<li>Still trying to deal with the lingering sensations from being lost</li>
<li>Doing her best to shape the system as it will be (reputation market, sensoria, perisystem architecture), basically acting as steering committee along with a few others.</li>
<li>Followws arc of Paul from Toledot Yeshu: doesn’t actually really like the system. Wants it to not be a part of the world, but is willing to cause the split through subterfuge</li>
<p>Nearing the 200th anniversary of System secession from humanity, the System and it’s station-side engineers prepare for a launch of two deep-space probes containing smaller versions of the System. Recognizing an inflection point for what it is, historian and author Ioan Balan begins a project to catalogue the two events, Secession and Launch, with the help of a few members of the Ode Clade, a group of individuals forked from a single ancestor, each of which focuses on a different specialization. While ey writes, collates, and edits on the original System with the help of May Then My Name Die With Me of the Ode Clade, eir own fork, Codrin Balan, heads up the research side of things on the two launches with Dear, Also, The Tree that Was Felled of the Ode Clade. Throughout the course of the investigation, it becomes clear how much the Ode Clade has influenced politics both sys-side and phys-side since the very beginning all the way up to Launch. Ioan and May Then My Name’s task becomes one of cataloging this influence and the ways that it has shaped how the System and Earth have progressed through history, surprising even May and Dear.</p>
<p>In 2325, those who live on the System (sys-side) and those who still live back in the physical world (phys-side) begin a true collaboration for the first time in nearly two centuries, scrounging together the lingering remnants of humanity’s desire to explore outward, away from Earth, they launch two identical smaller versions of the System, Castor and Pollux, on a centuries or millennia long extrasolar voyage.</p>
<p>After the success of their project surrounding Qoheleth and the problems of an infallible memory, the <em>Bălan clade</em>, made up of <em>Ioan Bălan</em> and <em>Codrin Bălan</em>, has decided to undertake the task of documenting the history of the launch project. In the intervening years, Codrin has found emself in a polyamorous relationship with <em>Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled</em> of the <em>Ode clade</em> and its partner, and they are all incredibly gay for each other. Dear has convinced Codrin and its partner to invest entirely in the launch vehicles, or LVs, tickled by the idea of irreversibility and the fact that it will not remain on the original system parked at the Earth-Moon L<sub>5</sub> point. When interviewed by one of the Codrins, it states that the other reasons for it investing entirely in the launch are that it wants to feel missed by someone, and that eventually, it wants to die a real death.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Ioan, working with one of Dear’s cocladists, <em>May Then My Name Die With Me</em>, a very affectionate skunk, has decided to remain solely on the L<sub>5</sub> system, acting as a communication point, organizer, and editor of the history that ey and both Codrins are collecting.</p>
<p>Working on the phys-side, Douglas Hadje, a distant descendant of Michelle Hadje, the progenitor of the Ode clade, acts as phys-side launch coordinator, with May Then My Name being his sys-side counterpart. He has long been fascinated by the System, often thinking of how his great-great-etc aunt must still be inside, often wishing to contact her but never feeling brave enough. Michelle/Sasha, as the root instance of the Ode clade, had quit in 2306, however, after two centuries of dealing with a broken mind. After the launch and the decline of his duties, May Then My Name begins interviewing him for the phys-side perspective of the events surrounding the launch.</p>
<p>The night after the launch takes place, Ioan and May Then My Name decide that it might be worth tying the history of the launch with the early history of the secession of the System from the rest of human society, as the launch took place on the 200th anniversary of Secession Day.</p>
<p>A second thread of the story follows <em>Yared Zerezghi</em> as a phys-side Direct Democracy Representative (DDR) junkie campaigning on the forums and debate sims for a referendum on the individual rights of those who have uploaded to the system. Many view the uploads as something other or less than human, and, grumbling about the costs of maintaining the System, wish to put them to work. Further complicating this is the fact that those who upload still retain citizenship to their countries of origin, meaning that all works that they create are technically done so under the jurisdiction of that country. He is tapped by <em>Councilor Yosef Demma</em> of the Northeast African Coalition to help guide the discussion toward the idea of independence of the System, stating that, because there are basic differences in the culture of the System and any other culture on Earth, there is no way that they can be governed the same way. Yared, he explains, will receive suggestions from Councilor Demma’s political analysts telling him how to steer the conversation.</p>
<p>Sys-side, <em>Michelle Hadje/Sasha</em> is a member of the Council of Eight, a group who seeks to guide but not govern the System, working primarily in the capacity of writing proposals for features and architecture changes. The rest of the council includes her friend <em>Debarre</em>, an Israeli Jew named <em>Zeke</em>, the son of a New Zealand politician named <em>user11824</em>, three interchangeable and unnamed political representatives from the Sino-Russian Bloc (who is currently hosting the System), and <em>Jonas Anderson</em>, an ex-politician from the Western Federation.</p>
<p>Michelle/Sasha still suffers from the lingering effects of getting lost decades prior, which is expressed much as her experience was at that time, with waves of her two personalities changing her form between anthropomorphic skunk and human, a very uncomfortable and distressing sensation. She asks the Council if she might spend the reputation required to fork off ten instances of herself to begin the Ode clade — a name and structure which worries Debarre — so that she can let them take her workload and she can take a vacation. The council agrees, so she forks off ten instances of herself. As she does so during those waves of form and fluctuating personality, each winds up with a different appearance and personality. Jonas tasks one of them, <em>The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream</em>, to help him in his work corresponding with Yared on the topic of individual rights.</p>
<p>Throughout the interviews that Ioan and Codrin conduct in 2325, they begin to learn about the structure and history of the launch project (now becoming the proper noun Launch to match the proper noun Secession). One instance of Dear tells Codrin that it will not tell em the entire story, and that if pressed, it will resent em and be too tempted to lie because the past is too complicated and bound up in shame. The Bălan clade’s initial interview selections are scattershot, including a musician who is credited for finding a way to transmit sheet music back and forth between sys- and phys-side; an author (<em>Joseph Rankin</em>) who has invested entirely in the Launch with an outline for a book to write so that his editor back on the System can see how the two different versions of him begin to diverge, and an astronomer who calls himself <em>Tycho Brahe</em> who has invested entirely in the launch out of an impossible dream of seeing the stars: audio and visual transmissions between phys- and sys-side are impossible because they come through all garbled as they might in a dream, so he can’t actually see the stars.</p>
<p>Despite these initial starts, they begin to notice patterns surrounding the time at which the families of uploads who remain phys-side are compensated as well as the “Dreamer Module”, an instrument and radio package attached to each of the launch vehicles, used to Do Science™ as well as broadcast a nested signal for extraterrestrial life to pick up, a topic which encountered unexpected friction sys-side from the Ode and Jonas clades.</p>
<p>In 2124, picking up on the fact that he’s being used by a NEAC politician to steer the System towards secession, Jonas and True Name discuss how they might use Yared to further their own ends, with it becoming increasingly clear that this particular Odist has wound up with much of Michelle/Sasha’s political skills as well as more than a little cynicism and very little empathy. She meets with a few other Odists as she works with Jonas: <em>That Which Lives Is Forever Praiseworthy</em>, who begins to act as propagandist, helping True Name shape her image to be more effective; and <em>Life Breeds Life But Death Must Now Be Chosen</em> who is tasked with slowly modifying the collective unconscious’s perception of both the Ode clade and the Council of Eight, which they plan to dissolve after Secession, so that the Odists and Jonases can continue their work of guiding the System toward increased stability and safety long into the future.</p>
<p>True Name is pleased to see how smoothly the topic of secession goes over with the Council of Eight, thanks to Praiseworthy’s propagandizing. She meets with Debarre, who was initially put off by the choice of the Ode as a naming scheme and the desire to hide the name of the poet, <em>RJ/AwDae</em>, but his nerves are soothed. Debarre also meets with Michelle for much the same reason, finding her much diminished and unable to continue working, now that her clade has taken over her job. She explains that she’s still struggling with survivor’s guilt after AwDae sacrificed emself during the creation of the System, and while she’s trying not to just live in grief, she does want to memorialize em.</p>
<p>After considering Rankin’s plan to have each of his instances work independently, the Bălan clade decides to do the opposite and instead stay in touch for as long as they can (the further away the LVs get from the System, the longer the transmission times) to organize their interviewing effectively. To that end, one Codrin interviews Zeke, now calling himself Ezekiel and living much as his prophet namesake did, who explains more about how the Council of Eight was undermined by Jonas and True Name, guiding the Bălans to other Odists to interview.</p>
<p>One Codrin interviews the intensely charismatic <em>Why Ask Questions Here At The End Of All Things</em> who describes some of the ways in which the Ode clade and specifically True Name’s stanza worked to manipulate politics on a large scale during both Secession and Launch, though the reader starts to pick up on the fact that some of what ey learns is not wholly true. The other Codrin talks with Dear about the mood surrounding Secession. Ioan interviews <em>Do I Know God After The End Waking</em> who was tasked to meddle with finances phys-side to encourage the shift from needing to pay to upload to being compensated, particularly that the first child should upload to fund the future of the subsequent children, as Ioan did. He now feels deep shame about having done so, though there are similar half-truths here.</p>
<p>Some of these grand-scale machinations are confirmed in interviews with others, such as when Douglas talks with Ioan and May Then My Name about various shifts that he’s seen over the years and some of the sabotage attempts against the System as a whole and the Launch specifically. He and basically everyone else (including May Then My Name) can tell that Ioan has fallen in love with May Then My Name, and Douglas even asks them about it, but Ioan is too stuck up in his head to realize it, much less do anything about it. Ioan and Douglas hatch a plan for Douglas to finally upload, something that May Then My Name won’t shut up about, on the one year anniversary of Launch so that he can surprise her. May Then My Name very carefully does not tell Douglas that she’s a distant instance of Michelle/Sasha, wanting to keep that as her own surprise.</p>
<p>Yared introduces an amendment allowing the System to secede to the referendum on individual rights. Despite the consensus swinging largely in favor of rights, this amendment becomes hotly debated, leaving Yared feeling much of the parasocial effects of that: those who are in favor of the bill start to be in favor of him, and those who are staunchly against it begin to hate him specifically. Demma, True Name, and Jonas all do their best to ensure him that the chances of this failing are low and that, even though he may always be associated with this topic moving forward, he should still be proud of his work. Sure enough, the referendum passes with both the secession amendment and an amendment moving the physical elements of the System to the L<sub>5</sub> station (which begins as a luxury hotel) intact, all taking effect on January 21, 2125.</p>
<p>Demma brings Yared to a New Years Eve party with the politicians and business executives who were working toward Secession. In the car ride back to his home, Demma laughs at Yared, calling him a starry-eyed dreamer and revealing that his entire plan was just to get the System out of the way and out of Earth’s ongoing political schemes so that they wouldn’t remain associated with each other, since the System is just a dumping ground for dreamers. He suggests that Yared upload, since that’s where he belongs, and since any further attempts to interact with the DDR will be monitored and, should he diverge from the party line, there will be reprisals, Yared feels no other choice but to upload, the last before Secession, leaving him anxious around any form of politics. He is met by True Name and brought to the Secession Day celebration.</p>
<p>Two hundred years later, Yared, along with Debarre and user11824, meet up with Dear, its partner, and Codrin for a dinner party. The three (four, if one counts Dear as being of Michelle/Sasha) former members of the Council of Eight talk about the dissolution of the Council and the ultimate cynicism of True Name and Jonas. Yared shares a story from the middle ages known as the “Toledot Yeshu” or Generations of Jesus which describes, in part, Paul as actually something of a tool of the Jewish leadership of the time, guiding the burgeoning new spirituality into a religion of its own rather than simply another sect of Judaism. Yared calls himself a tool of Paul, in the form of Demma, True Name, and Jonas.</p>
<p>The Bălans begin to interview a few instances of Jonas as well as True Name, finding out just how deep the manipulation goes. The two clades have strived to do all they can to maintain the stability and continuity of the System, including ensuring that life on Earth never gets too good so that the System is always seen as a better life, but not so bad as to make phys-side humanity give up entirely. In order to keep the stability from getting too boring, they have also been introducing small amounts of chaos into the life of the System so that they remain stable but not apathetic. These manipulations have all been subtle, from nudging a young Douglas Hadje toward becoming interested in the System and eventually becoming phys-side launch director due to the story element involved.</p>
<p>The launch itself, despite its public beginnings in 2306, has been in progress since 2290 as one of these ways of keeping life interesting. All of this has been run through a cost-benefit analysis, including even having the history/mythography written specifically by Ioan. Not only have all of their interviews been tracked and shaped, but in 2298, seven years before even getting involved in the Qoheleth affair, Ioan was tapped as the appropriate author for the project, with a suggestion that the Qoheleth affair might have been some form of test. The only thing that failed the cost-benefit analysis yet still made it into the launch project was the portion of the Dreamer Module which contains broadcast instructions to be read by extraterrestrial sources on how to build a human mind and sensorium, templated after Douglas Hadje, and upload it into the LV System. The concession there being that the uploads will be placed in a DMZ, cut off from the rest of the System.</p>
<p>The manipulation even makes its way down to the individual scale. The last act of Michelle/Sasha was to give each of the first lines of the ten stanzas (second in the case of Qoheleth) one last vague suggestion. This, it turns out, was influenced by True Name, and she doesn’t deny manipulating Michelle/Sasha towards quitting through the long years.</p>
<p>After the final interview with True Name, Ioan confronts May Then My Name about her role in all of this, and she is revealed to be a failed experiment by True Name to influence individuals by being too likeable to resist. Where True Name was excessively cynical, however, May Then My Name became excessively empathetic and thus difficult to control, so all True Name could do is point her at someone and hope that the correct outcome occurred. Her most recent target was Ioan, and, given how ey feels about her now, True Name’s mission was a success. Ioan says that ey believes May Then My Name is innocent of any conscious manipulation, stating that she simply as crazy in-laws. Ey finally realizes that, oh, yeah, they’ve actually kind of been dating for a few years now, ey was just too dense to realize it, so the relationship is formalized and May Then My Name makes fun of em for it. They are incredibly gay for each other.</p>
<p>As planned, Douglas uploads on the eve of the one year anniversary of Launch and is met by Ioan, who instructs him on how to work within the System, then brings him to Michelle/Sasha’s sim, where he has a good cry. The next day, Ioan and May Then My Name come to the sim for a picnic. May Then My Name is shocked to see him, so she reveals that she is of Michelle/Sasha, which leaves Douglas feeling mixed and overwhelmed, so they have their picnic instead. With essentially no loose ends in his life, and seeing how one can still be happy in the system by how Ioan and May Then My Name interact, he feels more complete than he’s ever felt before.</p>
<p>In an epilogue, the Dreamer Module on the Castor LV receives a transmission from an extraterrestrial craft of similar design confirming that they understand the instructions on how to upload, that they will be approaching relatively close, and await consent to upload. Tycho Brahe, the feels like he’s the only one who seems to care about the Module, gives consent.</p>
<liclass="done4"><em>Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” / Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” / So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.</em></li>
<liclass="rejected"> MERGED ABOVE <!-- <a href="launch/phys/Douglas/002.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Douglas and May write to each other about the launch - 2722 --></li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/Michelle/001.html">Secession: sys-side: Michelle</a> - Michelle dies among her clade, passing on tasks to first lines (True Name gets launch) - 1131</li>
<liclass="rejected"><!--<a href="launch/phys/de/001.html">Launch: phys-side: de</a> --->REJECTED: de no longer a POV character<!--- Disappointed that launch went through regardless, walks the station in a daze, thinking backwards from current thought - 887~~~--></li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/001.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Yared uploads, the final before secession - 3080</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/001.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - The triad tell each other fictional stories around the remnants of the fire of why they left no forks - 2599</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/Michelle/002.html">Secession: sys-side: Michelle</a> - Michelle meets with Council of Eight, discusses spending a bunch of reputation to fork; meets up with Jonas and pledges True Name - 2293</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/002.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Yared gives a ‘speech’ on individual rights, then drawn aside by Yosef, out for coffee, tells of secession proposal - 2608</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/003.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan(s) and May start to parcel out work, but get off topic onto feelings. - 2644</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/003.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - first change from Yosef, talking with True Name and Jonas - 2791</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/001.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - brings news of the bill to Council of Eight, discuss speciation - 1833</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/001.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - Codrin#Pollux interviews Dear about why it actually uploaded - 1767</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/002.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Codrin#Castor writes eir thoughts on why Dear may have uploaded (showing divergences). - 3488</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/phys/Douglas/004.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - May had responded immediately, ofc, but asked about life on earth (hinting she uploaded ~time of Michelle), reminisces about childhood - 4738</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/004.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan interviews May about why she stayed behind, date of upload, thoughts on not telling Douglas re: herself as Michelle - 2725</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/004.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - another change from Yosef, Yared starts to actually kind of believe that this is a good idea, considers L5 option - 2196</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/002.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - Makes up with Dear, who gives suggestions on some names to interview and how to go about them - 1373</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/002.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Meets with Jonas to discuss latest post from Yared, picking up on secession undertones, Jonas admits to own clade standing in for him (explain that reputation doesn’t exactly go down, but is spread among instances (changed later)). - 2587</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/phys/Douglas/005.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Douglas walks the station, processing news of Michelle’s death, then talks with May - 3969</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/003.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Author who wrote an outline for a book, has been writing them independently on launches and sending back to editor sys-side, who is compiling them; mentions as postscript for Ioan only that given what ey learned about early clade, should maybe pass on communications between LVs encrypted - 2963</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/Michelle/003.html">Secession: sys-side: Michelle</a> - Debarre meets with Michelle to talk about AwDae, Ode Clade, losing control of herself, why keep the name secret (AwDae wasn’t supposed to defect to S-R Bloc, even if ey helped form the System - total lie, though), reiterates promise that her new clade won’t overtake the Council of Eight - 1754 - Expand?</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/005.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Musician who set up transmission of music between sys/phys, gets #Castor’s note, discusses with May - 1740 - Expand?</li>
<liclass="done3"> Part III - Acceleration (Conspiracies start to pick up)<ul>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/003.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - interviews Zeke/Ezekiel, who has gone a bit sideways, now a prophet, having a hard time reconciling two launches/diverging futures, points Codrin towards True Name as something sinister - 2212 - Expand?</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/005.html">Secession: phys-side; Yared</a> - discusses secession with True Name/Jonas despite the fact that he isn’t supposed to, gets help drafting the post with suggested changes from Demma - 2852</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/004.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Distracted, interviews depressed astronomer who knows this is as close as he’ll ever get, but studies all the same through text, learn more about Dreamer Module (phys-side idea that got past resistance sys-side, implied Jonas/True Name) - 3680</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/phys/Douglas/006.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Talks with May about launch-era political machinations from phys-side - 2140</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/003.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Starts to think of phys/sys dichotomy in political terms, forks on the sly (only Jonas knows), so that forks can handle both, leaving her as figurehead who appears to know all - 2765</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/004.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - talks with Dear about secession and the mood before and after in general, but also w/in clade, Dear hints that Praiseworthy started shaping the history even before secession and the art of propaganda - 2265</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/006.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan and May share growing concerns from LV messages - 2034 (probably needs work)</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/006.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Demma is a bit grumpy that Yared talked to sys-side, but mostly pleased that they seem to be on board with it; presses Yared for more information, hints at distates for System; told to ignore latest update, team will get him a new one. - 2939</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/004.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Meets with Praiseworthy (skunk female, studious and charismatic) to discuss propaganda angle, thus getting more on sys-side to support political acts. He suggests softening her features to be more approachable, cute, meek, etc. - 2128</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/005.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - interviews <em>Why Ask Questions</em> Here At The End Of All Things (Michelle, casual type), who was tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with sys-side politics and increase support for secession - 2819</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/007.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan, distracted, interviews a series of poor families (as ey was) re: what they miss, what excited them, first thing they did, what was disappointing, biggest regret - 3376</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/005.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Council meets, she and Jonas introduce idea of secession, which goes over reasonably well thanks to Praiseworthy’s work - 1724</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/008.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan interviews historian keenly interested in staying close enough to earth to keep cataloging, has picked up on some of the patterns; also wants to be close to Ioan, weaseled her way into the interview - 2150</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/005.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Interviews True Name, who was tasked by Michelle as political side of launch, first time sys and phys have worked together in meaningful way in ages, tickled to see Douglas Hadje, nudges him through <em>channels</em> to apply for launch director (look at that manipulation go) - 2839</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/phys/Douglas/007.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Learns more about the clade, but still not about names, mentions some concerning stuff re: patterns phys/planet-side - 1855</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/007.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Introduces secession amendment himself, it goes over poorly initially, contacts Demma who reassures him that it will swing in secession’s favor after some unsavory strings are pulled, told to keep pressing sys-side on secession - 2640</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/009.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan, already worried, interviews Do I Know God After The <em>End Waking</em> (skunk male, druid type) at eir home, who was tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with phys-side finance late 2100s to increase sys-side population by paying for uploads (as Ioan was), liberal now, regrets his actions; points em to Jonas still on system; conversation with both End Waking and May about what she meant about system being more subtle viz dandelions (even after all this time, it’s still a dream, May’s been dreaming with em, not uncommon for emotionally entangled people) - 3217</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/006.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - Has Yared, Debarre, and user11824 over, who talk about how the council was undermined, then overridden by Jonas/Odists after secession, Yared talks about Toledot Yeshu, Demma as Paul (left unsaid whether or not Demma was influenced by anyone sys-side, implied no; phys-side still had its own politics, then) - 2856</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/006.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Meets with Debarre, who says he understands better now, thanks her for all her work; after he leaves, meets up with <em>Life Breeds Life,</em> But Death Must Now Be Chosen (human male, scholar type) to help keep up appearances during secession work that the clade isn’t growing, minimize actions in history so that the clade doesn’t appear to have done anything, that Michelle was on the Council and the clade just helped. - 2317</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/006.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Interviews No Jonas, hints at how big an influence he and Odists (not just TN!) had on both phys/sys side after secession, anything to keep System growing - 2471</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/True-Name/007.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - walks sims, thinking about what the System will look like after secession (doesn’t share Yared’s pessimism), how to keep it running, remembers conversation about birth laws in S-R Bloc, forks End Waking to investigate that, revealing that at some point, Jonas showed her how to manipulate reputation markets to make sure she could always fork. - 1378 Expand?</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/phys/Douglas/008.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Sabotage attempts, hinting that there are those phys-side who have also picked up patterns and really don’t like System - 2802</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/008.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Sure enough, support rapidly swings sys-side, long conversation with TN/Jonas about what it means, starting to see how having his name on the amendment is diving people not just on the subject, but on him, starting to think about death, showing fear that he had at beginning - 2839</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/010.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan, getting really pissed at how Odists won’t just answer eir fucking questions all the way and keep demurring at the last minute, interviews Jonas Prime, who has grown pessimistic, life wants to spread and multiply to make itself stronger, this is the root of the launch: offsite backups; thus why dreamer module was frowned upon: has broadcast w/ information about system, earth, interfacing, etc - 3375</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/007.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - Interviews Ne Jonas, humanity best viewed as a resource to be used or a crop to be tended by System - 2752</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/007.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Interviews True Name for second time w/ more info, confronts for truth about the Odists’ role in post-secession, confirms, laughs down concerns. - 1717</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/phys/Yared/010.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Vote passes with both secession and L5 amendments intact, those who know him are torn on whether he’s a hero or villain; zero compensation/recognition from Demma, who derides the system, why don’t you marry it if you love it so much. (secession = irreversibility) - 2192</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/008.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Interviews True Name for the last time, learning that True Name/her stanza and Jonas orchestrated the launch from the before the supposed beginning over long years of influence (incl nudging Douglas as soon as he got first job as ansible tech and Michelle nudging her toward the idea of divesting), have been in contact across sys/launch to ensure divergence remains at acceptable levels (irreversible), comes home to Dear, sighs, gets hugs, comfort that the ends aren’t bad, even if the means are. - 2183</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/011.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan interviews True Name, finds out they’re still everywhere, steering system, difference between conservatives/liberals is scale of manipulation, liberals think too small (see quote below) - 1975</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="secession/sys/Michelle/004.html">Secession: sys-side: Michelle</a> - Acknowledges a few years after dissolution of Council that the clade has gotten out of hand, hints that she basically died when forking, irreversible, muses on how broken she must have been to lead to this situation, goes largely into seclusion to keep herself calm/stable, talking only to May Then My Name and a few others - 1599</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/sys/Ioan/012.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Discusses role of each stanza; kind of freaks out at May b/c like finding out your in-laws-ish are the illuminati, though ey comes around because a) she explains need for control as trauma response, and b) tells myth in progress, about how the gods created the world in an attempt to shape it to their will, but instead became impersonal forces in the face of absolute independence; Ioan and May finally fucking get together, discuss irreversibility of that act, since Ioan didn’t fork like Codrin - 2455</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/008.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - Interviews Dear about just how much influence the Ode clade had/still has, what’s next (death = irreversible, basically a do-over of the first interview) - 2717</li>
<liclass="rejected"> REJECTED - combined with previous Ioan chapter <!--<a href="launch/sys/Ioan/013.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> -if the clade exists to explore/exploit need as trauma responses, what do each of the stanzas do (True Name's: political machinations; Praiseworthy's: artistic machinations; Qoheleth's: history/memory machinations), liberal side (not always later lines) has grown more earnest, rebelling against need to control, discusses future with May; sets up visit to Michelle's meadow on one year anniversary as a meaningful thing (but actually to meet with Douglas)--></li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/phys/Douglas/009.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Douglas uploads on one year anniversary, talks about necessity of not being on launches, met by Ioan (who organized it as a surprise and gave him basic instructions on how to be clothed and presentable right off the bat) and May in dandelion sim (as TN met Yared), learns about Michelle/Ode Clade via how they got their names. (learning = irreversibility) - 3595</li>
<liclass="done3"><ahref="launch/launch/Codrin-castor/009.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor</a> - Castor launch’s Dreamer Module picks up a signal from another similar ship (actually impersonal POV, though Codrin breaks in occasionally? Ey talked w/ astronomer), Dreamer Module turns out to also contain detailed instructions on how to grow a human. Last bit of irreversibility: can’t un-meet a new species (~20 years after launch, into Oort cloud) - 894</li>
<liclass="done4"> The ships (identical) are similar to from <em>Accelerando</em> combined with a scissors mechanism a la Ilium and a rail gun. There’s a small version of the System (plenty of room for folks to fork, etc), an RTG for power, some external physical manipulators and materials (like 1-2 tons) for repair along the way if needed, a few attitude jets, and a light sail once it’s launched on each. Thin scaffold type thing about 10k kilometers long spun around the middle. In the scaffold is a rail gun to assist in propulsion as the ships are flung out into space by angular momentum, each in opposite directions.</li>
<liclass="done0"> Release should take the form of an ARG similar to the original Qoheleth.</li>
<liclass="done4"> The creators of the system tried to come up with better communication than just text, and could when just one was in the system via dream-reading scans, but when multiple dreamers interacted, it quickly lost focus. Can communicate at any time via text through perisystem or view one individual’s dream if they fork into a reserved spot in the perisystem(though that instance can’t merge back, just as waiting room instances can’t merge), so it’s only really good for presentations</li>
<liclass="done4"> Difference between conservatives and liberals is that the conservatives play with need on a very grand scale, liberals on a very small/individual scale. Ioan struggles with May after learning a lot of this about the Clade, because even if she’s earnestly in love with em, it’s like learning your inlaws are illuminati. Ey comes acround because a) she explains need for control as trauma response, and b) tells myth in progress, about how the gods created the world in an attempt to shape it to their will, but instead became impersonal forces in the face of absolute independence </li>
<liclass="done4"> Quote: <em>She stood from her chair and walked up to where ey remained stubbornly seated. “If you do not wish to be unhappy with the answers to difficult questions, Ioan,” she said, tousling eir hair. “Then you do not need to ask them.”</em> / <em>She smiled down to em, and in that smile was kindness, and in that kindness was a hatred ey could not fathom, and then she quit.</em></li>
<liclass="done4"> Dear says in Qoheleth that it uploaded in the 2130s after the L5 station had been set up, have to address this incongruence (either shift dates, or give it a reason to lie; probably the latter, to downplay stuff to one it does not yet trust)</li>
<liclass="done4"> True Name and Jonas begin wielding more and more power within the council despite the promise that forks will not influence balance of power, leads to Debarre and user11824 leaving council</li>
<liclass="done0"> Normalize “LVs”, capitalizing Secession, launch arms vs struts (struts at base, arms at tips), Council of Eight only exists in Secession (now viewed as i.e: founding fathers), done(Ioan/Codrin’s pronouns)</li>
<liclass="done4"> Easy to cut people off, build enclaves, isolate (thus “System freeze”); w/o shortages, leads to complacency, easy to govern/steer w/o big deal</li>
<liclass="done0"> Add timestamps to extramural conversations?</li>
<liclass="done0"> Need more “there is no going and there is no back” throughout beginning</li>
<liclass="done0"> Dreamer Module signal contains layers - primes, then binary encoding those primes, then words for the numbers, language, music, etc, down to the details about emulating a human, going from wideband to narrowband so that the more you home in on the LV, the more layers you get</li>
<p>Would be nice to keep the isometric view from Qoheleth, plus the title as the foundation of the landscape. As before, probably want one from each time period.</p>
<liclass="done3"> Interviews (not all interview style, some probably get interviewed more than once, interleaved):<ul>
<liclass="done3"> Launch-side:<ul>
<liclass="done4"> (Castor) Aside 1: Depressed astronomer who knows this is as close as he’ll ever get, but studies all the same through text (how we learn why that limitation is there, learn more about Dreamer Module)</li>
<liclass="done4"> (Pollux) Aside 2: Zeke, who has gone a bit sideways, now the prophet Ezekiel, having a hard time reconciling two launches</li>
<liclass="done4"> Aside 3: Author who wrote an outline for a book, has been writing them independently on launches and sending them back to an editor sys-side who is compiling them</li>
<liclass="done4"> (Castor) True Name: Tasked as political side of launch, first time sys and phys have worked together in any meaningful way in ages, tickled to see Douglas in the candidates</li>
<liclass="done4"> (Pollux) Why Ask Questions Here At The End Of All Things (All Things): Tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with sys-side politics to increase support for secession</li>
<liclass="done4"> (Castor/Pollux) No and Ne Jonas: Reveal just how much bigger a political influence sys-side had on phys-side even after secession to keep the System going and growing, not all savory, what’s best for System at all costs, humanity has become a resource/crop to be tended by the System.</li>
<liclass="done4"> Aside 1: Historian keenly interested in staying close enough to Earth to keep cataloging, also keenly interested in Ioan, weaseled her way into the interview</li>
<liclass="done4"> Aside 2: Musician who set up transmission of music (via MIDI etc) between sys- and phys-side</li>
<liclass="done4"> Aside 3: Series of poor families (like where ey was phys-side, but much more recent): what they miss; what they were excited to see; first thing they did; what was disappointing (“System freeze” a la Seattle freeze); biggest regret</li>
<liclass="done4"> Yared Zerezghi: Never forked after growing paranoia that quitting = death, talks about Toledot Yeshu and Demma as Paul</li>
<liclass="done4"> Do I Know God After The End Waking (End Waking): Tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with finances back on Earth after secession to nudge them to decreasing the cost of uploading etc</li>
<liclass="done4"> Jonas Prime: Discusses how life wants to spread and multiply because that makes it stronger, reveals that this is the root of the launch - offsite backups, bitter, need for life to continue trumps morals; phys-side (maybe also w/ True Name on launches?)</li>
<liclass="done4"> True Name: discovers that True Name is now on every System, still steering w/ Jonas clade (climax-ish)</li>
<liclass="done4"> May Then My Name: Ioan interviews about why her stanza really exists (political machinations), why Dear’s exists (artistic machinations), why the clade exists (to explore need: each stanza deals with manipulating something, politics, emotions, etc, borne out of being created for political reasons a la taskers but kept long a la dispersionistas), May is freaked that she’ll push Ioan away.</li>
<li>Secession (2124 - coming up on 10 year anniversary of system)<ul>
<li>System<ul>
<li>Michelle Hadje continues working to shape the system into what it will eventually become.<ul>
<li>She heads up the Council of Eight, early uploads who are focused on the experience of those who live in the system</li>
<li>First win was sensoria, recent win was forking, which, given that it does take some system resources, required the idea of the reputation markets</li>
<li>Is stretched too thin dealing with that, as well as trying to cope with the lingering sensations of being lost magnified in system, to deal with rights and personhood, so she shells out a good chunk of reputation to fork the first 10 lines of the Ode, letting True Name tackle rights and personhood.</li>
<li>PAYOFF: slowly gaining a sense of peace as she remembers early system history</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream (True Name) and Jonas Prime fight for rights and personhood<ul>
<li>We see that humanity has given up on the stars and started to stall out. The capitalist world isn’t sure what to do with the system, yet people keep fleeing to it</li>
<li>True Name and Jonas Prime debate (asynchronously) with Earth on the subject of personhood - their argument is that they are no longer humanity’s tools (hunmanity wanting to put them to work on software, running machines in place of AIs, etc)</li>
<li>PAYOFF: win secession, thinking it was their own idea</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Offline<ul>
<li>Yosef, who basically wants to keep the system separate from humanity (never in favor of it, sees it as a place to store inconvenient people), hires Yared to argue for personhood and, at a strategic point, suggest secession</li>
<li>PAYOFF: Unplanned but fortuitous that moving it to the L5 point comes up (torus as vacation spot/science project, just add system!) - physically remove the (private, hidden somewhere in S-R Bloc) facility from earth, out of sight, out of mind.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Launch (2325 - just after launch, on bicentennial anniversary of system secession)<ul>
<li>System<ul>
<li>Sys-side<ul>
<li>Ioan A is actually kind of eager to not be taking part in next huge thing, and to be reading and compiling Codrin’s letters from launch side. These are a constant stream from both launch systems which is obviously going to take longer and longer to reach the system as they travel further away.</li>
<li>Ioan B interviews locals who specifically did not go</li>
<li>Ioan C acts as early system historian</li>
<li>May Then Thy Name, her role as launch coordinator diminished post-launch, co-authors the story with Ioan as a permanent-yet-evolving mythology, specifically changing small details to make it grandiose, turn it into a new mythology. She also provides the historical background.</li>
<li>They are also gay for each other.</li>
<li>PAYOFF: histories are published back on Earth, awaken sense of adventure</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Launch-side<ul>
<li>Codrin, Dear, and its partner head off in their sim, having decided not to leave forks behind</li>
<li>Codrin interviewing those who have decided to come with (both seeds are identical in crew and capacity, but will obv diverge further and further apart with time, so maybe interviews with the same people, but different answers).</li>
<li>Dear has thoughts on irreversibility of time and lack of connectedness with original system as this new thing, being totally cut off.</li>
<li>They’re all in love and incredibly gay for each other because I fucking said so.</li>
<li>PAYOFF: a signal from a similar ship via Dreamer Module. Obviously no course change, so communication is brief and then slow, but hey, confirmation. The real reason they left is that they will eventually die when they hit a star or whatever, and this tickles Dear.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Offline<ul>
<li>Douglas struggles with being a hermit/launch tech/coordinator but also wanting to talk with Michelle - basically his whole POV is the tech aspect of the launch, while also providing history of life outside since secession</li>
<li><em>REJECTED: too many characters.</em> de and its collective struggle to get anyone to even want to prevent the launch, but humanity has mostly turned inward and lost interest in exploration, now super conservative, as life is pretty damn hellish outside their heads, leaning heavily on escapism. Uploading is seen as just sort of the thing you do when you get tired enough, if you don’t die first, etc. Jealous because upload and lose connection to earth, or remain on earth and never do anything interesting, strange desire to keep the species on the same path. Boils down to fatalism, and its story is learning why that is.</li>
<li>Kind of wondering if de should just be told through Douglas. Already a lot of characters.</li>
<li>PAYOFF: tied with May Then My Name’s histories, a renewed sense of adventure outside of the mind</li>
