CAN KREISIA'S MIASMA BE DESTROYED FOREVER?
By Yusis Orzand, "the least terrifying Overlord ever"
When my friends and I were searching for a way to break Kreisia's cycle, I started wondering if the power of the Overlord could be the key, even though it was horrifying to think about.
Could I keep my own mind, as the Overlord? Could I use the Overlord's power to destroy Kreisia's miasma forever?
The answers turned out to be "Only for a limited time" and "No, not directly."
I have my own mind for now, but only until the Voice of Orzand calculates that I've been slacking off too much on its rule to %Protect Kreisia from all life% and erases me.
As the Overlord, I can't destroy miasma; I can only control or reshape it.
Most things can't destroy miasma. Not physical attacks; not magic attacks with fire, water, or wind; not even a force like extreme gravity (which is what the Greater Seal's vortex generates - extreme gravity that only attracts dark magic). Only holy power can destroy miasma... or maybe I should say, "purify" miasma.
"Purify" is a term that appeared in some of the research my friends and I studied. I've even seen a few attempts to "purify" miasma, in the memories of monsters that were stalking priests, priestesses, or the Savior and the Holy Brand.
When holy power "purifies" miasma, the miasma is transformed from dark magic into, uh, I'm not sure. It's not any other type of magic. It looks like white sparks or glimmers of "light" that quickly fade, but I don't think it's ordinary light. It may be something that's not matter or energy, just like magic itself isn't matter or energy.
(Should I mention that most things can't destroy holy power? If stuff shaped from holy magic is hit with enough damage from any source, its holy power turns into something that looks like light, and naturally goes back into Kreisia.)
(The holy magic shaping the Lesser Seal shrines and the Overlord's castle is a special case. These structures "lack ontological inertia", which means that they don't naturally keep existing on their own. They're designed to collapse when Aldea transports the newly created Greater Seal at each turn of the cycle, so Aldea can reuse their holy power.)
A priest or priestess can channel holy magic to purify miasma, but it takes a lot of holy magic to purify the smallest sliver of dark magic. Priests and priestesses strong enough to do anything like that are rare; they're usually stationed among Kreisia's cities and villages, and tasked with warding away monsters.
(I'm saying "priests and priestesses", but the strongest holy magic specialists are always Lunarl priestesses. Vargs and Alteans don't have as much talent for magic as Lunarls do, and Lunarl priests who have as much affinity for holy magic as an average Lunarl priestess are very rare. King Cedric Welkin actually fits that description, although he prefers to think of himself as a scholar whose studies include holy magic.)
(Why do female Lunarls usually have more talent for magic than male Lunarls? Is it because of something physical, psychological, magical, or a combination of factors? I don't know.)
(If the cause could be identified, then maybe a way to increase any person's potential for holy magic exists. Maybe that could be a workaround for Kreisia's shortage of Lunarl priestesses who are strong enough to cast the summon spell?)
(I don't think Kreisia's scholars have studied the matter much. The cycle is such an overwhelming threat that most scholars focus their research on stuff connected to fighting monsters or immediate survival, if they have time to research anything at all. Kreisian culture hasn't even created some of my world's basic inventions, like glasses.)
A single, strong priestess pushing herself to exhaustion can't even purify the small quantity of miasma vapors animating a weak rabbit-monster. Solving Kreisia's miasma problem is going to take more than a priestess recruitment drive.
Slaying monsters does not destroy their miasma. When monsters are killed, their dark magic bodies dissolve into miasma vapors. The miasma drifts away; if it doesn't poison some other living creature, then it eventually returns to either Kreisia's miasma fonts or to the Greater Seal. During Kreisia's ten years of peace, miasma that does not build up in fonts saturates the area where the Overlord is imprisoned, exterminating all life in the region.
This means that Kreisia can't be rid of miasma simply by killing undead monsters. At most, killing monsters slows down the spread of undeath, since it prevents the monsters from directly turning other living creatures into undead.
During Kreisia's ten years of peace, the miasma fonts stay at a low ebb, because of the Lesser Seals and the Greater Seal. This makes it possible for Kreisians to cull undead monsters. Near the end of the ten years, the miasma fonts start building up at a rapid pace. Miasma ravages the land. The Greater Seal/Overlord and the Lesser Seals/Primary Servants gain enough power to leave their prisons.
As hideous as these facts are, they lead to interesting questions. Why does miasma recede at the beginning of a ten-year cycle? Why is the Voice of Orzand at its weakest when the Greater Seal is newly created?
Does the Savior's battle with the Overlord destroy miasma? It has to. That's the only explanation I can think of.
The Savior's battle with the Overlord doesn't destroy enough miasma to prevent Orzand from casting %Miasma falls, everyone dies% - only a new Greater Seal can interrupt Orzand's spell to drown the world - but can whatever destroys miasma be done outside of that battle? Can it be used to destroy all the miasma in Kreisia?
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the Holy Brand Aldea, the legendary weapon wielded only by Kreisia's Saviors, is the real key. (I hate you, Aldea.)
Aldea claims that its function is to protect Kreisia from the miasma, and that it doesn't know of any way to permanently end the miasma's threat. I think it's telling what it believes to be the truth (still hate you, Aldea).
I also think Aldea just doesn't comprehend how important all of its knowledge is, or that maybe, just maybe, someone else might be able to FIGURE OUT THINGS IT CAN'T.
I. Hate. You. Aldea.
I've been told that only a pure-blooded off-worlder can wield Aldea. I'm convinced that this is because Aldea knows it needs an off-worlder to become the Greater Seal and continue Kreisia's cycle. Aldea could let a native Kreisian wield it, and just doesn't want to.
You know what, Aldea? I don't know how long it will take for a priestess to summon the next Savior. In the meantime, why don't you team up with a Kreisian? (Not my friends, since they're weak to holy power now, but they will bring your pommel stones to you.) And then, why don't you try destroying some miasma, like you did during every battle to vanquish the Overlord?
Aldea, I know you can't do anything significant to miasma in vapor form, or to liquid miasma fonts, or to the miasma animating undead monsters. Or else you would have when I was the Savior. I'm sure you would have.
Well, I'm the Overlord now. I can turn miasma into any form I want. Including forms you only encountered in battles to vanquish the Overlord, where you destroyed miasma.
Here's the deal, Aldea. I'm going to do the opposite of what you did to me and my friends. Instead of keeping secrets like you did, I'm going share everything I know about miasma with every last person on Kreisia.
I've already given my knowledge to my friends in the form of a book. Now, I'm going to show what a ceiling-capped %Wielder of miasma% can really do.
The Lesser Seals are no longer holding back the contents of three miasma fonts. I'm going to shape all of that miasma in a way that no Overlord has ever done before.
I am going to create gigantic, permanent obelisks of solid miasma on the outskirts of cities, villages, and traveler's stops all over Kreisia, with EVERYTHING I'VE LEARNED written on them, for EVERYONE TO READ.
I am calling you out, Aldea! Can you purify these miasma-obelisks? Can you destroy miasma in solid form, and not just turn it back to smoke?
(Uh, hey, everybody in Kreisia? These obelisks will turn into miasma-smoke if they're hit with strong magical attacks or a lot of physical force, but if you do that for whatever reason, then be careful. Don't accidentally poison yourselves, okay?)
Aldea, if you can work with me to destroy all of Kreisia's miasma, forever-!
No, I'll still hate you. I will still hate you. So much.
You don't care anyway, right? Protecting Kreisia is all that matters to you. Guess what? It also matters to what's left of "Yusis". For now.
So let's do it.
End of Appendix: Can Kreisia's Miasma Be Destroyed Forever?
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