Barsburg Family

The Barsburg family is the royal family of the Barsburg Empire, which is at present the most powerful and largest empire in the 07-Ghost world, after the empire conquered and absorbed many other kingdoms. They are an organisation that "administers the Empire's politics".

Its descendants can wield the Eye of Raphael, but the Eye can only be wielded by the Empress or Empress-to-be/Crown Princess. Thus, the Empire has always been ruled by an Empress (Vol 013, Chp 80). The current Emperor, Wolfram Eifeler Barsburg, however, thought of this notion as ridiculous.

The Barsburg family are the blood descendants of Ea, thus, members of the Barsburg family can be reincarnated as Ea.

Physical appearance
Most of them have light-colored hair (silver for Miroku) and light-colored eyes (wine red for Miroku and amethyst for Karu). Dark-coloured hair e.g. Karu's brown, and dark-coloured eyes, are less common. They generally tend to have pointy chins and sharp noses.

Clothing
As they are the royalty of a wealthy empire, their clothing is elaborate, expensive and formal. The women appear to have a habit of carrying paper fans, as shown by Empress Dalia and Ouka's aunt Granne. The adult women often (though not always) wear their hair in buns. Ouka's appearance may indicate that the younger women, or the teenage girls, wear their hair in pigtails or 'twin tails'. If the women wear sleeved tops or sleeved dresses, the sleeves tend to be long, entirely or almost entirely covering the arms. Little is known about the men's fashion, but they generally seem to prefer clothing that almost entirely covers their bodies, leaving only their heads and hands bare, as shown by Karu, Miroku and Wolfram.

Family Members

 * Roseamanelle Ouka Barsburg (the current Empress-to-be/Crown Princess)
 * Dalia Barsburg (Ouka's mother, the former empress and vessel of the Eye of Raphael before Ouka)
 * Wolfram Eifeler Barsburg (Ouka's father and the present Barsburg emperor)
 * Miroku Barsburg (Teito's adoptive father)
 * Karu (poisoned during the competition for the heir to the throne (human), killed by Landkarte (Ghost))
 * Millea Klein (a Barsburg by blood, but not legally and socially recognized by the Barsburg Family because she is the daughter of a concubine )
 * Millea's Father
 * Millea's Mother
 * Teito Klein (through his mother Millea, also because he has been formally adopted by Miroku)
 * Wahrheit Teito Klein (Teito's reincarnation)
 * Granne Barsburg (one of Ouka's aunts) and her son
 * Many others e.g. aunts, uncles, cousins etc.

Family Tree
Unknown───┬───Ea │                                            (Many generations) │                                        │            Unknown──┬──Unknown    Unknown──┬──Unknown │                     │                     │                      │                     │                      │ Granne   Wolfram Eifeler Barsburg──┬──Dalia Barsburg  Miroku Barsburg │                                   │                       Roseamanelle Ouka Barsburg

Personality
Many of them are unkind, cruel or decadent. Some family members have tried to murder Ouka by poisoning her tea; some are shown to collect beautiful human eyes in jars; Ouka's aunt Granne keeps human slaves as dogs to humiliate and "dispose of" (can mean to kill) according to her mood swings or whims. The few members of the Barsburg Family who are not unkind, cruel or decadent are apparently aware of the personality flaws of the rest of the family. As a child, Karu described relationships in his family as 'love-hate drama', and Ouka described the imperial family as 'so rotten'.

Groom Choosing
When the next in-line has not yet come of age to ascend fully to the throne, a male member (usually the husband or father) can rule as Emperor. This is only to temporarily act as ruler and guardian until the heiress is able to take over (like in Ouka's case, at 16 years of age). An elaborate party/masquerade called the "Groom Choosing" tradition will beforehand be held to select an appropriate groom for her. This ensures that in case the Empress dies, there will be an heiress to the throne and a guardian for the next heiress as well. During this event, princess fiance candidates from the most prestigious families (usually members / next-heads of the seven God Houses) hide their identities behind black masks, and the princess chooses one whom she likes.

It is presumed that the current Emperor of the Barsburg Empire had been selected through such a tradition. After the destruction of The Raphael Project, the Groom Choosing tradition may have been discontinued.

Intermarriage
Whether Wolfram was a blood Barsburg even before his marriage to Kaiserin Dalia is unknown. If he was, this would indicate that the Barsburg family accepts intermarrying within the family, possibly to keep imperial fortunes within the family and/or keep the bloodline pure, and would mean that the lineage of the Barsburg family is inbred to a certain extent.

It is worth noting that a Barsburg is allowed to be one of the seven groom candidates of the Empress-to-be at her Groom Choosing ball, and Ouka's ladies-in-waiting revealed that the son of Ouka's aunt Granne was going to represent District 1 at the ball before he fell ill; he was then replaced by Teito, who is also a blood Barsburg, meaning that if the ball had not been halted abruptly, it is plausible that Ouka would have ended up marrying one of her own relatives.This further indicates the possibility of intermarriage within the Barsburg family. It is possible that generations of inbreeding have caused the highly eccentric, almost maniacal personalities observed in many Barsburg royals.

Trivia

 * "Bars" and "Burg" are German words, they can be translated as "bars" and "castle". Hence, the name Barsburg translates to "bars castle".
 * Ayanami shares some physical similarities with Ouka and has been mistaken for a king. Also, in episode 4, a general said that "(his family/he) was forsaken by the royalty". Because in the Japanese language the subject of the verb can be omitted, and the subject is not mentioned in this case, it was unknown whether it was only Ayanami (perhaps because he is a Warsfeil or he is the child of a commoner) or Ayanami's family (perhaps because they offended some important members of the Royalty), whom the Barsburg Royalty 'forsake'. However,Kapitel 90 reveals that Ayanami is in fact a member of the Raggs Family.
 * "Groom Choosing" is a tradition that has been passed down through the generations of the Royal Family and is often held to assist in the selection of the husband for the next in-line. As the female bearers of the Eye of Raphael are cursed with short lifespans, their husbands chosen in this fashion will then act as the Emperor/Guardian for the empress-to-be until she can succeed the throne when she comes of age.
 * The Barsburg royalty can have concubines, but such concubines' daughters do not bear the family name of Barsburg (e.g. Millea's father is a Barsburg royal, but her mother is a concubine, and Millea's family name is Klein instead of Barsburg). It is unknown if sons of a concubine can have Barsburg as their family names or not.
 * It is unknown if, like male Barsburgs, female members of the Barsburg royalty can also live, and have children, with lovers whom they are not officially married to.
 * Most of the Barsburg royalty are presumably not religious but they seem unconcerned by the presence of bishops in the Hohburg Fortress.
 * While it is known that the Barsburg family is a large family, the exact number of members is unknown.
 * They are the only royal family in the series that are known to be led by a woman.