Avowed

> *"They’re superheroes*, thought the boy. *Real ones."*
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As part of the deal (Interdimensional Warrior's Contract) with the Artonans, each planet's System may select, at random, some individuals to gain what Earth calls superpowers. For Earthlings, the Avowed are those who have the power to become superheroes - or supervillains.

In exchange, the Artonans may **summon** the Avowed and their powers for given tasks, usually on the Triplanets.

Although there is compensation for the service - monetary or otherwise - the summons themselves are more often than not obligatory, and outright **mandatory** in the case of Emergency Summons.

An Avowed's power and capabilities is determined by several factors, such as:

* **Rank**
* **Class**
* **Foundation points**
* **Skills**
* **Traits**
* **Spells**

While those categories have different options on different planets - as each System tries to accommodate its given species - some general patterns seem to hold true everywhere, and **Earth's System** in particular is very well-documented throughout the story.

## Earth's System/Contract

> “*Shapers and Healers are on the floors below us,” Natalie said. “And Meisters and Adjusters are above. There are only a few U-types here right now, but they have their own floor at the top of the Brute tower. They don’t mingle a lot. Wrights are in that square, blocky apartment building. And Sways are over there,” she pointed at a low brick structure that looked distinctly prison-ish. “It’s actually very nice inside. They mingle even less than the U’s. I think they have their own community building activities for credits. Oh, and any ultra-rares usually get mixed in with the Healers or us Rabbits.*”
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Humans have a variety of different classes to choose from, which is not always the case with the species that enter the Contract. Some particularities of Earth's adaptation to these powers in relation to other planets touched by the Artonan Contracts are of note: the creation of Anesidora, an artificial island specifically to house the planet's Avowed, and the superhero-supervillain dynamic in general.

The ranks of Avowed are ordered by this system in a sequence of letters, progressively stronger: **F, D, C, B, A, and S**. The ranking roughly corresponds to the amount of power an Avowed has, in a way that corresponds to a concept introduced significantly deep into the story: that of **authority**.

While the rank may determine an Avowed's overall power level, a **class** generally determines how that power is utilized: in the available **skills**, **spells**, and **foundation points** distribution by the System.

As such, one's class is the main differential (other than rank) of an Avowed supers' powers for use in human society, or an Avowed's use for Artonans in the Triplanets when being summoned. Humans tend to be selected as teenagers, usually between the ages of 14-18.

The following classes are considered the most important:

### Adjuster

Adjusters of Reality (shortened to Adjuster) choose a starter skill and usually several spells that combo with it from a very wide variety of options. This basically allows them to determine their own subclass at affixation.

After the initial choice, the System limits and streamlines the type of spells and skills they're offered in the future. Alden originally wanted to be an Adjuster.

### Brute

A giant class, making up almost a third of all Avowed and a slightly larger percentage of superheroes. What all Brutes have in common is a large foundation point pool that they can allocate, which is supplemented by skills and spells relevant to their particular subclass.

While all Brutes tend to be more physical than other classes, there's actually a lot of diversity within the category, since the System puts any Avowed whose talents are primarily based around the improvement and modification of their own bodies into it. So shapeshifters, strongmen, speedsters, longsights, superhearers, and quite a few more all fall under the Brute umbrella, even though their power sets are very different.

### Chainer

A class that specializes in Wordchains, something separate from Skills or Spells, but which may be aided by them. It is considered by some wizards to be, along with contract tattoos, one of the oldest forms of magic to exist.

On Earth, it is a class uniquely monopolized by the Velra family, to such an extent that imagining a different cultural landscape might afford an entirely different set of knowledge about what the class implies, what its powers actually are, and its place among the other classes offered.

As of now, it is understood as something similar to prayer, where one gains a magical boon at the price of an equivalent sacrifice later - or vice-versa.

### Healer

They heal. C-ranks and above are gifted with extended lifespans. Unlike video-game healers they do not heal seriously injured people fast enough to send them back out to fight, though they do have pain relief and emergency healthcare options.

They're someone who can fix your broken bone in a few hours or days, not minutes. A lot of healing magic is species-specific. All healers will have the ability to help members of their own species and the Artonans, but unless they're working in very specific conditions it would be foolish for them to choose options that would work on a third species. Healers who must work on a third species are usually heavily assisted and directed by the System.

They can be either Healers of Body, or Healers of Mind.

### Meister

Specialized to use a specific tool, supplemented with magic. Not all tools are weapons. Meisters can also be experts in the use of artistic or industrial implements. Not all tools are Earth-based.

### Rabbit

This is the friendly, good-looking, umbrella-wielding class that is also great at doing chores.

### Shaper

Magical control over a specific element, with elements being fundamentally based on an alien definition rather than a human one. It's standard for beginning shapers to start out only with telekinetic powers over their element.

A Sky Shaper has to get very advanced and powerful to go from throwing airballs to weather alteration like the Gloom.

### Sway

Usually specialize as reader types or manipulator types, though they can hybridize if they want.

Complaints to the Triplanets mean the latest generation of human Sways have access to many more specific and limited mind control options than older ones did. So they can choose not to be a mind control generalist and can instead select very specific alters that make their powers still useful and more morally high ground.

### Uniques

Sometimes called U-Types or U-Classes interchangeably, they do not fit the standard classes given to Avowed, and are usually treated as Artonan experiments, going from radically contradictory skill and spell choices, to strange synergies that would not have otherwise been possible.

They are experimental in many senses of the world, and as the title implies, unique. This has both benefits and downsides for superheroes.

### Wrights

Build magical tools and weapons. Can use them themselves--often with talents they've chosen to fit their creation abilities--or sell them to others. In other fictions, they would be called the tinkers, inventors, and mad scientists of the world.

## Affixation

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> *“It’s transforming my unbound authority into a talent. Which means when I accept them, the excess authority…gets set back to zero. But in exchange I get powers I can actually use.”*
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The process of affixation - by which a normal, unpowered human becomes an Avowed - doesn't usually occur instantaneously, although that is the case for U-Types. For the other classes, there are certain phases to be kept in mind:

### Selection

> *“As a selectee, you are now Artonan property."*
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First of all, there is the process of selection.

Being selected by itself seems like a predetermined outcome, but its probability can be evaluated according to certain factors, such as presence of Chaos Potential, or being the progyny of other Avowed - which explains why Anesidoran natives tend to have a higher chance of becoming Avowed, and of becoming higher-ranked at that.

At Selection, the System will randomly assign a class, merely based upon the current needs of Artonants and the previously accorded upon class distribution (no Contract will offer to the grivecks classes other than those initially agreed upon, for example). However, this initial class can - and by the law of probability, most likely should - be exchanged for one more desirable, which happens in the next phase of the process.

The following is a transcription of the speech the System gives to humans at the moment of Selection:

> Hello, [Name]. In 1963, the peoples of Earth accepted an infusion of magic and technology, as well as a promise of future protection, as part of an agreement with the Artonan Triplanetary Government. In doing so, Earth became an Artonan resource world, with all the accompanying rights, privileges, and responsibilities afforded by that designation.
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> As part of this alliance, Earth is required to deliver a number of suitable individuals into contractual servitude. You have been selected for this honor. You may refuse to sign your planet’s version of the Interdimensional Warriors Contract out of personal principle, and your objection will be taken into consideration hereafter. Ultimately, however, you may not refuse to serve.
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> Upon signing, you will become one of your planet’s Avowed. As a signing bonus, you will receive an additional gift. Refusal to sign will result in the loss of this bonus.
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> Upon becoming one of the Avowed, you will be subject to summons, for emergency and non-emergency purposes, by members of the Artonan wizarding classes. By Artonan law, all Avowed are justly rewarded for any service rendered.
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> Your rank has been determined. Your class has been randomly assigned based on the Triplanetary Government’s current requests. You have ninety Earth days to sign the Contract of your own free will. During that time, you may trade your class with equivalently ranked selectees from your own planet. Once affixed, your class assignment is immutable.
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> Welcome, [Name]. And thank you for your future service.
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### Class Trade

> *"What usually happens now is that the selectee or Avowed comes in with their family and friends. They reveal their status and declare their intent to lawfully register themselves as a superhuman.” Gorgon paused. “Sometimes, there are news crews in attendance. I congratulate the chosen individual and fill out the necessary paperwork with the United States government, or the Canadian one on occasion. If the selectee desires a class trade, they have to go through the trade process first.”*
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During Class Trade, a process lasting 90 days and that requires the presence of an authorized witness to effectively occur, you may exchange your class with other Avowed engaging in Class Trade - but only with those of the same class as yours.

The following is a representation and example of what the Avowed engaging in this process appear to others:

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[ID: **B13**  Location: Artonan Consulate 4, USA

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Trading: **Meister of Cudgel**

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Wanted: **Adjuster** (All), **Healer** (All), **Meister** (Traps, Wands)

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Notes: Become a master of the cudgel. Hit bad guys with sticks.

```

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Autotrade: **NO**]

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[ Trading ] shows the class the Avowed currently possesses, [ Wanted ] shows the class which the Avowed would like to possess, and [ Notes ] present details that escape those parameters, and may include personal touches and comments.

The [ Autotrade ] function, if turned on, automatically detects correspondences with the [ Trading ] and [ Wanted ] sections of other Avowed and engages in the trade even with the user absent. This feature is designed for times when the Avowed are sleeping but still wishing to engage in the trade, at the cost of complete loss in any further bargaining that could come in an agreement - such as money, or favors.

### Affixation

> *"By its very nature, authority is that which rejects limitations on existence. The affixation is a profound limitation."*
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The affixation itself is a complicated process, and has not yet been fully explained. However, there are many things that Artonans have revealed thus far in the story that allow for strong hypotheses and metaphoric imagery.

To gain Skills, Traits, Spells, and Foundation Points, a given resource is utilized: Authority. As such, higher ranks of Avowed (B, A, S) are most likely those who had more Authority to convert into those superpowered functions. It is possible that those who do not get selected as Avowed are untouched simply due to insufficient authority for an effective conversion.

Another hypothetical can be found in the System's self-admitted function as a stabilizing influence, and its preference for making people with high Chaos Potential into Avowed. It is possible that a combination of high authority and chaos potential is something highly undesirable to Artonans, and this is one of reasons why the Interdimensional Warriors Contract was even developed in the first place.

### Registering

> *"In movies and television shows, the supervillain was almost always someone who refused to register their power and abide by the law."*
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This last part is much less of an Artonan-induced duty, and much more of a human concern.

It has to do with the logistics of Anesidora, and confining all non-superhero Avowed on the island for the sake of safety. Doing so allows humanity to register the powers selected, from classes to skills, traits, and spells: a full registry of cases can thus be formed.

For the Avowed who are not Anesidoran natives, this means leaving their home country and families behind, though there are a number of accommodations to make such a jarring migration more tolerable, from the socializing and integration during 'intake', to the many amenities offered such as free healthcare, housing, and education.

1. ↑ Chapter ONE: The Boy in the Bubble - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1096481/one-the-boy-in-the-bubble
2. ↑ Chapter SIXTY-FIVE: Intake - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1313034/sixty-five-intake
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Chapter SEVENTY-FIVE: A Busy Morning, Pt. 3 - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1349498/seventy-five-a-busy-morning-pt-3
4. ↑ Chapter THIRTY-NINE: Lesson One - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1228338/thirty-nine-lesson-one
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter THIRTEEN: The B-Ranks - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1116754/thirteen-the-b-ranks
6. ↑ Chapter FIFTY-NINE: Mother, Pt. 1 - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1297613/fifty-nine-mother-pt-1
7. ↑ Chapter TWO: Mistakes - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive/chapter/1097958/two-mistakes