Lila wakes up in a waiting room.

The most notable thing about this room is how little there is in it. There's the one chair, comfortable enough, which she's sitting in. There's a closed door off to the side. There's a wall facing Lila, blank other than the phrase Reincarnation: your next metaphysical step.

And a water cooler in the corner opposite the door. Was that there a second ago?

The door opens, quietly, and a person with black hair just short of shoulder length and feathery wings the color of sagebrush stands in the threshold.

"Lila? Please, come in."

The sudden shock of battle floats off her just as suddenly as it'd come.

She wasn't exactly expecting this...

... but she wasn't not expecting it either.  And she's eager to hear anything they're telling her so calmly.

She jumps up and walks over.

The angel tilts their head slightly, as though there's something on their mind, but they don't say anything as they show Lila into their office.

The room on the other side of the door is similar to the waiting area in that it's pretty plain, although it has a few more hints at personality: a dusky purple accent wall, a sturdy wooden desk with binders, folders, and loose paper on its surface, and a faint smell of warm laundry. The angel takes a seat in a chair designed for people with wings and, if Lila hasn't already seated herself, gestures invitingly at an otherwise matching chair designed for people without wings on the opposite side of the desk. They glance down at one of the loose sheets of paper, make a brief annoyed expression, and are smiling pleasantly again by the time they look back up at Lila's face.

"Welcome to the reincarnation office. It looks like the processing department neglected to remove, blur, or soften the memories of your death. If you feel particularly disoriented or distressed, please help yourself to a candy."

They gesture at a dish on the desk that wasn't there a second before.

"Now, we have a lot to go over and all the time in the world to do it in. If you have any pressing questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them before we begin."

Lila perches on the chair at the invitation and takes a candy.

It's the sweetest thing she's had since the castle, before everything started.

She sinks back in the chair.  Her handkerchief is right where she reflexively reaches for it, in her pocket - it doesn't occur to her to be surprised till a couple minutes later, after she's mopped her eyes.

When she looks up, she asks, "There're departments for this?"

And then, a moment later, "Do things sometimes go wrong here too?"

Nod.

"Yes and yes. Things go wrong here less frequently than in organizations run by humans, but we are still people, and we don't always communicate with each other perfectly. And sometimes people here make judgment calls that others don't agree with."

The angel sighs, but they're smiling.

"I'd rather be doing the job I have now than work in Processing, though. Speaking of which! Do you think you've sufficiently gotten your bearings?"

This isn't the place she was expecting, that looks on to all the stories from the outside.

"So what happens now?  Do I stay - oh, you mentioned reincarnation?"

The angel smiles, shuffling some papers without actually looking at them.

"That's right. Our organization collects souls that would have otherwise been lost and sends them back into the world, although not necessarily the same world they came from. You have been selected to reincarnate into the story The Roses of Villarosa in a central role."

A quick breath.

"Specifically, you will be in the role of the villainess."

"I don't remember that story?"

The angel's laugh here seems more genuine than the professionally polite tone they've had for most of this encounter.

"Ah- that's because it doesn't exist yet."

They reach for one of the folders and slide it in front of Lila.

"And what's more, you will exert a degree of control over the story that most reincarnators don't have. Some things can't be changed - certain aspects of the setting, some plot beats, and your role within the story - but there's a fair deal that's under your creative control."

Lila snatches the folder.

"So what's the setting and plot beats I can't change?"

The angel grins at Lila's enthusiasm.

"First and foremost, you're going to live in the Kingdom of Villarosa. It's guaranteed to be a kingdom and have at least some level of social stratification between commoners, royalty, and nobility. Most of the names will be rose-themed in some way. There's a Royal Academy that you're going to attend with your fiance and your romantic rival - who will capture your fiance's heart. In the counterfactual version of the plot, which isn't guaranteed to happen per se but is still quite likely, you suffer some sort of unfortunate fate."

The first page of the folder is an advertisement:

Congratulations! Despite the odds, you have been accepted to the prestigious Royal Academy of the Kingdom of Villarosa. While attending this academy, you will rub elbows with the nobility, gain the skills required to move up in life, and even find love. But beware! Your beau is already engaged to an underhanded villainess who will do everything in her power to maintain control over her betrothed. Can you beat the odds and foil her plans? Step into the world of The Roses of Villarosa to find out!

"My supervisor is fond of a particular medium for storytelling that I don't think you're familiar with, which is why the ad copy is written like that. It's targeted towards - hm, have you ever played games of pretend, where you would act out the part of a character? There's a genre of games for one person where the player is given the opportunity to make choices that affect the story and ending that they receive, and this was written to entice people who like those sort of games to play it. In the version of The Roses of Villarosa that's a game, the player would play as your rival and make decisions from her perspective."

Lila nods at the mention of a kingdom and themed names and fiance and the mention of games of pretend, but her smile dims at the end.  "I'm supposed to be the underhanded rival to the main character?  You want me to help set up a story for someone else?"

The angel gives Lila a sympathetic expression.

"Yes and no. You see, the person this advertisement is written for doesn't actually exist. You may, if you choose, receive memories of a timeline that corresponds to the game it's promoting, but that game will never, in actuality, be made. What's more, you're the only reincarnating soul who will be consulted on any aspect of this new life, so - even though the role for you is called 'villainess' and the role for your romantic rival is 'heroine,' the story is still for you."

They purse their lips, looking to the side.

"My supervisor just has… particular aesthetic tastes."

"So he wants a story about me... in a story that looks like it's set up for someone else?  And am I really expected to be underhanded, or is that just more of what it looks like?"

"Pretty much. And - no, not unless you want to be underhanded. It's a little complicated, but…"

They reach under the desk and filp a switch, causing a hologram projection to appear over the desk, between themselves and Lila. 

(The projection is obviously much prettier and not hastily drawn by hand.)

"Okay, so here," they gesture at the red vertical line, "is when you'll be born. From your birth until here," they gesture at the pink vertical line, "you are the same person as the villainess in the counterfactual game. At that point, you'll start to regain memories - of your past life, of this planning session, and of the rest of the story, which is everything between these two points." They gesture between the pink and orange lines on the top timeline. "You can use this knowledge to make different choices from what 'canonically' happens - that is, what your memories of the story tell you happens. Fate will be pushing you towards the canonical story, mostly in the form of coincidences and incentives, but your choices will be entirely your own. This," and they gesture towards the orange line, "is the end of the canonical story. After this point, regardless of what choices you made, fate will stop attempting to influence you in any given direction. Of course, there are some factors that may complicate what I just told you. But we'll get there when we get there."

They dismiss the hologram and chuckle quietly.

"Did that help clarify things?"

"I think so..."

She's still pondering what it would mean to know what "fate" is trying to do - but to have been given the option to go against it, as explicitly as she could possibly imagine.

Nod.

"Okay. If you do have further questions, don't hesitate to ask them. That being said…"

They shuffle some papers again.

"We're going to plan out the details of the canonical story and world first. These don't need to be set in stone in any particular order, and I'll go over all your decisions with you to make sure it's what you really want before authorizing the actual reincarnation, but a lot of people like to have a loose agenda or framework to structure their thoughts with. Go ahead and take a look at the next page in that folder."

She nods, smiling, and turns the page.

Genre

Epic: Whether it's a space opera, sweeping tale of fantasy, or something entirely new from your imagination, an Epic Villarosa is larger than life. The stakes, drama, and overall scale of your story will be at their highest within this Genre. Expect dramatic twists and turns, shocking reveals, and heartbreaking sacrifices. 

Down to Earth: By contrast, a Down-to-Earth Villarosa is at a smaller, some would say much more manageable scale. While there's still plenty of room for drama and exciting reveals, in general the events within this Genre will feel more realistic and restrained.

Musical: The less serious baby cousin of the Epic Genre, a Musical Villarosa is exactly what it sounds like - a world where people can and do break into song and dance to express their big feelings. Although it may seem silly on the surface, the Musical genre can be used to deliver powerful emotional payoffs.

Dystopia: Dark and gritty, the Dystopia Villarosa is a bad place to live. Oppressive social structures and government control over the populace loom large. It's the heroine's duty to try and bring a better future to pass - although she'll also have to balance it out with a love triangle, for some reason.

Fucktopia: At first glance, you might say that a Fucktopia Villarosa is nothing but an excuse to cram as many horny tropes, concepts, and worldbuilding elements into one story as the author could get away with. And you'd be right! While other stories might run on the rule of cool, rule of funny, or rule of drama, this Genre runs on rule of sexy.

Time Period

Preindustrial: Anything from before the Industrial Revolution qualifies. Since we'll be constructing your world to spec, you don't have to worry about anachronisms as long as the general aesthetic and flavor of your time period holds water. Certain inconveniences may be smoothed over with the appropriate Magic Level, although even with a Magic Level of None we'll do our best to keep infant mortality and deaths from disease low.

Industrial: Just as the name says, an Industrial time period coincides with the dawn of industry. Factories are popping up, reshaping the way things are done in all spheres of life. At this point in time, electric devices are becoming a reality. Extends through approximately the turn of the twentieth century.

Alternate Tech Tree: This Time Period is a bit of an oddball and usually, but not exclusively, propped up with a bit of magic. Steam-powered industry, alchemy-powered technology, zeerust - again, Alternate Tech Tree is an oddball where you'll get a good deal of creative liberty.

Contemporary: Anywhere from the turn of the twentieth century to the turn of the twenty-second. You can include capitalism, the internet, climate change, weird '50s American cuisine, the World Wars, the space race - anything that floats your boat.

Near Future: The realm of science fiction. Computers are everywhere, possibly even sapient artificial intelligences. Body modifications are cheap and easy to obtain. In more optimistic iterations, all of this is powered by clean, renewable energy, but don't let that constrain you if you don't want to.

Interstellar: Humanity has taken to the stars! Space tourism, space warfare, space exploration: anything you can think of, it can be done IN SPACE! Expect to see robots, sapient AIs, and possibly aliens.

Magic Level

None: Exactly what it says on the tin. Comes with an extra advantage.

Low: Magic is the stuff of legend, a once-in-a-generation occurrence. Not much is known about it, and you would be forgiven for assuming that your world has no magic at all.

Medium: Magic can be anywhere from rare to decently commonplace. There may be some degree of a masquerade, or it may simply require lots of dedication and hard work to get magical results. Being a magic-user will still grant you a leg up in a setting of this magic level.

High: Magic is ever-present, a pillar of daily life. Pretty much everyone you'll meet will have some magic to their name, though abilities may vary wildly. By default, includes the advantage Magic User.

"What's an industrial revolution?  Factories?  Capitalism?  Internet?  America?  Computers?  And what's this new way of counting centuries?"

"Oh, darn it, the ad copy is written for a cultural perspective that's completely foreign to you. Here, let me -"

The hologram returns, this time displaying a slideshow of scenes of assembly lines, factories, and other scenes appropriate to the Industrial Revolution.

"Okay, so - broadly, industrialization is when a society shifts from mainly agricultural to mainly dominated by, well, industry. A factory is a location where things are made, usually at a massive scale. This is extremely useful for manufacturing machines, but it can be very dangerous for the people who work in it. Capitalism is an economic system predicated on a theory where the price you pay to purchase goods or services is predicated upon how much you need the good or service and how much the person selling it to you has. The Internet is - basically what you get if you give the majority of a planet's population the ability to, at least in theory, communicate with everyone else on the planet. America is a country that exists and comes to be culturally dominant on a lot of Earths. Computers are - well, they're what the Internet is built upon, for one, but they're primarily machines that are good at math and can be told to do specific kinds of math in a way that yields infinite results, if you're creative enough about telling them what to do. The centuries in the brochure are based on a calendar system that's, again, culturally dominated on the Earths that have Americas."

As the angel talks, the hologram displays appropriate imagery.

"That's, of course, a pretty pithy overview. I can instantiate more thorough instructional material on any of these topics if you're interested."

It sounds like magic.

As in, it sounds like a lot of really useful but really complicated things that she has very little idea how they work.  And unlike magic, it sounds like you can't do it yourself; you need to do it with a lot of other people.  Maybe she'd feel different about that if she'd grown up with it instead of being about to be dropped into another world.

"That sounds amazing, and I'm sure it's great for the people who're used to it... but I think I'll go without it here.

"So I guess that means Preindustrial, and... I'll want some more magic than I came from, though.  At least Medium."

Among other things, that means she could escape sudden sword attacks without having to learn to fight herself.

The angel nods and presses another button underneath the desk. The hologram screen splits into two - one side that's still showing the last part of the slideshow and one that has the two choices Lila's made:

Time Period: Preindustrial

Magic Level: Medium

"This is just for reference, so you don't have to mentally juggle everything. Do you have any Genre preferences at this time, or do you need to hear more information?"

"Epic - I'll give us a dramatic story."