Dramatis Personae
As the Post-Self universe contains billions, you’re perfectly free to create your own characters to live, work, love, and hate within the setting. The following are those included in the canon.
Spoilers for the Post-Self Cycle itself are marked as such: Yikes!. Hover to expose the spoiler.
RJ Brewster / AwDae (ey/em)
A sound tech for the Soho Theatre Troupe, RJ Brewster was among the lost in the early 2100s. Ey, along with Dr. Carter Ramirez, was instrumental in bringing to light the origin of the lost and ending that whole saga. As a member of the furry subculture, ey commonly appeared online (and while lost) as an agender anthropomorphic fennec. Ey focused strongly on making eir avatar (or av) as realistic as possible, down to the inability to form the same consonants that a human mouth would.
Ey was instrumental in the creation of the System, being the first semi-successful upload; while ey did not wind up living to see the System, eir consciousness formed the foundation of the System itself, described early on as a half-sensed presence within the System. Eir friend Sasha, so torn by eir loss and confronted by eir sensed presence after uploading, used eir poem Ode to the End of Death for the names of her forks. Early political circumstances required that her relationship with em be kept secret, leading to a near pathological obsession with keeping eir Name from being known.
Michelle Hadje / Sasha (she/her)
Michelle Hadje uploaded early on during the System’s creation and is considered one of the founders and a member of the Council of Eight along with Debarre, Zeke/Ezekiel, Jonas Anderson, user11824, and the three nameless Sino-Russian Bloc representatives. She is best known for being the founder of the Ode clade, and is no longer extant on the System as of 2306. Raised “vaguely Jewish,” various members of the Ode clade moved back towards this or further away to varying extents.
Due to her experience while lost, her and her up-tree instances have a “unique relationship to language” that primarily manifests with a lack of contractions, florid speech with occasionally irregular word order, and well-placed uses of the word ‘fuck’. She and her clade deal with the effects even within the System as best they can and will occasionally describe themselves as ‘mad’, for lack of a better term. Additionally, the experience left her struggling to maintain a single form post-uploading, often alternating between skunk and human form, which is described as extremely unpleasant.
The Ode clade
The Ode clade consists of, nominally, 100 instances. In 2124, Michelle forked ten instances from herself corresponding to the ten first lines of the stanzas of the “Ode to the end of death”. From there, those ten instances were free to fork as they would, and each quickly picked up on interests as they went.
Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled (it/its)
Dear is an instance artist, meaning that it plays around with the meaning of self in a world where one can create multiple copies of oneself. It was instrumental in the investigation of the events as described in the Bălan clade’s On the Perils of Memory. It takes the form of a fennec fox with somewhat iridescent white fur, a result of it forking a few too many times in order to shift its sensorium to try and forget a fact. It has opted out of gender.
It is in a relationship with Codrin Bălan and one other unnamed individual.
May Then My Name Die With Me (she/her)
May Then My Name (or simply ‘May’ to those with whom she is closest) is an author, actor, and hopeless romantic. She takes the form of a short, chubby anthropomorphic skunk, and is the author of the well-received An Expanded Mythology of Our World. She falls in love easily and deeply, and her primary instance is in a relationship with Ioan Bălan, though several long-running forks remain in relationships with others.
The Only Time I Know My True Name is When I Dream / Sasha (she/her)
True Name is a politician and one of the movers and shakers of the System as one of the Founders and member of the Council of Eight. She takes the form of an anthropomorphic skunk, though is taller and slimmer than her up-tree instance, May Then My Name.
The instance of her that remained on the Lagrange System later rescinded her membership in the Ode clade and renamed herself to Sasha after accepting merges of her up-tree instances Do I Know God After The End Waking and May Then My Name Die With Me. Sasha winds up in a relationship with Aurel Bălan shortly after this change in identity.
Life Breeds Life, But Death Must Now Be Chosen / Qoheleth (he/him)
Life Breeds Life was a historian and author involved in early historiographical efforts on the System. With the build-up of endless memory, his identity slowly shifted towards that of Qoheleth and he rescinded his membership in the clade.
Do I Know God After The End Waking / E.W. (he/him)
End Waking started out in charge of phys-side finances as they pertain to the System early on, but has since grown repentant of his actions. He is “heavily committed to the ranger aesthetic”, choosing to live in solitude in a forest sim designed by Serene. He is in an on-again-off-again relationship with Debarre. After rescinding his membership in the clade, he goes by E.W.
Serene; Sustained And Sustaining (she/her)
A fennec like Dear, Serene was forked when her down-tree instance wanted to explore a twinned interest in instances and sims. She builds fantastic, nature-based sims, including Dear’s prairie and End Waking’s forest. On the Pollux LV, she has wound up in a relationship with Codrin Bălan and Dear.
That Which Lives is Forever Praiseworthy (she/her)
Another skunk-type Odist, Praiseworthy focused on shaping sentiment early on in the System’s history. No one’s sure what she’s up to now.
Why Ask Questions Here At The End Of All Things (she/her) and Why Ask Questions When The Answers Will Not Help (she/her)
Commonly described as shitheads, Why Ask Questions and Answers Will Not Help shaped sentiment, with the former focusing on building camaraderie sys-side and the latter working via the text line to build support phys-side. Both are templated after the human Michelle rather than the skunk Sasha.
I Remember The Rattle Of Dry Grass
An ex-systech who got tired of the politics involved, Dry Grass is a pretty standard human-type Odist. Hammered Silver’s stanza focused on feelings of motherhood in all forms, which led to Dry Grass treating the whole of the System as her baby. She forked into In The Wind, who stayed on as a systech, and was killed in the Century Attack in 2400
Time Is A Finger Pointing At Itself
A Finger Pointing is human-type Odist who has devoted herself to theatre. She’s described as a somewhat taller, somewhat more slender human Odist, dressing chic and modern, but with a simple desire to be everyone’s friend. She is the executive director and administrator for Au Lieu Du Rêve, a theatre troupe that she started early on but which has grown to include several thousand members. Flamboyant and dramatic, she suffers from bouts of intense dissociation due to merging a crashing instance in the early 2300s. In a long-running relationship with Beholden, and one of Motes’s two guardians.
Where It Watches The Slow Hours Progress
The clade’s oracle and prophetess. Her predictions are less bound up in actual prophecy than the fact that, as Au Lieu Du Rêve’s script manager, she has read a lot and can offer insights based on generalizations from those stories. Still, many come to her for advice and for her emotional openness.
And We Are The Motes In The Stage-Lights
The babiest Odist, Motes has focused her existence on play, leading to her often appearing as a young skunk, anywhere from seven to twelve. This transgressive act has caused quite a bit of drama over the years. When she isn’t little, she appears as a lithe twenty-something human, often in a flower crown and flowing skirt. Big flower-child energy. She treats A Finger Pointing and Beholden as her ‘parents’, calling them ‘Ma’ and ‘Bee’.
Beholden To The Heat Of The Lamps
A skunk-type Odist who is a sound tech and musician for Au Lieu Du Rêve, A Finger Pointing’s partner, and the other of Motes’s two guardians. She’s brash and snarky, and has trouble restraining the hotter emotions due to the way she engages with the System.
The Bălan clade
Ioan Bălan (ey/em)
Ioan Bălan (/ˈjo ˌan/ /ˌbə ˈlan/) is a historian, investigative journalist, writer, and much later, actor and playwright. Ey uploaded in 2238 to help eir brother, Rareș (/ˌra ˈreʃ/), after their parents' death, and began working with Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled of the Ode clade in 2305 on a project that resulted in the well-received book On the Perils of Memory. Later, while working on An Expanded History of Our World, ey entered into a romantic relationship with another Odist, May Then My Name. During the process of working on Individuation and Reconcilliation, ey wound up in a relationship with Sasha, née True Name as a separate fork.
Ey has kept eir masculine name and relatively masculine appearance from phys-side, dressing in ‘faux-academic garb’ (usually slacks, a dress shirt, a sweater vest, a bow tie, and occasionally a jacket), though ey describes eir gender as fluid. May Then My Name occasionally uses the pet name Ionuț (/ˈjo ˌnutz/).
Codrin Bălan (ey/em)
After the conclusion of eir project with Dear, Ioan forked a new long-running instance, Codrin Bălan (/ˈko ˌdrin/ or /ˈko ˌdrɨn/), who moved in with Dear and its partner and later joined their relationship. Ey has grown eir hair out and leaned much harder into androgyny, eir features shifting away from masculine, wearing sarongs and tunics. Eir partners occasionally use the pet name Codruț (/ˈko ˌdrutz/).
Sorina Bălan (she/her)
Forked from Codrin in order to continue along on Artemis’s journey, Sorina (/so ˈri ˌna/) owned her Romanian heritage perhaps more than either of her down-tree instances, most often seen in traditional Romanian garb from ~1800s—an ie (blouse), waist belt, skirt, and fotă (apron), all heavily embroidered—and speaking more frequently in her first language.
Aurel Bălan
An occasional instance inspired by Debarre’s habit of keeping a fork for his relationship with End Waking, which tends to last only a few months at a time before the skunk asks for solitude, Ioan forks Aurel (/‘a:u rel/) when Sasha is up for a relationship. She’ll occasionally use the pet names Aurica (/ˈa:u ri ˌka/) when ey’s in a more feminine mode and Aurică (/ˈa:u ri ˌkə/) when ey’s in a more masculine mode.
The Marsh clade
Marsh (they/them)
Having gotten sick of the process of transition and uploading in the early 2220s, Marsh Hanson quickly settled in on the system, forking three times over and largely living vicariously through their forks while they focused primarily on singing and enjoying the laid-back life with their partners. In a relationship with Vos and Pierre LaFontaine. They were killed in the Century Attack in 2400.
Reed (he/him)
Marsh’s first fork, remaining transmasc after Marsh had (at first) adopted a cis-male appearance. In a relationship with Hanne Marie.
Lily (she/her)
Marsh’s second fork, who went back to cis-female. Kind of hates the Odists, tbh.
Cress (it/its)
Marsh’s third fork, who gave gender a miss entirely. It has adopted the identity of the littlest Marshan, and is a bit of a gremlin. In a relationship with I Remember The Rattle Of Dry Grass of the Ode clade along with Tule.
Rush (ve/ver/vis)
One of Reed’s two forks, Rush is keenly interested in sims and sim artistry, and quickly becomes friends with Serene.
Tule (he/him)
Sedge’s up-tree, and a bit of a brat. He returned to a cis-masc identity. In a relationship with I Remember The Rattle Of Dry Grass of the Ode clade along with Cress.
Sedge (she/her)
Reed’s other fork, focused on people and society.
Relationships
The relationships between the Ode clade, the Bălan clade, and the Marsh clade are quite complex, so please enjoy this visualization:
Additional characters
Dr. Carter Ramirez (she/her)
Dr. Carter Ramirez was a neuroscientist and researching of the lost at the University College London during their brief existence. She went on to become a political proponent of individual rights of uploaded personalities; however, she did not upload, herself.
Douglas Hadje (he/him)
Douglas Hadje-Simon is Michelle Hadje’s ancestor and the phys-side launch coordinator for the launch project.
Jonas Anderson (he/him)
Jonas Anderson was another member of the Council of Eight and worked to guide the System throughout the years. Described as lanky, ‘well-preserved forties’, tousled blond hair, the consummate politician.
Tycho Brahe (he/him)
Born under a different name, Tycho chose the name of the Danish astronomer when he agreed to be interviewed by Codrin for the History. An anxious and often depressed individual, he works as an astronomer on the System, and was the first to make contact with the Artemisians.
Yared Zerezghi (he/him)
A ‘net addict and DDR (Direct Democracy Representative) junkie from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Yared was instrumental in the secession of the System from the rest of the governments on Earth. The events of Secession have left him incredibly anxious.
Sarah Genet (she/her)
Sarah is a psychologist and one of the emissaries chosen to meet with the Artemisians. She later becomes a mentor for Codrin as ey works on moving towards psychology as a career. She’s described as an indigenous Canadian woman, with long black-and-gray hair and darker skin, often wearing business casual, though she tends to meet with her clients with an appearance that matches their mode of interaction..
Debarre (he/him)
Having lost his boyfriend to suicide and the lingering effects of getting lost, Debarre uploaded along with Michelle Hadje. He’s an anthropomorphic weasel with a penchant for dressing in all black. He’s in an on-again-off-again relationship with End Waking, along with a few others in a form of parallel monogamy.
Zeke/Ezekiel (he/him)
Zeke (later known by his full name, Ezekiel), is an Israeli Jew who uploaded early on and worked to implement forking while on the Council of Eight. He’s described as anything from a pile of dirty rags or rubbish, barely recognizable as human, to a homeless man.
user11824 (he/him)
All anyone can really tell about user11824 is that he’s male. He’s described as being so utterly boring that one’s eyes simply slide right off him. This fact, combined with his anonymous chosen name, make him quite interesting, much to his chagrin. He described himself prior to uploading as ‘a nobody, but a Maori nobody’.
Zacharias (he/him)
A dapper and snarky red fox. In an on-again-off-again relationship with True Name. He is a long, long diverged fork of May Then My Name.