It is the 19th century A.C (After Crash). Roughly 1800 years ago, something known as the Crash happened, while this time period is muddled and accurate accounts are near nonexistent its generally believed that prior to this point in time, Humanity was at something of a pinnacle of its existence, scientifically, technologically, and prosperously.
Its unknown what caused the crash itself but humanity was forced to start anew from the ground up. Bits and pieces of this older more superior race still exists though in caches of what has been dubbed “tech treasure” and in old ruins.
Humanity at this point has evolved to a point very much similar (in our own timestream that is) to the Victorian Period, having recently broken through into its own Industrial Revolution. The days today are days of mad science and steam driven fervor. This friends, is what would have happened if the industrial revolution period never ended. Driven by the powers of science and the dreams of what still lay out there countless factions hunt down these tech treasures always looking for a single bit that will give them the edge.
In this world there are many factions, but for the sake of keeping things uncomplicated we will observe the main ones relevant to our interests.
The Victos Empire, modeled in similar fashion to our time streams British Empire, this group has colony's throughout much of the known world and has military outposts scattered all over their holdings. As of currently they are the biggest world player, but by no means does this mean they are the best. There way is one of manpower over mechanical power. While they do have extensive and advanced weaponry, numbers win their wars.
The Spanic-Franco Alliance. Having seen the threat of the Victos Empire early on, two separate nations allied themselves, trading technology, resources and manpower to one another to the point the two are now indelibly meshed. Even with the armies of two nations together though they cant outdo the Victos in sheer manpower. Their technology on the other hand is what keeps the stalemate.
The Order of The Brass Gilded Angel, Harking back to old faiths, mixed with a kind of devout worship for technology from before the crash, the “Order” has taken no side in the ongoing war, seeking only to spread faith in the Machine Spirits. They believe in the holiness of progress and technology, and will stop at nothing to claim any tech treasure thats found. This faith can be found in varying degrees and ideologies all over the world, but they are centered around what was referred to in our timestream as Italy.
The United Guilds of America, hail from what was once the United States of America. The great war, an equivalent to our own Civil War, decimated the country. This Great War, unlike our own Civil War, lasted for decades upon decades leaving a country with little to give but military might. In the ashes of this fire storm of tragedy rose city states and armies unparalleled to any other. Thus were formed the Guilds. The Guilds operate in a manner like ancient Sparta, raising their young men to be the best soldiers they can be, often testing themselves against neighboring city states. When they are old enough, they then become part of the State Companies, and are then sold to fight for the highest bidder. The Guild finds itself on both sides of the war between the Empire and the Alliance, and the profits in tech treasure, mechanical trade, and monetary compensation are great.
In a world like this though, there are always outliers. Criminals, rogues and rebels who are just trying to make it in a brutal world. That is where our hero Jancer finds himself.
