Ancient Power

Ancient Power represents the foul might of an Old One itself, as opposed to Agents and Armies, its subtle and unsubtle lackeys respectively. Ancient Power builds up throughout the game, but is noticeably out-of-the-ordinary even in a world of magic, and applying it risks generating Clues which can make the world aware of the awakening Old One that much faster. It also tracks that awakening.

Ancient Power is measured in Orbs. Old Ones start the game with one to two, and gain more slowly over time. Using it empties one or more Orbs, which also refill over time. Old Ones gain new abilities as they reach certain amounts of Orbs, and once an Old One has its maximum number of Orbs, it's awake; general unpleasantness results.

Ancient Power can be spent on:
 * Activating Old One abilities, or paying upkeep on ongoing ones.
 * Assisting Agents in combat by Channeling, improving the Agent's attacks.
 * Imbuing an Agent with greater strength.
 * Paying for responses for some Events. (Events may also refresh Ancient Power.)

Different Old Ones have different numbers of maximum Orbs, from Karth's six to Azlan's fifteen, meaning that an Old One with fewer maximum Orbs wakes faster but has less Ancient Power available in total.

Orbs become slower to gain but faster to fill with each one the Old One has. An Old One with twelve maximum Orbs will therefore slumber more than twice as long as one with six. The number of empty Orbs doesn't affect these speeds, only the total number does.

Back well before the Kickstarter, King Dinosaur Games mentioned that an Old One's dreams could be pierced by blinding light, hampering its ability to assist Agents.