Since I’m almost through with my very first zine that I organised myself, I just realised how many mistakes you can make without even knowing, and I learned so much within the last few months where a lot was kind of trial and error. So I thought, you guys might like to learn more about this, and I could share my experiences and newly gained knowledge! Maybe this helps if you are looking into organising your own first zine.
If you have any tips and tricks yourself you’d like to share, let me know, I’m excited to hear about them!
I am going to go through the different steps and phases that you should take into consideration, so this might get a small series of some sort? I hope you’re up for this.
Also a small disclaimer:
I’m mostly talking about fanzines that have multiple contributors, and it will focus more on artists/illustrators and writers as that is where my experience lies. I have contributed on several free e-zines as well as a printed charity zine, and now have organised my first printed for-profit zine as well.
Phase 1: The Planning
This might sound really obvious and maybe silly, but there are quite a few things that you should take into consideration before just starting a project that might overwhelm you easily. Don’t already head off and create a twitter account before you haven’t sat down and thought about these questions first!
I've observed that Liang Yue is a lot more explicitly neurodivergent-coded compared to other characters. A lot of these observances were picked up from how she acts, how she thinks, and how it tends to affect the world around her. I want to explore it here in this post.
Now, this is non-definitive of Liang Yue's character. Whatever opinion you have of her is still by all means valid. These are just my thoughts as an ND person. Consider this as my apology of disappearing a lot more LOL
Additionally, she'll be referred to as Yue from now on, as it's her first name. Let's get started.
1. Social Cues and "Infodumping"
The first thing Yue gives off is her humility and her honesty. And while that softens people's hearts, I also find it interesting that part of this is because of her struggling to pick up on social cues.
She tends to be left puzzled by people's words (e.g. Poitier's comments on her home life affecting her job), and follows it up with asking for clarification. I also found that Yue can be confused when her actions make others upset.
Many neurodivergent people struggle with ambiguity. Straightforward and direct passages are highly valued, and the lack thereof makes it difficult to figure out what people are actually telling them.
I also find that this might by why Yue overshares or "infodumps" anything she has knowledge of when it's needed. She wants to ensure that not only do others completely understand what she thinks, but also her thought process is entirely clear to her.
Speaking of which, it's also observed that Yue tends to speak out her thought processes throughout the story (e.g. speaking out her thoughts on Qi Xing's motives).
I think that her internal thoughts are a lot more disorganized, and talking about those thoughts out loud make it easier to pinpoint the main points she wants to make.
2. Isolation and Being "Different"
It's no secret that Yue is not very well-received by those around her, often being singled out for being different. But it inherently affects her social capabilities and how she approaches relationships.
Yue's classmates did not like her because she was a "traitor" and a "teacher's pet", so they often left her alone or made fun of her. Meanwhile, her colleagues also did not like her at first, thinking that she was just a spoiled rich kid.
There's also her own parents (particularly her father) who have set expectations for her as a guardian to Qiangliang. Yue often got reprimanded by her father because she struggled with understanding his teachings, and she found it hard to grasp his strictness over it.
Additionally, taken from my friend's insight, her family raised her in such an isolated environment that it kept her from learning how to communicate with others. It's common for traditional families to raise their children this way, but it's definitely made it more difficult for Yue to express her feelings directly.
All of this culminates to Yue having the impression that she'll never be liked or understood. It's led her to being incredibly closed off and hesitant to opening up about herself, making it hard to bridge her relationships with others. Her upbringing also led to her being accidentally coming off as indifferent or unempathetic, which does drive an emotional drift between herself and her peers.
Moreover, it becomes why Yue is surprised when Poitier protected her from Qi Xing's attack, and why her father did not react harshly to when she said she lost Qiangliang.
3. Special Interest and Escapism
Detective C07 defined most of Yue's life and values, and her love for this movie is integral to the story and her character arc. A lot of the values that Detective C07 (and Qi Xing) had, Yue found it in herself and she carried it for all her life.
It's one of the few things she tends to sacrifice things for, risking getting punished her parents to watch those movies when she's able to. The film Detective C07 had nestled a special place in her heart, and that influence brought her to who she is now as a Vigiles cadet.
However, this also contributes to some hinderances. She struggled to get past her love for the movie and it showed as a conflict in her story, especially when she had to harm Qi Xing to stop her.
In her mind, harming Qi Xing also meant harming Detective C07; and hurting Detective C07 also meant hurting the part where Yue saw herself in her.
Additionally, that sense of justice (or "right or wrong") can also be a hinderance to an extent—Yue has a tendency to project that onto others without taking their feelings to consideration. Not only does her family's teachings have a hand in that, but it's also influenced by her interest in Detective C07 too. It becomes very evident in how she views C07's ending and how she treated other kids in her childhood.
4. Liang Yue and Qiangliang's relationship
When Yue reflects on her relationship with Qiangliang, she often says that she never got to understand it and might never be able to because of its sacrifice.
She claims that she never liked Qiangliang as a child, but it shows that she really loved it and often treated it as a friend. She often tried teaching it how to play like other kids, and Qiangliang—as much as it did not understand—tried to play as well.
That desire to understand Qiangliang as an individual is what made Yue succeed in resummoning it. I think Qiangliang had become a companion to her, and they greatly respected each other.
Companionship is also very much valued by neurodivergent people, as it establishes a lot of trust and deep mutual understanding. Qiangliang became Yue's companion because she was alone, and it shows that she also felt entirely whole when she could sense its presence.
What Yue didn't observe is that they placed an equal amount of trust in each other, but it's more clear to her now that they'll be able to bridge those gaps together moving forward.
5. Final Thoughts, Clarifications
Now, I figured that Liang Yue's character also represents the cultural dissonance between the modern youth and their connections to their traditions, especially when trying to trace back to it in society. There's no way I'm undermining this aspect of her writing.
However, I find that her traditional upbringing does greatly impact her actions as she grows up. As my friend from earlier talked about it, placing those high expectations on a child who happened to be able to connect with the very deity her family protected definitely hindered her growth as a person. She was raised to rely on herself and yet also protect others; this kind of position, as much as it is common, makes it difficult for her to understand others and herself.
We see how it affects her now, and how she struggles to simultaneously cope with: the cultural rift she found herself in when she was deployed in America, and struggling to socially connect with those around her.
Overall, I want to just share this because I personally resonate with Liang Yue a lot. And it makes me happy to see it when people also resonate with characters like her, leading them to share their own personal experiences.
I've written a twitter version of this post if you want a more summarized way of reading it, but do know that it is a little outdated compared to what I said here.
I hope this post does bring enjoyment for you to read as much as I did writing it. I'd really love to hear your own thoughts or hcs about Liang Yue too. As always, thanks for reading.
These are links to some of the archives, lorecrafters and guidemakers that I follow and regard highly for their expertise, dedication, and contributions to the community. Making this list is also for my convenience.
If you know other sources, please share them! I will edit the post and add them here. Maybe one day I will also contribute to transcripts on a separate blog. We don't have enough of such precious records for a heavily lore and story-based game! Feel free to share your lorecrafting website/blog/channel too!
Archives
Websites/Blogsites
Huiji (CN) - CN Fanwiki, written in CN, with consistent updates. Really goated.
Gamekee (CN) - Another CN Fanwiki, also written in CN. Some pages may not be updated.
Arcanist Sanctum (Global) - That's us!
R1999 Logs (Global) - Has some main, event and anecdote story transcripts.
Reverse: 1999 Wiki (Global) - EN Fanwiki. They may be behind on working through some profiles, records and transcripts.
Repositories
Myssal's Assets Repository (CN) - In-game assets. It has everything. Myssal just that goated.
reverse 1999 png (CN) - PNGs/cutouts telegram. Russian language but you can use character tags by clicking on pinned message. They accept requests, but you probably will have to ask them in Russian. Their cutouts can be accessed and downloaded by going through post comments. Posts with arrows.
Documents
Abyss_Idiot's links (Global) - Transcripts, archives and general lore. Actually lots of records done by several Discord members. May not be updated. As of making this list, I haven't seen anything from 2.0 onwards.
Youtube
八咫烏_Merui (CN & Global) - Event and main story playthroughs without commentary
Reverse: 1999 Timekeeper (Global) - They have everything recorded. And I mean everything.
Reverse 1999 Archive (Global) - On hiatus (?), they pretty much covered event and main stories up to Notes on Shuori.
Lorecrafting & Story Analysis
Youtube
Apeironite - Pretty chill format. Interesting in-depth analyses. As of now, I don't know any other YT content creator who tackles on game lore as much as he has.
FructoseTolerant - While there have yet many Reverse:1999 character analysis content in her channel, once she does post one, it's really good. I recommend watching and listening to her thoughts!
Guidemakers
Websites/Blogsites
Prydwen (CN & Global) - Tierlists, psychube recs and character guides
Gnomon (Global) - I am in-love with this website tbh. Has all character information, including sprites! Effect descriptions, material sources and descriptions, resonance build (up to R15), psychube recs, team recs, and very easy to follow guide on how to play each character + rotations! Also has information on series of dusks artefacts and mechanics, reveries in the rain guides, and tips for mane's bulletin! GAAAAAHHH!
Documents
Discord Community Tierlist (CN) - Tierlists, calculators, builds. Likely where most of the global theorycrafting started.
bluforest's Scuffed Page for Recommended Resonance Layouts (CN) - Also has resonance codes!
Spiritzhl's Unit Build Guide (CN) - Psychubes, resonance, portrays, reveries and euphoria info, critter rehabilitation guide.
Arcalive Reverse 1999 (outdated) - Written in KR. Resonance and psychube recommendations, calculators.
Youtube
Jakazin (CN & Global) - Comprehensive character guides
Devibul (CN) - Puzzle guides, character showcases
Destroth (Global) - Comprehensive character guides, showcases
Useful Tools
Kornblume (CN & Global) - Character planning and summoning history
Closure++ (CN) - Planning and calculations, and written in CN. Here's MaTeIriA's guide to using it if you can't understand CN like me. It does have a built-in EN language option but it doesn't work for me. I don't know if it works for you. Depending on your device, you may also have to zoom out to see the entire page.
Timekeeper (Global) - Summon tracking
My thoughts on reversal in Reverse: 1999 (Global Friendly)
I want to define the structures of reversal in the game because of how people tend to mix up death and reversal. Its a topic that I wanted to discuss here for a while, and one of the reasons why I talked about the "Storm" in the first place.
First of all, reversal and death are not synonymous, but they are at the very least somewhat connected. Reversal from the "Storm" is simply what it is, it reverses a person to their previous form and position from a previous point in time. The "Storm" can also potentially revive or remove people from physical existence if the era sees fit. (i.e. it would take out people who weren't alive from a certain time as well as revive those who were)
However, because the "Storm" tends to also distort time, it also distorts people as well. One case that supports this is that Marcus points out that the figures present in the Secession building are physically different compared to the photos she was provided with in the Foundation.
Additionally, because the essences of people—alive or not—are physically recreated, they are recreated as who they were in the set era. Like how we know Isolde and Kakania as who they are now, are rather than who they were in the 1912 era, when Heinrich last interacted with them. (Since the Heinrich came from 1912 (1999+6) rather than 1913 (1999+8) )
When it comes to death, the case is different. The only way the "Storm" can kill someone is if a part of their physical bodies—distorted or not—are preserved in an immunity zone. For example, its stated that Paulina's hand was preserved after the second "Storm," but she was not encountered during the 80s era and forward, a point in time here she would have supposedly been alive as a child. Another would be that all of the geometric forms created from the deceased Apeiron members (that died in the 1987 "Storm") were maintained in the Island during 1977.
In short, a person needs to be physically reversed in entirety to have a chance to be seen elsewhere in the timeline.
This is also why the survivors of all the "Storms" cannot find their past selves. For those from the first, they were never reversed anyway. And those who were picked up from the subsequent "Storms" are already preserved in an immunity zone, and thus they cannot be reversed and recreated anymore.
The only case I'm not sure of is the scenario of someone from a certain era dies during the "Storm" countdown and is reversed in a different one. (i.e. Hoffman) I'm not sure what would happen to them, but my main assumption is that their essence becomes distorted in time and cannot be properly restored.
It also doesn't explain the disappearances that occurred in each reversal. (Mainly how amounts of Foundation branch members increasingly go missing in each era) Although, I don't want to make these as points of debate at the moment because god I hate how convoluted time is here.
For the Schneider fans out there, she would have been reversed normally since she was reversed in an incomplete immunity zone. (the suitcase) However she won't come back as 1:1, since she was reversed to a point where she would've been really young. (as in, 2 years old in 1913) Even with how we're in 1990 now, the circumstances would still be different and it makes it impossible for Vertin and co. to cross paths with her.
So I've been going back and forth for almost a year now on comprehending and helping people comprehend the timeline in Reverse: 1999 because oh my god, it's so, so convoluted that it's still taking a long time for me to even write down the information without overexplaining it. And that's just the main story.
However, I've been able to piece together the timeline events by patch and chapter to make things easier for everyone. (...unless you want me to even include the anecdotes, which is another can of worms I'd like to not open.)
However, since 2.0 forwards will be taking place after 1.9, I won't be including the patch names. But, I will put their placements in the timeline without making specific notes to avoid spoilers.
I'd like to first note that 1.6 (Notes on Shuori) has no definite placement on the timeline. The reason why is that 1.6 is personally considered a timeline anomaly; there are plot holes and information that made it difficult to deduce when it took place. (i.e. Yenisei's origins, Getian's character story, Bessmert's* presence) For now, I will leave this out.
Additionally, a lot of the character stories take place between the past and the future. Thus, the character story that chronologically takes place the earliest by far is Lucy's while the latest would be Ezra's.
—
First of all, we start with 1.8 (Farewell, Rayashki) in its entirety. From Windsong's past, to her arrival in Rayashki, to when the second "Storm" took place, and Vila and the kids needed to adjust to this new normal.
Next is Chapter 3 (Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien) and Chapter 5's interchapter. (The Star) Both the story of Vertin's becoming of the Timekeeper, and Greta Hofmann's experience with the Apeiron group are both aligned. Greta even mentions Vertin in her log after returning to the Foundation.
Afterwards we skip to 4 years later, and we're now in 1966. (Post First "Storm") Three events occur here. First, 1.1, (Theft of the Rimet Cup) then 1.3, (Journey to Mor Pankh) and then finally, the Prologue of our story. (This is Tomorrow)
Its then quite straightforward afterwards. We immediately follow up with the first 4 Chapters taking us through 1929 to late 1913. Then afterwards, we have Chapters 5-7 taking place within the first 3 weeks of January 1914, and then we're immediately taken to August 1990 at the end of Chapter 7.
I'd like to also add that within those 3 chapters, both rougelikes (Echoes in the Mountains and Series of Dusks) took place within the same time. Although, Series of Dusks ends before Chapter 7 due to Semmelweis and Lorelei leaving with the Foundation right before the "Storm" hit.
Now, in 1990, we start with 1.2 (Nightmare at Green Lake) followed by patches 2.0-2.2, all of which take place in immediate succession. And then for now, we end with 1.5. (Revival! Of the Uluru Games)
So if I put all of these in one list, it looks like this:
Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien + The Star (Ch. 3 and Ch. 5 Interchapter) - 1999+4 (1987)
Theft of the Rimet Cup (1.1) - March 1966
Journey to Mor Pankh (1.3) - April-May 1966
This is Tomorrow (Prologue) - Jun. 3 1966 -> Feb. 14 1929
In Our Time (Ch. 1) - Feb. 14 1929
Tender is the Night (Ch. 2) - Feb. 15 1929 -> Aug. 1913
Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien (Ch. 3 - Present Time) - Aug. 25 1913
El Oro de Los Tigres (Ch. 4) - Aug. 26 -> Oct. 10 1913
Prisoner in The Cave (Ch. 5) - Dec. 24 - Jan. 4 1914
The Star (Ch. 5 - Interchapter) - Jan. 4 1914
Echoes in the Mountain (Rougelike 1) - Undetermined time, before Jan. 8 1914
E lucevan le Stelle (Ch. 6) - Jan. 6-12 1914
Series of Dusks (Rougelike 2) - Jan. 8-13 1914
Vereinsamt (Ch. 7) - Jan. 12-13 1914 -> Aug. 1990
Nightmare of Green Lake (1.2) - Sept. - Oct. 1990
Patches 2.0 - 2.2 - Sept. - Nov. 1990
Revival! Of the Uluru Games (1.5) - Jan 1991
The story can only get even more convoluted from here. As of the moment, I've been sort of working on a larger timeline to piece the entire story together, especially since we've yet to finish it before the story ends. New stories and information continuously flows in the meantime.
Cracking the Enigma Code: The Disproven Myth of Nazi Superiority
Until the outbreak of World War II, Hitler and the Third Reich had convinced a significant part of the German people that they were a superior race, destined to conquer and control the world. The German made Enigma Machine proved to be one of the cracks that caused their whole edifice to come crumbling down.
As the level of technological sophistication grew after the Industrial Revolution, the role that computers played in warfare and espionage also took on a higher level of significance. The Nazi military leaders used the Enigma to send commands to commanders in the field. Since radio was the most efficient form of communications technology at the time, instructions were broadcast over the airwaves. The obvious problem is that radio transmissions could easily be intercepted and analyzed by enemy spies so that military maneuvers can be easily predicted. The Enigma Machine changed the whole game by encrypting information which could be decrypted by the officers who needed it. Supplied with a one time pad that was discarded and replaced on a monthly basis, codes were made clear for the possessor of this key while to an outside observer the codes were nothing but a meaningless jumble of random letters.
The Enigma Machine was invented by Arthur Scherbius; originally its purpose was for the exchange of banking and business information. As Hitler rose to power and the Third Reich began the saber rattling that signaled the coming of war, he sold them the patent to be used as a tool for the military. The Nazis naively believed their new toy created codes that were impossible for the enemy to break.
The Enigma Machine worked by sending battery-powered electrical currents through a circuit. The operator typed the code into a keyboard and each key stroke sent an electrical charge through a plug-board which was the key to the encryption; it was necessary for the sender and receiver of each command to have this part wired in exactly the same way so the encryption and decryption would be identical. With one plug out of place, the entire procedure would fail. The plug-board arrangement pattern was the key sent out to officers every month. After passing through the plug-board, the current went through three rotary scramblers which had a notch for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. The wheels rotated to alternate letters using a polyalphabetic substitution cipher called the Vigenere Code and complicated further with a caesar shift. Each current passed through three wheels so it would be encrypted three times using a separate alphabetic cipher each time. The wheels were set so that a letter could not possibly encrypt as itself. Finally the current ended in a series of lamps with letters on them that provided the encrypted message which was then read over the radio to operators stationed far away. Thus the word “attack” might encrypt as “tygksh” and without the key, the patterning of frequencies would be too complex to be easily or quickly detected. The receiver of the command would type the message into their own Enigma Machine after wiring the plug-board according to their one time pad. The electrical currents would pass through the rotary scramblers and connect with a reflector placed at the rear of the machine; the reflector reversed the whole process and an easy to read message would be displayed on the lamps at the head of the device. The Enigma Machine was a hand-carried gadget with roughly the same dimensions as a medium-sized suitcase.
Fortunately, some Polish espionage agents were able to seize an Enigma Machine. They handed it over to the Polish secret service where a mathematician and cryptanalyst named Marian Rejewski was able to replicate the Enigma and solve the puzzle of how it worked. Building one replica-Enigma was difficult enough, but figuring out how to crack the transmitted codes was an entirely different problem. Using a polyalphabetic substitution cipher with a caesar shift meant that, although the number of possible encryptions was less than infinite, there still would be enough of them to make running each one a daunting and inefficient task that would take too long to be of use. Rejewksi came up with the idea of building multiple replicas of the Enigma and running them simultaneously until a legible code was produced. An entire room full of replicas was built by assistant engineers and a computer was used to list every possible combination of plug-board arrangements. Intercepted messages were run through the battery of machines until one produced the properly decrypted command. The replicas were called Bombs because they made bomb-like ticking noises as the rotary scramblers turned. Decrypting a ciphertext took about 24 hours.
The Polish military’s use of these Bombs worked well for a span of time. Nazi tactical maneuvers were sometimes unsuccessful but they believed this to be chance; they obviously did not know that replica Enigmas had been made as the Polish espionage agency kept this information strictly secret. Then the Nazis began adding additional rotary encryption wheels to their machines so that each Enigma had five, six, or seven scramblers instead of the older models with three. These were used more by the German navy when fighting in the Atlantic. The Polish military decided it was time to coordinate their intelligence with the British so they brought them one of their Bombs and showed them how it worked. It was taken to the highly-secretive Bletchley Park where scientists set to work on building a computer that could run more complicated ciphertexts in a shorter amount of time. Eventually they succeeded but the process took such a long time that the deciphered commands were sometimes outdated.
Then a stroke of luck occurred. A French spy who worked as a double agent for the Aixs and the Allies, not knowing what it was he had found, passed a one time pad key to the British intelligence agents. They rewired an Enigma plug-board using the key and found it worked. The British navy then set out to intercept the keys which were distributed at the beginning of every month. They raided German weather boats stationed in the Atlantic and retrieved the one time pads. They did not want the Germans to know they were raiding the ships to get the key so they bombed and sunk each one every time they finished a siege to make it look like a routine military attack. Soon the British navy, working in coordination with the American navy, were able to attack German warships and submarines before they began their operations. The Germans still did not know that the Enigma code had been cracked and they interpreted their failures as bad luck.
Of course, the Nazis eventually lost the war. The biggest weapon the Allied powers might have had was the fascists’ own hubris, the belief that their superior intelligence and military prowess made them invincible. Blinded by their own delusions of grandeur, the Germans, yet again, started and lost another war.
Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Anchor Books, 1999.
it's so funny that bluepooch still goes with the "humans are rational" bit, after making Enigma the worst drama queen this universe has ever seen. This man can't go two seconds without making a scene.
Disclaimer: I do not actually know how they paint the eyes,this is just me guessing their process purely from observations
Transcript:
General Shape:
- Upper eyelid is always thicker than the lower one
- younger characters tend to have bigger and rounder eyes than the adults
- there are five parts to an eye: 1. the upper eyelid corner(towards the nose) ; 2. the upper eyelid main part ; 3. the upper eyelid corner at the back ; 4. the lower eyelid ; 5. the iris
Eyelid:
- more muted color of the hair + accents with saturated eye color
Of course, he's angry! Its his sister! Now I'm worried if he will hate Marcus for this... But I think it would be interesting to see a Marcus and Enigma dynamic in the future? Give them a mission together!!
No cause the fact that Enigma resents Marcus a little really haunts me. Hofmann loved Marcus like a little sister so deeply and she did so much to bring her into the world outside. I think that even without the Storm they’re one of the people who would still know each other, even if it was just Hofmann coming across the archived papers of the Flannan Isles by a mysterious and unknown arcane author. Hofmann made the decision to save Marcus and the hope the Storm could be stopped, knowing that she would leave Marcus and Enigma behind.
I want to imagine a happier world where a slightly less bitter Enigma accepts Marcus and they can mourn Greta together... He tells her to do something, and she goes, "Yes, Madam Hofma– I-I mean Mister!" because she's constantly reminded of her around him. 😔 Or maybe it'd be too painful for the both of them to interact, I don't know.
"The 'Storm' brings frequent anomalies. And also more development and field missions. Sadly, combat is not my thing; luckily, data analysis is!" - X, Xtreme Talent
The "Storm" is an intriguing topic to look into in the world of Reverse: 1999, and a lot of people tend to be confused on how it works alongside the functions of the immunity zones. For this post, this'll essentially be a more detailed explanation on it. This post will cover what the "Storm" is, its patterns, and the function of the immunity zones with Asymmetrical Nuclide R. This'll be a really long post, so hold tight. :) [Spoilers for Chapter 5-6]
What is the “Storm” anyway?
The “Storm”—or the "Emanation" to the Islanders—is a supernatural phenomena that is affecting most of the globe. It destroys the current era of society and reconstructs it into a point in the past or in the future. It “reverses” time, with the tendency to regress through eras. This means human technology increasingly deteriorates while arcanum flourishes.
Being a phenomena caused by arcanum, the “Storm” is difficult to be studied. Basic understanding of the "Storm" requires affinity with arcanum.
The “Storm” is unpredictable; Besides the Manus and the Apeiron to some degree, no one knows when the “Storm” happens, but the closer we get to its occurrence, the easier it is to figure it out. Manus activity is shown to accelerate the "Storm", with events beginning to deviate from the historic timeline due to their influence.
As of ‘The Star’ and Chapter 6, we find that Laplace has been keeping track of possible “critical points.” Critical points indicate where the eye of the “Storm” might be. An “eye” tends to be located at places globally significant, where historical events take place. It can be a cultural event, a significant movement, or a major conflict. These events don’t have to directly affect the entire world, per se. They merely have to be significant enough to leave a mark in the world's history.
Right now, 8 “Storms” have passed and we have one that is currently beginning to take place. With the information we have of each one, we find common themes among them:
1. Most of these “Storms” occur at least 1 year after the other. There are 4 exceptions to it:
1999 (The Progenitor)
1987 (3 years)
1929 (1 day)
1914 (5 months)
2. They’re triggered when the timeline destabilises, or strays from what is the normal ‘course’ of the world’s timeline. (As said by Greta Hofmann)
3. The nature of the “Storm” and the Storm Syndrome are usually based on the themes of the era and the conflict.
A very clear example of this would be the “Storms” of 1966 and 1929. With 1966, we see how the height of the “Storm” deconstructs everything around the critical point with booming bold colours and pop-like art, reminiscent of the UK’s Swinging Sixties (as mentioned by the game itself).
With 1929, we see how the Storm Syndrome affects the mass population of humans, with how they sell food in exchange for gold and money to eat because of how it references the sudden rise in the American stock market. This led to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and the crash caused an economic recession in the US.
Important notes about the "Storm"
Now we have to keep in mind that there are some things that need to be noted about this phenomenon. For one, the “Storm” doesn’t induce the grandfather paradox, since the survivors of the phenomenon don’t cease to exist whenever they arrive in an era that precedes their lifetime. They don’t encounter the younger versions of themselves either.
Also, since this is an event caused by arcanum, the people who are mainly affected are humans and mixed people who don't have strong arcanum. Pure-blood arcanists tend to be the ones who are the last to be affected by the "Storm," since they only begin to feel the effects once the countdown is approaches near-zero.
The memories of the survivors are quite faded. For example, none of them could remember what happened during 1999 that caused the first “Storm.” Greta and Vertin themselves confirm that they and the Foundation have rather vague memories of that time for reasons yet to be found.
And lastly, as stated before, the “Storm” can be accelerated / triggered early by orchestrating a chain of events that further puts strain on the critical point, and significantly causes disruption in the original timeline. This is the case with 1929 and 1914 right now.
Immunity Zones, Asymmetrical Nuclide R, and Vertin
With these out of the way, there is now space to talk about the points of immunity. For a location to be immune, the area would need a “core” that distributes a high concentration of Asymmetrical Nuclide R.
AN-R is a nuclide that’s present in the “Storm's" rainwater, as well as the fog in Apeiron, the Spinning Wheel, and possibly the Yuān temple in Pei City alongside Uluru in Australia. The nuclide creates a structure that makes it possible to survive the “Storm,” but it is an unstable component that can quickly disappear when isolated from the rain drops.
A more stabilised structure of these nuclides are those found imbued in the Manus Vindictae Mask, and the fog surrounding the cores of the immunity zones. However, when one comes close to said fog, it can affect people’s minds to the point of deep sleep until they’re taken out of the area. Otherwise, time flows normally within the immunity zones, unaffected by the “Storm.”
Meanwhile, as the truth remains unknown (noting that Asymmetrical Protein G is a false biomolecule), Vertin is the only person who is able to cross the “Storm” unharmed. She is able to endure most of its effects such as the fog.
For example: In the fog surrounding the Apeiron and the caves of the Island, she wasn’t afflicted with the deep sleep most of the time until she was fully immersed in it. However, she only needed to be woken up by any sort of disturbance. (i.e. pain caused by the bangle)
Despite this however, she’s unable to perceive and predict the “Storm," needing technology from Laplace to keep track of its countdown.
Anyway, AN-R tends to spread throughout an entire area and creates a range of immunity from the “Storm.” This range becomes theoretically weaker as one strays further from the main source; it's why Vertin’s breakaway group got reversed as they played outside the tower, while Madam Z survived while being barely outside the building. (Chapter 3)
It may also explain why the humans did not survive being in Vertin’s suitcase, since the spinning wheel might not be a strong enough core for the nuclide to resonate really well with humans. But I’m not exactly sure why this is, so this is only an assumption for myself.
For now, this is all the information that I have of the "Storm" and the immunity zones. There are some pieces of information that I also found while looking into it, but I've kept these as footnotes for now to go back to later once things begin to come together.
Many ideas can be thought of on how the phenomenon could affect many other areas, but this is essentially how it works based on what was observed in the story. I hope it answers a lot of questions for some who don't quite understand the "Storm." And if there aren't, feel free to ask me anything. Thanks for reaching the end. :)
Piecing together: The current timeline in Reverse 1999
CN SPOILERS up to Chapter 5 and Interlude. Long post.
The new Chapter 5 and Interlude for Reverse 1999 has shed some light on the Storm and its timeline. With all the new info, I've tried to piece it together as accurately as possible. Here's the timeline I have put together:
Let me break down my findings.
First of all, let's look at the IDM Computer with 37's Mother's prediction.
37 mentions "From 1999 to 2007, the emanation has taken place seven times". Here's how I interpret what the years mean in the Phenomenal column. It's like calling the effect of the Storm: for the first row, the 1996 Storm reverses the era 1999 to 1996. So the "1996 Storm".
The IDM only shows 6 Storms, so the 7th is the Storm that reversed to 1929. I wonder why she didn't include the 8th Storm (1929->1913), but that could be because it was the anomaly 2-day emanation that ruined the model prediction.
Here's a table I have made attempting to fill in the blanks of the IDM computer.
Let's analyze it Storm by Storm.
The 1st Storm (1999 -> 1996)
When: 23:59. December 31, 1999
Reverses to: 1996
Many sources for this, from the IDM showing 1996 to Greta, the writer of the letters in the interlude, mentioning it in her letters.
The 2nd Storm (1996 -> 1985) [Original: 2000]
When: 1996-1997.
Logs don't explicitly say when, but from the IDM we know it takes place ~1 year after the first Storm.
Reverses to: 1985.
We know this from Greta.
"Things remained unclear until time was reversed again. This time, we all witnessed that rain in the 80s. That was 1985."
She was safe in the Headquarters, witnessing the Storm reverse.
The 3rd Storm (1987 -> 1976) [Original: 2003]
When: On a 27th evening, 1987.
Greta: "The Storm in 1987 was predicted.
"…but the prediction was not accomplished by LAPLACE. The captive from Manus Vindictae names the precise date of that Storm."
In Chapter 3, we learn the Foundation captured a Manus Vindictae member who gave them the date of the next Storm. Greta also mentions a captive from Manus predicted it.
Thus, this is the Storm that took place in the breakaway incident, where Vertin was 12-years old and witnessed the Storm for the first time.
Reverses to: 1976
Greta: "Finally, I made up my mind to write to [37's mother]... ... ... She died. On the same day, the first and only timekeeper who just took office, the 12-year-old child returned alone from the Storm. She told us the time in the outside world at that point."
"...The last two digits in the number of the year after that Storm were exactly her name and her number: 77".
This was a bit hard to understand. I concluded the year it reversed to was 1976, as Greta said "the year after the Storm" was 77.
Original Year: 2003
Two years has passed from the 2nd Storm (1985) as this Storm took place in 1987. This fits with the year 2003 in the IDM computer. Also, when Sophia talks to Sonetto at the geometry graveyard:
Sophia: "Four years ago, my father was restored to a geometric body on his way back to the island. So was 37's mother who was also on that ship".
We know (or can at least assume) 77 is 37's mother who perished in this Storm. The current time is 2007, so four years ago is 2003.
The 4th Storm (~1976 -> 1930s) [Original: 2004]
When: 1976~1977/78
Reverses to: Some year in the 1930s
Original year: 2004
37: "In the initial four years, the emanation [Storm] has a pattern. First it brought us back to the 90s, then the 80s, and then the 70s. After that it suddenly leapt to the 30s."
When is the initial 4 years? 1999-2003, and this fits with our current pattern thus far from 90s -> 80s -> 70s. So the 4th Storm takes us to the 30s.
Sophia: "We miscalculated the impact area of the emanation. We thought the ships would be safe in the [...] current."
This confirms the Storm has a limited area it affects, where places hit by the Storm reverses to that particular year. The timeline of R1999 isn't going backwards linearly. This opens a lot of possibilities and eras we could visit.
The 5th Storm (~1930s-> 1912s) [Original: 2006]
When: Sometime in the 1930s
Reverses to: 1912
Original: 2006
37: ".... After that it suddenly leapt to the 30s. In the subsequent 3 years, [the emanation] took place twice."
When are the three years? The Storm that took us to the 30s was 2004. So the subsequent 3 years 37 refers to are: 2005, 2006, 2007.
The IDM jumps from 2004 to 2006. You can (very vaguely) make out "1912" from the year 2006. At least I think it's 1912. So the 5th Storm takes us from the 30s to 1912.
The 6th Storm (~1912s-> 1966s) [Original: 2007]
Here's where it gets interesting, and where I start to theorize things because there isn't much info yet about this Storm.
When: Theorized: 1912~1914
Reverses to: 1966
Original year: 2007
In 2007, there is a 6th Storm. This is likely the Storm before the beginning of R1999, which takes us to 1966 where Vertin meets Regulus.
Here's why I think this Storm fits with the IDM model and happens in 1912~1914, more possibly 1914.
In Chapter 1, Vertin lists down people she has met to Regulus.
Regulus: "Huh? It's Lewis. I know him!"
Vertin: "Yes. I took this photo several days ago. He was selling the Hoover Upright Vacuum Cleaners in the West End, and thought photos would help his business, so he gladly took this."
Regulus: "Why did you take a photo of him? How's he..."
Vertin's response is to take a deep breath.
This interaction was very interesting. Why is Regulus so surprised Vertin took a picture of Lewis? "How's he..." How's he what? Alive?
Now I'm not very familiar with historical figures named Lewis, so I could be very (and hilariously) wrong, but after researching who could be related to a business involving Hoover Upright Vacuum Cleaners, I speculate Lewis is John Spedan Lewis. His father, John Lewis, founded John Lewis, a British brand of high-end department stores.
In 1914, John Lewis hands Spedan Lewis control of a store named Peter Jones. Where is Peter Jones located? Sloane Square, London, which is in King's Road.
Vertin: "Yes. I took this photo several days ago."
This fits with the London location and timeline we know so far. So a few days before Vertin met Regulus, she was in an area of 1914s where she met Spedan Lewis trying to get his store [Peter Jones] going.
Judging from her reaction, he got reversed by the Storm that took them to 1966. Spedan Lewis died in 1963, which is why Regulus is confused why Vertin has a picture of him taken several days ago, and why a wealthy Founder of high-end luxury stores needs a photo taken to help his business.
I thought this was a nice clue that Vertin was in ~1912s era before the 1966s, though this is all just speculation. Feel free to add your own theories who Lewis could be.
The 7th Storm (~1966s-> 1929s) [Original: 2007]
When: June 3rd, 1966.
Reverses to: February 14th, 1929.
Takes place in Chapter 0, where Vertin and Sonetto meets Regulus.
The 8th Storm (~1929s-> 1913s) [Original: 2007]
When: February 15th, 1929.
Reverses to: 1913
Takes place in Chapter 2, where Vertin meets Schneider, Druvis, and Sotheby. Manus Vindictae escalates the Great Depression to cause an earlier Storm. This era only lasts for two days.
These two Storms are straightforward since we witnessed them in game. I won't go into details about them. We're still in the year 2007 according to 37.
The Current Year in Ch 5: 1914 [2007]
Chapter 4 takes place from August 26th to October 10th 1913. The new Chapter 5 begins in 1914.
Eight storms have taken place thus far. Here's a summary with the timeline for reference:
1st Storm (1999 -> 1996)
2nd Storm (1996 -> 1985) [Original: 2000]
3rd Storm (1987 -> 1976) [Original: 2003]
4th Storm (~1976 -> 1930s) [Original: 2004]
5th Storm (~1930s -> 1912s) [Original: 2006]
6th Storm (~1912s -> 1966s) [Original: 2007]
7th Storm (~1966s -> 1929s) [Original: 2007]
8th Storm (~1929s -> 1913s) [Original: 2007]
The Current Year in Chapter 5: 1914 [2007]
Random thoughts:
I hope this post helped paint a clearer picture of the Storms and the possible timeline! Cause, whew, the reason I made this whole timeline was to make sense of it myself. So much lore was dropped in the new chapter.
A question that remains unanswered:
How do people predict the Storm? How can they tell the time in the outside world?
Moissan: "Since Timekeeper hasn't reported the time of this era to the Foundation, you two, as the Foundation investigators, shouldn't know what year this is."
We know 37's group predict them through patterns and math, but what about the Manus Vindictae and Vertin? Vertin just seems to... innately know through her pocket watch and Storm countdown timer on her bracer, perhaps related to her great sense of arcanum. I'm really curious about that.
Biggest Takeaways:
The Storm isn't going backwards linearly and it has a limited impact area. So that means some places not hit by the Storm remains untouched, while others get reversed to whatever era the Storm brings. The first Storm probably had the widest impact.
This means an era in the 1912, for example, could be "reversed" to 1966 if it was hit by the 1966 Storm. That's what I'm getting from all of this. Anyone in the Storm impact area just... poofs, and arcanists/humans in that time era spontaneously appear with the buildings and such. I really love this idea-story wise we could jump around eras.
Then we have places that are completely immune like the Headquarters, Suitcase, and 37's island. They are the only ones who can consistently keep track of time as they're unaffected like spectators viewing the outside world. For the Foundation, Vertin is their way of tracking time in eras: what era did a Storm reverse a place to.
Again, some of these are just speculations and my theories. If you noticed any information I missed out or a mistake, feel free to let me know whether through tags, reply, or even my asks if you're shy. Or if you would just like to talk theories or about Reverse 1999 I'm more than happy to :>
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