This article is collaboratively edited by the citizens of Animalia. Its neutrality is, as always, disputed.
TMA Timeline — The Official Chronicle of Animalia
0. The Animalia Era (AE)
- AE 1 = the year of the Founding of the city of Animalia (the beginning of the Age of Foundations).
- The present = AE 121. The present tense of the story "TMA World" is fixed to this year.
- Everything before AE is called the Pre-Founding (Pre-AE) period, written as
Pre-AE year ○ (the Age of Roots).
- Among citizens, "Pre-Accord / Post-Accord" (a way of dividing time at the Five-Family Accord of AE 51) is also in everyday use.
- A year is the same 365 days and 12 months as in the real world. The phases of the moon govern the city's social rhythm (→ TMA-Religion).
Era Divisions (per TMA-Lore-Deep §2.1)
| Era |
Period |
Name |
| The Deep-Stratum Era |
Pre-AE |
the Age of Roots — the old civilization. Its ruins slumber in the Roots Catacombs |
| The Construction Era |
AE 1–50 |
the Age of Foundations — the Founding, the introduction of Oracle, the migration waves, the proliferation of gangs and the great conflict |
| The Modern Era |
AE 51–121 |
the Age of the Five Families — roughly seventy years of equilibrium under the Five-Family Accord (Pax Animalia) |
1. The Age of Roots (Pre-AE)
| Year |
Event |
| Pre-AE year ??? |
The old civilization known as the Roots flourishes. It is held to be the last age in which the animals ran a city by their own hands (the "old world," as Dante calls it). Almost no written records survive; only the murals and ruins of the Roots Catacombs remain |
| Late Pre-AE |
The old civilization collapses for reasons unknown. "The Great Forgetting" — the very fact that not a single record of how the collapse unfolded survives is considered the greatest riddle among later historians |
| Just before AE |
A device called "the precursor to Oracle" is placed in the deepest part of the Catacombs. Who placed it, and to what end, appears nowhere in the official history (→ Oracle-AI) |
A note on historiography: The history of Animalia is such that "the deeper you dig, the older it gets." But excavating the Roots Catacombs without the city's permission is a grave crime, and sanctioned archaeology has been all but frozen since the AE 60s. The theory that Chronos Clockworks is hiding the records of the city's founding remains stubbornly persistent.
2. The Age of Foundations I — The Founding and the Migration Waves (AE 1–30)
| Year |
Event |
| AE 1 |
The Founding of Animalia. The city-management AI "Oracle" comes online, and land parceling, climate tuning, and infrastructure-laying begin. Construction starts on Oracle Tower |
| AE 3 |
The Founding Amnesty — a proclamation permitting immigration regardless of origin. Animals pour in from all over the world in the "First Migration Wave" (including a contingent of southern, Italianate temperament) |
| AE 7 |
Metro Lines 1–4 open. Development of the Veil Waterway canal network begins |
| AE 9 |
Wine merchants and artisan guilds among the southern immigrants form a mutual-aid organization — the forerunner of the Rosso Family (→ TMA-History-Rosso) |
| AE 11 |
The dockworkers' mutual-aid society "the Ninkyou-ikka" is raised — the forerunner of the Ninkyou-gumi (→ TMA-History-Ninkyou) |
| AE 13 |
The "Second Migration Wave" — eastern immigrants surge. Chinatown takes its earliest shape. The Tenryū Gate is erected |
| AE 15 |
Chinatown's vigilante corps and incense-halls merge — the forerunner of the Hua-Long Hui (→ TMA-History-Hualong) |
| AE 18 |
Echo Station (the central station) opens. It flourishes as the city's gateway |
| AE 20 |
Oracle Tower is completed. The administrative and police apparatus is consolidated within the tower (→ TMA-Politics / TMA-Police) |
| AE 22 |
A loose coalition of gambling houses and show promoters, "the Golden Fist Coalition," is founded — the forerunner of the Goldfist Family (→ TMA-History-Goldfist) |
| AE 24 |
The Great Fire of Broken Burrow. The beastfolk quarter burns, and destitution among the unorganized deepens. Through their relief kitchens, the forerunners of the Five Families are recognized for the first time as "the faces of the district" |
| AE 26 |
The Burrow Bank is founded. The beginning of private finance (→ TMA-Economy-AMT) |
| AE 30 |
The "Third Migration Wave" — northern immigrants arrive. The mercenary and escort bands of the northern harbor organize into a society — the forerunner of the Tundra Syndicate (→ TMA-History-Tundra) |
3. The Age of Foundations II — Proliferation and the Great Conflict (AE 31–50)
| Year |
Event |
| AE 31 |
The Ecosystem Council (an assembly of representatives from every species) is established. In practice, though, real power is held by the administrative bureau of Oracle Tower — a dual structure (→ TMA-Politics) |
| AE 33 |
AMT is introduced. Oracle begins issuing it as the city's official currency. The old barter and privately minted coin are phased out (→ TMA-Economy-AMT) |
| AE 35 |
Oasis Casino opens. The Golden Fist Coalition grows explosively and formally takes the name "Goldfist" |
| AE 38 |
Ninkyou factions and the northern society clash over the rights to the wharves — the Wharf War breaks out. It triggers an avalanche in which every organization tumbles into conflict. The twelve years that follow are called "the Decade of Blood" (twelve years, in fact) |
| AE 40 |
The northern society acquires the warship Northern Ghost and formally takes the name "the Tundra Syndicate" |
| AE 42 |
The Silent Purge — a mass police crackdown on the underworld. Yet the targets were oddly "skewed," and later scholarship suspects it was an intervention meant to prolong the conflict （⚠️実際はOracleの調律。→ Oracle-AI） |
| AE 45 |
The neutral market of Neon Crossroads arises spontaneously. Members weary of the fighting establish the custom of "the crossroads where no one shoots" |
| AE 47 |
The Theater Tragedy — a shootout in front of the Vincenzo Theater kills many law-abiding theatergoers. Public opinion swings sharply against the mafia all at once. The turning point at which each of the Five Families begins to put its "code" into writing |
| AE 49 |
The effective end of the Decade of Blood. Twelve years that proved only that no family could win |
| AE 50 |
The Memorial Wall is raised. The names of all who died in the Decade of Blood are carved into it without regard to family. The first sanctuary to mourn the fallen of the conflict irrespective of family (→ TMA-Religion) |
4. The Age of the Five Families I — Establishing the Accord Order (AE 51–80)
| Year |
Event |
| AE 51 |
The Five-Family Accord (Pax Animalia) is concluded. Drafted by Rosso and Ninkyou. Five articles, including the inviolability of cubs, sanctuaries, and cease-fires during festivals (→ TMA-Lore-Deep §2.3). At the same time, "the Grand Alliance (The Mafia Animals)" is founded as the supreme arbitration body standing above the Five Families, and fifty executive seats (colloquially, "the Rankings") are established. The legendary generation who sat in the First Fifty Seats is the Origin 48 cadre (→ TheMafiaAnimals-Origin; an earlier generation that does not appear in the present-day main story) |
| AE 52 |
The first Balance Festival is held. It becomes the annual cease-fire festival, a symbol of the Accord (→ TMA-Daily-Life) |
| AE 55 |
The Tribunal is established — a standing court of the underworld that adjudicates disputes among the Five Families. The completion of a dual justice system coexisting with the surface courts (→ TMA-Justice) |
| AE 58 |
Nightfall Academy is founded — a "shadow school" jointly funded by the Five Families (→ TMA-Education) |
| AE 60 |
The TMA Times is launched. Family Radio begins broadcasting (→ TMA-Media) |
| AE 64 |
A total ban on excavating the Roots Catacombs. Officially, "the danger of collapse." The death of archaeology (→ the note in §1) |
| AE 71 |
Echo Station is closed. It was announced as being "for the switch to a new line," but no successor station was ever built, and the reason for the closure remains officially unexplained to this day. Its turn as a hideout for the underground resistance dates from the AE 100s |
| AE 73 |
The first Interspecies Olympics. With the Biome Wards — the Polar Ward, the Jungle Ward, and the rest — fully built out, Animalia is completed as a city for all species |
| AE 78 |
The population of the Shadow Layer passes one-tenth that of the surface. The problem of "the Two Animalias" is officially debated in the Council for the first time (→ TMA-Underworld) |
5. The Age of the Five Families II — Overripe Splendor and Strain (AE 81–110)
| Year |
Event |
| AE 83 |
Liberty Tower is completed. Goldfist gains a respectable public front for finance. AMT credit trading expands rapidly |
| AE 89 |
The Burrow Panic — a financial panic touched off by a run on the Burrow Bank. For the first time, distrust of AMT's structure — in which "only the issuer knows the total supply" — becomes a matter of public debate. Goldfist props up the settlement network out of its own fortune, and thereafter the arrangement that "the Five Families' money passes through Goldfist's ledgers" becomes fixed (→ TMA-Economy-AMT) |
| AE 92 |
The Oracle Broadcast Tower goes into operation. Citywide distribution of municipal broadcasting begins (→ TMA-Media) |
| AE 95 |
The Hua-Long Hui's jiangshi-dispatch trade becomes standard infrastructure of the late-night economy |
| AE 100 |
The Founding Centennial. The largest Balance Festival in history. Part of this year's commemorative material (photographic records from just after the Founding) is said to show "a building that should not exist," and in later years it becomes a staple of occult magazines （⚠️初期シミュレーションの痕跡） |
| AE 103 |
The urban legend of the Midnight Metro Line 13 takes hold (it is real. → Animalia-Map) |
| Around AE 105 |
Volkov leaves the City Police for the Tundra. The City Police's "White Dog Affair" (a string of inexplicable resignations by its finest officers) becomes the talk of the trade (→ TMA-Police / Volkov) |
| AE 108 |
First observation of the Glitch Zone. An electromagnetic anomaly in the east. Initially announced as "a malfunction at a substation" |
| AE 110 |
The intelligence networks of the Mirror-Moon Pavilion and Shadow-Paw begin amassing reports of "memory discrepancies" (→ TMA-Lore-Deep §2.5) |
6. Toward the Present — Portents of Collapse (AE 111–121)
| Year |
Event |
| AE 113 |
The "deepening" of the Void is confirmed by private observation. The city bans any publication of the findings |
| AE 115 |
While sorting the Grand Alliance's old archives, it comes to light that the records for two of the First Fifty Seats have "vanished" (only 48 of the founders remain on record. → TheMafiaAnimals-Origin, §Vacant Seats). Who erased them, when, and why is unknown. One of the underworld's greatest historical mysteries |
| AE 117 |
The Glitch Zone's expansion accelerates to several meters a year. Sightings of "mirror-image residents" multiply |
| AE 119 |
Citizen reports of memory discrepancies surge. "Voluntary admissions" to the Lunatic Sanatorium climb (→ TMA-Underworld) |
| AE 121 (the present) |
A video message arrives from someone unknown — "TMA World will collapse. The culprit is among the five great Families." The present tense of the story (→ TMA-Lore-Deep §1.3) |
