Timeline
Her story in twenty entries, counted in years after the Fall. A fictional timeline for a fictional character.
Fictional timeline
Dating note: the Ruins can’t agree what year it is (estimates run AF 18–31), so this timeline counts in seasons relative to the present where the record is thinnest, and AF years where station logs exist. Gaps are marked as gaps.
The Fall
The coastal megacity dies in a single season. Every account disagrees about how. This site picks no version.
AF 3 — The first Relay stations
Way-stations appear along the old embankment road. The code is chalked, not written: the parcel moves.
AF 6 — The Dustjackal truce
After a season of starved-out raiders, the code’s third rule is settled in practice: no faction touches a sealed parcel.
AF 9 — The Cistern agreement
The Cistern Keepers formalize the water price. Couriers drink on the house, forever.
AF 10 — The first flare-night
The Lampwrights light the Cinder Steps signal chain for the first time. The routes go quiet; the sky goes orange. Couriers learn to read flare patterns like a second map.
AF 11 — The Wire Choir forms
Rooftop runners organize the cable spans into the Rooftop Wire.
AF 12 — A girl arrives at Ashline Gate
Joss’s station log records a young courier arriving with a sealed parcel, no sender listed, and no past volunteered. Joss is the only living witness. Joss won’t elaborate.
AF 13 — The first forty crossings begin
Mia starts running the Ashline regularly. Gate tallies begin accumulating.
AF 14 — The unsealed parcel
A parcel with no seal, no sender, no destination passes through Ferry Dock Nine in Mia’s satchel. Eleven days, three routes, delivered — to whom, unrecorded.
AF 15 — The Salt Flats sprint
Flare-night medicine run across the open flats with Dustjackals on the ridge. Delivered on time.
AF 16 — The Drowned Boulevard crossing
A vaccine parcel crosses black water by cable, hand-over-hand, in oilcloth. Mia never describes what moved below.
AF 17 — The tally appears
Bram notices the back of Mia’s map is covered in tallies, grouped and re-counted. She says nothing.
AF 18 — The tunnel sketch
A folded sketch of a tunnel mouth joins the map case. The Deep Ferry enters station gossip.
AF 19 — Pip joins the routes
A young runner starts shadowing Mia’s runs. Mia pretends not to notice. Everyone notices her noticing.
AF 20 — The Wire at midnight
Streets watched; Mia crosses the Rooftop Wire at midnight while Moth’s lanterns light her path, one by one.
AF 21 — The delivery that wasn’t
A parcel comes back unopened, recipient gone. Mia carries it for a year.
AF 22 — The parcel finds its somewhere
One flare-night, the unopened parcel is delivered — where and to whom, Mia won’t say.
AF 23 — The fortieth Ashline crossing
Mia’s fortieth recorded crossing. The ash, as she says, never apologizes.
AF 24 — The campfire rule
The Relay’s betting pool on Mia’s one-question-per-fire rule reaches legendary status. Nobody has ever collected.
Present day — The search continues
The app card still reads “in search of her missin…” — truncated, unresolved. The routes continue. See What’s Missing.
World notes
This timeline is fictional, set in Mia Rowan’s fictional world — not real events or dates. All artwork is AI-generated dramatization art. See About This World.