As late as 5284, human scholarship generally denied the existence of the Odradek: Spellkin’s Catalog of Ascacian Fauna dismisses the species as an eccentric local myth, while Dorcester’s Lost Architecture of the Viridias attributes the sprawling micro-ruins found beneath Folgé-dada to a sophisticated archaeological forgery. Even Dries’s Complete Field Guide to Astonishing Beasts and Horrors finds the tribe’s existence too preposterous to credit, describing the sixteenth of the Sixteen as another elaborate epistemological hoax perpetrated by Bazrahin prankster-mystics.

Ctjn authorities were ill-prepared, then, for the outbreak of Odradek sightings that swept Crilinka in 5292, as thousands began to report the appearance of invasive Odradek colonies in their walls, ceilings and stairwells, along with the sudden disappearance of numerous pets and small children. The outbreak would eventually be traced to the arcological supercasino and theme park me!Land: its construction atop an Ascacian Flarebird sanctuary had forced the birds from their nesting grounds, which in turn had forced the local tribe of Xoulic birdherders to abandon the area; in the absence of Xoulic predation, the area’s subsurface Odradek population exploded from a few hundred thousand to several billion, spilling into the nearby vacation spot and skeletonizing its inhabitants in the process.

The Ctjn government’s 5293 bombardment of Crilinka would eventually contain the Odradek at the cost of much of the province; future outbreaks, often triggered by intensified post-Generator yylimium mining, would prove less tractable.

Odradek society varies greatly from colony to colony, some remaining essentially anarchic, others developing elaborately multi-tiered parliamentary governments within a matter of weeks. Unchecked, this growth proves fatal, allowing a given population to expand wildly until it exhausts local resources and collapses once again. Early detection is critical: by the time the Odradek’s telltale laughter is audible, full-blown cities may be present, and the area must be abandoned until the civilization has run its course.

—Recorder 3000-21