You will have the powers, skills, and abilities people of a certain collective think you have. For instance, if you choose the PRT you will have all the abilities, powers, and skills that they think you possess. The more people in a collective the more stable this power is. And over a certain amount, the powers gained are much stronger than what anyone thinks. If the majority of the global population thinks you have something, you possess that power permanently. However, you cannot become strong enough to destroy the planet. But if they think you can move the stars, you'll be able to gain a power that lets it seem like you can.
You can swap between which collective you are currently gaining powers from, but it takes a couple of minutes. The more a collective disagrees with what you possess, the more unreliable and weaker it is.