← Dead Thinkers

Terms of use

Free to read, free to use, no account. In exchange, understand what you're talking to.

A reconstruction is not a person

Every mind here is a language model prompted from the historical record. It isn't the thinker, it isn't a channelled spirit, and it doesn't know things the record doesn't contain. It will sometimes state a plausible falsehood in a confident voice, because that is what language models do. Check anything you intend to rely on against a source. Nothing a reconstruction says is our claim about history, and nothing it says is advice, medical, legal, financial or otherwise.

Your key, your provider, your bill

Summoning runs in your browser against your own AI provider using your own API key. That provider's terms and pricing govern the call, and the usage charges are yours. Keep your key to yourself. If you paste one into a shared machine, clear the browser data before you walk away.

What you may do with the output

Whatever your provider's terms permit. We claim nothing over the text a conversation produces, and we never see it. Don't present it as a genuine quotation from the historical figure, because it isn't one.

Fair use of the site

Read it, link it, quote it with attribution. Don't scrape it wholesale, don't try to break it, and don't use it to harass anyone. We can withdraw access if you do.

The writing and the art

The wiki text, the design and the commissioned artwork belong to us. Biographical facts come from Wikidata and stay under their own licence. The site is free today and we intend to keep the reading free, though that isn't a contractual promise.

Availability and liability

The library is being written. Pages will change, break and move. The site is offered as it is, with no warranty. Where the law lets us limit liability, our responsibility for anything arising from your use of this site is limited to what you paid for it, which is nothing. That doesn't affect your statutory rights, or liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Changes and law

These terms change when the site does, and the date below moves with them. Montana law governs.


Last updated 13 September 2026. See also the privacy page.