"...Artistic-magical skill for...glassworking," she decides. She knows some things about glass already and it's really, really cool. Plus, if metalworking is popular, glassworking gives her a comparative advantage. 

"Very well. Your current selections leave you with eight Gifts. Is that all the aspect emblems you wish to select at this time? If so we can discuss the option of binding a chained spirit next."

"Binding...a chained...spirit...right, that came up when I was asking about Resurrection, didn't it." 

"Yes."

"Spiritual entities exist in a different balance of the powers than material beings. Many people on our world make the mistake of labeling every being native to a different plane a Spirit, but that's wrong. The Devils of the Iron Hells are not spirits. The Iron Hells were places of law, and that law created a consistent enough reality to be 'material.' As such, the Devils are not spirits. On the flip side, a Native Outsider like yourself is a spirit. You are a drifting piece of self-contained reality - you could walk into deep Arcadia and not be dissolved, because your laws and rules are internal to your own existence. It's merely the case that those laws and rules are the same laws and rules as those of the material plane."

"With a few exceptions, like Native Outsiders and Gods, spirits are easier to move through magic, and easier to bind through it. It's possible to subvert the balance of the power that makes them up, and through doing this take control of them by seizing the root of their existence. Technically, it's possible to do that to mortal beings as well - the fae are infamous for their soul eating - but spiritual existence tends to create vulnerabilities. At the same time, these vulnerabilities can be a source of power. A dryad's root of being is sunk deep within her tree, and through it she can draw strength and power from the land. An angel's will and Law blend together, such that they may command Order itself."

"The circle of your own existence is not closed yet. It's closing as the templating completes, but there is still a little time. In it, I may sink the root of a spirit's existence inside you. Such a being would become an extension of you. Not in mind, but in purpose: your purpose would flow down the link and command their will. Such beings would have to have a lower level of existence than you do, and will always have a lower one. As you rise, so shall they, and over time they will Ascend their icons and forge their aspects in service to their root."

"But more profoundly, your Living Nexus Aspect will strongly pour your will and power into them. They will be as priests to you, channeling your aspects, invoking your exceptions, extending your reach. Wherever they go, you in some sense are. With practice, you'll be able to extend your senses through them."

"This is a... messy way of command. They will have their own natures, and while they will be loyal to you, but as a... principle to uphold first, your living will second, and your words third. They'll be loyal to your goals, but not how you wish to go about them. There are more legalistic ways of binding spirits, but they allow legal loopholes. There are no loopholes here, they can not turn on you so long as you exist, and would have trouble doing so even after. Just remember that their nature defines how they express that loyalty."

"So long as you live, their root of existence will live, and so they cannot die. They may be destroyed, but you can reassert their existence and restore them without much trouble. You also anchor them: most anti-spirit measures will fail, and they cannot be bound by another."

"The reverse is also true, but to a lesser extent. So long as they live, they can call the root of their existence back to them, but the process is much harder, and they would need to use external resources and time. And during that time, they could be bound and subverted, breaking their connection to you until you return. If all your bound spirits are subverted or killed, and you are dead, you won't be coming back this way."

"This is... new. People won't expect you to have this. It's a tool that only became possible through the longer, slower templating process we invented."

"I see...I honestly find this idea fairly disturbing, and am only considering it at all because of the potential Resurrection hack." 

"Would you prefer to proceed directly to discussing the option of a personal Arcadia?"

"What's a personal Arcadia?"

"An Arcadia is a place, an event, and Nothing. It's an expression of glamour, divorced from Existence. As it does not exist, it is defined. As it is not limited or bound by the absurd flow of the natural world, it can take on infinite variations. Fairylands are a kind of Arcadia, but not the only one. Arcadias are infinite, but not real, and that void of reality forms a kind of... negative pressure upon reality, draining reality to solidify parts of that Arcadia. Becoming real, the rest of Arcadia drains the reality of the solidifying parts, and so what is real is finite, but fungible."

"One form of existence can more firmly tie Glamour to reality, enough so that it becomes able to endure even iron. Spirit. And so the fae steal souls to pin down their world and give it consistency, and feed on our world it fill it with variety."

"Still, while some may find it disturbing, this kind of fluid reality to has many uses, the most general of which is forging 'Personal Arcadias.' Using enchantment to define the 'story' of a piece of Arcadia, pinning down that fragment with definition and boundaries, giving it rules and principles through magic, snapping it off from the greater Arcadia with degenerate Orgone. It's a bardic art, and not a trivial one."

"Once you're fully a Pinnacle, touching your spirit in the ways needed to attach an Arcadia is impossible for anyone else - it's something you would have to do yourself. Most summoned heroes instead use their nature as a living world to achieve similar effects through the Outsider Icon, but the options are not mutually exclusive. As part of your spirit, a Bound Arcadia is part of your inner world, and can support and be supported by your Outsider Aspects."

"The stability and completeness of existence of a bound Arcadia is usually tied to how much spirit you've fed it. As you possess a Chthonic Will, your spirit will be able to feed them to a state of perfect reality. This won't be instant - it will have to feed on the overflowing 'excess' of your spirit, and that will take months. You'll be able to invoke it before then; it just won't be 'perfectly' real."

"Your level of existence will define how much can be real at any given time - even though you can create perfect reality, you can't create unlimited amounts of it. You'll have a fungible amount of 'real' in each piece of Arcadia you carry with you, based upon your own level of existence."

"The overall profundity of what you can make will be defined by your aspects, but your Outsider aspect will serve you well, as you can call upon all the permutations of the natural world. Other aspects may grant you stranger methods. And as I said, there are multiple ways to cultivate your inner world. Your personal Arcadia will make a good foundation to work into your inner world as you build it into something greater."

"Well, that sounds like it won't substitute for a bound spirit for the resurrection hack, so we'd better go back and look at those."

Your options are:

A demon of Law and Tyranny, born of the Iron Hells,

A demon of the Astral Depths, who will seek to exalt you at others' expense,

A Feral Thing, a being of violence and fear born of the Lightless Forest,

A succubus, embodying the triumph of physical want over principles,

A Wheel, one of the angels that rule over motion and the movement of energy and force,

An angel of the Astral Depths, who will seek to exalt you by exalting others,

A Justice, an angel who helps those who have been wronged,

An Elysian, one of the kindest of angels, pacifistic and dedicated to joy,

A Fairy Handmaiden, flexible in nature and goals,

An Iron Fae, tenacious and resilient but lacking somewhat in intelligence,

An Elemental of any of the four basic elements, a force of destruction,

Or A Horror, intelligent yet incomprehensible, of a race far older than the language-using beings of Adastra.

"...Tell me more about the angels?"

"Wheels are Angels that rule over motion and the movement of energy and force. Like all angels, they are of Law, but they rule over the necessary chaotic emissions needed to keep things from solidifying."

"Wheels wish to keep things moving and dynamic, but that's mostly in a physical, concrete sense. They are living tools for managing energy and motion on the ecologies of some deep astral planes."

"This one will wish to move anything that impedes you away. Usually in a physical sense."

"Hmm, angels believe in law, and so it might sound like they're easier to lead as you're the law they will follow. But... ones this primal tend to be straightforward in an inhuman manner, and absolute in their judgement. She may evolve into something more sophisticated, but for now think of her as the bluntest tool in this toolbox, though also the strongest."

"Like the Lesser Demon, a Lesser Angel is born from the Astral Depths, rather than a particular sub-plane. While she is a being of Law, as the Astral Depth contains multitudes, she can express them. They are much more flexible than most angels, but lack the defined purpose that gives them power."

"She will work to achieve your goals and increase your resources in ways that also help others."

"Justices are agents of mercy and reparation, born from the paradox of evil done in the name of law. Wherever double standards exist, there is a fault, a point where the order of law does not run smooth."

"There are several orders of angels that can be born to resolve such things, but Justices are some of the more pleasant ones. A Judgement, for example is... something that restores balance by bringing negative consequences upon those who created and furthered such paradoxes. Justices are the opposite, bringing justice to those who suffered."

"Justices are kind, but impersonal. She will wish to help, but collectively. She commands what is commonly called 'white' magic, but her power doesn't concentrate well. She could heal every patient in a clinic as easily as she could a single person. Divided across a large group, and her influence becomes more obvious."

"Elysians are born of the Blessed Fields, where the souls of the gods' favored are anchored so that they may exist beyond death. The laws of such places are bent and twisted to exalt the ghosts who dwell there. Elysium Attendants are angels born of those twisted laws."

"Elysians are the kindest of angels. They are deeply empathetic, with keen insight into the wants and needs of others. They struggle with conflict in all its forms, and this one won't be able to fight until she has evolved quite a bit beyond this state, but they excel at healing and supporting others."

"Both emotionally and physically."

"They're shape changers, always taking on the form others need of them, and they take joy in service. Honestly, I'm not sure why so many teenagers summon Succubi. Just because it's 'naughty?' An Elysian is far... well... anyway."

"You are all the joy in the world to this one."

"Why do these spirits all--potentially--have me at the center of their motivation system? Like--they exist before I bind them, right, why can't they just...keep on the way they were before? Especially the Elysian?"

"Yes. A great many of each type of spirit exist already. Any spirits you do not choose to bind will indeed continue as they are, with the root of their existence in their plane of origin rather than in you."

"Why does binding them change them?"

"It does not change their nature, the patterns of their actions. But the root of their existence becomes you instead of their home plane. They move in the same way around a new center point."

"Can you explain more about--what it means to be the root of their existence, and why that features so much in their motivations?"

"Spirits are less separate from the planes they live on than creatures of flesh and blood. They are in many ways an extension of the plane, and act in accordance with that plane's nature as automatically as fire burns. A spirit whose existence was rooted in you would similarly be an extension of your own nature."

"Does it help any if my nature contains elements of 'fuck that, you do you'?"

"An interesting question. The technology of binding chained spirits is quite new, and I haven't heard of anyone trying that strategy. The Fairy Handmaiden and Iron Fae are the most deeply malleable classes of being available, and the Wheel is most resonant with the concept of freedom."

"Are any of these spirits non-sapient?"

"It's possible that the Fairy Handmaiden or Iron Fae could be induced to be so, if that was part of your vision for them. I expect this would result in them being significantly less intelligent than they otherwise would be."