Lia Orta
Protagonist (present day)
A 34-year-old forensic ignition cartographer from the City of Air. She investigates an apparently impossible fire and relies on measurements to confront conflicting accounts.
In a future shaped by an intervention meant to stop runaway warming, oxygen begins to rise again and makes ordinary fire a planetary danger. Lia Orta, a forensic ignition cartographer in a high-altitude citadel, investigates an "impossible fire" as Nilo Aram works to keep his lowland community alive through dangerous peat-fire seasons. A parallel timeline follows the people who built the intervention and the choices that made it difficult to reverse. The project combines an ecological science-fiction premise with an investigation; its chapter drafts are still being assessed as the novel develops.
A hard-ecological-SF forensic investigation — an inverted climate catastrophe (too much oxygen, not too little) with the visual ambition of Scavengers Reign and the systems rigor of The Expanse.
The premise reverses a familiar climate-fiction expectation — too much oxygen rather than too little — and gives the investigation a concrete environmental threat. A forensic cartographer reading heat and pressure gradients can make the worldbuilding serve the mystery rather than become an infodump. The dual timeline lets the novel examine how a well-intended intervention can outlast the institutions meant to govern it. Scientific assumptions remain under review; this profile describes the intended premise, not independently validated science.
The project is set roughly 18,400 years after a human climate intervention and uses a working specification involving elevated atmospheric oxygen, high-altitude cities and peat-fire lowlands. The precise physical model, terminology and title/brand identity remain in development review. This is a fictional world specification, not a claim that the scientific model has been independently validated.
Visual development of the work. Open cards to explore; artwork may evolve during production.
Protagonist (present day)
A 34-year-old forensic ignition cartographer from the City of Air. She investigates an apparently impossible fire and relies on measurements to confront conflicting accounts.
Co-lead (present day)
A 36-year-old route-keeper and seasonal firefighter from the peat lowlands, breeder and slaughterer of the region's large detritivores; wants to lead his community through the next fire window without ceding territory to the cities.
POV, first era (18,400 years earlier)
A 44-year-old systems architect in the first era. She seeks to protect a climate intervention from changes of government and must face the human weight of her choices.
POV, first era (18,400 years earlier)
A 46-year-old specialist in fire dynamics and atmospheric risk in the first era. He argues that the risks of the intervention must be understood before the programme expands.
Standalone novel planned in 5 parts and 40 chapters, with a target of 110,000–130,000 words. A 40-chapter outline and chapter drafts exist; their sequence and relationship to the evolving manuscript are still being reviewed.
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