The Reckoning

The Reckoning of 1863

"The Day the Dead Walked—And the World Changed Forever"

Every Troubleshooter needs to understand what happened at Gettysburg. Not just the historical facts—anyone with a newspaper can tell you about Pickett's Charge or the casualties. You need to understand what it means. Because everything that's happened since—the walking dead, the abominations, the terror that lurks in every shadow—it all traces back to three days in July 1863.

This is the story of the Reckoning, as far as anyone knows it.

July 1-3, 1863: The Battle

The Battle of Gettysburg was supposed to be the turning point of the Civil War. For three days, the Union Army of the Potomac clashed with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the bloodiest battle the nation had ever seen. Over 50,000 men were killed, wounded, or went missing.

On July 3rd, General Lee ordered what would become known as Pickett's Charge—a desperate assault across open ground against fortified Union positions. It was a slaughter. Confederate forces were cut down by artillery and rifle fire. The charge failed. Bodies carpeted the Pennsylvania fields.

And then, as the sun began to set, the dead stood up.

The Dead Rise

Accounts from survivors are fragmentary and often contradictory, but certain details appear again and again:

It started with movement. Soldiers lying motionless on the battlefield—men who had been dead for hours—began to stir. At first, witnesses thought they were seeing wounded men trying to crawl to safety. But these figures moved differently. Jerky. Unnatural. Wrong.

They stood and attacked. The dead rose to their feet despite grievous wounds that should have kept them down. Men with shattered skulls. Soldiers with gaping chest wounds. Bodies that had been lying in the July heat for days. They shambled toward the living with mindless hunger.

They couldn't be killed. Soldiers on both sides opened fire, but bullets that should have dropped a man had little effect. Only destroying the head or causing massive trauma seemed to put them down permanently. Panic spread through both armies.

Both sides retreated. In the chaos and terror, the Union and Confederate forces pulled back from the field, leaving the dead in possession of Gettysburg. Command broke down. Units scattered. No one knew what was happening or how to fight it.

The Immediate Aftermath

In the days following July 3rd, both armies tried to make sense of what happened. Command staff interviewed witnesses. Doctors examined bodies. Officers desperately tried to maintain order as rumors spread through the ranks.

The Cover-Up Begins

Within weeks, the official story began to take shape—and it wasn't the truth.

Soldiers who witnessed the dead rising were separated from their units. They were told they had suffered from "battle madness" or "collective delusion" brought on by the trauma of combat. Some were quietly discharged. Others were reassigned to remote posts. A few ended up in asylums.

Officers who insisted on reporting what really happened found their careers stalled or their reports "lost." Civilian witnesses were paid off or intimidated into silence. Newspaper editors were pressured to suppress stories about the supernatural.

The official line became: Nothing unusual happened at Gettysburg. The battle was horrific, yes, but entirely natural.

But the governments knew better. And they were terrified.

It Happened Again

When the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia met again in battle weeks later, the dead rose again. And this time it was worse.

Not only did recently killed soldiers reanimate, but witnesses reported other horrors: shapes moving in the darkness between the lines, screams that didn't come from human throats, shadows that moved against the wind. The supernatural had come to stay.

After several more engagements produced similar results, both governments made a fateful decision: the major battles had to stop.

The Investigation

While publicly denying anything unusual had occurred, both the Union and Confederate governments launched secret investigations into the supernatural phenomena. The Pinkerton Detective Agency (later reorganized as the Agency) and the Texas Rangers were put in charge.

These early "troubleshooters" spent months interviewing witnesses, examining battlefields, and tracking down reports of similar occurrences. What they discovered was both enlightening and terrifying.

The Pattern Emerges

Through careful investigation, these early agents uncovered several disturbing truths:

Violence and terror spawn horrors. The more brutal and terrifying a battle, the more likely supernatural phenomena would occur. The combination of mass death and overwhelming fear seemed to create... something. A crack in reality. An opening for things that shouldn't exist.

Knowledge spreads fear. Areas where people knew about the supernatural—or even suspected it—experienced more supernatural activity. The more scared people became, the more horrors appeared. It was a vicious cycle.

The supernatural had always been there. Digging into folklore, legend, and suppressed historical accounts, investigators found evidence that monsters, spirits, and the undead had existed throughout human history. But something about Gettysburg had changed the rules. Made it all... worse. More frequent. More powerful.

It wasn't going away. Whatever had been unleashed at Gettysburg wasn't a temporary phenomenon. The dead continued to rise in areas of violence. Strange creatures prowled the wilderness. The impossible had become terrifyingly real.

Theories and Speculation

Fourteen years later, no one truly understands what caused the Reckoning. But people have theories:

Divine Punishment

Many of the Blessed believe the Reckoning is God's judgment on a nation tearing itself apart. Brother against brother, the sin of slavery, the wholesale slaughter of war—perhaps the Almighty decided America needed to face literal damnation for its sins.

Evidence for: The dead rising from graves has strong biblical precedent. Many supernatural horrors can be fought with faith and prayer.

Evidence against: Why would a just God allow monsters to prey on innocent people? And why did it start at Gettysburg specifically rather than earlier in the war?

Indian Curse

Some believe the Native American tribes—watching their lands stolen and their people slaughtered—called down a curse on the white man's civilization. Ancient spirits or medicine men might have unleashed forces they could no longer control.

Evidence for: Indian shamans demonstrably wield supernatural power. Many abominations resemble creatures from Native American legends.

Evidence against: Why would the spirits harm everyone, including the tribes themselves? The supernatural plagues Indians and whites alike.

Natural Evolution

A few mad scientists theorize that the supernatural has always existed at low levels, and humanity is simply becoming more aware of it. Like discovering bacteria through a microscope, we're finally seeing what was always there.

Evidence for: Historical records show supernatural events throughout human history. Ghost rock was buried in the earth long before the Quake exposed it.

Evidence against: This doesn't explain why the phenomenon intensified so dramatically starting in 1863, or why violence seems to spawn horrors.

Something Darker

Those who've fought abominations the longest—Agency operatives, Texas Rangers, veteran Troubleshooters—whisper about darker possibilities. That something woke up in 1863. That ancient, malevolent forces are deliberately feeding on human fear and suffering. That this is all according to some vast, incomprehensible plan.

Most dismiss this as paranoia. But every now and then, you'll meet someone who's seen too much, fought too hard, and lost too many friends. And they'll tell you: This isn't random. Something is orchestrating this. And it's winning.

What Changed After Gettysburg

Whatever caused it, the Reckoning fundamentally altered the world. Here's what changed:

The War Continues

In our timeline, the Civil War ended in 1865. In the Weird West, it's 1877 and the war still grinds on. Why?

Major battles became impossible after the Reckoning. Too many men, too much violence, too much fear = the dead rise and horrors multiply. So the war shifted to smaller engagements, raids, skirmishes, and cold war periods. Neither side can deliver a knockout blow without spawning supernatural catastrophe.

The result: 17 years of grinding, bloody stalemate that's bled both nations white.

Abominations Walk the Earth

The walking dead were just the beginning. Since 1863, reports have flooded in of creatures that shouldn't exist:

• Vampires draining frontier towns
• Werewolves prowling the wilderness
• Ghosts haunting battlefields and murder sites
• Creatures from Indian legend made flesh
• Things with no name, defying description

Most people don't know the full scope of what's out there—government suppression ensures that. But everyone feels it. The West has gotten darker, more dangerous, more... wrong.

Fear Has Power

The investigators weren't wrong—fear genuinely seems to strengthen supernatural phenomena. Areas with high terror (called "Fear Levels" by those in the know) experience more and worse supernatural activity.

This creates a vicious cycle: monsters create fear, fear strengthens monsters, stronger monsters create more fear. Breaking that cycle—through heroic action and spreading tales of victory—is one of the few ways to fight back.

Magic Is Real

Before the Reckoning, magic was the stuff of fairy tales. After? Four distinct types of supernatural power emerged or intensified:

• Faith: The Blessed can call upon divine power to perform miracles
• Huckster Magic: Gamblers bargain with supernatural forces to cast hexes
• Mad Science: Inventors create impossible devices fueled by ghost rock
• Shamanism: Medicine men commune with nature spirits for power

Whether these powers are new or simply more accessible post-Reckoning is unclear. But they're undeniably real.

Living in the Post-Reckoning World

Fourteen years after Gettysburg, the Weird West has adapted to its new reality—sort of.

Most people don't know the full truth. Government suppression has worked well enough that the average citizen might hear rumors of monsters but dismisses them as tall tales. They know the war drags on unnaturally. They sense something's wrong. But they don't understand the scope.

Some people know too much. Agency operatives, Texas Rangers, veteran soldiers, frontier sheriffs, and Troubleshooters like yourselves deal with the supernatural regularly. You can't unknow what you've seen. The dead walk. Monsters are real. And someone has to fight them.

The fight continues. Every abomination destroyed, every horror banished, every tale of heroism told—it chips away at the darkness. Maybe it's not enough to win. But it's enough to keep fighting.

The Unanswered Questions

Fourteen years later, fundamental questions remain:

What really happened at Gettysburg? Why that battle? Why that moment? What changed?

Is there a purpose to this? Are the supernatural horrors random, or part of some larger design?

Can it be stopped? Or are we just delaying the inevitable?

Who knows the truth? Surely someone understands what's really happening. But if they do, they're not talking.

Maybe you'll find answers in your work for Colonel Brennan. Maybe you won't. But you'll be asking the questions while fighting the horrors, and that's more than most folks can say.

July 3rd, 1863. The day everything changed. The day the dead walked. The day the Reckoning began. Remember it. Because understanding that day might be the key to surviving tomorrow.