Presenting, the Complete Locked Tomb Timeline
Because I am a horrible nerd, I’ve compiled a complete timeline of every known event in the locked tomb trilogy so far. This is roughly divided into three parts:
- Ancient History - this section is mostly based on the scraps of history we hear from the lyctors in HtN. The events are inferred from pieces or occasionally reconstructed by process of elimination.
- Tragic Backstories - this section is based on what we learn about the backstories of the present day characters. The Cohort intelligence files in the GtN appendix were invaluable for getting the dates here.
- Present Day - this section is a recounting of the events of the books put back in order and carefully placed on a timeline.
Please note that this contains SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING including bonus content like The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex.
The timeline itself is below the cut because otherwise this post would eat people’s dashes for breakfast.
Part One - Ancient History
10,001+ Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Earth suffers from catastrophic climate change.
- Many groups of humans abandon Earth and spread out across the stars.
10,001 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The world ends. A bomb is involved. 10 billion people die.
- John Gaius is the only survivor.
- John resurrects the people of earth, the planets of the nine houses, and the sun. He creates the nine resurrection beasts in the process and they scatter across the universe. The resurrections of the people are somewhat staggered and they don’t come back all at once.
-
The resurrected planets are thanergenic planets - that is, they continuously generate thanergy without dying. This makes them different from all other planets in the universe which are either thalergenic planets - living planets that continuously generate thalergy - or thanergy planets - dying planets that generate thanergy until they eventually die completely.
- John meets Alecto. He calls her First, One and enters perfect lyctorship with her.
- John renames the sun Dominicus to symbolize his divinity.
- John cryopreserves many of the people he resurrected just in case he needs to recover from another catastrophe later.
10,001 - 9,000 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- John begins to construct Canaan House as a palace from which to rule the new world.
- Ten disciples gather at Canaan House. These are:
- Augustine Quinque and Alfred Quinque
- Mercymorn the First and Cristabel Oct
- Gideon the First and Pyrrha Dve
- Cassiopeia the First and Nigella Shodash
- Ulysses the First and Titania Tetra
- Half of the disciples become the first necromancers. The other half take up the sword and become the first cavaliers.
- John uses his divine power to make his disciples immortal as long as they stay by his side.
- The houses are founded. In recognition of their roles as founders, the disciples adopt their arithmonymics (number related surnames) :
- Gideon and Pyrrha found the Cohort and the Second House on Mars.
- The Third House is founded on Neptune without a disciple pair involved.
- Ulysses and Titania found the Fourth House on Saturn.
- Augustine and Alfred found the Fifth House on Jupiter.
- Cassiopeia and Nigella found the Sixth House on Mercury.
- The Seventh House is founded on Venus without a disciple pair involved.
- Mercymorn and Cristabel found the Eighth House on Uranus.
-
Some of the children born in the new houses are necromancers. This effect cannot be replicated elsewhere in the universe because there are no other thanergenic planets.
- Six second generation disciples who grew up in the new houses come to Canaan House. These are:
- Cyrus the First and Valancy Trinit
- Anastasia the First and Samael Novenary
- Cytherea the First and Loveday Heptane
- The disciples develop the secrets of interstellar travel by river and by stele.
- Cristabel and Alfred formalize the cavalier oath.
- Cassiopeia writes a large number of cookbooks.
- Cyrus and Valancy create many nude oil paintings of each other.
- Pyrrha and Gideon develop the mind melding transference theorem.
- Mercymorn and Cristabel develop the siphoning avulsion theorem.
- Cassiopeia and Nigella create Teacher and the other Canaan House constructs by cramming 500 souls into 50 vessels.
- The disciples put their work together and create the lyctoral process. Cristabel convinces Alfred to commit suicide with her, forcing Augustine and Mercymorn to ascend.
- Gideon ascends. He accidentally compartmentalizes Pyrrha in the process, preserving her as a second person trapped in his body.
- Cassiopeia, Cyrus, Ulysses, and Cytherea achieve lyctorhood.
- Cassiopeia and Anastasia work together developing a theory of perfect lyctorhood.
- Anastasia attempts to obtain perfect lyctorhood. John sabotages her, killing Samael.
- The lyctors beg John to kill Alecto. He agrees and they hold a funeral for her (funeral #1).
- The lyctors stage their labs and studies so that someday more aspirants to lyctorhood may examine them. They each create trials based on their work.
- Anastasia founds the Ninth House on Pluto. She’s ostensibly supposed to roll the rock on top of the tomb and be done with it but instead she creates an enduring cult.
- Anastasia dies. The lyctors hold a funeral for her (funeral #2).
9,000 - 5,000 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The nine houses begin expanding an enormous empire across the stars. Lyctors set obelisks to expand the stele network and kill planets to make necromancy possible.
- The lyctors realize that the resurrection beasts have come to hunt them. They permanently leave the nine houses and begin living aboard the Mithraeum, a space station in imperial controlled space.
- Cyrus moves his nude oil paintings and all of Valancy’s clothes from Canaan House to the Mithraeum.
- Cassiopeia moves her cookbooks and her ceramics collection from Canaan House to the Mithraeum.
- All seven lyctors fight and kill Number Two together.
- Cyrus dies drawing Number Six into a black hole. The lyctors hold a funeral for him (funeral #3).
- The remaining six lyctors move the Mithraeum to deep space and flee there.
-
The lyctors try Gideon and Ulysses’ spearfishing idea to fight Number
Eight. It goes badly and Ulysses dies wrestling the beast into hell.
They hold a funeral for him (funeral #4).
- Two more resurrection beasts are killed. These are Number One and Number Four.
~5,000 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The expanding empire encounters Blood of Eden who has been searching for them this whole time.
- BOE begins shepherding an insurgent movement to fight back against the nine houses.
5,000 - 1,000 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The evolving cultural concept of necromancer and cavalier begins to lead some necromantic aristocrats to choose cavaliers for their political value, not their skill at swordplay. This will be an ongoing debate for the next 5000 years.
-
The Master Warden of the Sixth sets the rules for the Swordsman’s Spire to prioritize genetic outreach potential first and competency second. These will stand unchanged for half a myriad until Palamedes interferes with them during his time in the position.
- Cassiopeia explains how to use a relative’s blood to trick blood wards to Mercymorn.
- Cytherea attempts to physically plant a bomb on a resurrection beast. She goes mad before she can even reach the surface and has to spend weeks recovering.
- Cassiopeia attempts to draw Number Seven into the river physically. She is torn apart by angry ghosts and fails to harm it. The lyctors hold a funeral for her (funeral #5).
~1,000 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Matthias Nonius becomes the greatest swordsman of the Ninth. He fights the Saint of Duty and comes to owe him a debt.
~520 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Mercymorn and Augustine begin plotting Dios Apate, Major.
414 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Doctor Donald Sex dies with his final project - solving a puzzlebox lyctoral artifact made of real wood - unfinished. He is hallowed in the Copper Garden at the Library in recognition of his lifetime of achievement.
~300 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The Cohort acquires their last intelligence report on the status of the First House.
208 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- A Fifth ambassador visits the Library and attempts to commune with the ghost of Doctor Sex but only partially succeeds, allowing Sex to return as a revenant. Sex rides a thanergetic link to possess a skeleton servitor cleaning his coffin and then uses it to break into his own office and solve the puzzle cube he was working on prior to his death.
~108 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The Library begins renovations on the basement levels.
101 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- John leaves the Mithraeum and returns to imperial controlled space.
81 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- John begins living aboard the flagship Erebos.
~50 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The last black friar leaves the Cohort.
Part Two - Tragic Backstories
43 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Awake Remembrance Of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back To Reality Oops There Goes The Gravity becomes the leader of the Edenites. Under her direction they transition from plotting in the shadows to open warfare.
40 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Protesilaus Ebdoma is born on Cypris.
39 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Magnus Quinn is born on Rhax.
38 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Abigail Pent is born at Koniortos Court.
- The oldest of the Asht brothers (Colum, Ram, Capris) is born.
36 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Ortus Nigenad is born in Drearburh.
35 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The middlest of the Asht brothers (Colum, Ram, Capris) is born.
33 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The youngest of the Asht brothers (Colum, Ram, Capris) is born.
28 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Dulcinea Septimus is born at Rhodes.
- Marta Dyas is born on Trentham.
- Protesilaus (18) seeks Cohort placement and does tours of duty to three separate front lines.
27 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Colum (6, 8, or 11) begins training as a warrior.
25 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The Edenites learn the true nature of the resurrection beasts. They kill a herald and make anti-necromantic weapons from its corpse.
24 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Naberius Tern is born on Ida.
23 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Judith Deuteros is born interstellar.
22 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Coronabeth Tridentarius and Ianthe Tridentarius are born on Ida.
21 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Pyrrha enters a relationship with Wake.
- Gideon enters a relationship with Wake.
- Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect are born in the Library.
-
The eldest of Protesilaus and Mia’s children is born on Cypris.
- Abigail (17) and Magnus (18) break up.
- Magnus (18) briefly seeks Cohort placement before being rejected.
- Sarpedon meets Mercymorn.
20 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Isaac’s father is killed by terrorists. His children will all be conceived posthumously via vat womb.
- Mercymorn and Augustine successfully execute Dios Apate, Major seducing God and stealing his sperm.
- Mercymorn sees Cytherea for the last time.
- Wake receives the stolen sperm and a number of necromantic vat wombs. The eggs all die so she implants the remaining portion of the sample in herself.
-
Wake calls the baby growing in her stomach Bomb in anticipation of its role as a living weapon.
19 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
-
Wake gives birth aboard her ship.
- Gideon and Pyrrha confront Wake one last time en route to the Ninth House. The Saint of Duty wins the fight because Wake is still weakened from giving birth but takes pity on her and allows her to escape out an airlock in a haz suit.
- Wake runs out of oxygen during atmospheric entry and dies. Her corpse crashes into the Ninth carrying a living baby.
- The necromancers of the Ninth call Wake’s spirit. She shrieks “Gideon! Gideon! Gideon!” at them and escapes to become a revenant bound to her body. They misinterpret this as the baby’s name and call her Gideon Nav.
- Priamhark and Pelleamana gas 200 children and channel the resulting thanergy into creating the perfect necromancer baby. An infant Gideon Nav is the only survivor.
- Lachrimorta and Aisamorta go blind from their role in releasing the gas.
18 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Harrowhark Nonagesimus is born in Drearburh.
- Marta (10) joins the Junior Cohort Territorials.
- Abigail (20) and Magnus (21) get back together again.
-
Master Scholar Marygold Shasta dies.
17 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Silas Octakiseron is born.
16 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Ianthe (6) begins performing necromancy for Corona (6) to create the illusion that they’re both adepts.
- Palamedes (5) gets lost and visits the Swordsman’s Spire for the first and last time.
15 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Jeannemary Chatur is born on Ops.
14 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Isaac Tettares is born on Tisis.
- Corona (8) pantses Judith (8).
13 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Dulcinea (15) and Palamedes (8) become pen pals.
- Marta (15) is commissioned to second lieutenant.
-
Juno Zeta marks the unsealing of Doctor Sex’s study on her calendar five years in advance of the event.
12 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Judith (11) joins the Cohort Junior Territorials.
- Magnus (26) becomes seneschal of Koniortos Court.
- Abigail (25) and Magnus (26) get married.
11 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Augustine sees Cytherea for the last time.
-
The youngest of Protesilaus and Mia’s children is born on Cypris.
-
Camilla (10) and Palamedes (10) are put on duty roster to clean the view screens and have allergic reactions to the panel cleaner.
10 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Gideon (8) begins training with the longsword.
- Wake follows the thanergetic link to transfer her spirit from her bones to her daughter’s sword.
- Naberius (14) becomes cavalier to Corona (12) and Ianthe (12)
9 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Judith (14) is commissioned to second lieutenant.
- Camilla (12) becomes cavalier to Palamedes (12).
8 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Harrow (10) catches Gideon (11) speaking to her mother’s skeleton. They have a brutal fight.
- Harrow opens the tomb, bypassing the final blood ward because her hands are still dripping with the blood of the daughter of God. She gazes upon the Body and falls deeply in love.
- Gideon tells Harrow’s parents what she has done, prompting Priamhark, Pelleamana, and Mortus to hang themselves. Harrow chooses to live and puppets her parents’ corpses to maintain the illusion that all is well.
- Harrow regularly hallucinates The Body speaking to her for the next year. The Body has black eyes and speaks in the voices of people Harrow has known. Afterwards, The Body only appears in her dreams
- Palamedes (13) and Camilla (13) examine the study of Doctor Sex.
- Palamedes (13) becomes Master Warden. Camilla (13) becomes the Warden’s Hand.
- Marta (20) becomes cavalier to Judith (15). They are both attached to the Leviathan-class ship Emperor’s Dominion.
6 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Palamedes (15) invents a new flesh magic technique that allows Dulcinea (22) to intubate herself.
- Marta (22) is promoted to first lieutenant.
- Abigail (32) becomes the head of the Fifth House. Magnus (33) becomes her cavalier.
- Dulcinea (22) permanently leaves the public eye.
- Jeannemary (9) becomes cavalier to Isaac (8).
- The last Ninth House citizens fighting in the Cohort are lost in action.
3 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Judith (20) is promoted to first lieutenant. She and Marta (25) are attached to Behemoth-class ship Rigor and see intragalactic action leading the in-ship tactics unit.
- Marta (25) is ranked first in the system for her class in duelling.
- Isaac (11) and Jeannemary (12) seek Cohort placement. They are denied on age grounds.
2 Years Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Isaac (12) and Jeannemary (13) again seek Cohort placement. They are denied on health grounds after catching the mumps.
- Mercymorn begins once again working with BOE.
- Palamedes (19) proposes to Dulcinea (26). She gently turns him down.
Part Three - Present Day
14 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Judith (22) is promoted to captain and returns to Trentham with Marta (27) to attend intelligence training.
- The emperor sends letters inviting the scions of the nine houses to gather at Canaan House and become lyctors.
- Harrow (17) foils Gideon’s (18) 87th attempt to escape from the Ninth.
- Ortus (35) and Glaurica escape in Gideon’s stead. Crux murders them with a hidden bomb.
14 - 11 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Gideon (18) spends three months learning the rapier to pretend to be Harrow’s cavalier primary.
11 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Cytherea murders Dulcinea (27) and Protesilaus (39), taking their place. She puppets their corpses.
- The heirs of the nine houses arrive at Canaan House. These are:
- Judith (22) and Marta (27)
- Coronabeth (21), Ianthe (21), and Naberius (23)
- Isaac (13) and Jeannemary (14)
- Abigail (37) and Magnus (38)
- Palamedes (20) and Camilla (20)
- Dulcinea (27) and Protesilaus (39)
- Silas (16) and Colum (32, 34, or 37)
- Harrow (17) and Gideon (18)
- Cytherea makes an ostentatious entrance by fainting on the landing dock. Gideon catches her and attracts her attention. Harrow takes the opportunity to get a good look at Protesilaus and discover that he is a puppeted corpse.
- Harrow makes a complete map of Canaan House, cataloguing every door in the building.
- Harrow orders Gideon to fake a vow of silence.
- Harrow, Palamedes, Silas, and Ianthe independently discover the hatch to the basement and begin pursuing the lyctor trials.
11 - 10 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Gideon discovers the door to Gideon the First and Pyrrha’s lyctoral study.
- Gideon meets the other cavaliers. She wins a duel with Magnus then loses a duel with Naberius in a way that makes it clear she would win in a real fight.
- Cytherea completes the tooth trial in Lab 6 and claims its key.
- Cytherea sends the corpse of Protesilaus to gum up the lock to her old lyctoral study with regenerating bone.
- Cytherea sees Gideon’s eyes and discovers her true identity.
- Palamedes and Camilla complete the trial in Lab 3 and claim its key.
- Palamedes and Camilla complete the tooth trial in Lab 6 and are surprised to discover that Cytherea already has the key.
- Silas and Colum complete the trial in Lab 9 and claim its key. Silas decides not to pursue further trials.
- Harrow repeatedly attempts the transference trial in Lab 2 but fails to make headway without the help of her cavalier.
- Ianthe begins reverse engineering the lyctoral theorems without directly attempting the trials.
10 Months and 5 Days Before the Emperor’s Murder.
- Gideon realizes that Harrow hasn’t returned to their rooms for over 24 hours and begins searching for her. She meets Palamedes and Camilla and breaks her vow of silence to ask them for help. They show her the labs and help her rescue Harrow who is passed out in a bone cocoon.
10 Months and 4 Days Before the Emperor’s Murder.
- Gideon and Harrow attempt the transference trial in Lab 2. Harrow works out the right approach but they have to return to their quarters to rest before she can solve it.
- Palamedes and Camilla complete either the trial in Lab 4 or the trial in Lab 5 and claim its key (they do the other one the next day).
- Abigail and Magnus host a party for their eleventh wedding anniversary. At the party Palamedes tells Abigail about the labs and Cytherea realizes just how dangerous a historian could be to her.
- Abigail and Magnus complete the trial in Lab 7 and claim its key.
- Cytherea murders Abigail and Magnus. She hides the key to Lab 7 inside Abigail’s corpse.
- Harrow and Gideon return to the labs, complete the transference trial in Lab 2, and claim its key. On their way back they discover Abigail and Magnus’ corpses.
- Silas attempts to summon Abigail and Magnus’ ghosts by soul siphoning Colum. Cytherea pretends to faint and puppets Protesilaus to punch Silas, disrupting the summoning. Colum challenges Protesilaus to a duel in response.
- Gideon and Harrow inspect Gideon the First and Pyrrha’s lyctoral study. Harrow learns the secrets of regenerating bone.
10 Months and 3 Days Before the Emperor’s Murder.
- Palamedes and Camilla complete either the trial in Lab 4 or the trial in Lab 5 and claim its key (whichever one they didn’t do the previous day).
- Cytherea manipulates Gideon and Harrow into completing the avulsion trial in Lab 8 and claiming its key. This should kill Gideon but she survives because she is the daughter of God.
- Harrow inspects Mercymorn and Cristabels’ lyctoral study and then gives the key to Cytherea.
- Harrow accidentally removes the head of Protesilaus’ puppetted corpse. She hides it in her closet.
- Palamedes reveals that there is only one copy of each key to Judith and Corona. Tensions begin to rise.
- Cytherea incinerates the corpses of Protesilaus (now headless) and Dulcinea. Jeannemary and Isaac discover the ashes.
- Cytherea fakes being seriously ill. The duel with the Eighth is called off when it is realized that Protesilaus is missing. Silas and Colum take keys 6 and 8 from her.
- Marta duels Camilla at Judith’s direction. She loses badly.
- Gideon takes Jeannemary and Isaac into the labs to look for Protesilaus. Cytherea murders Isaac, Gideon and Jeannemary flee to hide in Gideon the First and Pyrrha’s lyctoral study. Gideon falls asleep and when she awakens she discovers that Cytherea has murdered Jeannemary.
- Silas invites Gideon to come talk in his quarters. She refuses.
10 Months and 2 Days Before the Emperor’s Murder.
- Harrow and Palamedes agree to cooperate. Harrow removes the regenerating bone from the door to Cytherea and Loveday’s lyctoral study.
- Harrow orders Gideon to stay away from Cytherea. They have a serious fight about it. In response Gideon takes Silas up on his offer and learns that Ortus is dead and the creche flu was a coverup.
- Gideon discovers Protesilaus’ severed head in Harrow’s closet and tells Palamedes. He and Harrow accuse Cytherea of arriving with a puppeted corpse for a cavalier. She talks her way out of it.
- Harrow confesses her tragic backstory to Gideon in the pool. They swear the cavalier oath together.
10 Months and 1 Day Before the Emperor’s Murder.
- Harrow picks the lock to Cassiopeia and Nigella’s lyctoral study by reading the psychometric image of the key out of Palamedes’ mind and replicating it in bone. From the contents they discover the secret origin of the Canaan House constructs.
- Judith and Marta kill Teacher, destroying the Canaan House constructs, and send for help, Marta dies in the attempt and Judith is grievously injured.
- Ianthe discovers the key to Lab 7 inside Abigails’ corpse and retrieves it. With the information inside the lab she completes the lyctoral megatheorem, murders Naberius and ascends to lyctorhood. Silas and Colum attack her in response, prompting her to kill Silas in self-defense. Colum’s empty soul-siphoned body becomes possessed by a monster and Ianthe kills him too.
- Palamedes discovers Cytherea’s true identity and blows himself up attempting to kill her.
- Cytherea chops off Ianthe’s arm.
- Gideon sacrifices herself so that Harrow can become a lyctor. Harrow kills Cytherea with her help.
- Camilla, Corona, Judith, and Gideon’s body disappear under mysterious circumstances. Camilla stops along the way to collect Palamedes’ skull.
- Harrow and Ianthe are taken to the Erebos.
10 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder.
- Harrow awakens on the Erebos and confronts John.
- Harrow learns a number of important facts offscreen.
9 Months and 29 Days Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Harrow lobotomizes herself with Ianthe’s help. She writes 24 letters to instruct her future self on how to live her life. She magically prevents Ianthe from telling her anything about Gideon using a Ninth house technique known as the sewn tongue.
10 - 9 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- BOE destroys three Cohort warships with three orbital radiation missiles, killing 18,000 soldiers.
- Harrow spends weeks convalescing in the aftermath of her lobotomy. She begins to once again hallucinate The Body speaking to her in the voices of people she has known. This time The Body has golden eyes and follows a half-step behind her like a cavalier.
- John tells Harrow that he will unfreeze 500 cryopreserved resurrected souls and send them to the Ninth to renew the house.
- In the river, Harrow gathers the spirits of those who died at Canaan House on an enormous dream bubble stage.
- Mercymorn gets a chance to see Gideon’s body while it is in BOE custody. She fails to check the color of the eyes.
9 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Someone tries to kill Harrow in the middle of the night. She defends herself, passes out, and awakens to find the evidence of the attack has been covered up.
- Ianthe gives Harrow the letters instructing her how to live her life. Harrow kisses Ianthe in order to check that she has not replaced her jaw to escape from the sewn tongue.
- Mercy, Harrow, Ianthe, and John travel to the Mithraeum.
- The Erebos travels to each of the Nine Houses to send home the bodies of those who died at Canaan House. It then continues on to the Ninth to deliver its new citizens.
- Harrow meets Mercymorn, Augustine, and the Saint of Duty.
- The lyctors hold a funeral for Cytherea (funeral #6).
- Wake causes Harrow to sleepwalk and stab Cytherea’s corpse with her sword. This creates a thanergetic link that allows her to possess it.
9 - 6 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Mercymorn teaches Harrow how to kill planets.
- Ianthe struggles to swordfight with her bad arm.
- The Saint of Duty begins regularly attacking Harrow on John’s orders.
- Pyrrha, possessing Gideon, begins spending time with Wake possessing Cytherea.
- Harrow begins spending large amounts of time with Ianthe.
- Augustine accuses Mercymorn of cooperating with BOE. He threatens to rat her out to John.
- Harrow begins hearing noises from the chapel where Cytherea’s body is laid to rest. Ianthe either does not hear them or decides to gaslight Harrow about them.
- In the river Harrow arrives at Canaan House with Ortus Nigenad as her cavalier. She begins hallucinating angry messages from Wake.
6 - 4 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Harrow kills her 13th planet.
- Harrow confesses how her parents created her to John. He tells her that no one has the right to know.
- In the river Wake begins intruding on Harrow’s play in the form of a monster called The Sleeper. She kills the puppets representing Judith, Palamedes, and Camilla.
- Harrow catches Pyrrha possessing Gideon making out with Wake possessing Cytherea.
- Harrow encounters Cytherea’s body walking on its own. Ianthe refuses to help her deal with it.
4 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- The Saint of Duty attacks Harrow in the bath, making her so paranoid she stops sleeping.
- Augustine issues an ultimatum to Ianthe that she must fix her arm in five days or he will no longer teach her.
- Harrow comes inches away from murdering the Saint of Duty with a bowl of soup.
- Harrow cuts off Ianthe’s bad arm and remakes it in bone, solving her problems. To thank her Ianthe arranges for Mercy and Augustine to distract God.
- Augustine convinces Mercymorn to help him with his plan by promising not to tell John about her dealings with BOE. The two of them execute Dios Apate, Minor seducing God once again and giving Harrow a chance to murder the Saint of Duty. She discovers him being murdered by Wake and instead chooses to save him. Pyrrha takes the opportunity to tell her how to protect herself properly.
- In the river Silas kills the puppet of Corona and then leaps into the abyss. Abigail helps the ghosts of Isaac and Jeannemary exit the bubble.
2 Months Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Mercymorn works with BOE to arrange for Harrow to encounter Cam, Corona, and Judith while killing her 14th planet. She confirms that Palamedes’ ghost is intact and staying inside a river bubble bound to his bones.
2 Months - The Night Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Mercymorn teaches Harrow and Ianthe how to kill a resurrection beast.
- The lyctors begin training as a team within the river.
- John tells Harrow that he wishes she were his daughter. She confesses to opening the tomb and he refuses to believe her.
- Harrow discovers Cytherea’s corpse possessed by Wake beneath her bed. Again Ianthe either cannot see her or chooses to gaslight Harrow about her.
- The Saint of Duty makes one final attempt to kill Harrow. She convinces him that it’s not worth it at this point.
The Night Before the Emperor’s Murder
- Ianthe begs Harrow on her knees to allow her to undo the lobotomy so she can live. Harrow refuses.
- Number Seven arrives at the Mithraeum.
- Mercymorn kills Harrow with her own rapier.
- Gideon awakens in Harrow’s body and saves her from the heralds.
- Mercymorn encounters Gideon in Harrow’s body and realizes the truth about perfect lyctorhood. Mercy tries to kill Gideon but is stopped by Wake with a gun full of herald bullets.
- Augustine encounters Gideon in Harrow’s body and realizes the truth about perfect lyctorhood.
- Ianthe encounters Gideon in Harrow’s body and gives her a letter with her shades in it.
- In the river Harrow remembers her true past. She and the ghosts of Canaan House confront and defeat Wake’s invading spirit by summoning the ghost of Nonius.
- Nonius repays his debt to the Saint of Duty by coming to his aid battling Number Seven in the river. Ortus, Protesilaus, and Marta join him. Gideon dies in the battle but not before forcing Number Seven to flee.
- Mercy and Augustine confront John while Gideon and Ianthe watch. The truth of Dios Apate, Major, the Ninth House operation, and perfect lyctorhood is all revealed.
- Pyrrha destroys Cytherea’s body, banishing Wake.
- Mercy attempts to kill John by disintegrating him. He reassembles himself and kills her. Augustine pulls the Mithraeum into the river in an attempt to force him into Hell, Ianthe saves him and lets Augustine be dragged under.
- Gideon and Pyrrha swim for the surface of the river and drown.
- Harrow seals herself inside a metaphysical tomb, relinquishing her body to Gideon.
6 Months After the Emperor’s Murder
- Camilla, Palamedes, Pyrrha, and Nona live in hiding on a non-imperial planet.