Branch crosswalk
Connected Branch Timeline Overlay
The connected branches belong inside the actual history of the Extinction Cycle universe. The outbreak is not a random first-book event. It is the result.
Open Connected Branch Timeline Overlay in the interactive wiki
Key Search Terms
Connected Branch Timeline OverlayBranch crosswalkExtinction Cycle reading orderExtinction Cycle chronology
Chronological Spine
July 1968: VX-99 is tested in Vietnam
Operation Burn Bright is the first major historical break. Trevor Brett and thirty-one Marines are sent into Vietnam and ordered to inject VX-99. Brett survives the catastrophe as the White Ghost, proving that the drug can transform a human being into a durable, adaptive predator.
This is the beginning of the whole universe's biological history. Every later Variant, Alpha, Scion, Thrall, Chimera, hybrid branch, and New God threat sits downstream from the decision to use people as test subjects.
1980: the Red Line secret is pursued, recovered, and hidden
Story Threads To Follow
Chronological Order carries the full in-universe history from VX-99 through the Dark Age.
Trevor Brett is the first major VX-99 victim and the prototype warning the program refuses to obey.
Building 8 is where the old VX-99 chain becomes the Hemorrhage Virus outbreak.
Redemption New York City Arc follows the civilian New York view beginning April 19, 2015.