Updated with some background on our homebrew setting. I completely forgot to post this the first time around >_< It's May, 1859.
The World is much as it's known. The same problems are there. The same issues. The same people. The only thing that changed was the Rifts, and the arrival of the aliens.
A temporary phenomenon it was. Some say they were always there, and still are, in some way shape or form. But no sight of since that fateful winter of 1809. Alien ships and other debris fell from the sky. Who couldn't notice the sky turning purple and the hell that rained from it? Many races, many cultures. Some were from different races. All came from beyond the stars. They bought with them advanced technology, but the storms had wracked their vessels as much as anything else. Marvels of technology they bought with them ceased to work in almost no time at all, and widespread conflict with the "Others" as they were first called, as much damage was caused defending what was theirs, the real damage that was done was the mistrust.
In the United States, Manifest Destiny clashed with arms from the future. But the refugees from beyond weren't equipped for a war, and there wasn't enough of them. Once the technology was taken from them, there wasn't anything to protect them. Many assimilated. Just as many fled West, to live with the Natives. As they weren't humans, the Others did not have much in the way of rights until the 1820's when they were recognized as "Sentient Beings under god", but at the end, that made them no different then the Native Americans. Or the Chinese. Or the Mexicans. Or the Africans. They were exploited, taken advantage of, and it was a trend that continued. Many labored alongside slaves in Southern Plantations, picking cotton, working the land. Not all was lost, however. While they might never have been able to make their great starships take to the skies again, as their panels were taken apart and melted down for use in the great steel mills of the industrial revolution, some knowledge remained. Medicine made advances, but putting existing knowledge to use only got people so far. Cholera outbreaks, they could be contained, but they still happened. Consumption still took those who could not afford the expensive medicinal services that human doctors offered from what they learned from the Others. There was more opportunity, but it wouldn't be until the first World War when humanity started to understand the treasures dropped in it's lap.
However, the others and their shipwrecks weren't the only ones to come through. Some people say the storms that bought them had long bought other things. They said in each Myth, there was always a seed of truth. There were always Ghosts. There were always Demons. There were a reason mankind was scared of the dark. And stranded travellers from the stars were hardly the only thing that came through. Stories remained that, just stories. Old Wives tales were still used to frighten children. But nowadays, even in the strife of 1860, there are stories of other darker things. Things bought from another place, things that lay dormant on Earth, things long forgotten that once caused wary cavemen to huddle around fires.
The times are dangerous, and the woods are wilded. Strife between the North and South threatens to divide the Great Union, Western Expansion bought danger and conflict. England fuels the fires of tension from one side, and Imperial Russia fans the flames from the other, both seeking to undo the machinations of the other at whatever cost in the coming strife. And while politicians argue, every now and then, the people that they represented told of strange and fantastic things. And they didn't listen. But in the dark, desperate and dangerous individuals lurked. And watched. And most importantly, they listened.
Whatever bought you here, a modestly sized hunting cabin by a lake awaited you. Trickling in, in ones, and twos, you awaited. You heard of a job. A dangerous job that required dangerous people. A job that offered a large amount of money. A bounty, fifty dollars for hearing the offer, and an even more generous sum if you chose to accept it. All that's left to wait for is the details of the job.
The shadows are calling. Let the gunshots ring.
