Valkyrie's Shadow

Hello!

So we’re about halfway through Winter’s Crown, and I thought I’d finally pause and take some time to answer all the questions that have piled up for previous acts. I guess I also purposely refrained from doing a Q&A since I wanted to see how Ilyshn’ish, the newly introduced MC, was received. Some reactions and interpretations were expected, while some were quite a surprise…anyways, here we go~

Where are we in the canon timeline?

Act 4 of Winter’s Crown ends during the third week of Upper Fire Month. For reference, this is roughly 4 months from Chapter 1, Act 1 of Birthright. Volume 12 of the LN canon starts some time before the middle of Autumn…so a good three months until then, at least. Remedios’ diplomatic contingent does not speak with Blue Rose in Re-Estize until after midwinter, then moves on to E-Rantel. I hope that pins where we are in the timeline adequately.

On Frost Dragons:

For those unfamiliar with the source of our scaly new friends, Maruyama almost certainly nabbed them from 3.5e Dungeons and Dragons. Going by the details presented in Volume 11 of the Light Novels, he pretty much copy-pasted them wholesale. Appearance, behaviour, traits, spell progression, abilities and ecology – including their traditional rivalry with Frost Giants and the tendency for the two races to enslave each other(or want to) and other local species have all been kept almost entirely intact, or all just the same through some ridiculously uncanny coincidence.

There are a few changes that Maru made to adapt them to his setting, however. The most notable differences are that the Frost Dragons in Overlord appear to mature about twice as quickly(and have all of the relevant age categories consolidated into the ones you see), had their CR(d20’s DR) adjusted downwards by 2/3rds and were physically powered down to match this adjustment. Wyrm and Great Wyrm, the most powerful age categories, do not exist in Overlord. Appearance-wise, there is a single change: the vanilla central frill coming off of the back of their heads being replaced by a pair of horns. Their history always varies by setting, and Overlord has a fairly jobby backstory for Dragonkind.

So, following his lead, I went ahead and established their basic biology and nature through the Overlord canon sources and the 3.5e D&D sources, creating the baseline for Frost Dragons in Valkyrie’s Shadow.

The Blessing and Curse of Flawless Episodic Memory:

The current point in Valkyrie’s Shadow is still highly character-development centric while expanding the details of the setting according to our new Dragon pov, so rather than their physical power relative to the average citizen, how a Frost Dragon mind works is actually one of the biggest factors in portraying Ilyshn’ish. My expectation was for readers to start Ilyshn’ish’s pov and read her as if they were reading a Human, but the thoughts and actions that were woven in over time to portray how she is not a Human at all seemed to have a hard time sticking for many. I’ll need to work on that, but I’m glad people like her character nonetheless.

As mentioned as early as in Act 4 of Birthright, Frost Dragons come with a built-in flawless episodic memory: meaning that they remember all of their experiences perfectly. Their minds are built around this feature, so the way they think and remember things is entirely different than that of a Human. Frost Dragons are, in general, are pretty dumb until they reach Adult stage and older. They’re little more than really smart predators as Wyrmlings, and live like that until they are at the end of their Juvenile age category.

Ilyshn’ish is petulant, snarky, arrogant and cunning because she is a rather successful Frost Dragon(by their measure). Her perfect memory of what works, what doesn’t, and how the world operates are a huge factor on her outlook and responses to various events. She gets lost five minutes from E-Rantel, can’t grasp abstract concepts easily, or even remember stuff that she reads if it’s not presented in a recognizable way. All she has to work with is a hundred years’ of personal experience in a completely different environment, and she’s crashing headfirst into an unfamiliar new reality.

Her mother, Kilistran, recognizes what is going on right away, as she has lived centuries longer than Ilyshn’ish and is well aware of what her daughter will have to go through to rapidly learn. Ilyshn’ish has not had the ‘benefit’ of having the deaths of Olasird’arc or Toranjelit burned into her mind like the rest of her family, and just saying what happened is not enough to make things click in her head. She’s never experienced such a ridiculous thing before, so she cannot treat it seriously due to her biological operations.

You see this mental function demonstrated in many scenes. She’s a murderhobo when flying around the Azerlisia Mountains, then suddenly turns cautious and timid when she’s in E-Rantel. She has no experiences to refer to that can help her make solid decisions about the new place, so she just goes in headfirst and feels her way around. Her actions in Feoh Berkana are another example of how this works: it has been her home for the last century, and she can smoothly work her way around the Dwarves in her old stomping grounds using her century of learning in Dwarf culture and history.

Ilyshn’ish is quite smart, but the way her brain works makes her appear dumb(or cute) – when she’s way out of her depth. Of course, she doesn’t stay like this forever and, after becoming familiar enough with E-Rantel, her confidence returns…until something new happens to her again. This brain function is even to the point where she nearly misses the Frost Dragon aerie when it starts being renovated because things have changed enough that she doesn’t recognize it.

Shalltear, of course, has figured out how to deal with Frost Dragons already, and starts whipping her into shape. Her actions and decisions focus on teaching through (sometimes painful) experience knowing that Frost Dragons learn the fastest in that manner. She has a bit of her own fun along the way, but she’s ultimately been charged to take care of them by Ainz, so she can’t do whatever she wants, and she certainly can’t kill them. You see the culmination of her initial efforts near the end of Act 4, after Ilyshn’ish has been forcefully reshaped into a bare minimum standard of behaviour without the Dragon realizing that everything had been done on purpose until the end.

Ilyshn’ish=Verilyn:

A bunch of the important, more biologically-driven parts of this character are stated above, but…

We first see Ilyshn’ish at the start of Winter’s Crown, in what is pretty much her raw state. She is powerful and confident, as far as Frost Dragons of her age go, and has gained an advantage over most of her generation by pursuing the path of a Draconic Bard. She perceives things in a very limited way, as her own experiences are very limited, making her various plots, schemes and reactions appear hilariously ill-conceived to the reader. Stuff happens to her because she dives head-first into unknown territory, acting on her obsolete or out-of-place experiences. She never stays down for long, however, constantly endeavouring to learn and gain advantages in her cunning sort of Frost Dragon way.

Did I mention she’s in heat? Yeah, that’s a thing too – turning her more emotional and irrational, prone to natural and reactionary impulses and thinking. Despite this, she mostly keeps a lid on things and squeaks by, though there are also several instances of her unable to resist or unknowingly flaunting herself through actions and words. Poor Hejinmal, who has been partnered with her for weeks of deliveries, has to deal with her pheromone cocktail too.

Ilyshn’ish’s time under Sebas quickly leads to her picking up her Dancer class, and she continues to explore the possibilities that it brings. She gains some understanding of Shalltear Bloodfallen and joins the Adventurer Guild. We start to see her more cool-headed, casually evil side after she finally lays her eggs and starts recovering from her hormone-enhanced roller coaster ride.

Though we’re only part of the way through her foundational arc, I think it’s probably safe to say that certain distinct aspects of her character have been fairly well established and her potential for the future appears quite promising. Hopefully, my writing will distinguish her from a ‘Human’ character more and more as time passes, but, at the same time, entrench her as one of the comfortably familiar MCs of the story. She is an individual who becomes more skilled, confident and powerful as time goes on, but predictably gets dumped into the cycle of Frost Dragon learning whenever she goes somewhere new.

Fuyutsuki, the Battledancer outfit that Shalltear has Ilyshn’ish copy, means ‘Winter Moon’. Someone mentioned it in reference to a character in Evangelion, but the characters in Evangelion are named after ships from World War 2. Fuyutsuki was an Akizuki-class Destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who named their Destroyers after natural phenomena or scenery – and the Destroyer Fuyutsuki was named after the same scenery that the Battledancer outfit paints.

Its appearance is designed to resemble a clear winter night with the moon overhead, giving it its overall motif. Conveniently(or annoyingly) a character named Eula was released in Genshin Impact just before Ilyshn’ish in Fuyutsuki made her debut. There are a weird number of overlaps in appearance between Ilyshn’ish and Eula, particularly in their icy themes. Aside from appearance, however, nearly everything else is different about her.

If you’re curious about what Ilyshn’ish in Fuyutsuki sort of looks like, check out Eula’s Character PV trailer on YouTube. It is not exactly the same, but it does give off the same feeling.

Ludmila Zahradnik:

Ludmila continues to mostly coast along, though she’s had several deadly setbacks. Reconciling the strange gap between a Martial Arts user and a mundane combatant was an interesting exercise, as the Light Novels only vaguely demonstrate what they can do and how they work. Ludmila’s path to polearm mastery is one of the answers I came up with that drew all the threads presented in canon into a more comprehensive, sensical package that can become an established ruleset for the story going forward. It also defines the line where relying on even substantial combat skill is no longer sufficient to be effective in combat.

Her upbringing as a martial noble addresses the strangeness in how Martial Arts are described to be learned. Canonically, it takes a long-ass time™ for people to learn normally, yet some characters can seemingly learn new ones within a very short span of time. Hamsuke and Climb’s rapid realization of their Martial Arts, the existence of combat schools mentioned in v7 and v14, Brain’s new developments by v14, and some narrative bean-counting of Martial Arts usage throughout the novels provide the basic framework. Hopefully it was put together convincingly for the new Adventurer Guild school proposal as well, and will become solidly logical within the narrative as Martial Arts come more and more into play.

We also get a brief overview of Ludmila’s ancestry, and where her affinities come from. There’s also a whiff of where her level cap might potentially be if all the right things line up. Bloodline awakening is not limited to Player or Dragon blood – it can also happen with native bloodlines, and more than a single bloodline can awaken at once. That being said, not all bloodlines are inherently strong.

On the demesne front, things go as peaceful as can be expected when you have nation-wrecking Undead keeping potential troublemakers at bay, Elder Liches doing your data collection and accounting, and Mare providing ‘perfect’ weather. The Lizardmen are getting ready to move in, and she needs to figure out how to integrate them. Zurrernorn is also starting to appear, beginning the track of magical development in Warden’s Vale. The summer harvest has rolled in, and some people have probably already calculated the tax revenue for that. Clara also appears to have some evil(good?) plan brewing.

With Shalltear, Ludmila grows closer, to the point of offering bottled meals. The possibility of Vampire Ludmila is also explored a bit, outlining the downsides that come with becoming a thrall and why maybe it’s not such a good idea. Overall, Shalltear has become quite candid with her first New World vassal, though her vassal still observes the proper forms in public.

Shalltear Bloodfallen:

The Bloody Valkyrie doesn’t get much of a chance to be bloody these days, but she still appears to be doing quite well. What might be called a successful experience with her first native vassal has led her to seeking out more potential additions to her collection of useful people. This is one of the primary things that readers may notice with Shalltear: while many of the ‘competent’ characters in Overlord are pillars of intellect or skill that seem to power themselves with the sheer strength of their own ability, Shalltear – despite being the strongest Floor Guardian – is very social by comparison: combining her intuition, charisma and authority to guide those who fall under her ever-growing shadow.

She has her sights set on members of the Noble Quartet, has made professional connections with new world natives, and she has even seized the initiative with Ilyshn’ish, using her hard-earned knowledge and confidently employing her connections to mold the unwitting Frost Dragon into something more. Needless to say, her shadow will continue to grow, without most of her peers truly understanding just how influential she has become.

Shalltear still enjoys making people squirm when she can, and subtly encourages her associates into doing what might be perceived to be evil things. Her post-volume 11 ‘transformation’ is in full swing, however, and she’s working hard to ‘catch up’ for lost time and opportunities, aiming to rise above her colleagues and earn recognition from her beloved master.

Mare Bello Fiore:

Mare shows up quite a lot – he is probably in as many chapters as Shalltear so far in Winter’s Crown. Well, he deserves more screen time anyways.

Our favorite Dark Elf Druid is actually pretty...itchy to write. As a Druid, he is driven by intuition, much like Shalltear. His resulting competency when it comes to what he does is through the roof. Yet he doesn’t have the charismatic flair of Shalltear – all of his work is done wearing his timid and seemingly insecure guise. Well, most of the time. Sometimes people notice it slipping off, and he also slowly opens up to a few who he is comfortable enough to act assertively with, while enjoying broader popularity everywhere he goes.

As far as non-Nazarick individuals go, Aura and Mare have picked up Merry as a tagalong for certain reasons, though Aura appears to have Merry in tow more often than Mare does. With Ludmila, he appears to be quite comfortable, even coming over for dinner and working long hours together with the Human noble on multiple occasions – she even gets a ring from him. And a collar. And a bath. Ilyshn’ish sticks to him, and considers him ‘safe’. His future as a bishounen gigachad is already kicking in, much to Aura’s annoyance.

Warden’s Vale:

Some significant changes are occurring in Warden’s Vale, as Ludmila’s plans for having a small number of farming villages supporting a modest harbour town with a handful of fledgling advanced industries have evolved due to various events and circumstances. Demihumans came over, then more Demihumans were dropped into a territory where the primary faith is a pro-Human one, and the liege herself is a member of their congregation. Though the absolute strength and authority of the Sorcerous Kingdom does make for a smooth ride, it doesn’t mean that everything will just work out when it comes to matters that raw power cannot directly solve.

Major alterations to the land are underway, and Mare is encouraging Ludmila to extend her management over the southern border to preserve the natural state of the land and provide a place for non-Human citizens to live. These new residents are sure to come in the future, and a new culture must develop or old ways will result in an ever-accumulating powder keg.

On the Human front, there is a shortage of temple staff and a cult with a pretty bad history has started moving in, though the first two seem nice enough – if not what the rest of the population might consider normal. Development plans have evolved from their humble state, yet they are still broad and undefined beyond ‘it would be nice if we could have x’. The lady in charge has a lot of studying ahead of her before she can truly begin to advance in this new direction.

The Aerial Transportation Network:

One of the major handwaves of the Sorcerous Kingdom in canon; one that ‘just works’ and has many varying interpretations in the fandom. In most cases, since Dragons are these huge, mythical monsters in most readers’ minds, they end up having no upper limit to carrying capacity and thus unlimited endurance, range and all that.

The Frost Dragons in canon also seem to be viewed as these convenient beasts of burden to readers; the character and intelligence of their v11 representations long forgotten. Ryurarius’ scene in v12 is the last mention you ever get of them that suggests that they are even people. Even Ainz seems to consider them as walking troves of crafting materials before handing them off to Shalltear. This perception of Frost Dragons is reflected by various characters, and by their apparent treatment over the chapters where the Ilyshn’ish is acting as one of the delivery dragons in the network.

By defining the dimensions and capabilities of the Frost Dragons, a more concrete and thoughtful(probably) version of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Air Transportation Network was devised. It is one where logistical and organizational challenges exist – even with the extensive means available to Nazarick – and results in what eventually is described as the ‘Vampire Post’ – named after the highly visible Vampire Brides who serve their customers in every office where the Dragon couriers are posted.

They’ve mostly been working for free up north in their publicity run so far, but now that it’s over, exploration of new routes, matters of efficiency, utility and profitability will begin to come under scrutiny. Rather than something that ‘just works’, the postal service in Valkyrie’s Shadow is meant to be a true fantasy postal service, with all the bells and whistles that one might expect from it.

Zu Chiru:

The birth of a Quagoa merchant was fun to write – a combination of New Worlder antics and setting exploration for the Demihuman Quarter of E-Rantel. He has his own little short story nested within the larger Ilyshn’ish act, where he transitions from the world he used to know to the one that he takes his first tentative steps into. It is a bit circular in nature, where the beginning has identical elements that are also present in the end, but his responses differ due to the developments in his one-night reformation.

Shalltear, Sebas Tian, Ilyshn’ish, Liane Wagner and Florine Gagnier all serve as authoritative facets of his world. Shalltear is the Crimson Harbinger of Death: the terrible being that single-handedly slaughtered most of his people on the Day of Sorrow – a reminder of the unassailable might of the Sorcerous Kingdom, forcing the Quagoa to bend the knee or perish. Sebas Tian is a good NPC filled with similarly good views and intentions, yet his lack of results and the actions of the Sorcerous Kingdom in the past make his idealistic expression ring hollow. Ilyshn’ish conveys cynical views as a counterpoint that resonates with Zu Chiru, who understands that the world that they live in is one where might makes right.

Liane Wagner and Florine Gagnier are New World natives who have already made the transition from past to present circumstances: nobles of Re-Estize who have become nobles of the Sorcerous Kingdom. With the authority, resources and connections at their disposal, the two best friends extend their assistance to new citizens, trying to figure out how they can best fit into a place that is alien to them. Florine is warm, gentle and nurturing while Liane is direct, aggressive and opportunistic, but their work is undeniably producing results.

In the end, Zu Chiru falls to the power of money capitalism the future that these two nobles present to him, demonstrated through a simple exercise that uses Zu Chiru’s own ability and yields tangible results. In a world where might makes right and one is overshadowed by beings of unfathomable power, the weak still have to make their way through the world – a problem that the ‘strong’ in many stories tend to not truly experience or understand, yet still take the time to preach about.

Prestige Classes…wut?

On a very basic level, Prestige Classes are simply Job Classes that have certain requirements that a character must fulfil before they can gain levels in them. Due to said requirements, they are broadly stronger than basic Job Class levels, or allow a character to embark on certain progression paths that would otherwise require inefficient multiclassing. Rather than taking 50 fighter levels and 50 caster levels to try to become some sort of janky magical swordsman, you instead follow the progression path for a level 100 Eldritch Knight, or some other similarly-themed prestige class line that allows you to avoid the pitfalls of multiclassing.

Momonga’s Eclipse class is an example of a Prestige Class that requires his necromancy-themed character/race build to access. Ludmila’s Noble Fighter class requires that one possesses a certain aristocratic cultural tradition, while her Weapon Master class has prerequisites in adequate martial advancement. Ilyshn’ish’s Draconic Bard classes require one to be a Dragon. These prestige classes also tend to portray certain concepts, resulting in strengths and weaknesses that would not normally manifest in a more basic class.

Because the New World is a real world, there are logically far more prestige classes there than in Yggdrasil, and more than a few Ygg-impossible examples appear in canon. These classes can vary widely in strength due to how they come into existence via cultural conceptualization. The character sheets of the Noble Fighters(Nimble and Lenias) of the Baharuth Empire show inefficient builds, yet they still qualify for their status as Great Imperial Knights. On the opposite end, there are many civilian prestige classes(like Runesmith) with very little combat potential.

On Bards…

A class barely touched upon in Overlord; one not from a western d20 system. They are actually from a system called Sword World RPG, which originates from d20, but has been adapted into a more simplistic Japanese ttrpg. Being hit by a lawsuit for related reasons resulted in many changes on top of that. Beyond being a ttrpg in Japan, the novelizations – called ‘replays’ – have been adapted into video games and anime. Most famous amongst these replay settings is Forcelia: the world of Record of Lodoss War, Rune Soldier and Legend of Crystania.

Bards have varied iterations in Sword World, from backline supporters to something resembling the more direct combat-oriented Bards of d20. Sword World’s class system(which includes some other classes you see in Overlord) combines major and minor archetypes, combining into what the character effectively becomes. For instance, an Elf Bard might take Ranger and Bard, the two archetypes effectively creating something like the vanilla Bard that you see in FFXIV. Combining Sage + Bard will result in a loremaster-type Bard. The starting race of the Bard also influences the attribute array of the character, causing them to lean towards certain playstyles. A Dragon Bard, as you might imagine, is well-suited to being a melee combatant, such as a Warrior or Rogue.

As Overlord adapts its various inspirations into the mechanical baseline of a d20-like system, these nuances often become lost or melded into the setting in ways that can be confusing to readers. The first notable one being the matter of the Sage class, where one has no idea how it works unless you also know how Sage works in Sword World RPG. Since Sword World is originally derived from d20, however, it is easy to reverse the process once you do. The many variations of the Bard have their corresponding classes, either in the form of base job class levels or advanced prestige class levels. Racial attributes go into, well, racial class levels, or racial prestige classes.

Ilyshn’ish’s backstory as a Draconic Bard has her naturally flow from her basic Draconic Bard class to her Draconic Dancer class, setting her on the path of an unconventional, yet undeniably powerful, melee-oriented build.

…and Spellsongs.

Spellsongs are also something from Sword World RPG. It is a system distinct from Tier Magic, and, within Sword World, it is not considered magic at all despite doing obviously magical things. In Overlord, it is also considered a skill/proficiency-based system rather than a magic system, alongside oratory abilities, Martial Arts and the other supernatural senses and abilities that come with class levels. I think the way I describe its effects muddle things somewhat as well, which I’ll have to edit at some point and be careful of using certain magic-related terminology in the future.

What Spellsongs are capable of range widely. In Sword World, you have simple songs such as ones that provide a regeneration-like effect, various cosmetic things, or straight up RP stuff like calling birds just for the sake of having birds flying around you like a singing Disney princess.There are also several potent Spellsongs that I question existing in Yggdrasil, like mana regen/degen songs, powerful CC effects, skill/ability disables, spell jamming, and aoe level drains. In canon, we see that Maru does not limit himself to this list, adding Spellsongs reminiscent of the performances of western d20 bards, improving various mechanical aspects of the characters within its area of effect.

As with most things in the new world, composition of new Spellsongs is a possibility, so there will be a wide range of things on display. In the hands of someone like Ilyshn’ish, they become devastating when employed – both in battle and outside of it.

Magical Healing, Fast Healing and Regeneration…

Someone made an astute observation about how, canonically, magical healing not only restores damage taken by the target, but reverses beneficial things like muscle and bone strengthening as well. In d20, there are actually multiple forms of magical and supernatural healing. Depending on the setting, what spells/items/etc cover what can vary a bit, and this is no different in Overlord.

Magical Healing is the instant healing effect that accompanies spells and Yggdrasil red healing potions. Traditionally, it doesn’t cure amputations and old wounds, but I’m pretty sure Maru changed that for uh…agricultural purposes. It’s also more flashy in combat narratives if it is more potent than its usual ttrpg iteration.

Fast Healing only superficially exists in Overlord. New World mid-quality healing potions have something like a Fast Healing effect, but they are effectively Magical Healingdue to the fact that it reverts bodily changes(the more recent example being Ludmila’s blood mysteriously vanishing after she fills the decanter and drinks a potion). A Vampire’s ‘regeneration’ is also traditionally a Fast Healing effect, but it got changed to Regeneration. Traditionally, Fast Healing doesn’t cure amputations and old wounds, making it essentially nonexistent in canon. All the effects shown in canon are either Magical Healing or Regeneration, the latter making certain races that traditionally have Fast Healing way more powerful than they usually are.

Regeneration is something most readers familiar with this genre are aware of. An effect over time that restores even amputated body parts to full functionality. Certain races have certain weaknesses that result in this trait being disabled, such as a Troll’s weakness to Acid and Fire. Regeneration rates differ by race, and there are ‘healing’ spells that are actually a Regeneration buff, such as the one that Shalltear employs. Regeneration does not revert beneficial bodily changes, as evidenced by Trolls in canon not being stick figures because they can’t bulk up. Ilyshn’ish’s Song of Restoration is a Regeneration effect, so those poor disciples in the Justice Dragon Dojo won’t be left wondering why they haven’t built up any muscles.

The Azure Sky, Iron Fist Institute for Promising Children:

Otherwise known as Yuri’s Orphanage in canon. I ended up stealing the name from one of the associated mangas.

As mentioned in the Pleiades Days side story,Yuri has been granted the full support of Nazarick to build the orphanage of her dreams. This is no simple apartment where orphaned children are stowed away in cramped bunk space: it’s a fully fledged complex where everything Yuri Alpha believes is necessary for raising children has been built.

In addition to adequate living space for the orphans, it has educational and recreational facilities, a kitchen that also performs charity work, a hospital, a divination chamber for Nigredo, offices for the staff, a spacious yard, and a vegetable field. There may also be various security systems present, so intruders should beware.

A handful of Yuri’s sisters come visiting at various frequencies. Solution has been there before early on, but does not make a point to visit. Narberal doesn’t visit at all. Entoma and Cz come by quite a bit, while Lupu comes infrequently to cause mischief. If one were to rank the popularity of the Pleiades amongst the orphans, it would be Entoma > Lupusregina > Cz > Yuri. Spider mom best mom.

Odds and ends, reader comments that I might have answers for:

Ludmila not having any Martial Arts is an interesting way to explain her deaths... but overall I don't think it holds up. She has been the only person to die in all her runs so far, you even wrote that Themis' armor was near spotless when Ludmila came to. Themis was just another lowly aspiring priestess when she became an adventurer around the same time Ludmila did.

Ludmila is a conservative tactician, and her parties tend to run full mana even by the end. The reason why Themis is untouched was that, even with Ludmila dead, they still nuked the crap out of everything.

Por más buena que sea ludmina, sentidos como el olfato serán siempre inferiores a por ejemplo un hombre lagarto. Un hombre lagarto debió detectarla por su olor, y ludmina aún debería ser al menos 5 niveles más debil

The prevailing winds come from the north in this region of the world, which has been shown and even exploited in past acts. The harbour village is south of the Lizardman camp, so catching her scent would be difficult. That being said, she outclasses these particular Lizardmen in the stealth department.

Just one thing that kind of rankles on me regarding the story. How are Nazarick's people so understanding regarding Shusharna? If I recall correctly, they should easily take offense to anyone claiming to be the "God of Death" like that. Even if Ainz himself gives the order to keep the peace, it seems odd that there hasn't been an overt (that I can recall anyway) display of disdain towards the claims of the religion of the Six.

Shalltear just outright ignoring a slight against her Master like that seems completely out of character to me. Unless lesser creatures that weren't created by the Supreme Beings are allowed to believe whatever delusions they want? But then again even Sebas took exception to claims on dominion over death by a lesser being?

Nazarick has explicit instructions from Ainz to leave religion alone. They also have a pretty dismissive view on ‘gods’ in general(like how Shalltear describes her own deity, Cainabel, in canon). Any affront that they might have displayed or acted on has not surfaced in canon, so it will not surface here. Narratively, they should care little for the gods that are worshipped by lesser beings. Rather than being understanding, they are just dismissive.

Sebas’ actions against Davernoch only happened after he received orders to act – he didn’t run off and murderize the Six Arms the second he heard about the guy.

I’m sure Ainz’s obviously deep and insightful policy in regards to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s stance on the Temples will result in a sasuga one of these days…

Aclaro que me gusta tu fanfic tú temática y te admiro por escribir tantos capítulos y tú enorme conocimiento de overlord, tu humor me gusta excepto por la confusión de ludmina de la supuesta relación de limón y nabe solo por viajar juntos y son hombre y mujer, y no se pregunté sobre la especie de nabe y si tiene género, y ludmina me sorprende que no preguntará de la religión de shalter y sobre los nombres que mencionaba como su creador y que shalter no mencionara a los seres supremos

This avoidance of religious topics is due to the secular nature of their government, both for Re-Estize and the Sorcerous Kingdom. Religion is only framed in terms of their lawful place in the fabric of society, and it’s essentially taboo for a noble to push religion too much, as it can be construed to be interference in politics and grounds for censure. Thus, it’s safer to just not say anything at all unless it is necessary, or perhaps as a form of explanation as Ludmila does a few times.

El temor a los aventureros es tonto, ella debió detectar el poder de todos los aventureros allí, solo los seres muy débiles con mucha sutoridad podrían hacerla creer de que ocultan su fuerza con ítems mágicos, habilidades o talentos

At the point of this comment, Ilyshn’ish doesn’t even realize that she’s seen an Adventurer already. They are a threat of unspecified appearance, only known to her by the records and rumors they leave behind. She doesn’t know that ‘Adventurer’ is a vocation – she thinks it’s a powerful race of some sort. You see how quickly she adapts once she realizes the truth at the end of the act.

La caja de cambio no debería ser influida por ninguna profesión no es talento como el esposo de enri la caja de cambio es como esas cosas parte de la base de gremio en los juegos que he jugado donde conviertes artículos en materiales o dinero no es un item que no se compra ni se puede conseguir otro si así fuera tendrián varias de ellas y como es una extensión del gremio si es dañada o destruida volverá a aparecer en nazarick automáticamente según creo con lo que he leído de overlord

Assuming that I’m reading this correctly and the poster is talking about the Exchange Box…

“I might as well order Pandora’s Actor to put one of that woman’s blades into the Treasury’s shredder and see what happens.”

“The shredder?”

It was only when he heard Albedo’s surprised voice that Ainz recalled the proper name of that item.

“That would be the Exchange Box. Someone with merchant-type skills can get better prices when using it. Order Pandora’s Actor to take Nearata-san’s form and use his skill.”

– Overlord, Volume 4 Prologue

The Exchange Box in canon renders any object processed by it into a fraction of its base material value. Characters with Merchant-type skills improve this rate of exchange, which is why Momonga has Pandora’s Actor use Nearata’s form – in order to use the Exchange box while employing Nearata’s Merchant-type skills. In the Act 4, Chapter 17 scene, Pandora’s Actor is doing the same with each of the copied merchants to collect data for comparison.

Wyrmling & Juvenile? Not Dragonling & Young? The other two; are they racial classes too?

They are the same Racial Classes. It is a streamlining of racial categorization, to avoid confusion in the future for this story. Maru does specifically have 'Dragonling' and 'Young' over 'Child' and 'Youth' on FDL's character sheet. There are actually 12 Dragon age categories in d20, and Maru scrunched them into half-time and knocked off the top two, picking names out of the remaining. I ended up choosing the categories that best define each stage represented.

Musings on writing multiple major povs:

Winter’s Crown would actually be two separate volumes if I had divided the story by plot like Maruyama did with volumes 2-7 of Overlord. The plotlines of the two characters are separate for most of Winter’s Crown, yet occur in roughly the same timeframe. Since it’s a web publication, I thought I would try dividing them into acts instead. I’m still actually on the fence about it, but I think the timing is sort of there. People ask about the other character towards the end of the act, so it seems okay.

The other option was to break it up even more, with characters getting 3-6 chapter segments and bouncing the story back and forth that way. Zu Chiru’s mini-arc was actually a bit of an experiment with that, but, as a minor character, he doesn’t threaten to overshadow Ilyshn’ish’s act. Two major characters might conflict, however – especially if they each have a major, independent plot going. Some discussion on this might be enlightening.

Next up…

The next act will follow the Demihuman character briefly introduced at the beginning of Winter’s Crown, Act 3. Since it begins with Happy Farm, I should give fair warning because, well, it’s Happy Farm. For those unfamiliar with the canon material, it's the personal project of Demiurge: a monumental pile of atrocities that visits suffering upon many different races. It, and its various findings, have been discussed or mentioned offhandedly in previous acts, but now we're actually going there. The tone of this act is fairly grim compared to the relatively lighthearted stuff that has come before.

Once again, thank you for reading Valkyrie’s Shadow!

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