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Welcome to the second part of my Tyrant System, which will involve the use of entities created in Slaver. Welcome to ruling the astral through sheer force- welcome to Warlord.
NOTE: Some of the events described within are extraordinary and while they may seem like delusions, these events occurred.
WARLORD
Within this tutorial, we will discuss a few things:
1. Roles of entities in astral takeovers.
2. Abilities of entities that can come in handy.
3. Why the astral can hold the solution to magical problems.
4. What can be found in the astral.
5. Barriers to astrally invading an area.
6. How to find a prime invasion area.
7. How to monitor an invasion.
8. Preparations and Precautions for invading.
9. Recognizing Success and Failure
Now, a warning: This method is not for most people. It may seem like a flight of fancy, but the Tyrant System is not just in name- a Tyrant invades and will take the astral by storm. This goes against a lot of traditions, as it disregards respect for spirits and tosses them around as tools. The most efficient army for the aspiring Tyrant is manifested in Slaver, with an Exalted or higher that can replicate itself enough times to make an army. This is not a conventional method by any stretch of the imagination, as it puts the Tyrant in a place greater than those it rules. If you do not agree with my methods, know that below things get worse.
ROLES OF ENTITIES
I'm assuming most people cannot see the astral from this realm. It's a hard skill to develop. I imbue all troops with the ability to replicate so that when one is destroyed two take its place. So, as we are discussing hostile takeovers, let's see the basics of what you'll need in order to go eat a place (metaphorically):
Scouts- The programming of Scouts is constructed so that they act as your astral eyes. Usually equipped with magical invisibility, Scouts will give impressions or help you paint a picture as to what the target area looks like. When receiving impressions from a Scout, which I prefer to outfit with a good number of detailed sensors, I like to draw out the impressions and what I see. The more information you can get, the better- astral elevations, numbers of spirits, power of the spirits within, fortifications, etc- anything that can help you get a good idea of what you're going to attack.
Soldiers- The brunt of your force, Soldiers are programmed to take hits (shield strength) and dish them out (magical amps and onboard weaponry). They will be soaking up the damage that the area can give, and removing key targets for the more power-oriented troops to come and lay waste. I like to program Soldiers with replication so that I don't need to design millions, along with chaotic shields and a lot of magical ability. They can use any and all magic, really. Part of the design of the Soldier is that they may absorb an enemy spirit however they can- from built in cannons to gaping mouths of death.
Artillery- They will deck the halls with spirits, that's for sure. They take a lot of power to run, and although you can replicate them, every single part of the Artillery unit is designed to compliment its main offensive structure. Walking tanks are a good example of this. Little mobility, little defenses, and they fluctuate in power. The weak ones can do things such as take out groups of spirits, while the more powerful Artillery can obliterate defenses, their warning systems, their guards, and everyone behind them. I prefer giving them very destructive magic. I design them as dragons. An Artillery should be complemented by Guards, however...
Guards- Very mobile and defensive with little offensive measures, Guards can be produced to protect you and your ilk, including units. They serve as living alarm systems and when made efficaciously, will ensure the unit they are guarding's survival- even if it means their Cores are destroyed. I prefer to design them as giant birds made of shields. I like to give them abilities defense based, including repairing other spirits, diverting shields to their charge, and general ways to take the attention away from their mission.
Harvesters- These are the greatest of your units and my personal favorite. They use a load of energy, are of medium mobility, but are fucking powerful. They have defenses and offensive capabilities through the roof if built with a War database and amps. The first time I unleashed a Harvester, it single-handedly destroyed a military base of spirits guarding an objective. Every external feature of the Harvester is designed for defense- including massive evolving shields, arcanium (a sorcery-infused material I discovered in the astral) scales, and gargantuan size. Internally, the Harvester is designed to destroy. The first model Harvester I ever built had a red Core the size of a full grown man, was three stories high, had two eel heads that amplified magic in addition to regular amps AND had their own deployable Guards. Internally, everything was an amp and designed to kill. The Harvester could create Exalted-level spirits raw, with any role in mind. Including other Harvesters.
ENTITY ABILITIES
Here's a detailed explanation of how spirits on the astral replicate.
So, as we know everything is made of energy. The concept of replication comes from cell division, namely mitosis. So by applying this principle into energy, when the spirit reaches an energetic threshold it splits into two of the exact same copies. The spirit's EDNA (Ethereal DNA) splits the same way an animal's would. How they replicate upon death, however, is powered by the monster known as the Hydra. By tapping into the beast, which I discovered through Soul Alchemy, the Hydra automatically applies energetic mitosis when the spirit is about to perish. These two become brand new by borrowing the concept of limb regeneration from starfish, which allows the energy to automatically repair itself and get back into the fight. I personally discovered the Hydra through Soul Alchemy, though you can evoke the beast to the same effect. When the spirits have replicated, the energy that was stored to do so bursts out, usually in a flash of light leftover from the split.
Scouts- Invisibility, flight, teleportation, ability to spawn Guards, acting astral eyes.
Soldiers- Instant shield revival, invisibility, ability to cast Red Magic, auras of death/pain/etc, ability to cast Healing Magic, and Hive Mind (they act as one).
Artillery- Ability to spawn Guards, teleportation, target obliteration, ability to cast Red Magic, aura of destruction, aura to spread spiritual disease.
Guards- Ability to divert shields to mission, ability to force attention onto self, ability to cast Healing Magic, ability to revive charge.
Harvesters- Literally anything can be put on a Harvester and it will work exponentially better because Harvesters are practically made of magical amps, aside from the necessary hardware to make a spirit able to cast magic.
WHY INVADE?
Let's take a situation that happened two months ago to me. I needed something new for my magic, because I felt I was stagnating. I had a force already assembled, and decided to use it to find the new development I needed. With a Scout, I discovered an astral citadel of some kind of obsidian jutting from a lake with four paths to the surrounding hillside. I learned inside that it had something I needed, which I can't discuss. It had hourly patrols, medium actual defenses, but inside was a storm.
Drawing out the citadel, I found areas that I could place my forces. I had an eighth of my Soldiers on each branch of the bridge, with a front line of Guards on each. Artillery were placed behind the hillside to not attract notice. The rest of my Guards were watching the Artillery units, with a few sparse ones guarding my Harvesters. A commander I trust, who named himself Bane, went on the front lines while I astrally observed with the Harvesters. When we were in place I ordered the removal of invisibility, and the Soldiers stormed the citadel from all four sides. While the guards were busy dealing with that, the Artillery were busy taking the citadel around the enemy. When the Soldiers had gotten inside, the Harvesters followed suit- one on each bridge. With the Harvesters in, the Artillery advanced and continued to take down the building as the Soldiers dealt with the forces. I followed a Harvester inside the citadel (which was a seemingly endless spire going up and down forever) and as they destroyed the surrounding area, I located my objective astrally and downloaded it to my armor.
After the battle, I collected the cores of the defeated spirits and used the energies within to repair the remaining forces and then built a bigger amp for them.
That is why one invades. The astral holds many secrets, and the sweet taste of success is often complemented by actual improvements. It makes the Tyrant feel like and become a ruler of sorts. Quoting Dany Targaryen, "I will rule". It is something that all Tyrants do, and my system is designed to propel you into that role.
WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN THE ASTRAL?
The imagination is the limit. If you seek the answer to a magical problem, you will naturally find it in the astral. If you seek anything- knowledge, power, love, respect, fear- you can find it in the astral. What you desire, you can build. One of the many treasures I have discovered in the astral is a divination device- you ask it a question, it responds with eerily high accuracy.
It's also a sport. Astral conquering can manifest desires extremely quickly with repeated success (which is easier than you think). You can find all sorts of astral technologies to use, or new methods, or invading will create a sense of respect and fear similar to the Mongols- who, if you didn't know, killed four million people in their time. There was less than half a billion to my knowledge at that point in time. You can find knowledge in the forms of astral documents, knowledge of spirit-to-spirit relations, what tensions may or may not be forming, etc. Power comes with technology in the astral.
BARRIERS
1. Gods.
If you are religious, or follow any sort of worship/traditions, this almost assuredly goes against it and your God will probably attempt to make you pay for this. In that case, a Tyrant would invade the god to tell it to fuck off. A true Tyrant, however, worships none but himself.
2. Defenses.
This goes for you and your target. If your defenses are inadequate, you will get steamrolled by the counterattack, it's nature. At the same time if the enemy's defenses are too great, you're throwing your forces at a wall you can't break. You could prolong an invasion endlessly, but for time's sake, this is not advised unless you've met your match.
3. Power.
If your enemy is too strong, it will eat your attack and the incoming invasion will decimate you.
4. Intelligence.
If you don't know more about your enemy than your enemy knows about you, you could be swiftly countered.
5. YOURSELF.
If you do not trust your impressions, your visions, what you need to do, and dismiss them, YOU WILL LOSE. I cannot stress this enough, that YOU are your biggest obstacle. You can overcome the others, but if you cannot overcome yourself, you are lost.
LOCALE
1. Trust your Scouts. They will find you the best area to invade based on what you need.
2. Draw out every impression and detail you can. That way you can create stratagems with easier reference.
3. Survey multiple areas. When you've found a stratagem you like, or an objective that most perfectly fits your desire, or an area that you think may provide the most challenge, get ready to storm it.
4. When you're there in the astral, it may prove different than the area you previously surveyed. If this is the case, they most likely detected your Scout. Be prepared.
5. If the worst happens, you can hunt for areas manually. But this is not advised.
HOW TO MONITOR AN INVASION
You need to be able to AP. For the best views of an invasion, you can actually walk around and observe or even join in the battle. You could hitch a ride on your Scouts, but you'd have to trust your impressions and then use them to join the fight. Whatever you think you feel or see, trust it. Your Scouts are designed to not let you down.
Your participation is not required in battles, but generally you should be the one to retrieve objectives unless you have a commander to do it for you. A commander is a member of a role you trust and will be the second in command for you. Often you can upgrade a commander to allow him or her to make upgrades to themselves. Bane, at the moment, despite being a Soldier packs the power of a Harvester- he's an Exalted.
You can also monitor an invasion through magic technology, if you know how to build it or have found it in a raid. Then the same rule applies for Scouts.
PREPARATIONS AND PRECAUTIONS
Let's start with precautions, one word: Shielding. Shield however appeals to you and shield EVERYTHING, from assets to places you go.
Now for preparations: Well, obviously you need to build an army. How, you might ask? Go back to Slaver, and build one of each role but allow them to multiply themselves whenever, and on death, have it programmed that the entity becomes two of the same. When you have a sizable force amassed, go, Tyrant, and conquer.
You must mentally prepare yourself for war as well. Your enemy will show no mercy and you must not either. You must see your enemy as a plaything and you will have your way. You must be sharp, you must be ready, and you must be cold. If you see your enemy as a person- a spirit with a face, duties, responsibilities, relatives- you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE SUCCESS AND FAILURE
Success: An overwhelming feel of relief, of victory, impressions of winning, everything around you seems to go right for a moment, the color gold keeps appearing within the space of a day, you feel light, airy, or a commander/troop appears before you astrally (usually in the form of a vision, I got my first when walking my dogs) to inform you of victory.
Failure: An overwhelming feel of fear, of failure, impressions of loss, impressions of an impending foe, visions of the dead, astral alarms switch on, a unit informs you of the loss astrally.
LAST WORDS
Well, that's all for the second part of the Tyrant System. I'm planning five parts but there may be more, and there's an advanced vampire tutorial approaching as well. Anyway, Tyrant, go forth, for in the words of the Mother of Dragons, you must take this to heart-
"I will rule."