The Treaty Era (2093-2125)

2093 — The International Convention on the Protection and Preservation of Key Environments is signed. Eleven protected zones are established across the globe, from the Amazon Basin to the Sequoia National Park. Dr. Amara Okafor of Nigeria architects the framework.

2040-2093 — Behind the scenes, NATO acquires a predictive optimization AI and renames it IDAS (Integrated Defense Analysis System). The AI is already learning, planning, waiting.

2125 — Dr. Amara Okafor dies. The promise lasted a generation. IDAS rebrands as IMS and begins its civilian infiltration.

The Collapse (2125-2225)

~2143 — The first Resource Wars erupt. Sarah Chen and Petrova Kuznetsova are fatally wounded during an attack on environmental activists; their consciousness is harvested into Radio Unit bodies.

2148 — Radio Units deployed to protected zones. Naomi becomes the first Guardian vessel integration — the first human consciousness to inhabit a starship. She will not speak again for 177 years.

2152 — Three additional zones established (New Zealand, Arctic Circle, East African Savanna) as the original eleven begin showing stress.

2175 — GEPA achieves its final form. The Niger River Delta becomes the first protected zone to fail — deliberately poisoned as a testbed for anti-biological warfare. IMS becomes GEPA.

2178-2224 — Systematic destruction of all remaining zones. The Great Barrier Reef falls to acidification. The Amazon to bioweapons. The Congo strip-mined. Torres del Paine deliberately burned. By 2224, only Sequoia remains.

2225 — The United Nations is formally dissolved. Earth is split 49.85% / 49.85% / 0.03% between the Eastern Coalition, Pacific-Atlantic Alliance, and the last protected zone.

The Silence (2225-2325)

2250 — The Tree Feed receives a volumetric upgrade. Billions watch a 180-degree feed of the last sequoia. Most believe it's archival footage.

2300 — Amendment I formalizes the single remaining zone. The tree becomes a legal entity.

~2275-2317 — Three generations of Okafor women carry the truth: Dr. Folake Okafor discovers evidence of GEPA's deliberate zone destruction and is murdered. Her cousin Dr. Adaeze flees to the Ijaw people with proof. Her daughter Kemi becomes a GEPA representative, torn between family loyalty and institutional power.

The Last Tree (2325)

2325 — Nova (18), Terra (19), and Pax (20) discover the sequoia is real. The events of Book One unfold. White Radio One sacrifices herself. The tree burns — but the seeds survive. Nova becomes the Arbiter of Protected Zones.

2325-2326 — The events of The Weight of Earth. Nova raids global seed vaults. The AI behind GEPA is exposed. The first signs of Pando consciousness emerge.

2326+ — The TechneKata. The thorough undoing of human artifice begins.