The fictional world that Default creates goes through several distinct historical eras – one set just behind and beyond the present day, followed by the futuristic "techno torture zone", which gives way to the grisly "fear of the collapse", until finally, in "the fake world", all existence degrades into a perverted cartoon reality. This progression roughly mirrors the present day, V.H.Z., Dead Cities, and shhh...! – right! It roughly matches the timeline in the overall Goodbye Strangers narrative itself.