Wild Cards: The World

The world in which Wild Cards takes place is an alternate history Earth, circa the late 1860's, in which the American Civil War lead to a collapse of the major world government and heralded the rise of independent city-states in the style of Ancient Greece (but without the buttsecks).

Time Line

• 1861
  • American Civil War begins.
• 1863
  • Generals Lee and Grant are killed in the Battle of Gettysburg.
  • Britain, followed shortly thereafter by France, enter the war on the side of the South seeking eventual profit and lucrative trade agreements.
• 1864
  • The Union hires Austrian mercenaries.
  • Britain begins to bring in auxiliary troops from around their empire to aide in their campaign.
  • Spain begins an independent war of conquest from Louisiana to Florida.
• 1865
  • Nearly every European country, as well as several others from across the globe, sends troops to the Americas. Few actually take sides in the original conflict and independently attempt to claim as much of the continents’ riches for themselves.
  • Many countries take their wars a step further and attack their neighbors’ weakened lands back across the ocean in Europe and the Mediterranean.
• 1866
  • Rebellions flare across the globe as European colonies attempt to take advantage of their distant masters’ weakness to gain independence.
  • Auxiliary troops from across the British Empire fighting in North America betray their officers and begin fighting for their own profit.
  • Putting aside long held rivalries, Japan and Korea enact a joint attack on China, who is still reeling from costly battles to expel the British. Small skirmishes erupt along the borders of many of the smaller Asian countries.
  • War breaks out between Muslims and Hindus in India.
• 1868
  • Washington D.C. and Richmond Virginia, the capitals of the Union and Confederacy respectively, are sacked and razed within three days of each other.
  • With the United States completely destroyed, the armies of Europe and the world ravage the North American continent. Nearly every city and town in the former US sees terrible violence, many are sacked and razed.
  • American refugees flow westward in attempt to flee the carnage. The populations of western towns and fledgling cities explode overnight, and have great difficulties maintaining order.
  • Diseases from across the globe perpetuate amongst the armies and civilians.
  • The frantic battles for land spill into South America and Canada.
  • The wars in Europe and Asia escalate.
  • Centers of production are destroyed in the conflict, limiting the resources of war.
• 1873
  • The European powers disintegrate into small conglomerates of nearby cities. The lands are devastated and but the wars rapidly loose momentum.
  • Individual cities across Europe, South America, and the North American East Coast are occupied by various armies from every country that took part in the wars. New Orleans alone changes hands eight times before being abandoned for being too difficult to supply and hold.
  • Without support from their homelands, occupation forces rally behind their leaders and create independent city states from the ashes of war. They develop xenophobic governments in the fashion of Ancient Greece or their homelands.
  • Any lands that cannot be immediately controlled are abandoned to bandits and thieves.
  • Surviving ocean vessels forswear allegiance to their homelands and become freebooters, pirates, or worse.
• 1874
  • Cities without ready access to farmlands or other food sources slowly starve to death and are abandoned. This occurs worldwide.
  • The cities of western North America, predominately comprised of “American” refugees, also develop independent governments, but are more open to diplomacy amongst their neighbors.They live in relative peace with their Native neighbors (commonly called Indians).
• 1879
  • The relative peace of the previous few years is broken as scattered cities battle for scarce resources.
  • Rumors begin to proliferate in the West of gunslingers with amazing skills. These men and women become known for their cavalier attitudes and willingness to settle disputes at the barrel of their smoking guns.
  • As the first Slingers are killed and new ones take their weapons, the world learns of the Cards.
• 1880
  • On July 4th of this year, the city of Tombstone, a fledgling settlement established in the wake of the Great Wars, is wiped off the map in a single day. All that is left is rubble and a stone pillar roughly the height of a man standing in the center of what was once the town. Each of its four sides is marked with a familiar sigil pointing in one of the cardinal directions: I diamond pointing east, to the old wealth. A spade pointing north, to the snow and the cold. A heart pointing west, into the setting sun of age. A club pointing south, to warmth and barbarism.
  • The Legend of the Four Aces is born and the world scrambles for the Cards.
  • Copies and copies of copies surface in markets across the globe.
• 1882
  • Two companies, Smythe and Company and the Regal Chess Corporation, gain center stage across the world for being the only ones with international influence.
  • Regal C. recruits scientists and inventors from around the world and begins to sell their steam based technologies to the highest bidders. They reopen mining towns worldwide and have offices in every major city. Specializing in transportation, the company begins to build railroads connecting the most prominent of their offices and build the first of the Airships, massive lighter-than-air craft capable of traveling great distances quickly without the need of rails or roads. The technology is still experimental and there are many accidents, but overall the idea becomes greatly popular and the means to produce them are become the company’s closest guarded secrets.
  • Smythe and Company quickly becomes known as the greatest gun manufacturer on the planet. Their Shooting Irons become the standard for skilled (and/or wealthy) gunmen aspiring to become true Gunslingers. They produce weapons in small numbers but in great quality.
  • Trade between cities flow steadily enough for the markets of the world to become flooded with “slugtossers,” poor quality rip-firearms produces quickly and in vast quantities.
• 1883
  • Last documented report of a Card thought to be authentic.
  • Relative peace spreads across the globe as tensions lax and the people tire of war. Control of the Wild Lands in between the controlled lands of the cities in still virtually nonexistent, Regal C.’s advancements in transportation and the improved armament of caravan guards allows for relatively safe, if expensive, travel and trade between cities.
  • The average civilian can live in relative peace and prosperity with a little hard work and some good luck.
• 1890
  • The Cards return with a vengeance.
  • In a blaze of glory the Guns, almost universally wielded by the lawless, see the rise of infamous Gunslingers across the North American continent. Empires built off stolen capitol are born and crumble almost daily.
  • The cities struggle to deal with the violence.
  • No means of travel is entirely safe and even blimps are shot out of the sky with breathtaking displays of unholy firepower.
• 1891
  • The cities once again gear up for war as they begin to suspect their neighbors of treachery under the guise of robbers and pirates. Fingers point in every direction as the states try to lay the blame for raids and destruction on anyone and everyone in sight.
  • City gates and security begin to tighten as the people start to pick up their discarded xenophobia once again.

Conclusion

This is the world of Wild Cards; peace is fragile but, but there are riches for the taking and glory (or infamy)to be won in the crucible of combat.

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