The Ode clade

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The Ode clade is one of the earliest clades on the System, and the subject of much of the canon to date.

Structure

The members of the Ode clade — at least those who are explicitly members of it — take their names from the lines of a poem, "Ode to the End of Death", written by Michelle's friend and one of the fellow Lost, AwDae. Michelle Hadje forked the first ten lines in one go on systime 0+103 (April 12, 2124).

The Ode comprises 100 lines divided into ten stanzas, each loosely based around a central theme. Because of these themes and because of the mindset that she was in when she forked each of the first ten, each stanza within the clade has tended to pick up a particular hyperfixation.

The first stanza: watchers

The first stanza was keenly focused on observing the System. This occasionally manifested itself as spying, but just as often played itself out in more innocent ways such as I Have Sight But Cannot See who became a sensorium toolmaker (protocanon) and I Cannot Stop Myself From Speaking who became a private investigator.[1]

The second stanza: historians

The second stanza focused on history. From Qoheleth's shaping of the System's memories from the early days on to Hold My Name Beneath Your Tongue And Know's fixation on tricksters both past and present.

The third stanza: spiritualists

The third stanza focused on religion and spirituality, returning to the Judaism of Michelle's grandparents and her "vaguely Jewish" upbringing.[2]

The fourth stanza: fighters

The fourth stanza started out keeping tabs on art and artists throughout the System, but eventually wandered off to do a leftism.

The fifth stanza: entertainers

The fifth stanza leapt into theatre wholeheartedly, with Time Is A Finger Pointing At Itself starting the troupe Au Lieu Du Rêve with her up-tree instances.

The sixth stanza: caregivers

The sixth stanza picked up most of Michelle's feelings on motherhood and the role of caregiver that she felt as a teacher. This extended beyond just a parental role: I Remember The Rattle Of Dry Grass became a systech, reasoning that that made her the System's mother, in a way.[3]

The seventh stanza: emotives

The seventh stanza leaned hard into emotions and, eventually, therapy within the System.

The eighth stanza: conductors

The eighth stanza has played perhaps the largest role in the grand scheme of things, leaning hard into politics and guiding the System along its path. The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream in particular helped keep the System on the path of general anarchy and ensured its continuity and stability by any means necessary.

The ninth stanza: artists

The ninth stanza focused on the arts in various ways, from novelists to game designers, sim artists to construct artists, instance artists to sensorium artists.

The tenth stanza: "the part that suffers"

The tenth stanza was left with much of the mental health and instance problems that Michelle suffered leading up to forking. This is not to say that they were at all unhappy, but neither were they quite as whole as the rest of the clade.

Overflowing

All of the Odists undergo what they have named "overflowing," which is something akin to a panic attack or dramatic mood shift which will affect them for anything from a few hours every few days to a few weeks every few years. Each expresses it differently, and usually it will involve an inversion of their own personal fixation. If it is notable, it will be listed on their own page.

Clade listing