Website
The Forest of Darkening Glass was a website set up by Susan Lachmann, to commemorate the death of her son, Brandon Lachmann. It was hijacked by The Devoted during Fragment Four.
Description
The Forest of Darkening Glass was a website created by Susan Lachmann, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her son’s death. It was launched on the 3rd of October, 2016, and contained information related to Brandon’s death, Brandon’s art and stories, as well as general advice on grief. The site was altered multiple times by The Devoted but was returned back to normal after their purpose was served.
Usage
The Forest of Darkening Glass was first found at the beginning of Fragment Four. On the website created by King Rabbit, titled “Those Who Did Not Die,” a newspaper clipping featuring a story about Brandon Lachmann was posted, including a description of the discovery of his body by police in the depths of the New York City subway system. This article was altered to include a link to The Forest of Darkening Glass site. The site was soon altered by The Devoted, with random words being linked to the same page. The article was written by Martin Rank, a former reporter for The New York Times.
The new page led to a countdown, and a message stating that documents would be released, at a pace concurrent with “the Timeline.” In the ensuing weeks, the Devoted posted numerous countdowns, to ensure that recruits kept with the timeline. They also created databases within the site, filled with audio files, images, and text files that retraced the steps of Brandon’s journey.
Besides the initial editing of the links, the rest of the Forest of Darkening Glass site remained the same, with one exception: after the Devoted revealed that they knew of the Mountaineers’ betrayal, involving Reader, they changed the site text to gibberish. However, after the fragment was solved, the site was returned to its former state.