"Understood. Thank you. I think we can put down Servitude for now, then, and move on to the next stage." And he'll update his mental worldbuilding notes.

Scritch scritch goes the pencil.

"The next section is Minions, where your options are Maid, Classmates, Admirer, Animal Companion, AI, and Butler; you may pick any two non-Maid Minions to add to your free Maid. I'm also meant to tell you that the heroine will have a single companion of her own, who will be generally less effective than one of your Minions; the Hero's Daughter's standard companion is the Mentor, an older family friend with a role similar to your Butler. Shall I read out the individual descriptions?"

"Yes, thank you."

All those except the AI sound rather unimpressive, frankly. Presumably, though, they - like the Maid - have more skills than would be likely at a first glance.

This will give you a female personal servant (or a cross-dressing boy, if you like, though such would surely be scandalous if revealed). Unlike any "normal" maids you have, a Maid minion is guaranteed to be highly competent, almost unquestioningly loyal, and have some useful skill beyond housework. Most commonly, she might double as a bodyguard or a spy. Oh, and even if it makes no sense in your setting, she can come with a traditional maid outfit, if you want.

This minion is actually two people, but they will almost always act as a pair. Picking this gives you two female classmates your age of slightly lower social status, whose families are formally or informally in service to your own. These two are therefore predisposed to be your friends and follow your lead. The Classmates are probably the most independent and proactive minions, and therefore also a deniable asset. They can be counted on to give you insight into the Academy gossip and help subtly manipulate it; both of which are tasks your exalted status can make difficult to accomplish yourself.

This minion is the male counterpart of the Classmates, though he is only a single boy. He is a talented but not exceptional fellow student with an obvious crush on you. While he knows and accepts he has no chance with you, that doesn't mean a bat of your eyelashes doesn't twist him around your little finger. You may choose for him to be a rival or a friend of your fiance; either way he will prove a useful tool.

You may optionally choose to take an extra flaw. If you do, select one of the choices you have not already picked for Your Fiance to be your Admirer instead.

This minion is some domesticated or tamed animal that you have bonded with and trained. In technologically advanced or magical settings, it will have near human intelligence as a genetically engineered or magical companion; in more mundane settings it will simply be an implausibly well trained pet or steed. This can be anything from a pet cat to a pegasus mount. You can even have a dragon, but only if your Villarosa's dragons are the lesser kind that can be reasonably domesticated; not if they are monsters of vast power.

This gives you a human-level artificial intelligence as a personal servant. Besides the obvious advantages of an ally that never tires or sleeps, the AI will be capable of trivially hacking and controlling any run-of-the-mill computer systems. If Als are common in your Villarosa, the AI minion will still be more advanced than the commonly available kind.

Unlike your other options, this minion is not directly your servant, but is instead a much older person, usually employed by your father, who has taken a liking to you. This character is often a man, but can also be a woman. Their actual job title could be Majordomo or Head Maid, or they might even just be an old friend and ally instead of holding a formal role. They are extremely skilled, but they are unlikely to ever intervene directly in your struggles. However, they instead can be an important source of grounded and wise advice, if you are willing to listen.

Artificial intelligence is mandatory, and Maid (bodyguard, it translates) is free, he won't need two. Animal Companions are no help, and Classmates - no, "independent and proactive" minions are Fate's tools, not his. This leaves the question of Admirer or Butler; he's tempted by Butler, because it raises the prospect of getting Andrew on his side (for the first time in his life), but not if the Hero's Daughter is assisted by a Mentor; he can't afford to give Andrew a place in the story at all if he might find himself on the other side from Sandor.

"No need for the traditional outfit," he says drily. "AI, and I suspect Admirer."

She makes her note.

"The next section is Perks," she says. "You may have two of them for free; all others must be earned by taking relevant options or by balancing them with Flaws in the following section. The list is a little long so I'm going to make an effort to summarize but I assume you'll want all the detailed descriptions eventually."

She clears her throat again, and: "Bad for Her, Good for You lets you choose an outcome from your list of possible Fates to inflict on the heroine if she loses. Double Route introduces a second love interest, betrothed to someone who is not you, and allows the heroine to choose between them. Equal Friend introduces a second villainess as your friend and ally. Extra Minion gives you another minion. Feminine Wiles grants you incredible skill at seduction. Goddess of Beauty makes you incomparably beautiful. Good Ending offers you a canonical story path where you reconcile with the heroine and avoid your Fate. In Love causes your fiance to fall in love with you in addition to the heroine. Lady of Battle gives you exceptional combat skills. Magic-User gives you ordinary amounts of magical power for someone in your setting who has magic at all. Magical Prodigy upgrades that to exceptional magical power. Marvelous Talent gives you an ordinary talent or skill which will be considered a traditional hobby for young ladies in Villarosa. Ohohoho! gives you a supernaturally intimidating laugh. Scientific Revolution doesn't apply to settings with a tech level higher than Early Modern. Silk Hiding Steel increases your ability to function under pressure. Surprisingly Useful Skill allows you to choose an existing skill of yours and have it apply to your new life in unexpectedly useful ways. Unearthly Insight enhances your intuition and gives you hints about what is happening in unclear situations. Yuri Heroine makes the heroine bisexual."

"I understand Extra Minion. I know I am not interested in Good Ending or Yuri Heroine." He does not notice the flinch; he's been flinching very often recently, inside his own head, and usually it just means that THEI IS DEAD or that (he's a bad father), and it's very hard to notice, sometimes, what else it can mean. "You said earlier that Magic-User was free if I picked High Magic, and that you believe I do not need Silk Hiding Steel." He can function under pressure perfectly well, as the present situation attests. "I would like full descriptions for Double Route, 'Bad for Her, Good for You,' Equal Friend, Feminine Wiles, Goddess of Beauty, In Love, Lady of Battle, Magical Prodigy, Marvelous Talent, Ohohoho!, Surprisingly Useful Skill and Unearthly Insight, if you have no objection."

And he will have more specific questions about some of them later, he expects. (Does Equal Friend actually mean an equal? When has he ever had one of those?)

While the game Roses of Villarosa has multiple routes, by default in your story the heroine will be following only the route where she "captures" your fiance and comes into conflict with you. If you select this perk, the heroine will instead progress down two potential routes. Select options for Your Fiance and Your Role, and these will be the other "capture target" and his fiancee. The heroine's attentions will be divided, and you may be able to manipulate her to choose the other man... but doing so would surely make an enemy of the other villainess.

Roses of Villarosa was "originally" a game, and with this perk it is possible for the player to lose. Go back to the Your Ending section and select a choice other than Disgrace. This is now the fate that awaits the heroine in her bad ending for your fiance's route, with your and her roles reversed. Your meta-knowledge can help you reach this ending, but that's a mean thing to do to a nice young woman like the heroine. I guess you really are a villainess, huh?

Remember how the other options you didn't select in the Your Role section still exist? You can pick one of those villainesses to become your friend and ally. She won't take orders like one of your minions, and she'll expect your friendship and support in return, but she will still be a great help.

No offense to whatever seductive skills you had in your previous life, but they aren't as good as what we'll give you with this perk. Pick this and you will have a particular talent for attracting and manipulating men. You still won't be able to stop your fiance from falling for the heroine, though you might delay it.

By default you will be quite an attractive young woman, but with this perk you will be widely considered the single most beautiful woman in Villarosa. It's shallow, but there's no denying this can be a powerful advantage.

Your fiance will always fall, and fall hard, for the heroine. But if you pick this perk, you and your fiance will start the story genuinely in love. This will make him conflicted as he finds love with the heroine, more sympathetic toward you, and easier to win back. But you will be feeling these emotions as well... so it will hurt so much more if he picks her over you.

Depending on the details of your version of Villarosa, you may have some level of combat training by default. Even if you do, this perk will take it to the next level, making you a highly skilled fighter on par with the strongest members of your class.

This perk is the one that makes you an extraordinary magic-user, though not one out of line with what others - such as the heroine - might achieve. This could take the form of simply being more powerful, or having access to unique or rare magical abilities. Or both! [Requires Perk: Magic-User]

Life isn't just battles and magic, and with this perk your canon self- and you - will gain a great aptitude for something outside those domains. Think art, dance, a sport, mathematics, or even underwater basket-weaving. You don't need this perk just to be good at something, but taking it will make you world-class. Whatever you pick will be considered a traditional hobby for young people of your status and gender in your Villarosa, as well. You may select this perk multiple times.

You gain the ability to deliver the villainess laugh on command, and something about it is almost - or depending on the setting, maybe actually supernaturally intimidating, striking dread into your foes and encouraging your minions. You will be a much more feared and imposing person, and even the heroine will hesitate to directly confront you.

A skill of your choice from your old life will serve you well in Villarosa, giving you an unexpected edge. Maybe a computer science degree is oddly applicable to crafting magical spells. Maybe those Shakespeare sonnets you have memorized allow you to become a great poet by bringing them to a new world. Whatever you're good at, we'll make it work.

You will have a talent for piecing together hidden connections and staying one step ahead of events. This doesn't really make you any smarter, but can make you better at applying your intelligence. Depending on the details of your Villarosa, this could take the form of actual premonitions, excellent deductive skills, or simply having eerily accurate hunches.

"Double Route" would obviously be the most powerful, since it would halve his odds of defeat - if he was playing a normal game, instead of a world-domination game. "Bad for Her, Good for You" would be the correct one to take if he expects to win, since it would get him a powerful ally to assist him in maintaining power. "Goddess of Beauty" would fail against any love interest worthy of him. "In Love" is a deathtrap; if he can't maintain his composure, he's hopeless. "Lady of Battle" is superfluous, "Ohohoho!" is unnecessary, and most of his skills will already serve him well in Villarosa. This leaves "Feminine Wiles," which disgusts him but does indeed cover his admitted weaknesses, "Magical Prodigy," and "Unearthly Insight" to go along with "Double Route," "Equal Friend" (how equal?) and "Bad for Her, Good for You" as prospects. (And of course he'll want Elf, he can see how this fits into his master plan already...)  

"Questions, then.

"On 'Double Route', is the heroine still Fated to seduce my betrothed, or is she Fated to seduce one of the two?

"And on 'Equal Friend', how competent should I expect her to be - should she scale to my competence, like the difficulty of escaping Fate, or is she merely as capable as a normal villainess in this kind of story, or neither?

"And can I specify that what I want from 'Unearthly Insight' is my present power at whatever level I can buy it at, or is that a misreading of the perk?"

"On Double Route, both your own betrothed and the alternate love interest will fall in love with the heroine, but it is up to the heroine which one to seriously pursue and it is often possible to arrange that she choose the other one. On Equal Friend, there is no guarantee of true equality but it is usually the case that your friend will be chosen specifically with an eye to personal compatibility, complementary skillsets, and a tendency to be able to offer you useful support at least as often as she needs your own support in return. Specifications you make about the nature of Unearthly Insight will fall into the category of worldbuilding suggestions and be taken into account in the same way."

"Understood."

He pauses.

"I think I'll need to see the Flaws, before I make decisions about Perks."

How many does he have? Just what will they do? Can he afford to assume he'll win, and can therefore afford "Bad For Her, Good For You" or not?

She nods and flips the page.

"To summarize: Abhorrent Admirer gives you an acquaintance who is in love with you but is unattractive, useless, annoying, and impossible to get rid of. Anything You Can Do makes the heroine better than you at literally every skill you have or develop. Dark Secret gives you or your family a scandalous secret, the details of which you may specify at a higher priority order than any other worldbuilding element you suggest. Ditz gives you attention deficit disorder. Equal Enemy activates another of the villainess roles and makes her hate you. Ghost In The Flesh gives you the canonical villainess whose role you're assuming as a second personality. In Character forces you to behave in-character as your canonical counterpart except when acting anonymously. Jealousy makes you debilitatingly jealous of your fiance and the heroine. Magicless removes your magical power; you can only take it in a high-magic world. No Compromise alters your personality to be incapable of accepting any outcome where you do not win your fiance completely. Patriarchy makes Villarosa sexist. Peggy Sue gives the heroine complete memories of a timeline in which she faced your canonical counterpart and learned all of her secrets and weaknesses. Save The World introduces a broad-scope threat such as an invasion or apocalypse. Sickly gives you poor health at a level that is inconvenient but not deadly. Spoiled Rotten gives you your canonical counterpart's expensive tastes and tendency to throw tantrums when she doesn't get her way. There's Two Of Them adds a second heroine as the heroine's friend. Unattractive makes you ugly or disfigured."

... All right, what the hell is wrong with Anything You Can Do. Is it just a lose button? (No, it's to go with Good Ending if you personally have skills at empathy, compromise, and negotiation. A coward's choice, but an effective one.)

Dark Secret looks both free, and an excellent excuse to give himself secret superpowers. Ditz... would be less than ideal and at some point he will find who chose that name for it and roast them alive.

(He drums his fingers against each other.)

Equal Enemy is a mild problem, how mild depending on how vulnerable to assassination she is. (Probably not very.) Ghost in the Flesh could theoretically be endurable. In Character would either be debilitating or free. No Compromise, same. Peggy Sue is also known as 'suicide'. Save the World seems wholly acceptable... Sickly would be dangerous... Spoiled Rotten would be suicide... There's Two Of Them would be suicide... probably, maybe not if it was the Poor Princess... Unattractive could be manageable...

"Dark Secret, Ditz, Equal Enemy, Ghost in the Flesh, In Character, No Compromise, Save the World, Sickly, There's Two Of Them? Unattractive?"

You or your family have some secret, the revelation of which will be devastating. The details are up to you, but popular options are being secretly bankrupt, treasonous, or in possession of forbidden magic.

This won't make you actually any dumber. What we will do with this flaw is alter your personality to ensure that intellectual pursuits are a low priority. Reading will bore you, and you'll be easily distracted from your studies. Your natural talent will ensure you can still pass your classes, but you won't be at the top of the class. Oddly, this flaw can make the perk Unearthly Insight more powerful.

This is the opposite of Equal Friend. Take one of the options for Your Role (that hasn't already been picked). This girl will take an immediate dislike to you and become your rival. While she might be the villainess of a different route, in this route she will ally with the heroine against you. But maybe you can use her villainous nature to drive a wedge between them?

You may choose to also bring the remaining villainess into your story similarly, if she is not already your friend, but this will not count as a second flaw.

The bright side of this flaw is that you'll never be alone! Instead, the "original" canonical villainess of the story will be living in your head alongside you. Maybe you can be friends, but she's not a very nice person, and will probably be trying to take "her" life back. She will be able to take control of your shared body temporarily with your permission, or when your mental strength falters.

You may select this flaw twice, in which case your positions are reversed and you start as nothing but a voice in the villainess's head.

We can add a compulsion that will force you to try to stay in character as your canonical self. You're not going to be forced to follow her canonical path to the bad ending, but you'll need to make sure that your actions can be justified as something a selfish, spoiled rich girl like your canonical self might do. However, you can shift what counts as in character slowly over time by believable character development, and the compulsion will only apply to your open actions; deeds done secretly or anonymously are exempt.

At the conclusion of your conflict with the heroine, if you avoid your bad ending, the compulsion will cease, though by that point you may be used to acting that way.

We'll alter your personality such that, like the canonical version of your character, you will be incapable of simply conceding your loss to the heroine. You won't accept losing your fiance, or sharing him, or anything else. He will be yours, and you won't settle for anything less unless forced to.

It could be as simple as an invasion by a neighboring nation, or as dramatic as the Demon Lord rising again to destroy the world. But now Roses of Villarosa has an adventure element, as the heroine and your fiance successfully save the Kingdom of Villarosa from some threat. You too will face great danger, and you'll have to be careful that your efforts to save yourself from your bad ending don't create a worse one.

By default, the body we'll give you is fit and healthy. With this flaw, you'll instead have a weak constitution, a tendency to fall ill at the slightest provocation, and a persistent cough. This won't ever kill you, but it can be dreadfully inconvenient. I don't recommend taking this with the Actual Pre-Modern tech level.

Remember how I said there wasn't room in Villarosa for multiple heroines? Well, now we'll make room. Go back to the Your Nemesis section and pick another heroine, and she will exist. She will not be romantically interested in your fiance, but she will rapidly become the actual heroine's friend and therefore your enemy.

You may choose to also bring the remaining heroine into your story similarly, but this will not count as a second flaw.

It's not fair, but looks matter, and with this flaw yours won't be winning any awards. You might simply have an unfortunate face, be disfigured significantly in some way, or just not match the body type preferred in your Villarosa. Regardless of the specifics, you won't be considered attractive, and it will prove a significant social handicap for you in your new life. [Incompatible with Perk: Goddess of Beauty]

"Thank you," he says absent-mindedly.

Dark Secret: Free. (It gives him forbidden magic!)

Equal Enemy: Thank you no. Ghost in the Flesh: No, Save the World: Free, Sickly: No, There's Two Of Them: Good god, no, Unattractive: Less than ideal... Ditz: Unacceptable for the ruler of the world, unless - "I assume there aren't medications available, even in science-fiction settings, that can be used to nullify the costs of this flaw?"

(And that leaves...)

"Even in science-fiction settings, you will find that the flaw still affects you in the described ways regardless of your use of medication," she confirms. "The effects can be managed and lessened, but not nullified."

Right then.

"So the question, then, is In Character." He steeples his fingers. "The question is if, if in fact all my open actions what a sufficiently intelligent selfish, spoiled rich girl would do, is this acceptable, or is she forbidden from being aware that kindness, empathy, hope, generosity and forethought are worthwhile as wholly practical virtues, totally ignoring their moral value? Because I can easily believe that she and I have the same goals, barring only that I am sixty-eight and not a fool and so know better methods."

"That seems like the sort of thing you have a very good chance of achieving by providing notes that emphasize your canonical counterpart should be notably intelligent," says the angel, adjusting her glasses. "Though I can't guarantee that your characterization... hmm..." She frowns slightly, thinking to herself. The light-points flare in her pupils again. "—hmm, I have an idea and I'm not sure if it will work because I can't find a record of anyone else ever trying it—theoretically, if you took Ghost In The Flesh, and convinced the spirit of your canonical counterpart that your actions were the actions she herself should have taken, that would make them de facto in-character, and would mean that you would be able to alleviate the restrictions of In Character by justifying your actions to her. I think. I don't know if that's the sort of thing you want to try, but as far as my understanding of the system goes, which is generally pretty far, it should work. But the strength of the edge it gives you over simply taking In Character and making strong suggestions about your counterpart's personality may not be enough to justify the downsides of the flaw, because taking In Character and making strong suggestions about your counterpart's personality is a fairly solid solution already."

... "If I take Ghost In The Flesh she will attempt to take over my body whenever she has the chance, and will desire to take over my body. I think that making suggestions about my counterpart's personality is likely to be the best solution."

He pauses. "In Character, Dark Secret, Save the World. Are Flaws the last section?"

Because in that case, he thinks he's ready to begin describing himself and the world.

"Yes, that was the final section."

"... One question, then," he realizes. "You said people I bring in will recover their memories. Is this guaranteed or optional?" Can he bring in Andrew and Minerva or will they endlessly oppose him?

"It is possible to bring someone in with the intent that they will not recover their memories; they will then not be guaranteed to recover their memories, and will instead by default not recover them; but neither will they be completely guaranteed to lose them forever, if for example someone within the setting discovers a way to recover lost memories from past lives, or if your Villarosa interacts with another universe after the conclusion of your plotline and something unpredictable happens. —your Villarosa will not interact with other universes before the conclusion of your plotline, but afterward, it is the sort of thing that has occasionally happened, and generally makes it difficult to guarantee that any particular event will definitely never occur. By and large, though, you can be sure it won't happen within a handful of lifetimes from the point of your arrival."

"... I see. Thank you."

He'd assumed he'd bring in ten people. He was thinking of which ten. He was counting names, trying to imagine who he'd sacrifice.

Then he realized they'd recover their memories after the story was over, and then he realized what it meant.

"In that case, I would like to make two lists of people to reincarnate into the world, one recovering their memories - after the story is done, no doubt - and one not. These lists will be very long. For now, though..."

He shoves the chair back and stands.

"Let me then give the second draft - break in if any of this is a problem. Elaborate silver hair, elf, space opera, high magic, as we discussed; royal princess, noble prodigy, hero's daughter, servitude, free Maid, Admirer, AI. Bad For Her, Good For You, the Rich Heiress as an Equal Friend, Magical Prodigy, Unearthly Insight; the Flaws are Dark Secret, Save the World, and, yes, In Character."

Spins, turns, begins pacing; no matter how long the strides he takes, the room is large enough to accommodate him.

"Let us begin with the Star Kingdom of Villarosa, or whatever name the design team chooses for it." He flashes her a grim smile. "Founded around five hundred years ago, or so the story goes, by refugees from a destroyed civilization sharing their secrets with the nascent civilizations they met, bringing world after world into harmony and unison together. These are, of course, the 'space elves,' and the people they rule over are largely humans or humanoid aliens lacking tremendously plot-interesting abilities. They have a feudal hierarchy - since it is demanded - ruling over a great many worlds with a combined population of a trillion or trillions; most of this population is de facto autonomous, living under its own laws, paying negotiated tribute to regional and planetary lords who possess military spaceships and supernatural powers, and the duties of protecting their people from interstellar threats and assuring them representation at the royal court."

Pace, pace, pace.

"Average life, for those people on the ground, is very good; scientific progress is not exceptional, thanks to limits on social mobility, but the average person's life is very good, thanks to immense total societal wealth. There are socially valuable jobs doing useful and productive work, planetary and system-wide internets, good matchmaking for entertainment and relationships, and overall all the opportunities required to live happy lives, such that the vast majority of the population is enormously more comfortable with their lives than on Earth, strongly preferring living to not living. Average lifespan is about ninety; average intelligence has a much narrower band than for people on my Earth, with what Earth would call average intelligence being considered 'unintelligent' here, but the upper reaches of the population being in roughly the same place - the range that would catch as large a fraction of Earthlings as fall between 60-140 IQ on Earth would find a populace averaging 100-140, by Earth's standards." Doesn't have to deal with idiots, check; hasn't just superintelligenced himself out of relevance, check.

"The nobility is defined by their ownership of spaceships, and their elven blood, and by the opportunities for advancement found in the fleets of the royalty and the high aristocracy that maintain order in the Star Kingdom and defend it against its foes, and by their psychic powers - I would prefer that name to 'magic' for it to avoid straining genre," he adds, "though of course it is the same meaning. At the peak of is the feudal hierarchy Elves; immortal under pleasant or ideal circumstances, they wither and age as swiftly as humans in unpleasant or unhappy circumstances, but can recover their youth if restored to better conditions." So he won't condemn himself to slavery for ten eternities if he loses. "They are - what does it say? 'More intelligent, swift, strong, magically powerful, attractive than humans'? Just so. They are cross-fertile with humans, though the children are recognizably human except that they might possess psychic powers; once those powers were only found amongst the elves, among whom they are universal, but five hundred years is nearly twenty human generations, and though the less elven blood the less chance of developing powers, with any blood there is some chance. Elves take only one elven spouse at a time but may have multiple human consorts, usually though not always sequentially. Most of the aristocracy is descended, therefore, from one of about two hundred initial Elven colonists, with careful choosing of spouses and consorts from amongst the nobility and the upper levels of the common people to avoid intermarriages. Elves come of age at the same time humans do, and master skills at the same speed if they wish to train, though some prefer to avoid doing so; the elder elves can therefore extraordinarily formidable, though very few technological developments have come of them - a new paradigm advances over the bodies of its detractors, after all, and few elves have an interest in science."

(He's almost growing younger, as he speaks; wrapped up in his monologue. The spell he is weaving is a thousand distractions, hidden weapons for him to wield against his enemies disguised amid profuse building details, thorns in a garden of roses.)

"Psychic powers are stronger based on - a random element of talent at birth, on trained skill, on intelligence, at the tutors you've had. Their peak is the royal family, which possesses rare techniques, one-hundred-percent elven blood, and the best tutors," and in fact their peak is him - elf+silver hair+magical prodigy+Being The Titanium Tyrant is every modifier he could find to stack, "but they are present throughout the nobility and are, indeed, considered evidence that commoners who possess them should be admitted to the nobility, through marriage, adoption, or occasional merit scholarships into a royal or aristocratic fleet. Psychic abilities are carried out through mental motions without required physical motions, though untrained psychics may use them to help them focus, and include very weak precognition, telekinesis, shielding yourself or others from harm, creating heat or lightning or kinetic energy, enhancing physical abilities and detecting but not reading minds, though non-artificially-intelligent computers can be communicated with - and, indeed, this is one of the major uses of the powers; to cause ships and their pilots to effectively synchronize, producing a more effective stellar combatant than any non-psychic-crewed ship. All of these, of course, scale with power. At the absolute highest levels, a psychic can read or send emotions, teleport long distances, instill compulsions - of which the most famous is a servitude compulsion used only very rarely in history, only by the royal family, and only on infamous but extremely-skilled rebels, to tell the truth, support the compeller's cause, and not oppose their will - and very occasionally receive long-distance visions of the future, these being of the Fated future if there is one or otherwise of events as likely, and otherwise possible - but difficult - to oppose. Imposing compulsions requires overwhelming the psychic defenses of the target, and minds have a signature that is possible but difficult to disguise, and possible to recognize if seen again, though not to tie to physical features."

"There is an afterlife. It is reincarnation, it is well-known to exist, and it is merit-based, according to total-sum utilitarianism, with the best lives awarded to those who have done the best job of contributing to the flourishing of all entities capable of feeling joy, this flourishing being summed according to every conscious act done throughout that "soul"'s consciousness, in any lifetime. After each life, your joys in that life are counted as paid to you as reward, your suffering in that life is counted to you as owed to be repaid in future lives, along with the good you have done as owed to you and the evil you have done as charged against your credit, and the score of all your previous existences is then updated with the score of this one. (This afterlife is, of course, used in propaganda by the existing nobility to justify their own power; they have, after all, received their position as rewards for their goodness.) Additional powers, strategically-useful memories from past lives, and good fortune will strike those whose karma is positive (again, by utilitarian standards); poor fortune will seek to discharge negative karma. To the extent that the system is intelligent it attempts to steer all lives towards having net-positive impact, but it has little power to do that since it will always put justice above encouragement."

And, since everyone's lives are good, they'll deserve good lives, producing more good lives to deserve more lives, all of which he is ethically responsible for as the creator of this universe, causing him to have an insanely-high, constantly-rising karmic score that ensures he will have the best life possible every generation he is born, admittedly subject to his Fate.

"Does all this work, as a world? Should I go on - to the Royal Family, and the Dark Secret, and the threat the world must be saved from, my enemy - and myself?"

A pen appears in the angel's hand as he begins dictating, and she scribbles notes at frankly superhuman speeds, nodding or frowning occasionally as she listens and processes everything he's saying.

"Yes, I think that all holds together reasonably well," she says. "You have the option of constructing a magic system in a Space Opera setting that is outright magical, called magic, and either facilitates widespread magitech or provides an interesting contrast with the more traditional technology of the setting or both, but what you've done here is also perfectly viable. Go on."

"The Royal Family is elves, and in its second generation - the founders came in the initial group, but as young adults still with their parents. Both King and Queen have had a number of children with mortal consorts, but have only had two together, a son and a daughter a year apart, and that recently. Both ruling royals are competent, neither exceptional; both understand elven psychology very well, human less well; both are psychically powerful - two of the three strongest alive - and on the tremendous resources they control as monarchs; the Kingdom under them is prosperous, but doing tremendously less well than it could be. Both of their children have been engaged to humans as early political marriages; the assumption is that the humans will die in seventy years or so and that it will be good practice for 'real' relationships.'" There is irony in his voice. "The son is the Prince Charming; well-intentioned, kind, able but held back by his sense of morality, torn between loyalty to his family and the family interests and doing right by the people of the realm, with a knack for every skill he's put his mind to. He is engaged to a fantastically rich young lady who is extraordinarily socially gifted, not especially moral, and understands kindness and generosity as tools to build resources and reputations, not as goals in of themselves. (We will get to her later.) He may be the - fourth - most powerful psychic in the world."

"The daughter is, of course, my character. She is the most powerful psychic in the world - 'elf', 'silver hair', and 'magical prodigy' suffice to justify that; it is also justified, of course, by royal tutors, which she has been provided with many from a young age, few of which she gets along with. She is spoiled, selfish, holds grudges, enjoys flattery (but has a knack for telling if it is honest), enjoys what she is good at and dislikes what she is bad at, despises being pushed around by others - which caused a rift with her parents that she prefers to pretend does not exist - is almost completely friendless but deeply attached to the tiny number of people who she cares about (her brother's affianced, who has been teaching her how being a good person is instrumentally useful, and her maid, and the artificial intelligence given to her as a guardian and teacher, the most powerful known to exist), but also very intelligent. She prefers indulging in her vices, but is prepared to put off this indulgence if a crisis looms - she is, after all, immortal, and there will always be time for games later, and she has self-control even if she dislikes the need to use it. She is very strong-willed, which as a child she usually wasted on quarreling with people for no particularly good reason. She has an extremely effective intuition which she often steers by and suspects may be psychic divinations; that gift, very rare, is believed to be confined to the royal family, with the King and his mother before him being the only two elves to commonly report visions. She is betrothed to -"

The Tyrant, still pacing, pauses to cast a smile over his shoulder.

"Well. We will get to him later."

And his boots are thudding again across the carpeted floor. (It is, at least, carpeted when his boots are on it.)

"She has just received a prophetic vision that a specific girl is going to seduce her fiancé away from her and then have her psychically enslaved via the traditional family compulsion, and considers preventing this her highest priority. Suddenly she needs to grow up, and has almost no one who she can to depend on. And, 'in the game', she makes the wrong decisions, teetering chaotically into worse and worse methods, distrusting her loyal advisors, driving her betrothed away by her attempts to keep him to her, and ultimately causing her own defeat. A failure of picking plans from out of the wide window she considered to use to accomplish her goals, not of the goals themselves. Here, she has a better means of picking plans."

"Does all this seem reasonable?"