The secession of the system and launch of the extra-solar system.

Characters

• Past arc (Secession)
  • System
    • Michelle Hadje
      • Still trying to deal with the lingering sensations from being lost
      • 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.
      • Decides to forget the Name
    • The Only Time I know My True Name Is When I Dream (True Name) and Jonas Prime
      • Campaigns for individual rights and secession from Sys-side
  • Offline
    • Yared Zerezghi
      • Phys-side System tech
      • Campaigns for individual rights for Sys-side individuals, with the caveat of secession
    • Yosef Demma
      • NEAC (NorthEest African Coalition) politician
      • Hires Yared to induce the secession from Phys-side
      • 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
• Future Arc (Launch)
  • System
    • Codrin Balan
      • Launch-side historian
    • Ioan Balan
      • Sys-side historian
    • Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled (Dear)
      • Launch-side storyteller (new job title)
    • May Then My Name Die With Me (May Then My Name)
      • Sys-side storyteller and launch coordinator
    • The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream (True Name):
      • Campaigns for launch
  • Offline
    • Douglas Hadje
      • Phys-side System tech, launch coordinator
      • Diiistant cousin of Michelle, always feels some strange connection to her, too shy to communicate
    • REJECTED: too many characters. de (because why not be goofy with names, it’s the dang future)
      • Member of Luddite collective
      • Wants to prevent launch b/c Earth is kinda falling apart and rapidly depopulating, and it resents that.

Basics

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.

Outline

• Epigraph
  • 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.
• Part I - Beginnings
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - A death-day celebration - 2141 - TODO merge with below
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Expanding scope - 1351
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Douglas feels a feel while working on the launch - 1021 - TODO merge with below
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Douglas and May write to each other about the launch - 2722
  • Secession: sys-side: Michelle - Michelle dies among her clade, passing on tasks to first lines (True Name gets launch) - 1131
  • REJECTED: de no longer a POV character
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - Yared uploads, the final before secession - 3080
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - The triad tell each other fictional stories around the remnants of the fire of why they left no forks - 2599
  • Secession: sys-side: Michelle - Michelle meets with Council of Eight, discusses spending a bunch of reputation to fork; meets up with Jonas and pledges True Name - 2293
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - Yared gives a ‘speech’ on individual rights, then drawn aside by Yosef, out for coffee, tells of secession proposal - 2608
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Douglas answers May’s questions - 3489
• Part II - Progression
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Ioan(s) and May start to parcel out work, but get off topic onto feelings. - 2644
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - first change from Yosef, talking with True Name and Jonas - 2791
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - brings news of the bill to Council of Eight, discuss speciation - 1833
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - Codrin#Pollux interviews Dear about why it actually uploaded - 1767
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - Codrin#Castor writes eir thoughts on why Dear may have uploaded (showing divergences). - 3488
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - May had responded immediately, ofc, but asked about life on earth (hinting she uploaded ~time of Michelle), reminisces about childhood - 4738
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Ioan interviews May about why she stayed behind, date of upload, thoughts on not telling Douglas re: herself as Michelle - 2725
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - another change from Yosef, Yared starts to actually kind of believe that this is a good idea, considers L5 option - 2196
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - Makes up with Dear, who gives suggestions on some names to interview and how to go about them - 1373
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - 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
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Douglas walks the station, processing news of Michelle’s death, then talks with May - 3969
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - 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
  • Secession: sys-side: Michelle - 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?
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Musician who set up transmission of music between sys/phys, gets #Castor’s note, discusses with May - 1740 - Expand?
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - 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?
  • Secession: phys-side; Yared - 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
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - 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
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Talks with May about launch-era political machinations from phys-side - 2140
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - 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
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - 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
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Ioan and May share growing concerns from LV messages - 2034 (probably needs work)
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - 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
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - 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
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - interviews Why Ask Questions 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
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - 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
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - Council meets, she and Jonas introduce idea of secession, which goes over reasonably well thanks to Praiseworthy’s work
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - 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
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - 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 channels to apply for launch director (look at that manipulation go)
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Learns more about the clade, but still not about names, mentions some concerning stuff re: patterns phys/planet-side
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - 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
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Ioan interviews Do I Know God After The End Waking (skunk male, druid type), who was tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with phys-side finance to increase sys-side population by paying for uploads (as Ioan was), liberal now, regrets his actions; points em to Jonas still on system
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - Finds Yared, Debarre, and user11824, 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 also had its own politics)
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - Meets with Debarre, who says he understands better now, thanks her for all her work; after he leaves, meets up with Life Breeds Life, 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.
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - 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
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - 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.
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Sabotage attempts, hinting that there are those phys-side who have also picked up patterns and really don’t like System
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - Sure enough, support rapidly swings sys-side with a proposal to add growing system to upcoming L5 station launch (at first not sure why until TN/Jonas contact him, excited)
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Ioan 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
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - Interviews True Name, confronts for truth about the Odists’ role in post-secession, confirms, laughs down concerns.
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - Interviews Ne Jonas, humanity best viewed as a resource to be used or a crop to be tended by System
• Part III - Arrival (all stories reach present, all discuss irreversibility)
  • Secession: phys-side: Yared - 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)
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - Interviews True Name for the last time, learning that True Name/her stanza and Jonas orchestrated the launch from the beginning, have been in contact across sys/launch (irreversible), comes home to Dear, sighs, gets hugs, comfort that the ends aren’t bad, even if the means are.
  • Secession: sys-side: True Name - Council meets, celebrates; after, meets with Jonas to discuss ways to ensure stability going forward (growth = irreversibility)
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - Ioan interviews True Name, finds out she’s still everywhere w/ Jonas, steering system, difference between conservatives/liberals is scale of manipulation, liberals think too small (see quote below)
  • Secession: sys-side: Michelle - Acknowledges a few years after dissolution of Council that the clade has gotten out of hand, hints that she basically died when forking, irreversible, goes largely into seclusion to keep herself calm/stable, talking only to May Then My Name and a few others
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan - 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 get together, discuss irreversibility of that act, since Ioan didn’t fork like Codrin
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux - Interviews Dear about just how much influence the Ode clade had/still has, what’s next (death = irreversible, but Dear doesn’t make Codrin cry in this LV)
  • Launch: sys-side: Ioan -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.
  • Launch: phys-side: Douglas - Douglas uploads on one year anniversary, talks about necessity of not being on launches, met by Ioan and May in dandelion sim (as TN met Yared), learns about Michelle/Ode Clade via how they got their names. (learning = irreversibility)
• Epilogue
  • Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor - 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)

Notes

• The ships (identical) are similar to from Accelerando 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.
• The launch process is the first time the sys-side and phys-side have worked together in any notable capacity since secession.
• Release should take the form of an ARG similar to the original Qoheleth.
• 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
• 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
• Quote: 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.” / She smiled down to em, and in that smaile was kindness, and in that kindness was a hatred ey could not fathom, and then she quit.
• 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)
• 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
• 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), Ioan/Codrin’s pronouns
• 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
• Add timestamps to extramural conversations

Cover Ideas

Would be nice to keep the isometric view from Qoheleth

• Michelle/Sasha unable to control her form
• May Then My Name showing Ioan dandelions
• True Name and Jonas at a coffee shop
• Codrin and Dear building cairns
• True Name back to back with Yared

Older stuff

Chapter ideas

• Ioan actually gets with May, discusses irreversibility of decision b/c no earlier fork like w/ Codrin
• Both threads should start around/after the event, so Yared’s first chapter should be of him uploading on Secession Day
• Interviews (not all interview style, some probably get interviewed more than once, interleaved):
  • Launch-side:
    • (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)
    • (Pollux) Aside 2: Zeke, who has gone a bit sideways, now the prophet Ezekiel, having a hard time reconciling two launches
    • 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
    • (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
    • (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
    • (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.
    • (Pollux) Dear: Codrin interviews it about about just how much influence the Ode clade had/still has
  • Sys-side:
    • 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
    • Aside 2: Musician who set up transmission of music (via MIDI etc) between sys- and phys-side
    • 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
    • Yared Zerezghi: Never forked after growing paranoia that quitting = death, talks about Toledot Yeshu and Demma as Paul
    • 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
    • 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?)
    • True Name: discovers that True Name is now on every System, still steering w/ Jonas clade (climax-ish)
    • 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.
  • Douglas:
    • Sabotage attempts
    • Launch-era political machinations from phys-side

By timeline/location

• Secession (2124 - coming up on 10 year anniversary of system)
  • System
    • Michelle Hadje continues working to shape the system into what it will eventually become.
      • She heads up the Council of Eight, early uploads who are focused on the experience of those who live in the system
      • First win was sensoria, recent win was forking, which, given that it does take some system resources, required the idea of the reputation markets
      • 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.
      • PAYOFF: slowly gaining a sense of peace as she remembers early system history
    • The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream (True Name) and Jonas Prime fight for rights and personhood
      • 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
      • 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)
      • PAYOFF: win secession, thinking it was their own idea
  • Offline
    • 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
    • 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.
• Launch (2325 - just after launch, on bicentennial anniversary of system secession)
  • System
    • Sys-side
      • 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.
      • Ioan B interviews locals who specifically did not go
      • Ioan C acts as early system historian
      • 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.
      • They are also gay for each other.
      • PAYOFF: histories are published back on Earth, awaken sense of adventure
    • Launch-side
      • Codrin, Dear, and its partner head off in their sim, having decided not to leave forks behind
      • 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).
      • Dear has thoughts on irreversibility of time and lack of connectedness with original system as this new thing, being totally cut off.
      • They’re all in love and incredibly gay for each other because I fucking said so.
      • 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.
  • Offline
    • 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
    • REJECTED: too many characters. 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.
    • Kind of wondering if de should just be told through Douglas. Already a lot of characters.
    • PAYOFF: tied with May Then My Name’s histories, a renewed sense of adventure outside of the mind