Flood Future Timeline

It All Started Here

The "Flood" timeline has been a mystery since it first appeared during the storyline "In This Twilight" back in 2009. Though viewed in tantalizing glimpses shown by the dream-prophet Usutu, it has never been fully realized or even truly seen. Now, at the end of the Garden of Forking Paths storyline, we pull back the curtain on a long-standing mystery.

The Flood timeline is the original timeline from which all others spring.

As you will come to see below, the Flood timeline represents history without interference from time travel; history as it would have gone, as it did go. The "Prime" timeline that we follow in String Theory: Aftermath deviates all the way back in 1961 with the founding of the Company, a monumental event that changed the course of history and stranded a time-traveler in a timeline not his own.

In the Flood timeline, the Company was never formed. All of the disasters they averted and peril that it caused either never came to pass or came to pass under different circumstances. In this timeline, the world is not one that you know, it is one of unspeakable possibilities and unusual futures. It is the end of the world, and the beginning of another.

Below is a timeline of major events in the Flood timeline, highlighting major deviations from the String-Theory timeline.

And So It Never Came To Pass…

1945—1961: A Fork in the Road

Following the end of the second World War, the United States government enlisted the aid of German scientists to study a growing global supernatural phenomenon: humans born with extraordinary power. Thanks to the efforts of American spy Marcus Raith, the US Government learned of Project Icarus, a Nazi research program that sought to discover the origin of "superhumans" and their abilities.

Under the auspices of Operation Paperclip, a small team of German scientists were allowed to work in the United States to further the US' understanding of supernatural phenomenon and superhuman abilities. Among them was the Nazi eugenics researcher Kazimir Volken. Though Kazimir had faded into the pages of history by 1961, his legacy carried on in government-funded research into what the US called Specials.

Under the authority of the CIA, Specials within America were rounded up and secretly moved to a relocation center in Coyote Sands, Arizona. Here, Specials were researched by a team of scientists led by Doctor Chandra Suresh and his understudy Jonas Zimmerman, estranged son of Project Icarus researcher Rudolph Zimmerman.

In May of 1961 tragedy befell Coyote Sands when a Special with the ability to manipulate weather frightened the guards and was killed. The ensuing riot led to the extermination of all 353 Specials living within the camp and the government shuttering research on Project Icarus.

Only one child escaped that disaster, a young woman with with the ability to see pending catastrophes, Angela Shaw.

1962—1967: The Road Not Traveled

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover instated the Office of Special Investigations on April 8, 1962. Beginning as a small, clandestine branch of the FBI, the OSI's purpose was to observe and report on Specials in the United States and ensure that they either presented no threat to national security or were employed within the offices of OSI as an observational countermeasure and resource.

In 1965, Angela Shaw, the sole survivor of Coyote Sands, meets US Army Special forces operative Arthur Petrelli while living in hiding. The two fall hard and fast in love. One month later, Angela experiences a vision of Arthur dying in a plane crash and convinces him to not board the flight. When the plane later crashes, Arthur is forced to reconcile his love's superhuman ability, and she confesses to him why she was truly in hiding and what happened at Coyote Sands. The two conspire to protect one-another from future calamity at all costs, and within six months, they are married.

In 1964, on the verge of his second term, President John F. Kennedy secretly instates the Specials Observation Act, mandating the US Government maintain an secret database of known Specials across the country. The OSI begin to serve a second role as a task force designed to keep knowledge of Specials from the public eye and interface with the CIA for the application of Special assets in the ongoing Cold War with Russia.

Later in the year Angela and Arthur welcome their first son, Nathan, into the world.

1968—1973: A Brave New World

In 1968, following President Kennedy's two terms, Hubert Humphrey is sworn in as the President of the United States. President Humphrey maintains the status quo regarding Specials and the refusal to reveal their existance to the public.

In June of 1968 Arthur Petrelli is captured in Vietnam during a covert operation and held prisoner for three years. During his capture, Arthur discovers that he too is a Special when he attempts a prison break and unexpectedly steals a power from one of his captors. Arthur fights his way out of Vietnam and leads 23 American POWs to safety.

In August of 1971 Arthur is awarded the Congressional Medal of Valor and is approached by OSI after the details of the Lonestar File — an account of his operation and capture in Vietnam — are made available to OSI management. Arthur is offered a position in OSI and accepts.

In September of 1973 Arthur is granted the title of field agent and leads a new wave of Special investigations, concluding with the construction of the Moab Federal Penitentiary in Moab Utah, intended to contain the most dangerous Specials in America for research and study.

In October of 1973 Doctor Chandrah Suresh surmises that it may be possible to synthesize the genetic condition that creates Specials and isolate it into a formula that could grant abilities to non-Special individuals. Research begins utilizing a long-time prisoner of the US Government, detained during the Coyote Sands massacre…

…Adam Monroe.

1974—1979: The Human Condition

In March of 1974 Doctor Chandra Suresh and his family attend a global bioscience convention in Bangladesh, India. At this convention, Doctor Suresh meets the well-regarded scientist Jean-Martin Luis and his dughter Juliette. During their meeting, Doctor Luis discusses the French government's handling of Specials and their indefinite detention outside of the country. He confides in Doctor Suresh that his daughter, Juliette, is a Special and seeks asylum in the United States.

During the convention, Doctor Suresh's daughter Shanti Suresh contracts a virus of unknown origin and unknowingly infects others at the convention. Doctor Luis' daughter Juliette is also infected. However neither become symptomatic until returning to the United States.

The US authorizes the Luis family's bid for asylum just as Juliette falls ill. Doctor Suresh quarantines both women and leverages the US Government's extensive library of research into Specials to help treat the illness. As part of their outreach, OSI discovers and recruits geneticist Victoria Pratt after it is discovered she is a Special.

Together with Doctor Pratt, Doctors Luis and Suresh are able to mitigate the symptoms of what becomes known as the Shanti virus, utilizing the regenerative cells of Adam Monroe as a basis for a cure. The treatment requires constant upkeep, however, and neither woman ever fully recovers from the disease.

In December of 1974 Doctor Luis joins the OSI.

In April of 1975, Doctor Pratt uses the Shanti Virus as a base for a chemical negation retrovirus capable of inhibiting Special abilities. OSI pushes Doctor Pratt to continue her research to find a way to permanently negate Specials. This plan grows to encompass a nationwide Special negation under the auspices of a national vaccination against a new, emergent virus.

In May of 1976, learning of the government's plan to permanently negate its Special population, Doctor Luis and his daughter go into hiding.

At the same time, fearing their powers may be stripped from them, Arthur and Angela Petrelli concoct a plan to make a public demonstration to the United States government on the essential nature of Specials. Angela foresees a tsunami striking the US east coast in 1977 and Arthur presents the crisis to OSI and proposes utilizing his own recently-acquired weather-manipulating powers to halt the tsunami's path of destruction. Much to the shock of OSI's leadership, Arthur is able to alter weather sufficiently to negate the tsunami, causing snow to fall over much of the eastern US, as far south as Florida.

In light of Arthur's considerable power, the OSI scales back its mass-negation plan, and focuses on the identification and observation of Specials with negation and imprisonment available as an option in extreme cases.

In December of 1979 the Petrellis' second son, Peter, is born.

1980—1982: Through the Looking Glass

Beginning in 1980, a team of scientists from MIT including Edward Ray, Richard Schwenkman, and Michelle Cardinal begin work on a cutting edge theory in the burgeoning field of quantum mechanics, involving the possibility of seeing into the past or future and past with a device capable of viewing past and future states of matter they dub the "Looking Glass" after the classic Lewis Carol story Through the Looking Glass. The group receives a research grant and choose to work at the University of Kansas on a prototype of the device.

While at the University of Kansas, in 1980, Edward Ray befriends a local adjunct scientist by the name of Albert Leda and his daughter Olivia. Richard quickly falls head over heels for Olivia, and the two forge a fast bond over their shared love of science and mathematics.

On June 8, 1982 Michelle Cardinal gives birth to her son, Richard. Six days later, against the advice of her friends and family, she is back in the lab working on Looking Glass. Michelle is obsessed with the completion of the project and is unable to focus on either motherhood or her own recovery.

On June 10th, 1982, Olivia Leda confesses to Edward that her real name is Juliette Luis, and that she and her father are in hiding after discovering sinister plans within OSI. Edward is made aware of the existence of Specials.

On June 18th, 1982 during a test firing of the Looking Glass prototype, a power surge sends Michelle's machine into a state of overload resulting in a catastrophic quantum-level event that reverberates out from Kansas across much of the continental US, resulting in dozens of inexplicable disappearances. In this event, Michelle's son Richard disappears without a trace.

OSI, who had been secretly observing the experimentation amid growing concerns that members of the research team may be Specials, quickly move to confiscate the hardware and apprehend the team. At the same time, OSI moves to apprehend Doctor Luis. Fearing for Juliette's safety, Edward flees with her into hiding.

1983-1988: Synthesis

After initial test subjects prove viable, the US Government begins production on a generation of synthetic Specials in a revival of Project Icarus. The program continues through to 1988, but is halted when incoming president George H.W. Bush is briefed on the eugenics program. The OSI is placed under administrative review, and its exhaustive powers are significantly curtailed.

Arthur Petrelli, now a director of OSI operations, is investigated for improper allocation of government funds, though an oversight committee finds him guilty of no crimes. Suspicion hangs that Arthur may have somehow influenced the comittee's decision, but no proof ever presents itself. In November of 1988 the OSI is disbanded and a new government office dubbed the Department of Special Affairs is instated. The goal of the DoSA is to perform the role of OSI with a more critical eye to the ever-changing complexities of a post Cold-War world.

In March of 1988 Edward Ray re-emerges from hiding with his now wife Juliette and their child and turns himself in to the Department of Special Affairs. The new administration is ultimately lenient on Edward's flight from the OSI and following a round of tests and trials, determines that Edward possesses a Special ability and offers him a role within the DoSA as a show of good faith. Edward accepts, and joins the DoSA as a consultant.

1989—2006: Evolving Situations

Between 1989 and 2006 the Department of Special Affairs maintains the status-quo of the OSI with a lessened focus on genetic experimentation and "relocation" facilities. In secret, Arthur Petrelli funnels OSI research into the privately owned Pinehearst Company and begins conducting his own research into Specials in an attempt to perfect the synthetic formula and make a power play to seize control of the US government.

All of this comes to a head on November 8th, 2006 when Edward Ray inadvertently discovers Arthur's paper trail and sets a DoSA team on the path of apprehending Arthur Petrelli. When confronted outside of the Pinehearst Company office in Midtown Manhattan, Arthur becomes violent and the DoSA team engages resulting in a catastrophic — but brief — confrontation ending with Arthur's explosive death. The explosion kills nearly every member of the DoSA team and destroys the Pinehearst building and severely damages the surrounding blocks.

In the aftermath of the explosion, the DoSA covers up the explosion as a terrorist bombing and maintains the cover of Specials. The depths of Arthur's betrayal resonates through the Department of Special Affairs, but due to the necessity in keeping the event a secret manages to not hinder his family's public reputation.

Edward Ray retires from the DoSA in December of 2006 and returns to serve as a professor of physics at MIT.

2007—2009: The Unseen End

Between 2007 and 2009, the world continues apace, unaware of the super-powered individuals living among them. The brilliant Mohinder Suresh, continuing the work of his father Chandra, discovers a protein later dubbed as part of the Suresh Linkage Complex, a source of Special abilities. Mohinder's discovery moves through the upper echelons of government, and he posits his father's old theory that Specials are a form of Evolutionary divergence from ordinary humans. The term "Special" is slowly retired from common parlance among government bodies, gradually replaced by the term "Evolved."

In June of 2007, the DoSA is re-branded as the Department of Evolved Affairs. The DoEA begins construction of the Commonwealth Arcology, a secretive think-tank for its best and brightest minds under the guise of the Commonwealth Institute, an independent research organization headed by Michelle Cardinal. The Arcology, a hardened facility located below Cambridge, Massachusetts, becomes the hub for all Evolved research, including re-opening research into permanent negation methods based off of the Shanti virus.

In March of 2009 an Interpol operation in Germany following a human trafficking ring unexpectedly uncovers the existence of the Vanguard organization, a paramilitary terrorist organization that has secretly operated around the world since the 1950s under the leadership of Kazimir Volken, one of the original researchers from Project Icarus. Vanguard operative Feng Daiyu is captured and reveals to authorities a plan in development by the Vanguard to deploy a nuclear warhead somewhere in the world. Feng divulges the locations of Vanguard strongholds around the world to a stunned DoEA.

As soon as April 2009 a government task force is assembled for what would become known as Operation Apollo. An international team of Evolved are brought together with the intention of toppling the Vanguard before their plan can be made a reality. Among those who join the operation is Peter Petrelli, Arthur and Angela's youngest son.

In September of 2009, during the early onset of Apollo, a CIA operative named Michael Lowell — secretly an agent of the Vanguard — assassinates the Apollo team while they are en-route to the Vanguard stronghold in China. An attempt is also made on Peter Petrelli's life while he is in Argentina, but the attack goes awry and Peter winds up possessed by the power of Kazimir Volken, who turns on Peter's team and effectively kills Operation Apollo's chance at ending the Vanguard plan.

In Japan, the CEO of Yamagato Industries and predictor of probability, Kaito Nakamura, forsees the failure of Apollo and in a last ditch attempt to avert disaster (or at least save his son) sends Hiro Nakamura back to the past to make a monumental enough change to history to set things right.

Hiro Nakamura is never seen again.

2010 — 2014: Armageddon

In January of 2010 a 100 megaton nuclear warhead detonates beneath the Amundsen Scott Antarctic research station, evaporating millions of tons of ice and shattering ice shelves with the resultant aftershocks of the blast. The sudden influx of cold air into the upper atmosphere whips the global weather system into a frenzy, unleashing numerous devastatingly powerful hurricanes across the globe. In addition to the storms, the nuclear explosion displaced so much of the Antarctic ice that sea levels rise by more than 100 feet globally. The storms, tsunamis, and rapidly rising tides demolish coastal cities and tornados spun off from the hurricanes demolish what lays inland.

Within four years, a swift and brutal war sweeps the storm-ravaged world, initiated by the Vanguard as they emerge from their mountain fortresses. The Vanguard lead assaults on surviving global governments and holdouts, smashing infrastructure in their wake and dragging civilization down into the depths. Along the way, the Vanguard carry out a pogrom against the Evolved, and it is only after the flood and the decimation that the world learns the secret hidden among them. The Evolved are dragged kicking and screaming into what remains of the public eye, only to be put on a pyre in front of a traumatized and broken world.

By the end of 2014, the Vanguard declare their mission a success and Kazimir Volken retreats from civilization and his organization, officially ending the reign of the Vanguard and placing a handful of members as "Sentinel" to prevent the proliferation and rise of the Evolved ever again. By present day, even the Sentinel are largely forgotten, though the hands of their operatives can be felt the world over.

2015 and on: After the Flood

The world after the Great Flood is drastically changed. No major civilizations or governments remain in the wake of the calamity and war, leaving humanity to rebuild from nearly nothing. Inland regions of the world, ravaged by war and often violently polluted by the collapse of civilization and the Vanguard's machinations, are nearly uninhabitable save for the most remote and wild reaches. Coastal remnants of cities, barge towns, and settlements built atop the remnants of skyscrapers that reach beyond the risen tide are common, as are seafarers and mariners alike.

It is a world unlike any you've seen, and yet cast in familiar shades and echoes of what could have come to pass.

EPILOGUE

In the aftermath of the Travelers' journey through the Flood Timeline, the status quo was forever changed. While the events at the Ark would largely go unknown by the population of the Pelago and the other settlements dotting what was once America's east coast, the ripples from its destruction could be felt much further away.

The Pirate Queen Veronica Sawyer brought her fleet to the Pelago not as a violent, pillaging force but as a liberating army. In the aftermath of the Sentinel's attack, the people of the Pelago were reluctant to embrace Sawyer's people with open arms but many understood that they would not be alive were it not for her assistance. Some under Sawyer's command balked at the orders to spare the Pelago from a pillaging while they were at their weakest and broke away from her ranks. Sawyer's fleet diminished by a dozen ships following the attack on the Pelago, but the age of the Dread Pirate had come to a close.

With the Pelago's leadership shattered in the battle with the Sentinel, the Council of Captains put forth votes for new membership, including none other than Sawyer herself. Between Sawyer's fleet and the military vessels commandeered in the defeat of the Sentinel, the Pelago stood poised to come out of the tumultuous year stronger than ever.

As word of the Sentinel's defeat spread to neighboring settlements trade and travel between other oceanic settlements and even Mainlanders began to open up, though these interactions were plagued by hit-and-run piracy from Sawyer's deserters, though these disparate pirate groups were never able to unify into the powerful force they once were, and in time they too would be driven back to the fringes of the ocean.

It was a time of change, renewal, and rebirth for the flooded world.

A new beginning.

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