Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Afterword

Empire in Chains: Afterword

Afterword

After many words, we’ve finally come to the end of Empire in Chains. Acts with largish-scale warfare always seem to run long. Thank you once again, dear reader, for your continued interest in Valkyrie’s Shadow!

So what are the chains of the Empire? Going into the volume, it might have been assumed that the title referred to the new relationship between the Baharuth Empire and the Sorcerous Kingdom. By now, however, I hope that it is understood that the chains that bind the Empire are for the most part not what comes with its legal status as a client state, but those forged by imperial society and its generations of development. These chains exert their effect on people in both good and bad ways.

This volume was something of a long-awaited(at least for me) exploration of the Baharuth Empire and what makes it tick. The story takes us through many of the topics visited in both the Overlord Light Novel and Web Novel as an in-depth journey of the reality of the fantasy authoritarian state that many see as the(much superior) foil to the Kingdom of Re-Estize.

The first task in fleshing out the Baharuth Empire is to look at its canonical source, as well as its apocryphal sources. As many may know, the most information about the Baharuth Empire comes from the Overlord Web Novel where the original route leads to the exploration of the Empire. There, Ainz becomes a ‘Super Marquis’ – the Frostfire translation uses ‘Archduke’, possibly because there isn’t a suitable English equivalent for it – and bumbles his way through imperial politics, the Imperial Magic Academy and the not-so-pretty realities of the Baharuth Empire. Most of the imperial povs in Empire in Chains are characters from the Web Novel, adapted to the Light Novel’s divergent timeline.

In the western portion of Overlord’s fanbase, the Baharuth Empire appears to be most often equated to the Roman Empire or the Eastern Roman Empire(Byzantium). In reality, it is neither: it is something like a half-baked Qin analogue from the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. Its system is that of Zhou Feudalism, which Jircniv solidified in his ascension to Emperor.

I feel like the use of ‘Legion’ in the English fan translations is the main culprit in the assumption that Baharuth is based on the Western or Eastern Roman Empire. The Japanese text never uses ‘Legion’, however – the Empire simply divides the Imperial Army into Army Groups. The First Legion is actually the ‘First Army Group’, and so on. When a group of Imperial Knights are identified performing policing duties in Arwintar, they are referred to as members of the ‘First Knight Brigade/Corps/Order’. Maruyama also uses some rather puzzling groupings in the Web Novel, including the 14-man patrol which you see defined as a ‘squad’ in Valkyrie’s Shadow. Army groups are division-sized and battalion-sized units are called divisions, but that’s just the way he wanted it to be, I guess.

Another culprit that leads to people misidentifying the Baharuth Empire as a western-based nation is the copypasta architecture in the anime adaptation, but the adaptation is so full of inconsistencies that what it portrays probably shouldn’t be taken seriously. At least they seem to have fixed some stuff for Season Four.

One thing that Maru seems to have borrowed from Rome is the Grand Arena, which is essentially the Colosseum complete with Gladiators, but it’s about the only thing and fighting arenas/pits are one of those cool things that most fantasy authors add to their stories at some point.

???? is mentioned during the Imperial Magic Academy’s Promotional Examination by Fluder Paradyne as he describes the driving slogan/ideology of the Baharuth Empire in the Web Novel. This is one of the key hints as to what the Baharuth Empire is based on, as it is something that originates from the Warring States Period of China. Since then, it has been adopted in modern times by Imperial Japan as well as various political bodies in 19th/20th/21st-century China. However, the Empire’s government is similar to what one would find in a Warring States nation – something close to early Qin, to be precise.

As seen in both LN and WN, however, the rich part is much like everything else, though glossed over heavily in the LN. While the Empire is doing well as a country, most of the people are not. The four-district system of Arwintar is dominated by slums and a low-cost suburban sprawl upon which is mounted the crown jewel of the Baharuth Empire. Security arrangements are similarly prejudiced in favour of the affluent. Other cities are at least similar and probably worse, with Baziwood Peshmel noting the horrible conditions that he had to face as a dockworker, which drove him to become an Imperial Knight.

Save for the security provided by the Imperial Army and the plot-convenient lack of powerful people to cause real trouble, their quality of life is identical to their counterparts in Re-Estize. Much like Re-Estize, the principal measure of labour in the Empire is manpower, making the vast majority(90%+) of the Empire’s population rural and placing hard limits on industrial productivity.

Once upon a time, there was an ambitious sovereign who sought to unify a land divided. To do so, he became an autocratic tyrant, rising to power through much bloodshed which included killing his closest blood relatives. He pushed radical reforms at all levels of the state in a broad effort to improve the country. He stripped the nobility of their legal rights and authority. He was a staunch supporter of meritocracy and a champion of legalism, centralising power into an imperial bureaucracy and actively suppressing ‘old culture’ and religion. The closest he came to subscribing to any religion was his observance of the Elements. Oh, and he had a harem.

Does he sound familiar to you? Overlord readers might recognise him as Emperor Jircniv. Historically, this man is Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of a unified China.

Emperor Jircniv is Overlord’s Qin Shi Huang, though in a half-baked fantasy form. Maybe he was never meant to be the whole deal since it would have cast him as an evil despot to readers. Canonically, Jircniv never abolished feudalism, simply purging at first the politically inconvenient and then the incompetent. Many loyal Imperial Nobles remain, though the ‘loyalty’ of many is simply fearful lip service. The imperial juggernaut was still undergoing reforms at the beginning of Overlord and the Empire was well on its way to unifying the former nation of Re-Estize, but then Ainz happened and now Jircniv is a furry lover.

Perhaps this is for the best, as Qin ultimately failed and the Qin dynasty was overtaken by another within a century, restoring culture, religion and the power of the aristocracy. Qin Shi Huang became a man reviled for millennia.

Jircniv’s apparent fate of shelving his ambitions is, in my mind, one of the greatest tragedies of Overlord. From shining star to shining scalp, the Baharuth Emperor and his Empire seem to have been canonically sidelined in favour of shining the spotlight on Nazarick’s achievements without even a drop of accomplishment to spare. Personally, I would like to see him rise again with new ambitions under the auspices of the Sorcerous Kingdom. As of the post-LN segment, however, he is still in his pitiful state of fearful subservience to the Sorcerous Kingdom.

One of the more curious aspects of the Baharuth Empire is its transition from the ‘Western Feudalism’ of Re-Estize to the nascent Zhou Feudalism of present-day Overlord. Maruyama appears to recognise that this sort of thing doesn’t happen overnight, as the Empire’s governmental structures cannot be arbitrarily installed without proper foundations and Jircniv runs into a brick wall pushing his reforms and restructuring too hard.

Instead, this transition occurs over generations, with each Emperor phasing in the various institutions required to support the Empire’s fantasy Zhou Feudalism. Some of them we know about from the Web Novel, such as when the Imperial Ministry of Magic and the Imperial Magic Academy are founded. The way honours are awarded and titles are granted and taken away is in imitation of how Zhou Feudalism’s centralised bureaucracy recognised exceptional service.

Others require a mental exercise that ties in various tidbits strewn throughout Overlord’s content. Some things, however, cannot change so easily so they remain the same. This includes the Empire’s people, its ‘western’ look, the use of its own version of Re-Estize’s language, art, culture and motifs, and its shared observance of the Four Elemental Gods.

Effectively a Gendarmerie, the way the Imperial Army is deployed is a curious thing. Each army group has its assigned jurisdiction in the Empire, functioning as a professional military that provides security against foreign and domestic threats as well as operating in civilian law enforcement.

Yet, in Volume 9 of Overlord, six army groups are deployed to the Battle of Katze plains. How does this work? Each army group is supposed to have ten thousand Imperial Knights and the Empire had 60,000 men at the battle. Do they tell criminals to take a vacation for a few weeks? Do customs and taxation cease to exist? Do the Demihuman tribes all around the Empire take a collective holiday because they aren’t being suppressed by imperial patrols?

There is no concrete answer in canon. It just works. In Valkyrie’s Shadow, I took the rather nondescript Imperial Army and turned it into a fully-fledged and functional professional military force equipped to fulfil its role as the Shield of the Empire.

The Imperial Army of Valkyrie’s Shadow takes the traditional route of army development characteristic of our world, which draws from elite aristocratic regiments eventually giving rise to a national institution of professional soldiers. In both the LN and WN, you can see that the nobility features prominently in the Imperial Army, despite the majority of the army being from common backgrounds.

In the WN, every General except for Kabein was either a martial Noble or a civilian Noble. In the LN, General Kabein was changed to be a civilian Noble. You also have Noble Fighters serving elsewhere in the armed forces, such as Nimble and Leinas of the Great Imperial Knights. Exceptional ‘common’ soldiers do not stay common for long, as they are promoted to the ranks of the gentry.

This creates an interesting avenue through which tradition can persevere through a regime that oppresses undesirable cultural elements, resulting in the Imperial Army possessing an esprit de corps founded on its roots in the martial aristocracy. At first, we see how this serves them well in the Second Legion. Ludmila fits right in since they, like her, serve as the main line of defence of their nation and share similar values.

The shortfalls in this martial culture, however, are made clear when Ludmila spends time in the Wyvernmark and with General Ray’s battalion. With the Sixth Legion, she is able to finally define what she has, up until that point, only partially seen as a deficiency in the Imperial Army. For all of its valour and vigilance when acting as the Shield of the Empire, the Imperial Army has no idea what it means to go on the offence and imperial views result in deadly ignorance that is also problematic for the image of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s hegemony. Furthermore, the traditional values of the Imperial Army are severely out of alignment with most of its rank and file as they enter a period of ambitious expansion and development.

In the end, the Empire is sent back to the drawing board, realising that their first foray into the wide world was woefully premature. They’ve made gains and can still make them, but new policies, doctrines and procedures need to be drawn up if they are to truly leave the nest and enter the world’s stage.

In the Overlord LN and WN, cultural and religious suppression, as well as the brainwashing propaganda in the Baharuth Empire is generally well-received by the readers. I think that this is mostly because it highlights how the aristocracy – a favourite target of isekai stories – is cast down from power. Also churchbad™?. Within this narrative are many glossed-over or entirely unnoticed aspects that Maruyama just loves to stick into Overlord.

The Bloody Emperor’s purge is, of course, a reference to Qin Shi Huang’s move to dissolve the old aristocracy of his time. Many seem to assume that Jircniv targeted those that ‘deserved it’ in classic isekai form, but his first move was to eradicate his siblings, followed by all threats to power. Rather than incompetent, they were competent enough to present a tangible threat to this super-genius of an Emperor.

There are several attainted that are introduced in the WN, such as Fendros’ trio, but the only one that makes it into the LN is Arche. Arche is another reference to Qin Shi Huang’s oppressive acts of tyranny: a dutiful daughter who exemplifies Confucian ideals of filial piety. As Qin Shi Huang burned books and buried Confucian scholars en masse, so too was Arche – an Academic Wizard who subscribed to what we would equate Confucian ideals here on Earth – buried in Overlord. The backlash for Arche’s fate is often derisively pointed to as people simping for the cute blonde girl, but it does strike a much deeper chord for those raised in many Asian societies, which are still heavily influenced by Confucian values deeply ingrained into their cultures.

On the religious front, the Faith of the Four is seen as a rival for influence over the hearts and minds of the population and a potential source of rebellion in the Empire in Overlord canon. In Valkyrie’s Shadow, they are suppressed not only by the secular nature of the Empire but its efforts to minimise its influence to that of a magical health care system. Rooting out religious influence is an extraordinarily difficult task, however, and the Temples still hold quite a bit of sway in the Empire.

The titular locale of possibly the most hated arc in Overlord, the Imperial Magic Academy is a state organ that grooms the future leaders of the Empire as they should fit in the bureaucracy’s blueprint for imperial society. Founded by the Emperor of two generations previous in the Web Novel, the Academy has the appearance of a modern-day high school for the elite that veils its cold, utilitarian purpose.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on who you ask – it is not as successful in that purpose as the central bureaucracy would like. Needless to say, its relentless efforts at promoting what the Noble Quartet see as the groundwork for a flawed society are horrifying to them. This is especially the case since their interest in the institution stems from creating their own academies in the Sorcerous Kingdom.

What happens when you take a serious look at a world with a hard class system, genetics that heavily influence an organism’s capabilities relative to other members of the same species and systems of conceptualisation that turn ideas into reality? It’s not something that’s done very often, as far as I know. I’ve certainly taken a lot of flak for presenting the reality of this reality, however.

Empire in Chains can be interpreted as a look at how a nominal ‘meritocracy’ using Earth-style measures holds up in a deterministic setting. I put ‘meritocracy’ in quotations because realistically speaking, people would be aware of these other factors and their influence, eventually sciencing it out to create a true meritocracy that works in the New World.

The brand of meritocracy that exists in the Baharuth Empire is only possible due to its extremely short history, with everything being wiped clean two hundred years previous by the Demon Gods. There is not enough data and not enough time to sift fact from fiction and superstition. The policies of the Empire focus heavily on tangible gains in their national bid for regional power, resulting in lopsided metrics for merit. Worth is determined by those with authority, resources and strength – everything else is allowed to silently wither and die.

Despite the amount of criticism that the New World’s system of fantasy genetics has received from some, culture is the main focus of Empire in Chains and one of the central aspects of kingdom building in Valkyrie’s Shadow.

Culture is the protocol by which organisms reconcile their biology – including those of non-living beings like the Undead – with their environment in aspects which cannot be interpreted properly through biology alone. In our world, this includes understanding technological advancement and how it is perceived and utilised, as well as our perceptions of advanced social dynamics and many artificial constructs such as ideology, politics and economics. Possessing protocols compatible with the times can make everything simple. Incompatibility leads to misunderstandings, highly polarised echo chambers, comically evil exploitation, conflict and chaos.

In Overlord, it is of even greater importance as culture is the framework through which a society taps into the conceptualisation mechanics of the setting and allows individuals to actualise what has been conceptualised by a society. This applies to the manifestation of Job and Racial Classes, Martial Arts, Magic, Spellsong, Skills, Abilities and many of the fantastic elements of the world. Though they are generally much weaker than Players, New World natives are capable of doing things far beyond what is possible in Yggdrasil because they can literally create something from nothing and that something is not subject to game balance.

The loss of culture and discounting of cultural elements leads to the loss of knowledge and what that culture was capable of conceptualising. It is a piece of the puzzle of New World civilisation that the Empire does not put any stock into; power that they’ve discarded because it cannot be qualified by their measures. Still, culture is only partially suppressed in the Empire, with what it deems ‘of merit’ allowed to slowly develop without truly knowing what is going on.

The martial culture of the Empire has manifested the Imperial Knight while the work of Frianne Gushmond has identified the Imperial Arcanist, but, because New World natives cannot see class builds, these Job Classes are considered speculation in the Empire at best and more commonly seen as ‘vocations’ that anyone can learn. It is difficult to develop skills and abilities for something that one doesn’t know exists, so the sterile approach of the Empire severely cripples its advancement as its citizens do not fully harness the power of their Job Classes.

In other fields, imperial culture flourishes, though not in the way those in House Gushmond or House Gran might appreciate. I’m sure central administration will eventually manifest some sort of ‘bureaucrat’ Job Class(if they haven’t already done so), but the development of that class and what it is capable of will be extremely slow without a lot of luck and radical thinking, which is frowned upon. The Imperial Ministry of Magic’s willingness to explore the bounds of magic also presents the potential for interesting things.

Ilyshn’ish and a couple of members of the Noble Quartet, however, are very sensitive to culture and its effects on the world. Even so, they still don’t have a full grasp on what is going on – it’s intuitive, at best. Perhaps with enough examples from other places, they’ll finally be able to define these mechanics in practical terms and put them to effective use.

This lack of understanding when it comes to the power of culture and recognising the systems of the world is part of what has Akli label the Empire as a nation of barbarians; a hint at the rude awakening the Empire might face if they go out into the world thinking that they stand at the pinnacle of civilisation. Re-Estize and Baharuth are ‘frog-in-a-well’ states; the backwater of the New World in every sense.

There is very little in the way of vocational freedom in Overlord. A humanoid becomes an adult and the first Job Class Level they get, they’re stuck with. No amount of education, retraining or hard work will change this. Neither will death and resurrection. Those who wish to be the best professionals they can be will have to know what they want from childhood and stick with it for the rest of their lives.

Though there is no way for New Worlders to know for sure, characters that are aware of the Job Class system, like Ludmila, begin to understand how harsh reality can be for people. The main way for people to screw their Job Class build is to simply grow up without a framework in which they can make informed choices for their future.

That the Empire determines ‘merit’ through tangible contributions makes the situation for its citizens that much worse. A male spare born to a farming family might have a high aptitude for farming, but the realities of being a spare mean that he must eventually leave the nest as the eldest son inherits the tenancy.

When he leaves home, he might have 1 Level in Farmer because his family is at least nice enough to let him build up some savings working for them. As he drifts from job to job trying to make ends meet, he might pick up a handful of other Job Class Levels before finally deciding to join the Imperial Army because it pays better and has other attractive benefits.

Now, a 1 Farmer(Genius)/1 Merchant/1 Fisherman/1 Carpenter might seem impressive to an Imperial Army recruiter because of the statblock that he has(about as strong as a Level 2 Fighter) compared to a Level 1 civilian competing for the slot, but that’s 4 non-combat levels eating into his level cap. After a long life of service where he can never seem to obtain any notable achievements, he retires to a farm pension as 1 Farmer(Genius)/1 Merchant/1 Fisherman/1 Carpenter/8 Fighter. At that point, he discovers that he’s an exceptionally good Farmer and he has burned his life away on things that he’s not particularly good at. How bitter is that?

Deterministic systems with hard limits flip our Earth-founded values on their heads; creating scenarios where practices disturbing to our sensibilities or economically inferior in our reality actually ensure that people can live productive and hopefully fulfilling lives. Not only that, it’s optimal for society as a whole. In the New World, being free to do what you want hurts you and everyone around you unless you happen to win a lottery with astronomical odds.

This is the one subject that got a crapton of unexpected attention, considering it’s based on Maruyama’s setting and is purely fantasy fiction. In the New World, however, it is what it is and it has been proven over and over again.

Bloodlines matter, producing superior individuals. Not in our Earth sense of thinking that superficial traits somehow lend superiority over others, but in an extremely decisive sense. Those few player descendants who ‘awaken’ to their legacy effectively become beings with continent-destroying power. Even those that do not awaken can still become Heroes. Vocational aptitudes and lofty level caps can be passed on from generation to generation, as with Neia, Nferia, House Aindra, and House Custodio. This phenomenon is not limited to Humans. Manifesting a strong bloodline is the difference between being a one-man army and a rank and file footsoldier.

Even at the ‘common’ level, it can make a huge difference. More people have the level potential for Tier-three magic, warriors have the potential for an additional focus level. This affects tiers of crafting and achieving capstone levels in civilian classes as well, determining who can craft with Adamantite while everyone else is limited to Iron.

Taking the poor guy in the Job Class example above, if he ends up having a family, it will likely be with someone that he met during his long career. Repeat his story with millions of citizens over consecutive generations and you get a genetic melting pot where everyone tends towards the average and ‘bloodlines’ that manifest strong vocational aptitudes are lost in a sea of randomness.

The Baharuth Empire, with its current system of Earth-style meritocracy, screws the nation out of bloodline perks because of their measures of ‘merit’. Measures of attraction revolve around ‘success’ in the form of wealth and general attractiveness which continually sabotages attempts at refining lineages. Because they promote a worldview that does not recognise the inherent value of bloodlines in their world, they are forever playing whack-a-mole trying to find talented and powerful people to employ.

As both Ludmila and Ilyshn’ish have noted, the Empire is slowly creating a ‘standard’ imperial bloodline that reliably produces unremarkable individuals. A powerful being doesn’t care about millions of ‘average’ Humans, as they cannot stop that powerful being. What Humans need are lineages capable of producing exceptional individuals who can rise to the challenges that the world presents to a nation. While individuals who inherit strong bloodlines can be taught to harness their inherited strength through excellent institutions, bloodlines themselves cannot be taught.

There are vestiges of older value systems in the northern Human nations, however. People are naturally attracted to the strong while groups like House Gran have a fairly good idea of how it works and have refined their methodologies to the point that they reliably produce Third-tier Wizards in every generation. People like Pluton Ainzach even go so far as to give fertility drugs to women in an attempt to secure the next generation of the strong(Momon’s children, in Ainzach’s case).

Though they went on what was a ‘vacation’, the main purpose of the Noble Quartet’s visit to the Baharuth Empire is fairly clear: they came to see what a reportedly successful country looked like as a case study for their territorial development in the Sorcerous Kingdom. Many lessons – good and bad – were learned and some interesting connections were made.

Along the way, they had some fun tag-teaming everyone they ran into. Liane and Florine were husband-hunting as well, but the waves of attainted and a certain traumatised Nimble dashed their hopes. At least they have every faction in the Empire sending representatives their way after Ludmila ‘mopped up’ the groups following Ilyshn’ish around.

How they apply what they’ve learned in the Empire is an ongoing story. Because of its lawful and orderly nature and their sense of responsibility as officials from the Sorcerous Kingdom, the quartet’s visit to the Empire is probably the tamest of their visits to any place in Valkyrie’s Shadow. Everything is about watching, asking questions and learning with very little of the flexing they could potentially do as they have no cause to do so.

From a kingdom-building standpoint, however, this trip was remarkably fruitful and they now take the lessons that they’ve learned back with them to the Sorcerous Kingdom.

The first Empire-side character to interact with a member of the main cast, Nemel Gran is a potato-loving Noble scion who serves as a supporting character to Jet Testania in the Overlord Web Novel. In the WN, her introduction occurs as she is caught up in an Ijaniya ambush for Ainz Ooal Gown. Ironically, she helps Ilyshn’ish deliver Ijaniya to the Sorcerous Kingdom in Valkyrie’s Shadow.

Her magical capabilities are simultaneously described in the Jet pov as having ‘no magic’ while also being able to ‘easily kill people’ with her magic. I have no idea what that was supposed to mean, but it got incorporated as part of her humble and unassuming nature.

As in the WN, Nemel is portrayed as a nice, helpful girl who goes out of her way to help her friends in this story. In the LN timeline, the WN academy’s Promotional Examination is long over and Nemel gets a ‘safe’ job as a mage in the Imperial Air Service. Instead of being an accessory to Jet, she becomes a primary pov as the travelling companion of Ilyshn’ish=Verilyn as the Frost Dragon Bard investigates the Baharuth Empire for the Ministry of Transportation.

While somewhat excitable, Nemel is a reasonably intelligent and reliable girl who is slowly pulled out of her ‘shell’ of naïvely-optimistic youth by Ilyshn’ish. Despite not thinking much of herself, she has a proactive and resilient nature which allows her to reach out and touch the lives of others. Coming from a warm, caring family that is far more than it seems, Nemel is a fundamentally good person who can absorb a lot of emotional baggage and genuinely empathises with the people she is exposed to.

Even Nemel has her limits, however. Though at first turning to Ilyshn’ish for protection against the machinations of the imperial establishment, she ends up deciding that the Empire is truly not a place where she can be. Instead of being slowly ground down by the unfeeling machinery of the cold, authoritarian state, she looks forward to making her mark on the world in a place where she can make a real difference.

Three attainted scions who attended the grand ball held for Ainz Ooal Gown in the Web Novel. Their respective houses are headed by classic lolnobles grasping for past glories with imprudent decisions, buying their way into the ball in hopes that their daughters will be able to attract Ainz’s favour. Ida didn’t even have a name, poor thing.

In Valkyrie’s Shadow, their parents are up to similar antics, this time sending Fendros and Elise to try and worm their way into the good graces of ‘Frost 19’. Ida’s parents by this point are too poor to manage even that, opting to sell her into slavery. Fortunately for the attainted trio, Fendros encounters Nemel and the future seneschal of Dame Verilyn snatches them up.

Fendros’ Talent of being able to randomly pick up magical capability is also something from the Web Novel. How nice of Maruyama to leave that for me to use.

Frianne holds the all-powerful position of Student Council President of the Imperial Magic Academy in the Overlord Web Novel. Behind the friendly ‘big sister’ mask that she presents to the student body hides a stern, authoritarian princess of the Imperial Dynasty. She is hailed as the Genius of the Imperial Magic Academy, but she states that it is Arche who should truly hold that title.

In Valkyrie’s Shadow, Frianne is first mentioned at the end of Birthright as the author of Fundamental Principles of Magocratic Governance. Ainz tried reading her treatise, but his empty head overheated.

The daughter of House Gushmond was the ideal colleague for the Noble Quartet in the Empire; a fellow noblewoman who shares the same, authoritarian outlook as them. A powerful, young Wizard(by imperial standards) and a junior aide to the Imperial Court Council, she takes it upon herself to escort the ‘representatives’ from the Sorcerous Kingdom around Arwintar. Frianne takes a while to get through to, but she eventually discloses her ambitions to the Noble Quartet and unexpectedly finds friends who share in her reality.

House Gushmond is one of the main strongholds for the ‘cultural dynasty’ of the Baharuth Empire and Frianne will be a key player in imperial developments in the future.

A student of the Imperial Magic Academy from the Overlord Web Novel. At the academy, she was a sort of school ‘information broker’, sifting valuable information from the rumours and gossip of her fellow students. Her eventual goal was a position in the Empire’s Department of Foreign Affairs.

In Valkyrie’s Shadow, she carries the same, high-energy personality as she had in the Web Novel. If I were to describe it, she is an ‘entertaining listener’ who is used to drawing information out of people and knowing what they want to hear. Her energy works well with people like Liane Wagner, who is a shrewd individual who enjoys playing the same game.

For some reason, the Baharuth Empire does not have a diplomatic mission in the Sorcerous Kingdom despite being a client state. Dimoiya is another natural freebie from Maruyama and she will arrive in the future.

A character from the Overlord mobile game Mass for the Dead, where she is one of Fluder’s most powerful disciples and a Monster researcher who specialises in Slimes.

Her interest in utilising the capabilities of Slimes in the game for the benefit of civilisation carries into Valkyrie’s Shadow. In the Light Novel, Fluder is stripped of his titles, which are redistributed to his disciples, turning them into Nobles. Sophia uses her land to pioneer her ‘slimefinery’ which draws the immediate interest of the Noble Quartet.

The son of a concubine and scion of the powerful House Roberbad, Rangobart is first introduced as a sort of antagonist in the Web Novel, trying to ‘zone out’ Jet from Nemel. In the Imperial Magic Academy, he uses his influence as a Highlord's son to enforce the order of the imperial establishment on the student body. As we are in Jet’s pov at this point, what we get is Testania’s angsty internal monologue and his hatred for Nobles. Jet’s only defence against Rangobart is sic-ing Frianne Gushmond on him, who only humours Jet because he is an acquaintance through Arche.

Later on, after Jet ends up with Fluder Paradyne and Narberal Gamma on his Promotional Examination team, Rangobart ends up teamless. Ainz, disguised as a student, ends up joining Rangobart’s team since Jet’s team turns up unexpectedly full. Rangobart then serves as a side reaction character to Ainz’s bumbling around. His father recognises Ainz as the ‘Evil God’ that granted him temporary youth and predictably tells Rangobart to attend to Ainz. Along the way, they purchase some slaves at the Slave Market to add to their team, who are promptly turned into Death Knights. The Imperial Knights escorting them on the Promotional Examination are scared shitless.

In Valkyrie’s Shadow, Rangobart, like Nemel, has graduated from the Promotional Examination, joining the Imperial Army as a mage officer. His father pulls all sorts of strings to get him into the Second Legion and then pulls some more in order to hook him up with a certain Baroness Zahradnik.

Born a spare only valued for his promising magical capabilities, Rangobart expects to live his life as a tool for House Roberbad. The Imperial Army has done a good job at instilling a sense of purpose into the man, however, so his days as a student dependent on his family’s influence are long past him. His sense of obligation for his family’s favour still weighs heavily on him, but he is very much a man looking for his own way in the world.

While drawn to the unexpectedly attractive liaison officer from the Sorcerous Kingdom, Rangobart is even more impressed by her charisma and insight into his role as a mage officer. Through several ‘adventures’, Ludmila plants a seed of ambition within him: to create a true place for mages in the Imperial Army – something that he believes he is in a unique position to accomplish. At the end of his time with Ludmila, he encounters Nemel Gran and finally voices why he acted the way that he did in the academy.

Rangobart has parted ways with the main cast for now, but, as implied by his invitation, he will be back at some point.

A cold and calculating Ancient Green Dragon who might be considered the personification of the Baharuth Empire, Rerix’ixthrious was one of the oldest of the post-Tier Magic Dragons in the New World. Hatching into a lonely world where Dragonkind was decimated by the Eight Greed Kings and irrevocably altered to no longer wield Wild Magic, the Green Dragon Matron eventually settled down to produce offspring in the steaming jungle caldera of The Blister.

She isn’t satisfied with just hatching Wyrmlings, however – she wants to produce Green Dragons who are well versed in Green Dragon ways and capable of surviving in a much harsher world. A cushy agreement with the imperial cities nearby makes her domain potentially the most well-protected locale in the Human sphere…at least from catastrophic threats that merit Rerix’ixthrious’ intervention. Unfortunately for her, the Sorcerous Kingdom calls for her removal.

Using her substantial knowledge, she technically discerns what sort of threat she is facing. Not many people come to the irrational conclusion of being attacked by aliens, however, and the highly-rational Rerix’ixthrious is no exception. She now rests amidst more treasure than she could ever dream of.

In Overlord Volume 14, Ijaniya randomly appears as a mention: they are under the authority of Demiurge, who sets up an intelligence division on the Seventh Floor of Nazarick. Since we were exploring the Empire, I decided to pick them up.

Tira is not a cruel, heartless individual, but maintains an air of strict professionalism when she’s on the job. She loves hot baths and cares deeply for the Ninja clan that she has been entrusted to her by previous generations. Meticulous and calculating, she doesn’t solely rely on her power as a Hero-realm individual, instead doing everything she believes necessary to eliminate her targets.

Like so many other competent and powerful(by New World standards) characters in Overlord, her careful preparations fall apart when what she believes to be a Human was far more than she could ever expect. Now, Tira and her Ninja clan work for the Sorcerous Kingdom. I suppose this is a good thing for the overall welfare of her clan, but I’m not sure about working conditions on Nazarick’s Seventh Floor.

The only imperial OC pov in Empire in Chains. Joachim is a spare and the grandson of Baron Ward. Like Ludmila once upon a time, he took up training as an Acolyte, but, unlike Ludmila, he can cast magic. He is the first pov of a Cleric of the Four Elemental Gods, but as an imperial soldier, he can’t push his faith on anyone else. This results in a rather reactive point of view for a religious character and Ludmila similarly is quiet and internally reactive about her opinions of his faith.

Joachim accidentally ends up in General Ray’s battalion as a Cleric attached to a company hand-picked for both its ambitious members and its lack of Nobles. General Ray finds a use for him by attaching the Cleric to Ludmila Zahradnik as she travels around the Wyvernmark. As a member of the ‘old guard’ of the Imperial Army, Joachim is accustomed to the Baroness’ behaviour and also shares his grandfather’s opinion of General Ray.

As the scion of a martial house, he prefers to remain reserved, observing the behaviour of others and slowly building his opinion of them. Fortunately for Ray’s battalion, Ludmila is as powerful as Joachim suspects her to be and his time assigned to her allows him to gather valuable insights that an imperial Noble would otherwise not be exposed to. He remains in the Sixth Legion, thankful that the seemingly unbridled ambition of the expeditionary force has been tempered by their experience.

General Ray is the Overlord Web Novel’s version of Neia Baraja. More accurately, Neia Baraja is Ray v2.0, adjusted to be more cute, powerless and stupid. Both characters are written as a jab at certain Overlord readers – the ones who seem to applaud Ainz and Nazarick’s actions no matter how reprehensible and will justify even the most atrocious acts with crazy mental gymnastics.

In the WN, Ray is the aggressive and ambitious General of the Eighth Legion who advocates for the ‘mopping up’ of the shattered remains of Re-Estize’s Royal Army after splatfest, much to the horror and disgust of his fellow Generals. The guy has a literal Ainz boner – as in an erection – when he thinks of the Battle of Katze Plains and the absolute power displayed by Ainz Ooal Gown.

After Ainz joins the Empire as the ‘Super Marquis’ of E-Rantel, General Ray manoeuvres to attach himself to Ainz. Jircniv, of course, is furious with his power play, but he cannot touch Ray because of his association with Ainz.

In Valkyrie’s Shadow, Ray still loves – and is aroused by – power, but he is unexpectedly stripped of power when the Eighth Legion is dissolved. It is a frustrating experience and he ends up under his former CO, General Gregan. Accustomed to dealing with obstacles and setbacks, he wastes no time devising a plan to get into the Sorcerous Kingdom’s good graces. Additionally, he leaps on the chance to send Nemel Gran to accompany ‘Frost 19’ and Joachim Ward is later sent to attend to Ludmila Zahradnik.

When he finally encounters the Baroness, he already has all sorts of preconceptions of her based on the information that he has gathered and analysed, which is in turn influenced by imperial biases towards Re-Estize. Ludmila is on an entirely different wavelength from the General, however, so a strange back and forth occurs until Ray realises what he’s dealing with and adjusts his perceptions and interactions accordingly.

As an aristocrat, General Ray is something like the opposite of Ludmila Zahradnik. Raised in the hostile and intrigue-ridden political landscape of the Baharuth Empire, he forsakes his values as a martial Noble to pursue his ambitions. He is an aggressive and dynamic counterpoint to Ludmila’s defensive and methodical mindset; someone Ludmila might have become had she never been rescued from Ray’s situation by Pandora’s Actor and Shalltear Bloodfallen and offered a place where service is valued above all.

In the end, they develop a candid rapport, with Ludmila learning many valuable lessons about herself and the aggressive nature of martial Nobles long forgotten after generations of desperate defence. General Ray, in return, receives a crash course in the realities of the world beyond the Human lands protected by the Slane Theocracy. Both Ludmila and Ray come out of their respective experiences as more well-rounded people, with Ray now working to create an Imperial Expeditionary Force that is better prepared for its mandate.

Ray is the second Human pov in Valkyrie’s Shadow – the first being Ludmila Zahradnik – who subscribes to a warrior culture that most readers are entirely unfamiliar with. These warrior cultures were common several centuries ago, but exhibit behaviours that are generally reviled by most societies today. Most would likely equate those behaviours to violent criminal gangs or militant groups known for their atrocities.

Many things are simply perceived differently in such cultures and certain values are drastically different. Violence and aggression in pursuit of those values are promoted and how loss and grief are processed seems strange or even crazy. Many show certain forms of elitism, such as seeing cavalry or duels of champions as superior in warfare and their attitudes are shared across social strata. A battle slave in this sort of society might yearn for freedom, but their idea of freedom is becoming a warlord that owns thousands of battle slaves and conquering their way to riches and glory.

These types of cultures may produce anything from brutish thugs to sophisticated warrior poets. The Imperial Army’s culture is a sort of de-fanged version due to their defensive mandate and right to wage wars of aggression taken from them. However, many of the dormant attitudes of the Imperial Army’s martial culture come to light when the Sixth Legion becomes an expeditionary force.

Though he is a fictional character, Conan the Barbarian sort of sums up what may be considered best in life for these people: to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. The civilian Nobles in the Sorcerous Kingdom are often portrayed as fearful of Ludmila and this is the underlying reason why. She is born and raised as a killing machine in a warrior culture, plus she worships a god of death.

Like many of the notable characters in Empire in Chains, General Ray will be back.

I killed him. Ziggy demanded it.

The Forbidden One of the Overlord Web Novel, Arche and Nemel’s eyepatched childhood friend is often blamed for assassinating the Web Novel. In classic Overlord form, he is one of the New World ‘sidekick’ povs that every story arc has. We never see where his character journey ends up, but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere at all from what exists of it.

Rangobart’s summary of Jet’s character in Act 5 is pretty much it: a hypocritical teenager with a victim mentality; one who hates the nobility and all that they stand for, yet relies on them and aspires to join the peerage at the same time. As a practising mage born with a practically useful Talent, he is one of the privileged few, yet he acts as if he is one of the downtrodden and characterises himself as a generally righteous individual when he is in reality rather unscrupulous and exploitative.

Jet never makes a direct appearance in Valkyrie’s Shadow, instead being referred to in various povs. He first appears in Nemel’s thoughts and readers are eventually made aware of his presence in the Sixth Legion as a member of Ray’s battalion. During Ray’s battle against the Demihuman forces in the southern wilderness, Jet meets his end as one of the many unnamed soldiers who fell that night.

In the end, the only one who cares for the death of Jet and his mother is his childhood friend, Nemel, who had supported him through his days at the academy after House Furt was attainted. Too bad he was such a douche to her.

As usual, people either love or hate Ilyshn’ish. Those that love her, love her for her Draconic perspective. Those that hate her, hate her for her Draconic perspective. And then there are those people that still expect her to be a Human and hate her for doing things nonsensical to Humans, but I’m not sure what to do about that.

Finally out on the task originally assigned to her back in Winter’s Crown, Ilyshn’ish enjoys a vast degree of freedom in the Empire. It is enhanced by her new status as Ludmila’s vassal and companion, which bestows a variety of bonuses that reinforce her physical and, more importantly, mental resilience. The machinations of Pandora’s Actor and Aura through the collaboration of Shalltear finally bear their first fruits as she wanders about in her somewhat chaotic Frost Dragon way.

As the big fish in the pond, she struts around quite a bit, experiencing the world to her heart’s content and living the life of exploration that she dreamed of. Adventuring is also a big surprise to her, as she has always feared Adventurers and ends up earning a tidy sum as one. Her time fighting together with Ludmila in The Blister also turns out to be extraordinarily lucrative.

The Empire is Ilyshn’ish’s first true experience with a fully-Human society and she doesn’t care much for what she sees. She is quite open about how she feels with those that she grows familiar with, speaking authoritatively from her Frost Dragon perspective. This is jarring to many Humans but Zu Chiru and his apprentices roll with it, accustomed to the same reality from generations of living with the Frost Dragons of the Azerlisia Mountains.

Ilyshn’ish’s Draconic instincts, intuitive behaviour and bardic powers make for a powerful combination as she interacts with people on her journeys. Simply put, she is irresistible to most and only those knowledgeable about the charismatic powers of a Bard are aware of it. We also see the first use of her personally-composed Spellsongs, which Nemel notes are unique in their effect, to say the least.

In true Bard fashion, she turns those initially sent to exploit her to her advantage. Ilyshn’ish ends up with her first vassal in the form of Nemel Gran who she gauges to be a good and reliable minion. With her new minion(and her minion’s minions) in tow, the Frost Dragon Knight returns to the Sorcerous Kingdom anticipating great things for the future of her territory – mostly in the form of taxes.

Starting as a sort of ‘tourist’ with her friends on a trip to Arwintar, Ludmila finds herself lost in the complexities and nuances of the imperial capital. Nothing makes sense and a lot of things are outright offensive but thankfully she has her friends around to hold her hand. The imperial institutions that she and her friends look forward to seeing as a potential model for the Sorcerous Kingdom to use reveal both the good and bad aspects of imperial society. In all, they suffer a sort of ‘Paris Syndrome’ when it comes to Arwintar, but there are still many notable takeaways.

Ludmila’s duties acting as a liaison officer to the Imperial Army take up most of her time in the Empire, where she is pleasantly surprised by the Second Legion. Immersed in a familiar culture established by martial Nobles who possess similar ideals, values and behaviour, their open-armed welcome is an uplifting experience for the lonely Frontier Noble who once believed that she was the last of her ‘kind’.

In The Blister, she succeeds wildly at making a good impression on the Imperial Army, ensuring that the Viridian Dragon Lord is dealt with and the Death-series servitors are well on their way to being adopted by the Second Legion. What appears to be the exact opposite of the Second Legion, however, awaits her in the Wyvernmark.

After being exposed to the rather scathing commentary of the Fifth Legion in regards to the Sixth Legion and their activities in the southern wilderness, Ludmila makes a beeline for General Ray and his battalion of ‘raiders’. She spends a lot of time weighing and measuring the qualities of the imperial General and his men, trying to figure out what it means to be a member of the expeditionary force.

With the Baharuth Empire’s general safety assured by the existence of the Sorcerous Kingdom, a spirit of aggressive expansionism has awakened, its growth ‘stimulated’ by Albedo. Perceptions of the wilderness have changed from dangerous uncharted territory to unclaimed lands ripe for the taking. Driving this is a Human-centric society that spares little thought for anyone but themselves.

Rather than oppose them directly, Ludmila understands that it is their blindness to the truths of the world and not their ambitions that are inherently problematic. In her attempts to point out the fallacies in their thinking and misconceptions that they have about the world at large, she is forced to confront aspects of herself that have been central in the failures that she’s been leaving in her wake. Her time with General Ray and his battalion not only serves as a catalyst for the Empire to rethink its policies and approaches to expansion, but also for Ludmila to examine the generally reactive and passive posture that dominates many aspects of her life.

Ludmila returns to the Sorcerous Kingdom with a myriad of new ideas, though finding true balance as a Commander and as a person is still a long journey. She has a lot of things to both catch up with and get going, both in Warden’s Vale and with the Royal Army.

Albedo doesn’t get many opportunities in Overlord canon to shine in her role as Prime Minister of the Sorcerous Kingdom and as a supreme administrator. For the most part, she’s used as a ‘checklist’ when it comes to reviewing what goes on from volume to volume before going on to act as either an inciter or some sort of comic relief.

The Guardian Overseer gets to show her stuff more frequently and in more detail in Valkyrie’s Shadow, though one can say that this should naturally be the case as the story is a kingdom builder. Most of the time, Albedo’s influence can only be perceived in subtext or indirectly through the progress of the Sorcerous Kingdom or through the words and actions of the NPCs that she influences. In Empire in Chains, however, Albedo takes centre stage as the mastermind behind the events in the Empire.

As the three geniuses of Nazarick tend to achieve many objectives with their actions in Valkyrie’s Shadow, Albedo goes all-out with the Empire. Starting with a few changes to Imperial Law and the reorganisation of the Imperial Army, she goes on to remove a few old ‘problems’ and transforms the Baharuth Empire into a nation-sized laboratory, investigating the behaviour of Human society and its potential in various uses.

More than a few people recognise at least in part what she is up to, including Emperor Jircniv, General Kabein and General Ray. Ludmila also understands what is going on – though she has the benefit of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s perspectives – and once again does what she can to collaborate with the Prime Minister to produce some useful results.

The ‘success’ of the characters in Valkyrie’s Shadow has brought up some interesting commentary – commentary that indicates that a major point about the story has been missed despite being blatantly put out there on a regular basis. This is the fact that pretty much every case of success has been an instance of purposeful deployment.

Furthermore, we have a cast with many characters who are competent in their respective ways and generally maintain relationships that are collaborative in nature. As such, the plot-based conflicts are usually not in people butting heads and struggling against one another to achieve their objectives, but in figuring out how to get things done in their respective styles. The result of this conflict is how these styles mix and produce various outcomes in the story.

This starts from the very beginning of Valkyrie’s Shadow and only becomes more and more prevalent as the story goes on and the characters grow and establish themselves. People succeed because they are set up to succeed or are at least a suitable choice for any particular task. Whenever they enter unfamiliar territory, they start to flounder around and get tripped up. As they are not incompetent, however, they know when to shut up, watch and learn. They are also perfectly willing to turn to others for help.

Out of Nazarick’s NPCs, Albedo, Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor exercise the most influence on the Sorcerous Kingdom in this story. This is not only because they choose the actors that succeed when and where they want them to, but those actors also fail when and where they want them to. This often happens simultaneously to nudge a myriad of far-reaching plans forward. The actors in question often do not realise what they are failing at and what their failures cost.

The three geniuses of Nazarick are not the only ones that do this, but they are the ones that are most likely to succeed in their deployments. They are master ‘groomers’, making the actors on the stage grow where they want them to grow, stay deficient where they want them to remain deficient and achieve the objectives that they send them out to achieve. Just as it would be strange for us to expect a carpenter to use a saw to hammer a nail, so too do I find it strange that people expect Albedo, Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor to fail at using tools with qualities that they are well aware of.

If Albedo assigns Ludmila a task that she is absolutely not suited for, Ludmila’s failure at that task is the same as the carpenter(Albedo) trying to hammer a nail with a saw. As Albedo is not an incompetent idiot, this will not happen when she is closely involved. Failures may occur when there are more than one or two degrees of separation between Albedo and the tool in question, but in the Sorcerous Kingdom, this is seldom the case.

The right tool is used for the right job; if the tool is unsuited, there are other tools to use. Albedo – who oversees both Nazarick and the Sorcerous Kingdom – will never use a saw to hammer a nail when she has a hammer on hand…unless she believes that Ainz is telling her to.

Similarly, how characters operate under the masterful control of Nazarick’s NPCs to achieve both the objectives of their masters as well as their own is one of the overarching threads of Valkyrie’s Shadow: a fine line for many to walk – especially when there are conflicts of interest.

As some may be aware, volumes of Valkyrie’s Shadow are written as complete novels first and then divided into chapters for daily release. The original plan was that each chapter would be 2000-2500 words, but this isn’t working out very well. With the type of story that it is, there is a lot of exploration of the setting that can make it seem like the story is moving slowly – especially when there is a lot of set-up in one chapter and most of the action in the next, making it seem like there are pacing issues. In reality, it’s one much larger scene but broken up into chapters of the planned length.

Trying to fix up the breaks so that they go smoothly from one segment to the next also generates additional word count. Sometimes up to double the original chapter length. This is especially true for combat and segments with a lot of exposition.

Many people have noted that to overcome the idea that this stalls the ‘action’, one should just wait and binge chapters. Most just read chapters as they come out so, in the end, I’ve decided to split up the volumes into longer chapters. This should make it easier to have ‘meatier’ chapters with better pacing or at least more stuff in them.

The ‘downside’ to this is that chapters will come out every other day rather than every day. Valkyrie’s Shadow will still go along at the same rate as before, but with a format change that will hopefully address the issues that short chapters have been causing.

Well, we’ll see if it works out.

In traditional Overlord style, the next volume begins in the Sorcerous Kingdom where many things are brewing. We’re rewinding the clock a bit, starting a month before the end of this volume. After that, Valkyrie’s Shadow will go from the rigid order of Empire in Chains to lands that are just a bit more chaotic in The Tiger and the Dragon.

Once again, thank you for reading Valkyrie’s Shadow! If you’ve somehow gotten through this many words and haven’t left a rating or review on Royal Road, please consider lending your support~ Long web novels on the site are something of a revolving door where people drop rating bombs right at the front. As a fanfiction on a site that is inherently hostile to fanfictions, this appears to be quadruply so.