Welcome to Havensport, Massachusetts - 1873
You find yourself in a city caught between two worlds: the old traditions of European immigrants and the relentless march of American progress. Havensport has grown from a modest colonial settlement into a booming industrial port of over 25,000 souls, where steam-powered vessels share the harbor with tall-masted sailing ships, and the thunder of mill wheels heralds the coming industrial age..
But beneath this veneer of prosperity, something ancient stirs. Strange phenomena plague the growing city—surveying instruments malfunction without cause, immigrants speak nervously of "old country shadows," and those with keen senses report feeling watched by unseen eyes.
The Historical Setting
Post-Civil War America (1873)
- Reconstruction Era: The nation struggles to heal from civil war wounds
- Industrial Boom: Factories, railroads, and telegraph networks transform daily life
- Immigration Waves: Europeans flee political upheaval and economic hardship
- Westward Expansion: The transcontinental railroad connects East to frontier
- Scientific Revolution: New discoveries challenge old beliefs about the natural world
Life in 1870s Havensport
- Technology: Steam power, gas lighting, telegraph communications
- Transportation: Horses, carriages, walking, and newly arrived railroad connections
- Communication: Letters, telegrams, and word-of-mouth
- Social Structure: Established Yankee families, rising industrialists, immigrant communities
- Religion: Protestant Christianity dominates, with Catholic and Orthodox minorities
Character Backgrounds & Themes
The Veteran
You've seen the elephant—witnessed horrors on Civil War battlefields that changed you forever.
- Background: Union or Confederate veteran dealing with trauma and memories
- Skills: Military training, leadership, survival instincts, understanding of violence
- Themes: Honor vs. pragmatism, brotherhood, searching for purpose in peacetime
- Dark Secret: Something you did or saw during the war that haunts you
The Immigrant
You've crossed an ocean to start anew, carrying old world knowledge into a strange new land.
- Background: Recently arrived from Europe, seeking opportunity or fleeing persecution
- Skills: Traditional crafts, foreign languages, "old country" knowledge
- Themes: Identity, assimilation vs. tradition, community bonds, religious persecution
- Dark Secret: What you're really running from, or what you brought with you
The Local Family
Your roots run deep in Havensport soil—your family helped build this city from nothing.
- Background: Descended from colonial settlers, with generational knowledge of the area
- Skills: Local connections, historical knowledge, inherited wealth or status
- Themes: Legacy, family obligations, protecting what matters, old money vs. new
- Dark Secret: Family history that must never come to light
The Industrial Worker
You've left the farm for factory work, trading fresh air for steady wages in the growing city.
- Background: Rural-born seeking opportunity in Havensport's booming industries
- Skills: Physical labor, mechanical aptitude, union organizing, working-class solidarity
- Themes: Progress vs. tradition, worker's rights, urban alienation, the American dream
- Dark Secret: An accident, mistake, or moral compromise that haunts your past
The Professional
Education and expertise have given you status in the growing city's social hierarchy.
- Background: Doctor, lawyer, teacher, engineer, or other educated professional
- Skills: Formal education, social connections, analytical thinking, modern methods
- Themes: Science vs. superstition, social responsibility, professional ethics
- Dark Secret: A failure, scandal, or unethical act that threatens your reputation
The Merchant/Trader
You've built success through wit, negotiation, and understanding what people truly need.
- Background: Business owner, traveling salesman, or import/export trader
- Skills: Negotiation, appraisal, networking, understanding people and markets
- Themes: Honest profit vs. exploitation, reputation, risk vs. reward
- Dark Secret: Shady deals, questionable partnerships, or compromised principles
The Investigator
Something drives you to dig deeper, to find truth behind the lies people tell themselves.
- Background: Journalist, private detective, government inspector, or amateur sleuth
- Skills: Research, observation, interviewing, deductive reasoning
- Themes: Truth vs. convenience, justice vs. order, the price of knowledge
- Dark Secret: A case that went wrong, or dangerous knowledge you've uncovered
Districts of Havensport
Havensport Proper
The established heart of the city—gothic stone buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and old money.
- Character: Respectable, traditional, slightly mysterious
- Opportunities: Civic positions, established businesses, social connections
- Dangers: Old family secrets, hidden agendas, supernatural legacies
The Harbor District
The booming industrial waterfront—steam ships, warehouses, and international commerce.
- Character: Energetic, cosmopolitan, wealthy but rough
- Opportunities: Maritime trade, industrial work, exotic goods and knowledge
- Dangers: Criminal elements, dangerous cargo, foreign threats
Thornwood Settlement
Fertile farmland eight miles south—pastoral abundance that seems too good to be true.
- Character: Peaceful, prosperous, oddly perfect
- Opportunities: Agricultural work, traditional crafts, community belonging
- Dangers: Suspicious locals, unnatural phenomena, ancient secrets
The Marshlands
Treacherous wetlands between settlements—wild, dangerous, and avoided after dark.
- Character: Untamed, mysterious, actively hostile to human presence
- Opportunities: Isolation, hidden paths, undiscovered resources
- Dangers: Getting lost, supernatural manifestations, territorial spirits
Silver Hill
The profitable mining district—industrial wealth built on mysterious abundance.
- Character: Prosperous, secretive, artificially enhanced
- Opportunities: Mining work, industrial investment, technical innovation
- Dangers: Industrial accidents, supernatural contamination, powerful secret keepers
Creating Your Character
Consider These Questions:
- Why are you in Havensport? What brought you here, or why do you stay?
- What do you do for a living? How do you support yourself in this growing city?
- What drives you? What goals, fears, or obsessions motivate your actions?
- What's your dark secret? Everyone has something they'd rather keep hidden
- Who matters to you? Family, friends, mentors, or rivals who shape your story
Mortal Characters Start With:
- No supernatural powers (yet)—you're an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances
- Mundane skills and knowledge—what any person of your background might reasonably know
- Limited resources—most people aren't wealthy or particularly influential
- Human connections—relationships that ground you in the community
Remember:
- You don't know about the supernatural—strange events have rational explanations (for now)
- Your background matters—where you come from shapes how you see the world
- Secrets drive stories—the things characters hide create the best drama
- Community is survival—in an era before modern safety nets, relationships are everything
Atmospheric Details
What You See:
- Gas lamps flickering in perpetual fog rolling in from the harbor
- Steam-powered machinery transforming the landscape with industrial progress
- Immigrants speaking unfamiliar languages in the crowded districts
- Gothic architecture looming over narrow, winding streets
What You Hear:
- The constant sounds of construction and industrial progress
- Church bells marking time across the city
- Foreign accents and mysterious conversations in unknown tongues
- The clip-clop of horses and rumble of wagon wheels on cobblestones
What You Feel:
- The excitement of a city on the verge of something great
- Unease about rapid changes transforming familiar places
- Tension between old traditions and new ways
- The sense that some secrets are better left undiscovered
