The year is 1880, but the history is not our own.
The American Civil War began as it did in our own history. After more than a decade of conflict over the States’ right of self-government, Abraham Lincoln’s election to the American Presidency was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Seven Southern states seceded to form the Confederate States of America and laid claim to federal property within the borders of the young nation. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, and a new nation, the Confederate States of America, was baptized in blood.
For the next two years, generals and soldiers of the North and the South battled to decide the fate of two nations. The stakes were high, and the costs higher. Then something changed…for the worse. Union forces, led by Major General Gordon Meade, met and defeated General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Though Meade scored a victory, he was unable to pursue the retreating rebels. A lot of folks make a lot of claims about that day. Some say Meade’s uniform changed from blue to yellow, while less stable folk claim dead soldiers rose up and shot at their living comrades. Whatever the case, Lee’s forces escaped to fight another day, and fight they did.
In 1868, a change of a more noticeable sort came around. An earthquake the likes of which history has never seen shattered the west coast from Mexicali to Oregon. It left in its wake a labyrinth of jagged mesas towering over flooded, broken terrain. This region was quickly dubbed the “Great Maze.” Within the ruins, lay the discovery of a lifetime. What some believed to be simple coal, was soon determined to be a new mineral altogether. This new fundament burned a hundred times hotter and longer than coal. When consumed, it gave off a ghostly white vapor and howled like the Devil himself. The first survivors who discovered it dubbed it “ghost rock,” and the name stuck. Though it didn’t happen overnight, ghost rock would change the face of the war…and the West.
Immediately after this discovery, many hopeful inventors flocked to the Maze. In months, they had perfected devices powered by steam and fueled by ghost rock. Reports of horseless carriages, ghostrock powered ships, and even weapons capable of spewing great gouts of flame or torrents of bullets became common. It wasn’t long before the miracle mineral was put to even more use, both in engineering and chemistry. It was discovered that ghost rock could be used in place of coke when refining steel, creating a much stronger and lighter metal with a higher melting point, called ghost steel. Likewise, refined ghost rock—usually in powdered form— could be used as both a catalyst and reagent in chemical reactions, leading to the creation of many new tonics, salves, and unguents using the powdered mineral as a key ingredient. While these elixirs remain popular today, ingesting higher concentrations of ghost rock invariably proves fatal.
It wasn’t long before generals and other high and mighty folks Back East noticed the array of gadgets coming out of the Maze. Confederate President Jeff Davis was the first to realize their potential, and quickly instituted a program to turn this “New Science” toward the war effort. Confederate scientists in a secret base near Roswell, New Mexico developed a whole passel of these infernal devices and shipped them Back East.
In February of 1871, General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia attacked Union lines near Washington D.C. Lee’s forces included dozens of Davis’ secret weapons. Flamethrowers, steam tanks, and other, stranger weapons rained death on Union troops. The attack was devastating, so much so that Lee’s forces temporarily seized the Union capital itself! Though it didn’t take long for the Rebels’ experimental devices to malfunction and their supply of ghost rock to run low, the message was clear. The war would turn on a wheel powered by ghost rock. Since the Quake of ’68, ghost rock had been found all over the country, but the greatest concentration was still in the Maze. Once back in the White House, President Grant offered the exclusive government contract for ghost rock to the first company that managed to build a transcontinental railroad. President Davis followed suit the next day. The Civil War, bloodier than ever, continued, and the Great Rail Wars had begun.
Most everyone, even tenderfoots from Back East, knows America is divided in two. The genie is out of the bottle, and it’s unlikely America will ever be united under a single flag again.
The two nations sit on an uneasy ceasefire, and the west ain’t so wild anymore. Now it’s just plain weird.
The American Civil War began as it did in our own history. After more than a decade of conflict over the States’ right of self-government, Abraham Lincoln’s election to the American Presidency was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Seven Southern states seceded to form the Confederate States of America and laid claim to federal property within the borders of the young nation. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, and a new nation, the Confederate States of America, was baptized in blood.
For the next two years, generals and soldiers of the North and the South battled to decide the fate of two nations. The stakes were high, and the costs higher. Then something changed…for the worse. Union forces, led by Major General Gordon Meade, met and defeated General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Though Meade scored a victory, he was unable to pursue the retreating rebels. A lot of folks make a lot of claims about that day. Some say Meade’s uniform changed from blue to yellow, while less stable folk claim dead soldiers rose up and shot at their living comrades. Whatever the case, Lee’s forces escaped to fight another day, and fight they did.
In 1868, a change of a more noticeable sort came around. An earthquake the likes of which history has never seen shattered the west coast from Mexicali to Oregon. It left in its wake a labyrinth of jagged mesas towering over flooded, broken terrain. This region was quickly dubbed the “Great Maze.” Within the ruins, lay the discovery of a lifetime. What some believed to be simple coal, was soon determined to be a new mineral altogether. This new fundament burned a hundred times hotter and longer than coal. When consumed, it gave off a ghostly white vapor and howled like the Devil himself. The first survivors who discovered it dubbed it “ghost rock,” and the name stuck. Though it didn’t happen overnight, ghost rock would change the face of the war…and the West.
Immediately after this discovery, many hopeful inventors flocked to the Maze. In months, they had perfected devices powered by steam and fueled by ghost rock. Reports of horseless carriages, ghostrock powered ships, and even weapons capable of spewing great gouts of flame or torrents of bullets became common. It wasn’t long before the miracle mineral was put to even more use, both in engineering and chemistry. It was discovered that ghost rock could be used in place of coke when refining steel, creating a much stronger and lighter metal with a higher melting point, called ghost steel. Likewise, refined ghost rock—usually in powdered form— could be used as both a catalyst and reagent in chemical reactions, leading to the creation of many new tonics, salves, and unguents using the powdered mineral as a key ingredient. While these elixirs remain popular today, ingesting higher concentrations of ghost rock invariably proves fatal.
It wasn’t long before generals and other high and mighty folks Back East noticed the array of gadgets coming out of the Maze. Confederate President Jeff Davis was the first to realize their potential, and quickly instituted a program to turn this “New Science” toward the war effort. Confederate scientists in a secret base near Roswell, New Mexico developed a whole passel of these infernal devices and shipped them Back East.
In February of 1871, General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia attacked Union lines near Washington D.C. Lee’s forces included dozens of Davis’ secret weapons. Flamethrowers, steam tanks, and other, stranger weapons rained death on Union troops. The attack was devastating, so much so that Lee’s forces temporarily seized the Union capital itself! Though it didn’t take long for the Rebels’ experimental devices to malfunction and their supply of ghost rock to run low, the message was clear. The war would turn on a wheel powered by ghost rock. Since the Quake of ’68, ghost rock had been found all over the country, but the greatest concentration was still in the Maze. Once back in the White House, President Grant offered the exclusive government contract for ghost rock to the first company that managed to build a transcontinental railroad. President Davis followed suit the next day. The Civil War, bloodier than ever, continued, and the Great Rail Wars had begun.
Most everyone, even tenderfoots from Back East, knows America is divided in two. The genie is out of the bottle, and it’s unlikely America will ever be united under a single flag again.
The two nations sit on an uneasy ceasefire, and the west ain’t so wild anymore. Now it’s just plain weird.