The tadpole as revealed throughout the story seems to be in some sort of stasis caused by whoever the Absolute is. A very special sort of tadpole. Abusing my tadpole powers, getting the brand, and joining up with them gave a lot of interesting options for me to explore, but I agree it could be better explained to the player that joining the Absolute is a valid option. Maybe Minthara pops up at your camp and invites you to join her.
