Well?  Let's get some random options going...

Created so long ago by people long forgotten, it seeks identity. New worlds offer new people. To learn from. To dissect. Someday it will find what it is. Until then, the people must sacrifice to find its truth.

C'mon, she hasn't even secured the nomination yet, it's a little early to call her that.

It's playing a game with other Evil overlords.
It's a game of real continent-wide Risk.
There are several Evil overlords who have all separated up a continent as the boardgame map.

There's some weird, obscure set of rules to the game and as all the Evil Overlords are also Immortal, the game takes 1000s of years to finish.

Each overlord might not be an overlord in the literal sense.
Some might work through a puppet government.
Some are Literal Overlords with hordes or armies.
Some have possessed what was previously a benevolent ruler, who now is evil and Overlordish..

Actually I used this Evil overlord design in a campaign I was running using the continent Jaiman in Shadow World using Rolemaster many years ago.

cheesecake. With Strawberries.

Mass suicide. The Evil Overlord enters a nation, becomes the charismatic ruler, whips the people into a fervor, promises a better life on another dimension and convinces the nation to commit mass suicide on a certain day. Here's the rub...the Overlord isn't lying. He's found or founded a plane of great beauty and peace, aka Elysium. However, he's allied with some deeply dark god who revel in the mass bloodshed.

Horses, lots and lots of horses. He conquers territory, and engages in massive ecological projects to turn them in to plains. For horses.

Just a little respect.

(Don't you tell me no
Don't you tell me no
Don't you tell me no
Don't you tell me no)

He hears you calling.

(Oh baby please give a little respect to me)

Erasure - A Little Respect

... the war drum machines are pleasant and disarming.

Cookies. Barring that, dominance of the world and the love/fear that comes with it.

Quote from: Matt;830168C'mon, she hasn't even secured the nomination yet, it's a little early to call her that.

I agree, Fiorina has a crowded field and a tough row to hoe, never mind that she has no experience in electoral politics.  :cheerleader:

Anyway ...

What the Evil Overlord wants?  To retire.  He's been down and up the ladder, he's got almost enough wealth salted away, and have another year or two to finish construction on his tropical island of solitude.

Now if only he could smash any future threat of retaliation for his decades of evil, find a Trusted Lieutenant/Successor who won't wax him to prevent a comeback, get the good guys to promise to leave him freaking alone, keep his long work to build the Empire of Evil from crumbling into ruin, and ensure a perpetual supply of non-poisoned drinks in coconut bowls with little umbrellas in them, as well as complaisant and creative bedmates without concealed poisoned daggers.

Quote from: danskmacabre;830173It's playing a game with other Evil overlords.
It's a game of real continent-wide Risk.
There are several Evil overlords who have all separated up a continent as the boardgame map.

There's some weird, obscure set of rules to the game and as all the Evil Overlords are also Immortal, the game takes 1000s of years to finish.

You just described the setup of Hugh Walker's "Magira" novelization of The Eternal Game, Armageddon. (Well, minus the "Evil"...)

The title on the second one must surely be, "go away, playing chess."

Well let's think now:

A radically feminist state.

Tax reform (MORE TAXES!)

The only sword that can ever truly kill him (because it's such a good idea to draw attention to it by starting a war)

The affections of a neighboring king. / Revenge on said king for rejection.

Show them all!  (Strong anti bullying stance)

Democracy (gasp HORROR!)

Massive harem / massive amounts of offspring

To save the children

To overthrow the gods and replace them / have nothing to replace them

Total annihilation of all living things (and is a whiny goth kid)

To get out of the castle and see something new for once (Alexander the Great)

Killing idiots (thank you Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality)

To 'kidnap' the Princess. She won't stop calling/writing. She hates it when the hero keeps rescuing her, but you have to make it look good. She's got a reputation to uphold. (The 'Why the fuck does Princess Peach keep getting kidnapped?!' scenario)

To mold a hero into greatness. He's bored and needs a challenge. What better way than to turn someone into his nemesis?

Level 20 in all the classes.

Quote from: Doom;830183Horses, lots and lots of horses. He conquers territory, and engages in massive ecological projects to turn them in to plains. For horses.

So, Genghis Khan, before the Confucian scholar explained the concept of taxes to him re: the wholesale slaughter of Chinese villages.

Quote from: Ravenswing;830202I agree, Fiorina has a crowded field and a tough row to hoe, never mind that she has no experience in electoral politics.  :cheerleader:

Anyway ...

What the Evil Overlord wants?  To retire.  He's been down and up the ladder, he's got almost enough wealth salted away, and have another year or two to finish construction on his tropical island of solitude.

Now if only he could smash any future threat of retaliation for his decades of evil, find a Trusted Lieutenant/Successor who won't wax him to prevent a comeback, get the good guys to promise to leave him freaking alone, keep his long work to build the Empire of Evil from crumbling into ruin, and ensure a perpetual supply of non-poisoned drinks in coconut bowls with little umbrellas in them, as well as complaisant and creative bedmates without concealed poisoned daggers.

I am stealing the HELL out of this.