"Okay..." she says slowly. "I think I understand. Thank you."

She really, really wants both of those long-term growth powers. She wants them so much. She might not be able to afford them, if this world is cutthroat enough that she needs to front-load in order to land on her feet, but she wants them.

"What are the details of the remaining categories?"

"It is my purpose to aid you. There are only two options that build on your Pinnacle Abilities."

Half a second. "The first is Rewarding Destiny. This would normally take decades of dedicated effort to develop out of your Pinnacle Aspects of Input Idealization and Outcome Enforcement, since it uses them...backwards. As other people's actions impact you positively, your own aspect invests influence in them. It's not a influence they can invoke, though. Instead, the actions of the world become magnified or distorted through it. Hmm, I see I'm confusing you. People who help you become lucky. They become nonsensically lucky. Input Idealization improves the world around them so that minor nick-knacks become treasures, Outcome Enforcement means their casual whims lead them to incredibly chance encounters. If they help you enough, it may seem like the gods themselves wish to reward them, for a time at least.

Two seconds. "The second is Specious Mien. It operates using similar principles to Rewarding Destiny, but with very different goals. This idealizes and changes the image of you inside other people's minds. People who've just met you and who have never heard of you before will likely think of you as a distant acquaintance they're fond of, but the insidious part is that this leverages every bit of 'you' in their minds. The more they see, think, or hear about you, the more their image of you will warp. Over time, you'll take up more and more of their mind, purpose, their everything. You can halt or remove your influence if you wish. I hope you find the will to do so, or this gift shall surely warp you: Chthonic Will will do little to protect you from your own choices. While this is powerful, there are mental defenses that will protect against it. It will obviously fail against any other hero's Chthonic Will, but there are many Aspects that fall short of that still could help defend against this. Most, but not all, could be overcome through greater power. Your own Chthonic Will is an example of one that will not be overcome through... well, pretty much any method." It continues in a somewhat different voice. More emotional, and with a slightly more human pattern of emphasis. "You will be powerful, but not omnipotent. Please consider whether you want to make enemies from the moment you land."

Two seconds. "Do you have any questions?"

(If only she could believe the creature about that purpose.)

Those both sound like bad ideas she doesn't want—or, well, one bad idea she doesn't want, one just sort of generally weird and unappealing—and they have enough competition that she's not eager to keep them in the back of her mind as options Just In Case. Moving right along.

"No questions about those. What about the next set?"

"Both of these interact with time rather strangely. I hope that they are used wisely."

Two seconds. "The first is Declaration. While you can't see the future, you can... feel through it, "feel" through the cloud of your possible futures, pick a slice of those futures, and grant them... weight? reality? Essentially, declare that something possible will happen, and throw the support of your Input Idealization and Outcome Enforcement behind them. I don't expect that you can support more Prophecies at once than your Ascension Rank, but... this is the power of a god. In breadth and in subtlety. That's not purely to your advantage, as it could be so diffuse as to become invisible. While both of the Aspects this draws upon are dramatic when concentrated into a single person's actions, when wielded by your Prophecies, they'll be spread across all reality. I can't accurately assess how powerful this is. Used skillfully, it could nudge the fates of worlds, used wrong and it could be washed away by the flood of random events. The higher your Level of Existence, the more oomph each prophecy will have, as your Level backs your Aspects. So just improve your Level, and even poor usage of this will become frightening."

Two seconds. "The second is the Hydra's Choice. You can suspend a choice, and make an extra decision. From that point forward, you'll live in 'both' worlds, until either you choose or are forced to 'close' one of them, committing to that not being real. You should be able to have one 'extra' branch for every Ascension, and hold off committing for around 12 hours per ascension. You can divide these between as many or as few 'branch points' as you wish, and give up or create new ones with a thought. It seems like everyone else must live in the world you choose. I would say that this is a front-loaded power, because the merely linear scaling will make it effectively drop off in impact compared to other options."

Two seconds. "Do you have any questions?"

"I... don't think I have any more questions about these yet," she says. "I'd like to hear more before I decide which Exceptions to take, in case there's relevant information I don't know yet." In particular: can she go for both of the very far-loaded ones or is that a terrible idea, and what makes the most sense to take as a third Exception. But she doesn't feel ready to ask those questions while there are still so many pieces missing from her map of this reality.

The voice answers without missing a beat. "The next step will be Icon selection." A brief pause. "Before Icon selection, you should learn about the different sources of supernatural non-Iconic power that you may access."

A half second. "The first power is Magic. Magic calls upon Moral Law to inform the world how it should be. A law of fire will tell you that things ought to burn, that it is a commandment that they do so. Magic is the force of order, and each law is a broad thing that countless principles can be derived from, called relationships. These relationships explain how the Law can express itself - the moral way for the universe to exist. Magic is uniquely suited to command not only magic, but Glamour and the flow of Nature, and its imperative way of interacting with the world can simplify many things. For example, while Druids primarily manipulate The Flow of Nature through External Orgone, they use magic as a medium to interact with and target what they wish to manipulate, even if that manipulation is done through Orgone, and they use magic to understand and hold absurd complexities of what their transformations and command must express. While this isn't the only way to do this, it is the easiest, and so even a 'pure external Orgonist' like a druid uses magic in subtle but pervasive ways."

Two seconds. "The second power is Glamour. Glamour is the expression of a story, a narrative. It gives connection and direction. Glamour spawns infinite dream realms that exist and are destroyed every moment, all without mattering. Without the Astral, those stories are incoherent and say nothing. Without the Flow of Nature, they are insubstantial. While Glamour is infinite on its own, it can only matter or have substance when it interacts with the moral or the physical, thereby limiting it. Glamour can tell a story, bring the world into a story, or bring a story into the world. The last is known as an Arcadian Manifestation, and is... dangerous."

Two seconds. "Glamour suffers banes. Some banes are specific - most undead fear the sun for example, but others are universal, like how Iron breaks glamour. Generally speaking, the more degenerate states of The Flow of Nature are universal banes to Glamour. Iron being the most degenerate, and therefore the most stable, form of the cycles of matter. More dynamic states may be the bane of particular expressions of Glamour, but not Glamour in general. Spirit, usually harvested from souls though there are more innocuous ways to generate spirit, can greatly stabilize Glamour, and give it an existence not subject to its banes. Well 'fed' glamour can also resist its banes, but if what it fed on was not spirit, that state is not stable and will revert over time. The use of glamour is called Enchanting and Enchantment."

Two seconds. "The third power is Orgone. Orgone is the flow of life, a part of the Absurd Flow that orders itself and has direction. The Material World is formed out of the Absurd Flow of the Cycles of Nature. The Absurd Flow, or The Flow of Nature, is the substance of the material world. Not only is matter made from it, but so are space, time, and the tendencies that rule them. The Vard call The Absurd Flow "Cosmic Energy", and maybe that more closely matches the understanding you have from your world. The Absurd Flow is the wellspring of chaos, an ever-changing, inconstant force of substance. As chaos is self-defeating, The Flow of Nature defeats itself, conflicts with itself, forming into cycles. These cycles can be concrete, like Iron or Helium or Light, and also more abstract ones, like Entropy or Time. They form the riverbed of expression that the Absurd Flow of Nature traps itself in, and hence creates the illusion of constancy over the seething chaos of the physical world."

Two seconds. "Most people who manipulate the material world do so through Orgone. It behaves itself in a way the nature doesn't. Such people are either Internal Orgonists, controlling and developing their internal energy and using is as a tool, or External Orgonists, turning the flow of nature outside themselves into their own Orgone, and then using that to direct and control nature."

One second. "The final power is Psionic. We don't really understand it, as very little psychic phenomena occurred before the opening of the Sky-Shift Bridge. Afterwards, it spread to Adastra, but it's new to us. What we can say was this it isn't new, it's a hidden element that was always there. It's associated with thought and the mind in a way that's clearly related to Glamour, and Glamour and Psionics work well together as if they were two pieces of the same puzzle. Still, we don't really know how it fits into everything. Psionics appears to apply will to directly change the world. Sorry if that's an incomplete explanation."

Three seconds. "Do you have any questions?"

It's a fascinating structure that seems on the face of it to have absolutely nothing to do with the way things actually work in the world she's actually lived in.

Much as she itches to ask about interactions between systems, she resolutely keeps those questions on the inside.

"I think I understand. Go on."

The being does not seem to observe any inner conflict whatsoever, responding with the swiftness that seems characteristic of its pre-recorded statements. "There are 29 classes available for you to choose from, selected for the needs of the project and what would be best for you."

Half a second. "There are twelve Icons that specialize purely in supernatural forces. The Wizard is the pure wielder of magic. The Druid is a pure wielder of external Orgone. The Orgonist is purely focused on Orgone, in whatever form it takes. The Sensualist is a master of raising Orgone through sex. The Enchantress is the pure wielder of Glamour. The Psion is a pure wielder of psionics. The Priestess works for a god, while the Binder works with or takes advantage of gods and similar beings. Nightmare Psychics use Glamour to incarnate horrors, with power but without precision. Summoners are mages who specialize in summoning. The Perfumist modifies perspective with Orgone to affect Magic and Glamour. The Bard is similarly muddled and usually has to approach problems sideways, though it was a Bard's song that snuffed out Carilysis' sun."

Three seconds. "There are five Icons that specialize in melee combat. The Warrior excels at every aspect of martial combat. The Changeling Knight weaves Glamour into themselves and Stories, making them immune to the effects of iron  The Practioner is a master of internal Orgone manipulation, which is easily applied to combat. The Spellsword uses magic to supplement their physical combat skills. The Mind over Body adept uses Psionics to enhance their power."

Two seconds. "There are four Icons that specialize in crafting and creation. The Scientist studies Orgone to generate tools from Natural Law. The Cobalt Mage forms the bodies of their defeated foes into tools. The Artificer works Magic, and a little with, Orgone to create wonders. The Alchemist uses Orgone to break down essences and energies, and reshape them."

One second. "There are three icons that explore. The Seeker of Delights loves freely, sees others as they truly are, and finds experiences. The Student learns from the world, studying spells one day, swords the next, geology the third. A Challenger's Aspects are trophies won from foes."

One second. "There are five harder to categorize Icons. A Circle of Towers Druid specializes in crafting personal Aspects, either through their metaphysical connections with others or through the creation of physical things that impact the flow of nature. The Lady can use their raw desire to empower their subjects, or be empowered by their desire. A Ritualist of the Congress is a specialized tantric ritualist. The Rogue is relatively weak in itself as an Icon, but from it you can easily draw many more Personal Aspects than your peers. The Mastermind touches lightly upon Orgone and Glamour, weaving the fates and actions of others towards their own goals."

Two seconds. "Do you have any questions?"

...all right. Well.

There's an obvious big question, but does she dare ask it?

...no, she's going to stall a bit first. "What more can you tell me about the Psion and the Orgonist?"

No pause at all. "The first you have asked about is the Psion. While the lands of Adastra have a deep history, many things are yet unknown. Order comes from Magic, and as Orgone organized itself into life, Orgone came to have meaning, bringing magic upon it. As Orgone follows a law of cycles, and those cycles came to have meaning, yet that meaning constantly changed as the cycle flowed forming stories, and from stories Glamour was born. Spirit, then, was the nexus. The psychics who came across the shifted bridges during the Fourth Apocalypse put a lie to that understanding with their Psionics. Born from Curiosity, the Psion is one of the youngest Icons, and the least understood. Vectored from the spirit, connected in some ways to Glamour, but poorly understood, Psionics is a power that lets the will act upon the world directly. It is not of law, for it follows no pattern or order or meaning. It is not of chaos, for it is a force of purpose. It can act upon both chaos and order. The only thing we truly understand is that it is of the mind. If you take up this Icon, you'll be trail blazing, with all the risks that implies. Still, we need to understand more, so if you take up this road, you will be rewarded with an extra Gift."

Two seconds. "The second you have asked about is the Orgonist. The flow of life and nature, Orgone is a primordial force. It's in the trees, but also in the storm clouds. Some people control it through religious practice, through discipline, through ritual, meditation, or pure skill. Born from Wisdom, the Orgonist doesn't commit themself to any particular path towards mastering Orgone. Nor do they focus on internal or external practice. They study the force in every place it rises. This is a broad Icon, the tool of the ambitious. In some ways it isn't the ideal choice for a Hero - its own aspects tend towards the broad. Still, the problems are short term; the strengths are forever."

Two seconds. "Do you have any questions?"

Hmmm. "What is a Gift, in this context?" She probably should've asked that one much earlier, actually. It's not the first time the word has been used in that way.

No pause. "Your Icon, your Exceptions, these are a part of the Hero Summoning spell. Gifts are things that we give to you, in part as thanks, in part as inducement to further the goals of the project. Gifts will include Aspects added to your physical body, an adjustment to your race, and bound spirits and Arcadia."

One second. "Do you have any questions?"

"Besides the Psion, which if any of the other Icon choices come with extra Gifts or other such rewards?"

No pause. "Circle of Towers Druid, Lady, Ritualist of the Congress, Cobalt Mage, Artificer, and Mastermind will also give you one additional Gift. You have already received a gift for being interested in men and women, leaving you with six gifts."

She's what.

"...why have I received a gift for being interested in men and women?" she asks, though she's not sure she dares hope for a useful answer.

No pause. "Bisexuality makes you naturally semi-compatible with some of the goals of the project. If you wish to later further align yourself to increase your interest in becoming pregnant, you will gain an additional Gift."

"...why," she says, and then stalls out there for just a moment. No, focus. "Why... is increasing interest in becoming pregnant... a choice that the project wishes to incentivize?"

A complete pause, without motion. "I will let the Maylaith explain."

I am of the Maylaith, a small pantheon of gods that hold domain over sex, reproduction, and family. As such, I feel that we are best suited to explaining one of the goals of the project. When egg and seed meet, fragments of the parents' lifescrolls join together, and form a new one. Lifescrolls are unstable outside on their own. It requires a certain solidity that comes from one's Level of Existence to maintain their stability. If that stability isn't there, the lifescroll comes apart and life fails. And the only support a fetus has is from its mother. As such, the mother's personal Level of Existence is the deciding factor if a pregnancy can happen.

Life scrolls improve over generations, but that improvement is suppressed by rising infertility. Generally speaking, lifescroll quality is a range - the parents could prouce a child along a wide range of possible 'life scroll.' This is not the case with Heroes.

A Hero's Outcome Enforcement Aspect means that all such unions will produce a lifescroll of higher quality than the best possible lifescroll quality the two parents should be able to produce together. This means that the requirement is raised to the greatest limit the two parents could produced together, with all that entails. Long term, heroic offspring will somewhat raise the average requirement for their line, but that can be bred for or against over subsequent generations. Short term, it means many male Heroes are effectively infertile.

We are not small-minded, and the Tribes are not livestock. We understand and are fine with the fact that the lineages will develop in their own directions, rather than some ideal one. But understand that we... the Maylaith... are not friendly towards male heroes. They have damaged many lines and ended a few outright. Dozens of generations of careful breeding, gone, because an important heir decided to marry her savior, and then couldn't have children with him. It's a waste.

Female Heroes, on the other hand, can revitalize a line having issues, and heroes quickly gain in level of existence. They can bear children from lineages with even the harshest requirements.

One of the pillars of this summoning was to increase the number of female Heroes upon the land, and trust that they would gather to themselves impressive bucks. It knows that it will sometimes fail at this, but so long as it sometimes succeeds, and produces few male pinnacles, then it is an overall success.

...

That, actually, is giving her Ideas.

"Thank you," she says to the Maylaith, because it seems best to be polite to gods.

Then she thinks for a moment.

Yes. Okay. At this point, it's time to quit stalling and get serious. Even though her mind itches badly with nerves at the thought of being open about any of her goals or preferences here.

She turns to the Unnatural Explanations Creature, as best she can. Hesitantly, she asks, "...what resources do you have available for explaining magical theory in detail, such that I might learn what the best options are to take if I want to do a specific probably-obscure probably-difficult thing with my life?"

The Maylaith is static, now, like the Unnatural Explanations Creature.

The UEC needs no time to start answering this one. "I have a sub-routine for analyzing how to best achieve a given goal with the options available to you. If you articulate what it is, an explanation and answer will be provided. Knowledge of magical theory was not considered very critical to selecting whether or not to choose Wizard or Spellsword compared to another path."

"The goal I'm contemplating is to create a potentially indefinite number of duplicates of myself. Not necessarily with the same Icons or Hero status, not necessarily with the same physical form, but with the same base personality; in fact, ideally I would create indefinite duplicates of myself most of which had the same base personality and different physical forms and who went on to make different Icon-related decisions, so that in totality all of me could explore more different ways of being than a single person can explore alone. The method I'm thinking of, now that the Maylaith has explained about reproductive constraints, is to have a lot of children and overwrite their personalities with my own before they begin having experiences, and if possible I would then go on to teach the same trick to at least some of them so they could do the same with their own children. I'm not sure which Icons or other choices would best serve that purpose, or whether another method would be better suited to the goal. What can you tell me about that?"

Four seconds. "A Circle of Towers Druid has a deep connection to their lovers, and more relevantly offspring, including in the womb, and can use this to generate Aspects. There are no known prior instances of what you propose, but it is predicted that this route would be most effective for you, as it will enable you to customize Aspects to affect the children that you are already deeply connected to. This would be a slower route, but ultimately more powerful, efficient, and flexible. You would likely develop Aspects that enabled you to share magic, Orgone, and other kinds of power, substitute stories with one another, spread consequences and harms across the multitude so any individual was minimally affected, and more."

Two seconds. "If you merely wish to imprint your personality upon a child, the Psion is a sensible choice. You would likely develop Aspects that would enable you to synchronize and share thoughts with your duplicates. The Psion also offers more immediate power."

One second. "Do you have any questions?"

"...how easily accessible are these Icon choices after I enter the world? You've said that I will most likely end up binding more Icons later on; will I have access to the same selection at that future time that I do now, or will future Icon availability be determined differently somehow? If I want to eventually bind multiple Icons that contribute towards my goal, it makes sense to start with the one that will be hardest to come by later on, if their availability will change."

No pause is needed. "There are some Icons that have not been offered to you immediately: if you wish to pursue them you could wait, but it is generally considered sensible to bind your Icons as soon as possible, and it is highly unlikely that a government would enable you to bind Arcadian Conjurer fast enough, to pick one example. Of the Icons that you have been offered, Lady would be difficult without marrying into nobility or carving out a territory of your own first. Priestess would be unwise to choose later unless you choose Tree of Possibilities: the obligations of the God upon you tend to scale with your power level, but the power it grants you scales with your Ascension in Priestess. Finally, pursuing Nightmare Psychic would be frowned upon by most, and what may be tolerable immediately upon arrival, when you knew little, may be less accepted when you are already an established power."