Dear Insane Children,
I can think of four ways in which a person might date themselves – I become my own significant other; I reveal my birth era through cultural reference; I stamp a date on my forehead; or I pop a date in my mouth.
Is there a fifth way to date yourself?
When you’re done being silly with that… take a look at the calendar posted above. Last time I made one of these, heads exploded all around the Internet. Apparently I got some years/dates/events wrong…
As I work through the story and narrative timeline with RJ, I want to make sure we’re building atop a solid foundation in relation to YOUR understanding of the game world’s dates and events. (What do I know, RJ and I only wrote the thing! :P)
Now… November 4th, 1864 is the date on Wilson’s casebook…
On the 4th of November, 1864, he describes her as being “nearly comatose for a year.” That being the time span (1863-64) after the fire which kills her family.
Dr. Wilson spends November ’64 to April ’65 working with Alice as she struggles with PTSD resulting from the death of her family. During this period it’s hinted (in Wilson’s notes) that Alice may have killed a surgeon named Grantham (in any case, he had a “grisly accident” and died).
April 1st, 1865 finds Alice has “shut down completely” and retreated into her psyche.
I believe this is the start point of “Asylum” – at a point when Alice is 13 years old, has been in Rutledge for ~1 year, has suffered severely with PTSD, and finally shut down completely – exiting the real world and entering full-time into Wonderland.
Note the “start point” doesn’t necessary define the first thing we’ll see on-screen when the game begins. That’s likely to be a sequence of events including (but not limited to): The Family; The Fire; Arrival at Rutledge; Destruction of Wonderland; Descent into Madness (PTSD); and Inciting Incident (call to adventure).
After all that and the events we’ll contain in “Asylum,” Alice doesn’t rise from her slumber until September 1st, 1873…
Based on her drawing we can assume she’s been in “our” Wonderland. The cat is “our” cat – tattoos and all. He’s also lacking in fur (suggesting that the loss of fur must occur during “Asylum”).
The rest, as they say, is history.
Please take a moment to review the dates and events. Let me know if I’ve screwed something up, left something out, etc.
For your efforts, here’s a bit from RJ as we muse on characters, motivations, and scenes…
“The Administrator thinks Bedlam’s the place for you, Alice; you’ll fit right in with maniacs and hopeless reprobates warehoused there.” “You’re a raving lunatic. Evidently Rutledge cannot cure your craziness. We certainly can’t afford it. Your money is exhausted. You refuse to improve. You’ve ruined Wilson’s career. You won’t ruin mine. I’m a professional. I do not fail. Heal yourself, you wicked girl.”
Alice retreats to Wonderland. It, like her mind, has been blown apart. While bits of it had morphed in AMA, it was still a contiguous entity. Alice, to save herself, thinks reconstructing the broken version she now finds—and returning it to “normal,” may help her, too. But, like Humpty Dumpty after the fall, she can’t do it. It’s a fool’s errand (she’ll realize eventually). Doomed to failure. Not possible; not even desirable. Too much has changed. She’s lost too much.
Please remember: Early days. Nothing set in stone. Thanks.
Oh! For those of you who missed out on the Embroidery Patches, I added them to the Mysterious Store. They are limited in number so grab them while they last!
From Shanghai,
-American