"Broadly, I think, they work the way they do because of the way Heaven works, and because of the way that quintessence... Folds, metaphorically, into stable bundles, not unlike proteins. I do not have a better explanation that would take less than years of schooling to truly understand."

"Oh, I like the protein analogy... Okay. Vow of Compassion. Might add Honesty and/or Charity if I need the points. I might need a definition of 'lies' for Honesty purposes but for now let's move on."

"The next aspect is Form- That is, wings and halo, which we had discussed briefly before. Having a halo costs three quintessence, and having wings costs two. Both can be shown or hidden at thy will, in about a full minute for wings or immediately for halo. A version of the halo that is a physical object that cannot be hidden costs only one instead of three. The wings may look essentially however you should wish they look. They need not be white. Should you choose, for two quintessence your wings can be literal gold, which is useful when paying for things with feathers, as they will grow back. Their weight to you and ability to fly are unaffected. Should you choose to depart for Virata, your wings can be composed of elemental magics instead of physical matter- Either fire, lightning, ice, water, or light. This would make a natural weapon and boost your ability to wield the selfsame magics somewhat, this costs three quintessence."

"Ooh..." She's making notes in neat little columns on separate pieces of paper now. "Even an unhideable halo can dim, right, tentatively let's go with unhideable halo and yes wings."

"Next is the Foundations, which are a variety of categories where we can spend quintessence to improve your existence in general ways. The foundations are: Appearance, Heritage, Superior Wings, Quickness of Mind, Endurance, Strength, Durability, Regeneration, Senses, Sustenance, Magic- Requiring that thy not choose Astrata- and Agility. In the lens of games, you might think of these as stat boosts. After that would be Blessings, which are like passive abilities."

"How many foundations can an angel have? I'm curious about Quickness of Mind and Magic especially but would like to hear about them all."

"As many as they have the quintessence for, and they each come in three sizes, each requiring the previous. The first boost to Mind of primarily one of memory; You will no longer forget things and have an easier time looking for relevant memories, cost one. The second to memory again and also to the ability to learn new skills and languages, cost three, so four total. The last costs five yet more, so nine, and in addition to furthering the first two changes also makes you an innate multitasker, able to track dozens of active concerns at once without any of them suffering from your distraction. This is something I predict you wish to know more of, but I struggle to think of succinct examples."

"Do you not know anyone who took this one?"

"I do know of such people, and I have this Foundation myself as I am in fact holding multiple conversations in multiple places at once, but again I struggle to articulate the character of the change. It is not like thinking faster. It is like thinking... More at once."

"In parallel?"

"Yes. I am not much faster at thinking on this conversation even if I focus my entirety upon it; I merely consider multiple facets at the same time. How shall I explain the remaining foundations? How might you react to the notion of quickness of mind? Are there any examples I can assemble together, such as this one? Are there any other comforts and courtesies I had missed, like Heaven's light potentially bothering you? And on."

"Quickness of mind sounds really good, maybe unless it makes it easier to get bored. The magic one? I assume if it's not compatible with Virata it lets me do some kind of magic that isn't commonly available so I can't have it where common availability is already happening."

"Magic as a foundation requires that you are going to a world that contains magic, which is any of them except Astrata. Three quintessence gives you access to light-based magic, which would for all three worlds include truthtelling, illusion, attacks, scrying, certain types of shields, often but not always healing, and possibly more esoteric matters, exact mode depending, of course, on which world you have chosen. You will still require time to learn and practice its application. Six more gives you access to all branches of magic save for that of evil and death. Three more atop that will allow you to use magical energy as Heavenly favor for the purpose of miracles, or vice versa."

"...are branches and types of magic the same in all worlds that have any at all? Physics aren't..."

"No. Virata has magic centered around 'elements' such as lightning, fire, light, dark, or ice. To Virata such energies are as elementary as protons are to Earth, and this is why 'elemental wings' are only an option for Virata. Noctis still had the concept of light and evil magic, but it is due to association of light and evil with certain concepts and acts. The outline is similar to Noctis but the details differ for Abyssia, too."

"So when you say all branches of magic except for evil and death, those are... categories that angels and I guess demons use, not categories from the world-local magics?"

"Yes."

"What are all the categories?"

"We categorize magic into light or good-aligned, dark or evil-aligned, and 'other'. Each world will have its own ways of understanding magic, ways which may or may not overlap with Heaven's."

"So when you said 'all branches of magic' you meant something like - any kind of magic I run into as long as it's not evil, on top of the angel-native light magic you mentioned...?"

"Light magic is not a thing that exists independent of the world you are in. What exactly 'light magic' is, depends on the world, but will generally consist of the previously described types of things. Let us take some examples."

"In Virata, magic comes in elements. Light and dark are valid elements, as are water, fire, lightning, ice, earth, and metal. Light magic is magic that uses the elemental mana of light, which is systematized and stable in a way. There are specific spells that one learns or invents and can teach others, and which do things like create or dismiss illusions, create barriers, detect lies, and heal others."

"In Abyssia, magic is largely intuitive and not teachable. There are few 'standard' spells. You would be able to learn magic that is light and good in character such as barriers, truth-telling, scrying, and so on, at the first level. People in Abyssia do not think of magic as 'light' or 'dark' generally, but the types of magic you will be capable of channeling, remain the same, an associative web defined by Heaven."

"- oh, okay. So it's sort of like, if I have wings, I'll be able to fly, unless of course I am underwater because that's not how flying works; if I have magic, I'll be able to pick up magic powers appropriate to wherever I am, unless of course they're evil because that's not how angels work?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"Okay, cool, glad we figured that out. I guess that's a point against Astrata, that's a pity, it sounds otherwise pretty cool... do I get to re-spec if I die and want to go to a different world next time?"

"Yes, if God had chosen you for an angel once again. Which happens more than three times in four, and those not chosen being generally those who had failed to accomplish much or had fallen to sin."