to manipulate nature at will, they never fight at 100% as most of their powers is already being used to restrain themselves.

However, because there is no end to the vampiric impulses, they do not disappear and instead accumulate with time. Eventually, those impulses will become too powerful to be restrained and threatens to take over. The only choice left in this case is for the True Ancestors to fall into a deep, eternal sleep. This can be said to be the limit of life of those without a definite lifespan.

There is also the case of the Demon Lords (魔王, Maō^?, Devil), fallen True Ancestors who succumbed to their blood thirst and became a threat both to humans and the Ancestors themselves. As they no longer needed to suppress their thirst, they could employ their powers to their full extent and therefore vastly overwhelm their still restrained kin. It was with the purpose of their elimination that the Ancestors caused the birth of Arcueid Brunestud. By the time of Tsukihime, all of them had long been eliminated. It should be noted that despite the name, they are not to be confused neither with the demonic ethereal beings born from human belief, nor with the oriental demons of Japanese folklore known as Oni. True Ancestors who succumbed to their vampiric impulses and started to drink blood indiscriminately. Because they no longer need to restrain themselves, the power of these fallen Ancestors is said to be overwhelming to the point of being said that they cannot be defeated with the power of humans, and even the other Ancestors have troubles dealing with them.

Brunestud

Brunestud (ブリュンスタッド^?) is a title bestowed upon all True Ancestor royalty who come close in power to Brunestud of the Crimson Moon by displaying the ability to manifest his Millennium Castle Brunestud through Marble Phantasm. While the True Ancestors have no proper concept of hierarchy, those able to manifest the castle have been uplifted as royalty. The only current two True Ancestors to have ever held the name in the entire long history of the race are Arcueid Brunestud, the princess of the True Ancestors, and Altrouge Brunestud.

Society

Prior to his death, Crimson Moon took providences to make his return possible. All True Ancestors have a Reality Marble implanted within them. Whenever a True Ancestor attains a level of power close to the original, this implanted seed will allow Brunestud to take over his body. Still, because all True Ancestors are born with the fundamental flaw of bloodlust, he needed to create more perfect successors. And so Brunestud decided to teach them how to make their own kind themselves in order to speed up the creation of a proper vessel for his revival. Arcueid and Altrouge are apparently two of such attempts.

Among the True Ancestors, those who could manifest the Millennium Castle, through their Marble Phantasm ability, were given the title of Brunestud and regarded as royalty. This is the reason why the True Ancestors call Arcueid, who is considered the only successful clone of Crimson Moon, the princess of the True Ancestors. There is also the case of the half-breed princess of the Dead Apostles, Altrouge Brunestud, who is the only known case of a child being successfully born between a True Ancestor and a Dead Apostle. She lacks the normal powers of a True Ancestor, and thus cannot use Marble Phantasm to summon the Millennium Castle or move from one place to another by recreating her body, but she is capable of summoning the Crimson Moon. That is the reason why she is one of the two possible successors of Crimson Moon and why she has inherited the name of Brunestud, but she is generally considered too "unstable". These two are also the only remaining Ancestors alive and active by the time of Tsukihime.

Abilities

There are different levels of power in the True Ancestor hierarchy, but Arcueid Brunestud is a sublimation on the level of the First True Ancestor, she is beyond the other True Ancestors. But all True Ancestors possess power beyond human comprehension from the moment they are born. There are few who can match them in terms of strength, speed and endurance.

Combat

They have the normal vampire claws, and very few conceptual weapons can harm them. All vampires can ignore damage from most sources as their body will revert to the pre-damaged state rapidly, a conceptual weapon such as the Black Keys used by members of the Church nullifies this ability. At night they are almost invulnerable, and their power is at its peak during the full moon.

During the night, all of their lines and points of death disappear, rendering them indestructible; however, they show up again when Shiki "kills" the very nature from which she draws her strength in one of the endings. They can not only regenerate most wounds rapidly, but even re-form their body completely after taking damage, even though it takes the majority of their power to do so. They also have Mystic Eyes that enable limited control over others, such as the ability to plant suggestions. The color of their eyes changes to gold when they are active, thus revealing them as possessing the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment.

Marble Phantasm

The True Ancestors can use Marble Phantasm, which can literally change reality to create any naturally occurring effect. And those who can summon the Millennium Castle Brunestud, the ancestral home of the True Ancestors are counted as their royalty.

Backup

The Ancestors receives backup from the planet as part of the Counter Force. They have the ability to increase their fighting power to one level above those they face while drawing upon it, and it is said to be virtually unlimited. But it is possible to cut them off from this power by killing the land around them or sealing them off from the world through a powerful Bounded Field that rewrites the world by switching the terrain effect with a different terrain effect or a Reality Marble that overwrites the current world. While their connection to nature can be interrupted by any such barrier, the ability to actually cut them off from the supply depends on what is being used as energy to hold up the barrier because the overwritten world generally has an even more colossal world seeping up from underneath it to return it to normal. The only ones who may be able to cut them off from their energy source completely is an alien deploying a Reality Marble.