Atavism

[Idea noted on 8/22]

[Interactive novel, will only begin after reaching 150 preorders]

"This world is on the verge of destruction. Ascending to a higher dimension is humanity's only way to survive."

"No matter what it takes... we must keep our civilization alive."

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All intelligent life across the stars is divided into two camps. One supports mechanical ascension and the eternal preservation of information; the other supports the "ancestral return theory," believing that mere mortal bodies can transcend and become gods.

[Route One] Transcend the human body and become a god

Before civilization began to sprout, before the world had taken shape, there had already been seven eras. The "life forms" that inhabited the first seven eras were the origin of all things. They had no reason and were ruled by instinct, born as part of the laws of nature. The "beings" of each era had different traits.

Humans can acquire seven corresponding signs from the seven eras through "ancestral return":

[Endless Winter], which commands stillness and disappearance; [All Living Things], which manipulates thought and souls; [Mutation], which symbolizes the bizarre and the distorted; [Astral Colors], which alters the unreal and the real...

Each person can awaken more than one sign. With any combination of the seven, countless people seek to become gods of a higher dimension.

You are a moderately well-known painter with neither technological talent nor ancestral-return bloodline, planning to live an ordinary life. Until one day, you are struck by a meteorite from beyond the heavens and accidentally fuse with the blood of an ancient creature. You...

Can you make it to the end of the path of ancestral return?

[Route Two] Flesh is weak; ascend through machinery

Your mother was the chief quantum physicist at the Academy of Sciences. Her future seemed bright, yet she disappeared when you were seven and was never heard from again. Though many expectations rest on your shoulders, you lack your mother's genius and are just an ordinary citizen of the Federation.

Until one day, you find a notebook your mother left behind...

[Reader's guide]:

1. Set between science fiction and fantasy, with a future interstellar setting;

2. Votes determine the direction of the story. The minority follows the majority, and progress may be paused if there are too few voters;

3. Some highly requested options that aren't ultimately selected will be written as alternate routes;

4. Only children choose one of two. Adults want both! So some major choices, such as the path of ancestral return the protagonist takes in Route One, may not be limited to a single combination. Another combination may appear in the next volume, after one volume is finished, as if loading a save and starting over, with the story changing too.

Theme: Civilization must endure