Post Incident Timeline

A fractured world learning to survive the impossible

When the QEBS imploded, the universe tore open. The realms collided. Cities fell. Creatures poured through breaches, reshaping Earth in hours. Humanity retreated behind hastily built walls, clinging to survival as the familiar world vanished around them.

What followed was an age of adaptation and desperate innovation, new weapons, new technologies, and new alliances. Tanner Lights lit the roads. Resonant blades and sonic disruptors armed the guards. Entire regions became realm‑bleed zones where physics bent and reality thinned. And in the chaos, new powers rose: factions, organizations, and individuals forever changed by the Nexus.

This timeline chronicles the collapse, the rebuilding, and the uncertain dawn of a world where Earth is no longer alone. And where the story of Walls begins.

2152 — The Incident Year

In one year, the world changed more than anyone expected, however, human resilience and perseverance became the name of the game.

February 2152 — QEBS Activation

The Quantum Energy Bridge Stabilizer powers on; the scene is broadcast in real time across the networks throughout the world. People hang on every second of the activation. For a moment, the world believes the energy crisis is over and people start to hope again. In the QEBS facility, Finley MacMillan watches as his fears come to life.

February 2152 — The Implosion

The QEBS collapses inward, tearing open the Nexus. As soon as this happens, a radius of five miles around the facility is obliterated down to bare earth, including all geographical features. The barrier immediately snaps into place. Breaches erupt worldwide. Creatures spill into Earth, some terrorizing human populations while others are simply confused at what is happening to them. At first, the world thinks this is the worst it will get.

March 2152 — Global Blackout

Power grids fail. Hovercars crash. Quantum‑Mesh networks collapse. Governments lose contact with one another. People begin relying on what they call ancient technology. Analog radio stations and CB radios are used to communicate, basic electricity can be restored to run these on smaller scale power grids and personal energy collectors.

April 2152 — The Great Flight

Mass evacuations begin in areas overrun by creatures form the realms. Entire cities are abandoned when they are too far away from protection of military and paramilitary groups throughout the world. Refugee caravans form across continents in an attempt to collect people in smaller spaces to make it easier to protect them. Many die in this attempt. Worldwide, millions are killed in mere months. Entire swaths of the world are obliterated by changes in the very earth or rampaging creatures.

May 2152 — First Breach Zones Identified

Scientists detect areas where physics is unstable. Early explorers report impossible terrain and realm‑born creatures. Many do not return after communicating back to their base what they are seeing. These zones are around the largest breaches, and there are one to two for each realm, though at the time, researchers do not know that there are differences between these realms. The “zone” is around twenty meters around the breach.

June 2152 — Wicker Appears

An infant materializes in Bennu. Crystal Truman, age 52, finds him and takes him in. She keeps him secret due to his strange appearance, determined to raise him as her own and treat him as she would any child. Her husband is the only other living person that knows of the child until he passes.

July–August 2152 — Collapse of Global Governance

National governments fracture. Military forces splinter. Without communication grids, governments that are larger are affected the most. Countries like the United States collapse first. Mexico fares somewhat better, but smaller areas do a little better at keeping the populace under control. Local leaders take control of surviving populations. Most, if not all, promise survival. In almost all cases, their promises are empty, which is starkly proven by the continued attacks of creatures on higher population areas. People use what they can to form barriers, but find some creatures are not deterred by them.

September 2152 — Emergency Weaponization Initiative

Militaries and corporations attempt to repurpose existing weapons. Most fail terribly, causing more than one incident that involves death of several people. A few succeed in a fashion, though nothing is created that is truly effective yet. Even with all of human innovation, they are at a loss for how to defend people from these creatures they don’t understand.

October–December 2152 — The Abandonment

Thousands of towns and cities are declared unsalvageable. Small towns are especially vulnerable to the creatures, and many are decimated before they can evacuate toward larger, more militarized areas. Humanity retreats toward defensible regions. No one is really sure who is actually in charge of anyone, but everyone knows that they need to have protection from the creatures roaming the world.

2153 — The Year of Desperation and Organizations

In the wake of the terrifying first year, humans do what they do best. They innovate and create. Some things work well, while others are like chasing ghosts.

January 2153 — Tanner Lights Invented

Mara Tanner stabilizes a repelling frequency discovered in QEBS debris. Her husband takes credit after she passes away; her name is forgotten by most. Safe routes become possible, though the engineers need protection to build and install them, taking away from city and town defense. All available resources are dedicated to manufacturing of the lights, causing shortages of materials quickly. People see it as necessary and there is little pushback. Most populations are exhausted and know something has to happen or they will never survive.

February 2153 — Walled City Construction Begins

Using gravity modulators and emergency labor forces, humanity begins building fortified refuges. While these initial fenced areas are good for temporary shelter with Tanner lights, they are not structures that can withstand coordinated attack should the Tanner lights fail. The Tanner lights are found to blink at times, and in those seconds, something can attack. Some creatures are found to be able to push through a Tanner light protected area, though they tend to avoid them. As long as an area is covered in the lights, creatures will rarely force themselves through them. The lights must be maintained even during the day, though most creatures come at night. Scientists also identify the four realms and begin to decipher what creatures originate in each one.

March 2153 — Association of Worldwide Builders (AWB) Formed

Based in Tulsa, the AWB coordinates global wall construction and structural repair. This institution begins out of desperation because no one is coordinating the building of the walls for the cities. As many people as possible are recruited as outposts are hastily built in every major city that they intend to put walls around. This happens worldwide with coordination through radio, old-style phone lines, and telegraphs.

April 2153 — Earth Defense Shield (EDS) Established

A unified protection force forms. They answer only to a future global authority. The founder of the EDS, Michael DeAngelo from Italy, came up with the idea, and it spread quickly through the world with the various communication methods available to them. They are mostly recruited from those with military, police, and first responder backgrounds.

May 2153 — Office of Portal Investigation Founded

Archie MacMillan establishes OPI in Phoenix to study the portals and the QEBS failure. Scientists come to his call because leadership is scattered throughout the world. Archie takes in the people who want to help no matter their discipline. He tells them that he wants to close the breaches, and to do it, they have to recreate the QEBS. Archie asks Alastair to help, who refuses and tells him he’s going to make things worse.

June 2153 — Resonant Blades Developed

Echo‑realm researchers create vibrational weapons effective against Dark and Verdant creatures. Unfortunately, they are ineffective against Echo Realm creatures, and the effect on Storm Realm creatures is variable. This is, however, the first effective weapon that has been created. It took using realm-powers that scientists at first dismissed as “fanciful” and were “like magic.” Scientists are reminded that magic is only science that is not yet understood.

July 2153 — Storm‑Shield Barriers Prototyped

Atmospheric ion harvesters are repurposed into unstable kinetic shields. These are somewhat useful because they can stop anything including elemental attacks, however, they randomly fail, so they cannot be depended on.

August–December 2153 — The Great Consolidation

Refugees are funneled into walled cities. Tanner Lights line major routes. EDS begins patrols. Most the cities are still being constructed, especially the larger areas, but there is enough protection from the Tanner lights as well as the EDS, military, and paramilitary groups. Much of the official military officers are being pulled into the EDS as officers.

2154 — The Year of Organization and Control

Even with everything in chaos, organization is a much, as is keeping the population under control. Panic comes easily; therefore, someone has to take charge.

January 2154 — World Hope Alliance (WHA) Created

Surviving governments form a global council headquartered in Phoenix. Phoenix is chosen due to its construction nearing completion and it is near ground zero. Countries send their representatives to Phoenix using various means. Most come by boat, and then make their way across the country with the remaining mag-slip trains that are still running.

February 2154 — EDS Becomes WHA’s Enforcement Arm

Weapons are banned for civilians. Only EDS officers may carry them. There is much pushback from average citizens, but the edict is not negotiable. EDS, where most military and paramilitary organizations have become a part of, goes city by city, removing weapons and arms. There are some skirmishes, however, they end up clearing the world within a short time.

March 2154 — Eye of Themis Emerges

A clandestine group begins eliminating rising tyrants and corrupt leaders. It is unclear who, if anyone, is in charge of the group. They are comprised of assassins, diplomats with assassin skills, and those that can accomplish the task. They are devoted and will give their life in their service to the Eye.

April 2154 — Realm‑Adapted Drones Deployed

Drones capable of detecting invisible or phase‑shifted creatures become essential. These are recommissioned drones abandoned at military locations worldwide, as the instructions to modify them are spread through the low-tech methods still working.

June 2154 — Verdant‑Burn Compounds Developed

Chemical agents that slow rapid overgrowth are discovered. This is revolutionary, as some walled cities are in close proximity to some areas that are growing faster than anyone can imagine, and they fear the plants will take over the entirety of the walled city.

September 2154 — Echo‑Stabilizers Installed

Cities begin to adopt psychic‑dampening devices, beginning with those near the breach zones and spreading to other cities as abandoned cities become home to various realm-born creatures. These reduce psychic attacks almost immediately, and few Echo Realm creatures can get past the dampeners. There are, of course, exceptions to this. Overall, the Echo-Stabilizers are effective.

November 2154 — First Inter‑City Trade Routes Reopened

Protected by Tanner Lights and EDS escorts, the trader routes reopen, however, people are hesitant to use them. The first attempt to take trade from one city to another fails because they were set upon by creatures of unknown origin during a three second blink of a Tanner light. The decision was made to only use the trade routes when absolutely necessary, leading to many smaller cities reverting almost to a medieval style of life. They simply do not have the technology nor the materials to keep up with high tech objects.

2155 — The Year of Knowledge and Culture

Everyone wants to know what to do to keep themselves alive, but as always, with humans, culture survives. It may have changed, but it still exists, making each city unique.

January 2155 — Realm‑Breach Zones Mapped

Scientists identify permanent overlaps between Earth and other realms. This mapping is a monumental undertaking and took many lives in the process. Worldwide, though, almost every breach zone is mapped. These maps are shared the world over, both in physical form and in batches of data to be used by those with capabilities.

February 2155—Personal Tanner Light Arrays Released

Tanner light arrays are created as a personal area of protection. They are an umbrella like instrument that is held up over the person. The lights are located inside the umbrella part, and they shine down only in the radius of the umbrella. They have a high chance of malfunctioning, but they can offer a second level of protection when the roadway Tanner lights blink occasionally.

March 2155 — Ancient Civilization Education Front (ACEF) Formed

ACEF begins traveling between cities to preserve history and culture with EDS escort. Their aim is to make sure that the past is never forgotten. They have a team of educators that speak most languages on Earth, making certain they can reach the most people. Based in France, it takes some time for this to coordinate worldwide, but soon there are outposts in all major cities.

April 2155 — World Education Association (WEA) Formed

WEA partners with ACEF to bring modern education to isolated cities. While the ACEF focuses on the past, the WEA focuses on basic education and skills. Like their sister organization, they have multiple language speakers and attempt to teach wherever they are needed. They often travel with the ACEF and are escorted by the EDS.

May 2155—Pleasure Worker’s Union Founded

Started by a woman who used to run a brothel in Germany, the PWU stands to keep the works safe, and partners with EDS to make certain of this. Many chafe at the thought of this in what used to be the United States, however, it does not stop the PWU from quickly gaining traction and spreading all over the world.

June 2155 — Dark‑Sight Implants Released

Retinal overlays allow humans to perceive Dark‑realm distortions. These are sometimes combined with already existing ocular technology which allows other abilities to be used. They often have zoom capability, basic scanning capabilities, and other features depending on the manufacturer. It is impossible to tell the difference between a natural eye and an ocular implant, as the integration uses the person’s own optical organs.

October 2155 — Storm‑Charged Railguns Standardized

High‑velocity weapons become essential for perimeter defense. While at first, this was a test that failed several times, they become adapted and usable in all locations. They are mounted at various points on the top of the walls in case of siege.

2156–2160 — The Era of Adaptation

Humans are nothing if not adaptable, and after the Incident, they had a lot of adaptions that had to be made. Some were successful, others, not as much.

February 2156 — Verdant Symbiote Trials Begin

Early experiments in controlled symbiosis produce mixed results. There are indications that symbiosis could benefit humans, but the results also showed that the symbiote might also override the human’s personality and completely take over.

August 2157 — Nightfall Protocol Adopted

Cities enforce strict curfews after Dark‑realm predators learn to avoid Tanner Lights. This is difficult, to say the least, but the world adapts to the fact they need to be in their homes after dark. While the walled cities are safe, after dark there were some incursions from Dark Realm creatures.

March 2158 — Pleasure‑Worker’s Union Expands

PWU becomes a stabilizing force, offering healthcare and education. The PWU is joined by doctors and nurses all over the world, and they bring healthcare to desolate areas when it is needed. Instead of a healthcare organization, the PWU serves as a vehicle for it.

September 2158—The Druidic Alliance Organizes

Led mostly by sentient beings from the Verdant Realm, the Druidic Alliance has a mission to tend and peacefully take care of flora and fauna no matter their origin. There are humans and sentient beings from other realms as well.

July 2159 — Echo‑Resonant Armor Introduced

Armor that absorbs psychic shockwaves becomes standard for EDS. The armor is deceptively simple, a thin under vest that goes against the skin forming an invisible force around the person. It is extremely effective against all psychic abilities.

September 2159—Q Forms the Psychic Defense League

A Resonant from the Echo Realm, Q is able to help humans who are coming into powers they don’t understand. Q has altruistic intentions, and along with some other Echo Realm sentient creatures, they seek to do what is right for the humans that need guidance.

January 2160 — First Cross‑Realm Species Catalog Published

A monumental scientific milestone, the individuals who took part in it are many and varied. From biologists and anthropologists to sociologists and physicists, this undertaking was a massive one. The catalog is very hard to come by and is divided into four volumes; one for each realm has been done. Each volume is over five hundred pages at minimum. The only reliable place to find this is in larger cities’ libraries.

2161–2168 — The Era of Diplomacy and Division

Not everything from other realms is dangerous; in fact, most sentient beings from the realms are reasonable and willing to work with humans. It was not their choice to come to Earth, but they cannot go back. The best thing for them is to create alliances with humans and live out their lives in their new home.

April 2161 — Realm Alliance Founded

Representatives from all five realms form a peace‑seeking council. This was headed up by an intrepid human partnered with a Memnon from the Echo Realm, their symbiotic name Memmo. A human named Charles McGregor represents Earth while a Dark-Clad from the Dark Realm named Shadowfix. The Verdant Realm’s representative is a Bloomwraith named Daisy, and the Storm Realm’s representative is the only Tempesta (storm elemental) on Earth, a being named Khaotik. Their aim is to forge alliances between sentient species and share technology, alchemy, and strategies for dealing with the wilder elements from their realms.

September 2162 — Stillness Collective Gains Influence

Their psychic “wellness centers” spread quietly. The initiates become utterly devoted and spread out to find others to recruit. Their wellness centers say that they offer relief from stress and a new way to see the world.

May 2164 — Storm‑Tether Transit Lines Proposed

This was a failed attempt to create safe long‑distance travel corridors. Scientists believed they could form an artificial tunnel using anchors and using concepts learned by studying the storm breaches. The tunnel is not stable, and it collapses. Luckily, no one was injured in the attempt. The idea is abandoned as not viable.

April 2165—Dream Walkers Begin Helping Those with Nightmares

Entirely composed of Echo Realm sentients and humans with psychic powers, they utilize dream mapping technology from the late 2000s. They find that the combination of psychic abilities and the technology (with some modifications) allows them to help those that suffer from sleeping problems, nightmares, and sleep paralysis. The treatments they use are almost always effective.

August 2166 — First Inter‑Realm Negotiation Attempt

The first meeting ends in confusion but not violence. The humans expect things to be done in a way that centers them, while each of the others feels the same way. There are some things discussed, and some agreements are made between some of the representatives from the organizations present. One item that was agreed upon was sharing ways to cull the more violent creatures from the other realms and creating an inter-realm team.

November 2166—The Inter-Realm Corps is formed

The IRC is created to work together to deal with violent predators from the other Realms and stem the destruction that they are visiting upon Earth. The team consists of two experts from each realm and as a council, they answer to the Realm Alliance. They often ally with EDS, and they are called in when EDS is facing something they cannot deal with alone.

March 2168 — Verdant Bloom Event

A massive overgrowth wave engulfs a quarter of the Northeaster seaboard, requiring AWB intervention. The city of Boston, previously the biggest walled city in the Northeast, is completely evacuated to the next nearest city of Hartford in what used to be Connecticut. Emergency shelters were built throughout the roads of the city, massively overstressing the infrastructure.

2169–2172 — The Era of Rising Shadows

As the world strives to find a new normal, the shadows are busy, and not the ones from the Dark Realm. Politicians, educators, and opportunists all see chances to make significant changes to the world, both for selfish and for altruistic reasons.

January 2169 — Dawnlight Society Rumors Spread

Reports surface of illegal psychic conversion therapy in Rukh. These rumors are mostly dismissed as hearsay, though there are some who swear they’ve seen it themselves. Rumors make it as far as Phoenix, but the evidence isn’t strong enough for them to take action of any kind. The Psychic Defense League takes notice, and secretly sends an agent to infiltrate the group.

June 2170 — Wicker’s Abilities Emerge

Subtle signs of realm‑linked power appear. These are somewhat unnoticeable, and Crystal doesn’t point them out. He exerts subtle influence on her emotions when he feels stronger ones, tends to see better in the dark than he should, and she notes a subtle sheet to the veins under his skin. Wicker doesn’t seem to realize any of this.

October 2171 — The Quiet War Begins

Psychic factions, political groups, and realm‑born alliances begin covert conflicts. Before long, communities of Realmers begin forming in abandoned cities and towns where humans used to live. Using their own abilities, and their technology—both their own and borrowed from humans—they build their own version of the walled cities. These happen throughout the world, and in these cities, soon councils are created, and different groups begin forming alliances with each other. Some see humans as allies, and other see them as unable to understand the Realmers and not worth the time it takes to ally with them.

March 2172 — Tensions Peak

Various organizations maneuver for influence. While the Realmers mainly keep to themselves, some try to integrate with humans in many of their large cities. This is successful in some of the more progressive cities, but deeply conservative areas see all Realmers as dangerous. Sentient Realmers begin using “light blocking suits.” These specialized under suits are skintight and block the effect of Tanner lights. Humans soon find out about this, and many use it as the reason all Realmers are dangerous to humankind. They state that side-stepping the lights is evidence of evil thoughts toward the humans.

June 2172 — Walls Begins

The story opens.