1938
Aaron Burke is a failed historian specialised in Medieval Ireland. His daughter Eleanor, neglected since her mother’s death, elopes with Nathan Edwards, a wealthy British businessman with an interest in antiquities and archaeology. He was funding Aaron’s work but cuts their ties.
1939
11 Feb: Wedding of Eleanor and Nathan.
3 Sept: UK declares war on Germany. Nathan is involved with the government about shipping and supply. He works with the Royal Army Supply Corps and the Ministries of Shipping and Production.
1940
During the blitz Nathan is involved in shipping supply route adjustments, docks rebuilding.
Nathan, interested by circles of power, in particular in London’s most exclusive gentlemen’s clubs, stumbles upon a conversation between a wealthy aristocrat and a powerful, out of the spotlight man called Adrian Moore. Nathan investigates and slowly guesses the existence of a secret society with a hidden agenda in London — surprisingly unlinked to current political or ideological turmoil, and with connections in many other countries.
1941-1942
Nathan investigates further on the Society, slowly finding out some of its members, meeting places, etc. He learns they are international.
Rents an office in Fulham dedicated to his research. Moore emerges as the main figure.
1943
Nathan flies to Egypt for a visit in Suez, shipping related. Finds hints about the Society in Cairo — but no headquarters.
1944
Nathan travels to Iraq and Iran to oversee shipping for the Persian Corridor, supplying the USSR with resources vital in their fight against the Axis.
He travels back to Cairo. He is involved in supply for the Allied invasions of Italy and Southern France.
1945
As the war ends, Nathan very carefully investigates on the Society and notices an interest on a book called the Vazelon Manuscript. Follows Moore. Learns about the enquiries about the book, learns its name, origin, but can’t access it.
Nathan understands that the Society has a hidden headquarters but struggles to find it (unaware that it’s outside of London). He infiltrates a Society’s safe house and sees a recovered fragment of Corrosion — dropping it, he sees its effects. He flees, but the Society knows someone was there.
1946
Nathan contacts Aaron. He communicates his finds with him, the only expert he trusts now.
Correspondence with Aaron about the Macedonian Empire, an ancient historian named Callisthenes, and translations of his work in Latin — the Vazelon Manuscript.
Aaron does research on the Vazelon Manuscript and writes his progress to Nathan. He discovers that copies of that book have disappeared from libraries (Marsh’s Library in Dublin, the Bodleian in Oxford, amongst others).
1947
April
April 2: In an abandoned caravansary in Afghanistan, the remains of Giovanni are discovered. Among his remains are some riches and a few books, including his notes on Aéd and his final resting place in the Altai mountains. The books are brought back to London and sold to an antiquarian.
April 16: Nathan intercepts a letter about the discovery of Giovanni’s remains and travels to Afghanistan, pretending it’s for work.
May
May 12: Nathan visits the caravansary and sees it has been destroyed. The initial discoverer has disappeared, and he fears him dead. It means this book has something special.
June
June 20: Nathan reads about the Antiquarian’s death (Barton Fry, dated 12th of May). Missing item in his shop, a medieval book recently discovered in a hidden room in a Greek church (the Vazelon Manuscript). He understands it’s the Society.
June 25: Nathan finds a weak spot in Afghanistan and get information by getting him drunk. He finds out where the documents are shipped, discovers it’s Egypt.
July
July 10: Nathan travels to Cairo.
July 11: Aaron finds partial fragments of a copy of the Vazelon Manuscript in an abandoned monastery in Scotland.
July 15: In Cairo, Nathan manages to intercept a communication about the documents in Giovanni’s remains. He understands they are passing through Egypt.
July 22: Last visit of Nathan to London, last time Eleanor sees him.
August
Aug 15: Nathan steals the annotated Manuscript. He infiltrates a meeting. He learns about the Settlement, and about the reality of the Otherworld and the Corrosion, witnesses an initiation/mutation, is discovered (the Elevated Mother sees him?) and struggles to escape. He holds a Society’s high up at gunpoint, María, but spares her — and manages to get away.
Aug 16: He books a flight, Cairo to London. But the society is after him. He rents a truck and flees from Cairo to Tripoli, avoiding more obvious routes (Alexandria, etc.). He hides the documents. He follows the coast road until Sirte, where he drives into the desert.
Aug 17: The Society catches up with Nathan and ambushes him. His truck is damaged, and he officially disappears.
Aug 18: Eleanor has word that Nathan is missing. She tries to get information about his disappearance/death from London.
Aug 18: Nathan is brought to the Settlement by the Society. Giovanni’s version of the Vazelon Manuscript — and his notes — are also brought in the Settlement.
Louise, daughter of the Settlement’s council leader Dupardon, meets Nathan. Miserable in the Settlement and hateful of her father who immersed her in Shimmer since she was a baby to develop her seeing abilities, she sees in Nathan a way out.
August 19: Eleanor arrives in Egypt and starts looking for Nathan.
August 19: Nathan is interrogated and tells the little he knows about the Manuscript.
August 20: Eleanor investigates in Cairo, finds info about his truck hire and drive towards Tripoli.
August 23: Eleanor travels to Tripoli, hires Basim and starts searching the desert.
August 24: Threatened by Eleanor’s investigation, Moore fabricates false evidence of Nathan’s death.
August 26: Eleanor finds the false evidence (crashed car, burned body). She figures out this is not Nathan because of missing metal plates on his tibia (broken in a horse accident when he was younger). She wants to continue the search.
August 27: Basim stops working for Eleanor.
August 28: Moore travels to London. He pushes Nathan’s family to declare him dead, do a burial ceremony, and get the estate back from Eleanor. This way she cannot investigate in areas she shouldn’t. He casually tries to get information about Nathan’s research but doesn’t get anything.
September
September 3: Eleanor is declared unfit, and the estate is ‘temporarily’ transferred to Nathan’s family.
September 6: Eleanor travels back to London and is helped by Betty to live on her own.
September 12: Nathan helps Louise escape, in exchange for sending the annotated pages of the Vazelon Manuscript to Aaron. The society’s research team only knew enough to locate roughly Aéd’s destination in the Altai Mountains, which is a wide area. They believe it is in the Kazakh S.S. Republic.
September 13: Nathan is interrogated again. He lies about the Manuscript and pretends he had Louise destroy it. He reveals his motives, and the Elevated confirm that he tells the truth. But he manages to hide Aaron’s name and points at a Welsh man, Duncan Evans — an antiquarian based in Cardiff he worked with before. He hopes the Society will investigate and realise the lie when it’s too late.
María pushes to not have Nathan executed. Dupardon makes him addicted to the Corrosion and keeps him locked. [He marks him for Corrosion research — he will slowly die.]
September 17: Aaron receives the documents from Louise.
September 18: Moore travels to Libya, searches for Louise’s trail.
September 25: Aaron sets off on a secret expedition to Mongolia with Gan.
October
October 2: Aaron & Gan’s reach Mongolia. Their search begins.
October: The Society tries to get information on Aaron’s whereabouts, still not knowing who he is. They finally find a trail from Aaron’s name and his movements to Mongolia.
October 16: Aaron & Gan discover the Artefact with the Society on their heels.
October 17: Gan goes on a diversion route towards Ulaanbaatar and Beijing. The Society follows him.
October 18: Moore visits Nathan’s house. The Society interrogate Evans and understands Nathan’s lie. They kill Evans.
October 19: The Society looks for information in Nathan’s house. Moore travels to Mongolia.
Book Start
Part 1&2
October 20: Eleanor is contacted by her old butler who’s suspicious after Adrian Moore is seen looking for Nathan’s research on the Society. He gives Eleanor the key to Nathan’s secret office.
Eleanor investigates Nathan’s secret office and research on the Society and the strange murder of the bookkeeper. She is chased by the Society and tries contacting her father.
Aaron comes back to Dublin. Opening the Artefact, he is struck by leftover power of Corrosion and falls into a coma.
Moore is in Mongolia.
October 21: Eleanor goes to Dublin. She finds the Core and travels to the OW.
Balor manages to get to Eleanor, kill the creatures, and try merging with the Core.
It breaks partially and now Balor is alive, and he wants his power back.
Eleanor, empowered by a fragment of the Core, flees.
October 22: Eleanor appears in Connemara and travels back to the Dublin townhouse, and heals her father — but is attacked by thugs. She unconsciously uses her new power and kills them.
Gan, an old friend of Aaron’s, shows up. He helps Eleanor to bury the bodies.
E understands that Aaron’s wounds are Otherworldly. She uses her new power to cure her father. But the cure is imperfect, it just stops spreading.
A coin left by Louise when she brought documents to Aaron is a clue to a close friend of Nathan the Eleanor remembers, living in the Marais.
Eleanor, Aaron, and Gan agree to go to Paris.
Part 3&4
October 23: The group travels to Paris. They locate Nathan’s friend’s apartment, but it has been abandoned — most of the street was populated by Jews who have been deported! Friends of Louise surprise the group, but finally trust them and bring them to Louise, hiding in a slum outside of the city, called la Zone.
They locate Louise and prevent the Society from grabbing her.
Louise doesn’t know how to go back to the Settlement on her own. But she remembers hearing about the only person to have escaped from the Settlement before her: Pierre Merault. She knows his account is kept in a hotel particulier that belongs to the Society, the Hotel Destors. The Society is careful to not have any mentions or precise directions to the Settlement… Except for Merault’s story.
The group manage to sneak in the Hotel Destors and steal the account.
October 24: They fly towards the Settlement, via Marseille.
Balor travels to his first neighbour: sees Corrosion, thinks he has been attacked too.
Landing in Tripoli, Eleanor contacts Basim as a last resort: he dropped her on her previous trip (under pressure from the Society). He agrees to help her because he feels indebted and because the Society has not helped him at all.
Balor travels to a second god: finds two Gods who died midfight. He understands that it was not an attack but just the gods bickering. He wants to know what happened to the rest of his kin.
October 25-27: Eleanor, the group, and Basim travel through the desert.
The Society is not far behind them and chases them, led by Moore.
They cross a storm, an abandoned battlefield from the desert war, and finally escape the Society.
October 27: They try to reach the Settlement — and are captured!
In a cell Eleanor finally is reunited with Nathan. He is a strange man to her now.
Eleanor meets Dupardon, Louise’s father, the leader of the Settlement. She manages to hide her power.
Balor crosses to the world of Men and sees a ruined city ravaged by war. He is assailed by doubts about his nature.
Crossing back to the Otherworld he encounters a Gerethim shaman. He shows him how to refine Corrosion, using fire and special tools, to power up.
After getting marginally more power Balor finally decides to go to the settlement.
Dupardon acts against María, dissolves the council and takes power in the Settlement.
Moore, guided by the Elevated Mother, leaves for the jungle.
Eleanor uses her power to free themselves. María, hoping to stop Dupardon’s plans, helps them.
In the Settlement Balor finds Amakh dead, and crosses to the Mortal World where he gets his revenge on the humans that caused his demise — or at least their descendants.
Eleanor and the group try to escape the Settlement while Balor wreaks havoc.
Balor leaves for the Forge.
Louise kills her father.
Part 5&6
Eleanor, Aaron, Nathan, Gan & Louise leave to a hidden airfield and steal a former bomber used as transport by the Society.
They fly to the Forge, in a remote area of the Congolese jungle.
They cross a storm.
They parachute from the plane, regroup with some difficulty, and travel through the jungle.
They find the Forge on the human side — but the Society is there!
The group fights the Society and manage to find a portal that brings them to the Otherworld.
There they find the Portal and the city-sized Shimmer collection apparatus used by the Elder Gods.
They are surrounded by creatures of the Otherworld, Elkars, serving Tuanat.
The Society attacks! In a temporary alliance, the Elkars and the group fight them.
Louise sacrifices herself to get the Elevated Mother and most of the Society’s men — Moore dies too.
Finally, the group meets Tuanat.
But Balor arrives.
Tuanat explains to him what happened and what they do not remember — that they were just servants, tools.
Tuanat reveals that Balor should not gain more power as it will eventually destroy him — and too much of it would do it straight away.
Balor doesn’t listen, gets more power, and turns into a building-sized Corroded Behemoth, unable to think, just attracted to power like a moth to flame.
Eleanor powers up using refined Corrosion, a trick Tuanat explains to her before dying.
Eleanor desperately tries to reopen the Portal to push Balor in it.
She eventually succeeds with help from Nathan, Aaron & Gan.
She is almost sucked in the portal, but they get out of it just in time. E is hurt quite badly from the ordeal.
They travel back to Dublin.
Eleanor has what she wished for: her husband and life back… But the power is still inside of her. And the world to her is a different place now.
She knows unfathomable creatures are lurking at the edge of our world.