ZARO MOVES AND STAMINA (CANON)

Zaro's power is living spark light. Warm, bright yellow, and alive.

Important rule: Zaro has limits. If he pushes too hard, he crashes. We call this Glow Burn.

ZARO'S POWER STATES (COLOR = LIFE METER)

1. BRIGHT YELLOW (normal strong) Zaro is stable, playful, capable. His dome is strong.

2. DARK YELLOW (tired) Zaro is strained. He can still act, but weaker.

3. GRAY-YELLOW (near empty) Zaro is almost out. His dome flickers. He may shake or collapse.

4. OVERDRIVE (white-hot yellow) Rare. Zaro surges beyond normal. Electric sparks fly off him. The dome slams back online like a generator restart. Overdrive is a spare tank — not infinite fuel.

CORE MOVES (SIMPLE + REPEATABLE)

MOVE 1 — SPARK SHIELD

A warm yellow barrier around himself or a small space. Used for defense and rescue.

Cost: Holding it drains him.

MOVE 2 — SPARK PUSH

A burst wave that pushes danger away. Not a killing move. It creates space.

Cost: Big pushes drain stamina fast.

MOVE 3 — SPARK DOME (Boundary)

A protective boundary around his home base. Looks like a large dome field.

Cost: If Zaro is weak or sad, the dome weakens too.

GLOW BURN (STAMINA CRASH)

Glow Burn happens after too much output.

How it looks:

• yellow fades toward dark yellow
• then gray-yellow
• movements slow
• eyes lose star shine
• breath becomes heavy

Why it matters: Zaro is powerful, but not unlimited. This makes wins feel earned.

GLOW BURN RECOVERY TIMELINE (LOCKED)

Recovery is TIERED based on severity. Sunlight accelerates recovery but is not required for baseline function.

MINOR BURN (overextended once):

• Hours of rest needed.
• Sunlight exposure helps.
• Recovers to Dark Yellow by next scene.
• Back to Bright Yellow by next day.

MAJOR BURN (Overdrive crash):

• Next-day sunlight gets him functional (Dark Yellow).
• Full Bright Yellow recovery takes 2-3 days.
• He can defend but cannot push hard.
• Limited dome strength during recovery.

NOT OVER CRASH (the big one):

• Moderate crash. NOT OVER is a spare tank, not free energy.
• Sunlight charges the spare tank back.
• Functional (Dark Yellow) by next day with sunlight.
• Full recovery takes several days.
• Tree proximity may help accelerate.
• He is operating at reduced capacity — not helpless, but not full.

SUNLIGHT RULE (LOCKED):

• Sunlight is medicine, not food.
• Zaro does NOT drain or weaken at night.
• Night simply means he cannot recharge.
• He holds whatever charge he has until morning.
• This means nighttime does not automatically make Zaro vulnerable.
• It means: if he burns during the night, he must wait for dawn to heal.

TACTICAL IMPLICATIONS:

• Ink gains no automatic advantage at night.
• But if Ink attacks at night AND causes Glow Burn, Zaro cannot recover until sunrise.
• This creates strategic tension without making night scenes automatically desperate.
• Smart Ink behavior: attack at dusk, drain Zaro, then press through the night.

NOT OVER = HEART RESTART MOMENT

When Zaro is at his lowest:

• gray-yellow
• dome nearly fails
• world begins to dim

Then he chooses defiance. He thinks "NOT OVER" and carves the SYMBOL into the tree. This acts like a defibrillator shock. He snaps back to full strength. Then he surges into OVERDRIVE.

Important: This is not random rage. It is mental choice. His brain ignites the spark.

NOT OVER uses the spare tank. After it fires, the spare tank is empty. Recovery follows the NOT OVER CRASH timeline above.

FUTURE GROWTH DIRECTION (SEED FOR LATER)

Breathing helps calm him. But the spark comes from the mind.

Later, Zaro will learn:

• controlled Overdrive
• avoiding Glow Burn
• igniting his spark on purpose
• extending the spare tank capacity