The story Ode to Joad the Toad takes place in the world of [[Antiquity]]. The story revolves around the regime change in the Old Capitol, where King Richard Creely IV (usually called King Dick) has replaced King Eadweard Mingy. The story's protagonist, Walther Neck, is an [[Ur]] toad: one of the supreme animals that were gifted speech and reasoning, now mostly extinct. Neck is an aspect to the toad deity Joad. [[Delia]] Labrador's [[Alter Ego]] plays a big part in the story. She is accompanied by a group of [[Flat Affect Men]]. Delia's Antiquity counterpart is an evil sorceress, mentioned alongside [[Julie Vellum|Julie V]] and former court warlock [[Jon]] Foot(e). The story briefly mentions [[Croatoan|the Croatoans]], which might be the same entity (entities?) as mentioned in the Antiquity tale [[Uncoiling]]. The [[The Great Dark]] and perhaps [[Old Leech]] are mentioned in the story: "Some wormholes cored even farther, crossing into the Great Dark where flesh and brain represented provender for The Sleeping Dread." (p. ) Rabbit Abbot, another Ur animal who makes an appearance in [[Oblivion Mode]], is mentioned in the story. A recurring Barron quote is uttered in the story: "time is a ring." --- ### __Recurring deities__ The God of Herons, Aloysius - also known as The Terrible Shadow that Dwells on High - makes an appearance in the story. This could be the same bird that abruptly ends the story [[A Clutch]] (although that one is called a bittern). At one point in the story, some effigies of neglected gods in a temple are described: "Weird red shadows crawled across weirder stone and plaster effigies of neglected gods. The Heron; the Toad; the Leech; the Sleeper; the Lord of the Black River; and the FatherMother. These figures towered within alcoves that nearly scraped the vaulted ceiling." (p. ) The Heron and the Toad are Aloysius and Joad. The Leech must certainly be Old Leech. The FatherMother is mentioned multiple times in [[Bulldozer]] as a different name for the demon Belphegor. Belphegor is also briefly mentioned in [[Hallucigenia]]. At one point in the story, Slaughin is mentioned as part of a saying: "he trod softly as Slaughin's own shadow". Slaughin is one of the names of the Antiquity version of [[Procession of the Black Sloth|the Black Sloth]] deity who also plays a big role in the story [[Bitten by Himself]]. According to Procession of the Black Sloth and Bitten by Himself, the Black Sloth/Slaughin is the Lord of the Eighteen Hells. However, in Ode to Joad the Toad, King Dick at one point uses the turn of phrase "what in the Nineteen Hells..." #Story #Antiquity