When a mage turns sixteen, it is tradition for them to publicly announce to the world what branch of magic they will enter a study of. As the heiress of a particularly wealthy family, for Lethe this means a debut party inviting the most powerful mages in the region. It's a little nerve-wracking, and there's a lot to prepare for, but at least she has one thing figured out: the answer to the "big" question. Obviously, she wants to follow her family tradition of necromancy.
But as the last few weeks before her sixteenth birthday tick away, she begins to realize the answer to that question isn't perhaps as simple and straight-forward as she thought. It is not merely an asking of what she will study, but the other mages of high society are also wanting to know what such a choice will mean to her. What will she use the power to raise the dead for?
Deadbutante is a short visual novel about a young girl and what kind of necromancer she'd like to be. Will she follow exactly in her father's footsteps of reclusive research, or will she choose another path? Your options will be presented to you in the three weeks leading up to Lethe's sixteenth birthday, but most of your actual decisions will take place during the party itself.
Your choices will also affect another character, Harris--a childhood friend of Lethe's who will also be making his public declaration of mage-hood soon, though he's a lot less certain of his path than she is. He's optionally a love interest as well.
Important guests at the party include: Roseabelle Pheonik, the fiery governor of the region who has a very strenuous relationship with your father, and Lucian, the high priest and Harris' uncle who actually rather likes your family on a personal level regardless of what he tells his flock about the threats of necromancy.