sobin art dump https://imgur.com/a/Dr8n77A

Notes Dump

Zy'tl CDL https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zYD6LERQ9VSR4ofW9WBrP5Psg-T58xU877NKhJkMYpU/edit

Timeline Notes https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lT4C4rWwy4YfkbbbEnADFb_uBCevey5ZiNEdGQ3ERzQ

Limited Data Capacity https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kS8Zv-uxS32HgAdFlTTpf6-oR5r0YZ0MkCIlAy8r5gE/edit

Martial Arts Mechanics https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d_tMswtql_JEtTdMWMHmB7CLYIDmiNuJpjVR-kQCeBM

Spiritual Casters and Gibberish https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U3F3V89_rFion8lL2cjGtRiu8hCfkE7iYDIhOdr5qqI

Paladins and Clerics Part 1 https://drive.google.com/open?id=10kWsITD-HzflYoYl3uMG7jAr2BYts_Tn9OS-CspvWMI

Paladins and Clerics Part https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XawKWH5NJ5aUeAkAH2bIYs8W7UPwOkjdAQXB8XN1Oys

DDDL https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dGBY_EdQ2Hj25KcfK-HgV6iC0ZGPFbs1xLDhMPzwTGc

Intelligent Items https://drive.google.com/open?id=15AouuHO9-YbBtTnkp1X4dchTUzU8Kj04Ls71Khq7v4c

Normal Classes https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nJmnh0QC9hp1WCWd31KBYRxevMU13zEK9EXXmE90pv0

Elementalism https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dy-wl2CmEXK7RJR0cMWR65x8PgB8Sdz2x7zXvv8Bg7c

Eugenics in Overlord https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gFMiCZffb-qbZ4mTlhl_dNdCca2cJt2V-tqlKMJRCEM

Class, Class-skill,m and Skill Systems https://drive.google.com/open?id=1piIGe8yTER-REwNGPYOuSKFjNAbQy86TKOksJEaX3u4

Dwarves and Japan https://drive.google.com/open?id=12htoXC2Fr1wPsP60pM2XaUmXH1y1TCAesV8jDRTnXXw

"Soft" and Hard Stats https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kCik67tgQ2Opy0jndIxAlVL-BxcbtikkBChQDB-gAdY

Monster Classes https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uEd8johXUDDIUZmfI-pV--AyzdX2e4VrbvLSF2AA7VU

Undead and Souls https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-Uug7YT2UyEuQZ6lwDhMMAF0q1kxYfC4ISoRd3dbtFk

Money Shit https://drive.google.com/open?id=151qeeiI7O4Lavb0LeYtgR8lUNwJvy0enTboHNl7IB48

Bad Physics https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h_rMyGSfrTVyiCd6mtVlKEqUpYvwHBeHhTiPRVAbzZI

Undead and Feelings? https://drive.google.com/open?id=1i0dyFs-hWHL4k85Oa6MI5lF3lA8TsOLOGyQiyF89o8I

Moar Undead BS https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XFlwNnkICXiZw1CBVAmCU2O7rO5ORMJYeSxNPyzqoRw

Tamers vs Mounts Summoners vs Riders https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zghT5u72w2qWVmzY-zEQD_qqBWKeF7SIzl5ohVNEGMk

Sacred, Holy, Good Energy https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GN-WP_wCrbk-VYf31dwhQ0YtFpDJ59gZoF4qwvnTsIo

PA Double Agent? https://drive.google.com/open?id=13dogqXMzTOSA3YQkvQGm9xMixzla3spRwMl8DN8MJ6Q

Totemic Magic https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Uh7nOvRhRZwi4cvwlWt_tLKibQRtY2tiWR8RzzkSXKo

Racial Substition Classes https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v92uy1ab6NH2x90CHew0_0zCIxP6QMv4aXFxTotVIqQ

Fluder's Book https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Nxo3pWx5NRyBDz0CVur_2BcjIIVao2nfSXTO_CrRRdM

Dragon Lord and Godkin BS also Some feats break down https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qcmG6_j8tUUIY1RLjLh101sHWYonoDDv0V8KPxQeqOg

That one Season 3 Tweet https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Fy31y0TeLEhN6J0rxb5K-OY4NVW1nGXE05EK-jBaG68

I forget this oen's topic. Awakening? https://drive.google.com/open?id=17rYFKpHgtKEW4frJ3m0JAM_va7YLSmv_Wo0iGE_m7WI

World Pollution https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DjIg3cGxXgegj1ZxJbksXuhsh3QFYu09-XLoSf_4fv0

Asspulls and Soul Ignition https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AfPu0O19ctkpxguYk3I-lBobaVP6dJjudZDCOGy9PNU

Wild Magic Mechanics? https://drive.google.com/open?id=15z7qXcSfZYqvGVFIplkX93OdVvqIekC0pBXJ_cFf9-M

Sensory Ability and Mana in Overlord https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jxu_MXllvMRP7tPcbFt1_fgmi_mtUmv0L1-wjEvgjgA

Soul Igniton? https://drive.google.com/open?id=11q3FK_kxyYSdebsb45KeP3yLKPFDyv9Sbx8ned5eiGc

Old Shit

Zytl https://pastebin.com/G2iD0FJB

7 Levels per Tier https://www.reddit.com/user/ZiggyZiggurat/comments/9ds6f4/dr_tables_and_tier/

DR 11 TAbles https://pastebin.com/E56QMhsp

Enslaved Demon https://pastebin.com/ctgXVSAK

Misc Theories https://pastebin.com/FwFU9bJ8

New World Shit Source Dump

https://pastebin.com/HZsAzibT

====

Difference in Being Magical Tiers Beyond the Norm

Topic Lead-in: The New World has a magical Tier YGGDRASIL didn't?

0th Tier: For people possessing very little talent/ability The magic that inexperienced people who have yet to learn/master the 􀏐irst Tier are said to be at this level-similar to apprentices and students. It is regarded the same as magic tricks or sleight of hand sort of things, and certainly even if they can be used one will not be called a magic caster. By the way this is a Tier that did not exist in Yggdrasil, so not even Ainz can make use of this domain. Be that as it may, by using other magic, when using it one can misrepresent an occurrence [of magic], but cannot forcibly imitate the effect. This is a digression, but the 0th tier is a magic that can meet the needs for simple tasks in life.

[Maru-Blog]

Paper made from zero-tier spells was crumpled. It was coarse and discolored.

[V13]

We get exposure to Tier 0 in the Web Novel as well. Mainly the ability to heat things up for example.

So let's ask, if a Tier below YGGDRASIL Tiers can exist, why can't Tiers above YGGDRASIL Tiers exist?

Well, most people think that Super Tier is this, but like Ainz says... those don't use MP. Likewise, they no longer follow the rules of Caster class as we mainly understand it with 7 Levels Per Tier. That is, you get a new Super Tier per day every 10 levels, and one new Super Tier every level. And as Maru says, there are no class specific Super TIers.

Q:

[Finally Super Tier was revealed. For World Champion, World Disaster, do such classes have exclusive Super Tier magic? Or are there some limited to events?]

A:

There isn’t class exclusive Super Tier magic. However, there exists Super Tier magic that are learned from completing events.

Tier: 7 * (N - 1)+1 Magical Job Class Number

1 1-7

2 8-14

3 15-21

4 22-28

5 29-35

6 36-42

7 43-49

8 50-56

9 57-63

10 64-70

So that is what it appears as to us readers based on Ainz's perspective.

But, what if it kept going up? Basically , if a Tier below can exist that wasn't in YGGDARSIL, why can't Tiers above work as well? New Worlders can make new spells at least. Why can't if they had say77 magical caster levels, not use MP to craft higher level spells? Even D&D had in the past which were above the limit at least.

Tier: 7 * (N - 1)+1 Magical Job Class Number

1 1-7

2 8-14

3 15-21

4 22-28

5 29-35

6 36-42

7 43-49

8 50-56

9 57-63

10 64-70

11 71-77

12 78-84

13 85-91

14 92-98

15 99-105

16 106-112

17 113-119

18 120-126

19 127-133

20 134-140

The main issue is: no one usually reaches levels of these heights.

If you speculate Godkin levels, even they are at minmum around Level 60, but weaker than Level 100s. But if you believe in Double Awaken Theory, that is if someone Awakens Player bloodlines from more than one, say like how people explain why Zesshi is so strong, they may be able to reach these heights. Likewise, if Dragons kept studying Job classes for all their levels, they may be able to reach these heights as well.

It's very unrealistic someone reaches that point, but if you say Double Awaken theory can happen then using the popular estimate, that is a Player ancestor gives you say a Level 60 descendant at best. So if both parents contribute to the level cap rather than just one as seen with Zesshi, then Level 120 is not implausible, just rare as fuck in that line of thinking. World Enemies can be over LEvel 100 right? So if a Double Awakened Player descendant went pure magical job classes, then a Tier 18 ability to cast is possible... just sort of mind blowing.

Well more realistically, if a New Worlder reaches Level 71 and they are going pure caster... do they stop at Tier 10? Does 7 Levels Per Tier HAVE to stop at Tier 10? We know Tier 10 is weaker than Super Tier right? So Tier magic can accomplish feats beyond the system even in YGGDRASIL. But we know already that Tier 0 exists?

I say, just stay open-minded.

If you follow this line of thinking, then when the Theocracy saw Ainz use Super Tier, it's possible that they didn't misname Super Tier. IT's possible they had a Godkin who achieved Tier 11 and they mistakenly thought Super Tier and Tier 11 were identical.

=======

Kaio Ken Times 2: Ultra Instinct Panda Bear Shar-Rinnegan!

"WTF is this abou-"

Awakening.

"Could he be a God-kin?" The offspring of the beings known as ”Players” were people who might awaken incredible power from within themselves. The Slaine Theocracy called these people demigods. Or, more precisely, they were the ones who carried the bloodline of the Six Gods within their veins. If they had the blood of others, they would be termed differently. It seemed very likely that this Momon was of the bloodline of a "Player". Or rather, it would be better to say that no human could have possessed such power.

[V6]

She was a cross-blooded child born of nigh-impossible odds, the Black Scripture’s Extra Seat, known as [Certain Death]. ...

"What a shame. I was thinking I might be able to taste defeat."

...

As he heard her mutter to herself, he wondered, Who would win, if they fought? He had exchanged blows with both the girl and the Vampire, and he felt that the Vampire was superior. However, that Vampire would not be able to defeat [Certain Death.] ... No, why was he assuming that she would be fighting by herself? While he could not compare to her, he was still an awakened God-kin

[V4]

Ziggy's busy so he doesn't have much time to be snarky other than for the title.

Anyway, I've talked about Double Awakening as being one possible explanation for why Zesshi seems so much stronger than a regular Godkin. That is just one possibility of course since we don't know the full rules for Awakening either, such as if blood dilution actually affects it, if Awakening has a RNG level cap, if you just get some classes at birth from an ancestor, you fully copy the build of a Player ancestor, or so forth. Zesshi could just be stronger due to RNG in that case maknig this article moot.

Ziggy disagrees with the idea RNG would explain it though. And likewise, there is some circumstantial evidence required, but there seems to be more to this than just RNG level caps.

Assumption: Zesshi doesn't do anything to look like a n Oreo cookie.

First: If Ziggy is not mistaken about the Origin of Awakening, then how it SHOULD THEORETICALLY work is a person is a Godkin or Awakens IE 'A Person As Strong As A God' as an alternate translation for Godkin suggests, has miraculously AWAKENED. What did they AWAKEN to? Why through genetic magical horshit we dont' understnad (though strong bloodlines hint at as well as Krusch and Albino lizardmen) they inherited a piece of the soul of an ancestor that normally lays dormant. Keep in mind this makes more sense to Ziggy than you if you don't think like how he does that the Soul has a hardware and software variant in the form of the consciousness and the body.

This is how the game worked Ziggy believes Awakening comes from, ie a person gets a hold of a piece of a "God's Soul". Be careful since many games treat souls differently. But if losing levels is the same as lifeforce and not just LOL MMO LEVELS, ie there is more to the soul than we know, then this isn't too autistic. Level caps and even Talents may be partially influenced by genetics, but so is Affinity the soft stat. Affinity could just be a lesser version of this Awakening. Go read the article on that.

This is just for an example but...

Awakening (New Worlder Heritage): You get a predisposition or affinity for classes of your ancestors. IE Neia and archery from her papa, Krusch and dragon type classes or magic from her dragon ??? ancestors. And with Gondo we see that some don't inherit affinity.

Awakening (Player Heritage): Since Players have MAX affinity already, what would their descendants gain? Surely not everyone has MAX affinity as well. There are hints people in the Theocracy have more inherited traits but few who inherit classes.

Ziggy believes the process has two cases though. Those who just get biological LEGACY data such as a boosted level cap or some traits from their ancestors. Then those who actually AWAKEN properly. The difference here is likely stemming from the fact Player genes don't have Affinity as we understand it. Thus when their genes try to acquire 'Affinity' due to a BUG or LOL WHO FUCKING KNOWS they instead actually unlock the AWAKENED state.

The mechanics are fuzzy because we don't know, but for now that seems connected to it all imo at leas.t

Anyway, all you need to know, this idea of "soul" can be a simple as getting classes or great power from Affinity or Awakening experienceing an anomaly due to how Player bodies or frames are not like New Worlder frames.

This brings us to the topic, if Awakening is this process, why is Zesshi commented on as being born from impossible odds or so strong she has never been defeated by another Godkin who readily admits he cannot compare to her?

Here's Ziggy's current autism regarding this:

Zessshi is so special not because she had two strong parents. If Elf King is Player related or not doesn't really matter. It could have an influence even if he's just a New Worlder but for now, think about what Zesshi looks like.

And no, not Maru's fetish.

She has two toned hair and eyes. If we assume this is natural... what the fuck kind of Player trait is that?

Sure maybe someone had dumb heterochromia. Elf King does. The twins do.

But what Ziggy is getting at is, if you think about the genetic link between AWAKENING and what would cause this situation... something should come to mind.

It's why normally it is impossible odds as it's very rare.

Do you know? This weird thing actually happens on Earth too. It's similar to how identical twins work. And we know twins and triplets exist in Overlord. Not only that, the triplets have similar level caps.

The point is, we can assume that the biology of zygotes somewhat mirrors Earth.

And so here is the idea - if we already know one egg can split into identical eggs to produce people with identical level caps (proving the chromosomal link of Level caps and latent power in general) what of the inverse or converse?

What if during a rare freak accident, two eggs fused into one?

"What kind of magical bullshit-"

This is called Genetic Chimera.

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/12/01/chimeras-genetics-behind-amazing-looking-two-faced-cat/

She had a unique hairstyle, with the left side being a different color from the right. One was a scintillating silver, while the other was an all-consuming black. The color of her eyes was similarly mismatched.

[V4]

And what was our assumption?

Bingo.

It may be just contacts and hair dye but Ziggy is assuming not.

And the reaosn is, if we assume Zesshi is a genetic chimera then we can also expalin not only her absurd strength but her father's absurd strength as well..

So what magic makes a genetic chimera strong in Overlord?

Well think about it, if a Chimera is the fusion of two separate eggs or zygotes in the womb into one being, and we know levle caps are retained from division, wouldn't union either combine the level cap? Or at the very least, make a person have two souls? We already know beings like Elder Coffin can harness multiple souls at once.

So if Zesshi's father isn't a Player descendant, we can still explain why he's so strong due to just his heterochromia. He was a Genetic Chimera as well and so it appears to give a noticable level buff or Level cap buff compared to all others.

It's also why he couldn't breed another of himself - he was a freak accident (assuming he wasn't Awakened from Player blood in the worst case). So let's take Gondo, assume someone got the shit lottery and was a Genetic Chimera of two Gondos. IE they combine two Level Caps of 11... you get the idea. But if there is a tendency for Level Caps to rise with breeding and pedigree...

Imagine somone who got a Hero and a normal person fused. Or a Hero and Hero? A Hero and Normie togetehr would assuredly at least make a person an Outlier no?

And also factor in what having two souls could give someone? More Martial Art's Capacity (you have two power sources) or twice mana regen or etc etc.

So if we ignore Double Awakening (let's assume King Elf is not anywhere above Outlier due to a freak genetic accident), why would Zesshi be stronger than a normal Godkin?

1.) One baby in her mom's womb was an Awakened Godkin 2.) Another baby was a normal being.

Fuse those together and...

Bam.

There you go, a more plausible theory than Double Awakening that explains her Oreo nature. Bonus points for showing the foreshadowing with twins and triplets too and being logically consistent.

This process of a Genetic Chimera stacking with Awakenign is what made Zesshi or at least this is Ziggy's current bias as of now. Basically as we have known since WN days Godkin are sub True DL and Player or God tier. But Genetic Chimera and Awakened Godkin? And what if Zesshi is actually a Genetic Chimera of two Awakened Player Descendant Bloodlines? What if both eggs or babies or zygotes hit the RNG lottery of not only both AWAKENING but also fusing?

Maybe the dumb heterochromia trope of being strong can be easily explained with Genetic Chimeras? But what do you think? I'm frankly quite insane so don't take what I say very seriously.

If you look at Rororo, the Ijainya triplets, and then consider the level based genetics and Awakening as RNG occurrences... maybe the reason Maru called Zesshi the New World's Overlord because she was born with all the stars aligned, Awakening, being a Genetic Chimera, getting one of the strongest Talents, and having Player gear available to her. If an Awakened Player Descendant and an Outlier or another Awakened Player Descenatn X 2 or even... X 3 existed, maybe even a being that surpasses even Level 100 won't seem like just a random asspull but merely the greatest example of RNG and multiplicative growth...

(Reminder a humanoid statwise would still be inferior to a lower level Heteromorph)

Ziggy is fond of this theory because it

a.) Explains the dumb heterochromia trope

b.) Has a basis in the genetics of the series already established

c.) Explains the New World Overlord and impossible odds lines

d.) Ignores Elf King's ancestry to explain Zesshi's strength while being consistent with his limited role in the world.

e.) Might explain Level implications of Rororo's abandonment and Level Cap.

Bonus:

Head Canon Math!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Average Godkin Lower Estimate - Level 60

Possible Lowest Estimate of Elf King's Level - Level 40 ???

Level 40 = 20 +20 (Decent NW strength), 30+10 (Hero and Weakling), 25+15 (Ada-Ori tier / peak humanity plus average person)

Zesshi

70 = 60+ 10 (Godkin plus weakling)

75 = 60 + 15 (Godkin plus average person)

80 = 60 + 20 (Godkin plus decently strong person)

90 = 60 + 30 (Godkin plus hero tier)

100 = 60 + 40 (Godkin plus Outlier)

120 = 60 + 60 (Godkin plus Godkin?!?!??! MASAKA BAKANA IMPOSSIBLE)

It's possible that due to Awakening though she could be capped at 100 due to LOL MMO LIMITATIONS

Though... what about a Triplet or Octuplet Chimera of just Hero tiers? Of Godkin with no arbitrary Level Cap?

...

Have fun with head canon!

=====

Weird Japanese Theories 1 - Where are the Japanese Shaman Girls, Maruyama? Weeby theories of the Theocracy for Gaijin Edition

Hai hai, Ziggy desu!

Herp a derp muh Japanese sugoi.

Anyway, today I would like to bring up things or theories that get lost in translation or don't come to mind due to a cultural barrier between the Western fandom and Japan.

As the title suggests, today I want to talk about the Miko Hime.

First, though, before we talk about the Mikohime we must first talk about where they come from. This may surprise you but the Theocracy in the Japanese community is not seen as well Catholic as it is generally seen in the West. Memes about Crusades and so on don't exist quite as much there.

Part of the reason is that neither Skythewood, Frostfire, or Nigel may have intended this but they chose to use terms like Cardinal or Pontiff to easily convey ideas to Western fans. Like if you say Pontiff or Pope you get the idea what rank that person is no? It's easier than using the nuanced Japanese term at least.

Before I continue I will say I agree with the decision they made as it facilitates understanding. The point of this article is not to complain but to rather address nuanced lost due to the language barrier or cultural differences.

Continuing on, there is a Japanese minor meme about the Theocrayc, that is it was founded by the Six Great Otaku/Westaboos.

Hm? You might be thinking. Where does that come from?

Well first consider the name Theocracy. In Japanese it is 法国, which literally translates into Lawful Country, Country of Principles, or Dharma Country (the Buddhist ideal).

Fun fact, France is called 法国 as well in Japan. It's like how Japanese is called nihongo natively but we all call it Japanese.

So part of this joke theory is that the reason the New World humans all have a medieval esque era cultural appearance is due to this nation of French sophisticated people. It doesn't help that the average Japanese only associates things like their pure waifu Jeanne d'Arc, fancy food, and knights with France and not much else.

Yet its not seeen as just Western though.

When Brain appeared for example, he used a katana called a Godly Sword and used an extermely Japanese name for his best attack. Then Eruya apppeared using a katana, calling himself something weeby as well, and in the anime he even had a kanji like symbol on his armor and a very Eastern design.

Where and why did Maruyama even do this?

Well first lets discuss the retcons in the Web Novel first. Mainly in HOW he named the Worker teams. You see Green Leaf was not always called Green Leaft. They were once called something more Japanese. However this was changed. Yet Tenbu remained Eryua's team name.

Perhaps I have started to get your attention.

So let's look at how the East sees the Six Great Gods.

六大神. Put literally this is the 6 Ookami. Broken further down though, you can also read it as the Rokudai Kami. This when read literally is the 6 Elemental Gods.

NANI?!

See because of the translation you may have never considerd that implication at all. So what is Rokudai?

Rokudai is put very simply and a bit overly crudely, the six elements. They are Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Void, and Consciousness. The first 4 are typical Avatar Elements you've seen all the time. But not all of you are very familiar with Eastern culture and their love of various elements. For example, Oriental elements are metal, wood, fire, water, and air but these are not Elements as in Elemental attacks. IT's closer to how Aristotle thought of Elements as symbolic meanings or metaphors of nature.

So keep in mind, part of the reason I write this is to convey the Eastern perspective as best I can to explain random Japanese theories.

So Rokudai, just like the Dharma Country name of Slaine is also a Buddhist ideal and not a native Shinto one. So what does it mean? Well fire, water, wind, and air are typically what you think. Space though is a bit odd because you do not have the Eastern perspective on elements. In India for example, Space is also called Akasha. You Fate fans likely perk up at that because muh Akashic record. What this idea means is basically something transcendetal or not of the world.

For D&D fans you may be wondering besides the element what really distingushied the Six Great Gods in terms of faith into 6 sects? Well doesn't the very idea they have a functional poyltheisitc society suggest the nation is not as Christian as the translations suggest? In that, Ziggy means each God also has a portfolio or embodied certain traits. In Buddhism they are 6 different metaphors for sapience or consciousness or the mind.

So fans in the Japanese community once speculated what each Scripture did based on this Rokudai way of looking at the Six Great Gods. If you look at the Elemetns not from our views of the West, but instead Buddhism you can see that just as the Five elements in Indian Buddhism were metaphors for the mind each Element is a metaphor and can describe a Scripture:

Memory or experience is Earth

Sense of self and adaptability is Water

Clarity and perception are Fire

Always thinking and moving is Air

Unlimited potential is Space

So if you think of these in terms of the Scriptures (and by extension their Gods) it's easy to see the Windflower scripture which was chasing Clementine and did infilitration slightly resemble AIr. Perception and Fire can insinuate Holocaust's counter terrorism (spotting threats and countering gueriila warfare). Unlimited potential or Space can be seen as the Black Scripture (or Jet Black) and how they are considered heroes and people worth respecting even from a Captain of another Scripture, IE Nigun and Clementine's brother in the Web Novel. And finally, when Raymond was in charge of the Scriptures and the intel at the meeting, and like some fans theorize, Earth Scripture is the main intelligence agency.

The non-Indian element, Consciousness can be thought of life as it represents sensory perception or experiences and thinking itself at the same time, or basically a state of being. As you might infer, the reason the Japanese fans sometimes think the Theocracy went down a road different than their gods wanted is just like Indian Buddhism didn't have this separate element, that is Life or Light in Overlord, the Theocracy did not always have the Sunlight Scripture's purpose of ethnic purging.

A very minor thing of course, but it makes sense if you think about the Buddhist relations of Overlrod concepts and how Maruyama named them.

Side theory: Japanese fans think the Sunlight Scripture at one time was not a military unit at all as Life and death seem sort of counter to what the element should represent. Instead, it seems to be a "remove all bad Life" sort of Scripture, who protect other nations. But the theory is that they just like how their faith holds angels in high esteem were not chosen to be war mages of a high caliber but instead people who could show the non believers the great majesty of high tier angels to convert and have more people join the Six Great Gods faith.

So if you are following this train of logic, just as Buddhism seems to explain the Scriptures somewhat, the only one that seems a bit off is a foreshadow of the corruption of the ideals of the Theocracy as hinted with the Elves being former allies.

A consequence of all this Japanese words: some Japanese fans think the Slaine Gods never intended to be gods. Jokingly they are Otaku for example, but it's assumed they would have been atheist as well or at least not very religous as the Japanese in modern times tend to be. If you look at the name, Rokudai kami, they may not even have tried to address the misunderstanding due to the language barrier. That being, when they were called kami they thought of it like the Japanese notion of kami and not the modern western version of that phrase. The notion the Theocracy is somewhat a constitutional republic with a judiciary, executive, and legislative branch reinforce the idea the Six Great Gods did not want a religious zealot nation to begin with.

Take for instance, the Theocracy at one time had friendly ties to the Elves. Were they loyal to Humans or Humanoids at first? Also consider the practice of cutting Elven ears to force them to appear more Human. Such a practice may not have existed in the past. Hence why this Japanese theory exists, the Theocracy has narrowed their views from humanoids to humans. The fact the Elves had a priest in Eryua's team supports an extension of this theory the Gods were once worshipped by other races too. Then there is the alternative God of Life = Elf theory based on his name.

Woke

Now, consider the term Godkin. In Yen Press they called this Demigod. But Nigel didn't. Have you ever considered that? In Japanese the term is 神人 or "kami" and "person". So like how Sebas is a dragonoid which is written dragon and person, these people are human-like Gods? So it's not hard to see why someone might think of them like Demi Gods like Evileye does or yen Press. But why not use a different kanji?

You see, unlike in the west, kami are a really complicated subject in fact. For example, people have ancestral kami called sojin. Likewise, 神人 can be read as Shinjin, or Godlike person or person as strong as a God. That seems obvious but unlike Demi God you have to keep in mind this kanji like the more wordy definitions actually segregates the Gods from these people. For example, as a Westerner, you all likely think of this like "Oh they are just Jesus" but that's an oversimplification. Even Catholocism treats Jesus as part of God or part of the Trivium yet Islam only sees him as a prophet seeing that idea of calling him God blasphemy to Allah.

Does that example illustrate my point? The Godkin are still treated as PEOPLE at least in terms of the Japanese grammer used. Unlike say the various demigod kanji, Maruyama chose to use this vaguer and lesser used term. Consider for example how in Japan rahter than Mikado/kotei or Emperor they use Tenno or Heavely RUler to title their own Emperor. What you chose to describe something as does have significance.

Fun fact did you know, the kanji for Godkin also used to be applied to Shirne maidens or priests long ago, back when in Shinto they saw these people as godly avatars. But even that was not a Saint. Herein lies the difference between Shinto ideas and Western ones. A Kami could be a godly being, a place, an object, or even creatures. If you see say the Aurora Borealis like Maruyama wants to, if that makes you feel excited or awestruck, in the Japanese ideal of long ago, that would quality as a kami. And kami were not always good or evil. Many kami were worshipped out of appeasement, as merely a part of nature that troubled humans say like a giant bear in hopes it would look the other way for the humans it preyed on.

On the topic of appeasement, this is exactly how Surshana's worship is portrayed in the WN, and why Zuranon used his image or icon as the symbol for their fake cult to get gullible nobles in the Empire. It hints at this less modern ideal of God and the less friendly or loving idea of gods from the era of Greece, Rome, and the Old testament. Centuries of the Dark Ages had a larger impact and change on the societal idea of God than you might think. The idea of praying to a God of poverty to make him stay away seems alien to Westerners but it happened in the land of the rising sun. What a time to be alive.

So the very essence of divinity is different between cultures. So what do the Japanese think you might ask? Well they see the Theocracy as an actual metaphor or jab at the Empire of Japan and how they thought of the Emperor as a God or Kami. The ethnocentric ideals, the atrocities, and zealtory all remind the Japanese about the dark sides of their national history before the democraization. So consider the term, Awakened. To us that means: Oh he RNGed it and is actually really strong, at least that is how Western Overlord fans see it. In contrast, the Japanese have some fans who think of it as a bigger meaning, that is just as the Theocracy is human centric, this idea of Awakening and blood ties to the Gods is far more pronounced. FOr example, consider how widely present bloodline techniques used to be in anime. There was a deep connection between blood and power contrary to the West's view that anyone can be what they want to be in society or life if they work hard.

Tangent, but the Western view is summarized as changign society in one's view while Eastern psychology can be summarized as changing one self to fit into society.

Anyway, the idea Humans are the chosen ones of the Gods is cemented by this idea of Awakening which only those with blood ties can really do. It creates a blood centric view of things and religion just like how in Shinto the Emperor used to be seen as a God descended from Amatarsu. So even hsi enemies would not assassinate him but instead exploit his symobolic status for their own gains, namely war in the WW2 era. But in Overlord, where heritage can and appears to influence one's power level this view is not nearly as questionable.

This FINALLY brings me, Papa Ziggy, to everyone's beloved Japanese Shaman Girls, the Mikos and Miko himes. First lets review what we know about the Mikos as of Volume 13.

1.) The Mikohime's stand in as the centers or Focus of Slaine rituals wearing crowns that convert them into items V2

2.) Only very few women can wear the crowns, one in a million (appears to be Tier 5 users based on WN ) V2

3.) There are certain people in the Theocracy who devote themselves to God in the Theocracy in relation to the topic of marriage -V5+6AT

4.) There were Mikos of an astrology and oracle/divination burea. WN

5.) Mikos were Spiritualists WN (as they seem to be based on the virgin only class from a Japanese only game that falls in line with the Spiritualst caster trope in Overlord)

In the Theocracy in the LN at least, we know that the Miko himes are killed and replaced and there are concurrently 6 at once based on the WN's statements and they are all Tier 5 users. That is they are powerful women and exist in far more number than in other nations where only Remedios and Kelart are as strong in their nation for example.

So when in Volume 4 the Black Scripture Captain mentions how had matchmaking sessions with various women, it is thought these were with Mikos. In line with the Japanese centric tinge to Theocracy culture, in Japan long ago there were mainly 5 families that marriage candiates came from for future Emperors. That is they were considered the families that would go on to be Empresses to an extent. Maruyama made a tweet once before how in the Theocracy they are not an absolute religous nation but also to outsiders they do not have nobility, however based on the preferential treatment Black Scripture members receive in jo bpostings after their careers a new theory formed. That is there is a Quasi-Nobility in the Theocracy based on blood ties to the Six Great Gods just like how divinity is associated with Japan's own Emperor and Shinto. Nuts right?

It certainly seems possible, considering how Clementine in the WN suggested many people have blood ties to the Gods but some are stronger or puerer than others. If you consider the Miko-himes are Tier 5 users and they exist in such numbers compared to other Tier 5 users in other nations and there are other Hero rankeed people as well it does seem they come from influential families with blood ties ot the Six Great Gods. Counter theories were that when the devotion to Gods comes up from Maru in V5+6ATs people think that means the sacrifices for the Miko Hime and not as marriage candidates for the Awakened Godkin. Ziggy thinks both are possible, considering having a Miko Hime from your family may give a sort of status or holy devotion. If you consider Belius in V1 was from an important family but still had to go out on the front lines service may be more important than wealth especially when the ruling parties in the Theocracy don't get paid at all.

Like Maruyama said, there are many hero ranked people outside the Black Scripture which is just nuts if you don't think it's related to Six Great God bloodlines. The Kingdom, Empire, and Holy Kingdom are nowhere near as many hero rankers as them just in the Black Scripture even if you don't count Godkin or Miko HImes. Let alone retired Black Scripture members. Hence if you ignore the religous motives of pairing a Miko Hime or potential political ones, based on eugenics they would be of good family stock and be strong mothers adept at Tier magic to some extent. If Calca and Lakyus are any sign, one can reach high tiers very soon in life if it's Divine magic or if they try hard enough like Arche for other magic systems. And like the Aindra or Custodios bloodline show, that can be very important in attempts to make Godkin and would explain where all these hero ranked people are coming from, multiple generations of un Awakened descendants intermarrying to have greater potential as a human nation than the others.

....Or so the theories go on and on.

A side tangent unrelated to this all, the uniform of the Sunlight Scripture made Japanese fans raise an eyebrow at the hidden weeby side of the Theocracy as well. Especially how in the data book they have the Shinto priest helmet and a traditional asian hat, Japanese socks, .

So why did the Japanese think the Sunlight Scripture used to be a group meant to gain followers and not slaughter with angels? Well in Japanese history there was a group of monks called the Komuso 虚無僧 and they, as you might guess, wore the same hood helmet things the Sunlight Scriptrue do. They were famous for the hoods which cast off parts of their identity on the path to enlightenment and would play flutes as they traveled in groups, pilgramages being a big part of their branch of Buddhism (see how pilgramage has religous meaning in Islam or say why Easterners dont' see Jing as a bad father to Gon due to a difference in values). You can also read Komuso as

Sky/Heavens

-Emptiness/Void-

Monk

in terms of each kanji's meaning. Keep in mind they were beggars in Japan and . But in our Rokudai lens, it could be Void or Emptiness or Consciousness or identity depending on how you interpret the two non-Greek Elements of the Rokudai.

Intersting right? Only the real nerdy Japanese guys know shit like this though since most only remember the stuff anime or games talk about and not this really old shit.

Those helmets? Called Tengai. 天蓋, which lilterally means Heavenly and Hood/cover. And guess what symbol/kanji is on Eruya's breast plate and back...

天

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN

And you thougth I was rambling. SMH.

Ain't shit weird? I spend a lot of time with the Japanese fans so learning this stuff is a real trip for me. So to clarify the Japanese saw the Sunlight Scripture then Eruya and then if you think about what they call that hat and that symbol on Eruya.... yeah it's not hard why they started to think about all these theories.

Bapitsmal names 洗礼名. Can also be translated as Christian names. But did you know... it holds special meaning for Japanese Christians?

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN

"Papa Ziggy stop blowing my miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!?"

Legally, Japan does not actually allow for Middle Names. Usually you can get away with hyphenating your name though... so instead of Ainz Ooal Gown you can do Ainz-Ooal Gown.

However the Japanese Christans don't recognize their Baptismal names as Middle Names.

NANI

Well this makes since if you consider in their culture, the Emperor has a name when he is alive then a post humous name which even names the era he reigns in. So names carrying a symbolic meaning is not exactly weird...

So Japanese Christans do a Christan Name Full Name.

So for example lets use Satoru Suzuki as the Full Name and Nazarick as the Christan or Baptismal name.

Nazarick Satoru Suzuki would be the way a Japanese Christan would write their name.

However in the Theocracy they put the Baptismal name in the middle. It's considered extremely rare for anyone to make the mistake of making the Baptismal name the middle name in Japan in terms of name order. And so the Japanese like to joke the Theocracy was as wrong as Evileye is about Level Up due to a misunderstanding centuries ago about Baptismal names. Well they also joke that the reason Western name order is common is because all the Six Great Gods called each other by their surnams first and so they took that as the first name and not the family name on their own....

Hur hur.

Well anyway, for the Japanese Christans, the Baptismal name can be the name of an angel, a saint, or even words/phrases from the bible. The Saint Calendar for example associates a Saint or Baptismal name with each day of the year. Some faiths even celebrate that Saint instead of the birthday of the person to tie the relgious dominance in that person's life. Compared to how the Saint is not only a person who you borrow a name from but also someone like a guardian spirit or person to pray toward on top of the Gods for guidance etc.

So if you ever thought Dale was a very common name in Overlord, it may have to do with being a very famous figure in history who became a well known saint like Mother Teresa or St. Peter.

Well I'll stop there. There a few other things but maybe seeing the Japanese view of things made you think more about stuff you thought didn't matter much or didn't really foreshadow anything until I brougth it up.

Happy theory crafting.

============

Weird Japanese Theories 2 - Skill, Skills, Talent, talent, talent, genius, Genius and you!!! Ideas lost in translation.

Ahoy hoy. Time to up your weeb class levels you dorks.

Today we'll talk about ideas based on Maruyama having a poor vocabulary. These are ideas that are harder to see in the ENglish community because word choice didn't factor in as much for the translation.

First up, Skill(s).

Skill

a.) Skill (スキル)

Those abilities people use from their classes. Things like Undead Creation.

b.) skill, (剣)技

This one is trickier because it doesn't come up very much. It mainly only really came up when Brain was talking to Eruya in the Web Novel. So let's summarize what happened to Brain, he was bitten by Shaltlear, lost half his Warrior levels but got Vampire levels and actually ended up gaining levels overall. When Brain is talking to Eruya though he says his 剣技 decreased. This translates to 'sword' 'skill'. Ziggy prefers to use the other translation of 'technique' though, since this refers more to the ability for Brain to move his body based on how it was conditioned. Vampires are physically superior so it's not like he's unable to do what he used to in terms of physical potential. This is closer to him being unpracticed with his bodies increased power output.

This comes up implicitly in the Light Novels too though. When Gazef says Climb can still improve he brings up this idea for example.

Genius is up next.

Genius

a.) Genius ジーニアス

The Genius classes. These are those who have a talent for a certain job class. This talent is not an innate Talent though, but a different talent (in terms of the kanji used).

b.) Genius 英才

Literally "multiple sepals" and "ability". A sepal is the green part of a flower which the petals bloom from or holds fruit. Literally this doesn't make sense but this word is supposed to be different from the other one due to the imagery of a flower. Think of it as a 'budding genius', someone who blooms into a genius. Typically this word is meant for intellectual geniuses while the other is for those who are naturals.

This gets mentioned on occasion when talking about smart people, or more precisely wise people in Overlord or how someone knowledgeable is needed to determine something.

c.) Genius 天才

Literally "Heavenly" and "ability" but you can read it also as "heavenly" and "gift" / "aptitude" / "talent". You are supposed to read it together as "genius" "prodigy" or "naturally gifted".

This is the type of Genius used to describe Renner's intellect.

Now for the most confusing one! Talent!

Talent

a.) Talent タレント

The talent you all know. Those special abilities one is born with. They are sometimes called 生まれながらの異能 or 'abilities people are born with'. Another one where the Engrish is the preferred reading of the word.

In Volume 10 when Renner asks "Really? Can you really identify talents?" what Nigel didn't show was the text was written "Really? Can you really identify abilities people are born with (talents)?"

In Volume 3 Brain actually had this mentioned along with the next term.

b.) talent 才能

The 'talent' used with Genius modifiers. Literally "talent/aptitude" and "talent/gifted" (and yes it's redundant). You read it as someone of talent or of some measure of ability that is noteworthy. I prefer to translate this as Aptitude as a concept, using the less common reading of "gifted aptitude" or "one is who gifted at a certain thing". So sometimes in the translations, talent is used but it doesn't mean Talent as the born ability but talent the 'Aptitude' version.

What Ziggy thinks this is is not Level Cap though. Rather, the next term is level cap. If you consider what is talked about in V10 about finding talented children, this is not an innate Talent or Level Cap. Instead it's more something like Class Affinity. See the Soft Stat article if you are curious about this. But basically some people are more suited for certain classes. Hence, Aptitude. This was actually introduced in Volume 2 when Sword of Darkness bring up if one is not suited for magic they would take far longer to learn it than others.

Gazef to Climb:

俺は単に才能 "I simply was talented."

We know that Gazef doesn't have a Talent (innate ability). This comes up before.

However, all of these were inborn abilities, which could not be chosen or changed. It was quite common to encounter situations where these abilities could not be applied. If someone was born with a talent that could improve the destructive power of their magic, but they never had the chance to become a magic caster, then their talent would be useless. There were very few people who could make good use of their talents. There were almost no talents which could dictate the course of one’s entire life, apart from a few exceptionally powerful talents.. The best proof of that statement was Gazef Stronoff, who was a warrior without a talent.

[V2]

そうある戦士から受けた言葉を胸に、才能が無いクライムが必死に鍛えたのは上段からの一撃だ。

After heeding the advice of a certain warrior, the untalented Climb had worked body and soul to produce this move, a strike that came from above.

[V5]

"—If you want to ask why I’m so strong, I can’t rightfully give you an answer. Basically, I was talented."

[V5]

Brain is described being blessed from the heavens for this talent and the other term for innate talent.

だが、彼にはまさに天から授けられたとしかいえない才能があったのだ。

c.) talent, 優秀な人

Nigel translates this as 'talented' but you can read it literally as 'superior/skilled/excellent' 'preeminently'. The book definition is 'excellent' or 'superior for the whole compound kanji, but based on the context and the individual literal meanings, Ziggy would say 'prominently skilled' or 'relatively excellent' or just 'excellent' could be better ways to interpret this concept. Talented is a good way to convey the idea however because of the other two concepts it gets confusing.

Yuri in Volume 10

子どもたちを教育する機関を作った万が良いかと存じます. 優秀な人

The talented used by Blue Rose was a different one than this one.

====

Rituals

The conclusion to the series of Overthinking Mechanics of the New World.

When we talk about the new things of this New World, there is something that has lingered since the beginning but is less alien to us readers. The reason is that it appears like something we understand, or at least Ainz does.

And that something is:

Rituals.

To sum up, Rituals or Ceremonies are ways which New Worlder mages who use Tier Magic can cast spells cooperatively.

Seems pretty innocent in fact.

Hmm?

Why are you reading this with suspicion? D-Do you think I'm THAT paranoid and nuts?

...

WELL YOU'RE RIGHT!

Time to get W O K E lads. Get the tin-foil sombreros out and strap yourself in, we going in deep and obscure.

Let's establish the rules of Ritual casting though.

A.) A person or thing is required in the center of the ritual. [V2, V10, V12, WN]

B.) The more Divine casters the faster the time it is to cast. [V4]

C.) An ability to transfer power is needed [WN, V4? ]

D.) At the Lizardmen's level they could only use a ritual to cast one tier above? [V4]

E.) Allows Meta Magic

F.) Slaine's rituals are limited to rituals of two tiers above

Now in the WN, Maruyama says that Slaine can cast Tier 8. They do this by using the Crown of Wisdom, a ritual, and the Miko Hime. However, he then says that with a ritual that they can only cast two Tier's above.

The fact Clementine says a Tier 7 spell, the fact Dominon is a Tier 7 summon, and that all make people think Maruyama made a typo.

However, did you know, Maruyama frequently fixed typos in the WN?

Pay attention to how he words it: with the RITUAL you can improve the Tier by 2. However, that was not the only condition he gave for what was possible to reach Tier 8. It was not only rituals but a Miko who can improve it despite only being able to use Tier 5.

Maruyama is not wrong. That's because Slaine is doing this:

Miko Hime: Tier 5 user

Ritual: Improve Tier of a spell by 2

Over Magic: Improve Tier of user's spell by 1

Miko Hime + Over Magic = Tier 6without a ritual.

Miko Hime + Over Magic + Ritual = Tier 8

Ziggy believes Nigun is not right. He was unaware. Just like he doesn't seem to know of Godkin or beings close to Ainz besides Demon Gods (True Dragon Lords, Laval Angler, etc etc). Ziggy thinks either Maruyama removed Over Magic from Slaine or Nigun was wrong.

Since Nigun is shown to be untrustworthy of some secrets that may be more likely. Especially since Maruyama explicitly write the Miko Hime using Over Magic after explaining what it did in the Lizardman arc.

This tangent is to illustrate that rituals allow and STACK with meta magic. (keep this in mind for later)

If we use the given data, we can attempt to deduce a pattern of why Slaine can go up two tiers and the Lizardmen one.

The Lizardmen needed the ritual to reach Tier 4 Control Cloud. As we see their chiefs tend to be Tier 3 or Platinum in level.

Slaien has a Tier 5 user and can only go up 2. Over Magic let's them cheese up an additional Tier.

Assuming there is a pattern, Ziggy thinks one possible explanation for this is that:

Rituals Can Only Increase a spell's Tier based on Caster's Usable Tier / 2 Rounded Down.

Lizardmen Tier 3 user: 3/2=1.5. Round Down = 1 additional Tier

Slaine Tier 5 user: 5/2 = 2.5. Round Down = 2 additional Tiers

Caster Tier Ritual Tier Enhancement Possible

1 ???

2 ???

3 1

4 2?

5 2

6 3?

If someone used Over Magic:

Caster Tier Ritual and Over Magic Tier Enhancement

1 ???

2 ???

3 2

4 3?

5 3

6 4?

*It's unknown if ritual casting can even be used below Tier 3 casters.

So limiting ourselves to the highest known New World caster Tier, this may be one way to look at ritual casting's limits. Its purely hypothetical though. It does look nice with the limits of the New World being able to just barely squeak by to Tier 10.

Given what we know Ziggy just thought this was interesting...

But back on track, it is very curious how the New World has this method to hit above their Tier limit. But why? It doesn't seem to have existed in YGGDRASIL most likley since it takes so much time apparently.

Over Magic is tangentially related too.

So let' slook at that first.

Meta Magic, in general uses more MP to increase a spells' attributes. Widen increases range. Penetrate let's one pierce defense better. Maximize removes RNG from a spell's damage potential.

In this view, what is Over Magic doing?

Well it's effectively altering the very Tier of the spell to some extent. As it is described, Over Magic is a modifier one uses for spells outside their own limited Tier casting. In a way, Over Magic can be thought of two ways:

1.) A meta magic that lowers the Tier requirement of a spell but increases the mana consumption

2.) Or a twisting of the already existing magical property of variable damage. For example, Fluder's Fireball is stronger than Deibanock's. This has to do with with SUBTLE mechanic. For now think of it as strong people can use weaker spells and make them stronger.

So isn't Sharyusu a Weak person who is using a stronger spell by making it weaker?

W O K E

Ziggy favors 2.) because of this negative nature of an already canon facet of the spell casting.

Then why can only Divine casters supposedly use Rituals and how is it connected to this Over Magic principle?

Well this is purely hypothetical, but consider Evileye and her supposedly New WOrld only spell, Translocate Damage.

What that did was convert damage into mana depletion. In other words, even Arcane casters can link their HP and MP somehow.

But then, what about Divine casters and Over Magic or rituals? Fluder can't participate in rituals even though he should be able to draw upon this type of spell too in theory if he knew about it or could learn it.

The answer most likely lies in the MP transfer ability unique to Divine casters.

If Arcane casters can access their MP in place of HP, the converse is possible as well no? Certainly the Mikohime was bleeding from the ritual and in Calca's case it was said she would strain herself by not doing the ritual the proper way.

This may be linked to mana exhaustion. Certainly it shows a physical link between mana use and well being or consciousness. Could that be the strain being described?

One theory why Rituals can exist is that due to this self-harming nature, with friendly fire being changed, this ability unlocked from exploiting the idea self-harm or ally harm should not have been possible in YGGDRASIL. This may link to Translocation Damage.

Well...

If one can convert damage to HP to depletion of MP...

isn't the idea that one can offset one for the other?

Ainz proves that YGGDRASIL already allowed one to bolster stats with mana and mana recovery using spells with PErfect Warrior. Isn't HP just another stat?

If you can bolster stats with mana, why is the converse not possible? Basically bolstering mana with stats.

Divine casters, by nature are able to harness duality. Fire and Ice. Positive and Negative energy. Good and Evil. It is not wrong to say they are mages who are skilled at manipulating polarity of magical forces.

The queerness of this all though is that there is one big mystery about Divine casting outside rituals. What is that power source they feel?

"Well, do listen. That’s just my theory. But if that were the case, if you do borrow the power of the gods to work your magic, could dead people provide it to you? Or rather, what are the gods? Do they even exist? Are you really using the power of the gods?" "…What are you trying to say?" "…Have you ever seen the gods?" "The gods are always by my side!" "That is to say, you’ve never actually seen them directly, then?" "No! When we use our spells, we feel the presence of a mighty being. That is our god!" "…And who declared that that presence to be a god? The god himself? Or someone else drawing on that power?" Roberdyck recalled the theological debates he had taken part in. There was no clear answer to Ainz’s questions. Until today, the priests still debated hotly over whether that was the proof of the gods’existence. Just as Roberdyck was about to speak, Ainz interrupted him. "…Well, supposing these super-dimensional beings—which we shall generously term gods for our purposes—do exist, I wonder if that means they were originally colorless entities. Simply put, they are masses of power. Because drawing on their power dyes them in a different color and changes the thing …well, they do exist in a world with magical laws, I just wanted someone to chat with someone about this. It wouldn’t be funny if there really were gods."

[V7]

This likely relates to how Divine casters often have abilites like Turn Undead. In addition it may relate to how Divine and Arcane casters learn spells slightly differently. well at least in TRPG. Take for instance:

Londes Di Gelanpo had probably cursed his gods more times in the past ten seconds than he had in the rest of his life. If the gods really did exist, then they should defeat that evil being right now. Londes was a faithful man —why had the gods abandoned him? The gods did not exist. In the past, he had looked down on those people who did not believe in the gods as fools. After all, if the gods did not exist, how could the priests work their magic? And now, he realised that he was the foolish one.

[V1]

Or how Calca and Lakyus both learned high tiers of Divine magic very early in life (their teens). Yet even Fluder and his disciples were on average far older than them before reaching their respective tiers. And Fluder's disciples had the benefit of Fluder's findings to speed up their development. Even Arche only progressed so far in a short time due to Fluder. But with Ninya's Talent we see that speeding up her growth still took time for her to reach her Tier 2. In the WN we learn that even with study in the magical academy typically people only advance one Tier higher, with most of the faculty at Tier 2 or Tier 3.

In terms of Soft Stats (read the article on that if you haven't already) the two are very similar but differ in HOW they get power. It's why Remedios, as dumb as bricks as she was could still be strong. That is Arcane is Intelligence, Divine is Wisdom or feelings or instinct or etc.

For example, Druids are said to gain both spells and their weird magical abilites from nature or nature gods. They don't need to UNDERSTAND how to cause their magic, they gain it through prayer, communion, belief, instinct or so on. Arcane casters though have to understand the world and it's magical nature or magical forces of nature.

TlDr:

Divine - Access the Divine 'essence' of nature or the world or god to shape that 'essence' based on their beliefs. in Ainz's example, this is one way to interpet this fact, that Divine casters are really just drawing from a cloud of SOMETHING that is neither good or bad, aware or unaware, it's just there.

Arcane - Arcane casters access magical 'essence' by understanding it, learning it, studying it, or feeling it like on a hunch.

For a metaphor, Divine casters can just build a bridge with enough sticks and feelign sure it will be safe to cross. Arcane casters have to go through all the physics and statics of math (the laws of nature) to ensure their bridge doesn't collapse. At the end of the day both will cross the bridge, but it would take the Arcane caster longer but their bridge would likely be safer and sturdier.

That illustrates how in terms of pure potential Arcane spells can do more though in meta Divine casters tend to be better (see Shalltear).

Spiritual Casters are a slightly different animal being from a different series of games altogether. But the fact Spiritual spells can identify Talents does suggest some stuff. I'll leave that for you to ponder though!

Now onto Other casters. Namely, Paladins. They are very similar to Divine casters, in fact they are Divine casters in some games. But the difference in Overlord is they use more modern views on them. That is, they access the divine nature of this world through belief as well. But their belief is not in something as the source of life or nature. Rather, their belief is fueled by a sense of righteousness or justice. IE they believe in something as justice so much it is a fanaticism slightly different from religion.

The easiest example is that Paladins are patriots, Divine casters are religous people. Go read the article on this if you want a broader look on the differences between Divine and Karmatic power.

Ziggy believes Other spell casters are those that don't fit into the other 3 categories. Which is a tautology but still. It's HOW they interact with Arcane and Divine are loosely inspired by the science vs religion world view of Europe and all the fears of what going from one to the other brought (Frankenstein for example is a commentary on this of sorts, as is the Hunch Back of Notre Dame in regards to the understanding literacy brought and the change in world view it brings; you feel or see something of such grandeur it makes you feel a certain way for example Notre Dame cathedral was a beautiful structure but often we modern people don't understand that to the uneducated and illiterate that these large displays of objects like Albedo says show off power and greatness for people. It's the loss of this feeling that is behind that book and something modern people tend to only feel in the outdoors now adays since we make skyscrapers like breakfast).

Spiritual casters though, based on their Eastern origin in both inspiration and TRPG games they came from likely stem from the Eastern view on spirituality. Think something like Chinese fold remedies, Shinto practices, and so on. There was a certain degree of spirituality AND science to their beliefs. Just look at pressure points, their system of divination, the complicated rules they had for warding, etc. In terms of spells too, they do fall inbetween the other two systems, having healing spells and many utility based spells too. At least in so far as we see.

Ninya does tell us that one must connect to the world to cast magic. They just do it differently between each system of magic.

Thus, what Ainz surmises, that people are just tapping into a cloud of energy may not be wrong. Instead of Gods, Maruyama decided to cut them out and instead standardized the source of magic but not the way to access it. Or so Ziggy believes.

"What the fuq does this have to do with ritual casting!??!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?"

Well dear reader, there is a reason why I ramble. Tsk tsk.

Breaking down magic this way let's Ziggy explain better the thing Maru ripped off!

First, remember Nameless Spellbook? It instantly records magical spells no, evne those that are newly created?

Well this rips off something very vague not from TRPG to some extent but Maru used it to explain a mechanic in TRPG.

What this mechanic is, well it's why Over Magic and rituals work! Effectively, one can cheat and temporarily gain access to spells they don't know! Now what does that remind us of?

Ding ding ding.

And do you know that only Divine castesr can use this ability in the game Maru took it from? That isn't because of MP transfer though. MP transfer didnt' exist in the game. IT has to do with something greater. Ainz's thoughts are closer to what this is than just sharing MP, that is drawing upon something that people call God but is something more mysterious than that.

So both Sharyusu and the Miko Hime used Over Magic. The Miko Hime however showed us she took damage no? Or at least she was bleeding compared to what Krusch felt through mana exhaustion. Ziggy believes teh blow back from Over Magic aloen is not enough to cause that harm since it only uses lots of mana as we are told. Instead, the combination of a ritual and Over magic may be the cause.

You see, ritual casting limited only to Divine casters has two different versions actually, but they appear similar. One is communal casting. The other is magic concentration. And we actually see both in Overlord.

"NANI!?!??!?!", you might say.

Others might ask "There's a difference?"

Well here's the genius of Slaine. They seem to have combined both methods. Crazy right? But we actually know that the other methods exist separately. This is one of those subtle things Maru likes to set up that seem similar but are different!

Let's break them down:

Communal Casting: (Lizardmen)

A group of Divine casters work together to cast a spell. This increases the castable Tier by 1.

Magic Concentration (Calca's Crown):

A ritual is performed using a magical keystone or focus if you will. A group of divine casters do not create a shared spell but instead funnel their magical power into an item or focal point.

These are really very similar in fact. So why does Ziggy think Slaine is genius?

They combined these two to squeeze out as much as possible from their given spell casting tier and to do what we see: they can cast Tier 8 spells. This is why in Volume 2, Khajiit only used a Tier 7 spell. Nfirea, being an Arcane caster with the crown could only use Tier 7 magic, which doesn't match the limitations of Slaine or the Lizardmen. How come the Lizardmen can only go one Tier above while he can use several tiers higher with far less help from Zuranon?

The reason is that Nfirea's case was not the Lizardman one or Slaine. In fact, it's Calca's case.

What Nfirea was as Clementine said, a magical item that allows the use of high tier spells. It's the CROWN which casts the spell, not Nfirea.

...

Do you see, stick with Ziggy and you'll understand it!

Let Ziggy elaborate:

The Lizardman way basically is what Over magic is. You channel power and enable one person to cast a spell beyond their limits. This method mainly focuses on shared casting and MP sharing to some extent.

The Calca or Nfirea way which is how the Crowns of Wisdom work, is they already contain a high level spell. The ceremony in this case unlocks that spell for use but Divine casters are not needed at all in this case since Zuranon or at least Khajiit's group primarily seem to know Arcane spells with little Divine. There's a hidden element as to why it was possible for Zuranon to get Tier 7 Undeath Army to work, but... let's reel in the mind explosions for now.

All you need to know is that there is a Divine caster version and the item/weird version which needs something special Ziggy is cockteasing you about.

Do you understand why Slaine is genius?

They got a Tier 5 caster, strapped an item on her to make her into a magical item but she should theoretically also count for the divine caster communal ritual casting buff! Those meta gaming assholes!

Well this is the alternative theory as to why Slaien can go two Tiers up but others cannot. Both theories could be true, but Ziggy favors this one simply because it addresses why Nfirea could use Tier 7 magic but the Lizardmen could only go one Tier up.

To Ziggy's knowledge, this doesn't come from a game Maruyama played. Instead, he seems to have made his own rules. Any Tier spell can be used if sealed in an item or focus. How this gets sealed is a different story... just look at Calca and the Crowns of Wisdom. As Ainz said the Crown of Wisdom didn't exist in YGGDRASIL so how did it come to form? The Six Great Gods shouldn't have formed it at least.... X files theme plays It's crazier than you might think, but enough cock teasing!

The Slaine method which seems to combine these methods has the advantages of both. The item method allows the use of a high tier spell, but since the person is an item, by normal YGGDRASIL rules that spell cannot be enhanced. The Lizardman way, while limited by the spell casting ability of user can be enhanced by the group or meta magic. Slaine has a magic item person, so theoretically they fall under both categories! Since they select Miko Hime's who are Tier 5 users (WN), they can abuse the item rule of turning the person into a focus. But also the Divine caster rule and enhance the ritual further. IE if the Lizardmen continue to perfect their ritual, they may eventaully discover the 2 Tier limit that Slaine has. However,

At least, that is how it appears to Ziggy. Let's break it down:

There is a way to use the 8th Rank of Magic with a large ritual,

in the centre of it is a human who can use the 5th Rank of Magic and can improve it.

The Lizardman method and the Over Magic meta magic.

It is also necessary for a large number of those who can use the 3rd Rank of Magic.

The communal magic property.

Even with this, it can only be improved up to two ranks,

Supposed Level limit of ritual casting and Over meta magic.

and it is believed that there is some form of device.

Here is where the Slaine can only use Tier 7 confusion stems from. The RITUAL only allows a +2 Tier increase. However, with the Crown you effectively have a team cast the spell then have the Crown wearer use Over Magic to boost it a Tier higher. At least that is how Ziggy makes sense of the difference between these lines and how Maruyama is pretty consistent in saying Tier 8 is the limit in his notes. (People joke he fucked up Narberal's level but that is minor compared to messing up a Tier calculation especially in how he breaks down how this is outside Tier 7 on multiple occassions in his notes).

As Fluder does not have a skill to amplify magic, he cannot conduct a large ritual.

What this suggests is that knowledge of magic is not enough to cast a ritual. As only Divine casters of far less knowledge of Fluder can cast it, it suggests the Divine only rule. Likely since Bishop is not from this game where rituals exist, that's why Fluder lacks the means to use them.

In this way both types of ritual are linked to Divine casters. Communal magic requires the mana transfer and communal casting ability while the item ritual method requires that hidden ingredient that only Necromancers can also tap into.

Dang, that took a while to write up. I'm curious how Maruyama will reveal the behind the scenes of rituals. Will it really be level based or more like how the game was he copied the idea from? Hopefully this made you pay attention more to this very minor detail because it might be important later... or not. The Theocracy will probably get wiped out offscreen...

...

Hm? 'I didn't explain the god thing'?

Well I'll be vague here. You should think more on these things yourself. But, think about why rituals work. Now think about what a god is. Over magic works because....

This sounds cryptic but you have to understand what implications happen if you put all these different ideas in a blender. That's why Overlord is so intereresting. Maruyama takes ideas and tropes to their natural extension. If you think about why Neia can awaken as a Paladin or why Over magic lets people use magic they do not know but it seems limited to Divine casters... maybe that's a big enough hint? If you think about the converse of these mechanics you might also start to understand why-

(TO BE CONTINUED... whenever Ziggy feels like it which might be tomorrow. Or never. Or ...)

Notes:

"...Yes, and the ritual’s going well too." Crusch answered Zaryusu’s question as she looked around the village. The ritual which the priests were conducting in the village might well be another trump card for the Lizardmen. Normally, it would have taken a very long time, but since all the priests of all the tribes were gathered together, it was progressing at a tremendous pace, quickly enough to be used in this battle. "So this is the power of cooperation …"

[V4]

"Crusch, what’s with this cold wind …" "...You might not believe me if I say this, but please listen to me. I originally thought that the weather changes from before were the result of the fourth tier spell [Control Clouds], but I was wrong. [Control Clouds] can control clouds, but it cannot generate cold winds like this. Therefore …this isn’t just controlling clouds, but altering the weather. In other words, I think the enemy used a sixth tier spell …[Control Weather]." ... Such cold winds could not blow in this weather — in other words, this was a supernatural change in the environment that was beyond their ability to comprehend. The Lizardmen’s morale plummeted to rock bottom. Previously, only clouds had appeared. The priests could still control clouds if they gathered together, built a huge bonfire, and conducted a ritual. However, when the Lizardmen felt the chill kiss of this autumn-like wind, they realized how powerful their foe was to be able to manipulate such normally uncontrollable natural phenomena.

[V4]

The Miko Princesses stood at the heart of the Slaine Theocracy’s rituals. There was no way that she as a former member of the Black Scripture would not know what would happen when she snatched the Crown of Wisdom away from its bearer. After all, when the time came for a new Miko Princess to be appointed, the job of the Black Scripture was to remove the Crown from its current wearer, and then promptly send the now-insane Miko Princess to be with the gods.

[V2]

"…It’s called the Death Spiral, right?" "Indeed. It’s the rite our leader is conducting." In places where the undead gathered, more powerful undead were born. When these more powerful undead gathered, even more powerful undead would appear. The magic rite which made use of this property was like a spiral, constantly spawning ever more powerful undead beings. It was potent enough to destroy an entire city, so it was known as the ”Death Spiral.” This wicked ritual had been conducted in the past, and it had turned a metropolis into a city of the dead where the undead roamed free. Khazit’s aim was to turn E-Rantel into another such dead city. He would turn himself into an undead being by harnessing the necromantic energies from such a place. He had made extensive preparations to achieve his aim. He would not let this woman who had showed up just a few days ago ruin his plans.

[V2]

Only Narberal remained with Ainz by the time they reached the chapel at the heart of the graveyard. Several suspicious-looking fellows were standing in a circle in front of the chapel, apparently conducting some kind of ritual. They all wore crude black robes which covered their entire bodies, and which varied in both texture and color. Their black head cloths hid their faces and only showed their eyes, while the wooden staves they carried had strange carvings on their ends. They were short, and by the way they carried themselves, they were probably all men. The only exposed face belonged to the man in the middle, and he looked like he was undead. He was well-dressed, and seemed to be concentrating on the black stone that he held in his hand. The wind carried whispered words to Ainz’s ears. The voices in the air rose and fell in unison, and it sounded like some sort of chanting. However, it did not sound like a requiem to the dead, but more like some sort of dark ritual which blasphemed against the deceased.

[V2]

Crafting this Skeletal Dragon had required two months of elaborate rituals and an immense quantity of negative energy. How could it be beaten so easily? He had worked and planned many years for this.

[V2]

If even they could not handle a threat like this, then they could still conduct a grand ritual to summon the highest-ranked angel to deal with the problem. Surely the most exalted of angels would be able to triumph over Death Knights and Soul Eaters. However, the sheer number of foes made them very uneasy.

[V10]

There is a way to use the 8th Rank of Magic with a large ritual, but in the centre of it is a human who can use the 5th Rank of Magic and can improve it. It is also necessary for a large number of those who can use the 3rd Rank of Magic. Even with this, it can only be improved up to two ranks, and it is believed that there is some form of device. Normally a country is needed to support this. As Fluder does not have a skill to amplify magic, he cannot conduct a large ritual.

[WN]

At the lead was an old woman. White hair sprouted from above an extremely wrinkled face. However it was obvious that she was no ordinary old woman, for her eyes glimmered with wisdom, affection and power. Her pure white priest's outfit was engraved with symbols, and on each hand she wore rings that gave her magical protection. A plain but powerful magical headband decorated her forehead. A mysterious holy accessory hung from her neck. Right behind that old woman. Walking there was a young girl. She was extremely young, and did not seem to have gone through puberty yet. Wearing a blindfold, she was led by two young women. The cloth covering her eyes hid most of her facial features as well. Even so, it was possible to tell that she had a sharp face. However, as if nervous, her expression was a frozen mask. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, and shone with a soft glow in the moonlight. On her forehead she wore a large circlet that covered her head with threads like a spider's web. Decorating the string-like metal were countless gems, and a large blue crystal was embedded in the centre. She wore a cloth that was slightly open in the front. The cloth was thin, and with the moonlight shining brightly on her, her body underneath could be clearly seen. In addition, since the cloth was loosely fixed around her waist by a string, one could almost see her naked body each time the wind blew. That girl walked barefooted. No, not only the girl. Several women dressed similarly followed her closely. The main difference that their eyes were not covered, and that some were older. No, perhaps the first girl was the youngest.

With the Miko-Hime at the centre, a circle was formed around her. Absorbing the water, her clothes stuck to her skin. There was practically no difference from her being naked. However, all of them stayed silent. The Water Miko-Hime's expressionless face, and their own, all hid a tinge of nervousness. "Now focus your power on the Water Miko-Hime." Responding to the instruction of the old woman outside the pool, the people around the Water Miko-Hime began chanting simultaneously. These chants were part of their sacred book; prayers to the Water God. Waves formed in the water. These were not due to the wind. It was like the waves were conscious and formed waves. To be more precise, it seemed like they were caused by the Water Miko-Hime. No it was not like she was causing it. The Water Miko-Hime was indeed causing it. Fatigue started showing on faces of the surrounding women as their magic was drained.

The old woman, sensing the flow of magic, decided that it was enough. She gave her next order. "Now, activate. 8th Tier Magic [Planar Eye]." A large ritual. It was a method to temporarily increase one's magic power by concentrating the magic power of a group into one person. A large volume of magic power was sent to her by the surrounding high priests. A drop of blood dripped from the Water Miko's nose. She was trying to contain the large volume of magic power provided by the surrounding priests. This was an act that harmed her body. However the Water Miko-Hime showed no anguish. And then the Water Miko-Hime activated the magic that was far beyond her limits. "<Overmagic Planar Eye>" A divination magic of the 8th Tier. The priests in the water slowly began to fall. Losing consciousness due to lack of magic power was possible. However, large rituals did not cause such a loss of magic. This was as the members assembled were calculated to have ample magic power. And at worst, they were people that understood the point where they should stop. It was impossible for so many of them to lose consciousness.

[WN]

"[Over Magic - Mass Light Cure Wounds]." Through the use of prodigious amounts of mana, one could forcibly cast a spell that should not have been normally usable. Aided by this metamagic enhancement, Shasuryu cast a spell that healed everyone’s wounds."

[V4]

[<Translocation Damage>] Since Demiurge was put on guard by an unknown magic, he killed some of his force and whacked her with the intention of seeing what would happen. The shield he was expecting failed to materialise, and his fist pierced into Evileyes small stomach. ". Oh?" Demiurge felt his fist hit something soft, like a thick futon.

[WN]

The gigantic arm closed in on Evileye. It moved much faster than she had imagined, filling up her field of vision like a gigantic wall. Evileye sensed that she would have a hard time evading and cast a defense spell. "[Damage Translocation]." Her vision turned black, and at the same time she felt a massive impact, as well as her body being savagely hurled through the air. Her line of sight spun round and round, and she had no idea where she was. When she hit the floor, the impact was such that she bounced lightly off, like a ball. Then she hit the ground again this time sliding to a halt. However — she was unhurt. Evileye used [Fly] to get back up in a way that defied common sense. She was unhurt. However, had she not used a spell which converted physical damage to mana depletion, she would probably be dying by now.

[V6]

There was no way to safely remove the Crown of Wisdom. The only option was to destroy it. However, the Crown would delete the wearer’s personality and turn a human being into a magic item that could use incredibly high-tiered spells, so nobody would do anything wasteful like destroying it.

[V2]

"Hm? Ehehehe I came to kidnap you I need someone to use the spell which summons a biiiiiiig horde of undead, [Undeath Army], so could you be my magic item? Onee-chan’s begging you" The Swords of Darkness sensed the air of malice radiating from the girl, and they immediately drew their weapons. Although everyone else was in a combat stance, the girl airily said: "That’s a seventh tier spell which hardly anyone can use, but it can be cast with the Crown of Wisdom. You can’t control all the undead it makes, but you can guide them! What a perfect plan!"

[V2]

Nigun brought the crystal out in his trembling hand. His subordinates, usually vigorous and nimble, were chained down by fear and their movements were slow. Even these fearless men would hesitate when ordered to become a shield against a monster like the one which stood before them. However, he had to have them buy him some time, no matter what. The magic sealed within the crystal could summon the most powerful angel known to man. It was an angel that had single-handedly destroyed a Demon God that rampaged throughout the land two hundred years ago. It was an angel of the highest order, that could easily destroy a city. Casting the spell to summon that angel again required an incalculable amount of money and manpower, but Ainz Ooal Gown, this mysterious being, was worthy of being eliminated by its power. More importantly, it would be worse if the crystal was taken without the spell being cast.

[V1]

"...We ought to use fire. Pour on the oil and ignite it. May I ask you to bless it, Calca-sama?" "Nee-sama, are we going to conduct the ritual of Holy Fire? Doing so to harm an opponent …is that really what a paladin ought to be doing?" "That’s fine, if Remedios thinks that’s the best way, then we’ll go with it. No, we should do it. Since he’s a demon, there’s no reason he won’t be hurt." Many demons were resistant to fire, but the Holy Fire was of the holy element, and fire resistance was only half as effective against it. "Then, Calca-sama, the preparations for the ritual—" "We don’t have time for that. Please use the simplified version." Calca looked straight ahead as she said that, and from the corner of Remedios’s eye, she saw her little sister wondering if she should go "But that—" Simplifying the Holy Fire ritual spell would place a great deal of strain on the user’s body. This was not something which she, as one of Calca’s subordinates charged with keeping her safe, ought to recommend. However, it would be even worse if they gave Jaldabaoth time. "If you think this is the best way, then we’ll do it. However, if I perform it by myself, I won’t be able to help you after that. Please keep that in mind …Then, can you light the fire right away?"

[V12]

She had cast warding spells on Rororo and healed him before coming here, and she had also been casting support spells on Zenberu. She had been overexerting herself. In addition, she had cast a summon spell on top of that. Her body was in an exhausted state and she was having trouble standing. She even lacked the strength to heal herself. In addition, Crusch had also calmly decided that the mana would have been wasted on doing so, given that she was slowly losing the ability to fight. However, if she felt here, it would demoralize Zenberu and Zaryusu, who were fighting on the frontlines. Blood flowed from the corner of Crusch’s mouth as she bit at the inside of her cheek to keep herself conscious. "[Middle Cure Wounds]!" She cast healing magic on Zaryusu, who was engaged in a melee with Igva. Her legs felt powerless and her vision was shaky. She felt a liquid sensation all over her body.. For a moment, Crusch had no idea why she had ended up like that. When had she fallen into the mud? However, she immediately realized the reason why. She had not taken additional wounds, so she must have passed out for a moment and collapsed. Crusch breathed a sigh of relief, not because she was still alive, but because she could still fight. She did not plan to force herself to stand. Rather, she had no strength left to stand, and she felt it would be a waste of energy to do so.

[V4]

Sustaining the transformation spell and other magic would both lower mana and mana recovery rates to zero. Even though he could dispel the transformation if there was an emergency and use magic, he would be starting out from a depleted state.

[v6]

"Then, use [Gate] to send our forces over together." "However, my mana might run out if I have to do it alone." "Ask Pestonya to help. Have her transfer mana to you. If that’s not enough, get Lupusregina to help as well."

[V4]

So it increases the level of a certain spell you say. But will it be a completely different spell? I know in DnD there are the same spells that are found on each level, such as [Heal moderate wounds] for Cleric I'm playing right now. They work alike but are bettered at each lvl. But what if we use a spell that does not have such succession line? What do we accomplish in the ritual?

[You]

What Cooperative rituals do is combine the efforts of spellcasters. This bolsters the spells in some manner. Originally, Cooperative casting requires everyone know the spell they are going to cast together.

Well Cooperative casting is weird because the improved versions are added up like ECL rather than a change in the spells level. So take for instance a Cooperative warding spell. It functions like this:

Lead Caster: Highest Divine caster is used for the base potential for the spell and duration.

X Cooperating Castesr: Each Cooperating caster adds 2 rounds to duration.

This is a very basic and weak cooperative spell but hopefully that helps clarify a bit?

Cooperating casters help pump up the spell like certain classes do. It's applied and treated the same at least. Things like adding an extra hit dice for each caster or so on are good ways to think of what it adds. This seems sort of wasteful as an Adventurer, since well you only have so many casts per day and most likely few castesr. The real potential for Cooperative casting is when you have a shit ton of Divine casters and they all can only cast up to say Tier 3 or so. Even if they are weak, even if they only have so many casts, if you use a Cooperative casting spell that allows this, you can say get 100 of these weaklings to get a pumped to hell version of a spell. We're talking Mythal levels of shenanigans if you have enough priests with nothing to do. So for the ward example, imagine if you had the whole temple team up for it. You've all used one Tier 1 cast but you've made a Ward that will last fucking forever almost in game terms (like what 200-500 rounds)? You've basically did a minature Depiction of Nature (Aura's World Item) by making a Ward alter an area to their advantage.

Cooperative spells generally have these linear ways to boost spells.

Duration inceases by X for X coopearting casters.

Add a status ailment for one additional cooperatign caster above the minimum needed

increase damage by 1D4 and make it minimum damage with no save.

Etc

Think of Cooperating Rituals as a really complicated meta magic but with far more potential than any meta magic can give.

Now, the case of getting a spells is a bit complicated. See the ability to pump up the Main Caster in the ritual is a cooperating ritual. How it works is like this:

Strongest caster is in center. Weaker caster performs ritual. The Strongest Center Caster gets a temporary ECL of Weaker Caster's Divine Caster Levels / 5 rounded up.

So take the Slaien example. We need Third Tier casters, so minimum Levl e15. using these rules taht means each Third Caster only boosts the Miko Hime by a temporary 3 Levels. That means it takes about three 3rd Tier casters to boost her up just one Tier. And they hit a limit at 2 Tiers. So 6 casters.

Now, this works like Over Magic. What happens when the Miko Hime get's a boosted ECL is not just stat boosts (the rules get really complicated here). Instead, think of it as Temperary Levels. She actually learns spells during the ritual temporarily. Nuts right? So everyone has to decide what spell she will get before the ritual but once they do it, ti's as if she learned it naturally.

All range, duration, and variable stats are based on this Soft Level or Ritually Gained Level. She herself though gets no stat modifiers.

So to answer your question, it's not like a Tier +1 Hit Dice boost or anything like how spells have stronger versions. The person at the center of the ritual gains access to spells in the next Tier.

Let's use Roberdyck as an example. Imagine we put him in this ritual. He's a native 3rd Tier caster. Let's be simple and only pump him up one Tier. He is now a Temporary 4th Tier caster. So rather than boost and cast Cure Serious Wounds with his now Temporarily increased Caster level, let's have him temporarily learn Cure Critical Wounds.

THAT's how it works. There are two types of Cooperative rituals, the one in particular which boosts Tier abilties and then the one where people cast together like a weird janky Meta Magic.

Also how do casters contribute to the ritual when they do not have the skill OR have certain penalty conditions for performing this exact spell? They basically only channel their mana into the common mana pool that is used to cast a high tier spell right?

Casters without the skill for example may not be able to participate at all. Keep in mind Fluder has Bishop, a hybrid Divine and Arcane caster class but it lacks the Priest's more supportive Divine aspects. Bishop is not from the game that this ritual exists in. So Bishop has a radically differnt spell pool to begin with. One rule of Cooperative casting is that everyoen NEEDs to know the spell. it's like you need the meta magic to gain enry to the ritual boiz circle.

So the penalty of not having the Cooperative spells in your list is not being able to particiapte. There are exceptions though, like one Cooperative spell is you have one guy cast THIS and one THAT to basically do a bootleg weaker version of a spell Two Tiers up. Think of like Teleporting Firebal= 5 Tier Two guys work together to cast Fireball and Dimensional Leap at far lower Tiers to somewhat mimic this higher Level spell. These are the exceptional Coooperative spells though and not common.

Now, the mana transfer thing is a bit complicated because everyone is casting the same spell. So in a way they are channeling mana to the main caster. From my understanding even if Ainz could participate, the benefit of the ritual is not to accumulate mana. The purpose is to basically reinforce a single spell with 10 extra guys layering it with more meta magic by castign it together. It's a really sneaky way to get around level caps basically.

What if it works because of high concentration of Divine energy in one place just like the undead are naturally summoned to the places imbued with negative energy?

This is a seperate type of ritual. It doesn't use spell casting at all in the normal sense. The reason Arcane casters cannot do this is because they lack this ability to combine magical power.

If I had to explain why, basically the way Divine casters harness magic is generally similar, IE you pray to Jesus you get Turn undead. Arcane casters though all learn their spells in their own way. Like think back to math class. Lots of people could explain how to do the same thing in many different ways. It's like that. Since Arcane magic is INT based, while Divine is more WIS based, it's easier for the WIS people to work together.

Now there are INT based cooperating classes, but they are more strict and not from this game.

You are very right about this though:

What if it works because of high concentration of Divine energy in one place just like the undead are naturally summoned to the places imbued with negative energy?

This is sort of enabling them to perform rituals. But it's not quite the whole picture. Cooperating rituals are just a shared spellcastign. It's the other type of ritual that is like this. This "Divine energy" is actually what enables the spells of Divine casters. Because each believer generates this energy and their level doesn't matter.

If I had to go over the specifics of this other kind of ritual... its basically mythals but Divine. Rather than High Elven Mages though, you can sort of just throw enough people at it to make a Ward last a year or something. Or make that ward cover a whole Holy Site or shit.

I completley agree that the Undead Genesis mechanic is just like this mechanic. In fact, I'd bet on it.

====

So following up from the last post, here's the theory.

New Worlder's level up and follow different rules than in YGGDRASIL. The following theory relates to all the information below and a tweet Maruyama deleted. It wasn't much but the fact he deleted it made the crazy Japanese fans go all out to figure why.

Q

I was rereading the previous volumes in anticipation of Volume 13, but I had a question. Although Tsuare possesses a Maid class, the Ordinary Maids are able to perform their duties without problem without any skills. Is there some reason for this? Please ignore if it is a spoiler.

A

It's lengthy to talk about however, if one were to speak of the reason (omitted in the middle) so it can be done. Connected to that the New World's job [classes] (omitted in the middle) because for example the Job called Slave (omitted in the middle) . Connected to this is the case of Slave, there is [only] 1 Level then (omitted in the middle) so the girl could make a living.

[Deleted Twitter Post]

1.) They can have classes despite lacking the level for them

Cursed Knights had the backstory of being corrupted cleric-knights who had been cursed, and they were considered to be a very strong class in YGGDRASIL. However, they had a lot of drawbacks, so they were not very popular. Among the skills Cursed Knights could learn was the ability to release waves of darkness, inflict cursed wounds which could not be healed by low level healing spells, instant death curses, and so on. Ainz narrowed his illusory eyes under his helmet. This was not a coincidence. While the Swords of Darkness might be weapons with powers similar to those of a Cursed Knight, it was more likely that the hero himself was a Cursed Knight. If that were the case, when one considered the prerequisites to become a Cursed Knight, it was certain that this ”Black Knight” was at least level sixty no, if one considered that he had to actually learn all those skills as well, he would have to be at least level seventy. It would seem the Demon Gods were evenly matched against heroes like that, so it was a reasonable hypothesis that their levels were roughly the same. However, Nigun of the Sunlight Scripture said that the Dominion Authority which he summoned could defeat a Demon God, so it would seem that the Demon Gods and the Heroes were not on the same level. After comparing this new information with what he already knew, it seemed logical that the Demon Gods were not all equally powerful. However, the only way to know for sure would be to meet that hero or obtain that sword.

[V2]

Entoma grew cautious for the first time. The manwoman — Gagaran — was nothing to fear. The problem was the newcomer — Tia. If her clothes were not just for looks, then she ought to be a ninja. That was a job class which required a minimum character level of 60 to take.

[V6]

2.) They acquire classes automatically

There a [type] of class called Normal, but holders are not endowed with combat ability [sentou ginou] at the drop of a hat, rather it's a different type of class which a person potentially acquires during their daily living [seikatsuru].

[Blog]

Her levels as squire were replaced and her character build ended up quite wasteful, but that was the result of her experiences, was it not?

[V13]

3.) They have to study to learn spells

"I think his talent had something to do with being suited to studying magic, and he only took four years to learn what should have taken eight years. I’m not a magic caster, so I’m not sure how great that is." Ainz was a magic caster as well. Those words made him curious, and awoke a collector’s desire within him. This was an ability which the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick did not possess, and which could strengthen the organization. If he could gain control of that ability, it might be worth making enemies of everyone here. Shrinking the time it took to learn an ability like this should have been the province of a Super tier spell,[Wish Upon A Star]. [V2]

Fluder wanted Ainz to teach him everything he knew about magic. Yet, Ainz’s power did not come from the study of magic. Perhaps if this was YGGDRASIL, he might be qualified to talk about magic. Sadly, the magic system of this world worked slightly different from that of YGGDRASIL. Why was it that they learned the same spells in different ways? He had asked himself that question many times, but he could not find an answer. In addition, there was a veritable mountain of other unanswered questions

[V10]

4.) New Worlder's can level up without killing creatures

There a [type] of class called Normal, but holders are not endowed with combat ability [sentou ginou] at the drop of a hat, rather it's a different type of class which a person potentially acquires during their daily living [seikatsuru].

[Blog]

5.) New Worlders are born with different level caps and aptitudes for classes.

"Magic doesn’t seem like the sort of thing you can learn in one or two days. Well, you need to connect to the world, but only people with the appropriate talent can do it. If not, you’ll need to take a long time to experience it." Those words came from Lukrut, who had cut in without turning to look from where he was setting up the campfire. Ninya’s face turned serious:

[V2]

Climb knew her meaning very well. He was not talented in magic. No, that was not all. No matter how hard he practiced his swordplay, how many times he bled and blistered and callused his hands, he could not reach the level he longed for. Low walls which a talented individual might soar over were like insurmountable barriers to Climb. However, he could not give up on working hard to surpass that unbreachable limit. Since he had no talent, he had to hope that his unrelenting effort would help him improve in some way. "You don’t seem happy with that." Having sensed the emotions under Climb’s iron mask, Evileye continued: "Talent is an inborn ability …Some people say that talents are like buds before they blossom, and everyone has talent …hmph. To me, that’s just wishful thinking, something idiots use to comfort themselves. Even the leader of the Thirteen Heroes was the same way." ... "Alright, maybe he’s not such a good example …still, the only person I can think of whose swordsmanship approaches his was among the Thirteen Heroes. Gagaran here is good, but she can’t beat Gazef." "...Hey don’t compare him to me. Gazef’s a man with a foot into the realm of heroes, y’know?" "Hmph. You’re a heroic woman too …although the woman part is in doubt." As soon as Evileye’s voice trailed off, Gagaran laughed and answered: "Oi oi, Evileye. These heroes in question are monsters with unique abilities that have surpassed the realm of humanity, right?" "...I do not deny that." "Then I’m still human. Just an ordinary person who can’t reach the realm of heroes." "Even so, you’re still talented. You’re not an untalented person like Climb."

[V5]

His daughter would listen with rapt attention whenever he taught her his ranger knowledge. That was what he was aiming for.