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🗺 Maps and Gems

The map shows every story in a topic and how they connect, and the gem belt counts the endings you have reached. This page will guide you through earning gems, reading the belt, using the map and returning to a fork you have not finished, on the website and in the Android app.

Endings and gems​

When a path has no more stories, you reach an ending and the page says "You found an ending". Each published ending in a thread earns a gem for that topic's belt, and the page tells you which belt it goes on.

  • One gem per ending: reading the ending earns its gem, and it stays earned on that device, or across devices if you are signed in on the website.
  • Locked sockets: an ending the writer has planned but not published yet shows as a locked socket. It opens once the story is live.
  • Return to the fork: after an ending, "Return to the fork" takes you back to the nearest earlier choice that still has a path you have not explored.

If the next part of a path is planned but not out yet, the page says "More of this path is coming soon" instead, and no gem is earned there.

The belt​

The belt, headed "Your belt", has one socket per ending in the topic. It counts how many you have reached, such as "2 of 5 paths explored", adds how many are "coming soon", and says when every path is done. You see a belt in a story's side panel, on the "Explore" page's topic cards and on each topic's map.

This ensures you can tell at a glance how much of a topic is left, without opening the map.

The map on the website​

Press "Map" on a story, or "Open full map" in the side panel, to see "Your map" for the topic. Every story is a node, and the key tells you what each marker means:

  • Read: you have finished that story.
  • You are here: the story you are reading now.
  • Not explored yet: published, but you have not opened it.
  • Ending: a story with no stories after it. A reached ending shows its gem.
  • Coming soon: planned, not yet published.
  • Shortcut: a crossroad to another story.

Use "View as list" if you would rather scan the topic as a list than drag a map. The "Open the map" button on the "Explore" page shows every topic's map together, and "Reset my progress" clears what the site remembers as read on this device.

The map in the app​

In the Android app, open a map by pressing "Map" while reading, "See where this fits on the map" at the end of a story, or "See the map" on a topic page. "All topics" opens the "Maps" screen, with a card for each topic and its belt under "Pick a map". See Reading in the app.

note

Gems are earned in threads. A dated series has no endings to collect, since its entries are read by date rather than by choice.

Best Practices​

  • Aim for the belt, not the clock: side paths often hold the most interesting endings.
  • Use "Return to the fork" after each ending, so you explore a topic branch by branch.
  • Sign in on the website if you read on more than one device, so your gems follow you.