Timeline

This page is a chronicling of the events unfolding in the Arc of a Scythe series.

Age of Mortality

2023

• Elke Vanderlip is born.

2042

• The year computational power became infinite.
• "The cloud" evolved into the "Thunderhead".
• The year death was conquered.

Post-mortal world

Year of the Condor

• The Scythedom is established.
• Supreme Blade Prometheus proclaims scythe rings.

2070s

• The Scythedom declared its dominion over death just "thirty-some-odd years ago”
• A scythe challenged an art class to an art contest, and the last mortal canvas was painted.

2079

• Rasmus Vanderlip is born.

2095

• The beginning of the events in "No More Beautiful Than Me".

2096

• In February of 2096, the Grandslayers gathered in Endura for an emergency meeting. They officially condemned the mortal purges and declared them over. This marked the end of "No More Beautiful Than Me."

Year of the Marlin

• Scythe Curie arrives at her first Harvest Conclave as a full-fledged scythe. Her story.

Year of the Lynx

• The Nectaris Prime colony on the moon has what is called a catastrophic atmospheric failure, their entire supply of oxygen vented into space, killing every colonist, there were no survivors.

Year of the Bison (around 63 years before The Toll)

• Scythe Xenocrates, the Second Underscythe of MidMerica visited Mars.
• A seventeen year old Scythe Goddard lived on Mars. His origin story takes place.
• It is noted that Carson Lusk parents saw Scythe Curie on Earth before living on Mars.
• The Mars Colony exploded, having 8 years of existence. The explosion creating “The Martian Eye” on the surface of Mars.
• Second Underscythe Xenocreates was promoted to First Underscythe.

Year of the Heron

• Year relating to the investigation of the incidents of the NewHope orbital station. Years before Citra was born.

Year of the Lemur

• Scythe Xenocrates is named High Blade of MidMerica, he remains in the position for 43 years.

Year of the Gecko

• The last reptilian year before Citra was born.

Two Years before the Year of the Ocelot

• Munira Atrushi is a scythe apprentice under Scythe Ben-Gurion (three years before meeting Scythe Faraday at the Library of Alexandria in December, Year of the Capybara).

The year before the Year of the Ocelot

• Early November: Scythe Faraday goes to Rowan's high school to glean Kohl Whitlock, the event would make Rowan a pariah at his school for two months. A short story after Kohl's gleaning.
• November: Scythe Faraday arrives at the home of the Terranova family on a cold afternoon to glean their neighbor, Bridget Chadwell.

Year of the Ocelot

The year before the Year of the Capybara.

• Entry in Scythe Curie's journal.

• Early January: Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch receive an anonymous invitation to attend the Grand Civic Opera.
• January 9th: at 7 pm Citra and Rowan meet at The Grand Civic Opera. They attend Verdi's La Forza del Destino Scythe Faraday tells them to meet him at the Museum of World Art the following day.
• January 10th: Citra, Rowan, and Faraday meet in the morning at the Museum of World Art. Then the scythe takes them to a diner, and offers them to become his scythe apprentices.
• January 11th: In the morning before leaving for school, Rowan tells his mother that a scythe had invited him to become his apprentice and that he'd be dropping out of school to accept the position.
• February: Citra and Rowan are into their second month of apprenticeship with Scythe Faraday.
• March: Rowan reunites with his friend Tyger Salazar at the park during downtime.
• May: a week before Vernal Conclave Citra witnessed one of the worst gleanings in her apprenticeship with Scythe Faraday, a man who resisted gleaning at home with his wife and two kids.
• First week of May: Vernal Conclave takes place, this is the first Conclave Citra and Rowan attend as scythe apprentices and have their first test.
• September: Harvest Conclave takes place, Citra and Rowan must take their second test as scythe apprentices, they must compete against each other in the martial art of Bokator, Rowan renders Citra deadish. Scythe Morrison and someone else were ordained.
• Late September: Citra and Scythe Curie are in the Chileargentine Region running away from the corruption of the MidMerican Scythedom, Citra been accused of murdering Faraday.
• Late December: Around Christmas time, Citra returns to Fallingwater after being cleared of all charges related to Faraday's passing.
• December 31st: Mass gleaning of more than a hundred tonists led by Scythe Goddard to a Tonist cloister begins, extending to the following day.

Year of the Capybara

• January 1st: Mass gleaning of more than a hundred tonists led by Scythe Goddard to the Tonist cloister is still ongoing. Scythe Goddard and Scythe Rand are rendered deadish, Scythe Chomsky is killed by Rowan, and Scythe Volta self-gleans.
• January 2nd: Xenocrates meet with Rowan informing him that - Rand’s emeralds (with her remains) and Goddard skull haven’t been found. Citra and Rowan take their final test as scythe apprentices.
• January 3rd: (first Tuesday of the year) Winter Conclave. Citra is ordained Scythe Anastasia. Rowan escapes after being granted 1 year of immunity by Scythe Anastasia, Scythe Faraday takes him down to his beach house on the north shore of the Amazonia, where he only stays for a few weeks before returning to MidMerica. 
• Last days of January: Rowan begins the gleaning of corrupt scythes as Scythe Lucifer.
• The short story “Never Work with Animals“ occurs.
• August: Citra visits her family at their apartment, she would visit her family again three months later for Thanksgiving.
• November 10th: Scythe Anastasia gives Devora Murray a gleaning warning, and gleans Mr. Ethan J. Hogan at a lavish casino in Cleveland. Later that night she takes a publicar to meet Rowan in secret at the great memorial in the heart of Pittsburgh.
• Late November: Citra visits her family for Thanksgiving, it results in an uneasy meal with her family due to her new status as an honorable scythe.
• The day after Thanksgiving: Scythe Anastasia and Curie suffer the first attempt on their lives and are saved by Greyson Tolliver who they mistake for a splatter.
• Late November: After gleaning Scythe Renoir, Rowan awakes to a knife on his throat in his apartment in Montreal, MidMerica. Scythe Faraday and he talk about Scythe Lucifer's gleanings.
• Early December: Scythe Faraday visits the Library of Alexandria for the first time and meets librarian Munira Atrushi.
• Late December: Scythe Lucifer pays a visit to Scythe Xenocrates while he is at the Roman-style bathhouse to bargain with him.

Year of the Raptor

After the Year of the Capybara. The Year when Endura sank.

• January 1st:
  • Rowan welcomes the new year in captivity.
  • Scythe Curie and Scythe Anastasia arrive in Fulcrum City in preparation for the Winter Conclave.
• January 3rd:
  • Rowan's 1 year of immunity expires.
  • Scythe Anastasia and Curie visit the Arch of Fulcrum City (known in the Age of Mortality as St. Louis).
• January 7th: (first Tuesday of the year) Winter Conclave is held, Scythe Xenocrates announces he is to quit as High Blade of MidMerica and assume the position as Grandslayer, Scythe Goddard and Scythe Curie present their candidature and orations for High Blade of MidMerica.
• January 8th:
  • Grandslayer Hemingway and his underscythes self-glean that morning so Scythe Xenocrates can officially succeed him.
  • The first of many times Rowan is rendered deadish by Scythe Goddard only to be revived and rendered deadish repeatedly.
• January 9th: Scythe Xenocrates is confirmed as Grandslayer.
• March 27th: The Thunderhead tags 3 conversations out of 1.3 billion in the world as the most important:
  • Scythe Goddard summons a team of engineers, programmers, and a noted marine biologist to Scythe Rand's penthouse in the town of San Antonio, in the Texas region.
  • At the EastMerican city of Savannah, in a quiet coffee shop, Scythe Faraday, Munira Atrushi, Scythe Curie, and Scythe Anastasia, and reunite before parting ways.
  • Scythe Cervantes visits Greyson Tolliver at the tonist cloister where he is hiding.
• March 31st:
  • Entry from the "postmortem" journal of Scythe Michael Faraday, in it he wishes luck to Scythe Curie and Scythe Anastasia on their trip to Endura and talks about finding the fail-safe left by the founding scythes.
  • Rowan escapes captivity with help of Scythe Rand.
• April 1st:
  • Scythe Brahms is gleaned by Scythe Goddard earlier that morning.
  • Day of the Inquest and sinking of Endura. Citra and Rowan are rendered deadish, thousands of people on the island perish in the catastrophe.
  • Loriana Barchok receives an email from the Thunderhead informing her that she is fired along with all Nimbus agents.
  • The whole world (minus Greyson Tolliver) is marked as unsavory.
• April 19th: His Excellency High Blade Robert Goddard of MidMerica gives his inauguration speech.
• May 1st: Director Audra Hilliard shows up at Loriana Barchok door to recruit her for a new job that involves traveling.
• May 14th: Entry from the "postmortem" journal of Scythe Michael Faraday, he writes he has been at Kwajalein Atoll for six weeks with no communication from the outside world. Faraday and Munira have taken residency in a bunker, he can't explore it in its entirety since two scythes are required to open the door to the uppermost level. 
• May 15th: after 2 weeks wandering in the middle of the ocean Director Hilliard and her crew receive mysterious coordinates from the Thunderhead.
• May 18th:
  • Director Hilliard and crew arrive at Kwajalein Atoll.
  • Entry from the "postmortem" journal of Scythe Michael Faraday, he wonders where Scythe Curie is after receiving news of her passing.

Year of the Ibex

The Year after the Year of the Raptor. A year after Endura sank.

• January: The Toll begins to hold audiences at the Verrazzano bridge in Lenape City.
• February: Ezra Van Otterloo has an audience with The Toll, he asks the Thunderhead for directions for fulfillment.
• April 1st: the memorial of the First Anniversary of the Endura disaster, an hour of silence is held all over the world, scythes stroll in their respective regions, gleaning anyone who dares to speak. 
• June 1st: Entry from the "postmortem" journal of Scythe Michael Faraday, he feels frustrated as it has been almost a year and he cannot open the door to the uppermost level of the bunker. 

Year of the Quokka

The Year after the Year of the Ibex. Two years after Endura sank.

• May 28th: High Blade Mary Pickford of WestMerica addresses the Scythedom at the Vernal Conclave to inform them she is in alignment with Scythe Goddard.

Year of the Cobra

After the Year of the Quokka. Three years after Endura sank, and Citra and Rowan are revived.

• January 1st:
  • In his ascension address as Continental Overblade His Excellency Overblade Goddard informs the Scythedom of important changes within it.
  • The first Continental Conclave is held.
• August 2nd: The Vault of Relics and Futures is retrieved intact from the Endura wreckage by Scythe Possuelo, Jerico Soberanis and crew.
• Unknown Date: Scythe Constantine informs Ben Terranova, that his sister will soon make her grand entrance to the world. His story.
• August 5th: Excellency Robert Goddard, Overblade of NorthMerica thanks the Amazonian Scythedom for retrieving the scythe rings and dividing them among the regions of the world. 
• August 7th: after difficult revivals, Citra and Rowan's hearts start beating again after 3 years of being deadish.
• September 16th: Her Excellency High Blade Mary Pickford of WestMerica addresses the Scythedom to inform them that High Blade Hammerstein of EastMerica has fallen ill with the pox. Overblade Goddard is "lost". 
• November: on a cold afternoon Scythe Faraday arrives at the deathbed of Colton Gifford to perform a sympathy gleaning.

Years after The Year of The Cobra

Note, the faster you go, the further you go into the future. The Cirrus ships are carried by solar winds (over one million miles per hour). In the ships, time will feel slower.

• 12 years later: Aleatha-Marie was born
• 41.4 years later: Joel, Loriana, Alethea-Mariela, Cirrus 12, arrive at Wolf 1061c.
• 117 years later: Rowan and a revived Citra arrive at Trappist-1e.
• 333 years later: Susan arrives at K2-18b.
• 1683 years later: Astrid arrives at Kepler-186f.

Important Years with unknown chronological order

Year of the Antelope

• It is determined by early members of the World Council that scythes shall be trained, mind and body in a year-long apprenticeship.

Year of the Jaguar

• Not long after the Scythedom was formed, Second World Supreme Blade Napoleon sets the following rule: "Any contentious event that has no precedent in parliamentary procedure may be brought before the World Council of Scythes in an official inquest" this rule is later used by Scythe Anastasia to hinder Scythe Goddard's candidature for High Blade of MidMerica. 

Year of the Stingray

• At the Sixty-Third World Conclave, it is decided that scythe imposters shall be gleaned on sight, publicly, and most violently.

Year of the Snail

• Scythe Brahms is ordained as a scythe.

Mentioned only Years

• Year of the Dog.
• Year of the Goat.
• Year of the Dragon.
• Year of the Otter.
• Year of the Whale.
• Year of the Penguin.

Trivia

• After 2042, years were still numbered for a few more decades, it is unknown exactly when things switched to the Chinese calendar.
• No one knows what animal future years will be called after.
• Winter Conclaves are always held on the first Tuesday of the new year.
• The office of the Calendaria is the one that decides what animal each Year will be called after.
• There seems to be a continuity error in Scythe, in chapter 4 it says that Scythe Faraday went to the Terranova's apartment "on the third day of the new year" (which would be January 3rd) to grant Citra's family immunity for her having accepted her scythe apprenticeship, however, Faraday had offered Citra and Rowan scythe apprenticeship on January 10th.