Clade (n) – /kleɪd/ – post-self theory
A group of individuals patterned off a single root consciousness, formed through branching expansion of the forking of its constituent members.
See also: cladistics, cocladist, up-/down-/cross-tree instance, forking, post-self theory.
— The System Central Library Encyclopedia
To split oneself among however many individuals, to let the mind drift and diverge, to feel the world from points of view not your own, and then let those memories crash down into you…well, it inspires a feeling best described as ‘heady’, to say the least.
- “Sufficiently Advanced” by Rob MacWolf
- “Genre Clade” by Nathan “Domus Vocis” Hopp
- “Après un rêve” by Madison Scott-Clary
- “Support Group for Anomalies in Forking” by Michael Miele
- “Cowboy” by Alexandria Christina Leal
- “True Love Lies Within and Without” by Thomas “Faux” Steele
- “The Big O” by Evan Drake
- “She Who Haunts the Storm” by JS Hawthorne
- “Earthbound” by Kergiby
- “Cascade Failure” by Joel Kreissman
Content Warnings: “Après un rêve” contains surgery and death; “Support Group for Anomalies in Forking” contains alcohol abuse, body horror, a car accident and injuries, and medical debt; “Cowboy” contains manipulation, complex PTSD, emotional flashbacks, a severe panic attack, and mentions parental death; “She Who Haunts the Storm” contains depression, self-hate, self(?)-harm, coercion, intimidation, and suicidal ideation; “Earthbound” contains death and depression.
About the authors
Rob MacWolf (Tasker)
Rob MacWolf was intitally forked in order to write for and co-host the Voice of Dog podcast, but his root instance seems to have gone inactive. You can find his writing, among other places, in antholgies from the Furry Historical Fiction Society.
Nathan “Domus Vocis” Hopp (Tracker)
Nathan ‘Domus Vocis’ Hopp is a storyteller and root instance of the Narration Clade. He used to exclusively write young adult fiction but has since begun to fully explore furry fiction after first Uploading. His favorite genres to explore, especially when splicing in anthropomorphism, include erotic romance, science fiction, supernatural fantasy, and sometimes dystopian fiction with settings more nightmarish than real-life should ever be. His debut novel is “The Adventures of Peter Gray”, a historic coming-of-age fantasy that is his pride and joy, but he’s been featured in multiple anthologies across different furry-themed genres such as “Furries Hate Nazis” and “Paw-ly Love”. Domus Vocis has an addicting love for literature, so when he’s not exploring Athenaeum#f6f6ff01 or having fun with many friends and a couple of cocladists, he can be found residing in his private sim, trying to write the next Great Western Federation Novel.
Madison Scott-Clary (Dispersionista)
Madison Scott-Clary is a transgender writer, editor, and perisystem engineer. She focuses on furry fiction and non-fiction, using that as a framework for interrogating the concept of self and exploring across genres. A graduate of the Regional Anthropomorphic Writers Workshop in 2321, hosted by Kyell Gold and Dayna Smith, she is studying creative writing at Cornell College. She lives in a polycule complex sim with her two dogs, as well as her husband, who is also a dog.
Michael Miele (Tracker)
Michael Miele is a human fork of a dragon named Nenekiri Bookwyrm. You may recognize his uptree instance’s work from contributions to the Voice of Dog podcast, Roar Vol. 11, and Happy Howlidays. He’s trying out writing with more human characters and felt like forking off a copy of himself to pursue that was a perfect encapsulation of the kind of experimentation that is prevalent in the System. From the thinly pressed and infititely complex inner workings of a sophisticated computer in space, he’d like to say, “Curl up with a good book and be kind to yourself.”
Alexandria Christina Leal (Nominally a Tracker)
Alexandria Christina Leal, also known as Ellen, continues to do sys-side what she loved to do phys-side: engineer, write, and spend copious amounts of time either with her loved ones or on exceedingly long walks.
She has found forking to be both liberating and challenging in pursuing her passions, and figures it is only a matter of time before she becomes a Dispersionista. She maintains several long running forks that sync up frequently, such as Unity#Lily (engineering), Unity#SC (Forging), and Unity#Jade (creative endeavours) among others.
In furry circles, she is known as Kimmy, and frequently makes use of forking to switch between a myriad(myriad, nice!) of species, with her primary forms being Kitsune and Snow Leopard. She has also been known to appear as a wolf, a skunk, a catbat(oh my!), and more! She blames Madison Scott-Clary for the second item in that list.
Thomas “Faux” Steele (Dispersionista)
Thomas “Faux” Steele is a lawspeaker and root instance of the Immortalem Clade. He writes primarily furry fiction, with a particular fondness for exploring dynamic relationships between characters in a variety of genres from science fiction to slasher horror. His work has been printed in many anthologies, including FANG Vol. 7, When the World Was Young, and Happy Howlidays. With a fondness for skeuomorphic relics from the North-East African Coalition (NEAC), he and his forks traverse the System in pursuit of the rare few items which cost enough Ŕ to worry about. He presides over the private sim Höfn#2ca117d28 with his partner, Auggie, and numerous cocladists.
furaffinity.net/user/fauxhammer
Evan Drake (Tasker)
Evan Drake has a deep love of writing fiction, mostly involving mysterious fantasy worlds and dragons, that explores and challenges our concept of reality. Whether he is a fork or the root instance remains a mystery.
J.S. Hawthorne (Tasker)
Never being particularly good at having a conversation with herself, J.S. Hawthorne prefers to create a pseudo-clade of friends and found family. When not involved in torturing fictional characters for her own amusement, J.S. enjoys old-school tabletop roleplaying—no autonomous dragons necessary. She spends most of her life in a sim she’s created, surrounded by retro video games and an unhealthily large collection of roleplaying supplements.
Kergiby (Tasker)
Kergiby is a furry writer whose works touch on themes of relationships, grief, and exploring identity. His work in the system has included an obsessive task of recreating his favorite costumes and props. While he could do it easier than he did phys-side, he finds it more satisfying to do it himself—or making a fork help him out!
Joel Kreissman (Dispersionista)
Joel Kreissman is an underemployed biologist from Wisconsin who mostly uses their degree to introduce some scientific accuracy to their science-fiction writing. They’re a bit split between multiple sci-fi and fantasy serials and an urban fantasy comic.