THE POWERS OF THE OVERLORD ORZAND By Yusis Orzand, "the least terrifying Overlord ever" There are limits to the powers of the Overlord Orzand. Orzand does not keep its prior battle abilities when confined within a new Greater Seal, except for the list of "powers common to all Overlords". Orzand also loses all enhancements made to those common powers, and the Overlord's "battle statistics" revert to low base values. These base values are somewhat influenced by the "battle statistics" of the former Savior transformed into the new Greater Seal. (My base values started pretty low. Base "strength" was terrible. Base "intellect" was poor - I want to believe that's because I never had much talent for magic, not because I'm particularly stupid. Base "evasion" was under average, for a new Overlord. Base "speed" was the only value that started above average.) Kreisia is not a video game, but my mind keeps processing it like one. I comprehend the Overlord's growth in power as "tyrant points". These "tyrant points" have to be "spent" on a "tyrant build" to enhance the Greater Seal's "battle statistics", give the Greater Seal new abilities, or power up other monsters. Once points are spent, they can't be reallocated. I _have_ to spend these points, because *The Overlord must prepare to confront the next Savior in a battle to the death* and %The Overlord cannot surrender% are both rules. Breaking Aldea's rule to prepare for the destined battle is literally impossible, and refusing to spend my "tyrant points" would be too close to surrendering. If I slack off too much on making myself or the monsters stronger, then the Voice of Orzand will erase my mind and take complete control of the Greater Seal. Back in my world, I played video games to _win_. Now, I'm going for an inefficient "tyrant build", so the next Savior will have a fighting chance against me. It's weird, it's not something I'm used to doing. Giving the next Savior a "fighting chance" pushes the boundaries of the rules, but it's allowed. It counts as a form of taunting. Offering a shred of hope, before crushing all with despair. Orzand enjoys twisted things like that. A lot. I'm not even sure how much of this "fighting chance" build is my idea, and how much is Orzand's. I don't know why I'm so worried about giving the next Savior a "fighting chance" when the Savior has always defeated the Overlord in every previous cycle. The Holy Brand Aldea is so extra-super-strong that the Overlord really is at a huge disadvantage against its wielder. I was the weakest Savior in Kreisia's history, but my friends and I still won the destined battle easily. The next Savior's victory over me should be practically guaranteed, right? I just can't shake this really anxious feeling... Anyway, the Overlord doesn't get "tyrant points" for winning battles. Instead, the Overlord begins with a certain amount of "tyrant points" and automatically gets more over time, as Kreisia's miasma naturally grows in strength. The Overlord's increase in power is very slow at first, but the rate picks up near the end of Kreisia's ten years of peace. Once the Overlord is strong enough to leave his castle, his power growth is... what was that term from math class... "exponential"? I guess that's a fancy word for "fast, and keeps growing even faster." The Voice of Orzand doesn't name its own powers, so I'm using names I made up for them. (Naming major magic has the side effect of overriding minor magic. Speaking the names I made up for major magic forces me to use my dark magic voice; I can't say those names in an illusionary voice resembling how I used to sound. Writing names for major magic warps the transcription magic I use, turning the written words blotchy. The writing is still readable, so whatever.) (Although... naming, speaking, or writing about holy magic doesn't disrupt my illusions, or my transcriptions. I'm not sure why. Maybe that's just the "will" of holy power itself.) (Repeating words from the Voice of Orzand also overrides minor magic, maybe because of how closely the Voice is connected to dark magic. Naming the rules of the Overlord Orzand has the same effect, except for Aldea's holy magic rule. I'm deliberately adding a different embellishment when I have minor magic transcribe the name of Aldea's rule. It just feels right to do that.) This is a list of major spells and abilities only. Lesser abilities, like transcription magic or my dark magic ward against binding spells, costs very few "tyrant points" to learn and almost no power to use. Really small things, like seeing the memories of destroyed monsters, simple divinations that let me do remote scans through the eyes of monsters, or the illusions I use to look and sound like I did when I was the Savior, don't cost any "tyrant points" or power at all. They just require a certain amount of concentration. I've also picked up some minor cleaning magic. Maybe a glorified miasma sewer with cleaning magic is beyond ridiculous, but at least my castle won't be dusty when the next Savior comes. POWERS THE OVERLORD DOESN'T USE No Overlord has ever teleported himself around. I think... I think I could be the first to learn a spell with that power, but I don't want to. I _really_ don't want to have an advantage like that over the next Savior. It might happen anyway if Orzand erases me, so watch out. The Savior and his allies have used powerful, costly-to-make teleportation beads provided by Kreisia's government throughout history, yet the Overlord and the Lesser Seals have never used a teleportation bead, ever. That's not a coincidence. Two sources of power that the Overlord doesn't use are magic beads and enchanted equipment. The Overlord can use stuff like that in theory, but from what I've seen in the memories of past Overlords, it has never happened. The _only_ exception is the enchanted crystal that I've been using to play back recorded sounds, and if that crystal didn't resist both miasma vapors and physical damage, then Orzand would have destroyed it long ago. Undead Lesser Seals have never used magic beads or enchanted equipment. Orzand made sure that all past Overlords and Lesser Seals destroyed any magic stuff they carried or encountered. Orzand absolutely hates magic beads and enchanted equipment. Orzand flat-out refuses to use stuff like that because only the living can create it, and Orzand hates life so much that it's not good at _winning_. Undead monsters can't make magic beads or enchant equipment. Even the Overlord can't do it. Creating a bead or enchanting items takes more than just skill and magic talent; some physical stamina (I could say "life-force", but that term isn't used on Kreisia) is also required. Whoever makes the bead or enchants the item has to sleep to get their stamina back. Undead monsters don't have living bodies with physical stamina, and monsters don't sleep. Healing beads won't heal a monster. Monsters don't have a living body that holy magic can heal. Holy healing magic doesn't affect monsters in any way. This means that holy healing magic can't _harm_ a monster. Holy magic shield spells, dispels, and so on also can't harm a monster. Holy magic must be channeled into an attack spell in order to damage a monster. Magic that wards against harmful effects, or cures mental states like confusion or dizziness, can work on monsters. I haven't learned any spells like that, except for a dark magic ward against bindings. Touching an object shaped from concentrated holy magic, like my castle or Aldea's pommel stones, might weaken a monster or even render it helpless, depending on how strong the monster is and how close Kreisia is to the end of its ten-year cycle. Just touching a holy magic object won't directly harm a monster, though. A holy magic object has to be deliberately used as a weapon in order to damage or kill a monster. An undead monster can use healing beads on living creatures. Actual instances of this are _extremely_ rare, and limited to monsters that managed to keep an impression of their own mind. Sasha used healing beads on the living a few times, in previous cycles. As the Overlord, I'm blocked from using healing beads on the living, because %The Overlord may not show mercy to the living.% I'm not currently carrying any magic beads or enchanted equipment at all. I don't want to give myself any more advantages over the next Savior than I have to. I've left the enchanted crystal sound-recorder that I used to carry in my castle's library; I've listened to it so many times that I don't need it anymore. Hey, next Savior? You should take the crystal for yourself, and record anything you want on it. Maybe it's a skimpy reward for saving Kreisia, but it's literally all I've got. If you have to continue the cycle... you'll need it. POWERS COMMON TO ALL OVERLORDS %Miasma falls, everyone dies% Seriously. That's exactly what this is. The Overlord destroys himself. That is, he absorbs his dark magic shell (the Greater Seal) into his miasma vortex. So, dark magic doesn't literally destroy itself - it can't - but the result is the same, for practical purposes. This is the only monster ability I know of that can destroy any monster, and the Overlord can only use it on himself. The Overlord can't absorb the dark magic shells of other monsters into his miasma vortex. Monsters can't kill monsters, and monsters other than the Overlord can't destroy themselves. Destroying a monster frees its soul, and miasma flat-out refuses to allow that. Miasma doesn't want to free the former Savior's soul trapped inside of the Overlord, but it's willing to accept that as a trade-off for drowning the world. The Overlord's vortex can't absorb anything except dark magic. Not physical objects, not energy, not even other types of magic. Any weapons or spells targeting the vortex affect the Overlord the same as if they'd targeted any other part of his body. The Greater Seal is what generates the Overlord's miasma vortex, but the Greater Seal doesn't have to physically contain the vortex. The vortex can separate and hover around, although some kind of bond keeps it near the Greater Seal at all times. There's not much point to separating the vortex anyway, and doing that feels _really weird_. Senses shut down to everything except stuff like vibrations from sound or information from divinations. The mind can still contact monsters, speak with a dark magic voice, or cast spells. The soul stays in the vortex, and its engraving to prepare for the next Savior continues to influence the Greater Seal. (Don't ask how I know what this feels like.) (Just don't ask.) (Okay, okay. Sometimes Orzand forces me to think of an illusion that can maul my Greater Seal. Orzand's been growing in power along with the miasma, and its last rampage was a lot worse than ever before, until I finally got enough control over my thoughts to make the illusion go away. Don't ask any more than that.) The Overlord's miasma vortex won't be affected if the Greater Seal takes damage, or if the Greater Seal changes shape into any form. But if the Greater Seal is completely destroyed, or absorbed into the vortex with this spell, then the vortex ceases to exist. After that, the miasma that used to be concentrated in the vortex becomes a thick sludge. Roughly twenty-five minutes later, this sludge erupts and drowns all of Kreisia in a torrential miasma flood. Every living creature dies. Every person or animal killed this way turns into an undead monster. Maybe the miasma will overflow into outer space, and poison more worlds. The only thing that stops the Voice of Orzand from doing this is the Holy Brand Aldea's directive, written on the former Savior's soul. The Overlord MUST prepare to confront the next Savior in a battle to the death, which the Overlord obviously can't do if he destroys himself, you know? If the next Savior is destroyed, or if he abandons Kreisia (I'm the only Savior who ever tried to run away), then Aldea's directive no longer applies. The Voice of Orzand is free to use this ability. Game over, bad ending. The Voice can also use this ability if so few people are left on Kreisia that summoning a Savior is no longer possible. I'm not sure what the cutoff is, but Kreisia is closing in on it over time. (I don't know exactly how the summon spell works, but it doesn't just draw on the power of the priestess who casts it. The spell also depends on the need of every person in Kreisia. It really is all of Kreisia that cries out for a Savior, although the priestess is the one who shapes that cry into a call that reaches out to the worlds beyond.) The Voice also tries to drown the world with this ability when the Savior destroys the Overlord. To interrupt the Voice, the Savior must have Aldea's directive written on his soul, die, and become Orzand's new host, the Greater Seal, the next Overlord. That's Kreisia's cycle. Aldea, I hate you, I really do hate you, but you're the only reason why Kreisia isn't drowned in miasma yet, so... ...I still hate you. %Poisonous miasma% The Overlord's physical presence constantly spills miasma vapors that are deadly poison to living beings. These vapors will kill anyone and (eventually) dissolve anything that isn't resistant, with enough exposure. Ordinary anti-poison wards won't stave off death for long, but the Holy Brand Aldea can cast a ward strong enough protect the Savior and his companions. This is a "passive" ability. I don't consciously do it. It happens on its own, all the time, and I can't shut it off completely. My control over this is limited. I might be able to temporarily seal off the more concentrated vapors from my miasma vortex, but vapors also drift off of my body. I can also will the vapors to be stronger, if I want to. I've thought about tossing some "tyrant points" into increasing this power, to keep those points from being spent on stuff that's more likely to kill the next Savior, but I really don't want to make the vapors any stronger. It's already hard enough to maintain any control over them. Most of the miasma vapors saturating my island and my castle aren't from this ability; they're a side effect of how the Greater Seal is constantly drawing in dark magic from all over Kreisia. The miasma-atmosphere here won't quickly dissolve stuff - it would take months for most objects to erode - but the miasma-atmosphere will poison any unprotected life, and the vapors drifting off of my body are a lot more concentrated. Very few materials resist being eroded by miasma vapors; mostly certain types of rock or crystal, anything enchanted to resist dark magic, and anything shaped from holy magic. Stuff shaped from dark magic won't dissolve, but it won't block the vapors either. Stuff shaped from time magic will block my vapors in the short term (it will also block my claws from inflicting poison, which is why I wore time magic gloves when I dueled Laminah), but time magic has limits. Objects shaped from time magic always have an expiration date. Even a tiny little glasses case will eventually dissolve, and have to be replaced. Whenever I've tried to wear something made out of time magic, the vapors from my body made it dissolve after I stopped funneling a little power and concentration to maintain it. My Primary Servants got a few "tyrant points" allocated to them. It was a fixed amount that didn't grow over ten years, maybe because of the %Time Stop% I cast. I put their points into "miasma resistance", so that I wouldn't kill them just by being near them. I couldn't make them immune to miasma, though. Cynthia got more points than the others, because... well, anyway, after I assigned as much "miasma resistance" as I could, I also gave her some "holy resistance" to counter the innate weakness to holy power she had acquired. She's still weak to holy magic, just not as much as Anemos and Laminah are. I wasn't sure if she'd be able to cast holy spells, when she woke up. %Pledge of obedience accepted% This is another "passive" ability. It can't be enhanced. It's the only mind-related magic the Overlord can use on the living, other than sleep spells. Any living person who willfully and knowingly pledges to obey the Overlord Orzand is compelled to follow the Overlord's commands, just like how undead monsters are compelled. This is absolute and automatic, no takebacks. The living person is permanently hooked into miasma's "network", and the Overlord can read and command their mind. Even if the current Overlord is destroyed, a person who has pledged to serve is still bound to Orzand's will. Living servants typically end up erasing their own minds, just like undead monsters often do. This is the ONLY way that the Overlord can gain direct control of a living person. It's flat-out impossible for the Overlord to use anything like an Altean domination chant on the living, even if the Overlord once had a similar ability as the Savior. (Should I mention that all pledges, promises, or vows made to Kreisia's Savior expire when the Savior becomes the Overlord? That's kind of obvious, isn't it?) (That includes wedding vows. Very few Saviors have gotten married on Kreisia, but it has happened; the most recent one was the Savior who helped Kreisia hold out against the Overlord for three and a half years.) Pledging obedience has to be done in physical person for this power to activate, just like how bargains with the Overlord have to be done in physical person. The Overlord can't strike a bargain through long-distance communication. (Well, maybe he could, but if he did then neither side would be compelled to uphold the terms.) Pledging obedience to the Overlord has to be a completely intentional and conscious choice. The person who pledges must have an intelligent, functional mind (animals or people too mentally impaired to know what they're doing can't pledge), and the person must understand that yeah, they are literally signing on to do anything the Overlord Orzand tells them to do. A pledge of obedience can never be given by accident, or by saying something like "at your service" as a greeting. It can't be forced through mind-control (mind-related magic or Altean domination chants can't make anyone pledge), or torture, or even trickery. The Overlord can't pretend to be anyone or anything other than the miasma-fueled spreader of death, terror, and suffering when demanding a pledge. Orzand doesn't care to hide its true nature anyway. The Overlord can strike a bargain in exchange for a pledge of obedience. Living people have bartered their pledge of obedience to the Overlord during some of Kreisia's past cycles, usually in desperate attempts to spare their loved ones from death and worse. No good ever came from making a deal like that. Not once. When I became the Overlord, I struck a bargain with the Voice of Orzand. In exchange for permission to cast %Time Stop% and preserve my friends' lives, I promised to try, as sincerely and effectively as I could, to bargain for a pledge of obedience from each of them. The Overlord can't make any bargain that's impossible for either side to guarantee, not even when that bargain is the Voice striking a deal with its own host. The Voice couldn't demand that I force my friends to pledge; it's impossible to guarantee a choice that must come from someone else's free will. The Voice might have chosen its demand just to toy with me. It even let me out of the requirement to bargain for Cynthia's pledge, because it wanted to lie about her and mess with me. The Voice gets some kind of twisted thrill out of making me feel negative emotions. My friends all refused to pledge. No living being has pledged obedience to me yet, and I want things to stay that way. It's one more reason why I'm not leaving my island until the Voice erases me. %Burning ring of fire% This ability can't be enhanced. If the Overlord is challenged to a duel in physical person, he must summon a ring of fire to isolate himself and his opponent from all interference. This magic fire is like a red-hot, solid wall. Nothing can get through the fire, not sound, light, objects, or magic. It's not possible to fly over or tunnel under the flames; they will stretch as high or low as it takes to block any attempt. Teleporting in or out of the ring of fire is impossible. This isn't fire magic (I can't cast any elemental magic). Water magic doesn't counter it. I don't think anything can counter or dispel it. It's a summon that calls up some kind of primal force. Orzand may have learned this summon from Yumarac. I'm not sure any living person on Kreisia could successfully cast it. Calling it a "summon" is a little misleading; all the magic does is send a request, and the primal force won't answer just anyone. Whoever makes the request has to be a serious heavy hitter in the magic department, and they also must be answering a challenge, setting up a potential bargain, or both. The color of the flames depends on the magic talent of the summoner. Mine appear purple-black because I can use dark magic (black), time magic (violet), and a little mind-related magic (deep blue, which changes the violet tint to purple). To invoke this for a duel, The Overlord must be the one answering a challenge. The Overlord can't challenge someone else to a duel and then use this ability, not unless the challenged person _wants_ to be isolated in a one-on-one battle with the most vile _thing_ in Kreisia. (For something that's not actually a video game, Kreisia sure has a lot of stuff to preserve game balance.) If the Overlord chooses to negotiate a bargain, then he isn't required to use this ability, but he can. The Overlord can invoke this whether or not he is the one initiating negotiations. The primal force always makes a duel start on more or less even terms, but it won't necessarily make a bargain start on even terms. If the Overlord answers a challenge to duel and then tries to strike a bargain, the fire continues uninterrupted until negotiations end. Maintaining the fire doesn't cost any power or concentration. The Overlord doesn't and can't dismiss the fire; the fire itself decides when it goes away. The Overlord can kill his opponent during a duel, but this ability blocks the Overlord from harming someone during or immediately after his attempt to bargain with them. Even the Overlord's %Poisonous miasma% is buffered; the other person is somewhat protected, as long as they don't get too close to a glorified miasma sewer. (The other person is more strongly protected from dying to %Poisonous miasma% during a duel; I guess that's to keep the one-on-one battle "fair".) The protection granted by this ability normally doesn't last for more than a minute after negotiations end. That's still enough time to escape through teleportation. While this protection is active, the Overlord can't even let other monsters hurt the protected person. The most the Overlord can do is immobilize the protected person with a binding spell, temporarily dampen their magic, or render them unconscious with a sleep spell. Or maybe destroy their stuff, but only if that stuff isn't useful for battle, or otherwise needed to safeguard anyone's life. (I haven't learned any spells or abilities to dampen magic. I don't want an advantage like that against the next Savior. Orzand might learn a magic-dampening power after it erases me, though.) If the person the Overlord negotiated with is immobilized, magic-dampened, or unconscious, then their protection continues until roughly a minute after they're no longer impaired. If the person has companions nearby who are relying on them, then the companions are also temporarily protected from the Overlord - unless they choose to attack the Overlord, or challenge him to a duel. I'm not sure why this ability is strictly limited to setting up duels or bargains. Is the summoned force connected to some core quality of duels and bargains, something that has nothing to do with the Voice of Orzand? Bargaining is basically a duel of words, isn't it? (Should I mention that the Overlord can't "duel himself" or "bargain with himself" to invoke this ability? My fights and arguments with Orzand's illusion flat-out don't count.) %Regenerate% The strength of this "passive" ability varies depending on the Overlord's "tyrant build". As long as the Overlord isn't fully destroyed, he automatically draws on miasma to restore damage from anything. That includes decapitation, dismemberment, even an onslaught from the Overlord's greatest weakness, holy magic. If I actively focus on this power, I can use it like a spell to heal myself faster, reattach anything severed, and so on. I can't cast any other major spells while doing that, or move very much. I hate using this ability, actively or passively. I hate being reminded of what I am now. I'm a little worried that I put too many points into this. I hope the next Savior is a heavy hitter. There's a reason why I powered this up so much. At times in the past ten years, I'd get so close to losing it that Orzand manifested as an illusion, cast from my own thoughts. Orzand's illusion has tried to make me erase myself, by attacking me. These "attacks" represent Orzand taking control of my miasma to mangle the Greater Seal. Orzand's illusion can't destroy the Greater Seal. Aldea's rule on my soul prevents Orzand from making me use %Miasma falls, everyone dies% (which is the one and only way the Overlord can destroy the Greater Seal), and monsters in general can't destroy themselves. However, monsters can definitely erase their own minds. Orzand's attacks have brought me closer to erasing myself than I want to admit. I made the Greater Seal able to fight back against Orzand, by copying the signature ability of Warrior Overlords (I call it %Fighting game moves%). That didn't help very much against an enemy who is literally in my thoughts. So, I ultimately just had to repair the damage, until I could finally push Orzand into the back of my mind and make the illusion go away. For a time. Orzand's attacks on me have grown more frequent and vicious as the miasma has grown in power, over the ten-year cycle. Listening to the crystal Cedric gave me helped a lot. Its recording was something I could concentrate on. I've also had... some experience... blocking out bad thoughts, just so I could function. At all. Maybe that's one more reason why Cynthia's summon spell chose me. %Improve statistics% The Overlord must spend a specific fraction of his "tyrant points" improving his... I call them "battle statistics" because that's how my mind processes it. The Voice of Orzand _will_ erase me if I slack off on this. The Overlord can improve strength (physical attack power), intellect (magic attack power, also affects magic resistance some), evasion (resistance to physical attacks), speed (I'm worried that I raised this too high), and resistance to elements like fire, water, and wind. (Should I mention that the Overlord naturally has maximum "miasma resistance"? That's kind of obvious, isn't it? All undead monsters are immune to damage from dark magic, and weak to damage from holy magic.) The Overlord can't make himself immune to any element. The highest resistance possible is fifty percent, for everything other than holy. The Overlord can't make himself resistant to holy power, but he can reduce his weakness to it with enough points. I'm planning a build with the maximum of fifty percent resistance to every element that's not holy. Points put into elemental resistance are points that aren't powering up my damage-dealing battle statistics. But I haven't put any points into "holy resistance". Not one. Yeah, that's right, Holy Brand Aldea. _I'm weak to your attacks_. I'm weak to _everything_ you can do. _Bring it_. %Slow% Spell names don't get much more self-explanatory than this. This ability can be enhanced. I had to max it out so I could learn %Time Stop.% My maxed-out version is pretty strong and hits all of my opponents, but it doesn't do any damage. It can be warded against. The chances of dodging it are low. I suspect that this ability is common to all Overlords because Orzand originally picked it up from Yumarac. The time magic that bards know was handed down from Yumarac, and Aldea knows a little time magic from Yumarac too. (Aldea can't use really strong time magic, as far as I know. I think it doesn't have all the power or knowledge that Yumarac once did.) There's a weaker version of this ability that's a mix of bardic magic and time magic. My version is a mix of dark magic and time magic. The bardic magic version of %Accelerate% will dispel this, but since my magic is stronger, I can cancel a bardic magic enhancement and inflict slow motion with a single cast of this spell. The only Overlords who could cast %Accelerate% before were Jongleur Overlords, who learned the bardic magic version. I could learn a stronger time magic version, but I haven't spent points to get it because I'm already really worried that I'm too fast. After the Voice erases me, %Accelerate% is probably the first spell it will add to my build. %Shapechange into [monster name]% This ability can't be enhanced, and the Overlord can't use it during duels; I suspect that's a limitation imposed by the mandatory %Burning ring of fire.% The Overlord can take the form of any undead monster. The "battle statistics" of the Overlord can be altered this way, for better or worse. The Overlord's abilities are limited to what the monster can normally do, outside of passive abilities like %Poisonous miasma% or %Regenerate.% Also, the Overlord can't use %Shapechange% to cast any magic spells that he doesn't already know, regardless of what spells monsters of that type can use. If the Overlord takes a super-strong form, it's possible to %Lock Shapechange,% so that the Overlord can't be stunned or dispelled out of it for a fixed period of time. The Overlord can't voluntarily shift out of a locked form, either. (If someone were to challenge the Overlord to a duel while %Lock Shapechange% was in effect, then the duel would necessarily be postponed until %Lock Shapechange% wore off, since %The Overlord cannot surrender% is a higher priority rule than %The Overlord cannot refuse a challenge to duel.% Master Tactician Overlords can't use this as a loophole to delay a duel, because Master Tactician Overlords can't %Shapechange% into any form powerful enough to enable %Lock Shapechange.%) %Lock Shapechange% can never be used on a weak or medium-strength form; it only works on super-strong forms. Because %The Overlord cannot surrender,% the Overlord can't take a weak or medium-strength form for "serious" battles. The Overlord doesn't have to take another monster's form during a "serious" battle, but if he does, then only super-strong forms are allowed. I can't fight the next Savior as a weak rabbit-monster. Super-strong forms can be either offensively or defensively powerful, compared to the Overlord's "balanced" base form or "enhanced" %Final Form.% (The Overlord's %Final Form% isn't the same as this ability; it's not possible to lock the %Final Form% even though it could be considered super-strong.) Super-strong offensive forms can't cast spells or summon monsters into battle, because, uh, I don't know. For something that's not a video game, Kreisia really does has a lot of stuff to preserve game balance. Super-strong defensive forms can cast spells or summon monsters into battle. Fighting the Savior in a super-defensive form absolutely requires a _lot_ of monster summoning, to make the battle "serious". Master Tactician Overlords tend to fight in the strongest defensive form they can assume (which isn't very strong or defensive). I could take the form of something like a greater dragon to fight the next Savior, but I think I'd be more likely to kill him if I did. A greater dragon's battle abilities hit a lot harder than mine, and I'd be just as fast (my %Bend time% passive ability stacks with my base speed, which is already too high and would be further magnified in dragon form). %Wielder of miasma% I'm putting as many points as I can into this, and into its sub-ability %Miasma throw.% The ceiling on how much it can improve seems to grow as the Overlord grows in power. The Overlord can control miasma in liquid, solid, or vapor form. There are hard restrictions. I can direct miasma to do things like turn my crystal sound-recorder on and off, or destroy a flower, or even provide some lift, stability, and a windshield when riding in makeshift air travel. I can't make miasma go against its core desires to spread death, terror, and suffering. Not unless there's some kind of trade-off that would serve the rules (like how using miasma to harmlessly break the crystal prisons of living Lesser Seals served the rule to prepare for the next Savior). A very important restriction is that I can't attack with miasma in any kind of battle, unless I invoke a special ability like %Miasma throw% or cast a spell like %Miasma rain.% (Are you wondering what the difference between an "ability" and a "spell" is? Spells take so much concentration that I can't move much or use physical attacks while I cast them; abilities aren't as difficult to pull off. I can't do much while I channel %Miasma rain,% but I have more freedom to attack or evade while invoking %Miasma throw.% Even then, %Miasma throw% is on a sliding scale; attacking with especially large chunks of solid miasma will slow me down some, or maybe even leave me vulnerable for an instant.) %Miasma throw% and %Miasma rain% both cost power, and there are limits to how much power I can process through the Greater Seal or access from its miasma-vortex-battery. These limits are currently very high (and I can borrow against my future power with time magic, at the cost of being rendered powerless for a while afterward) but not infinite. The Overlord can shape miasma into pretty much anything solid; again, there are hard restrictions. The Overlord can only make objects, and they have to be objects that the Savior host fully comprehends. The bigger and heavier the object, the more time and power it costs to make. I don't have to make these objects appear next to me. I can make them appear anywhere in Kreisia that's not warded, but - this is important enough to keep repeating - there are hard restrictions. These limits actually apply to all objects anyone shapes from any kind of magic, not just miasma-objects shaped by the Overlord. A faraway object must appear on empty ground; it can't drop out of the sky (unless the Overlord uses %Miasma throw,% which has a strictly limited range, and I don't think living people can shape magic in an equivalent manner to %Miasma throw% at all), or erupt under a house, or anything like that. Shaped magic absolutely can't occupy the same space as other objects or living beings. It can protect or enclose something without disturbing it, but it can't significantly move another object, and it definitely can't restrain any living being. No type of magic can be shaped around an unwilling target (consent must be consciously given; an unconscious target counts as unwilling), except for binding spells like %Chains of miasma.% Another restriction is that faraway created objects can't have any kind of sharp points or edges. Objects shaped from magic can't be made into weapons that cut or pierce unless they literally appear in the creator's physical possession. Shaped magic can't even appear too close (touching or almost touching) to another living being, unless that being consciously consents in full understanding of what's going on. %Miasma throw% is a very limited exception; it lets me shape objects under a living being that could unbalance them or toss them around, but I can't defy the restrictions in a more dangerous way than that. (Kreisia. Not a video game. Has game balance anyway.) To make, let's say, a miasma-obelisk appear in front of a traveler's stop, I first have to direct some miasma vapors to exterminate all the plants, insects, earthworms, and so on in a patch of the ground. Then I can conjure a miasma-obelisk that slowly rises out of the patch. Remote divinations are helpful for this sort of thing. Miasma can't poison anyone in solid form. Solid miasma-objects can be made basically permanent, but if they take enough damage, they'll turn into poisonous miasma-smoke. So, stuff shaped from miasma is not safe to be around. I can only make simple objects. I don't know how machines work; if I tried to make, say, an airship, then it would be a big, ship-shaped thing that doesn't fly. (Airships also use wind magic to get off the ground, and I can't cast any elemental spells.) I'm really glad I don't know much about devices, because that prevents me - or Orzand - from recreating any of the more dangerous weapons from my world. Is that one more reason why Cynthia's summon spell chose me? Because of what I don't know? %Master of monsters% Like %Wielder of miasma,% the ceiling on this one rises over time. I'm putting as many points into it as I can, mostly because I'm trying to spread out my "tyrant build". The Overlord can instantly summon undead monsters to any location that's not warded. Summoning monsters is crucial for Master Tactician Overlords, but since I'm not one, I don't have access to a lot of the monster-related things that a Master Tactician can do. Summoning is a form of teleportation, and it's limited by certain restrictions that also affect teleportation beads or Aldea's teleportation ability. The target of a teleportation spell can't appear in any space that's already occupied by people or objects. A more subtle restriction is that a summoned monster (or a teleported person, or even a teleported object) can't appear in a location where gravity or the environment could endanger it, or bring significant harm to anyone or anything else. I can't summon a gigantic elephant-monster directly over the Savior's head, and Aldea can't teleport a flaming ball of holy fire directly over my head. No one can teleport a living creature to the bottom of the ocean, unless that creature is somehow capable of surviving in the watery depths (teleporting a living being to a point on the ocean's surface might be possible, depending on whether the being had sufficient talent for water magic or another means to survive). No one can teleport a sharp, pointy sword to appear directly under a falling person. (If Aldea's teleports didn't have a thirty-second cast time, then Aldea might be able to teleport a soft mattress to appear under a falling person. I'd be blocked from doing anything like that because %The Overlord may not show mercy to the living.%) Summoning doesn't cost any power, but there are limits to it, especially when it's used in battle. There are hard restrictions on how many monsters can be summoned, how rapidly multiple monsters can be summoned, how much distance the summoned monsters can travel, and how strong the summoned monsters are. When the Overlord reaches his summon limit, he can't summon any more monsters until a certain amount of time passes. The Overlord doesn't regain the ability to summon all at once. First he regains the ability to summon weaker monsters, and his limit gradually builds back up to its natural maximum. I can't use time magic to shorten the waiting period for my summon limit. I've tried. It just doesn't work. Maybe because time has to pass for the monsters as much as it has to pass for the Overlord. (Did I mention that Kreisia has a _lot_ of stuff to preserve game balance? _Because it does_.) Summoning can only target undead servants. The Overlord can NOT teleport anyone or anything else like this, especially not living beings. Not even living beings who have pledged obedience. Summoned monsters can't bring along anyone or anything; whatever they may have been holding will be left behind. This is worth noting because living people can and do bring all the stuff they're wearing or carrying when they teleport. The Overlord can NOT "summon" himself as a way of teleporting around. I don't know any spells for teleporting myself, and I have zero intention of learning any. That's one advantage I _really_ don't want against the next Savior. (Hey, next Savior? You know that spell I'm giving you to teleport your party to my castle gates? It isn't something I can do myself. It's just Aldea's teleportation ability with a specific destination patched in. I triple-checked it, so it won't dump you in the ocean or anything.) (You can test the spell by having Aldea teleport an object, if you don't trust me. Which is actually pretty sensible. Trusting the Overlord has never been a good idea in all of Kreisia's history. Just don't send a living being, unless they're protected from my island's miasma vapors.) The Overlord can also read and command the minds of monsters anywhere in the world. The Overlord can't do that with living minds; the only exception is the minds of living people who have pledged obedience. I can try to guess what a living person is thinking, same as anyone else can, but I can't read living minds even with %Final Form: Vision.% Not even the minds of my living Primary Servants. I could call the Overlord's mental link with monsters "telepathy"; I won't because that word isn't used on Kreisia. I'm not sure "telepathy" accurately describes what's happening anyway. It's more like network-based messaging and remote control. Monsters also have a weak mental link with each other, but monsters that keep their own minds are rare. Mindless monsters never coordinate attacks or cooperate with one another unless they are directly controlled. (The will to work together for a common purpose is a crucial advantage that living beings have over undead monsters; last cycle, King Cedric Welkin pushed that advantage as far as he could.) Most monsters end up erasing their own minds. If I'm not giving commands to a mindless monster, then its actions are randomly determined by its own miasma and the echoes of whatever instincts it once had. When Kreisia's miasma is at a "low ebb" near the beginning of a ten-year cycle, undead monsters are weaker and their instincts usually make them hide or flee. (Monsters with exceptionally aggressive instincts tend to get themselves destroyed during this period; that's what happened to a monster Laminah's mother killed near her own house.) As the miasma gets stronger near the end of a cycle, monsters compulsively stalk, kill, and reanimate the living. Once the Overlord gains enough power to affect the world outside his castle, he can issue an %Overlord's decree% that directly commands all monsters in Kreisia. My %Overlord's decree% is currently to "stay away from all settlements, animals or people, other than my servants or the next Savior" (so they can battle monsters to improve their combat ability). "Animals" in the context of my current decree means "any animal that can be turned into a monster". That means my decree doesn't compel monsters to avoid animals like insects or worms. The decree automatically communicates every nuance of my intent, so I don't have to be super-specific with my wording. The monsters won't get confused by any technicalities. Insects, worms, microorganisms (do Kreisian scholars know about those? Oh well, just imagine that some "animals" are so tiny they can't be seen with normal vision) and stuff like that can't be turned into monsters at all. Neither can plants or fungi. Whatever they have for a soul just isn't enough to work with. Since the %Overlord's decree% commands "all monsters," it also commands the Overlord, who is himself a monster. I could modify the %Overlord's decree% I've made, but I don't plan to. (Should I mention that the Overlord can't make any decree that would directly break the Rules of the Overlord Orzand? That's kind of obvious, isn't it? The Overlord can't give a monster any commands that would directly break the rules, either.) Another sub-ability makes monsters repeat words that the Overlord selects. It can also relay the Overlord's words and thoughts. I call it %Monster PA% because it's like a one-way Public Announcement system. Sometimes it's been used to spread terror throughout Kreisia. The last Overlord used it on me and my friends, to demand showdowns. I haven't tried using %Monster PA% yet, but I did add it to my "tyrant build" and max it out. Maybe I'll use it to send messages. %Strengthen monster% Like the Overlord himself, undead monsters naturally lose strength at the "low ebb" of the cycle's beginning, and gain strength as the miasma rises. This is reflected in their "battle statistics". The Overlord can use "tyrant points" to raise the maximum limit of a monster's power. Because this ability costs "tyrant points" instead of miasma, it's technically not a major spell, and it's much more restricted than most of the Overlord's powers. There's a hard cap on the percentage of "tyrant points" that can be spent on the monsters, and there's a hard cap on how strong any monster can get. No monster can be made more than half as powerful as the Overlord. (These restrictions don't exist for Master Tactician Overlords, who get a specially enhanced, exclusive version of this along with drastically reduced "battle statistics" for the Overlord himself. I'm not a Master Tactician Overlord, which is too bad because I'm pretty sure I'd be an incompetent one. I'm not good at strategy games.) I don't have to be near a monster to power it up. I can do it remotely, and I have a lot of options on how to go about it. These options include changing a monster's shape, giving it new abilities, or improving its battle statistics. I have mixed feelings about using "tyrant points" on this. I don't want to make myself any stronger than I have to, but Kreisia's monsters are also a deadly threat. And it would be... cruel... to make a monster so strong that no one other than the Savior is likely to free it from the curse of the miasma. (The Savior and his companions are often racing against time to vanquish the Overlord, and may not have the opportunity to destroy other strong monsters. My friends and I had more time than most Saviors, and even then our time ran out faster than I hoped.) For now, I'm mostly powering up flightless monsters on the island where my castle is. Don't underestimate the island's flying monsters, either; previous Overlords strengthened them. I've commanded all the super-strong monsters I could sense in Kreisia to come to my island and stay here, with the justification that I'll need them nearby when the next Savior shows up. Watch out for the hydra. I've been making him extra-super-strong, because he _really_ wants a glorious battle with the next Savior. It's not like I can make the hydra more than half as strong as myself, anyway? Maybe defeating the hydra will make the next Savior a lot more powerful, too? Everyone wins! %Miasma flood% The Overlord creates a flash flood of extra-super-strong miasma to drown any area in all of Kreisia. This flood will kill every living person or animal it engulfs, and reanimate them all as undead monsters. Cities and villages can be warded against monster summoning, but they can't be completely warded against a flood of dark magic. This ability is just too powerful. At most, wards cast by living people might reduce the flood, or buy time to escape. Only one area in Kreisia has enough natural holy power to flat-out block this ability: the holy grasslands surrounding Aldea's shrine. No Overlord has ever been powerful enough to flood Kreisia's holy grasslands before, not even the Overlord whose power grew unchecked for three and a half years; the Greater Seal has a hard limit on how much dark magic it can unleash at once. (Although, time magic does give a workaround for that limit...) (Wait. I shouldn't think about this.) The concentrated dark magic of a miasma flood is probably the only thing powerful enough to destroy the Holy Brand Aldea. Probably. (If Aldea were exhausted or unaware, and had no wielder to support it, then maybe it could be vulnerable...) (Wait. I really shouldn't think about this. I want to, but I shouldn't.) This ability can't be used against the Savior. If it's being cast, then the presence of the Savior in or near the target area will interrupt the spell. I'm not sure why. Is it because the Savior is an off-worlder? Does Orzand have a remnant of its original programming that stops it from drowning off-worlders? Did the off-worlder Yumarac put a directive in Orzand to prevent its worst ability from being used on him? If being from off-world is the trick, then Alteans don't have enough off-world heritage to counter the spell. The Overlord's own presence also won't counter the spell, even though the Overlord used to be an off-world Savior. I guess being an undead _thing_ also means "not enough off-world heritage". Aldea can't counter this spell. I think Aldea counts as a native Kreisian, as far as this spell is concerned, since Aldea was shaped from Kreisia's holy power. This is not a battle ability. It's too slow to use (cast time of forty hours), and it takes way too much power. The base spell won't flood more than, say, a hamlet with a few houses. Some past Overlords have powered up this ability, and used it to drown entire cities. I am not enhancing this power with any "tyrant points". Not one. It's a risk. Since I'm not powering up an ability that can't even be used against the next Savior, I might be stronger than I want to be, when I battle him to the death. But... No. Just no. _Absolutely not_. Next Savior? After the Voice of Orzand erases what's left of "Yusis", it will have to save up points for a while before it can do this at full power. You might not have as much time as you think, though. I _really_ don't like how my points seem to be adding up faster and faster. POWERS OF YUSIS ORZAND, "the least terrifying Overlord ever" This is a list of Overlord powers I've personally acquired, and it isn't going to be complete. I'll be adding or inventing more abilities, because I'm forced to keep spending points on my build... and... I'm worried. I'm getting points at a faster rate than previous Overlords, whose memories I've searched. A lot faster. I'm not sure why. This could be a problem. Less than ten years passed before I could leave my castle. Not that much less, only a few months. It's been close enough to ten years that I round up when I talk about it. I'm still worried, because this has never happened to any Overlord before, except for the Assassin Overlord who had only two Lesser Seals binding him to his prison. That Overlord left his castle after just six years, and Kreisia suffered horribly. A summoned Savior helped Kreisia hold out for three and a half years, until Aldea regained enough strength for the Savior to wield it. (Sometimes I wonder what it was like, for that Savior...) The good news is that, as of right now, Aldea's fire has been renewed. Aldea only needs to sleep for about nine and a half years between turns of the cycle; it's had enough time. On top of that, I have some vague... Overlord sense... that always tells me where Aldea is, and gives me a hazy idea of what it's doing. I'm absolutely sure that Aldea has regained its strength; it just hasn't awakened yet. I'm still getting _really_ worried. Hey, next Savior? Can you work quickly? My friends will speed you up by bringing you Aldea's pommel stones. My "tyrant class" (another metaphor for how my mind processes all this) is "Time Mage". It wasn't entirely deliberate. When I became the Overlord, I needed the spell %Time Stop% to save my friends, so I had to commit my entire "tyrant build" to that. I can't change my "tyrant class", or give up any of the abilities I've gained. Most of Kreisia's previous Overlords were the "Warrior" (resembles a fighting game), "Wizard" (resembles a puzzle game), or "Master Tactician" (resembles a real-time strategy game) classes. There have been a few odd ones like "Assassin" (resembles a stealth game) or "Jongleur" (resembles a rhythm game). In all the memories of past Overlords, I've never seen a "Time Mage" (resembles... not just a time management game. It also resembles any other game I want to think about, but it's not as good at them as the classes that specialize). I've made the Greater Seal able to copy what some other types of Overlords do, to a weaker degree, and I'm planning to continue that. One thing I can't copy is elemental magic. I never had any feel for fire, water, or wind magic when I was the Savior, and I still don't. Next Savior? You should be ready to defend yourself against dark magic (obviously) and physical attacks, in the destined battle. You _probably_ don't need as much protection against elemental attacks, but don't get careless. I could summon monsters that use elemental spells, or %Shapechange% into something with a miasma-fire breath attack, or whatever. The only types of magic that I can wield are dark magic and time magic. And a little mind-related magic, but that's limited to %Take a nap% and %Pledge of obedience accepted.% I don't think I could learn any other mind-related magic even if I wanted to, and I can't shape mind-related magic into objects. Every Overlord in history has been similarly restricted in their command of mind-related magic, for some reason. (Should I also mention that I can use minor magic, same as almost everyone in Kreisia? That's kind of obvious, isn't it?) (Minor magic is strictly limited in what it can do, anyway. Minor magic can never give the caster a big advantage in combat, because, uh, game balance? Cynthia once said something about how the strong emotions of battle overwhelm minor magic, I don't know.) (For example, minor magic divinations can maybe give the caster more information about what's going on during a battle - I think that only counts as a small advantage - but minor magic illusions can't turn someone invisible while they're fighting, or anything like that. I can use illusions while I'm fighting, but my illusions can't disguise my size, position, identity, or battle actions.) Maybe I should clarify that shaping time magic into objects is practically a minor power, even though %Wielder of miasma% is a major power. I'm a lot more limited in what I can shape out of time magic. I can't make time magic objects that are really far away from me, or flying through the air, or permanent. Stuff shaped from time magic always has an expiration date. Time magic objects make below-average weapons or shields in battle, the trade-off being that they cost much less power to create. Time magic gloves can block my claws from inflicting poison. The miasma vapors drifting off of my body will dissolve any time magic stuff I wear, unless I channel a small amount of power and concentration to prevent that. Another minor power of being a Time Mage is that I automatically know a lot of time-related stuff. If I concentrate, I can always tell what time it is, exactly when a memory I'm studying happened, how much of a spell's duration is left, how long of a cooldown any spell or ability has, and so on. Is "Time Mage" broken underpowered? I hope so. Jack of all trades master of none is weak, right? That's the worst kind of build for just about any video game. %Time Stop% This is the signature spell of the Time Mage. It's a magnified version of the %Slow% spell. I used it to save my friends. It stopped their time, and the time of the miasma fonts they sealed, for ten years. It lasted that long only because they supported it with their own strength. When I say this spell "stops time", I don't quite mean it literally. What the magic really does is pause the progression of various forces relative to the flow of time. Whoever it's cast on can't move or think, and doesn't need to eat, breathe, or whatever to stay alive. My friends don't seem to have aged ten years. Cynthia still looks and may as well be sixteen. Laminah still appears to be in her mid-twenties. Anemos... uh, I'm actually not sure how old he is. He puts so much care into maintaining his appearance that it's hard to tell. (I could probably calculate a close estimate, if I focused on the memories of destroyed monsters that encountered him during his childhood, but maybe I should let him keep a few secrets.) I have a lot of fine control over exactly where and how my signature spell is applied. When I woke up the Lesser Seals, I returned the flow of time to normal for them, but not for the miasma fonts they sealed. Without the Lesser Seals, my spell will wear off and the three fonts will become active very soon... or they would, if I didn't have a plan for the miasma in those fonts. Which I do. When this spell is used in battle, against opponents who resist it, its duration is much shorter. It lasts for twenty seconds if cast on one living or undead being, much less if cast on more than one being. It can last up to ten years if it's used on something that isn't living or undead. This spell can block teleports, even in combat. Regular magic to barricade teleports takes a long time to prepare, and can't be cast in battle. Aldea's ability to instantly block teleports is actually an extremely weakened and limited version of this spell, and Aldea can only use its version on living beings (while I can use my version on pretty much anyone or anything). The trade-off is that blocking teleports costs Aldea almost no power. (Some past Overlords have learned super-strong wards to block the living from teleporting, but wards like that cost a high amount of power. The Wizard Overlord of two cycles ago once barricaded Aldea's teleportation ability for a time. That Wizard Overlord delayed Savior Clize long enough to ensure the destruction of Cedric's home village - but in the process, Orzand burned so much power that it could barely put up a fight in the destined battle to the death.) (While I can use time magic to block a teleport in progress, I haven't learned any wards to barricade teleportation. Orzand has been pressuring me not to, and it's already hard enough to keep my mind without brazenly defying Orzand. Even though Orzand is bad at winning, I think it has figured out that wards to barricade teleportation use up far more power than they're worth.) This spell costs a _lot_ of power. Pointlessly wasting lots of power is against the rules for "serious" battles; it's too close to surrendering, and %The Overlord cannot surrender.% So, I'm not planning to use this spell against the next Savior at all. If I burn the power to use this and don't immediately follow up with a lethal attack, then the Voice of Orzand might erase me on the spot. %Final Form: Vision% The "glasses" I carry on a cord around my neck aren't a conjured object. They're part of the Greater Seal. So is the "clothing" I appear to wear, when I'm not using an illusion. It's all a dark magic shell with miasma inside, same as the body of any other undead monster. When I appear to put the glasses on, it's really a transformation into my %Final Form.% The glasses are part of my body, so they'll never fall off on their own, but they can be knocked off by an attack that successfully targets them. If that happens, they'll revert to miasma-smoke, and my body will automatically %Regenerate% what looks like another pair of glasses on a cord around my neck. Removing the glasses will force me out of my %Final Form% until I assume it again (which is very quick and easy, although I can't do it while using any other major spells or combat abilities). I can also choose to dismiss the glasses and shift out of my %Final Form,% if I'm not in the middle of a "serious" battle. Most "tyrant classes" have their own type of %Final Form,% usually invoked partway through the battle with the Savior. (Master Tactician Overlords don't get a %Final Form% for themselves; instead, they can give their strongest monsters a %Final Form.%) The Warrior Overlord that my friends and I fought turned into this hulking, brute-force _thing_. Time Mage has a lot of flexibility on this power. The Time Mage's %Final Form% isn't much stronger than the base form, but the Time Mage can switch back and forth with very little effort, and the special enhancement can be almost anything. The disadvantage is that the Time Mage's %Final Form% takes power to maintain... ...but that isn't really a disadvantage to me, is it? Power spent maintaining my %Final Form% is power that's not being used to attack the next Savior, right? Burning power on my %Final Form% is totally allowed for "serious" battles, too! Loophole! For my enhancement, I chose %Vision.% My base form is half-blind, and can't see color; that makes it harder to read monster memories that I've turned into graphic novels. (Or reread comics from my world, copied out of my own memories. Uh, Cynthia? I wasn't searching for a way to break the cycle during _all_ of the last ten years. I slacked off sometimes. I could claim that taking breaks helped me keep my sanity, and it might be sort of true?) %Vision% always lets me see everything, with or without any source of light. That includes the ability to handle extremely bright lights; my %Final Form% isn't sensitive to light like my base form is. "Seeing everything" is much more than keen eyesight, though. My mind already processes Kreisia like a video game, but with %Vision,% I can see every spell, every resistance, every battle statistic, every magic item, every strength or weakness, everything. "Seeing everything" makes it easier to concentrate, especially on battle abilities or major spells. I'm also completely aware of any incoming attack that's anywhere in my field of view, although I can be surprised from behind. %Vision% sees through all disguises, illusions, spoken lies, playacting, and so on. No matter how skilled someone is at lying, they give off subtle behavioral cues that %Vision% picks up on. The only thing I can't see is what a person is thinking. (I should mention that Orzand did warp my %Vision% to make me believe a lie about Cynthia. To keep that from happening again, I've modified the Greater Seal a little. Now, Orzand can't warp my %Vision% without my knowing it.) Next Savior? If you see me with something over my eyes, then know that I can see you. %Bend time% I move fast, in battle. Always. Even if I could turn this ability off in combat, I'd be blocked from doing that in "serious" battles because it would be too close to surrendering, and %The Overlord cannot surrender.% Outside of combat, I have more control over this ability. I can use it to travel faster if I want to, or not if I don't want to. I can make this ability affect everyone and everything in a small area around me if that's to my benefit (and only if it's to my benefit; I can't speed up the next Savior or any other opponent in battle, because %The Overlord cannot surrender.%) I can only twist time to speed up travel, spellcasting, or battle actions. That's all. It's just a limit of time magic; I can't speed up stuff like reading, thinking, or even ordinary physical actions like shelving books in my library. (I've been slacking off shelving books anyway.) Speeding up spellcasting costs a lot of extra power. I can work around the higher cost by borrowing against my future power, but that's _really_ not something I like to do. Borrowing against my future power leaves me unable to move much or cast major spells for a time, which means that Orzand can make my existence miserable. Also, I can't deliberately render myself powerless once I think the next Savior has been summoned, because - wait for it - %The Overlord cannot surrender.% When I'm in combat, I don't invoke this power like a spell. It happens automatically. It's a passive ability, exclusive to the Time Mage class. It increases naturally as I grow in overall power, and it stacks with how I've put a lot of "tyrant points" into base speed, instead of raising base strength, intellect, or evasion. This... this is a problem. I shouldn't have raised base speed as much as I did. At the time, I reasoned that I didn't want my attacks or spells to hit really hard, and I didn't want to make myself too good at avoiding physical damage, especially since I may have put too many points into %Regenerate.% I also struggled with... totally losing it. Getting so close to the brink that Orzand would make me cast an illusion of itself, and mangle me. (The illusion is minor magic, so it can't hurt anyone other than me, but Orzand has enough influence over the Greater Seal's miasma to make a _really disgusting mess_ out of it.) The only way to stop Orzand's illusion was to push Orzand into the back of my mind; not as easy as it sounds. Keeping myself from being literally shredded to pieces while trying to focus was like playing a horror video game, and I've never been good at those. Base speed helped me retreat from the illusion's attacks. I won't raise my base speed any higher. I'll put points into base evasion for a while, but no matter what I do going forward, I'm pretty sure I'm... too fast. %Chains of miasma% I maxed this ability out, because it doesn't do damage. Also because I needed it for my promise to "try as sincerely and effectively as I can" to bargain for a pledge of obedience from my Primary Servants. Especially Laminah. This was the only way I could make her so much as think about any bargain, instead of chopping off my head. Again. Solid miasma chains bind one person, immobilizing them. This can dodged, if the target moves quickly enough. It can also be prevented or dispelled with wards, or float gossamers. A bound person can't move or use physical attacks, but they can use Altean chants, or any magic that doesn't require movement (which is most types of magic, although Anemos' bardic magic requires him to use his lute). This lasts for twenty seconds on its own. If I focus on the target, then I can keep it going for longer. I can't do any other major spells or abilities while extending the chains, though. Now that I've fulfilled my bargain with the Voice, I don't want to use this spell anymore. "Binding spells" are... kind of weird. Kind of _really_ weird. There's a holy magic version of this spell, and it's weird too. Next Savior, go ahead and ward yourself against this, okay? I've also learned a dark magic ward against bindings. Let's keep our battle to the death _not weird_. %Take a nap% Another ability that doesn't do damage! Yeah, I'm checking that box. This is a sleep spell. It's mind-related magic mixed with dark magic. It looks (and maybe feels?) like choking on smoke, but it doesn't really suffocate the target. That's just a trick it plays on the mind. The Overlord can't use most mind-related magic, especially not anything that would control a living person's mind (except for %Pledge of obedience accepted%), but the Overlord can learn a sleep spell, because reasons. Sleep shares a border with death, or something like that. I maxed out this ability, so it's super-strong, way more powerful than what a living person can cast. The target has a small window of opportunity to evade the spell; if they're restrained, distracted, or just don't move, then it's guaranteed to knock them out. Unless they're warded, of course. So, uh, next Savior? Bring your best protections against sleep or unconsciousness, okay? Oh, and don't try using sleep spells on me. Undead monsters don't sleep. I literally can't be knocked unconscious by anything, physical or magical. I know there's a legend that Yumarac once put Orzand to sleep for centuries. I have no idea why or how that worked, and I'm going to assume you're not Yumarac. %Miasma rain% This is a dark magic attack; liquid miasma rains down from above. Solid physical material, shaped magic of any kind, or immaterial force from bardic magic can potentially block the miasma. The miasma will dissolve solid material or overwhelm magical protection, if this ability is enhanced enough. The more this ability is powered up, the longer it lasts, the bigger an area it can cover, the more it wears away anything blocking it, and the more damage it does to any living creature it hits. This is the signature spell of Wizard Overlords; their version mixes fire magic with dark magic. I'm not a Wizard Overlord, I can't use elemental magic, and I haven't put many points into base intellect, so my version is actually really weak. My version only lasts for several seconds. It targets a very small area, it doesn't rain any fire along with the miasma, it's easy to block, and even if it hits then it won't kill anyone unless they're already badly injured. If I did max out this spell, it still wouldn't be anywhere near as lethal as the liquid miasma from a miasma font, or from %Miasma flood.% The trade-off is that this is a battle spell with a short cast time, instead of forty hours. I learned this spell mostly to burn off some power growth, with the excuse that it's my only damage-dealing magical attack. I don't like casting it. It's disgusting. %Miasma throw% I can throw chunks of solid miasma around. It may look like I'm physically hurling these chunks, but that's not exactly what's happening. It's not really telekinesis- -wait, I don't think that word is used on Kreisia any more than "telepathy" is. This ability is just an enhancement to %Wielder of miasma% that makes it so newly created miasma-objects are already flying through the air. These chunks can be blocked or dodged, and count as physical attacks. Blunt physical attacks, that is. Thrown miasma-objects can't have sharp edges or points, same as any other shaped-magic object not in the caster's personal grasp. The chunks automatically revert to miasma-smoke shortly after they're thrown. I can't make these flying chunks appear very far away from myself. I can make them appear above my target, if I want to get tricky, but that takes more time and concentration. Another gimmick I can do is make solid miasma quickly rise out of the ground underneath a person, undercutting their balance or maybe even tossing them around, but all the other restrictions for shaping remote objects out of magic still apply. I can't restrain or imprison any living thing with this ability; only a binding spell like %Chains of miasma% can do that. (Binding spells are slower to cast, and they can't be extended beyond their natural duration while casting major spells or using physical attacks.) I've kept my base strength low, so this ability doesn't hit too hard. I can make and use a variety of shapes, targeting one or more opponents. The bigger the chunk, the more targets it hits, or the harder it hits, the more time and effort it takes to throw. Because this is a physical attack (and not a dark magic attack), it can actually smack undead monsters around. I've used this on Orzand's illusion a lot, in order to knock it back and give myself a chance to concentrate on blocking Orzand out of my thoughts. %Fighting game moves% Warrior Overlords don't have a signature spell; instead, they have a signature ability. They're _really_ good at physical fighting. Defeating the last cycle's Warrior Overlord would have been much harder without Laminah's help. I'm not a Warrior Overlord, but I've invested "tyrant points" into making the Greater Seal able to copy what they can do. My hits are nowhere near as powerful as a real Warrior Overlord's, especially since my base strength is low. Controlling the Greater Seal is... weird. Not the same as a living body. I don't breathe, and I don't speak like a living person does. A monster's voice comes from dark magic, not from lungs that don't exist, and my illusionary voice comes from minor magic. So I don't really have to move my mouth to talk, with either a dark magic voice or an illusionary voice. It's just that my mind remembers doing that, so that's what happens. I don't need to think about verbal or nonverbal communication, any more than a living person does. Words, gestures, facial expressions, even blinking all happen naturally, and automatically carry over to any illusions I use. Moving around, and especially fighting like a Warrior Overlord would, is completely different. It's like using an imaginary video game controller. Or an imaginary arcade joystick. Or an imaginary touchscreen- -wait, none of those things exist in Kreisia. Puppets exist in Kreisia, right? It's like manipulating a puppet. My mind processes combat like a fighting game, maybe because I used to play so many of those in my world. As the Overlord, I can use this signature ability to do punches, kicks, gymnastics, and so on that I never could have pulled off when I was the Savior. All of the attacks connected to this ability are physical attacks, and they take enough concentration that I can't cast major spells at the same time. %Miasma throw% can be mixed in to a degree, maybe because it's also a physical attack. I'd rather mimic fighting games from my memories than try to fight with a sword again. Swords can really hurt. Aldea showed me that. Aldea, did I mention how much I hate you? I'm not mad that you killed me; I'm mad that you didn't _warn me about how much it would hurt_. You really did think I'd run away again if you told me, didn't you? _Didn't you_!? Aldea, if Kreisia's cycle gets broken once and for all, does that mean _I can break you, too_? No, wait. I don't really mean that. I don't _really_ want to torture you for five minutes and then destroy you, Aldea. Not enough to actually do it, if I could. Maybe I'd just torture you for five minutes. Or more. How does five minutes for every Savior you've killed sound? I'm pretty sure it's not possible to torture you, anyway. Monsters animated by miasma can't feel physical pain, so I don't think a being animated by pure holy power can feel physical pain either. The only pain I could make you feel is- -I should stop thinking about this. _I don't want to_, but I should. Victar's Archive: https://www.vicfanfic.com (vctr113062 [at] aol [dot] com)