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Above the Timberline

 Above the Timberline
type
TVTItem
 Above the Timberline
label
Above the Timberline
 Above the Timberline
page
AboveTheTimberline
 Above the Timberline
comment
A "painted novel" by Gregory Manchess first published in 2017, Above the Timberline chronicles the journey of an explorer stranded in the frigid ruins of the old world, a son determined to rescue his father, and a woman trying to uphold a tenuous peace between her family and her adopted home.1,500 years ago, a polar shift coincided with massive tectonic disruption to spell the end of the old world and the beginning of a new ice age. Mankind has since clawed its way back to a second industrial era, and the race is on to rediscover and exploit the incredible lost technologies buried beneath the ice. Leading this charge is the Polaris Geographic Society, a conglomerate of adventurers and explorers all vying to make the next big discovery. Galen Singleton is one such PGS adventurer, whose many daring exploits and magnificent findings out in the frigid wastes have made him the envy of the PGS and a hero to everyone... except his son, Wesley.When Galen disappears while searching for a mythical lost city buried beneath the snow and the PGS wash their hands of the matter, Wesley takes it upon himself to mount a rescue effort. With the bare minimum of support from a friend of his father, Wesley sets out into "The White," hoping to arrive at the coordinates his father encoded in a secret message before the unforgiving landscape claims either of their lives.But the cold isn't the worst of Wesley's problems — he'll have to contend with packs of ornery wooly rhinos and hungry snow leopards; Solon Kai, a power-hungry Tukklan chieftain determined to derail his search; and a sinister threat that followed him from home out onto the ice. He finds allies in Linea, a Tukklan native to the White who has her own reasons for standing up to Solon Kai; a secretive commune of monks hidden away on the tundra whose goals align with Wesley's; and a pack of supernaturally intuitive polar bears.
 Above the Timberline
fetched
2023-05-11T20:28:44Z
 Above the Timberline
parsed
2023-05-11T20:28:44Z
 Above the Timberline
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Above the Timberline / int_12de0775
type
Goggles Do Nothing
 Above the Timberline / int_12de0775
comment
Goggles Do Nothing: The diving helmets with tinted lenses worn by Wilke's Faceless Goons serve no identifiable purpose.
 Above the Timberline / int_12de0775
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 Above the Timberline / int_12de0775
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Above the Timberline / int_12de0775
 Above the Timberline / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 Above the Timberline / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: At the end of the prologue, Galen writes in his journal that he's lost "above the timberline."
 Above the Timberline / int_18d15922
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_18d15922
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Above the Timberline / int_18d15922
 Above the Timberline / int_1a5bba2b
type
Artistic License – Geology
 Above the Timberline / int_1a5bba2b
comment
Artistic License – Geology: The story takes place in a world where the Apocalypse How of the past was partially caused when "Earth's mantle spun faster than its crust, causing plates to break loose and float above the magma," cracking along fault lines and crashing around like bumper cars. Once the dust settled and humanity regained an industrial footing, explorers started to venture into the frigid, unmapped wastes hoping to stumble onto old cities buried beneath the snow. The hope is that with enough data, they'll be able to track the path of the hyperactive tectonic disasters of the past and locate where the largest cities (with the best plunder) of the old world came to rest.
 Above the Timberline / int_1a5bba2b
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_1a5bba2b
 Above the Timberline / int_2044af1
type
Faceless Goons
 Above the Timberline / int_2044af1
comment
Faceless Goons: Wilkes' men wear long brown coats and diving helmets with dark lenses while trooping around in arctic conditions.
 Above the Timberline / int_2044af1
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_2044af1
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Above the Timberline / int_2044af1
 Above the Timberline / int_24d94c
type
Dread Zeppelin
 Above the Timberline / int_24d94c
comment
Dread Zeppelin: In the prologue, Galen's zeppelin the Indomitable is attacked by the Adamant, a stealth zeppelin that gets the drop on the crew. Though crippled in the attack and about to crash, Indomitable takes the Adamant down with it. Wilkes and his men fly a Blackhawk M738 stealth airship into the White to track Wesley. Solon Kai uses it to transport his men to the Shadow Moon Monastery to menace Tau and the other adherents. The ship is drawn with headlights that resembled angry eyes.
 Above the Timberline / int_24d94c
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1.0
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Above the Timberline / int_24d94c
 Above the Timberline / int_2dbc1855
type
Ghost City
 Above the Timberline / int_2dbc1855
comment
Ghost City: Galen and the PGS are searching for a lost city rumored to be buried beneath the ice. The buried city of Arcturus is totally empty of people when Galen finds it. He hypothesizes that the inhabitants all used a wormhole to travel to another planet.
 Above the Timberline / int_2dbc1855
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Above the Timberline / int_2dbc1855
 Above the Timberline / int_334e48a1
type
After the End
 Above the Timberline / int_334e48a1
comment
After the End: Overlaps with Cataclysm Backstory. The world ended in a spectacular Natural Disaster Cascade... but that was 1,500 years ago. Humanity has since regained an industrial footing and has started to excavate the ruins of the old world to rediscover ancient technological secrets.
 Above the Timberline / int_334e48a1
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_334e48a1
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 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Above the Timberline / int_334e48a1
 Above the Timberline / int_5394c54b
type
Beary Friendly
 Above the Timberline / int_5394c54b
comment
Beary Friendly: The polar bears of the Shadow Moon Monastery are intelligent and friendly towards the monks and their companions, including Wesley once it's made clear he's traveling with Linea. On several occasions they save Wesley from blizzards, snow leopards, and eventually from Wilkes.
 Above the Timberline / int_5394c54b
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 Above the Timberline / int_5394c54b
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1.0
 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_5394c54b
 Above the Timberline / int_550e75cd
type
Braving the Blizzard
 Above the Timberline / int_550e75cd
comment
Braving the Blizzard: As Wesley and Linea search for the hidden city with their polar bear guides, they have to make haste before a blizzard overtakes them.
 Above the Timberline / int_550e75cd
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_550e75cd
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_550e75cd
 Above the Timberline / int_5bdcc85a
type
Disney Villain Death
 Above the Timberline / int_5bdcc85a
comment
Disney Villain Death: Grim punts Wilkes off an unfenced ledge and he falls into the depths of the city, a drop of at least 15 stories if Wesley's earlier estimation is correct.
 Above the Timberline / int_5bdcc85a
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_5bdcc85a
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_5bdcc85a
 Above the Timberline / int_612b48bd
type
Nearly Normal Animal
 Above the Timberline / int_612b48bd
comment
Nearly Normal Animal: The polar bears of the Shadow Moon Monastery possess an unnatural degree of intelligence. They are able to understand sign language and serve as guides through the White for their human companions. Considered by the monks to be avatars of a mystical animal spirit, the bears are implicitly trusted as judges of character. Their approval is required before outsiders are considered worthy of learning the monastery's secrets.
 Above the Timberline / int_612b48bd
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 Above the Timberline / int_612b48bd
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1.0
 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_612b48bd
 Above the Timberline / int_6201e8b0
type
I Have Your Wife
 Above the Timberline / int_6201e8b0
comment
I Have Your Wife: Wilkes takes Wesley's mother Elizabeth hostage to ensure the boy's cooperation. There's no mention of what's become of her when Wilkes follows the Singletons out into the White.
 Above the Timberline / int_6201e8b0
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_6201e8b0
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1.0
 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_6201e8b0
 Above the Timberline / int_6293c185
type
Sequel Hook
 Above the Timberline / int_6293c185
comment
Sequel Hook: Galen and Wesley come to the conclusion that the city buried under the ice isn't a city at all but an engine that the Precursors used to open a wormhole to another planet, and the Arktos device is part of the compass they used to calibrate their trip.
 Above the Timberline / int_6293c185
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_6293c185
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 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Above the Timberline / int_6293c185
 Above the Timberline / int_7315fd38
type
Covers Always Lie
 Above the Timberline / int_7315fd38
comment
Covers Always Lie: The cover art is taken from one of the last scenes in the book, only with Linea painted over and one of the bears photoshopped closer to Wesley to cover the gap.
 Above the Timberline / int_7315fd38
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_7315fd38
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Above the Timberline / int_7315fd38
 Above the Timberline / int_8578d41f
type
Glacial Apocalypse
 Above the Timberline / int_8578d41f
comment
Glacial Apocalypse: The "polar shift" component of the Natural Disaster Cascade that ended the old world resulted in "the tropics becoming the poles and the poles becoming the tropics," with some locations buried under miles of snow. That being said, every location shown in the book is coated in snow, even the PGS headquarters and the military academy Wesley describes. Galen writes in his journal that he can get the PGS to trade fresh fruits with the Tukklan, but he's baffled by the old-world farming equipment unearthed on his expeditions and there's no mention made of where the PGS are sourcing that produce.
 Above the Timberline / int_8578d41f
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_8578d41f
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1.0
 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_8578d41f
 Above the Timberline / int_863fa679
type
What Happened to the Mouse?
 Above the Timberline / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: Wilkes kidnaps Wesley's mother about a third of the way through the book in order to ensure Wesley's cooperation in locating Galen and the buried city. Wesley sabotages his own radio in retaliation to prevent Wilkes from tracking him. When Wilkes shows up to confront Wesley and Galen at the end, no mention is made of Wesley's mother or what happened to her.
 Above the Timberline / int_863fa679
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_863fa679
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1.0
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Above the Timberline / int_863fa679
 Above the Timberline / int_8cd097d1
type
River of Insanity
 Above the Timberline / int_8cd097d1
comment
River of Insanity: All the crewmembers of the Indomitable — save Galen — perish in the attempt to locate the lost city. To be fair, this is because the Adamant attacked it an an attempt to claim the discovery for their benefactor Wilkes, but everyone on the Adamant died too.
 Above the Timberline / int_8cd097d1
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 Above the Timberline / int_8cd097d1
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Above the Timberline / int_8cd097d1
 Above the Timberline / int_8d718b9e
type
Bears Are Bad News
 Above the Timberline / int_8d718b9e
comment
Bears Are Bad News: Polar bears are one of the greatest threats to explorers, and Wesley mentions that his military academy even offered a course on surviving encounters with the beasts. Ultimately it's a polar bear that kills Wilkes, shoving him off a ledge to a Disney Villain Death.
 Above the Timberline / int_8d718b9e
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_8d718b9e
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_8d718b9e
 Above the Timberline / int_90c54800
type
Scrapbook Story
 Above the Timberline / int_90c54800
comment
Scrapbook Story: The prologue is formatted as an audio transcript of the attack on the Indomitable. Most of the remainder of the book is formatted as transcripts from Wesley, Galen, or Linea's personal journals.
 Above the Timberline / int_90c54800
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_90c54800
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Above the Timberline / int_90c54800
 Above the Timberline / int_91e894b4
type
Apocalypse How
 Above the Timberline / int_91e894b4
comment
Apocalypse How: Class 2: Planetary Scale, Societal Collapse, caused by the combination of a Glacial Apocalypse and Artistic License – Geology — but that's in the distant past. The story takes place 1,500 years after polar reversal and worldwide tectonic disruption destroyed the old world, and mankind has clawed its way back to Steampunk levels of technology.
 Above the Timberline / int_91e894b4
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1.0
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Above the Timberline / int_91e894b4
 Above the Timberline / int_99e87707
type
When You Coming Home, Dad?
 Above the Timberline / int_99e87707
comment
When You Coming Home, Dad?: Galen's career as a Polaris Geographic Society explorer kept him away from home for long stretches of time, and he missed much of Wesley's childhood. Wesley is quite bitter towards his father over this (though he doesn't hesitate to throw himself headlong into a perilous, underfunded quest to rescue his father once there's an inkling that he survived the crash of the Indomitable). He does punch his father in the gut the moment they reunite in the lost city, but is perfectly happy to continue putting himself in danger to protect his father from Wilkes.
 Above the Timberline / int_99e87707
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1.0
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Above the Timberline / int_99e87707
 Above the Timberline / int_9d241122
type
Adventurer's Club
 Above the Timberline / int_9d241122
comment
Adventurer's Club: The Polaris Geographic Society — under the veneer of dashing explorers who bravely charge into the frigid wastes to recover lost technology and knowledge of the old world, the PGS is a boy's club whose members are largely self-serving egoists jockeying to get their names in the headlines. When Wesley approaches them about mounting an expedition to rescue his stranded father (a prominent PGS member), none of them are interested in finding Galen Singleton.
 Above the Timberline / int_9d241122
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_9d241122
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1.0
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Above the Timberline / int_9d241122
 Above the Timberline / int_a6c69bd
type
MacGuffin
 Above the Timberline / int_a6c69bd
comment
MacGuffin: The Arktos Device, which Galen and his wife hid away from the world after he recovered it from a dead explorer. When Wesley tells his mother he's going to mount a rescue expedition and find his lost father, she asks him to bring the device to Galen. Wilkes wants the device because he believes its the key to finding the lost city. The device provides no aid in locating the lost city, and when Wesley finally delivers it to his father, Galen suggests that the device was used by the inhabitants of the lost city to calibrate a machine for creating wormholes through space.
 Above the Timberline / int_a6c69bd
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_a6c69bd
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1.0
 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_a6c69bd
 Above the Timberline / int_bf6a33a7
type
The Native Rival
 Above the Timberline / int_bf6a33a7
comment
The Native Rival: Downplayed — Linea mentions that Zhuan of the Shadow Moon Monastery has asked her to "bind their hearts" (i.e. marry him) multiple times. She was prepared to do so in an effort to broker peace between the tribes of her father Solon Kai and the monks of Shadow Moon Monastery, but as soon as Wesley turns up she immediately falls for him.
 Above the Timberline / int_bf6a33a7
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1.0
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Above the Timberline / int_bf6a33a7
 Above the Timberline / int_c267c2b4
type
Cataclysm Backstory
 Above the Timberline / int_c267c2b4
comment
Cataclysm Backstory: Overlaps with After the End, the cataclysm being a Natural Disaster Cascade that wiped out modern civilization and buried much of the "old world" beneath ice and snow.
 Above the Timberline / int_c267c2b4
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Above the Timberline / int_c267c2b4
 Above the Timberline / int_c57f0d4f
type
Natural Disaster Cascade
 Above the Timberline / int_c57f0d4f
comment
Natural Disaster Cascade: The combination of a polar reversal and worldwide tectonic disruption caused a Class 2 Apocalypse How.
 Above the Timberline / int_c57f0d4f
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 Above the Timberline / int_c57f0d4f
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Above the Timberline / int_c57f0d4f
 Above the Timberline / int_ca3c0642
type
Mammoths Mean Ice Age
 Above the Timberline / int_ca3c0642
comment
Mammoths Mean Ice Age: Wooly rhinos are a threat to explorers out in "the White," and Tukklan tribal leader Solon Kai rides one into battle.
 Above the Timberline / int_ca3c0642
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_ca3c0642
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_ca3c0642
 Above the Timberline / int_ccb39fea
type
Adventurer Outfit
 Above the Timberline / int_ccb39fea
comment
Adventurer Outfit: Wesley wears his pilot's outfit (including the leather cap, goggles, and bomber jacket) while exploring the frozen tundra. Even after getting a more practical long coat from the Shadow Moon Monastery, he keeps the hat. His father Galen wears similar garb even after being stranded in the hidden city for half a year.
 Above the Timberline / int_ccb39fea
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_ccb39fea
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_ccb39fea
 Above the Timberline / int_cf7bd78d
type
Steampunk
 Above the Timberline / int_cf7bd78d
comment
Steampunk: The story is set in a world operating at industrial-level technology, the main character is a pilot, his father is an adventurer, and Zeppelins abound.
 Above the Timberline / int_cf7bd78d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_cf7bd78d
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_cf7bd78d
 Above the Timberline / int_d0edc982
type
The Chief's Daughter
 Above the Timberline / int_d0edc982
comment
The Chief's Daughter: Linea might have been raised at the Shadow Moon Monastery, but she is the daughter of Solon Kai. The matter of her upbringing appears to be the cause of some conflict between Chief Kai and Tau.
 Above the Timberline / int_d0edc982
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_d0edc982
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_d0edc982
 Above the Timberline / int_d7f4e6e1
type
Mysterious Antarctica
 Above the Timberline / int_d7f4e6e1
comment
Mysterious Antarctica: Zig-Zagged — tectonic disruption and a "polar shift" have left much of the world mired in a Glacial Apocalypse. Every setting that Wesley travels through resembles the arctic.
 Above the Timberline / int_d7f4e6e1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_d7f4e6e1
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1.0
 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_d7f4e6e1
 Above the Timberline / int_e460b44e
type
The Radio Dies First
 Above the Timberline / int_e460b44e
comment
The Radio Dies First: Wesley smashes the two-way radio Wilkes had outfitted him with after deducing that there's a tracking beacon inside. This leaves him totally cut off from civilization.
 Above the Timberline / int_e460b44e
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 Above the Timberline / int_e460b44e
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Above the Timberline / int_e460b44e
 Above the Timberline / int_e5cffa61
type
Dreaming of Times Gone By
 Above the Timberline / int_e5cffa61
comment
Dreaming of Times Gone By: Downplayed — Both Wesley and Galen note in their journals that they've been having dreams of a "green earth." Their dreams have no bearing on the plot.
 Above the Timberline / int_e5cffa61
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_e5cffa61
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_e5cffa61
 Above the Timberline / int_ecc4c006
type
Clockworks Area
 Above the Timberline / int_ecc4c006
comment
Clockworks Area: The portion of the city hidden in the mountain where Wesley and Galen reunite is full of massive gears the size of a building — it's Wesley's first clue that the city isn't really a city, but an engine.
 Above the Timberline / int_ecc4c006
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 Above the Timberline / int_ecc4c006
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Above the Timberline / int_ecc4c006
 Above the Timberline / int_f5c6409a
type
Military Academy
 Above the Timberline / int_f5c6409a
comment
Military Academy: Downplayed — Wesley was attending Military Academy until his father's disappearance. Graduating early gave him the opportunity to mount a solo expedition to find his dad, and he mentions several of the skills he learned at the academy in the early phase of his search.
 Above the Timberline / int_f5c6409a
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_f5c6409a
 Above the Timberline / int_f9f2c33
type
Running Gag
 Above the Timberline / int_f9f2c33
comment
Running Gag: Solon Kai is incapable of pronouncing "Singleton," producing increasingly mangled attempts at Wesley and Galen's last name as the story progresses — like "Singlington" and "Singleson."
 Above the Timberline / int_f9f2c33
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1.0
 Above the Timberline / int_f9f2c33
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 Above the Timberline
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Above the Timberline / int_f9f2c33
 Above the Timberline / int_fed07537
type
Mighty Whitey
 Above the Timberline / int_fed07537
comment
Mighty Whitey: The monks of the Shadow Moon Monastery searched for the lost city for the last 400 years and found nothing. The Tukklan have lived in the tundra-like landscape since the disasters that ended the old world, and even they have no idea where the city is. It takes the white-coded explorers Galen and Wesley to locate the city — Tau even tells Wesley he believes the boy is the fulfillment of a prophecy.
 Above the Timberline / int_fed07537
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Above the Timberline / int_fed07537
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ItemName
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Above the Timberline / int_name
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Above the Timberline

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Adventurer Outfit / int_368594ec
 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Adventurer's Club / int_368594ec
 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Artistic License – Geology / int_368594ec
 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Beary Friendly / int_368594ec
 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
Dread Zeppelin / int_368594ec
 Above the Timberline
hasFeature
The Chief's Daughter / int_368594ec