"Your affinity for that dream will be strengthened, though not as much as if you had previously had no interest in it."

"Give me 'children' and 'the safety of others' and we can revisit the question of if I want more than that after I see the gifts." 

"Very well. We now come to the matter of your corporeal form."

"As I said earlier, the Idealization Process will create an idealized form for you, but the fact of the matter is that most people don't truly have a single ideal body or look. It's possible to pin down more precisely the form you will come to take."

"If you trust your subconscious and the magics at work, there's no need to bother with this, but the option is open."

"The only decision you truly need to make is your species. If you wish to, you may leave the tribe of humankind. Elves, Beastkin, and more walk the lands of Adastra. Such a transformation will require you to be fortified with the natural Aspects of that Tribe, which for the more powerful Tribes comes with a cost denominated in Gifts."

...Well. 

"If that's something I can spend gifts on, I expect to take more Dream Seeds. Tell me about species." 

"Remaining human costs 0 Gifts."

"Becoming an Elf costs 2 Gifts. Elves are a physically and mentally idealized race, created by the gods to live perfect lives."

"Becoming a Gnome costs 1 Gift. Gnomes are physically small but long-lived, and mentally very creative and flexible."

"Becoming a Tiefling costs 1 Gift. Tieflings are a Tribe of devils who have rejected their evil origins and are physically and magically powerful."

"Becoming one of most of the many varieties of Beastwomen costs 1 Gift. Beastwomen have physical abilities enhanced in a way that depends on their animal heritage, and sometimes mental changes as well."

"Becoming a Kumiho costs 3 Gifts. Kumiho are born of foxes and Elves, with an innate cruel cleverness, a gift for Glamour, and a bad reputation."

"Becoming a Dragonblood costs 3 Gifts. Dragonblood are an elite Beastwomen Tribe, designed to be physically and magically powerful, long-lived, with advantages at becoming immortal and four innate Aspects."

"Are the actual tribes called beast-or-whatever women specifically, or are you just using that language because I'm going to be a woman." 

The interface would sound puzzled if it was capable of emotion. "There are male and female members of each Beastwomen Tribe. Beastwomen is a generic term that encompasses both genders and all possible animal Aspects."

Thaaaaaat's going to take some getting used to. Not that Lavinia objects to the ambient linguistic sexism going the other way, just. It's new. 

"Is there a downside to being Dragonblooded, or an upside to being Kumiho, that I'm missing? Because they cost the same but Dragonblooded just sounds better." 

"The costs of the Tribes are not intended to balance the benefits to you, but to balance the cost in magic of converting you into a member of that Tribe."

"One of the few Beastmen tribes born of elves, and having all the elves gifts and more the Kumiho gain fox-aspect the fortifies their perfection with a kind of innate cruel cleverness. Elves have a natural affinity for glamour, but that's usually expressed internally inside their own mind, or to craft enchanted goods. The Kumiho can combine it with their fox-aspect to easily be leveraged into illusions and into enchantments that call upon the cycles of the natural world, using glamour shaped by cleverness to take on other forms for a time, or to invoke natural disasters."

"The Kumiho are born at a level of existence of 7, and generally reach 9 by adulthood. They grow up somewhat faster than elves. If you become a Kumiho, part of the energy taken by this transformation will be spent raising your level of existence. Kumiho need a level of existence of at least 17 to have healthy fertility."

"Kumiho have a bad reputation, one they've well earned. They are naturally cruel and duplicitous. But they were key in breaking the Nightmares, and driving their forces to Carilyis, before we snuffed out their sun."

"An elite beastmen tribe born from the tribe of humans and the dragons, the Dragonblooded are a powerful race. They have aspects of 'power' that express themselves generally, aspects of 'physicality' that reinforce their bodies, aspects of 'enduring' that let them shrug off harm, and aspects of 'dragons' that give them elemental, physical, and magical power and weight. They are intense and potent. Dragons are the only race as refined in their making as the elves, but while elves were crafted to have perfect lives, dragons were crafted to be living weapons of destruction. Dragons are largely thought of as an immortal race, but they aren't like the elves, born immortal. Dragonbloods inherit this."

"Dragonbloods are long lived and are slow to reach physical maturity."

"Dragonbloods are born at the tenth level of existence, and reach the twelfth by adulthood. If you become a dragonsblood, part of the energy taken by this transformation will be spent raising your level of existence. Dragonsbloods need a level of existence of at least 19 to have healthy fertility."

"Alright. I pick Dragonblood." 

"Very well. Your current selections leave you with six Gifts. If you have, or would like to form, particular preferences about your physical appearance, you may take a few minutes to contemplate the matter. Otherwise, the templating process will draw on your subconscious concept of your ideal form."

"Do people usually get better results from customizing their bodies explicitly rather than relying on their subconscious to know what's good?"

"It depends on how much one approves of one's own subconscious concept of their ideal form. Men who are being transformed into women by the summoning process are especially likely to benefit from conscious consideration, not having had occasion to form opinions on the matter before that point."

Well, that's not her. She supposes if she had strong conscious opinions it might be worthwhile, but all she can think of is "still look recognizably like myself," so. 

"I'll go with the subconscious option." 

"Very well. We now come to the matter of physical refinements. Some of these are just simple tweaks. Others are derived from potent lineages, and cost Gifts, or are aligned with the goals of the project and come with extra Gifts."

"Physical Refinements are techniques for altering and enhancing the body, and so they're supported by the body. Most of the aspects these grant will only be of the first ascension, but as they belong to your form, rather than you, their profundity can rise rather than being fixed as your body grows mightier. It's a slow and gradual thing, but there. They'll generally achieve an ascension of one fifth your level of existence."

"Your options are:

Increased libido (grants 1 Gift),

Optimized capacity for sexual pleasure (grants 1 Gift),

Increased fertility and especially increased likelihood of twins (grants 1 Gift),

Improved maternal and prenatal health during pregnancy (grants 1 Gift),

Control of your own fertility,

Glamour-enhanced physical beauty,

Improved mental health and emotional self-control,

Highly enhanced senses (costs 1 Gift),

Reduced physical needs and faster healing (costs 1 Gift),

Toughness and stability (costs 1 Gift),

Enhanced grace and reflexes (costs 1 Gift),

and Enhanced speed (costs 1 Gift)."

"I'll take all the ones that grant gifts and also the free ones. If I take any of the non-free ones, will they be passed on to my children?"

"The refinements are in part modifications to your lifescroll, and those modifications will be passed on with some probability in the normal manner of inheritance. The Aspects that come with those refinements are not part of the lifescroll and will not be inherited."

"...How much faster is the faster healing?"

"Using pieces of the life-scrolls of werewolf lineages, this refinement optimizes how your body processes, extracts, and uses energy."

"More importantly, it grants the Aspects 'Physical Dynamo' and 'Physical Recovery.' These Aspects grow stronger as your Level of Existence increases, beginning as subtle changes within the human range but eventually allowing you to heal from near-fatal wounds within minutes and regrow severed limbs."

"By your 9th Level of Existence, you won't need to eat on a day-to-day level, and by your 11th you should no longer need to breathe."

"The regeneration this grants is energy intensive, so you still may find yourself eating, and any matter lost must be replaced."

"...Aren't I starting at the twelfth Level of Existence for being a Dragonblood?"

"Correct. If you keep your current choice of Tribe, your additional Aspects will be 'brought along for the ride' to some extent, and it will require only one or two Ascensions to cease needing to breathe."

"I'll take that one, then." 

"Very well. Your current selections leave you with nine Gifts. Is that all the physical refinements you wish to select at this time?"

"At this time, yes."