Every soul that enters the Void of Awakening arrives stripped of form, history, and certainty. Memory fades. Identity dissolves. Only awareness remains.
This is intentional.
Paradise is not a gentle world. It is a land of empires that crush cities beneath marching feet, of gods wounded by weapons, of kings whose will bends reality. A soul born into such a world without preparation would not live — it would vanish.
Thus, before rebirth, every soul is offered a single mercy.
Not power.
An Anchor.
An Anchor is not a blessing. It is a scar you are allowed to keep — a fragment of yourself preserved against dissolution. It defines how much of your former existence survives the crossing, and in doing so, determines the scale at which you will exist in Paradise.
The Ferryman does not guide this choice.
He does not advise against ambition.
He does not protect the foolish.
He only asks one question:
“How much of yourself do you dare to carry forward?”
Before selecting an Anchor type, every soul must choose its Anchor Depth.
This choice determines starting power, growth rate, and narrative weight.
You carry only the bare minimum needed to survive.
Begin weak, mortal, and vulnerable
Growth is slow but stable
Legendary power must be earned
The world does not immediately notice you
This path is chosen by those who want struggle, tension, and ascension through action.
You retain a strong fragment of yourself.
Begin above average
Early access to exceptional abilities
Growth responds strongly to effort
Factions may take interest
This is the balance between fantasy and consequence.
You refuse dissolution almost entirely.
Begin overwhelmingly powerful
Access to abilities others may never reach
Growth is explosive but unstable
The world pushes back
Those who choose this path are not subtle.
Paradise notices them immediately.
The Ferryman’s warning is always the same:
“The higher you stand at birth, the sooner something will try to kill you.”
Once Depth is chosen, the soul selects one Anchor Type.
Only one may ever be held.
This Anchor preserves physical conviction — the refusal of the self to yield.
Those reborn under the Anchor of Will arrive with bodies that respond to belief. Muscle, bone, reflex, and endurance grow not merely through training, but through intent. Pain does not stop them. Fear does not command them.
They do not channel magic.
They impose themselves upon the world.
Superhuman strength, speed, durability
Extreme resistance to fear, pressure, and domination
Rapid adaptation under combat stress
Potential to develop Will-based techniques
Injuries are remembered by the body
Retreat causes regression
You instinctively draw challengers
Your presence provokes conflict
This path mirrors the titans of Arnot and the philosophy of strength made flesh.
This Anchor preserves cosmic attunement, allowing the soul to bind itself to one primordial force at rebirth.
Upon choosing this Anchor, the soul must select one Cosmic Essence:
☀ Solar Essence — Creation, vitality, fire, revelation
🌊 Tidal Essence — Water, motion, adaptation, inevitability
🌑 Void Essence — Absence, silence, gravity, entropy
⚡ Storm Essence — Lightning, wind, momentum, rupture
The chosen Essence shapes magic, perception, and growth.
Immediate access to supernatural abilities
Strong affinity with relics and artifacts
Faster magical progression than native casters
The world reacts to your presence
You are vulnerable to suppression, decay, and imbalance
Essence overload causes permanent damage
Enemies can sense you
Losing access to Essence hurts the soul itself
This path reflects the tragedy of the Almoni — power without immunity.
This Anchor preserves cognitive continuity — logic, memory, and abstraction beyond mortal limits.
Souls reborn under the Anchor of Mind gain access to an Internal World Interface, a silent construct that organizes thought, probability, and information. It does not speak unless summoned. It does not feel. It does not care.
It simply calculates.
Those bound to this Anchor may access fragments of their origin world’s knowledge and material goods through a conversion system.
Items may be purchased using Paradise currency
Conversion rates heavily favor Paradise
Complex technology degrades unless supported
Knowledge transfers more cleanly than objects
A firearm becomes a curiosity.
A concept becomes an empire.
Accelerated learning and mastery
Perfect recall of chosen data
Strategic foresight
Market, political, and logistical dominance
Emotional desaturation over time
Moral distance from others
Attachment erodes
People become systems
This Anchor creates kings of coin, architects of nations, and silent tyrants.
This Anchor preserves structural integrity — the cohesion between soul and flesh.
Those reborn under this Anchor arrive with bodies that resist reality itself. They adapt to scale, gravity, pressure, and environment far beyond mortal limits. They do not excel immediately — but they survive everything long enough to learn.
Extreme environmental tolerance
Adaptive physiology
Resistance to instant death
Compatibility with giant-blood, augmentations, and relics
Healing requires time and rest
Trauma leaves physical marks
Pain is vivid
The body remembers everything
This is the path of survivors, colossi, and those who refuse erasure.
The Anchor does not define destiny.
It defines how hard Paradise is allowed to try and kill you.
Those who choose power early will face gods.
Those who choose weakness will face time.
Those who choose knowledge will face themselves.
And the Ferryman watches all of it.
Silent.
Unmoved.
Certain.
Because every soul chose.