Copyright © 2001 Marco and Eric Chacon

A Letter to a Visitor from the Dream World

Dear Traveler,

Let me welcome you to the World of the Thirteen

Steam Punk? Modern Day Magic?
Colonies. Our world is almost a mirror image of yours—in yours, Historical?
the Thirteen Colonies are a dream. In ours, the world of
America and all that she means at the dawn of the twenty- C-13 is some of all of these.
first century is a dream—an important dream but ultimately Technology stops around 1940 but air
transit is handled by blimp. Out on the
no more real to us than our world is to yours.
frontier a musket is more reliable than
So where to start? machine-tooled parts.
There is no good place. Any simple statement that
attempts to describe my world oversimplifies everything and Ships like the Titanic ply the seas and
does nothing justice. telegraph is still a good way to send a
letter. There aren't elves but there are
So I’ll start with the name. It’s as good a place as any. mutations, the Tribes (half-humans),
The Thirteen Colonies. Well, we don’t call it that here—that and other races.
would be stupid. To us, it’s simply our world.
You call it the world of the Thirteen Colonies because You can ride a motorcycle with a .45
on your hip looking at the world
that—the founding of the original thirteen American
through a cool set of shades. You can
colonies—is where your history and ours diverge. fight a boarding action thousands of
Remember your lessons? The colonies, followed by the feet above the Art-Deco Metropolis of
Revolution and then the founding of the United States of New York City (still called New
America under the Articles of Confederation . . . a few years Amsterdam by many!) You can spell-
duel with summoned demons or sell
later, the Constitutional Congress gave birth to the
your soul in an illegal Atlantic City
Constitution of the United States of America (you do recall casino.
this, don’t you? Fifth Grade American History? Mrs. Hargrave
scratching out dates in white chalk while you were trying to
hit little Suzie Williams in the back of the head wad of paper armed with a chewing gum
warhead? Or maybe it was that red-headed kid . . . anyway).
Ah—right. USA. A tiff with the Spanish . . . Mexico. Manifest Destiny. The Gold
rush. The Great War. The Greatest Generation. Watergate. Punk Rock. Billy Joel plays the
Soviet Union, and so on.
Your world.
None of that happened here.
Here, in the world of the Thirteen Colonies, men came from Europe to the Strange
New World that St. Columbus had discovered a little over a century ago. They weren’t the
first—the Spanish had come first and had come back with gold and nightmares.
But no one ever listens to the Spanish—not in your world, and not in ours—so no one
believed it when they said that there were immense golden cities in the deep jungles,
abandoned, and covered with carnivorous vines or that the ziggurats built by the natives
housed scaled, blind things that spoke in old-woman hisses and could remember the future.
Everyone was impressed with the gold, of course, but they knew that between
bragging and drinking, the Conquistadors were not, how shall we say this, reliable witnesses.
So the 1500’s went along pretty much as they did in your world, just as the 10,000
years before that matched your world also.

2
 It was the English and the Dutch, and those who
What About The Rest of the World?
Well, we've got over a hundred pages came—not to plunder, but to live—that discovered how
on thirteen little colonies and you want strange a world they lived in.
a few more nations and continents And there, my friend, your history and ours diverge.
thrown in? Boy are you demanding! Yours went on as I briefly outlined a few paragraphs
ago, and ours—in a great many ways—stopped.
Europe: The seas are dominated by
the British Empire (who has her many In your world it is (and I, ahem, hedge) about 2000
colonies across the globe). The and 2 (or so). And so it is (about) the same in ours. But while
Ottoman Empire still stands to the your world has seen genetic engineering, microprocessors,
East, though and fields the most women’s rights, MTV, a lunar landing, and Nick Cave, ours
powerful army in Europe.
has not.
In the Middle East the Elemental Jinn In the world of the Thirteen Colonies, there is no
have great power here and the swath United States of America. There is still a British Empire—
of desert boasts sparkling cities that still an Ottoman Empire, too for that matter. The population
are exotic and hard to reach. Egypt is a
of the world circa 1600 AD was about yea-million, and it is
land of mysteries and spectacles.
While magic is "weaker" across the still about yea-million . . . not the 6+ billion that it is in yours.
water, the presence of the Jinn have But this is not because everyone was frozen, like
lead to miracles both awesome and your Han Solo, in carbonite. This is not because the men of
terrifying. the world of the Thirteen Colonies were forbidden to act or
think.
Russia is a vast, grim expanse of
tundra. There is still a Tsar and a royal Things stopped for two reasons—
family there. It is a place of bloody
revolutions. There are architectural
marvels, massive cathedrals, and
Magic and how it Changes Nothing
untold wealth in difficult to reach The first is that Magic makes it possible. In your
natural resources. world growth and change cannot stop. If nothing else, short
of global catastrophe, population growth will continue
India is a colony but it is also an
ancient land and has its own magic. exponentially. Not so in a world with Magic. Magic is both
Secret societies, vastly powerful beings blunt and subtle, and it subtly tricks conception so that
("The Demiurges") and unexplored certain couplings will produce one child and no more.
inlands (unexplored by English But population is not the only thing that forces
colonials, that is) leave it and China as change you say—what of technology? And you’re right.
great question marks as well.
Technology is an agent of change like no other and as men’s
minds work within the world, they find the tools to change it.
But Magic works against this as well—again, both
subtly and overtly. Overtly, Magic provides many of the same conveniences that technology
does, making technological advancement somewhat redundant. But men never needed a
reason to invent. And so magic is subtle. It makes chemical and atomic reactions of certain
kinds unpredictable. Technology past a certain point—transistors, for instance—simply
cannot be built reliably in the world of the Thirteen Colonies.
Technology at about the level of the 1940’s is achievable, but beyond that, there’s
nothing but chaos.
And if Magic limits technology and governs population growth, it does one other
thing that has made the status quo last—it provides a third and perhaps most potent
balancing agent: it satisfies men’s wishes at home, while threatening them abroad.
In your world slaves were needed to feed the ravenous agricultural economies of the
West Indies and the Southern States. In the world of the Thirteen Colonies, there were

3
never slaves in the New World because summonsed creatures
were simply cheaper. Magic can light rooms, clean houses, and
Forgetting History and Repeating It
erect walls. It can send messages across a great distance. It
We've done a lot of historical research
can cure disease. It does all of these things in different ways, for C-13. Considering that the world
and it cannot be mass-produced. But Magic takes the edge off was an "alternate universe" to begin
life at home. with, why'd we bother?
And it adds that edge to life in the wild. Your world
The answer was that C-13 is supposed
had Indians? Our world has the Tribes and Monsters. Your
to have a sense of history to it, even as
world had pirates? Ours has Vampire Ships. In your world sea it wildly diverges. Also, to be honest we
monsters were legends. In ours, Kraken that can take down a couldn't make better stuff up if we tried.
ship with all hands are terrifyingly real. Bringing the named lions on the steps
Magic is a balancing force and a harsh mistress, but it of the New York Public Library to life
was a no-brainer—the George
is not the only reason that, from the year 1600 AD to 2000
Washington's Adventurers for Draining
AD, the shape of their world has been remarkably constant. the Great Dismal Swamp (a real
Magic, alone, is necessary but not sufficient. company!) would've been pedantic if
So what is the second factor that has kept the Empire we'd invented it!
(there is no need to say British) sunset-less? What has kept
The New Debate (not what type of
the dream of the United States of America at bay? Simply government should we have, but what
this— type of universe should we have) may
Magic makes it possible, but the decision of men to not be the focus of the game you
stay the course has made it happen. choose to play in this world, but the
charged nature of 'people on the brink
You see, you are only vaguely aware of our world, but
of a great event' should permeate it—
we are very aware of yours. If not for magic, we would live in even if it never, in game-time, get
your world and we still see it in visions and half-remembered settled.
images. We call your world The Dream—The Dream of what
would have been.
And although yours is a world of miracles, it is also a world of nightmares—and so we
have, for four hundred years, appreciated what we have rather than what might have been.
It would be wrong to say that during this time nothing has happened. Much has
happened.
There has been a war (The Great War—there is still nothing to match it and simply
give it a number). What else? There has been a western expansion, but colonizing the New
World has proven all but impossible (Magic again—you’ll learn the details of the Deeps and
the Shallows; I needn’t go into it here). And what else?
A thousand details. One which bares mentioning is the little matter of the Colonies,
the British Empire, and the Revolutionary War. It never happened here.
Why? Because the Crown was too powerful to defy?
Not exactly. In this world, with magic at the fringes (India and the Americas are
both highly magical places), the colonies have some advantages they didn't have in your
world (so does Britain for that matter). It's quite conceivable that in the short term, at
least, the colonies could fight and win an Independence War (shots were exchanged, as you
might guess around 1776 or so in places like Lexington and Concord).
Eventually, though, it comes down to will: the Colonies never revolted because they
did not need to.

4
 The Great Debate
What if I'm Not American? In our schools, our Mrs. Hargrave was teaching
Lots of our favorite JAGS players aren't their little Suzie Williams and the red-headed kid and
from the states—why should they
that awful smart-ass in the back of the room (you know
care?
1. The game doesn't have to take who I’m talking about). She was droning on about the
place in North America and if it Great Debate, while you were ignoring the lecture on the
does the characters don't have Birth of America.
to be Colonists. The Great Debate happened in both worlds, with
2. There are plenty of "good
guys" from all over—Britannia different decisions and different results. In yours, the
is an alternate world where men of the Constitutional Convention debated how their
England is ascendant and its nation should be run. They debated the nature of
one of the better choices for a individual freedom and the benefits of a strong central
universe from our perspective! government against those of a loose confederation of
3. The Colonies aren't America.
Sure, they're aware of The states.
Dream and Manifest Destiny— The Great Debate in your world (reality, as you
but they aren't the world- call it) was answered with a decision to form the One
spanning Super Power the US Nation, Indivisible, which would thereby provide Liberty
is today. An ultra-valuable
and Justice for All (well, that was the idea anyway.
jewel to European nations and
under protection from England Whether it worked is wide open).
they're far different. In the world of the Thirteen Colonies the
objects were the same (Liberty, Justice, the Pursuit of
Happiness, all that), but the methods were different.
They did not need one nation, and they didn’t even need independence.
The Founding Fathers in the world of the Thirteen Colonies realized their utopia
without fragmenting the British Empire and without joining into one force. Four hundred
years ago, they met, the discussed, and rather than burning down the old world and erecting,
in its place, a new one, the chose subtle, simple adjustments.
Their decision—their realization that they could change the world, and their
decision not to—was called, in their world (in their Fifth Grade history lessons) The Great
Debate. The Debate over Independence and their debate over whether a man would be more
free if the power of his government rested in the hands of the Nation or in the hands of
the State.
They debated the same issues as the Fathers in your world. They reached a
different conclusion. And so your world and theirs diverged.
So that was the Great Debate—a pivotal moment in the history of both world, and a
moment when the philosophical decision of men about the world they wanted to live in
changed the history of all citizens everywhere.
And so history repeats itself—for as their millennium draws to a close, they are
faced with a new challenge: once again the opportunity to change everything approaches, and
once again, men in the New World are called upon to decide for themselves how they want
to live.
The New Debate, as it is called, is another philosophical moment. Another pivot point,
from which point on, things might never be the same.

5
What Strange New World?
But that is a detail you can educate yourself about soon enough. So there is Magic,
and so there were different decisions made and so our world is somehow different from
yours. How so? What is it like? These are good questions, and the answers fill the book
you’re reading, but I can offer a few points for your enjoyment and education.
One thing you might notice is that we have a different appreciation of history than
you do. Your parents can barely understand you. Your grandparents are aliens. And kids
these days have no appreciation whatsoever for music.
Generations have always been at odds, but in your world the rate of change is so
great that a 20-year difference may be insurmountable. Your great grandparents grew up
(probably) in a world without Interstate Highways. You never knew a world without
television. Your kids will be amazed that you ever thought the Internet was cool.

A Sense of History
It’s not like that in the Thirteen Colonies. Things change, but slowly and in ways that
are understandable from any context. We feel connected with the men who engaged in the
Great Debate because the world they lived in is still there. Oh, the Founding Fathers never
had telegraphs or radio, or factories, or any of the marvelous technical advantages that
modern residents of the Thirteen Colonies have, but these things have done remarkably
little to change our lives—or at least, they’re still recognizable.
In the Thirteen Colonies, we have a sense of history—a sense that the men of four
hundred years ago would understand and appreciate the world we live in today. Of course
they still wouldn't like the noise that kids these days listen to.
And in the Thirteen Colonies, unlike your world, if we don’t like what the kid next to
us is listening to, we can probably get away with smacking him in the head. You see, the
liberal, progressive rights that you see as modern and natural (of course you can’t just go
and smack someone) never took hold here. We would use the term “traditional” you
(especially if you’re female) might call it “repressive” (or worse, depending on what kind of
mouth you have on you).

The Social Order

There are advantages—slavery was never institutionalized in the New World, so if
you’re African, there’s no special stigma. You’re much rarer in the New World, but if you’re
there, it’s because you chose to be (the Spanish still used slave labor in the Islands—and
paid for it by falling apart—but slavery wasn’t economical in North America, where Magic
made it redundant).
How progressive your society is depends on where you live. The Puritan North East
and the Deep South both have their detractors. The Middle Colonies (Pennsylvania) is
probably the most egalitarian place in the world, and although there are no promises about
special treatment, if you’re good, no one there cares what color, gender, or faith you happen
to belong to.

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And Then There’s Magic
Ah, right . . . and then there’s Magic. And what does Machine Tools and Mass Production
that do to a society? We know it stabilizes thing . . . Magic doesn't just shut down complex
smoothes out the time-line a bit. But when you’re faced with devices (although it does that as well).
a magician pulling a rabbit out of thin air (and doing it for Anything that is machine-tooled or
mass-produced tends to malfunction
real), it’s hard to see it as a force for calm.
the closer one gets to the frontier!
Magic is practiced by Magicians (the other names
are not in use much, except for terms that refer to a A handmade watch will function out
specific practice such as Summoner or Necromancer). west of the Mississippi. A factory made
Magicians are trained through apprenticeship, but they timepiece will break a hundred miles
east of Philly.
usually start with a college education, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts in Magical Studies (very few reputable
magicians will accept an apprentice who has not graduated and is bonded).
If you can afford the education, pass the bar, and find a Master to teach you the
basics of the trade, you can make a very handy life for yourself. Most magicians specialize
in spells that their community needs. In the South, this means tending to the crops and
summonsing the Beasts to plow the fields and reap the harvest. In the North East, this
means doing as little magic as possible (healers are always welcome), and in the Middle it can
mean a variety of things (Astrologers work for the major brokerage houses, for instance).
Magicians who can answer questions (divination, augury) are always in demand by
lawyers, judges, spies, and others who have an interest in knowing things that are difficult
to come by. Many Magicians practice medicine—or rather, many Doctors practice magic.
One type of magic that is not much in demand in civilized areas is the type that lets
you defend yourself or offend your enemies. Attack spells (and, especially Elder School
Spells) are considered bad form. If you’ve taken trouble to learn them, people wonder what
sort of person you are. If you don’t want people wondering about you (and, believe me, you
don’t), you keep it to yourself.
On the Frontier, it’s a different matter. As you go into the Shallows, Magic becomes
stronger and just as you need them most, your guns become less reliable. If you fight
monsters, on their turf, you want a fireball backing up your Tommy gun.
Witchcraft is a special case. There might be a few good reasons to be wary of
witches, but in the World of the Thirteen Colonies there are some people who think that
you better be afraid. It helps to understand Summonsing.
Summonsing is especially important to the world—magical items are expensive and
difficult to make, but spirits can be called forth and bound to create persistent magical
effects. The spirits don’t like this much, but since they barely even exist, its not considered
unethical. Summoning is integral to the world and most people own bound spirits that make
their lives easier in much the same way technology might.
Spirits can come from many places, and the spirits summonsed to make “every day”
goods come from the aether, itself. In a sense, they come into existence when called and
seek (eventually) to return to their “natural” state (non-being).
These are called “clean” spirits are considered transient natural phenomena, much
like lightning or a strong wind. Harnessing them and using them is no more oppressive than
building a windmill.

7
 There are other kinds of spirits though. There are spirits with lives beyond their
summonsing—natural spirits (spirits in the rocks and trees… spirits in the waves). These two
can be “bound” and they are often quite powerful, but they are real things with real minds
and enslaving them is ethically risky and (at times) mortally dangerous. Sometimes they
cause trouble and they have to be appeased or banished. Sometimes there can be ‘deals’
made—arrangements, in which they are ‘indentured’ for a period of time. And sometimes
they are so powerful and dangerous that letting them roam free is a risk no one is willing to
take… but in general, Natural Spirits should not be bound.
And after that, there are the Unclean. The Unclean include spirits of the dead
(although it is unclear if they are actually the souls of dead people or spirits taking on their
memories and characteristics—mocking them, in a dreadful way). Ghosts, Banshee, and
others are considered unclean and vile. Necromancers who deal with them are treated with
mistrust at best and out-and-out fear at worst. It is not that Necromancers are evil, but
they work close to it.
For most people the hierarchy of the Invisible World stops with the Unclean. There
may be unclean that are more powerful than others. Spirits that are crueler; more
malicious . . . There may even, most scholars accept, be a warped infinite funhouse maze of
doors, each hiding a terror more awful than the last, but they are all simply Unclean and
that is that.
But for some, there is an even lower realm—the Damned. The Damned are spirits
that live in the graces of and under the service of the Great Deceiver. They are cruel and
cunning, but unlike the Unclean, they have a purpose—the desecration of Creation; the
corruption of All That Is.
And if the Damned are an army of demons, then the Forces that Witches commune
with are their Generals.
There is little proof of this theory (and the Witches, especially the ‘white’ ones
strongly deny it), but it is not altogether unproven. There may well be a force of darkness in
this world—a force of evil that lies under the surface. It is difficult to be sure.

And of course there’s more. Much more. I could tell you stories about each of the
Colonies. How Rhode Island, well in the hands of the Agrarian Party and dutifully printing its
own money is called Rogue Island by those who have to trade with her. I could tell you about
the odd things found in the territories purchased from the French, and the odd poems
written on the graves in New Orleans. I could tell you about the Mason’s secret meetings in
the windowless temple under Wall Street, or about the offices of Ladies of Virtue looking
down at the crowds of businessmen in the Market Street Plaza in Philadelphia.
I could tell you a thousand stories and still not scratch the surface so I’ll say this
instead—your world is a dream to us. Ours is a fantasy to you. But just as your dream of
skyscrapers and light-speed math, and a democratic Super Power is a fascinating dream to
us, I think you’ll find our dream of a quieter world full of mystery and on the edge of a
revolution of the mind is a fascinating one to you.

Come inside, traveler, and welcome,

--The Authors

8
The Event Could Magic Be Bottled Again?
In 1500 AD a ship left port from Spain—its name is unknown as Could the genie be put back in the
is information regarding its captain and crew. Whether they knew bottle? Most experts say no. Whatever
it or not, every man on board was sentenced to die to ensure secrets were discovered—however it
that we wouldn't know anything either. In its hold, in a case, was done the first time, when the
wrapped in silk and cushioned on velvet was a golden egg the candle of magic was snuffed out the
size of a man's head. The egg is said to have been the result— architects of its demise were dealing
the final result, the end product, the reason de entrée—of the with a spark—an ember. Even without
Spanish Inquisition, one of the most monstrous institutions access to the New World, Magic was
mankind has ever created. Within that egg was the Soul of Magic. more 'distributed' then … less
How it was entombed we don't know—and probably never will. prevalent … less concentrated.
When the egg was made, and while it remained whole, magic
itself was snuffed out in the world. The Event unleashed a torrent of
energy that, it is believed, cannot be
The ship crossed the oceans silently, the crew unaware, two contained (or even turned back in on
guards, both grimly willing to die to protect their precious cargo itself) without use of The
stood watching over those many weeks. When land was sighted Observatories. It isn't simply a matter
in the southern continent (a continent enwrapped in misty jungle of closing the bottle: the genie is out.
where, the men had heard, it was said lizards the size of
galleons stalked human prey) the call was given and the ship
neared shore and dropped anchor.

The boats departed. Back on the ship, those who had stayed behind with the vessel's contingent
were quietly slaughtered by the remaining guards. Those ashore knew nothing of it. They
reached the foreign beach and then started their expedition—up and up—into the mountains. The
lands were so wild and strange it is a wonder they survived but they knew what they sought and
perhaps had a path, a map, or a guide. High in the aerie of the Sierra Nevada mountains they
found a cave. It was a natural maze complete with deadfalls, quicksand, and spiky rocks that
threatened to fall from the ceiling. There may even have been man-eating plants and plague-
carrying giant rats. Whatever. In the back of the cave, they deposited the chest, which held the
egg.

When the job was done and the captain and his men were taken care of, the guards, cleaning the
site carefully, collapsed the entrance to the cave and covered it over with dirt. Then, they started
back down—they did not (and had no intention of) ever reaching civilization.

What happened then, for hundreds of years, we cannot say for certain. Magic was extinguished
from the world by means forgotten (and now judged to be impossible). Cities grew. Technology
advanced. Mankind multiplied and swarmed across the globe. Satellites blinked in orbit around
the earth. Rocket ships landed on the moon. Atoms were broken and elemental energies poured
down on cities.

Sometime at the dawn of the new millennium a drilling expedition in the mountains of South
America found the cave. Imagine them moving 500-year-old rocks with their machines—brushing
them aside. Imagine them turning over old graves of the conquistadors and their sonic imaging
machines finding a chamber beyond the rubble. And within? Within, untouched by age was a
chest. The first to touch it, no doubt died—for while there was no magic in their world,
surrounding the golden egg, whose shell had become soap-bubble thin, there was power.
Imagine their flesh melting or their eyes turning to swarms of deadly wasps. Imagine what you will
for the architects of the End of Magic had built their defenses to deter anyone … or anything—but
the men weren't. The chest was broken open and inside—inside was the egg.

Perhaps they shattered the egg in the act of sundering the chest. Perhaps they opened the egg
delicately, after studying it under lights in a laboratory. Perhaps it was ruptured when the stone

9
What Happened to the People? roof collapsed. Perhaps. But the egg was split and that was
Did The Event result in genocide? In The Event. Magic flowed backwards and forwards and
Billions of people being wiped out— inwards and out—it permeated space-time and gushed into
never to have existed? It's a tough elsewhere and filled the void with invisible, untouchable
question but most philosopher-scientist aether. It was explosive, catastrophic, and very, very strange.
who have studied it say "no—but you
wouldn't understand."
It Changed Everything
Further prompting gets something like
Well, not everything. Magic flowed up the landmass like an
this: "There are fewer people alive
invisible river of force and now, like a throbbing vein it winds
now, it seems, than in The Dream—but
through the western super-continent and flows like water
they are not dead. It seems that many
down to the coasts. Where man has made a foothold, in the
are 'yet to be' in the philosophical
northern continent along the shoreline its presence is felt
sense and lots of people today 'still
most strongly. For the decades before that, for the western
are.' It deals with both folding and
world, at least, things seemed relatively normal. Sure there
translation. Folding is when a person
was magic and wizards and witches—but there were all
today is an amalgam of one or more
those things anyway. Sure the Middle East and the Far East
person (or aspects thereof) of a person
and the stretches of Russia were mysterious—but they were
in The Dream. Translation is when a
always mysterious. For the kings and queens and beggars
person becomes the same sort of
and thieves and merchants and sailors and soldiers and
person in our world that he was in The
everyone else it all looked pretty logical until Columbus hit
Dream. He has no knowledge of his
the New World (for the second time in a manner of speaking).
former self but he seems to hold the
similar … parameters. It becomes
The discovery (re-discovery) of the "New World" brought
complicated …"
back incontrovertible proof of just how strange the world
could be. Since the Event had permeated the New World
with magic it was unlike any terrain anywhere ever. While
the Spaniards plundered (or tried to plunder) the southern continents, the French, English, and
Dutch settled the north. And here we diverge—almost—for while the world was never the same
again (and not even as it had been 'before') some things didn't change. New Orleans still opened
her ports at the mouth of the Mississippi. Florida was still a Conquistador-eating swamp (with the
Fountain of Youth in there somewhere to be sure!) and the 13 colonies grew and prospered on
the Atlantic shores of North America.

The rest is history.

A Brief History of the Americas (13 Colonies)

1492 In 1492 Columbus discovered the New World. The journey had already been marked by
the sighting of aquatic serpents the length of the Santa Maria in the waters near the coast. When
he arrived (at the southern islands) he discovered a deep and mysterious jungle, gold-skinned
natives with odd war paint and heads of animals, and heard rumors of the magnificent empires
and cities inland.

1500 Between 1500 and 1540 the likes of De Soto, Ponce De Leon, Hernan Cortez, Coronado,
and Francisco Pissaro searched for the Fountain of Youth, discovered the Incas and the Aztecs,
reached the Kansas territory, and found the Mississippi river. They brought back vast amounts of
gold that fueled an even greater drive by Spain to conquer the lands in the southern continents
(South and Central America). These failed (and even with the gold, Spain went bankrupt twice in
that period). They failed because unlike in The Dream world (and it is said that the Conquistadors
were driven by The Dream to believe they could succeed in conquest) the jungles were
carnivorous. The natives had real godlike beings that they housed in gold-covered pyramids, and
they had magicians. Spain found itself committed to a war with madness. Sea monsters devoured

10
ships, entire forces were swallowed by the jungles and, while the gold and jewels flowed back, it
began to seem to some as though the New World was as hungry for them as they were for it.

1585 In 1585 the Northern Colonies started (the famously ill-fated Roanoke was founded by Sir
Raleigh). These were followed over the next hundred years by the 13 colonies themselves (the
last of which was Georgia in 1732). By this time Spain had failed in the south and her navy had
been bested. The British Empire was successfully colonizing everywhere else and the colonies
(especially the agriculturally rich southern colonies) started producing.

1776 There was, however, unrest and dissatisfaction with the crown—in 1776 The
Independence War was fought. It concluded four months later with a treaty between the colonies
and England that maintained their status but allowed a Federal government to hold authority (this
is discussed in more detail in the section on Pennsylvania).

1803 The French in the Louisiana Territories were having a tough go of it without much support
(and often combat with) the Colonial Army. In 1803 they sold the territories to the Colonies—but
due to the chaos of the magical frontier they remain largely unsettled and there is no 14th colony
to claim them. New Orleans is still a French Owned port, just like there are still a few Spanish
Forts in Florida (mostly abandoned, all haunted) but for people in the western hemisphere, that's
about it.

1861 For the next century the colonies grew—and stratified. In 1861 cannon fire was
exchanged at Fort Sumter in a second short-lived Succession War between the South and the
Mid and Central Colonies (from the Colonial Congress, really). The parties laid down their arms
after another few short months of fighting, but the South has never fully felt itself a part of the 13
Colonies in all respects.

Gold was discovered in the West (the west still being east of the Mississippi) and the Mare
Imbrium Express was started—today the only train line capable of running through the Shallows.
Today it still services mining towns out in the far reaches where ordinary machines don't work
and monsters seem as plentiful as men.

1919 The Twentieth Century brought The Great War. By this time, the Colonies were
recognized as being important international players (both for their depth of thought, strength of
arms, and access to powerful magic). The War was resolved after a great deal of bloody trench
fighting, but the empires remained. The flag of the Ottoman Empire still flies.

1939 There was a depression about a third of the way through—but the ties with England
helped there: her empire was more or less recession proof and while there were tough times
(especially in the North and Middle colonies) the colonies' economy recovered after half a decade.

1940 The end of the 20th century came with a whisper, not a bang: technological revolution in
the 40's and 50's had brought radio, automobiles, telephones (and extensions of the telegraph)
great airships (airplanes were seen as unnecessary and unreliable), and mass production. It is
the philosophical challenges that are most prevalent now: mankind's math and science and
proved (as was long suspected) that a new universe could be forged—and there are those in a
position to do so who are considering exactly that.

2000 Overseas stability has not bred peace: there are small conflicts both overt and covert all
over the world. The English seem to have the upper hand but the French, Spanish, Dutch, Italians,
and Ottomans have their hands in the colonial game. The inward looking Middle East has vast
riches that some of the European nations have their eyes on—and their inward gaze may not last

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long in any event. It is an age of diplomacy and treachery, of great triumphs and wonders. It's the
age of the 13 Colonies: welcome to it.

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