The Novaire Investigation So Far
A comprehensive overview including the timeline of events, people profiles, and unanswered questions
A Second Pass
A few weeks ago, I attempted to take pause. Step back, map what we’ve uncovered, identify the key players, and piece together how everything fits. Today seemed like a good time to update what we know. This is a living document. I’ll continue to update it as we dig further into the mystery.
It started as a way to help myself make sense of things. Especially because we’re uncovering the past in a non-linear way. After publishing the first case, for instance, we spent six weeks uncovering details that actually took place beforehand.
I’m sure you curious investigators noticed.
So, in this week’s Behind the Frame, let’s review what we’ve found so far: the canonical timeline (reconstructed), the investigators, the mysteries, and just how far the rabbit hole goes… so far.
Canonical Timeline of Events
This is how I believe the events unfolded, not in the order I investigated them, but in the order they left marks on reality.
Summary of the Cases
Supplemental Research – Behind the Frame: Field Dispatches
These are logs and notes outside the formal case file structure. Sometimes I was there. Sometimes it was one of you, our growing community of investigators. On other occasions the stories arrive anonymously.
Key Events
Novaire’s Shift
In How Very Rousseau of You, Everett D’Avenford (later known as Novaire) receives an object from a man named Veldrik.
He unconsciously performs his first "correction", preventing a car accident.
He experiments further with increasingly strange consequences (e.g. Rainlines).
Jimmy Rollins Disappears
In The Door That Wasn’t There, Jimmy investigates a strange door in a Chelsea apartment.
The door shouldn’t exist, and when he steps through, he vanishes. Our first known disappearance.
The Eye Symbol Appears
In The Diary from Taured, Sarah and Sloane examine a book linked to a symbol: an eye inside a broken circle.
The diary vanishes into thin air.
Controlled Silence in the Park
In The Silence of Summer, a perfectly quiet zone appears in Fort Tryon Park.
Sloane and Sarah test its boundaries.
The Break-In and the Note
In No Invitation Visit, Sloane’s apartment is broken into.
A note appears in his own handwriting: "You left the door open. We locked it for you." A clear message to stop digging.
Sarah and Sloane’s Relationship Deepens
In Dinner at the Edge of Serenity, Sarah and Adrian just wanted to take a break from the chaos.
On the subway ride home, the lights flicker, briefly brushing the edge of The Interstice.
Evelyn Vanishes
In The Law of Unintended Consequences, Evelyn is followed.
She enters a bar called The Velvet Clover, which doesn’t exist on any map, and is pulled into the Interstice.
Meeting Novaire
In Beyond the Veil, Carter and Sloane find Novaire. He’s exhausted. And something flickers behind him.
Novaire Disappears Again
In Paging Doctor Nowhere, Novaire is hospitalized. Watched. Sealed in.
He vanishes from a locked room without triggering any alarm.
The Liminal Space That Connects Everything
Jimmy was first to vanish into what we now call the Interstice. Evelyn ended up there too.
Frescoes in Rome depict this space. They move when unobserved. It's where we learned its name ‘Interstitium’ in Latin or ‘The Interstice’ in English.
In 1943, a tram may have used it to escape the Gestapo. A suited man intervened.
Its true nature remains unknown.
Known Individuals
Here’s what I know (or suspect) about the people caught up in the mystery.
Detective Carter: Ex-NYPD. Now a private investigator. Skeptical but persistent. Only trusts evidence and objective facts.
Adrian Sloane: Columbia professor of History & Myth. Ready to believe. Deeply observant. He likes Sarah.
Sarah Tanaka: Curious, warm, and sharp. She’s not the skeptic or the theorist. She is intuitive but emotionally attuned. Sarah is a rare collections archivist. A close friend of Evelyn’s. Drawn deeper into the unknown each time she resists it.
Everett D’Avenford: Former strategist at Vaelstryx Corporation. Becomes Novaire after an interesting encounter. Always close to the anomalies. And always accompanied by a strange man some call a guide, others a manipulator.
Evelyn Haddad: Youth Program Coordinator for NYC Parks & Rec. Vanished. Last seen entering a bar that wasn’t there.
Jimmy Rollins: Building superintendent. Disappeared through a door. Now presumed trapped in the Interstice.
Open Questions
Who’s really in control? And what do they want?
What is the Order? Why does Novaire fear them?
What is the Interstice’s purpose?
Why don’t most New Yorkers notice the anomalies?
What happened in the time since 2024?
Closing Thoughts
The rules are emerging. Slowly. But they are there.
Revisit the cases. Share your thoughts on what is really going on.
Stay Safe!
— Felix